The Nezperce herald. (Nezperce, Idaho) 1900-1957, 1911-02-23
HOMES IN ATHENS
As a Rule They Are Clean, but
Bare and comfortIess.
PEOPLE LIVE IN THE CAFES.

When They Do Get Into Their Houses
] Their Principal Occupation Is Look
ing Out Of the Windows-Ths Mar
riass Customs Of creees.
Home life IN Greece. particularly in
Athens. Is peculiar. II might almost
be said that there Is no such thing.
In Mr. Duckett Ferriman's book on
Greece and the Creeks the manners
and customs OF the picturesque Hell
Ienes. which are little known to the
average English reader. are described
at length. Mr. Ferriman states that
the Greeks do not know anything
about the art Of making a home.
"One may meet with exquisite clean
liness.- be writes. with beautifully
embroidered bed linen scented with
rosemary. but never with what we
mean by coziness. The Greeks are far
less in their houses than we are, and
when they are at home they appear to
spend most OF their time In looking
out Of the window. They are not given
to inviting their friends to their
houses. Il Is not that they are mig
gardly. for they win gladly entertain
you at a restaurant at far greater cost
70 themselves. But It does not enter
into their ideas to ask you home 70
dinner. even after an acquaintance Of
many years.
They do not ask each other. so It
can hardly be expected that they
should make an exception in the case
OF foreigners. The cafe is a second
home 10 them There they meet
friends and gossip. That is one reason
perhaps why they dislike country life
1T offers no alternative 70 the home:
there the hearth Is the social eenter.
while In town II is the cafe. In Athens
those who do not own the house they
dwell In seldom remain long in the
same abode. Two or three years Is
quite a long tenure. Many people
make a point Of moving every year.
.erhe imposing facades Of Afhenian
houses conceal. for the most part, a
bare and comfortiess interior. and a
well kept garden IS rare. A garden is
not made In a year. and a person who
changes his residence every twelve
months does not want to be troubled
with much furniture. nor is be par
ticular as to its arrangement. seeing
that il win be carted away in a few
months.
Home life has no resources for the /
Greeks. as II has for us. II affords
them little occupation and no amuse-
ment. They like to eat and drink In /
where there is noise and move
nent Their instincts are too gregari-
1us to allow them to appreciate the
domestic intimacy which we prize.
The day chosen for marriage in
Greece Is usually Sunday. but the day
II all days In the year Is the Sunday
the Christmas feast It is
lot fashionable now to be married in
.hurch. In Athens the ceremony takes
,lace in the house OF the brides par
nts. A temporary altar is set up In
he middle OF the room.
at the conclusion OF the ceremony
he priest and the couple Join hands
nd walk three times round the alter.
he guests peltlng them with comfts.
The most important part Of the cere-
lony Is the crowning Of the bride and
with wreaths OF orange
lesson: hence a wedding is popular
, called the crowning.
Love marriages are rare exceptions.
he match is made by the parents and
nlaffvaa rather than nv fhn r,orffor
concerned. There are GER
ain established usages which. though
OF legally binding. are not to be con-
ravened with impunity.
Then II is considered wrong for ,
rothers to marry until their sisters
ave been wed. Again. girls must /
larry in order OF seniority. It would !
OF be right for a girl to be married l
lille she had an elder sister who re- q
aimed single. The men Of a family I
re thus naturally anxious 10 see their 4
sters settled. and as a dowry is in I
spensable its provision is often a &
after OF serious anxiety and the fruit '
great self denial on the part Of the I
'others II the parents are dead.
There are cases IN which brothers
I've remained unmarried for years
ID have devoted all their hard earned q
wings to the dowries Of their sisters. y
mong the poorer classes emigration d
resorted to. not infreQuently solely a
lth this object. and many a dowry y
mes to a Greek maiden from across
e Atlantic"