The Washington weekly post. (Washington, D.C.) 1878-1916, 1900-10-16

idoiatry.
DR.. Talmage said: 1T seemed as II
morning would never come We had ar
rived after dark n Athens, Greece, and
the night was sleepless with expectation.
and my watch slowly announced 10 me
] and and and I O'Clock. and at the
Grst ray Of dawn I called our party 70
look out Of the window upon that city 20
which Paul said he was a debtor. and 10
which the whole earth ia debtor for Greek
architecture. Greek sculpture. Greek pO-
etry. Greek eIoquence, Greek proves. and
Greek history.
This morning We pass through where
stood the agora. the ancient market place;
the locality whore philosophers used 10
meet their disciples. walking while they
talked; and where Paul. the Christian To-
gician, flung many a proud Stole. and got
the laugh on many an impairment Epl-
cuTean- The market place was the center
or social and political life. and Il was the
place where people went 10 tell and hear
the news. Booths and bazaars were set
up for merchandise OF all kinds, except
meat; but everything must be sold for
cash. and there must be no lying about
the value Of commodities, and the agora-
nomi who ruled the place could iniiict Sc
we're punishment upon the offenders The
different schools OF thinkers had distinct
places set apart for conVocatiOn. The
Platoeans must meet at the cheese mar
ket, the Decelians at the barber shop, the
sellers OF perfumes at the frankincense
headquarters. The market place was
space $50 yards long and 30 wide, and it
was given up 10 gossip and merchandise
and lounging and phllosophizing. All this
you need 10 know in order 10 understand
the ttthla p-har o %
Tore disputed he in the market daily with
them that met him. You see. Ii was the
best place TO set an audience and if a
man feels himself called 10 preach he
wants people to preach TO. But before
We make our CHIEF visits OF to-day We
must take turn at the Stadium Ii is a
niue way out, but so we must. The Sta
didin was the place where the foot races
took place.
Race in the Stadium.
Paul had been out there, no doubt,
Tor he frequently uses the scenes Of that
place as figures when he tells US: Let us
run the race that is set before US and
again, They do IL 10 obtain a corruptible
garland. but We an incorruptible.' The
marble and the gliding nave been removed,
but the high MOUNDS against which the
seats were piled are still there The
Stadium is $50 feet long, leo feet wide, and
held 1000 spectators. There is to-day the
very tunnel through which the defeated
racer departed from the Stadium and
from the Kisses Of the people, ami there
are the stairs up which the victor went
10 the top of the hill 20 be crowned with
the laurel. In this place contests with
Wild beasts sometimes took place and
while Hadrian, the Emperor, sat on yon-
Ger height loco beasts were slain in one
celebration. But the use OF the place
was chiefly for foot-racing, and so | pro-
posed 10 my friend that day while We
were in the Stadium that We try which OF
US could run the sooner from end 10 end
OF this historical ground, and so at the
word given by the lookers-on We started
side by side, tut before l got through L
found out what Paul meant when, COM
pairing the spiritual race with the race
in this very Stadium, ne said: Lay
aside every weight My heavy overcoat
and my friends freedom from such ell
cumbrance showed the advantage in any
KIND OF a race OF laying aside every
weight
The Rock Of AcrOpolis.
I'VE come now to the Acropolis. 1t is
a rock about two miles in circumference
at the base and a thousand feet in cir
conference at the top. and three hundred
feet high. On it have been crowded more
elaborate architecture and sculpture than
on any other place under the whole heav-
ems. Originally a fortress, afterward a
congregation of temples and statues and
pillars, their ruins an enchantment from
which no observer ever breaks away. No
wonder that Aristides thought it the CEN
ter of all thinSs-Greece, the center of the
world; Attica, the center OF Greece;
Athens the center of Attica; and the
Acropolis the center of Athens. Earth
quakes have shaken it, NerreS plundered
IT, Lord Elgin, the English Ambassa-
dor at Constantinople, got permission of
the Sultan TO remove from the AcropoliS
fallen pieces of the building, but he took
from the building TO England the finest
statues, removing them at an expense OF
SS0C, 900. A storm overthrow many OF
the statues of the Acropolis. MorOsini,
the general, attempted 10 remove from q
pediment the seulItured car and horses
OF victory, but the clumsy machinery
dropped IL and all was lost. The Turks
turned the building into powder maya
zine, where the Venetian guns dropped
fire that by explosion sent the columns
Sying in the air ana falling cracked and
.NllHlcfGQ. Dul dllcI al llidl tlile ana
storm and war and iconoclasm have eff
,-cted, the Acropolis is the monarch of all
-lins, and before it bow the learning, the
Isnius, the poetry. the art. the history OF
the ages.
Restored Glories that Arc PasI.
81 saw 1t as II was two thousand years
ago. / had read so much about il and
dreamed so much about II that l needed
no magician's wand 10 restore it. At one
wave OF my hand on that clear morn
ing IL rose before me in the glory IL had
when Perlcles ordered 1t and Ictiuus
planned IT, and Phidias Chiseled IT, and
PTot0gepes painted il. and Pausanias de-
sc-ibed H. Its gates. which were care
fully guarded by the ancients, open 10 let
you IN, and you ascend by sixty marble
steps the propylaea, which Epaminondas
wanted TO transfer to Thebes: but permis-
sion. I am glad 10 say could not be grant
ed for the removal OF this architectural
miracle In the days when 10 cents would
do more than a dollar now, the building
cost $4,000. See its five ornamented
gates. the keys intrusted 10 an officer for
only one day lest the temptation 20 go
IN and nisappropTiate the treasures De too
great for him. i,s ceiling 4 minglng OF
blue and scarlet. with pictures unpara!-
leled In thought and eolering.
"ionder is temple 10 4 goddess. called
Victory Without Wings So many OF
;he tFiumphs Of the world had been fol-
lowed by defeat that the Greeks wished
IN marble 10 indicate that victory for
athens had come never again 10 fly away.
and hence this temple 10 Victory WITH
out Wings'-a temple OF marble, snow
white and glittsring. Yonder behold the
PEDESTAL OF Aguppa, twenty seven feet
high and tweleve feet square. But the
overshadowing wonder OF all the Nils is
the Psrthenon. In days when money was
ten times more valuable than now, IL
cost &i,6)oooo. II is a Doric grandeur hay-
ing forty-siX columns, each column thirty
four feet high and six feet two inches In
claMet0r.