GREECE OF TODAY 



299 



tured word for water is hud or, and I re- 

 member one hot summer's day, soon after 

 my arrival in Athens, that my small boy 

 and I stopped at one of the numerous 

 outdoor cafes to refresh ourselves with 

 an ice, and wishing a glass of water with 

 it, I summoned my courage and called 

 for hudor, only to be greeted with blank 

 amazement from the waiter. Finally, 

 summoning that most useful of all means 

 of communication, the sign language, I 

 pointed to a bottle of water at a near-by 

 table. "Ah !" exclaimed the waiter, "Nero, 

 nerd/' But when he had brought me the 

 bottle and I read its label, there was the 

 good word hudor. 



The passion for the pure tongue to 

 which I have alluded is doubtless to be 

 set down as one manifestation of the in- 

 tense, even exaggerated, patriotism which 

 possesses the Greek people and which 

 finds its most extreme development in 

 the "Great Idea," which has influenced 

 both the internal and the external politics 

 of the nation for nearly half a century. 

 Briefly stated, the "Great Idea" looks to 

 nothing less than a re-creation of the 

 Byzantine Empire, a dream of dazzling 

 allurement and one for which Hellenism 

 has made tremendous sacrifices. 



THE "GREAT IDEA" OF GREECE 



Out of the "Great Idea" arises that 

 term of classification which refers to 

 those of Greek blood who exist under 

 Turkish, Serb, or Bulgarian jurisdiction 

 as the "enslaved brethren," in contradis- 

 tinction to those who are "free Greeks" 

 of the kingdom of the Hellenes ; and the 

 effort, blood, and treasure expended by 

 the "free Greeks" in behalf of their sub- 

 jugated kindred in Crete and Macedonia, 

 even prior to the late Balkan wars, are 

 incredible in amount. 



In pursuit of the "Great Idea" Greek 

 bands for years ravaged those portions 

 of Macedonia and Epirus which are not 

 preponderantly Hellenic in blood and ag- 

 gravated the age-long hatred between 

 Greek and Bulgar, which with difficulty 

 was laid aside but once, and then only 

 long enough to dispossess the Ottoman 

 oppressor, when it broke forth once more 

 with redoubled fury. Because of the 

 "Great Idea" Crete was periodically up- 



set in revolution and for a century this, 

 the largest and the most fertile of the 

 "Egean Isles, was rendered useless to 

 either Turk or Greek. Spurred on by 

 the "Great Idea," Constantine's flying 

 columns crossed the Thessalian frontier, 

 forced Meluna Pass, wiping out its tragic 

 memories from the war of 1897, and 

 came in triumph to Saloniki. It was the 

 "Great Idea" which drove the southern 

 Epirotes to their revolt against incor- 

 poration in the autonomous Albania 

 which the ambassadors had so summarily 

 set up at London. 



Greece of today looks back only three 

 generations, if one places its origin in 

 the War for Independence, which was 

 concluded by the Protocol of London in 

 1830; and, witnessing the progress which 

 in that brief span has been made in a 

 land of such sparse resources, I cannot 

 see how praise can be withheld from a 

 people who have accomplished so much. 



THE NEW ATHENS 



When the city of Athens passed from 

 Turkish control and was designated as 

 the capital of the new free kingdom of 

 Greece, it was a mere handful of 

 wretched huts clustered about the Acrop- 

 olis. Today it is a thoroughly modern 

 city, with splendid streets, magnificent 

 public buildings, handsome residences, 

 attractive parks, and most of the modern 

 improvements of which western cities 

 boast. The building of this city alone in 

 a land of such scanty resources is fairly 

 comparable to the development of our 

 own rich West, and even more meritori- 

 ous when all the circumstances are con- 

 sidered. Indeed, had the Greek of today 

 nothing to his credit save the building of 

 the attractive capital of his nation, that 

 alone, it seems to me, would be sufficient 

 to rank him among the constructive 

 agencies of the modern world. 



In this city of old memories and new 

 hopes, Greek life centers now as in its 

 classic days, and here ancient and mod- 

 ern Greece are inextricably mingled in a 

 curious medley of modernity and antiq- 

 uity, which colors the most ordinary of 

 every-day affairs. On every hand arise 

 the shattered monuments of its splendid 

 past, and even the tiniest fragments 



