Little Falls transcript., 1886-04-16
Town vithout Women.

Town without Women. .
I know = city il the United statesof
g over 80, 900 population where not one
vote was cast for Grover Cleveland, .,
IN here was thatt??' g. 81. Ss.=55s5
=a In w WAshingt on. = slS.
know q stranger place than that.
!! nav nave been to p town where there.
have been no Births nor marriages in
hundreds OF years, yet people live
chere and die" THE captain Of the
bark Malta crossed his legs, opened
and shut the blade Of penknife with
his thumb and fore6nger and compla-
Gently chewed tobacco. The Malta
arrived at New York from the Medi!'.
terranean recently with figs and Egyp-
tian onions. go. :, = "a Z
eyes, said Captain Baldwin, eve
ran up the west shore of the Hgean
Sea to Haggion Oros, meaning to the
Greeks holy mountain. It is q grand
pile OF rocks, rising c, 200 feet straight
out of the water, from the end OF a
narrow peninsula. What Gibraltar is
to the Mediterranean Haggion Oros is
to the Dardanelles. This peninsula
runs back from the mountain about
forty miles-grand coast-and aver
ages six miles WIDE It is Joined to
the larger Chalcedonian peninsula by
g narrow neck OF sand. They told me
there that Xerxes, the fellow who led
a million Of heather soldiers. cut q
canal through the sand at that point
for his vessels to sail through. There
is another mountain on the peninsula
Mount Athos. We had an Ohio
preacher and his daughter, passengers
from Alexandria, on board, and the
preacher told us about the peninsula
and town of Athos. .. :
"'Before Christendom,' said he, re-
cluses used to live at Mount Athos in
holes in the ground. The solemnity
inspired by the bare peak OF the mount
ain harm onized we'll with their minds,
bent on wild and mystic thoug hits.
So,' said he, after the new religion
came the place got to be a popular re-
sort for monks, who didn't want to
live with the rest of mankind; and
Greek monks have been going to that
peninsula ever since, until now, after
1000 or l,8OOyears they have formed
an ecclesiastical self government.
Under the Byzantine emperors the
monks were under no secular control
whatever, but now the Turkish govern.
ment keeps caimakan there. He
has no power, however. His duty is
only to observe the monks. The cal
makan has two zaptieths or soldiers,
for g. body guard, but they represent
the honor of his Office more than the
power. The community has it's own
police in the shape of squad of
Albanians. The monks govern them
selves by a council of representatives
over which the proteros, or president,
rules. He is called the First Man OF
Athos. The proteros can only be boss
for three months at q time. He then
resigns to the next eminent citizen until
the honor is shared by every man in
the council. !,
"They wouldn't let the preachers
daughter land. No woman is allowed,
on any pretense whatever, to set foot
In the territory. No female creature
OF any kind-cow, she goat, or mare,
or animal capable of giving birth to
to its kinds found there. Not even
hens are permitted in Athos. So there
have been no births, no marriages, no
love-makings, nor scandals there.
Just about as many Greek monks get
sick OF the world and go to Athos as
there are those who die. But what q
sanctimonious funeral a monk must
have there-priests for mourners,
hack-arivers, pail ll-bearers, grave dig
gers, and lookers-on."-New York Star.