, 1880-07-08
Life in Greece.

. AN' ""' AttA NAh "a = ett Alitih ANA "
igious observance hy tho Orthodox
church, to-day is, nevertheless, high
festival in Athens. Il j. the lst Of
I May, old styls-thc Feast II Floyers,
and all the world goes maying and PIC.
nicing, 10 eat roast lamb and dandciicn
salad, and drink the wines OF Parnes
under the gray olives OF the Attic plain,
or the black frs OF Patissia, or the bios
soming almonds and ounces on the gar
! den banks Of the kephiSsus. The
feas', indeed, began over night, for ali
Yesterday afternoon the foOtpsths of
.EOlus street, and of the ends OF those
called Stadion and University, which
converge in Concord place, we're crowd
ed with flower sellers offering their nose
gays and their flower starred wands and
clusters Of woven green, and their
wreaths Of daffodil and anemone and
apple blossom, with which the Athenian
burgess sportively crowas himself while
he eats his cold lamb and dandelion un.
der tree. In the carriage way, too,
the same sweet wares were hawked up
and down, in carts made May-like and
champetre for the occasion by the add.
tion of bowery till. Many of .he
smaller bourgeose made whole night
Of it in the gardens, singing their lit
tie repertoire of songs over and over
again till dawn; then home for brief
rest, aud back again to cat theii midday
meal among the flowers And thus
there are fewer feet in Athens to-day to
stir the thick dust which the lazy south
wind happily has not always strength to
lift alone. Otherwise Athens would be
almost uninhabitable; for in volume
and in finer ess, and in its aptitude for
working It's way into The pores Of the
skin, the dust of Athens surpasses even
that Of Cairo in March khamseen.
There ought to be no dust in Athens,
and yet, excepting perhaps its wonder
full dullness, its dustihsss is one Of its
most striking peculiarities The nunic-
ipality has no good water carts, very
few bad ones, and not enougi water to
keep even these at work so that the
powdered marble of the streets is never
at rest, and when there is q lively breeze
it is complete master of the situation.
There is plenty of water to be trapped
on Pente|icus, and in point of fact it
was so trapped in the days of Hadrian,
and was brought down to Athens in sub
terranean conduits. And the modern
Athenians made On attempt to initiate
their ancestors by an acqueduct above
ground to the same source of supply
but the Greek engineers had not had
much practice in laying down acqte-
ducts, and they got the Athens end
higher than the Prntelicns end, so chat
the water had to be propelled by pump,
and finally grew sick Of the whole busi
ness and stayed at Pentelicus. But now
they are going on safer plan the oil
conduits of Hadrian are being reopened
and restored, and it is believed that in
course Of time the ancient communica
tions may be ,re-estahlished. ,.ro
Except in it's water supply, Athens,
as well as its commercial suburb Piraus,
has made extraordinary progress in the
last half dozen years. The population !
hos increased to $4,000, and the increase
is apparent as well in the spreading Of
the city in every direction az in the |
greater movement in the streets, the i'm
provemenr in the shops an6 the increase
in the number and size Of the hotels. |
There are now nine frstrclass hotels in |
Athens, either new within the last six |
years or enlarged and rechristened; and |
the oldest of the group, in fact the only |
one which bore its present name fifteen
years ago, the Hotel des E,trangers, in |
Palace place, has annexed another house |
as large itself on the other side of the
street. These hotels can accommodate,
about 1000 people, and every one OF
them is full. A great proportion Of the
occupants are foreigners, others are
Greeks from the provinces or Greeks
from abroad living in hotel to watch
the completion of the splendid mansions
they are building ? r themselves. For
Of late years the Greeks, who have made !
their fortunes abroad, especially those
who have won their wealth in Turkey
and Egypt, are focking to Athens,
building costly hou,es, furnishing them
sumptuously and establishing themselves
as grande seigneure in what theyrocog,
nizeto be theirown country. This fact
shows that GreeL patriotism is kindling
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