Mexico weekly ledger., 1909-11-11

(By Prof. Harrison A. Trexler)
No land is so infatuating (the word
is none too strong) to the historian,
the philosopher, the artist or the
nature-loyer as Hellas. Her noun
tains are not one-third as lofty as
the Alps and her streams are small
! and dry in summer. But every
mountain, Pentellicus, Parnassus, Hell
! icon, Olympus and Hymettos, are SO
associated with legend, myth or his
tory that they are actually loved
| while others are only admired.
But this letter is to be concerned
only with present day Greece, stod-
dard's Lectures do more justice to
the classical remains OF Greece than
can |. Only one classical allusion-
the white pillars of the P%arthenonp
aus 1t calmly rests on the Acropolis--
is the only sight that ever really
thrilled my prosaic soul. When we
remember that Socrates, S~ophoeles'
Zenophon, Pericles. Plato, Aristotle
Alexander, Cicero, and perhaps Cae'
sar and st. Paul, stood under the
shadow of the Parthenon, 1t is more
than impressive.
| The site of Solomon's Temple may
have been here, or it may have
been there, but the Parthenon sits
where ii did in 400 3. G.
Athens is a fine modern city adj Of
white material In the new town the
streets are wide and well paved. lighI
ed and parked. From the Acropoils
Mars HIN or Lycabettos, it js equa
in beauty to Geneva, Edinburgh, ant
some say the City of Mexico II
self. The people are very civil ana
~unobtrusive, which one appreciates
after passing thro' the brigandase o
Egypt and Italy. No postcard boys
guides or cabmen to hold you ur
You come and go as you please an
otheps do likewise. But there lis on
man the Greeks hate rs the Egy'
tians and the Neapolitans do waite
the Turk.
The Greeks number about a mi
lion and a half. Turkey could fin
at least twenty times that numbe
within her boundaries. But tn
EGreek forgets how Turkey oyerwhell
ed his native land a few years bac
and was only saved from complet
ruin by the Intervention of the pow
I. ems. The Greek reminds me of
fox-temier my father once had, whtc
endeavored to chew up two bul
e dogs at once.
o. | read in a London paper yeste
0. day that the Greeks were clamo
o ing for war against Turkey. The spi
it of the Argonauts and the vieto'
IT Of Marathon and Salamis is ST
alive in Hellas.
y One afternoon | saw a funeral Ct
with six black horses in elegant II
cry coming up the street follow
= by a throng of mourners But Il
~ hearse was empty. The corpse w
Is carried without covering by TO
bearers. Such a sight is quite shoe
ing ITO the nerves. On another oce
g sion l saw the funeral procession
a high public official. The corp
was in the hearse, but the cask
lid was off and the features we
painfully visible.
Early one morning ] climbed
Lycabettos, q steep hill rising
n thousand feet from the Attic pla
LA tiny chapel was on the summit
:, which two Greek priests in their 10
~ robes and almost as long boards a
= hair were shouting Greek in a lus
manner. In Rome it is a sin for
priest not to shave. In Athens
is an abomination for a priest ev
Ito look a barber in the face by mo-
of light. But such antipodal custo
lp- can be found in more propinquitt
tie relations than Rome and Athens.
At the Church Of the Holy Ser