Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1915-10-21
ANNoN awakening the echoes

over luumS plains, where the
allies have been trying to
" pound their way beyond the
Dardanelles, stir many legen-
Diary memories OF this historic battle
region and bring to mind the oldest
contrasts. Here, where now mod
ern ordnance il hurting It's messea-
gers of destruction, Homer's heroes
waged their spectacular, single-handed
combats, while admiring armies
grouped themselves around to watch.
1t is Q far cry from the romantic siege
OF Troy to the terribly impersonal bat
tie OF today. Yet the old walls OF
Troy must bring some sort Of inspira-
tion to the soldiers fighting In their
shadows. soldiers OF the allies or OF
| the Turks. Excavated Ilium, nesr
one of the present wars great bat
tlefields, is described in q communi-
| cation to the National Geographic so
ciety by Jacob Il. Conner.
The Trojan walls are still in evil
dence. those same walls that defied
the onslaught OF Agamemnon and
Menelaus. OF Ajax, Nestor, Diomed,
Ulysses and Achilles, to fall at last
by stratagem. They remain az
ruined and abandoned stage minus
Its paraphernalia, wherein was played
50 many centuries ago an insignificant
little drama compared with modern
| events, but 1t was drama SO big with
human interest divinely told that the
world has never known its equal.
Wars in these crowded times are
| for gain, hut in the youth OF the world,
II we take the Iliad literally, men
could afford to fight for an ideal.
| Hence the Homeric warfare was q
beautiful, poetic pastime. seriously
resulting to some happy few. who
were thenceforth rewarded with i'm
mortality in song
Troy Well Worth q Visit.
AS the theater OF the worlds great
est epic poem, Troy deserves q visit
any year, every year. In the thoughts
and emotions 1t revives and stimulates
In the aroused sense OF Indebtedness
Of all subsequent literature and art 1t
richly repays a visit. The classical
student will leave 1t in daze OF
meditation upon things more real to
him than the actual things he has
seen and touched.
On the site where the German ga
want, Schliemann, unearthed Homer's
Troy, nine layers of old-time cities
were found, one above the other.
They were builded, destroyed. and
forgotten here during the more
than 5000 years that civilization has
lived upon the products OF the fertile
valley. The topmost layer contained
the remains of the Roman city OF
Ihum; two Hellenic villages were
found directly beneath 1t, which -four
ished here between 1000 b. C. and the
Christian era. The sixth CRY from
the bottom was identified as Homer's
Troy. The bottom layers contained
the remains OF prehistoric settlements,
unimportant villages that have es-
capped every memory except these few,
uncovered, decaying stones. In the
second, or burnt city, probably 500
years before the time of Troy, was
found considerable mass OF buried
treasure, silver Jars. gold daggers, and
wonderfully wrought diadems Of gold.
Describing the country around Troy.
Mr.. Conner continues:
Yonder II the summit of Mt. Ida,
where the gods in solemn conclave 30
often sat, where "cloud-compelled
Zeus" sometimes thought two ways
IT. his mind at once" or else ended all
debate with q nod that shook high
Olympus and caused the heavens to
reverberate and glow with the fash
Of his thunderbolt.
Famous Rivera Only Creeks.
Away over yonder, skirting the ridge
Of Ilium, is Simeis' stream, or should
be: but the bridge across 1t shows
upon our approach that modern Simois
Is no more than a creek. Worse than
that; following its attenuated course,
less than mile downstream. we dis
cover that 1t ends In a morass instead
Of the ScamanGer as OF yore. And
the latter stream liz scarcely less dis
appointing. fer 1t is no more dignified |
tn gize or appearance. In fact, their |
sluggish currents united can scarcely
soast OF banks except at occasional |
iterTais, for both streams are now