New Britain herald., 1916-09-23

 Against a background of crumbling but magnificent marble temples, of massive aqueducts, of extensive am- phltheaters, it Is easy to project the ties of sentiment which bind the life of the Greek of today to that of the classic worthies from whom lie claims direct descent, according to 8 com munication addressed to the National Geographic society, by George Hig- gins Moses, formerly United States am bassador to Greece, a part of which Is issued as 8 bulletin by the society. MT. Moses in his graphic picture of the Athens of today and of the mod ern citizens Of the city which reached the pinnacle of its greatness in the days of Peericles, says:
 Tt was with only a slight shock that I learned that the man who brought me my morning coffee at the legation. bore the tremendous name Of Thennstocles. And yeet 1t is diff cult to visualize the modern Athenian with those who once walked his streets
 Thinking of Homer of Praxiteles, and of Phidias, one looks for Helen Tor Hermes, and for Athene; but the only Helen l ever saw in Athens was
 
 Der of the cabinet, and whose golden hair, blue eyes and classic features made her at once the reigning hostess in the city. And it is only in the isl- ands or deep in the country where the Albanian flood which swept across tbe Attic plain hes never reached, that one finds facial Ineaments and the bodily grace which the ancient sculp- tor has taught the modern world as being common to all Greeks of classic times. And this survival persists chief ly among the children, because tnces- sant toll and scanty nourishment soon deprive both boys and girls of na- tive grace and stamp them with the ineradicable marks of a life of labor.
 The Attic year is sharply divided climatically into two seasons, the rainy and the dry, the latter begin ming late in May and extending into October, and during which there is no rainfall except a single thunder show CT, which comes with great regularity during the second week in August. Outside of Attica climatic conditions are somewhat better. Tn the islands along the Gulf of Corinth, and In the Morea there is constant greenery- grass, vines and many trees. But for
 
 1 mers on end in Athens it is not easy to learn that hills may have a beauty aside from forests, and that colors, l contour, and form can lend enchant- | ments to the naked rock. It was long l before my New England eyes appre- l ciated the wonderful tints which the ] Athenian sunset throws upon Lycabet- l tus and Hymettu and that I learned 1 that Athens now, as ever, should be l hailed as the violet crowned city. "Personally, I found the Athenlan 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 were, to be sure, in winter, blowing down from l the snow-capped hills above the town l Or blowing up from the sea at Phal- 1 eron; but there were no frosts; the roses bloomed during every month of l the year in the legation gardens; l oranges ripened in the open uir, and ! we picked our breakfast fruit from the l trees outside of the window, while the palm fourishes there as I have seen it nowhere else, not ven in the Riviera. 1 The summer heat is easily endurable