Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1921-06-17
Athens and the AcropolIs.

prepared by the National Geographic So
ciety, Washington, d. CO
Greece, in carrying on in Asia MI
nor, against the Turkish Nationalist,
what may be called the only major
war now in progress, attracts atten-
ton anew to the prolonged presence
of the Greeks on the world stage.
There are few parallels to the strik-
ing racial phenomenon of Hellenic
continuity throughout the vicissitudes
of 1000 years. Modern research has
penetrated the dark byways of me-
dieval Greek history, and we now
know that the Greeks, whatever their
temporary fate, have preserved I'M
broken the thread of their national
existence
The firmest bond which unites the
Greek of today with his illustrious
forebears of the golden age is the
Greek language, the essential ele
ments of which remain as they were
in the DAYS when the tongue served
as the medium of the noblest poetry
and the sublimest philosophy which
the race has yet produced. This
tongue traces its unbroken lineage
back through medieval and New Tes-
lament Greek to the classic speech of
Plato and of his contemporaries.
AID yet, with all this continuity
of language, there exists now in
Greece a linguistic condition of af-
fairs around which centers a contro-
versy at once comic or tragic; for
there are in Greece two languages.
or, rather, the one language in two
forms-one written by the newspa-
pers, spoken by the educated classes,
and used in parliamentary debates
and in public documents, including
the Scriptures, the circulation of
other a vernacular used by the mass
es of the people, containing many
words of foreign origin, especially
Turkish and Italian, arising from
those periods of foreign occupation,
with a much simplified grammar rare
ly reduced to writing, except for pri-
vate communications. The former is
the cultured tongue; the latter the
popular idiom; and between the two
there RACES a merciless warfare. in
which fanatical students of the uni
versity have lost their lives, ministers
their portfolios, and a Metropolitan
of Athens his inter.
Greece of Today Almost New.
Greece of today looks back only
three generations. if one places its
origin in the war for independence.
which was concluded. by the protocol
of London in 1880; and, witnessing
the progress which in that brief span
has been made in a land of such
sparse resources, one cannot see how
praise can be withheld from peo-
pie who have accomplished so much.
When the city of Athens passed
from Turkish control and was des-
ignated as the capital of the new free
kingdom of Greece, it was mere
handful of wretched huts clustered
about the AcropoliS. Today 1t is
thoroughly modern city, with spen-
did streets, magnificent public build
ings, handsome residences, attractive
parks, and most of the modern i'm
provements of which western cities
boast. The building of this city alone
I'm land of such Scanty resources is
fairly comparable to the development
of our own rich West, and as meri-
torious when all the circumstances
are considered. Indeed, had the Greek
of today nothing to his credit save
the building of the attractive capital
of his nation, that alone would be
sufficient to rank him among the con-
structive agencies of the modern
world
In this city of old memories and
new hopes, Greek life centers now as
in its classic days, and here ancient
and modern Greece are inextricably
mingled in a curious medley of mo-
dernity and antiquity. which colors the
most ordinary of everyday affairs.
On every hand arise the shattered
monuments of its splendid past, ana
even the tiniest fragments which
serve TO link the life of the present
with the DAYS that are gone are most
carefully preserved.
Guards Its Antiquities.
The Greek government is keehiy
alive TO its responsibility for the saIe-
guarding of its antiquities. and the
department of archaeology under the
charge of the ministry of education
and religion, is painstakingly organ
ICED axd prudentiy administered. Inc
museums at Athens are Handsomely
bonsed. conveniently arranged, ac-
cuSately catalogued, and open TO IN
snsetion and study without fee. this
i4ts.r being a point Ok great pri0s