Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1896-05-14
AMERICAN BOYS IN ATHENS.
Tho ssars and sstrlpes ut the Post @
Honor.

(Athens correspondence of the Paris Jour
nal des Debats)
The triumph of the "barbarans" in the
Olympic games are in general galantly
recognized by the spectators. AT the en-
trance of the stadium there is a nagpole,
at tho foot of which the number of the
victor Is recorded at the close Of each con-
test, and at the top of which the Stag of
his country is raised. This is an ingenious
idea, which clearly marks the internation-
al character of the games In turn the
colors of all the great European nations
have noatcd from this high post of honor;
but the flag that has appeared there most
frequently was the starry banner of the
United States. And this is perfectly ma
tural because the Americans were the first
to become enthusiastic over the Olympic
games. and they wore the only people who
never had doubt of their success.
The two teams which they sent to Attn
ems displayed from the very commence
ment their athletic value, and especially
the superiority of their training. The as-
tonished Athenians suspected that they
were professionals. They could not imag
Inc that the young mon with muscles so
docile were students. eager 10 return to
their studies, while modestly delighted at
tho thought that they have heightened
the prestige of their universities.
When the American flag is unfurled in
the stadium. extraordinary scenes are en-
acted. Above, on the highest rows. sailors
jump up. wave their caps, and cheer in the
widest fashion. They are the crew of
the federal cruiser San Francisco. And
below. near the famous soutcrran where
to-day, as in the days of old, the athletes
enter and come out, there Is n group that
makes tho most unearthly noise. This
group is made up of the members of AM
erican teams and their friends of the AM
erican school at Athens who greet the
champion with the rallying cry of his club
or of his college. Each transatlantic as
ISOLATION has n distinctive cry, formed for
the most part by the syllables of its name
or by It's initials, which are shouted out
| in measured time. Sailors and students
| join in these cries, moved by the same
| outburst of enthusiastic patritism. At
! first the spectators laugh, but they finally
| applaud because they find that the JOY Is
sincere, and that the enthusiasm of youth
runs all through these discordant mani
! festations.
| The Olympic games do not constitute
| the first contact between American and
| Greece, There are other ties between
| them and distant land besides those OF
tho Cook tickets and of the globe trotters
Americans, more perhaps than Europeans
| look upon a pilgrimage to the Acropolis
| as the supreme satisfaction of every man
OF culture, and they regard it as the most
abundant source of mental improvement
! They are not imprisoned like us under
| the ruins of the Roman empire. so heavy
and so complicated. They understand
moro easily the aerial organization of that
| ancient democracy with which their owr
presents more than one resemblance. I'm
der the impulse of this impression they
have founded in Athens a school of arch
aeoloGy. This is a thing which is LITTLE
! known outside of Greece: and even here