Meade County news., 1916-10-26

~ BILE temples of massive aque-
ducts, of extensive amphithea-
ters, it Is easy to project the ties Of
Greek Of today to that of the classic
worthless from whom he claims direct
descent, according to communication
addressed to the National Geographic
society by George Higgins Moses, for
merly United States ambassador to
Greece. Mr.. Moses in his graphic pic
ture of the Athens of today and Of the
modern citizens of the city which
reached the pinnacle Of its greatness
in the days of Pericles, says:
"It 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 Themis-
tocles. And yet it is difficult to WIS.,
ualize the modern Athenian with those
who once walked his streets.
"Thinklng Of Homer, of Praxiteles
and of Phidias, one looks for Helen,
for Hermes and for Athene; but the
only Helen ever saw in Athens was
an American girl, married to a MEM
Der of the cabinet AMI whose golden
hair, blue eyes and classic features
made her at once the reigning hostess
in the city. And it is only in the
islands or deep in the country where
the Albanian flood once swept across
the Attic plain has never reached, that
one finds the facial lineamentS and the
bodily grace which the ancient sculp-
tor has taught the modern world as
time. And this survival persists chief
ly among the children, because inces-
SAINT toll and scanty nourishment soon
deprive both boys and girls of their
native grace and stamp them with
the ineradicable marks Of a life of
labor.
Climate Is Agreeable.
"The Attic year is sharply divided
climatically into two seasons, the rainy
and the dry, the latter beginning late
in May and extending to early Octo-
ber, and during which there Is no rain
fall except single thunder shower,
which comes with great regularity dur
ing the second week in August. Out
side of Attica climatic conditions are
somewhat better. In the islands along
the Gulf of Corinth, and in the Morea
there is constant greenery-grass,
vines and many trees. But for one
who spent, as I did, four summers on
and in Athens, 1t is not easy to learn
that hills may have beauty aside from
forests, and that colOrs, contour and
form can lend enchantment to the
naked rock. 1t was long before my
New England eyes appreciated the
wonderful tints which the Athenian
sunset throws upon Lycabettus and
Hymettu and that learned that Ath-
ems now, as ever, should be hailed as
the 'violet-crowned city,
PERSONALLY, 1 found the Athenian
climate agreeable, and 1 cannot now
recall single day of my stay there
when, even in the rainy season, the
sun didInot shine at least part of the
time. Cold winds there were, to be
sure, in winter, blowing down from
the snow-capped hills above the town
or blowing up from the sea at Rhaler-
on but there were 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 window, while the palm
flourishes there as l have seen it mo-
where else, not even in the Riviera.
The summer heat is easily endurable,
despite well-nigh constant tempera-
ture of nearly 100, the absence of rain
removing the humidity which makes
American midsummer so intolerable.
Social Year Is Divided.
Socially, too, the Athenian year di-
vides itself with the climate. At the
end of the rainy season the court, the
diplomatic body and the rich fee away,
the latter going, as they say, to Eu.