The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-06-17
P0LUPHL0IsB0s THALAssA.

ave are in the summer days." writes the
Sunday scribbler of the Times, and he might
have added, land the midsummer madness
Is upon u.s." We must assume that the par
ticuler scrbbler in question was possessed by
it, or, otherwise, we shall not be able to ac-
count for the extraordinary tumble in the
following paragraph. Speaking of the Sici-
liam fruit dealers, the scribbler says:
Perhaps the vendors may divide the ad-
miration with their fragrant wares, for the
sellers are Neapoltan Italians and Levan-
tines, who come from all the tiny villages
that fringe the shores Of the Ionian Archipel-
ago to find sky as brightly blue as that
which arches the Egean Sea.
In the first place "Neapolitan Italians" are
from Naples, on the west coast of Italy,
which is nowhere near the Ionan Sea- In the
second place, by the "Levant' Is meant the
coast of Asia Minor and Syria, which is even
further from the Ionian Sea than Naples is.
In the third place, there is no "Ionian Ar
chipelago," and In the fourth place. we don't
see why resident by the Ionian Sea should
yearn for a sky as brightly blue as that
which arches the Egean sea-" which he,
probably. never saw in all his life. A "Nea-
politan," or "Levantine' from the shores of
the "Ionan Archipelago is good, but when he
is made to sigh in fond retrospection for the
skies that arch the Egean Sea, it is better
much better.
This, however, is a mere question of geog-
raphy, and such inaccuracies may be par
doned in a Sunday article. The writer of such
articles Is not supposed to be Ga fat on such
trite subjects. He is not supposed to know
the difference between cube root and root
hog or die" What we expect from him is
something classical, artistic, poetical erudite
He administers to our intellectual and esthetic
wants. He tells us about Paul Verones and
Tintoretto Michael Angelo and Raphael
about Strauss land Mozart, Beethoven and
Haydn, about Shakespeare and Byron, Tasso
and Goethe, and fellows Of that ilk. 1t is only
when he tackles these chaps that he has q
chance to soar, whether as the eagle that
seeks the sun, or as the monkey that climbed
the POLE 1t is in this line that the Times
classicist has done his best soaring, but it
seems to us that he has chosen the monkeys
method rather than that Of even the "eagle
bird by chance" Says he speaking of the
Sicilian fruit dealers:
Sometimes among them may be seen head
with the shadow of the antique world resting
upon it, and one wonders no longer that the
Greek ideal was the perfection of classic
beauty Though the type has changed from
that Of old Athens, yet still there are faces, by
tiny fruit stalls, radiant with dusky beauty,
lighted by deep oriental eyes-faceS to make
the artist dream of Paul Yeronese and Tin
torettO.
We honestly believe that the Greek ideal
was the perfection of classic beauty, for the
excellent reason that there are no other spe-
cimens of classic beauty perpetuated from
which to make selection.
Greek ideals constitute classic art, and for
that reason we must agree with the Times
man. We don't think, though, he ought to
put up clineher like this. He ought to give
us chance for an argument, at least We
don't find the Greek ideal, however, at every
fruit stand, says he, because the 'sold Athenian
type has changed. That makes but little