Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-02-14
\ Club that Can Talk Greek.


Seventeen years ago, the Rev. James
fraser. now Bishop of Manchester. Eng
land, spoke in a report to Parliament Of "a
charming little society of about a dozen
gentlemen. gathered from the most mis-
cellaneOus walks in life, who met weekly
in New York to read a play of Aristo-
phanes, or a dialogue OF Plato, one of
whose ROcteS cGRGqUe I was permitted to
iOin." This ''charming little society met
the other night to celebrate the twenty
nth anniversary of its foundation. 1t
was December -. the anniversary of the
landing of the Pilgrims, and the New
England Society We're talking Choetaw
half a mile away, when these dozen gen.
tiemen, with as many more friends and
past members-Veteran Greeks-Sat down
at an Italian restaurant. with a French
menu. to Germa~ wines and English
roots, to discuss-well. say their ljOth
dinner. They were all radicals of the true
pattern. who went to the root of the mat
fer. whether the root was COptic. Hebrew
or Hellenic. There were among them
scholars quite capable of interviewing
Arab PaSha or the khediye Of Egypt in
his own tongue. or disputing in Syriac
II Baireuth, or of jogging Schliemann's
memory about the cOrselet AgamemnOn
wore when Cyltemmestra administered the
fatal kiss. There were EgyptOlOgists,
psychologists, photographers; but there
we're also plain teachers, lawyers, mer-
chants and MayOrs-''Ornery cusseS,"
who could still read Greek and eat
Greek; and if here are leXicOns dis
tTibUted up and down the table. it
was not observed that they We're used. At
Tic wit and Attic wines circulated instead.
and il was found that a Plat0nic idea"
would curl up as prettily in the smoke
Of a Guiana or SyTiac root spTOut as well
- under the gentle stimulus of Rhenish
ffl
under the inspiring flow of Puritan apOlli-
uaris. These twenty-eight gentlemen.
with their confusion of tongues. who sat
down at Martinelli's ut : o'clock and got
mp at II. made their due proportion of
good English jokes; and they were not
'-tOngUe-tied,' for they made exactly
thirtv-three speeches. While some Of the
speeches We're versitied. and all diversi-
fed, none were in the Homeric heXame-
ter; and the only scanning done was by
the grim walters. who wondered If the
ancient Greek appetite was as cOmforta-
blv equal to an AriStOphanic compound
.iish a that of modern Greek"
When eX-ChancellOr Howard Crosby re-
cited the rhymed annals of the first
gUaTter-century Of the clubs life. and the
senior professor Of Columbia College
r0ared out an Attic laugh from the other
end Of the table, and the young Mayor Of
Brooklyn. who sat by him. smiled the
rosy smile of youth, even the grim wait
ers could see the joke. And when Prof.
Drisler- the informal President. proclaim
ell the infOrmality Of the club and its
whole proceedings, and, in. an informal
Way- called for informal speeches and
elected thirty-three of them, and scarcely
a member reported himself ''unprepared."
the spinal columns in the corner relaxed,
and il was found necessary to warn the
speaker not to be ''as funny as
they could" Altogether. the study Of
Greek. ETC.. at Martinelli's on FOrefath-
er's day was found to have its attractions,
and the ''charming little society" Of the
Bishop of Manchester was discovered to
he equally at home in the philosophy of
EpicuTuS, of Aristotle, Of AristOphaneS.
and to have added TO the ten original Attic
orators more than as many more. Four Of
the founders of the club who have fol-
lowed its fortunes from the beginning
were present. At least eight of those
whose HecteS cgHRqUe the English Parlia-
mentary Commissioner looked in upon
seventeen years ago were at the. table.
With these, or besides these, were repre-
sentatiyes from theGreek faculties OfJOhns
Hopkins University, of Rutgers, of Brown
and Of the three city colleges. The present
membership of the club includes the Rev.
-Drs. Howard Crosby and Talbot w. Cham
BerS. both of the Bible revision committee;
Prof Henry Drisler and Charlton T.
Lewis, of the Greek and Latin dictiOn-
aries: William p. Prentice and F. Cope
WhitehOuse, who, with Mr.. Lewis. repre-
sent the law; Robert b. Mintun and
Mayor Seth Low, from the business world
and politics; Prof. j. w. Barrow, j. Over
hiser, one of the founders, ID. S. EversOn,
James III. Morse, A. ID. Savage, Ernest
Sihler and Mr.. Simmons.
1t is worth while to note the existence
and staying-pOwer of such club in a city
which is said to be the largest Irish city
in the world, and in a country whereof
the same intelligent Bishop, after pro-
tracted study of our educational institu-
tiOns and a wide acquaintance with our
educated men, could say: Il do not re-
member an instance outside of this So
ciety) in which even a remote allusiOn
led me to suppose that he with whom ]
was cOnyersing, or to whom l was listen
inc. was familiar with the higher litera-
tIIre of Greece and ROme.'