El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-04-08

Athens is the marathon runner, who
brought the news of the victory OF
Agamemnon. He ran from the battle OF
Marathon to Athens in the space of two
hours, whereas the fastest four-horse
the distance in less than four. As the
story goes, he dropped dead as he de-
livered the news.
Golden Jewels From the TombS.
The tonlbs of old Greece have yielded
many nedallions and gems which are
portraits, and there are masks of gold,
into which have been pressed features
so lifeike that they seem ready to
speak. I have the photograph of one
representing the face of an old man,
which would probably serve as a portrait
of the original, except that it has lost
the tip of its nose. There are golden
cups with faces upon them and vases of
dull gold beautifully carved. Some Of
these cups would hold two quarts of
wine, and there are gold masks as large
as the tin wash basin outside the back
door of the American farmhouse.
The collections of iewelry are very re-
markable. They have come from the
ancient cities of Greece and show the
follies and vanities of fashionable life
$500 years ago. | saw the skull of a
woman with a gold pin that once
bound her tresses Undecided in it. Time
and decay had glued it to the vertebrate
of her neck. | saw scores of gold rings
for the fingers, gold anklets and brace
let's and great rings for the biceps, made
of pure gold. Some of these arm rings
were three or four inches wide They
were of the finest of gold and they came
from Mycenae
am surprised at the condition of
the gold jewelry. The most of it is
as bright as when it was made, and
great deal Of it is exquisitely carved
Some of the patterns are the same as
those used today. There are gold
bracelets with snakes heads at the
end; there are bracelets of gold coils
and there are dozens of big gold but
tons, some of which have holes through
which the thread passed. 1 noticed
one gold mask with the skull still
sticking to it and a mans shin bone
to which a gold greave was fastened.
There are also many metal hand mir
rors and needles, combs and household
utensils.
The Parthenon and Its Grafters.
There is no better place to study old
Greece than right here in Athens. You
imbibe the spirit of the ancients in
tramping over the hills where they
lived. You see their wonderful works
in the museums; you meet with their
portraits in the statues; and among
the ruins which are scattered almost
everywhere you can easily rebuild the
famed structures of the past.
Take the Parthenon, the remains of
which lie on the Acropolis. on the very
edge Of modern Athens. They were
built upon a solid rock of pink mar
BILE, which ended in a plateau of about
10 or Is acres. This space is now
covered with ruins, and a large por-
ton of the great structure still stands.
1 went over it today and made pho
tographs of some of the columns, dis
covering queer things about it's con-
struction. One is that the building
was largely a graft The columns on
the outside are Of excellent marble,
and they stand we'll today. Those
within another part. which could not
be seen or which probably at first
looked as well as those farther out,
were backed with inferior stone, and
the marble there is now rotting away
The stone is chipping off and the beau
ty of the old columns is fast disap-
pearing.
The Parthenon in 1911.
1 wish I could show you the Parthe-
non. Every one has read of it, but
it is impossible to comprehend it just
as it is. Imagine q forest of marble
columns which rise from a marble floor,
the area of which is nearly an acre.
Let each column be as big as a cart
wheel and let it rise to the height Of
a three story house in the most sym
metrical forms Of artistic beauty Let
it be fluted. and let the capitals. rich
in their plain Doric grace uphold a
wall of marble, around which runs q
frieze Of exquisite carvings, and you
have the skeleton of the building.
The interior contains other columns,
which uphold the roof, the whole form
ing a temple which was regarded as
the most beautiful of the known world.
Today the Parthenon is visible for
miles around Athens. 1t is the first
thing seen on approaching the Piraeus,
ard it stands out far above the plain
upon which Athens lies. A great part
Of the building has been carried away,
and its most beautiful carvings are in
the British museum at London. They