The Covington leader. (Covington, Tenn.) 18??-current, 1917-02-01
THE GREEKS

modern Greek !' a striking PEN
picture of the habits of thought and
life of the modern Helene is given in
war geography bulletin of the Ma
tional Geographic Society, based on a
communication to the society from
George Higgins Moses, formerlyUnit-
ed States minister to Greece. Mr.
Moses says:
"The Ancient Athenian democracy
has projected itself well-nigh intact
into the life of Greece as it is today.
Class distinctions are unknown. Titles
of nobility are forbidden by the con-
stltution, even though every native eff
| Corfu claims to be a Venetian count.
The crown prince is known only as the
Diadochos, or Successor Neither
wealth nor education binders the asso-
citation Of all upon terms cf the most
absolute equality.
while the great ladies Of Athens
have an active social career, Greek
women, generally speaking, have no
individuality. At parties the women
generally sit apart, while in the coun-
try they are almost never to be found
at table if guests are present, and
upon them falls the greater portion of
the labor of the household. Follow
ing the pillow, harvesting, and working
upon the roads are common employ
ments for the Greek peasant woman.
Unmarried, her parents and her
brothers control her conduct, and a
husband means merely a change of
masters for whom she tolls while he
sits at ease. An improvement, how
ever, is gradually developing. The
Greek, much more than some of his
Balkan neighbors, has outgrown the
notion that the sole occupation fit for
man is warfare. Through schools,
endowed and under royal patronage;
through other enterprises, and espe-
cially through the demands of modern
business life, new avenues for employ
ment and advancement are opening
for women, and in another generation
it is altogether likely that the women
of Greece will be found with their
sisters of the West, demanding as
rights what they now regard as great
privileges.
Education in Greece is overdevel-
oped at the top. The framework of
the public school system is excellent,
but the teachers professionals held in
slight repute and fails to attract
either men or women of commanding
ability.
"The Greeks, externally at least,
are deeply religious people, and the
| feasts and fasts are rigidly observed.
When Greek fasts he fasts in earn
est, almost his sole nourishment be-
ing coarse soup of black beans, pal
atable and nutritious, but likely to
prove most monotonous after forty
days.
"Greek labor, though extremely
well organized, is meagerly paid, day
laborers receiving no more than three
drachm@ a day Ia little less than go
cents), while skilled labor in the
trades will average hardly more than
twice as much. Carpenters, Lnasons,
and mechanics generally use the most
primitive of implements, yet the
amount of work which they perform
in day, is astonishing. The guilds,
or corporations, which correspond to
our. labor unions, embrace practically
FALL the manual pursuits.
The Greek of today, especially in
the country, is the most hospitable
of moderns. The best room in the
house, the choicest tidbits at the
table, all the resources Of the family,
indeed, are freely at the disposal Of
the passing stranger, without thought
or desire of payment, and it is only
by means of some subterfuge, such, as
asking the whole family to drink ones
health, that one is able with difficulty
to press money upon host who has
denied himself to make his guest
comfortable.
Because of the great number of
| Greeks who have returned from
America, English is often heard, and
few travellers in the Peloponnesus will
fail to recall at almost every railroad
station the eager face thrust at the
carriage window and quivering with
the demand, You fellars from Amer
ica2' The curiosity thus manifest in
a friendly spirit is typical of the mod
ern Greek, and one traveller recounts
an experience at the provincial capital
of Amhissa where twenty-nine people
gathered and hung with eager inter-
est upon the bargaining as he haggled
for three lemons for 10 lepta, little
less than two cents,
"The extent to which emigration
has affected life in the smaller towns
is shown in the typical case Of the
village of Megara, on the bay Of Eleu-
sis, where the Easter dancing was
once rated as a famous marriage
mart, but which has lost that distinc-
ton, for so many of the young men
have gone off to America that the
maidens now sigh alone. Time was
when these men, having accumulated
the 10000 drachma $4,000 with
which they might pass as rich at
home, came back to open little shop
and end their days in the semi-indo7
lence of fitfui merchandising.
"But at lelgtl 80 many had follow
ed in this course that some Of the vii
lagos in southern Greece had come to
be like thar island IN the fable of our
childhood. where the inhabitants lived
by taking in each Others washing. So
scanty, niead, have heccm. these op-
portunities that remember one c..,a-
sion when a steamer came in with 800
Greeks on Yard who, having 'lns de
their pile" in the States, had come
back to sunny Hellas, but, after visit
ing their native villages and seeing
how meager were the rewards to be
gained, 400 Of them promptly took
massage hack to New York bv the