Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1919-12-05
TO HER old GLORY
Greece Arises TO Take Her Place
Among Nations.
City Of Athens. We'll Called the Paris
Of the Levant, Has Made Won
derful Strides During the
Last Century

"Greece, whose classic ideals still
constitute one Of the most potent
forces OF world culture, is about to
emerge to a more Influential place
among modern nations as the result
Of peace adjustments says a bulletin
from the National Geographic Society.
"The established religion of the land
is. of course, orthodox Greek. The
clergy. headed by the metropolitan of
Cetlnje, are a splendid lot Of men In
physique and character. The Catho-
lies. numbering some 1900. have their
own archbishop at Antivari, and the
few Mohammedans possess a grand
mufti.
"In many ways Greek life remains
unchanged from its classic aspects.
Modern Athens, before the war, was
brilliant capital well worthy its title,
The Paris OF the Levant.' Less than
century ago 1t passed finally from
Turkish possession. and it was then a
small collection of mere novels hud-
died beneath the Acropolis.
''In 1914 It was city Of wide and
gay streets. dotted with small parks
and adorned with many handsome pub
lie buildings, most of them the gifts
of rich Greeks who have delighted to
spend In the mother country the for
tunes which they have earned abroad,
ITO such generosity Athens owes the
noble group of buildings which com
prise the university. the National IL
brary, and the fine classic reproduc-
ton which houses the Academy Of Sci
ence. and above all and to my mind
the most interesting, the noble sta
dium, built upon the old foundations
and along the old lines and ingeniously
carrying in its fabric every fragment
Of the old structure which could be
found
'In the midst OF all this modefnity
stand the remnants Of the golden days
of Athens sedulously preserved, and
open 10 inspection and study with a
freedom nowhere equaled. The focus,
of course, is the AeropOlis-incompar.
able even in its ruins-its cliffs and
grottoes still the home Of legend and
fable.
"As OF old, the Greeks swarm the
seas. Before the war the Piraeus was
one of the busiest Of Mediterranean
ports-indeed, it was the center Of
transshlpment for all the east-while
the Corinthian canal, after many finan-
eial vicissitudes, now seems to be in
the way Of becoming each year a more
and more useful route between the
Ionian and the Aegean seas.
1.-THE Greeks are town people. One
tenth of the population is to be found
in Athens and the Piraeus. The drain
of emigration from the rural districts
is enormous. In the words of a cabinet
minister, it constitutes a grave ma
tional hemOrrhage.' Indeed, in some
villages in the Peloponnesus there re
main scarcely enough men to fill the
offices.
"In a land of much sunshine, as
Greece is, life is followed much in the
open. The oven is almost invariably
to be found in the courtyard, and 1t is
heated with dried twigs, almost the
only fuel of the country, which are
brought in huge piles upon the backs
of the patient little donkeys, who vie
with the goats in being the most use
full members of the household
SAT Megara the native costume ap-
pears at its best. 1t is rarely seen
anywhere nowadays. and has almost
wholly disappeared from the cities"