AN AMATEUR GRECIAN 



131 



We lodged where we chanced to be, generally with some farmer 

 or fisherman. There comes back to me the memory of a good 

 overnight place on Ironbound Island, in Frenchman's Bay. We 

 landed there at sunset of a summer day, memorable to me 

 because there had been a partial eclipse of the sun, which we 

 had seen through bits of smoked glass taken with us for that 

 purpose. The house, as seen from a distance, was a curious 

 structure set against a hill, two stories in front and none behind, 

 where it came against the steep slope. I was sent to parley for 

 food and lodging. On the way, seated apart on a stone, I came 

 upon an old, bareheaded man, who was reading in a loud rev- 

 erential voice from a book in a language which at first seemed 

 a jargon unknown to me. I went slowly near to him, waiting 

 for him to look up, or at least to make a pause, in order that I 

 could speak to him without being rude ; but he kept steadily on 

 in his preacher's tone and I had a chance to find out what he 

 was up to. He was reading Greek, without having learned the 

 sounds that fit the signs. When the letters could not be guessed, 

 he gave them a sound which he had devised for each. Where 

 the letters were much like the Roman form, he was right enough, 

 but there were enough that he could not interpret to make the 

 whole effect very odd. At last, the good man came to the end 

 of his chapter, when I told him who we were, and what we were 

 about. He handed me the book, asking if I could read it. I read 

 him the first verses, to which he listened most intently. When 

 I stopped, he said we might stay as long as we pleased. Then 

 he added, " See the old woman, and don't tell her I said you can 

 stay." I found the dame somewhat difficult. I had to dissem- 

 ble concerning my interview with the old man, laying the accent 

 on the Greek, but we lodged there for three days, of which nearly 

 every waking moment spent ashore was of necessity given to 

 teaching my eager pupil how to pronounce Greek. If I had been 

 a tenth part as zealous a student as he was, I should have been 

 a great scholar. It was interesting to see that he really knew 

 the New Testament Greek; he had fairly worked out the gram- 



