St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1900-03-07
Letter From Athens.

,of1iss Welthea M. Giues to print here
.rveh a copious extract from a lettel
,rittea near the close of 1899 by Mis-:
Laura Watson, former teacher at St
ITohrsbury Academy.
Since l have received your letter have
ben following the summer southwark
and have at last attained the fulfillment
Lof long desire and am in Athens. NV
five weeks in Venice afforded me unfailinp
delight. In order to know it well and
enter into its spirit and enjoy it's life one
must stay in Venice and feel the sense oil
repose which hurried tourist can never
know. My voyage from Venice to Greece
by way of Triest where changed steam
ers was ideal and dream like. was
there three days and four nights on t ne
ship and have never seen anything so
beautiful as that opulescent water and
the rose tinted shores with rill of blue
hanging over them. We landed at Pat
ros and came by rail through Corinth,
Eeusis and Megara to Athens. am in
an excellent pension the best in town
where we have an English hostess, whose
husband is Spartan. l am while in
Athens, hanger.on of the American
Archaeological School where l have the
use of the admirable library and share all
the privileges ofthe school. The director,
Prof Richardson, gives lectures on sculp-
ture in the museums and we are at liberty
to hear the lectures OF the other Archao
logical Schools, German. British, French
and Austrian. Every Saturday alter
noon we go to hear German professor
who is the greatest living authority on
Greek architecture. He has superin.
tended the excavations on and around
the Acropolis and knows more bout it
than anybody else in the world. He
speaks on the spot and his lectures are
two or three hours long. was never so
glad as now that / understand German:
many Of the books too, which read are
German and not translated into English
and there is much written in French
which is very valuable. Prof. Richard
sons family is delightful one and gave
me warm welcome, inviting me to their
home almost as soon as l arrived and
l have standing invitation to drop in
for FIVE O'Clock tea. have also met
other interesting people of different ma
tionalities whom it will be pleasant
to know.
will not attempt to tell You how de.
lighted l am with the antiquities of
Athens. am infatuated with the Acrop-
oils. 1t is much more beautiful than |
expected, indeed, all the ruins surpass
my expectations. | did not suppose |
should find such pure white marble in
these scattered temples. Even where it
is dscolored by time it is beautiful
yellow and never black or dirty. The
ruined Propylea is magnificent, the Erich.
theum a little gem and the Parthenon is
glorious. The landscape from every
point is beautiful; such blue water, vel
low sand and rose tinted hills! and the |
sky so clear that one is not conscious of
atmosphere, it seems to be absent.
A few days ago made carriage trip |
to Eleusis, IS miles distant, with our |
school and Prof. Richardson lectured at |
the ruins of the temples and sanctuary
which have lately been excavated by the
Greek Archaeological Society, We Tread
up" for several days beforehand and |
know little about the place and the
mysteries" We ate our lunch on the
stone seats in the great Hall where the
Initiated" watched the mysterious per-
tornances and as we munched our sand
wiches we looked out over the Bay of
Eleusis. There are two or three museums
here which are rich in recent finds" and
the government does not now allow an.
tiqultles to be carried out of the country,
so you must come to Athens to see them
II you see them at all. | am taking three
lessons a week in modern Greek as |
nnd 1t will add so much to my enjoyment
10 know 1t. Just now am reading nice
little stories about good little boys and
girls and expect that my morals will be
greatly uplitted thereby. l have only
begun to tell you how delightful my life
IS here. shall shall stay until April or
May and have not decided what to do
next.