The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1878-01-03
CRETAN WOMEN.
Ugly Homes Outside Made Pleasant n
side by Model Mothers and wives.

Ugly Homes Outside Made Pleasant I'm
side by Model Mothers and Wives.
A Cretan village is strange looking
place. All the dwellings are alike in
ugliness, oblong in form, with walls of
rough stone. and fat roofs, destitute of
parapets and chimpeSs. One or two
arches are thrown across the length of
the cottages to support the roof, which
consists of tenacious clay a few inches
deep, laid on pieces of bark and rolled
f1at-let antiquaries shudder-with the
drums of marble columns. In Askypho
the heavy Sow storms which occur there
make it unsafe to carry up the buildings
higher than one story, ahd they certainly
have most miserable exterior.
But the comfort within doors depends
at Askypho, as everywhere else, not on
the architect, but on the lady of the
house, and the wives of Sphakia rank
high among their sex. They are
conspicuous for their beauty. Theif
dark eyes are large and lustrouss their
features are delicately chiseled, and
waving tresses fall in profusion from
beneath their modest kerchiefs. Their
carriage Is graceful as the does
But, though possessed of uncommon
personal charms, their attention is by no
means confined to the toilet. Every
thing which their homes contain is the
work OF their own hands. The cloth Of
the husbands jacket and fez of the wool
of the sheep he tends is dyed, spun and
woven by the hands of his faithful wife.
She 1t is who makes his garments from
the cotton plant which grows before the
door the bright scarf that binds his
waist Is from the silkworm which feeds
his ihor-vy 1
tapestries whose bright designs, taken
from the pattern book of tradition alone,
giving his home a cheerful air, are the
work of her industrious loom, and MANY
more objects that | am imcompetent to
enumerare are due TO her untiring Iabors.
1t was these same Sphakian women
who only ten years ago were, with their
helpless children, hunted from mountain
to mountain, outraged and murdered.
In the cottage of my guide, though the
owner was by no means a chief among
the people, the tablecloth, the napkins,
the sheets, all of them homemade, were
bordered with Cretan lace; and pillow
case was single piece of the same rich
material; the counterpart was so COR
geous with many colors that did not
refrain frem expressing uly admiration
OF 1T. q" Yes. " said my host, "my wife is
of a very good family, and knows the old
fashioned ways of weaving, which her
mother taught her."
Tho cottage itself consisted of a modern
sized room, with gallery for sleeping in,
and two very small ones, of which the
larger was the kitchen. The walls were
not even whitewashed, and the floor was
of mud, yet the spirit that reigned there
reconciled one to all. dined with great
zest off EnglisA plates, which are priced
as much there as japanese crockery is in
England, but without wine, not a drop
of which was to be found in any of the
seven villages-a significant fact. The
wife waited on US, for coniugal respect
is strictly enforced, while even suspected
iDfidelity is punished with death. It is
easy to believe how such people hate
and despise anyone, be he calmakam or
be he I" milordi," who attempts to intro
duce the vices of western Europe into
their mountain retreats Cretan Cor.
London Times.