The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1897-08-19
SEEMS lu GREECE.

&5-eece is not ali Athens, and the
peas snt ID the country village ii a.
very interesting person. What you
note about him most is that he does
nothing. Day after day nav3 we
walked over the country sand found
him standing or sitting about idle.
This used to bea surprise, bat we
were. always told that it was holi.
day. 1t always is A. holiday on
saints day, and there are many
saints days in the Greek calendar.
How the land gets. cultivated at all
is a marvel, but it does somehow.
There are no Enclosures, or very
few. You are walking along inno-
Gently and suddenly find yourself
striding oyer vine furrows. At
first you think you are trespass-
ing and try, to go around, but
.aalittle experience makes you bold,
and you find that you are doing
quite the right thing. You may be
attacked by dog, but that is not
because you are off the path, but
because you are a human being.
s The Greek dog is a marvellous
pSast We have vivid recollections
NJ him. His one principle is that
Azp is his natural foe, and he
takes every opportunity of putting
al : principle into practice. He gem
Tally appears from nowhere and
vsges for you. You must get rid
,,>sdim quickly or he will call to his
.ybrethren seven times worse than
&elf and get rid of you. You
IS rally begin by shying stones.
6seAare alwaysat hand in Greece
Tayidence, 1 suppose, never gives
evil without corresponding an
IT,. This may drive him off if
~ alone and not very bold. If it
lesn't, you must adopt more vigor-
Oils measures. Don't shoot him, be-
catise there is superstition that he
has an owner, and that owner will
probably turn up at the critical mo-
ment and shoot you. But you may
stab him if you happen to be carry
ing large enough knife and have
the skill to use it, or you may brain
him with your walking stick if it
be heavy enough. If these fail,
there is said to be one remedy left.
You may sit still, and he, too, will
sit still and look at you. This is
said to be infallible, but we never
had the courage to try it. 1t is no
doubt an. extremely comfortable
feeling to be seated in the center of
a circle of canine admirers, but it
would be apt to pail after time,
and Greece is not SO thickly popu-
lated that you can depend on a res
cue arriving within an hour, or
day either.
If you pass through the perils of
the way and reach the village in
safety, you will, of course, go to
the inn, cafe, what you will. Here
are all the men of the place, talk
ing, laughing, driving away cares
which never come to them. The
prevailing costume is the long, gray
cloak of the shepherd, the most pic
turesque garment in Greece. These
men will stare at you perhaps a lit
tie, but they will make you well
come. They will all talk to you in
their own tongue, and you will an
swer in yours. 1t does not matter
bit that neither understands the
other. Both parties will be equally
pleased, We remember once meet
ing an old shepherd on the Slopes of
Hymettus. He stopped and entered
into long conversation. What it
was about we do not know, but he
seemed we'll pleased, and after
about 20 minutes we wished him
good night in the only words of his
language that we knew. You will
probably meet the village priest
too. He is only peasant like the
rest, but he is recognized as a su-
perior being on Sundays. Then if
you are thirsty you drink krasi, the
wine of the country, very mild and
very like sealing wax. At first you
will hate it, but after you have got
accustomed to it you will prefer it
to champagne, or you may drink
"mastich" if you merely want to
be sociable. If you are wise, you
will eat bread and honey, real Hy-
mettus honey, which the whole
world cannot beat. And then you
will get up and go home, feeling
that there is no one you have met
like the Greek peasant. Pail Mall
Gazette.