The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-03-18
THE CITY OF ATHENS.

tO <A1CuCOiO6lOtS.
 The city of Athens has grown in 20 years to something like twice it's form CT size, and general improvement has kept pace with growth. It is more Flu ropean than it used to be, and the num- Der of fine buildings has increased greatly. The streets, though still very dusty in summer and muddy after rain, are cleaner than they once were, and there is a greater appearance of thrift, or perhaps one should say a less gen eral aspect of shiftlessness In the streets of the capital the national cos tune is far less often seen than in ear Her times, and even in the country one sees European clothing much more fre- quently than in former days. It is said that the increase in the population of Athens is due less to an influx of peo- pie from the country than to the in- creasing number of Greeks from Egypt and other regions who have chosen Ath- ems as their place of abode. At any rate, the villages seem little less popu- lous than formerly, in spite of the com paratively large number of emigrants 1 to America in recent years.
 There is a marked difference in the language spoken in the streets. Evi- dently the teaching of the schools is affecting the speech of the people. Now, as formerly, the spoken language diff fers materially from the sin-classic written dialect, but even in the spoken language ancient forms are becoming established. The genitive case, which was little used as a separate form, ex- cept in pronouns, is now often heard in the mouths of simple folk, and even the ! dative case occasionally appears. So, ] too. some ancient verb forms are more commonly employed. Whether the re- suit will be real improvement or the reverse, remains to be seen. For the present it looks as if the development or deterioration of Greek into an ana 1 lytic language were arrested. Natural fly enough the Greeks look back with lveneration and longing to the classic period of Hellenic greatness, and the desire of many among them to restore the ancient language. or, at least, to l approximate to it, is easily understood. l So far as the exclusion of Turkish and other foreign words is concerned, the attempt to purify the language is neith- CT hopeless nor unjustified, but it is doubtful if success can or should at l tend the efforts of those who are try ing to restore the forms or syntax of the ancient speech
 l The language question is not always regarded as a matter merely for calm academic discussion. A few months ago the "Oresteia" of Eschylus was pro- duced at the Royal theater in trans lation and adaptation by G. Soteriades, the ephor of antiquities whose excel 1 lent work of excavation on the site of the ancient Therinon is we'll known
 In his translation he made use of words and expressions belonging to the colo- quial language, and thereby aroused the indignation ot the students at the uni- versity. They met at the university building, and decided upon a demon- stration to put stop to the perform ance. In the evening a large body of students paraded the streets, gather- l ing the mob of the city in their train The ordinary police could not cope with the disorder, troops were ordered to the scene, and before the disturbance end- 1 ed one man was killed. Compared with some of the riots that have broken out in our American cities at various times, this was mild affair but it shows how strongly some of the Greeks feel about the language question. Un | doubtedly the desire to embarrass the Ralli ministry led some to encourage the spirit of disorder, and there were also other motives at work; but the 1 fact remains that the trouble was os- tensibly due to the production of the 1 j"Oresteia.'' To an American, one of 1 the unpleasant features of the whole affair was the alliance of the students with the mob. Our own students some- ! times disgrace themselves, but they do not invite the mob of the city to join in their processions and help them to attain their ends.
 But the foreigners chief interest is in the things of ancient times; and in respect to these things there have been great changes In 20 years. The Aero polls has been laid bare to the solid rock, and, although the earth has been in part replaced for the sake of an at- ltractive appearance, all important foun-
 
 those Of the ancient temple which stood close to the site of the later
 Erechtheum. The Erechtheum itself is now undergoing restoration, and the scaffolding erected for that purpose
 offers unusual facilities for a carefu
 study of all details of the building
 The recent restoration of the Parthenor
 was limited to strengthening and re-
 pairing certain damaged portions of tho
 building which threatened to fall, and
 the few new stones inserted are incon.
 spicuous. No attempt was made to se
 up the fallen columns or the othel
 stones of the building which lay, ant
 still lie, scattered over the surface o
 the Acropolis. With the Erechtheun
 the case is different. Already all th'
 columns, the epistyle, the frieze blocks
 ceiling, cornices and tympanum of the
 north porch are restored to their origi
 nal positions, new blocks being inserted
 in a few places where the old one
 are missing. For the frieze blocks
 blue (upper) Pentelic marble is used
 instead of the dark Eleusinian stone
 the color of which has changed so lit
 tie in the course of time that it i
 little, If at all darker than the blu
 marble. On the western wall the tw
 northern half-columns once more carr,