Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1896-06-06
OUR BOYS IN ATHENS.

rbe Stars and Stripes at the Post of Honor
Brilliant Compliments to Americans.
The triumphs of the 'sbarbarians" in
the Olympic games are in general gall
lantly recognized by the spectators At
the entrance of the stadium there is a
6agpole, at the foot of which the num-
Der of the victor is recorded at the close
of each contest, and at the top of which
the flag of his country is raised. This
is an ingenious idea, which clearly
marks the international character of the
games In turn the colors of all the
great European nations have fioated
from this high post of honor; but .he
flag that has appeared there most fire.
quently was the starry banner of the
United States. And this is perfectly
natural, because the Americans were
the first to become enthusiastic over
the Olympic games, and they were the
only people who never had a doubt OF
their success.
The two teams which they sent to
Athens displayed from the very COM
mencement their athletic value, and es-
pecially the superiority of their train
ing. The astonished Athenians sus-
pected that they were professionals
They could not imagine that the young
| men with muscles so docile were stu
dents, eager to return to their studies.
while modestly delighted at the
thought that they have heightened the
prestige of their universities.
When the American flag is unfurled
in the stadium, extraordinary scenes
are enacted Above, on the highest
rows, sailors jump up, wave their caps
and cheer in the widest fashion. They
are the crews of the federal cruiser San
E'ran nd hell he fa
nous souterrain where to-day, as in the
days of old, the athletes enter and come
out, there is a group that makes the
most unearthly noise. This group is
made up of the members of American
teams and their friends of the Amer
lean school at Athens, who greet the
champion with the rallying cry of his
club or of his college. Each transat-
lantic association has distinctive cry,
formed for the most part by the syl-
tables of its name or by its initials,
which are shouted out in measured
time. Sailors and students join in
these cries, moved by the same outburst
of enthusiastic patriotism. At first the
spectators laugh, but finally they APP
plaud, because they find that the Joy is
sincere, and that the enthusiasm of
youth runs all through these discordant
manifestations.
The Olympic games do not consti-
tute the first contact between Amer
lea and Greece. There are other ties
between them and distant lands besides
those of the Cook tickets and the globe
trotters. Americans, more perhaps
than Europeans, look upon a pilgrim
age to the Acropolis as the supreme sat
isfaction of every man of culture, and
! they regard it as the most abundant
source of mental Improvement. They
are not imprisoned like under the
ruins of the Roman empire, heavy
| and SO complicated. They understand
more easily the aerial organization of
| that ancient democracy of which their
| own presents more than one of resem-
blance. Under the impulse of this inn
preston, they have founded in Athens a
school of archaeology. This is thing
which is little known outside of Greece;
and even here in Greece they do not APP
pear to appreciate its far-reaching inn
portance. The American colony estab
| lished on the slopes of the Lykabettos.
sustained by the voluntary contribu-
| lions of American citizens, and devoted
solely to science, opens up to the future
| of the United States infinite perspec-
| tives.-Journal des Debats.