Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1899-10-26
fAthens Letter

After leaving the Orient the Ameri
can traveller is disappointed when he
reaches Athens. The carriage road
from Piraeus (where he lands) to
Athens is usually very dusty, and the
city itself Is too densely modern. He
sees most of the men wearing our sort
OF shoes, conventional trousers and
coats and modern hats, and longs to
catch sight of group OF Arabs dressed
in red slippers, long, flowing, fancy
gowns and turbans. True. he sees the
pretty faces of the Greek women; yet
these do not have the same occult
charm for him as do the mysterious
creatures who wander through the
streets of Cairo all clothed in black,
showing him nothing but pretty pairs
of eyes, shining coquettishly above the
somber wells which hide their faces.
The shop windows are like those he
/ sees at home, and ordinary street cars
jog along the avenues.
Many public buildings in Athens
have been erected at the personal ex-
pense Of wealthy Greeks living il for
eign lands. A stranger can always find
the citizens of Athens roaming around
the old ruins, admiring them more
than tourists do, and he cannot con-
verse with them long before they speak
in praise of their ancient poets and
philosophers.
Americans will be most interested in
the Stadium, for here in 1895 our col
lege athletes carried away nearly all of
the laurels. The Stadium is a vast,
uncovered amphitheater built in the
side of hill, and was capable of seat
ing $4,000 people. 1t would resemble
the three-ring part of Barnum's show
If 1t had no cover Lycurgus 1890 B.
CD planned it, and Herodes Atticus, to
finish 1t, almost exhausted the quar-
ries of Mount Pentellicon. In the Dark
Ages the barbarians, who overran
Greece, tore from the amphitheater the
marble seats which extended from the
track far up The hillside and burned
them into lime. Only few years ago
this classic course was little more than
a brush-covered ravine, but patriotic
Greek banker of Alexandria, NJ. Ave-
rouf, gave 100000 fracs for its res
toration. 1t is low about one-half re-
built, but as this generous patriot died
recently, the work may never be com
pleted.
Although the Americans gained
nearly all of the contests, Greek won
the greatest event. the foot race from
Marathon. Who would have wished it
otherwise? Imagine 100000 descend
ants of the ancient Greeks filing every
seat in the vast Stadium and crowding
the surrounding billtops looking for a
messenger to reannounce victory
won on the old battlefield OF Marathon,
where. 400 years before Christ, 10000
brave Greeks, contending against ten
times their number of Persians, de-
feated them and saved to the world the
civilization of which our own is but the
matured offspring
Not every one agrees with me, how
ever, for the Acropolis is called the
Growing glory of Athens" In APP
preaching ii one goes by the rock
hewn Theater of Dionysus (the cradle
of the Greek drama). the Odeon OF
Herodes Atticus. and the Acropolis
where Paul preached to the Athenians.
The Acropolis is nothing but a great
big limestone rock: its top is 500 feet
above sea level. and all of its sides ex-
cept the one where you enter the gates
of approach, are almost perpendicular.
A man, when on top, can stand at one
side and drive a golf ball beyond the
other Pisistratus began to build tenn
pies on this rocky eminence also in the
sixth century B. c., but all of his
works were destroyed soon afterward
by the Persians. Pericles was not
long, however. in erecting structures
on the Acropolis, which have since
been the architectural marvels of the
world.
To reach the top of the Acropolis
you must first make way through the
magnificent propylae or portals. In
ascending the stairway of the propylae