19143 Greek Refugees on the Road 



There was now but a single mixed train — with httle The lot 

 demand for that — and the empty goods-vans (freight °^f^ 

 cars) left at the different stations had been turned 

 over to Greek refugees expelled by the Turks from 

 Adrianople and Kirk Kilisseh. At Demir Hissar 

 there were six or eight of these vans, each holding 

 four or five families. 



The Greek government allowed a small daily 

 ration of rice, and the children ran over the neighbor- 

 hood looking for thistles, cornstalks, and weeds with 

 which it could be cooked. The weather was de- 

 lightful, so that the young ones found the experience 

 novel and interesting, but their elders looked utterly 

 wretched. They had been given from two hours to 

 four days to move on, and were not permitted to sell 

 anything or to leave their homes except for the 

 Adrianople station, whence they were transported to 

 Macedonia. A Greek, who spoke some Italian, 

 restrainedly summed up the situation as " duro" 

 (hard). 



One child had brought with her from the Black Easily won 

 Sea a tiny box of shells of the Litorina, a small shore ^'^""^^ ' 

 snail, which I bought, to her delight. A woman 

 offered a box of handkerchiefs for two drachme, and 

 was greatly relieved when afterward I returned them 

 to her little girl. At the best there was not much to be 

 done, but we purchased some useful things, food 

 especially, for various individuals in the multitude. 

 These slight efforts at relief evoked something akin 

 to worship on the part of the poor women. But not 

 a single person begged from us; all seemed too proud 

 to ask for anything. 



Waiting at the station, we were accosted by a Greek 

 soldier who enthusiastically explained in English 



C 599 3 



