New-York tribune., 1921-11-20
Drawings BY J. NORMAN LYND

Doree, is for the party of the King. Here po-
litical theorems burst forth beneath the flow
ing whiskcrs Of the agitated Greeks. Together
with the point Of the street they are on, these
two cafes are called the Dardenelles, not with
out sinister significance. While the political
feeling ran high last year during the exchange
oil Cretan for King and back again, the cafes
were wrecked according to which party was
not in power. Front windows were forum
OF debate Now the waning popularity OF Tno
IS talked of there, Venizeos's recent marriage,
which his camp AYERS was made in Olympus,
and his visit to New York also.
They are little cafes near the shady Iissus
where Plato walked and talked, now popular
largely with cab drivers. In the gardens
cafes they sit bcwailing the astuteness OF
Americans who refuse to pay cab charges,
arranged by the cabmen, which should include
the purchase price Of the horse. Beneath the
cypress trees they mourn and drink lnastica.
Mastica is to absinthe what moonshine is to
chocolate soda mixed with milk. 1t is
served with chaser of ripe olives or goats
cheese, though the chaser should be either the
florist or the undertaken. There are poorer
cafes in the dusty outlying sections near Soc
ratess tomb, where he spent the last quiet
days Of his married life. Mere mastica de-
scends one grade to ouzo, and none but Greek
meeting Greek clinks glass filled with ouzo.
In the poor cafe one sees the vertable Greek
in the short white kilt, blue leggings and wool
vest of the peasant farms. He will reek of
sweat and sheep and goats which he has been
tending and garlic he has been eating and
resin wine he has been drinking. And he is
the spine of the nation. He and his brothers
on the hills brought Tino back to the throne,
and they can put him off again If it occurs to
them that he is too great luxury. Let the
politicians of the Dardanelles talk all they
choose.
There are cafes from Patissia Road, past
the Temple of Olympus, the Thesum and the
Stoa of Hadrian, and each one is full of men
drinking for the most part coffee.
The Greek, though he may have some bust
ness hobby on the side, as q profession has
taken up coffee drinking. Owing to the fact
that the town shuts down from / till in the
afternoons in sumner because of the heat, he
can only stay at the cafe all day during the
winter months. By leaving home early, he
make the cafe by a. m. If by 10 it is
necessary to run to the Office, he can have
what coffee he needs brought to his desk by
the coffee boy These coffee or Office boys are
institution. Hot asphalt streets in the
business district dotted with boys about
fourteen years old and five and one-half feet
high, attired in half socks, short trousers,
sailor suits and marine picture hats all rush
ing to and from coffee houses. The duty of
the Athenian office boy is not to entertain
the stenographer. 1t is to fetch the drinks
They used to have to fetch them in most
shops from early morn till midnight and all
day Sunday, until Venizelos passed law fore
ing stores to close at p. m. and between
Saturday and Monday.
The sight of cafes filed with Greek men in
white linen suits, dark mustaches and with
the Hermes profile, which still occasionally
operates between straw hats and lawn bow
ties, is astonishing to busy American tourists
Any one from New York, or even Brooklyn,
wonders when the Athenian man works.
Wonders if chatting politics at the kafenion