Show THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS ALBERT PAYSON TERHUNE N Q b by mai mead bienn coni company pany marathon A aw years ago a young Catin canadian dlan famo by running froidl Alara marathon thou to 0 o athens find and winning thu classic marathon hut but not lot every ono knows why that race rac I 1 la Js classic and giitl how flow and when it was first run one september morning tn lit H B 0 heavily arii armed ivl men inen lined filled thc jhc ert crescent scent sloped foothills of mount pen tellius tell cus overlooking tile era va 1 hills ills and sea lay tile plain of marko mara nix fx miles long tind two lit in width vidt fl this athla plain to seaward was alive with will it carril carnival vai of color oil uno hundred ired an and ten thousand versions were encamped there while tile six lil allex lehl of beach and harbor were choked with their warships they were ivere invading greece find tile only obstacle to their progress was that adful of athenians on oil tile hills just one tenth tile the size of bf tile tho persian force il greece reece in fit those lays days was milde made ni of a num berof still states inore or less independent i teach other oilier athens not only n city but 11 state find rop tile the fil highest ghost form of democracy tile world had then known knoell it was divided into toll or districts ouch each ruled liy hy tile people ind each furnishing it genel ill for cor the iriny alach ot of goiler was lit in full command for only lilly tit at a line persia vas thell tile strongest despotic power on oil earth vast in ilk wealth wid resources it wits ruled liy by nn nil emperor darius 1 I who reigned with sway At athens liens sparta nud and otio or two we other greek states aleno alene refused jilin submission lon WIMP according cording to the imperial will athens athena lind the other rebels must ile bo crushed A luct of 1200 ships bearing fighting men had landed at less lena than llian thirty miles to tile northeast of the athenian en capital thither to oppose tile hie invasion tho ten tell athenian generals flurried all tile men that could bo be mustered at such short order was greenes Gree ces greatest soldier and tile other ken gen wisely surrendered their bilya or of command to him film tile the fate of tile world hung in tile the balance greece represented all that wits waa highest in III art culture government and civilization versa till nil twilit alint was barbaric despotic non sive A persian victory must inest mean it a setback of centuries in pe ogress while tile versions persians waited lazily tile tho easiest means to attack attach their putty puny foe they were dumbfounded to see tile lie jurceka brecks rush nt at full speed sliced down tile the slopes and into the plain out in 11 till line lille so eliat they could not bo be outflanked out flanked and shouting their will wild battlo byll liyan armed greeks athil athletes teg nil all ran furiously acro nc across ro tile mile of NM ground tit at the baso of tile mountain and hurled themselves on oil their unprepared spared enemies ough tile tho looser more equipped persian lines tile the two winge bored way tile krecl center alono alone gave back bach before bedei superior numbers num bera abe wings then whirled lint and rein reinforcing fore the lie center again toro tore through tile tho perd persian an ranks the invaders panic stricken lied fled to their ships millis anti and there in the confusion of embarking a second and fiercer hercer tight waged the persians got to sea lit at lust last leavi leaving 14 more alian dead and seven captured galleys lit in the victors hands hand the greek loss was but fearing lest tile baffled too foe I 1 night might still to tile the harbor of athens lint and take the city unawares sent feat a swift runner to ile bear ar a warning and the news of the victory titus thus was avas the tho first marathon race run thus too again st odds of ten tell to one waa vas civilization saved ten years later xerxes son of darjus darius sought to wipe out tits ills fathers disgrace by invading greece with tin an army of moro inore than a million men As the mighty host lay encamped before lihn him the persian monarch wept aloud nt at abe ali thou thought glit that within a century the entire billiou or more would be of dead en 1 eight hundred bundred persian warships entered thoi suit gult or of Salan salamia Sa lamla ilg there they were attacked and routed by a smaller greek squadron A mighty land force of persians n had invaded ireece greece eon con burning aud ad slaying as all they advanced the only road front from southern to northern greece lay through it a pass thermopylae by name between 11 steep steel mountain anti and a 11 marsh here tile the spartan king loon leon uta gathered about rom liken ihen arout spartie tin and other greek states to block tilt leaders ln aders way avay lor l or two long days the Per persisting hurled their vast legions against tile dauntless RW on the third day through a tr traitor tl secret road over tho mount kill ill ivas was revealed reven led to them and over ti t I is they marched an army to hem hein lit in tie weeks greeks on both sides tho defenders fe riders hearing of the approach ot of tills this party for the most part ried adt leonidas Leonid ns with spartans spartano Spar tans stood blood tits his ground though they could 4 no lot joi er check tho the invasion they could and did oppose it till nil all save on ono or two lay dead it wan one of tile most heroic in history and the narn names of tile the men who thus died were throughout 1 all greece while tile the survivors were treated with contempt and their delff re ales want into mourning for their elianic sli anic n me iq in this ahl way more than am years democracy Ilem defied |