The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-03-04
SALON|KI PLACE WHERE
ST. PAUL PREACHED
PART OF ITS PAST STILL
PRESENT.

l have stood on the Areopagus and
seen the afternoon sun light the glor-
ious relics of the Athenian Acropolis,
the hill on which so many broken mar
BILE pediments and fallen columns
mark the place where pagan antiqui-
ty raised it's numerous monuments
and saw them shattered. I have seen
where, at the foot of the Sacred Way,
st. Paul took his stand and told the
crowds who we're accustomed to as
cend: men of Athens, | perceive
that i'll all things you are too super
stitious!" There where the ruins of
Hellenic worship overlook the simple
spot which st. Paul trod, I thought
of the intellectual curiosity which
leads thousands up the high hill, and
of the depth of religious feeling
which has stirred in the hearts of
similar thousands when they have
recognized the little mound on which
the Apostle proclaimed the personality
of the ), Unknown. al GOD. j.. One. is "a
matter of the head, culture; the other
Of the heart, religion. But never, not
even by the side of the Acropolis,
have / been so much impressed with
the fact of Christianity transforming
the world as when on that sunny day
looked over the blue Aegean to
Olympus, the mountain home of the
gods of Greece, looked down upon the
Moslem minarets and Eastern church
es of the cosmopolitan city of Salon
Xxi, and heard those words: "Here
st. Paul preached"
Saloniki is really a rather inter-
esting and very cosmopolitan sea-
port; there are in the roadstead
French, Italian, English, Dutch and
Greek liners, from the huge Mes
sageries to the interesting little fish
ing craft and island trading boats.
True, there are now also transports
and hospital ships, and the eyes of
all the world are turned in this di-
rection. But it is not only in the
hour of political, diplomatic or mill
tary crises that Saloniki presents
strange details. I had my shoes
mended the other day at a ''shop"
which was merely a hole in the wall
three feet one way and four the
other-and there are many such.
saw a horse in small store early
one morning treading his blindfold
way about central post, grinding
meal between two primitive stones.
saw man cleaning light cotton,
and arranging it for bed quilts and
cOmforters with bent bit of wood
and steel wire in the shape of a
large bow, which he manipulated by
light blows SO cleverly as to make
the fluffy material settle or fly at
will. l saw donkey loaded with
charcoal, with his master riding on
top and carrying great umbrella
against the sun. I met herd of
sheep being driven through the street
and some were black like the peo-
pie. I climbed the hot hill, past the
dirty and unalluring homes of the
poorer Turks, to the old citadel and
the modern prison; and found some
guns on the tower which had been
taken from the Turks and the Bulgar-
lduS III 1S1A duu 1910. 1u6T6 WAS d
boy in one shop cleaning pans by
swirling them in wet sand with his
bare feet, while his body twisted and
turned in remarkable gymnastics. In
another place the smell of dye-kettles
attracted me, and there, beyond, were
many, many. weaving machines in a
big room, all run by Turkish girls, by
old men and boys. The machines re-
quired one hand for the shuttle, one
to move the vertical frame, and both
feet to shift the alternating threads,
keeping a personals we should say
completely occupied. If each did not
work with his whole soul, he at least
worked with his whole body. ram
bled under police escort through the
hideous "red light district" quaint and
awful at night, hideous and dirty by
day. l visited many cafes, and saw
the mixed low life, the Turkish dane
ers; all in what was once one of the
very best cities of the Mediterranean.
E. Colby. In FEB. World.