GREECE AXD MONTENEGRO 



299 



at Antivari, and the few Mohammedans 

 possess a Grand Alufti. 



Perhaps the most striking testimony 

 to Nicholas' tact as a ruler is to be found 

 in these three religious groups dwelling 

 amicably together and all possessing and 

 professing a like affection and honor for 

 their Sovereign. 



Education is not advanced. The schools 

 are few in number and most elementary 

 in character. At Cetinje there is the In- 

 stitute for Girls, founded by the Empress 

 Marie Feodorovna of Russia and main- 

 tained by Russian bounty. Here several 

 score of girls are trained in domestic 

 arts, music, and the studies which with 

 us are preparatory to high-school work. 

 This school has had a large influence 

 upon Montenegrin life, and. thanks to it, 

 the position of woman is becoming each 

 year more tolerable. 



Another Russian establishment is that 

 for the training of cadets, and indeed it 

 would be difficult to find any Montene- 

 grin activity where Russian influence is 

 not exerted. A Russian subsidy main- 

 tains the army, and two years ago from 

 Russia came arms, uniforms, tents, can- 

 nons, saddlery, and the complete equip- 

 ment for 50,000 men. A Russian mili- 

 tary commission has been busy at Cetinje 

 for years, and the Russian military re- 

 gent has long been a most conspicuous 

 figure in Montenegrin life. 



WHERE RUSSI.W INFLUENCE FAILED 



Yet Russian influence was unable to 

 restrain the Montenegrin initiative in the 

 present war, and King Nicholas never 

 showed to better advantage than when 

 he informed the spokesmen of the Great 

 Powers that they had come too late. 

 Within an hour from that declaration he 

 had sent the Turkish Minister his pass- 

 ports, and the next morning we heard 

 the first gun in the war whose results 

 have so astounded the world. 



If I have seemed to give too large a 

 share of my allotted theme to the consid- 

 eration of Nichola'^ and his Black Moun- 

 taineers, my excuse is that the other por- 

 tion of it is measurably familiar. 



To separate the life of modern Greece 

 from the splendors of its classic or Byzan- 



tine days is not easy, and the Greeks 

 themselves would be the first to resent it. 

 They, of a truth, deem themselves the 

 direct descendants of the worthies of 

 classic days, and certain it is that their 

 life has shown a persistent continuitv 

 which warrants the claim. 



Whether their land has been ruled by 

 a Roman emperor, a Prankish duke, a 

 Venetian baillie, or a Turkish pasha, the 

 thread of Hellenic existence has remained 

 unbroken. In the monasteries have been 

 preserved their religion, their tongue, 

 their traditions ; mothers have taught 

 their children the glories of the Greek 

 heritage, and today the Greek people 

 stand forth in character, at least, exactly 

 as they did in days of yore, as Aristoph- 

 anes pictured them, as St. Paul described 

 them, and as every classical scholar has 

 learned to regard them. 



THE PARIS OF THE LEVANT 



In many ways Greek life remains un- 

 changed from its classic aspects. ^Modern 

 Athens, to be sure, is a brilliant capital 

 well worth its title, "The Paris of the 

 Levant." Less than a century ago it 

 ])assed finally from Turkish possession, 

 and it was then a small collection of mere 

 hovels huddled beneath the Acropolis. 



Today it is a city of wide and gav 

 streets, dotted with small parks and 

 adorned with many handsome public 

 buildings, most of them the gifts of rich 

 Greeks who have delighted to spend in 

 the mother country the fortunes which 

 they have earned abroad. 



To such generosity Athens owes the 

 noble group of building.s which comprise 

 the university, the National Library, and 

 the fine classic reproduction which houses 

 the Academy of Science, and above all 

 and to my mind the most interesting, the 

 noble stadium, built u])on the old foun- 

 dations and along the old lines and in- 

 geniously carrying in its fabric every 

 fragment of the old structure which could 

 be found. 



In the midst of all this modernity stand 

 the remnants of the golden days c.{ 

 .Vthens sedulously preserved, and open to 

 inspection and study with a freedom no- 

 where equalled. The focus, of course, is 



