Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1901-10-10
NUMBER 16.
In Classic Lands.
ATHENS, AUGUST 12. 1901.

feeling all the time that Greece
mightn't appeal to me. that my ap-
probation of the Acropolis would have
to be forced one. whereas really 1t is
easy for me. Not that get the spirit
of 1t all as some of the people do who
are drilled in the history, but color
effects and beauty of line appeal to me
and those are fairly overwhelming on
the Acropolis. The creamy and brown
tinge in the marble, the yellows of the
wide stretching plain and the deep
blue OF the sea, together with the won-
derful mountain effects make up a
whole that is thrilling. hadn't been
able to understand until this summer
how bare mountains comparatively
verdureless could account for all the
raving of the enthusiasts over Greek
scenery. You get atmospheric effects
that are indescribable, not. only the
gray blue of the distant mountains as
we see them in Missouri, but noun
tains nearer than those are enveloped
in such lights that all the poetry that
is within you Is aroused. The rocky
lodges are not stern brown rocks; they
look purple or pink or reddish blue.
You wouldn't have them green for
anything.
From Capri we took a steamer to the
Blue Grotto and little boats took US in
The Blue Grotto is q cave in the island
of Capri, but instead of floor bottom
it is the sea that gets in by an entrance
less than three feet high and just wide
enough for boat to go through. We
lay down fat in the boat and the boat
man pulled us In by chain. for the
oars can't be used in the entrance
Once inside the effect In startling, for
the light from the water is refracted
in such a way as to make the roof
which is forty feet high seem a dark
blue. The water below you is forty
feet deep and light sllvery blue, not
like the sky; bluer than that and clear.
Your hand in the water looks like
shining silver. It is 175x100 feet in
side of the Grotto. A little boy dived
for some of the boats but We were not
near enough to see him shine. After
the Blue Grotto We steamed over to
Sorrento. None of US were sick for
the sea was quiet and the boat steady.
Then came four or five hours of the
keenest pleasure we have had this
summer, driving from Sorrento to
Amalfi. The road is made around the
sides of the mountains that form the
Mediterranean coast at that part of
the shore. We were sometimes five
hundred feet up looking straight down |
on the sea. Sometimes huge buttlng
cliffs seemed about to drop on US. The
road is smooth as floor and a gradual |
ascent or decent. Prof. Powers says 1t /
is the most beautiful drive in the
world and that he never took it under |
more favorable circumstances than
last Monday. The sun was not shin
ing for one thing, a circumstance that
you might not count for much unless
you'd been here in this glare of white
roads and houses. Then q storm came
up ahead of us and We had the black
clouds and lightning. 1t rained al
most none and yet the air was cool
enough to make US put on our jackets.
Then back of US as we looked toward
the Island of Capri and the west were
beautiful light clouds, made, by the
sun trying to get through, light blue,
yellow and pink in succession. And
then at sunset a rich red glow all over
the Mediterranean below US, followed
by rainbow coming q little way up
from the water.
But to return to Amalfi. The night
we spent there was such romantic
one. The hotel looked right down
Aheo sAO NAO0AsOETau0hu Ou bWO SIuGe.
And the moon came up and early in
the morning the fishing boats went out
and gathered In the nets that were
strung out in the water for hundreds
Of yards. The hotel used to be mon
astery. Some of the girls had rooms
just like monks cell and the dining
room was the cloisters. The tables
we're set along the side Of the court
and We looked through the columns
into the court where there were trees
and an old well. The management
had been working hard getting ready
for US, festooning the arches with vines
and flowers. On the wall side OF the
cloisters were pasted the sailings of
the North German Lloyd Steamers in
huge red letters. While We ate two
men with banjos and little boy with
gestures and voice entertained US.
Among other things they played
Through Georgia. We have
had the orchestral accompaniment to
our meals several times. After the
concert some one passes plate around
for coppers.
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