The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1865-01-10
Tuesday Morning, Jan. 10, 1866.
A Professor among the Greel


A Professor among the Greeks.
Extracts from familiar letters from Europe,
by C. @. FELTON,, late President of Harvard
University: i, ~, --fts...,.s ~
The hardest exercise / have had in Greek
was to make out list of clothes Tor the wash
erwoman. The ancients had no shirts to their
backs, but the moderns have, and they made a
very good word for the thing: but what an
under waistcoat should be called went beyond
me. However, constructed an excellent
classical term (hgp0chtton) When the wait
er came in, / gave him the bundle and the list.
My hypochfton was heather Greek to him he
could not make it out in the least. / showed
him the article, and he exclaimed: "OlOl
fanella, fanellaw So it is, that we go to re-
mote and learned sources for what lies very
near at hand. a.5 .ylsaast 10
A few days ago had occasion to 90 to a
tailor's. My wardrobe, like the Acropolis,
has suffered some adaptations by the wear
and tear OF time, and needed, like the temples,
a little restoration. My frock coat was out at
the elbows, and my pantaloons were little
ragged about the feet, and trife threadbare
at the knees. l addressed the tailor in Attic
and Xenophanaic on the subject of pcriske
tides, and the necessity of mending them. He
understood me readily, being a udpteS (tailor)
of education; but when he took the garment
in hand, he told me he would send back, "to
pdRtGloon" the next day. a10Ja asa @
There is an Irishwoman in this city, married
to Greek Her boy goes to school, but she
complains that he begins to use language that
she cannot understand. Her own dialect is
Hibernian Greek. The common word for wa
ter is nleroR; the classical word hydor; and
when the boy comes home thirsty, he calls for
hydor,-to her great amazement. ass E
A few such instances occur, but, in general,
nothing has surprised me more than the ex-
cellence of the language and the purity with
which it is spoken, not only in the pulpit and
the professors chair, but in society. My ear
is not yet sufficiently accustomed to the ra-
pidity OF conversation, but it is becoming so
The watchmen in the street use very good
Greek. Coming home the other evening,
about eleven o'clock, / was saluted by the
usual question, "Iss ei?p-"Who art thou ?"
the very question, by the wSy, that Anacre-
on puts to the dove. The answer to be given
is"Kdlos," which in ancient Greek generally
means a handsome fettolc. Well / gave the
answer, but Immediately remembering my
French portrait, rejoiced that the night COW
cred the monstrous lie had to tell. This
tenderness of conscience lasted, however, but
short time, and now when the skopos, or
watchmen, asks who am, / tell him, without
the slightest hesitation, that am a kdlOS,
though the falsehood grows greater every
day. He believes me and pass on. Il "a K 81 +
AS we crossed a lower point Of Helicon, and
came in full sight of Parnassus, the travelling
grew rougner anu rougner.-Gray says:
From HelicOns harmonious springs q
thousand rills their may progress take
One of these streams had taken its may
course directly across our path; had worn a
channel, and then run of aud left it dry. 1t
was necessary to cross 1T. Our horses are
generally sure footed, but no sureness of foot
is proof against slippery mud; and SO down
went my gallant Thessalanian, pitching me
head foremost over to the opposite bank. My
hat, already the victim of circumstances, was
damaged; my knee was Considerably bruised
my side was pomelled, and, what was more
irreparable, INV old frock coat the faithful
COMPANION of SO many iourneys--was not on
ly covered with mud, but rent at the left ell
bow. Think OF my condition, on the slope of
Helicon, in sight OF Parnassus, aud out at the
etboacs. ta qi9a a3Af ~ aaet &
On we journeyed through gorges of mag
nificent beauty, where murmuring streams
nswered the oak and the whispering plane
tree, and the Nymphs and Driads have scarce
ly ceased their sports. iie .saa tasa
The trees had put on their atltumnal coIors
as varied and brilliant as those of an Ameri-
can forest: while the marble submits rising
on. either side above the zone of cedars that
encircles their waist with belt of green,
closed iu the picture with sculptured tram e,
contrasting with the many tinted pictures
Within. a-r5V -H1S
At length we descended the last slope, on
the northeast toward the Copiac plain-one
of the most remarkable in Boeotia. Looking
hacl. on Halicon and off to the left on the
SCARCELY visible Parrassus. we saw the cIouds
thicSening and showery love more ominous
and tbreatanino o-Thunders hepan 10 roll and
Uohtning to NAV about the distant summits.
We hasfened 10 a village called Cotnmala
and stonned At the nrincinal honse II contain
ed. thinking we would lunch here. and wait
until the coming shower had passed ! iir5l s5.l
In we went, and in few minutes our lunch
consisting of a cold boiled egg and bit Of
bread. was laid on circular table six inches
high, with coarse rugs and cushions round 1t
We lay down--Ldy to, might literally say
and ate; and while we ate, the thunder and
lightning ragged with fearful violence, and the
showers like another Denealion's deuge
which YOU know, happened lust about in these
parts. In a few moments the mountains OF
torrents began to rush down with roar and
fury quite inconceivable 10 our country. It
YVES plain we could Get no further.
Let me tell Won what sort of a house it was,
r emember. it was quite superior to the aver
age of houses throughout Greece The walls
were of baked clay. and over these was laid
tM wooden roof. running M to a ridge mole
There was one story ONLY. and only one apart
ment. In the middle was depression in the
floor: the floor being made of earth mixed
with straw. This lower portion of the room
was occupied by the animais--horses. cows
&c. Towards the end of the upper portion