Evening star., 1897-02-27

street cars will talk politics with you. and
the politician has to do the same hand
shaking in Greece that he does in the
United States. All of the elections are held
upon Sunday, and curiously enough the
poiis are in the churches. In Athens you
nave to go to the Cathedral to do your vot-
ing. ihe voters are all registered, and the
eiecuons are watched much more care
1uily In Greece than they are here Every
car didate watches his cwn box, for there
Is ballot box for each candidate. He does
NOT 40 1t In person. but has Judge
appointed in each district to take his place.
Inc ballot boxes are arranged in row
along one side OF the church. They are
SO hxed that only one man can pass
foot square. In it's top there is a
pipe, the hole In which is just large
enough to admit the arm of a man. This
pipe runs down Though the middle of .he
vides the box in half. One side of the box
Is for affirmative ballots and the other for
negative. The ballots are buckshot, and
the voter having put his hand down into
the candidate as he pleases without the
possibility Of any one knowing how he
voted Each voter is given only as many
buckshot as there are candidates, and each
Judge can see that he has but one ballot
IN his hand before he puts it in the box.
Ihere are few election frauds in Greece.
1t Is almost impossible to stuff a ballot
box, and in case the bullets in the boxes
do not correspond with the registration at
the entrances the whole vote is thrown out.
Enterprising Athenians.
When 1 started for Greece 1 expected to
find there a nation gone to seed. changed
my mind when 1 reached Athens. The
Athens of today is a modern city. 1t has
wide streets paved with cobblestones, and
its houses ARE much like the three and
four-story flats of some parts of Paris. It's
people dress as we do. There are carriages
with liveried coachmen and there is as
much style in Athens as in any part of
Europe. The better classes of the modern
Greeks have as good homes as people of
the same class in the United States. They
are well dressed and well educated. The
most Of them speak half a dozen different
languages, though French is the society
language of the Greek capital. 1 had cab
drivers who could speak English, French
and Greek, and at one of the theaters dur
ing my stay they were presenting an Italian
play. There is an Athens University which
has nearly 1900 students and which has
9S professors. Here the young Greek gets
thorough classical education, and he can,
If he wishes, add to it course in law,
medicine, theology or philosophy. There
are, in addition to this, thirty-three other
colleges In Greece, containing nearly 1900
students. The kingdom has system of
common schools at which attendance is
compulsory. There are also a number of
private schools, and in Athens l found a
fine polytechnic institute and an academy
of science, several good libraries and a
large national museum. There was also a
girls college. which contained 800 students,
and there are girls schools in many parts
of Greece.
Land of Railroads and Telephones.
rode from Athens down 10 the seacoast
on steam tramway, and took excursions
out into the country on street cars. 1t
seemed strange to me in coming to Athens
by carriage from the sea, passing over the
road upon which Solon and Aesop perhaps
walked, to be turned out of the way by a
steam stone crusher, which was macadam-
iZng the road. l teephoned q number of
times during my stay in Athens, and at
night as l walked about under the electric
lights l wonder ed how Diogenes would look
If with his lantern he should again here
seek for an honest man. The Greeks have
as good postal service as you will find
anywhere There are many book stores,
and the displays of goods in the store
windows are quite as fine as those of any
American city Of the same size.
Don't Like Farming.
AS for the business of the people, the
pure Greek does not take to agriculture.
There are fewer farmers among the Greek
nation than among any other The most
of the people are in mercantile business,
In the professions. or in shipping. They are
natural sailors. and Greece probably has
more ships In proportion to its size than
any other nation in the world. They Lave
quite good little navy, some of the vessels
being armed with krupp guns. They have
seventeen torpedo boats each over eighty
six feet in length; a dozen gunboats, three
frst-class cruisers, and other vessels
enough to make thcm quite formidable
enemy for Turkey. In addition to these,
Greece has about three thousand sailing
vessels and six thousand coastng vessels.
which trade with all parts of the Medter-
ranean Prince George. the second son of
Ia hn
as sailor. He has frightened his
men number Of times by his dar-
ing ways Of moving naval vessels
about. Not long ago he was in command
OF gunboat which was coming into the
Piraeus. AS the boat neared the harbor it
was found that there was large fleet of
fishing vessels at anchor there 1t is usual
under such circumstances, to slow down to
half speed, but Prince George insisted on
going ahead as fast as the ship would go
He took the wheel himself, and with the
utmost dexterity guided the gunboat
through the narrow passages between the
vessels without even fouling a cable while
the officers and men looked on with min
gled alarm and admiration
Prince George Is now twenty-seven years
old. He Is more than six feet in height
ana is brave to the extreme. 1t is probab BILE
that he would like nothing better than a
naval battle with the Turks, and the
probability is that he would come out
ahead.
me repairing OF the ParthenOu
King George has done a great deal to re-
store the old ruins of Greece. Some ex-
cavations were made at the Parthenon
during my visit and the king himself
washed off some of the marble stat
ues which were found. He is interested
now in having the Parthenon repaired and
the day may yet come when we will be
able to look upon this great structure as
1t was In the time of Socrates. 1t seemed
to me, however, most impressive in its
ruins. 1t stands on the top of the
Acropolis. which is on the very edge
of the new Athens. The modern houses
of the city climb up from the base
of its sides. 1t is steep rocky hill
which rises straight up from the plain on
which Athens is built to a height Of about
200 feet. 1t looks much like great rock of
rosy red marble with here and there a bit
of grass or blood red poppy peeping out
of its crevices. The plateau upon the top
of the Acropolis contains, I judge, about
ten acres, and upon it is the Parthenon,
You have seen pictures Of 1t. They do
not give you much idea Of its beauty. I'M
agine forest of great marble columns
standing upon round marble floor the
area of which is almost an acre. Let each
column be as big around as the largest
cart wheel you have ever seen and let it
rise upWa rdS for thirty three feet In a