The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1917-03-02
ENTENTE LEGATIONS ON BOAT.
Many Diplomatic Families Are Huddled
in Small Space.

On board the Abbassieh, off Piraus
Greece, March 2.-The Abbassieh is tn,
ship which, since Dec. l5 has housed al
the entente legations accredited to King
! Constantine, save the Italian mission
A small boat, once a yacht, she is fal
from comfortable dwelling for so many
| diplomatists and their families.
| The various cabins have signs on them
indicating that one or the other is the
British legation, the French legation, the
Serbian, Belgian, Russian or Rumanian
legation. The main saloon at meal times
is a common diningroom as international
in character as that OF any Swiss hotel
in the tourist season. BY dint of long
enforced residence at close quarters, some
of the little niceties of life have gone b.
the board. French, the common diplo-
matte tongue, is here solely the language
of the French, Each group sticks toge~h-
er and converses in its native speech,
save at the formal conferences.
After the common breakfast the tables
are cleared and the reading OF the Athe-
MAN morning papers is the order of the
day--a task usually falling to Mr.. Fill
dor, the Ruhnanian minister, the readiest
translator from Greek. The task is rath
er "a thankless one. as the Athenian
newspapers have little good to say of
the entente powers these days of block
ade. The comments OF the listeners,
however, are generally of similar tenor
albeit from the other side The news of
the day digested, there is the first con.
ference and discussion on the days pro-
gram. Once the conference adjourned,
the legations separate each to occupy
set OF tables Of its own for its work
when there is any to do.
The British and French legations are
the busy ones. The Rumanian minister,
almost entirely cut off from his govern
ment of whose seat he is never quite
sure, is a forlorn figure, pacing the deck
while his colleagues labor. The Russian
minister is somewhat buster, especially
since he acts as his own cook The Serb
ian minister disappears frequently quiet
~ slipping ashore and making his way
to Athens, TO return only late in the |
evening, spending the night aboard as a
pure matter of form.
At one table Sir Francis Elliot. the |
British minister. in shirt sleeves is tap |
ping the typewriter himself, at another |
one of his secretaries is lost among a |
maze of papers that with every roll of |
he ship slip to the floor. Nearby at an
other table two other British secretaries
ire playing chess. In a corner four of |
he diplomatic ladies have organized
lay long game of bridge. The Belgian |
barge watches the bridge sadly, his
thoughts far away on the sand dunes
hat are all that remains of his native
and.
On the opposite side of the cabin Jean
iuillemin, the French minister, holds
way. Nervous and restless, he is con-
family up and down, rushing back and
orth from his cabin or breaking in on
lis British colleague. who listens to com
nent or discussion impassive, returning
o poking one finger of each hand at the
typewriter keys when the storm has
assed. Capt. de Roquefeuille, the
french naval attache, hurries in with
he latest reports from the Athenian
afes, filed with the lurid color charac-
eristic of the Orient. The eager French
ather about to drink them in, with
many "Ohs!" and "Aks!" and How
readfulsl"
Afternoons those who do not sleep go
shore for walks on the island of Sala
lis, or climb the barren Egaleos heights.