Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1894-05-18
NO EARTHQUAKE YET.
Doctor Porter In Greece, and Writes,
But Before the Late Earth
quake.
Firemen Getting In Shape To Make
a Lively Contest at the Com
ing Tournament.
A Brief Mention To Prove That Ad-
vertising Is Always Of Great
Benefit.

ATHENS, Greece, April 25.-Have been
in Athens four days, and will remain
here a day or two longer, and then take
steamer for Brindisi. Our trip from
Constantinople was simply delightful.
We we're on the large French steamer
Senegal" the weather was perfect and
the water smooth, and we we're among
the islands of the Grecian archipelago,
or near the coast of Greece all the time,
80 that the trip was as pleasant as it pos
sibly could be. Every spot of ground
was of historic interest and beautiful
withal. w.
We were fortunate to get away from
Co%nstantinople just as we did for the
reason that a quarantine has been estab-
lished since we left, and lots of Ameri-
can travellers are kicking themselves for
going to and remaining too long in Con-
stantinople.
We avoided all but twenty-four hours
quarantine by taking steamer from Con-
stantinople to Smyrna, then changing to
the French line, and going back to
Thessalonica, then to the seaport town
of Athens, Piracus, which is six miles
away and where we were held up for
the twenty-four hours.
All the hotels and steamers are
crowded, and so many of them Ameri-
cans-Americans everywhere. Our
party is gradually breaking up and 1
will soon be left alone, and travelling on
my own hook again. I do not like to see
them go. having enjoyed their company
since January LIST. We have formed
friendship and ties which are hard to
part. Three of the party left us at Con-
stantinople, four more left this morning
for Paris, and another goes tomorrow.
Athens is a beautiful, clean, white
city, located in a valley, with a popula-
ton of $4,000 or 10000. The whole pop
ulation of Greece is less than that Of the
cities of New York and Brooklyn, but
she has an army of fighters considerably
larger than that of the United States,
viz. over 10000 strong. They do not ap-
pear, however, to be made of the same
stuff as the Athenians who drew up in
line to fight King Darius of Persia with
more than 100000 men; but contrary to
all expectations, the Athenians totally
defeated the Persian army, although
fifteen times larger than their own.
The museum here contains treasures
which are the finest in the world,
although such vast quantities have been
sent to other counties. DR.. Schlie-
mann's (now dead) house is n of the
finest in Athens, white marble and
richly adorned with paintings snd
sculptures. You will remember he is
the person who had been devoting years
of his life to locating, studying and dig
cling up the treasures which have so
long been buried and lost. Other par
ties are still carrying or the work, and
we saw them still %excavating where new
discoveries are being made every day.
The visit to the Acropolis is we'll worth
a trip to Athens. Built on a solid rock,
it is several hundred feet IN height, and
although a ruin, enough still stands to
give a good idea of it's former greatness
and exquisite grandeur. Some of the
most delicate carving over and around
the doors looks just like lace work. The
whole temple was made of E%leusinian
and Pentelic marble. In the Parthenon
stood the gold and ivory statute Of
Athene Parthenos, forty-seven feet in
height, the most admired work of
Phidias. The nude portions were of
ivory and the rest of the statute and the
removable mantle were Of solid gold.
We visited the temple of Victory and
Minevaa, the theater of Bacchus, Mars
Hill, etc. The temple Of Jupiter,
Olympus or Zeus, the Pnyx which is the
place where the Athenians held their
political meetings, and the exact spot
where the citizens listened to the stir
ing %eloquence of a Pericles and a
Demosthenes. The Kings palace is only
one block from our hotel-a few blocks
further is a large rock called Mount
Sycabettus, 948 feet high, on the top of
which is a very small church. The
proper thing to do is to climb this
mountain, and of course I tackled it.
a good climb I can tell you, up a rough,
steep winding road. At the top I found
a neat little church, a dirty old Monk
and a sick cat and one stunted olive
tree. The Monk was pouring olive oil
into the cat, but he let her go when he
saw me and was very polite-handed me
a chair-held out his greasy paw-and
we shook. He talked Greece and ]
talked United States for about half an
hour, neither of us understanding 6
word the other said. We had a very
animated conversation and finally be
pulled out a bottle of %benedictlne and We
both smiled and I handed him a franc
and started down the hill again.
H. r. PORTER.
35 Complete Novels
Neatly bound and a years subscription