The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-08-13


this pipe is marvellously full OF meaning
powerful aid to his oratory. On occasions
the main body OF the pipe may be used.
Caught UP from the floor and hurled at an
adversary In all It's weigsht Of brass and
glass, 1t has been known to silence the most
powerful political arguments.
Almost always there Is music all the eve
ming and very late into the night Every
cafe has its "bouzouki' or mandolin hang
ing on a peg for whoever will play. Soon
er or later some one takes 1t down and ge-
morally the one man will play all the evening.
Perhaps II will be n swar,hy loose timber
sailor from THE Islands," who has been
in every part OF the world and has an
amazing repertoire of songs and dances and
dream music OF every country. Sometimes
a Greek from Crete or Turkey will strum the
soft. monotonous Turkish love songs that
have such strange charm, grooming to him
self the words Sometimes it will be live
ly Athenun. who will have some gay snatch
OF music, half French and half Greek In
origin. with which he will set fingers and
feet tapping on table and floor Perhaps. he
will put vigor and pathos into the fierce
war songs, the Klephtic ballads OF the re-
evolutionary days. Then dark eyes will fash
fire. you will see hands twitching as II for
n gun; everybody thinks for a moment OF
the "Epanastaseos," the great day when,
after the long centuries. men roso and
fought and died for The Free Greece" Some
times 1t is a Spartan or mountaneer OF
Thessaly that will take the "bouzouh" from
It's peg and then 1t will very likely be the
music OF the "Romaic''-that soft. mono
tonous, altogether Oriental music that ac-
companies the rhythmic dance that every
Greek will tread for hours, unwearied.
The coffee they serve you in the Greek
places here in New York. as away in
Greece. is probably the most potent brew
that the benefcent bean can produce. 1t
is invariably served in the smallest posi-
BILE cups and the most fragile: 1t is the
very essence OF coffee. Tablespoonful Of
the ground bean gives you Just one mouthful.
1t reaches you very thick, and a drop OF
cold water is put In to preclpitate the sedi-
ment. Then you sip 1t. and you begin to see
why the Greeks are full OF life and spirit.
1T cleans the brain" the Greek will tell
you And so it does. IL you never talked
before you will under this stimulant. 1t
is. perhaps, due to this coffee that the Greeks
are so temperate people, in the ordinary
sense. They are animated. lively, nervous,
excitable, but OF all peoples. probably, least
given to intoxication. You will see many q
tiny glass OF "raki' set on the little tables
and "raki'' is powerful liquor, but 1t
Is always taken in moderation and is inva-
riably preceded and followed by glass Of
cold water OF which your Greek is curious
ly fond They all drink much cold water
and declare 1t has a flavor and stimulating
quality all its own. In Greece itself, you Of
ten see men sitting for hours smoking the
"nargileh" and playing with their toy beads
as they talk and drinking glass after glass
OF water with all the gusto and smack Of
connoisseurs tasting a favored brand.
Some OF the men in the cafes-you never
see any women there for the woman's duty
is In the house, alone, and not in public
places-will be eating "lakoum" off tiny
plates and washing 1t down with water.
Others will be dallying with mastique in all
its forms--mastique which the lazy luxury
loving Chians make, and which every true
born Romaios must have from time to time
Wherever he be, lest he die And then there
Is the cognac, which the Smyrnians make
SO well. SO aromatic and so sweet And
with almost anything you order goes, as a
matter of course. little plate of cut toma-
toes, or couple OF waters OF cucumbers
or saucer OF nuts with strange names
and with the reputation Of all sorts of me-
dicinal qualities.
And everybody sips and munches and
smokes and gesticulates and talks. How
they talk, these Greeks! With an extraor-
binary fervor and fire; such long excited
| speeches; such profusion OF words; such
ringing dramatic emphasis OF word and
phrase; such wild gesture, the whole man
| a-tremble with the excitement Of his idea.
| They hear one another out with extraor-
binary patience. When one ceases there Is
an upstarting of excited would-be orators
| all around. babel of eager voices. until
some one OF strong purpose catches the ge-
| neral ear, then general lul and the one
| voice Is heard until the next break Then
| the battle again. The unaccust omed stranger
| knives.
These men. half Of them workers with
| their hands, peddlers of fruit or 'longshore-
men or sailors, many OF them scarcely
knowing any English outside the simple de-
| i"Huo VI thelr udlly environment, are dis
| cussing with all this warmth and eloouence
ihe politics OF America. What The McKin-
ley is doing in The Washington" and
what The Croker" is planning in the Lon.
d don, and whether The sheehan" will win
his way in Tammany. Their knowledge Is
OFTEN laughably at fault, but their interest
approaches frenzy And they have an eye or
Europe. too, and on Asia. what the Powers
(you will hear the words al dynameis'
every few minutes) are concerting toward,
the acknowledgements OF THE Crets." wbaI
signs there are that the Turkish empire /,
the Spain. ~
Their information is generally Of ancient
date. They get their news from the AHdnti,
OF New York, from the Acropolis and 4st,
OF Athens. from the Amdlthcid OF Sparta
and the AeoiogoS OF Smyrna. The comic pa
per OF Athens lies round, too the Romaios
whose quips and Cranks and skits and pas
quinades are all written in the very ian
guage OF the streets, the "Koine glossa" s,
dear to the great body OF the people. "a
feared and hated by the classlcists, VIII
form their style on Xenophon and seek +,
grow all the words for modern things upor
the classic roots