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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



durance after a few years ; but by that 

 time they knew that they would be ready 

 for war, and were content. 



The general lines of this program were 

 carried out. The powers, as so often be- 

 fore, failed to meet the expectations of 

 the allies and drafted an ultimatum to 

 the Balkan governments, the terms of 

 which were almost immediately made 

 ridiculous by the fortunes of war. The 

 rest is now history ; and when the treaty 

 of London is finally cast into enduring 

 terms, it will be found that the Balkan 

 allies have remade the map of Europe as 

 none have done for a century. 



Will it prove that they have also put 

 an end to the specter which has so long 



lurked behind every aspect of the Near 

 Eastern question ? That they have found 

 tranquillity for lands long harassed? 

 That they have, to use the words of 

 Lloyd-George, extended the boundaries 

 of liberty and good government? That 

 they have brought deliverance to the 

 oppressed? 



That they have, in short, opened a new 

 era in the Near East, in the course of 

 which those long in terror and subjuga- 

 tion may enjoy life, liberty, and the pur- 

 suit of happiness, and in which a plente- 

 ous prosperity shall reign in a region 

 where desolation and poverty have so 

 long held sway? 



They so believe, and I with them. 



MEGASPELi^ON, THE OLDEST MONASTERY IN 



GREECE 



By Carroll Storrs Alden 



With Photographs taken by the Author 



I REMEMBER the consternation with 

 which, when a small boy, I heard 

 my uncle observe that Americans 

 were overrunning Europe, and that in a 

 few years there would be not even a 

 village they had not visited and made 

 common. The doom of Europe was thus 

 pronounced. With dismay I realized that 

 when I became a man and traveled like 

 my uncle, Germany, Russia, and all other 

 lands would be completely tamed ; I 

 would see them but as Chicago (my home 

 city) repeated again and again. 



However, Europe is like one of those 

 old home-spun garments which, though 

 slightly faded, is extremely durable ; and, 

 as patching is not an easy process, most 

 of Europe still remains Europe. Ameri- 

 cans are far from being everywhere, and 

 on going to Greece in a recent summer 

 I wandered for several weeks through 

 city and village, and outside of Athens 

 met just three of my countrymen — one 

 man and two college women. 



LTnder such conditions the sociable man 

 is likely to feel intensely lonely, and it 

 is curious how he will sometimes en- 



courage himself, as he might a child, 

 appealing to his pride ; thus, if I did not 

 emphatically approve, at least I made nc 

 remonstrance as the solitary young Texar 

 I met at Tiryns denounced our country^ 

 men as poor creatures of convention,* 

 traveling only where thousands had pre- 

 ceded them, and shrinking timidly when 

 they encountered the least hardship. 

 "They're even afraid of dirt," he con- 

 temptuously concluded. It was plain that 

 he was not, and I presume that I also 

 bore the dark badge of courage. 



THE MONKS IN -THE CAVES 



One of the places in Greece fairly easy 

 of access, yet rarely visited by Ameri- 

 cans, is the monastery of Megaspelaeon. 

 As the name signifies, it is the monastery 

 of the Great Cave, and the cave-dwellers, 

 though not belonging to prehistoric times, 

 are like a relic of the middle ages. 



It is the oldest of Greek monasteries, 

 tradition affirming that it was founded 

 in the fourth century ; probably the real 

 date is about i,ooo years later; it is also 

 the richest, for it has extensive holdings 



