Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1913-10-30

OAeAN ~NA~N~@N@~~F
The difficulty the tourist has in
Greece Is to make the modern match
with the ancient and the actual with
the ideal. Aside from the sculpture
and architecture there de nothing
now which quite comes up 10 the
descriptions OF the then suppose
much OF this comes from the oblit-
GRAFTON Of the Greece we read about
by the Romans. the Slavs and the
Turks for 1000 years. Also J think
a good deal OF the descent is from
the fact that the Greeks told their
own story and used the poetic Iic-
ense and exaggeration which were
general with the people OF ancient
times, characteristics which are hap
PLY no more. could write Of Kan
sas and what would say would be
the plain unvarnished truth, with
out boasting or Dragging. The same
would be true OF any other Kansas
writer. have often noticed that
in the descriptions of our climate,
crops, our wondrous beauties of ma
ture and the phenomenal progress
of our citizenship, we Americans
never exaggerate. Our journalists
can describe our battles or our poll
teal campaigns and never depart
from the straight and narrow path
of fact. Our writer's report our ball
games and never favor the home
team.
But It was not so with the ancient
Greeks. They were not familiar with
conditions outside their country and
they looked at events through tel
escope. A thousand Greeks never
overcame less than ten thousand
Persians. Their Mountains always
reached up into the skies. The gods
used to send to Athens for their
favorite brand of honey from which
they brewed nectar. The Spartans
never refused to fight and the Athen-
ians never were equalled in oratory.
Their statesmen we're animated by
the highest motives, even when they
grated on every contract they let.
The Kephisos, the beautiful stream
which was the river of ancient Ath-
ems and is described by the poets
as a torrent, is not bigger than Cow
creek and at this time of the year
has no water at all. In fact from all
the evidence now in sight, the writ
ers who described the Greece Of
1000 years ago were either Interest,"
ed in real estate and trying to dis
pose of suburban additions, or they
never let the facts interfere with the,
interest and beauty of their stories.
Those people who came to Greece
expecting to find conditions now pre-
vailing as reported by Homer, Thu
cydides and Plato will be disap-
pointed. The gods no longer take
part in human affairs, citizenship in
Athens is not now an evidence OF
superiority, the honey of Hymettos
is coarse, the fertile plains OF At
tica are rocky and sterile, and in
stead Of gathering around the schol-
ars and debating questions OF phil
osophy the Greeks swarm in the
cafes and talk about their neigh
bors.
There is NO object in visit to-
Sparta, for that home of heroes van
ished centuries ago and q new VII
lage occupies the old site. The pass
OF Thermopylae has been changed
by the action Of nature. The in
scription still says that there four
thousand Peloponnesians fought
against more than three millions,
but military authorities now Ques-
ton both the figures given and the
location. am getting so accus-
toned to the doubts" which mod
ern science raises in regard to the
treasured facts of ancient history
that 1 am almost tempted to disbe-
lieve the story of our own George
Washington and the famous cherry
tree.
The Greeks had the advantage
over the Persians and other enc
mics. They did their own report
ing.
AAA
But the world the old Greeks did
in marble can not be denied. It is
in every European museum and cop
les of it are on every what-not in
the world. About fifteen miles
from Athens is a mountain of mar
T.