The midland journal., 1896-06-12
OUR BOYS IN ATHENS.
The Stars and Stripes at the Post of Honor
brilliant Compliment to Americans.

OOUPAAuSht W fAuASIASAhos
The triumphs of the 'barbarians" in
the Olympic games are in general gal
lantly recognized by the spectators. AT
the entrance of the stadium there Is q
fagpole, 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 On ingenious idea, which clearly
marks the international character of the
games In turn the colors of all the
great European nations have foated
from this high post of honor; but the
flag that has appeared there most fre-
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 tho
only people who never had 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
Francisco. And below, near the 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-
lantio 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 ap-
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
tea 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 pilgrim-
age to the Acropolis as the supreme sat
isfaction of every man of culture, and
they regard 1t 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
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 i'm
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 ap-
pear to appreciate its far-reaching i'm
portance. The American colony estab-
lished on the slopes of the Lykabettos,
sustained by the voluntary contribu'
tions of American citizens, and devoted
solely to science, opens up to the future
of the United States infinite perspec-
tives.-Journal des Debats.