Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1889-10-16

in Greoian history from the faot that near
the spot complete victory was achieved
over the Turks in one of their earlier cam
paigns. Mount Parnassus lifts its lofty and
classical brow with seeming pride as our
train glides on to its destination.
At one of the numerous stations We see
for the first time wine in skin bottles. Then
the biblical illusion concerning putting new
wine into old bottles comes again to mind.
We passed through the celebrated currant
region, where annually large quantities Of
the dried fruit are shipped to America and
elsewhere. The currants are packed in
hogsheads for shipment. As we passed men
were standing in the half filled casks stanp-
ing energetically with their heavy shoes to
make room for more currants then being
brought to them. The ladies of our party
contemplated the spectacle with evident dis
gust, and declared that henceforth the dried
fruit used by them should be washed more
carefully than ever.
1t was long ride to Athens. In order to
catch the train we went without our break
fast, save roll and bunch of luscious
grapes procured near the depot. A royal
and substantial meal, ordered by telegraph
by our thoughtful tourist conductor, awaited
us ut one p. m. at an intermediate point,
however. Small armies have frequently won
great victories; at least it was 30 in this in
stance, as our hungry party made vigorous
onslaught on the toothsome viands placed
before us. Not even single small sbasket
of fragments" remained at the close of that
meal, much less twelve as recorded in the
Modern Athens is an attractive place. Fine
marble buildings, broad drives and side
walks, horse railroads, with all the conven-
iences of modern times, render 1t the delight
of the average tourist. To be sure some
drawbacks existed. It was the dry season
ov,6 kho VII oy,1 - lad MI 20
dust ground by attrition from the stones of
the street. Vegetation seemed nearly ex-
tinct. No grass-green lawns or fields of YER
dure, and like much of southern Europe, no
forests.
Continental Greek is the chief language
spoken, with sprinkling of English, Ger
man and French. The university at Athens
has fourteen hundred students, nearly all of
whom come from Greece. A high school
also exists, which has good reputation.
A professor in a Connecticut college de-
lights to tell the following incident: Enter
ing eafe, he called for canned corned beef
in his best Greek, he being recognized
scholar. Large quantities of the meat is i'm
ported from the United States. The waiter
said, apologetically, in Continental Greek:
Eve have no canned corned beef, but we
have some canned'-then pausing q little to
show that he knew at least one werd in Eng
lish-he repeated, "but we have some canned
language" meaning tongue, the Greek word
for tongue and language being identical.
Much to the regret of many tourists, the
Acropolis and other classical ruins in Athens
are fast crumbling to decay. Some effort
must be made by the government or archaeo-
logical societies to conserve and restore them
for futnre generations, OF it will be too late.
Huge blocks of finely chiseled marbles, bear
ing important Greek Inscriptions, lie outside
the walls of the Acropolis, hopelessly shat
tered. How sad are all the surroundings
Where sages, philosophers, scholars, war
riors and statesmen assembled, few strag-
Cling goats could be seen as went at the
dawn of day to gee the sun rise. A few Gre
clan tramps, who had spent the night amid
the mighty columns, crawled forth at my ap-
proaeh. Sic transit gloria mundi. What
thoughts come to our mind, rejecting as we
do that we are in the land of Homer, Socra-
tes, Xenophon, Galen, Alcibiades and other
famons men of by-gone ages.
At five p. m. Sunday, September 22d, q
religious service was conducted on Mars
Hill. Professor D. R. Dungeon, the Rev. DR..
W. Porteus, the Rev. DR.. Stone, of Hart
ford, and others took part. The retiring
American consul vas also present, the Hon.
Mr.. Moffat, of New Jersey. He returns to
America this week. NATHAN HUBBELL.