Morning journal and courier., 1884-08-13


 ern Athens-ArchItectur Rail-
 roads of fGrecce-The Marble of Greece
 The Polytechnic, an Exceedingly
 Interesting Museum.
 ATHENS, July 20.
 To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER
 One balmy morning, the unmistakable
 prelude to scorching day, I reused myself
 from my bunk aboard the Egyptian steamer
 Fayoum, hastily dressed myself, and went
 out on deck with some trepidation to catch my first view of Greece. We were already within an hour of the famous port of this
 more famous capital, and right ahead I could
 see quite clump of large square houses and
 hotels. This would be Pireus, undoubtedly
 l was disappointed in finding it such a small city. was also disappointed in the general
 character of the country. There was the
 main land on the right, and the historic is lands of Egina and Salamis on the left; but l mainland and islands alike were dreary with l treeless hills. But where the commerce l of Greecea It must be at PirGeus if any I where, whereas I could not see single I steamer in front of this hypothetical Pireus ! Yet here were five big steamers coming to- I ward us, and manifestly they must have been
 
 l another now shooting out of the very land l apparently. In few minutes we had ar ] rived where could see the narrow strait that l leads into the Bay of Pireus, and now was
 no longer disappointed. The port was full of large ships, the town was made to look l lively by means of street cars and factories, and away in the distance I could see the 1 grand old Acropolis with it's glorious wealth 1 of desecrated religious art Doubtless the 1 town first seen had been the ancient Phale- 1 ron, where the harbor had been before Xer- xes sacked the Grecian capital. Yes, for now l I remembered that Themistocles when he re-
 built Athens had transferred the port to a se- | cluded and unseen bay, and Phaleron became l what 1t is to-day, summering resort.
 [ Entering boat I went ashore and proceed 1 ed at once to the railway depot Trains run l every half hour all day long between Pirseus
 and Athens, and the long trains are always 1 we1-flled. Ours was drawn by locomotive graced with the historic name of Ion, print ] ed tin Greek, although the road is really 1 English. A ride of fifteen minutes brought | me to the foot of Hermes street here, and soon afterwards was comfortably quartered | at one of these spacious hotels in the we'll 1 built modern city of Athens. The ruins of Athens have been written to death, and I 1 shall devote this letter to the consideration of other matters, less often touched upon by correspondents
 Yesterday was Sunday, and in the edge of evening I took walk which served to give me some ideas about modern Athens. The streets were thronged with gay promenaders, dressed almost exclusively in European" style. Only once in @ while did I catch a glimpse of the ancient Albanian or national Greek costume. It may now be said that Athens is purely European city. Street cars, some pulled by horses and some driven by steam, were loaded down with people bands of music played European airs i'll the Place du Royal, about the Kings Palace, and the chairs in the thousand cafes were nearly all occupied. Ipassed down an avenue lined with small pepper trees, peeping into big hippodrome, which is being built for revi- val of the old Olympic games, passed the ruins of the colossal Temple of Zeus, and found myself in the valley of the Ilissus, not far from the ancient stadium. Here were many theatres, all built upon one plan, stage with wings for scenery and dressing rooms, facing an amphitheatre of chairs un- der the trees. Here were also stands where trained birds were exhibited, fortunes were told and small boys invested money in petty lotteries. Here heard target-shoeting going on within an enclosure, while in those trees wonder athletes were swinging on trapezes. Verify, Paul should return to modern Athens and again utter those burning words of ex- hortation which he pronounced on Mars Hill. | So far as I can see, this Greek church impos- es nothing upon its members, and has lapsed \ far from the truth any nominal Chris tian church in the world to-day.
 Athens is regularly laid out, which is a re- lief to the Orient-surfeited tourist. The prosperity of the city, which contains per haps one hundred thousand people, is not owing to agricultural or mechanical industry, but to it's prestige a center of art and learning. There is the great Greek universi- ty here, the Arsakion, or girls seminary, the gymnasia, and our American Archaeological society, which last year had but three stu dents. Now all these institutions are closed, and as it is not the tourist season, Athens is ] said to be ''dull.' The English speaking residents are few in number, and were it not 1 for the society of Major Dane, our well known ! American lecturer, who is studying here, I | should ignominiously pack up and declare 1 Athens ''done.''
 The impetus which Athens has enjoyed of | late years has been due to the return of ! wealthy Greeks from Asia Minor and the is | lands of the intervening archipelago There l has been an important movement to restore l the lost glory of the ancient Grecian capital. | Considerable has been attained in this way, every traveller will see. Every palace that ! has been put up is plain and classic-almost | severe in it's plainness; but the material save l in the case of the French quarter, is usually | the best Pentelic marble. Do not imagine ! that the effect is gorgeous. It is quite diff l ferent because of the simplicity exhibited in 1 the architecture But I am growing more and more attached to the place for this req son, and doubtless so will any traveller who 1 stays long enough Elaboration and gaudi- | ness of finish would seem like proclamation in such place. Even Apollo and Athena have l returned, as you will admit when you pass down the University street and gaze across at the new academy. There the twain tute lary deities stand at the top of immense mar ble columns Are you disappointed in the l academy, and do you refuse to believe that Baron Sena, the donor, expended two million dollars upon it! Then that is because you have not yet become Greekized By and by you will be in sympathy with that exquisite Doric pile, and will think it gem of E'purest ay serene" You will love it all the more because it is not lofty or imposing You 1 will wonder why it almost escaped your mo- tice at first because it was not equipped with domes, pinnacles, towers and decoration ad nauseana.
 Marble is everywhere. Blocks, ancient and modern, lie in the gutters, and even some of the least pretentious stores have marble fronts.
 In a previous letter believe ventured the theory, from what had seen of the Greeks in the Levant that they were at least on the political up grade. I am more and more per suaded that that was not mistaken infer 1 ence. believe the present kingdom con tains something over one million and 8 half of people. The army is said to number twenty-five thousand men, and I should judge that it did from the number of soldiers 1 on the streets always. The troops are re- specially clad and housed and like their looks. With the accession of the son of King George regular Greek dynasty will be begun. All seems to be quiet at present, and there is a national esprit de corps that augurs well for the future
 Like nearly all the Levantine countries, Greece is tolerably fertile, but practically un- developed. The introduction of two things would conduce greatly to material prosperi- ty; the American agricultural system and the iron horse. The dawn of the railroad-build- IS have found to my surprise. propose to write something on this particular subject. Two obstacles, it appears to me, lie in the way of the railway builders; the mountain 1us nature of the country and it's present un- The latter is the paramount obstacle. Doubtless one way to stimulate 1