ANCIENT HISTORY MODERNISED.

Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4589, 19 September 1883, Page 2

ANCIENT HISTORY MODERNISED.

"Pa," asked Willie Jones, as he was studying his history lesson, "who was Helen of Troy ?" " Ask your ma," said Mr Jones, who '. was not up in classic lore. " Helen of Troy," said Mrs Jones, who was sewing a new heel on the baby's shoe, •' was a girl who used to lire with us ; she came from Troy, N.Y., and we found her in an intelligence office. She was the best girl I ever had before your father struck Bridget." • •-. . " Did pa ever strike Bridget ?" asked v Willie, pricking up his ears. f ''■„ " I was speaking paragorically," said " Mrs Jones . There was a silence for a few moments, then Willie came to another epoch in history. " Ma, who was Marc Antony ?" "An old coloured man who lived with my pa. What does it say about him there?" "It says his wife's name was Cleo<» patra." ' > ■ 1 " The very same I Old Cleo' used to wash for us. It's strange how they come to be in that book." " History repeats itself," murmured Jones vaguely, while Willie looked at his ma with wonder and admiration that one small head would carry all she knew. Presently he found another question to ask. " Say, ma, who wa^ Julius C»sar?" " Oh, he was one of the pagans of history," said Mrs Jones, trying to thread the point of her needle. " But what made him famous ?" per-< sisted Willie. . , "Everything," answered Mrs Jones, complacently; "he was the one who said, " Eat, thou brute, when his horse wouldn't take its oats. He dressed in a sheet and pillow-case uniform, and when his enemiei „> surrounded him he shouted, ' Gimme liberty, or gimme. death,'and ran away." "Bully for him!" remarked Willie, shutting up the book of history. " But say, ma, how came you to know so much ? Won't I lay over the other fellow&-:.-.ta« morrow though ?" '.-' " ■ " 1 learned it at school," said Mrs Jones, with an oblique glance at Mr Jones> who was listening as grave as a statue. "I had superior advantages, and I paid attention ' and remembered what I heard." " Well, I say, ma, who was Hoface ?" " Your pa will tell you about him, I am tired," said Mrs Jones. Then she listened with pride and approval while Mr Jones informed his son that Horace was the author of the " Tin TrumpeCand a rare work on farming, and 4he> people's choice for a president, and only composed Latin veises to pass away the time and amuse himself,—Detroit Post and Tribune.