ABOUT A QUEER MAN.
Many hundreds of years ago lived a very strange man whoso name was Diogenes. His home was in the city of Athens, in Greece. The people of Athens were very polite; but this strange man took pride in being very impolite. He made himself very disagreeable.
People stared at him and laughed at him. This was just what pleased Diogenes. Many people called him a great man. This pleased him more yet. He was so odd, and behaved so strangely, that after a while a good many tried to imitate him and to act as strangely as he did. This pleased him, perhaps, most of all.
Sometimes Diogenes slept in the sand, and sometimes on the verandas of houses or in doorways. Sometimes he used to take a tub around with him. When night came he would curl himself up like a kitten and go to sleep in the tub.
One bright sunny day, when the city was full of people, he took a lighted lantern and walked down the street. He looked as if he were hunting for something. "What are you looking for, with your lantern in this bright daylight?" the people asked. "I am looking for an honest man," growled Diogenes.
At this time there lived a great warrior and emperor who had made himself more famous than any one else in the world. Great crowds followed him, and threw up their hats, and cheered. His name was Alexander. Perhaps he was really the greatest man in the world. So he was called Alexander the Great.
One day Alexander marched by where Diogenes sat sunning himself in the sand. The people were cheering as usual and making a great noise. But Diogenes sat quite still, caring nothing about the emperor. When Alexander passed before Diogenes he noticed this. He wondered why this poorly clothed man paid him no attention.
Then he turned to Diogenes with a frown, and said in a very haughty manner, "Do you know that I am Alexander?"
Everybody thought that Diogenes would turn pale and be very much confused. But he only looked up and answered with as much pride as if he were an emperor himself, "Do you know that I am Diogenes?"
Perhaps we may all admire his independence as much as Alexander is said to have done. Diogenes always lived this queer sort of a life. He was an old, old man when he died.