166 . The Wilson Bulletin— No. 97 



mitted. One of its gravestones was among the finest seen in 

 Greece. The mother, with a new-born infant on her knee, is 

 portrayed with all the grace and delicacy of the sculptor's 

 art. Among relics of finely colored frescoes was outlined the 

 profile of a woman of rare beauty. These relics are supposed 

 to be very ancient, "perhaps from the palace of Cadmus," sug- 

 gested the curator. Some gray stone slabs are unlike in dec- 

 oration any other panels that have been found. The outline 

 figures on them were done with excellent drawing. The mu- 

 seum possesses a copy of the famous Lion of Chseronea, 

 which does honor to the memory of brave defenders "whose 

 fortune was not equal to their valor." 



The voices of the school-children, singing, led us to a build- 

 ing; which appeared to have been a dwelling-house, converted 

 to school purposes. It would be well if all those fault-finding 

 American school-teachers, who are furnished with all the con- 

 veniences that school money can reasonably supply, could 

 visit that little two-roomed school-house in Thebes. In one 

 room, measuring about 16x24 feet, there were counted one 

 hundred and one little girls, ranging from five to eight or 

 nine years. Most of them were seated on deskless forms, but 

 these, with close packing, could not accommodate all, conse- 

 quently about a half dozen were seated on stones and a few 

 were standing. The second room was about eighteen feet 

 square. It was supplied with very narrow desks and was oc- 

 cupied by an older grade of pupils, who' numbered sixty-one. 

 We heard the children sing, examined a few of their map- 

 drawings and writing-books and regretted that we could not 

 express oiir admiration for the devotion of the teachers who, 

 under such cramped conditions, were working for their 

 younger sisters, unsealing for them the fountains of knowl- 

 edge in the land, whose ancient literature has been for ages 

 a well-spring from which thirsty scholars have drunk ; and 

 on the very site of the city in which Pindar lived and sang 

 the greatest lyrics of Greece. 



The carriage drive to Platasa having been abandoned we 

 walked south from Thebes until a commanding point was 



