, 1890-05-08

first set. Then the men, who, with
the poet himself, hal fought Mt
Salamls only seven years before,
could look forth from this huge
umpltheatcr almost upon the field
of their great victory while they
heard Its story told In Eschylus'
majestic verse.
Go where you will the same inn
preston masters you; 1t can not be
shaken OIL. Heaven and earth and
man conspire to make old Greece
what she was-radiant In beauty,
supreme In art, sublime In action.
Tho senior partners are still benign
and fair. II man be less majestic
perhaps the Roman and the Turk
and af other miscreants of misrule
that darkoncd the ages Intervening
may suggest the reason why. For
my own part, 1t Is not the degcnera-
iion of Greece that marvel at, but
her regeneration. For let IL not
be forgotten that this free kingdom
sllttle more than half ny old as our
own republic, strictly 1t does not
antedate the present reign. The
heroes of her war of Independence,
many of them still linger on the
stage. From Marathon to Mcso-
longhi, from the first route of the
Persian invader TO the final expul-
sion of
THE UNsPEAlSAB TURK,
Is stretch of twenty-three centur-
les and the heroic age Of Hellenic
history carries us ut least seven
centuries back of Marathon. Here
there is a race with continuous
history in the same seats of more
than thirty centuries. This very
Acropolis was Athena's sanctuary
when Homer surg and even then
Mycene was an ancient city. This
race persistence Is unique. The
Greek alone, Of all the Ayran stock,
has maintained his ground, his
blood and his language from the
very dawn of history 10 this present
hour, and his race vitality bids fair
to carry him an undiluted Greek
through thirty cen turies more. At
least now that he has survived for
seventy generations the successive
conque ts of Macedonia, Roman.
Goth, Vnndal, Frank, Venetian and
Turk, and stands to-day Greek
master of ftre Greece, one can hard
ly conceive Of political conditions
that could crush or de.Iiellenize
him.
repeat, II Is not the degenem-
tion Of Greece that needs to be ac-
counted for, but her regeneration.
sixty years ago an apparently help
less vessel, sne IL now among the
finest nations of theearth. Athens,
then u squalld oriental village, Is
now one of the fai rest of European
capitals. The country Is indeed
appears to be less want. Agrlcul-
ture IL indeed backward because
land Is In excess OF population and
the pensantry In large part still tend
their ilocks or dress the olive and
the vine, yet to-day is gaining on
antiquity. Several railways are In
operation and new aud longer ones
are building. The telegraph has
taken the place Of the fire signals,
which flashed from peak to peak the
fall of Troy; the electric light has
driven out the torch; manufactures
are developing; education Is uni
versal; the expenditure of printers
Ink in enormous, and the Athenian
press Is the most on tspoken In christ
endom; while the society of this
capital for refinement and distinc-
tion can hardly be outdono In Eu-
rope. AS have intimattd
GREECE PLAYS THE spHYNN
with one who behOlds her after
long years of loving expectation.
Even the breezy globetIottcr lowers
his voice, If he does not quite drop
/ for moment. For myself | am
only now, after nearly slX months
residence, beginning to feel that |
may speak out loud In the great
audience afforded me by the Bee.
And even yet II Ia a hard pull 10 get
out of the atmosphere Of the old
rhapsodist into that of the modern
newspaper. But know the audi.
ence and in their number | could
call long roll OF enthusiastic spirits
whose fellow-fcel would give me
an easy verdict if taken IN this fault.
For have | not conmuncd with
them in every corner Of Nebraska,
not In fine mansions and aspiring
colleges alone, hut in homes aud
schools reared without sound oI
hammer or saw because plow aud
spade answered every purpose? The
dollhouse passes away and with II
Nebraska's heroic age, but 10
pioneer generation has more in com
mon with heroic Greece than ono
might think. 1t Is the men aud
women, the boys and girls, now
shaping great free commonwealth
In Nebraska, that ] shall have In
mind as | try to sketch some feature,
of this Greek land and life. And
hope to do this in such way as /,
continue, even AT this long range
my work a. Nebraska teacher.
/ IEVINU A. MASATr