Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1922-06-09


Society, Washington. D. CO
Within 1.-The Zone of the Straits'-the
strip of land bordering the Darda-
nelles, the Bosphorus and the Aegean
sea, whose International control Is
likely to be altered somewhat by re-
vision of the treaty of Sevres-lies the
subject of one of the worlds greatest
epics: Troy, where two nations
fought for the fair Helen.
The Trojan walls, unvisited by the
idle tourist, are still in evidence;
those same walls that defied the on
slaughts of Agamemnon and Menelaus,
of Ajax, Nestor, Diomed. Ulysses and
Achilles, to fall at last by stratagem.
They remained as ruined and aban-.
doned stage minus Its paraphernalia,
wherein was played so many centuries
ago an insignificant little drama COM
pared with modern events; but 1t was
q drama so big with human interest
divinely told that the world has never
known its equal.
To be sure, it was all in the telling;
and what would Troy have been with
out its Homer? Still, as the theater
of the worlds greatest epic poem, 1t
deserves visit any year. every year.
In the thoughts and emotions 1t re-
wives and stimulates, In the aroused
sense of indebtedness of all subse-
uuent literature and art. 1t richly re-
pays q visit. The classical student
will leave 1t In daze of meditation
upon things more real to him than the
actual things he has seen and touched.
In visiting the ruins of Troy, one
sets out from the village Of Darda-
neIles for five hours hot and dusty
ride.
After couple of hours travel
through the plain the road grows
r0ugher and begins to ascend into billy
country. The traveller realizes that he
should be nearing historic ground
now and he glances around the horizon
to see IL he can identify Mt. Ida, and
toward the sea for first sight OF
Tenedos; but no, this is only common
soil. Rounding the summit of the next
rise one sees the road leading down
into Eren Koui, Turkish village, a
convenient halting place for coffee
| Then the road begins to wind through
| the village In a gradual descent until
it makes sudden jerky little turn
into the open country and behold the
plain of Troy; not the plain of the his
toric action, but the drainage ares
which includes Troy.
To the Hill Of Hum.
The road leads straight toward 9
ridge in the distance, "the Hill Of
Ilium," at the lower point of which
will presently appear the ruins. i
was down that identical ridge, or 81
one tells oneself that the angry god
| Apollo, strobe toward vengeance
while the arrows in the culver on hi
shoulder changed in ominous music.
Yonder the summit of Mt. Ida. wher'
the gods in solemn conclave so ofteI
sat. Away over there, skirting thu
TluSc VI liluIi, 10 ohhoiS oeAchihs "
should be; but the bridge across !
shows upon approach that mode1
Simois Is no more than a creek. Wors
than that; following Its attenuate'
course, less than mile downstream
one discovers that 1t ends In moras
instead of joining the Scamander as 0
yore. And the latter stream is scarce
ly less disappointing, for 1t is no NOR
dignified In size or appearance. Il
fact, their sluggish currents united ca
scarcely boast of banks except at OK
casional intervals, for botn stream
are now only broad swales mergin
with the adjacent plain, with no cor
tinuous current toward the sea excep
In seasons Of high water, II such ar
ever known.
Behold the ruins at lastI "a I0nl
low ridge, some four or five miles /
length, ends abruptly like .promol
tory projecting into the sea, abov
which 1t rises about 80 feet. The ride
IL the so-cailed "Hill of Ilium." tn
sea Is the fioodplain Of the Simois an
Scamander. historically known as th
plain Of Troy. and the promontor'
with Its crown Of ruins, Is Troy itsel
. You walk around the ruins ana mall
the surprising discovery that II u
walking were good you could easi'