Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1900-10-07
VI.
A Cordial Reception.

Here, as at Corfu, he rst thing to
strike them was the evidence Of the i'm
pending conflict. "A huge steamer lay
alongside the quay, its decks crowded
with soldiers in uniform on their way
to the frontier of the kingdom. An
officer Of the steamboat explained that
the transport was bound for the port
OF Volo in the northeast, from which
a short railway journey would con-
vey the troops to Larissa, and so on
to the front.
A crowd had come down to see the
transport off, and as it slowly moved
away from its moorings the shouts OF
the crowd on shore were responded to
by the discharge of rifles from those on
board.
Vaughn, who felt some surprise at
this manifestation, assumed as a mat
ter of course that the men were firing
blank cartridges. 1t was not until later
on that ne learnt that no such r%estric-
tions were observed by the Greek SOL
der in his moments of enthusiasm, but
that Ieaden bullets were probably de-
scending at that instant in various
quarters of the narbor and the ad-
jacent streets.
When a British regiment is embark
ing at Portsmouth or Southampton it
does not manifest its joy quite in this
fashion, but Vaughan was now in a
foreign country and he was about to
learn something of foreign
They d~isembarked and followed their
luggage into the Custom house. Here
they expected to undergo a tedious ex-
animation, but Kalarakis, remember
ing his promise to act as Interpreter,
stepped forward and gave an explana-
ton to the Custom-house officer in
which they only caught the words EFF
folonti Anglike."
The effect was magical. The officer
in charge at once refused to permit a
single package to be opened. Waving
the luggage out with an impressive
gesture he turned to the two English
men, and insisted on effusively shak-
ing them by the hand, while he muir
INJURED remarks in his own language
which they took 10 be complimentary,
and to which they responded as best
they could in their own. They walked
out of the Custom-house feeling already
heroes. 1t was worth the journey to
meet such a reception as this at the
end.
Outside the custom house they found
an open carriage, in which they were
to drive across the four miles that sep
arated them from Athens.
Kalarakis announced that he would
accompany them as far as the capital,
where he was to join his own friends,
hwhile they were to take refuse in an
ptel until such time as they were
ady to join the forces in the field.
The road was hot and dusty, neither
could the country be considered beau
tiful Dy any stretch or imagination. 1t
was not until they were half way to
Athens that Vaughan's eye was sud-
denly caught by an object which sent
q thrill through every fibre Of his be-
ing. Away to the north, rising out of
q barren plain, midway between them
and a distant range of hills, was a lit
tie f~1at-topped mound-it scarcely
seemed more-on which could be made
out a row Of brown colored pillars
crowned by a roof. That little mound
was the Acropolis, and that little group
of pillars on the summit was the most
famous building in the world, the
shrine which is in art what the Holy
Sepulchre is in religion, the mots per-
feet utterance of human genius, the
Parthenon of Athens.