Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1916-10-26
THE MODERN ATHENIAN


vines. and many trees. But for one who
spent, as l did, four umme on and in
Athens. 1t is not easy to learn that hills
may have a beauty aside from forests, and
that colors, contour, and form can lend
~enchantment to the naked rock. 1t wa.
long before my New England eyes appre.
ciated the wonderful tints which the
Athenian sunset throws upon Lycabettus
and Hymettu and that 1 learned that Ath
ems now, as ever, should be hailed as the
sviolet-crowned city,
81 found the Athenian climate agreeable
and I cannot now recall a single day Of
my stay there when, even in the rainy
season, the sun did not shine at least part
of the time. Cold winds there We're tc
be sure, in winter, blowing down from the
snow-capped hills above the town or
blowing up from the sea at Phaleron; but
there We're no frosts; the roses bloomed
during every month of the year in the
legation gardens; oranges ripened in the
open air, and we picked our breakfast
fruit from the trees outside of the win.
dow, while the palm lourishes there as i
have seen 1t nowhere else, not even In
the Riviera. The summer heat Is easily
endurable despite a we'll nigh constant
temperature of nearly 100, the absence OF
rain removing the humidity which make.
American midsummer SO intolerable.
Socially, too, the Athenian year divides
itself with the climate. At the end Of the
rainy season the court, the diplomatic
body, and the rich flee away, the latter
going, as they say, to Europe and to
take their places there flock to Athens and
to the seaside hotels at Phaleron and TIC
villas and resorts at chi
numbers of rich Greeks from Asia Minor
and from Egypt; and the whole city re.
verses the order Of Its winter life, turning
night into day and spending most of the
hours between sunset and sunrise out OF
doors.
"Athenian HOSES are Quilt to resist
heat. The exterior and interior walls are
all Of thick stone, and. with tightly closed
windows, one stays in doors until the
afternoon tea, when the level rays of thu
setting sun permit adventure. Then one
strolls or drives, dimes wherever the din.
ner hour may find him, and invariably OUT
of doors, journeys by tram to Phaleror
for the bathing and the music or seeki
the. cool garden of the Zappeion to see the
movies or goes to Alysside for dinner
and the vaudeville. and never loses casts
by returning home as late as 2 o'clock In
the morning.
Everywhere about the town. on thu
roofs of clubs or hotels, in the gardens or
on the terraces of restaurants, beneath
the proper trees of the parks, and even
In the streets tables are spread and I
venture to say that more than 100, 900 peo-
pie dine in the open air each night of an
Athenian summer. Greek cooking is more
oriental than Indigenous. Lamb or kid.
with chicken-which has always seemed
to me to be the national bird of all Eu-
rope-are the principal meats, though from
the shores of Eleusis come delicious wild
duck, and other game birds are found
near by. while play. a Turkish dish of
rice with chicken or lamb, and giaourti.
the Bulgarian ferment of milk, are stand.
ards in every Hellenic bill of bare.
With the renewal Of the rains the
brown fields and hillsides' quickly clothe
themselves In green. The royal family re.
turns from its cure the diplomats come
back from leave, the great houses OF the
close. the Levantines take themselves
home, and the winter season begins.
entertaining In Athens travels a Soma.
what narrow circle. State dinners at the
! palaces. reciprocal entertainments ri the
legations, few receptions. and still fewer
dinners at Greek houses form the back.
bone of he winters enjoyment. Greek.
rarely invite a stranger to their bread. al
Though among themselves exists a society
which the foreign colony knows OF chieflv
by rumor.
There is much conversation in Athen.
ian salons. and always OF. a high order.
In no capatal-of Europe. Iabelieve, can 81
found a more cultured society, and In no
drawing room thai / have known docs
conversation flow 30 smoothly and at such
a high level. Art, politics, and the drama
are all we'll known in Athens, and the
Greeks are such accomplished ~inguists
that any foreigner may use his own
speech without hesitation. French. Of
course. is the prevailing foreign tongue.
with English pressin. 1t hard for 1rse
plaza"