The St. Johns herald., 1897-02-27
PICTURESQUE ATHENS.
The streets Are Made Brilliant b
 Marble Houses.

tSHOoI Nf,otO IeeID, Mount PentlllcuS (3,o4l feeO, with its regular triangular shape suggesting the pediment of temple, Is the most imposing: but the thyme-covered, honey-producing Hv mettus (3,36S feeO has always been most intimately associated with Athens. It lies nearer to the city. and from almost all the streets and all the windows looking eastward can be seen its curved line marking the blue sky above, except on the rare gray days. when clouds resting on it's top are an infallible sign of rain. The various hueS of the mountains and the smaller hills forming an inner circle around Athens, combined with the view of the sea, lend an additional effect of airiness and buOyancy to the aspect. In the long, straight streets of the new town from end to end, nothing impedes the view on either side.
 In praising Athens, we must not draw a veil over her defects. Such improve ments as are indispensable to modern city have not kept pace with her growth in extent and affiuence. The stages of this progress can be seen in the struc- tural inequalities even of continuous chronologically divided into three cate
 gories: those of the first settlers, when all were poor, and the main necessity
 was at any rate to be housed; those of the thrifty citizens, who felt the want of more space and greater convenience, but had little regard for external ap- pearance or interior comfort, and con- sidered carpets and plate-glass a lux ury, and even chimneys of small conse- quence; and those of the wealthy i'm migrants, who gave an impulse to the building of elegant houses among all who, thanks to increasing prosperity, could afford to initiate them.
 The proximity of the Quarries of Fly mettus and Pentelicus enables Athens to supply herself with a building ma terial which no other city could have at equal cost. Marble in itself an embel- lishment, is profusely used, and loses none of it's brilliancy in the dry atmos- phere, whose transparency makes pleasant to the eye even the light col Ors spread on the stone walls, which in other attitudes would hardly be bear able. The agreeable effect thus obtain ed is increased by the trees in some of the streets and squares, as well as in the gardens of the better class of houses. But Athens might and would be more verdant still were it not for the lack of abundant water. This want was felt in antiquity as well; to it may partly be ascribed the epidemics re- corded by ancient historians in times of war, when the number of inha bit ants was increased by those of the sur country seeking refuge within the walls.
 Antoninus Plus endowed Athens with a perfect system of water works. They consisted of subterranean galleries col lecting the waters of the neighboring mountains. To these old Roman aque- ducts, successively discovered, repair ed, and utilized, Athens still owes her scanty supply of water. Projects for increasing the supply are ever talked of-l,ut will be deferred so long as the municipal finances remain no better than the national. Meanwhile, the roads between the fine are hardly watered. This fact and the nature of the soil, noto- | rious for It's thinness since the days of account for the dust, | which Is the greatest blemish of | Athens. An English lady was heard | to admire the picturesqueness of its | clouds; but even were that | single representative of an optimistic l on a fine day, succeeding one | of rain, to see the town and the clear | outline of the distant mountains | through a dustless atmosphere, she | could not help regretting that the same effects are not artifcially attainable.
 On the whole, Athens will show to | pest advantage If visited after Con- and other towns in Turkey, | Us the standard of comparisons will be ,airer than that afforded by the great capitals of the West. It must not be forgotten that, if one of the most an ,ient, she is at the same time one of the newest among European towns; nor ought the long period of her decline ever to be lost sight of when compar- ng her with other towns. The traveller who, remembering that long period of Turkish sway, counts on receiving an Oriental impression from the aspect of Athens is doomed to disappointment. Even the national garb is fast diSap- jearing. It may still be worn by few lderly Athenians. These, and a peas mt here and there selling milk or heese, recall the day when their dress vas the national one. It is, however, he uniform of certain soldiers of light infantry, who may be seen parading he streets or mounting guard at the palace, in all the white splendOr of the ustanelle. The wide blue trousers of he Aegean islanders are not less rare, lOr is there much chance of seeing hem at the Piraeus, among the craft rom the various islands mOored along he quays. The uglier and cheaper product of the slop-shop has replaced he picturesque drapery of the olden ime. The monotony of the modern ostume is broken only by the priests with their long black robes and their eculiar hats-"Public Spirit in Mod rn Athens" by D. Bikelas, in Cen lry.
 Second Fiddle.
 Stylish maid,