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sister of the Kaiser ; the Princess George 

 of the Bonaparte family; the Princess 

 Nicholas a Russian Grand Duchess ; the 

 Princess Andrew a Battenburger ; and 

 since they all had English nurses and 

 governesses, and since it was necessary 

 to find some common linguistic ground 

 for the royal group, English was the pre- 

 vailing tongue in the royal households ; 

 and it is spoken generally at the minis- 

 tries, in the hotels, and in the larger 

 shops. 



Throughout the country, too — and in- 

 deed throughout the entire Balkan re- 

 gion — English is much heard, because of 

 the great numbers of Greeks who have 

 returned home from America ; and few 

 travelers in the Peloponnesus will fail to 

 recall at almost every railroad station the 

 eager face thrust in at the carriage win- 

 dow and quivering with the demand. 

 "You fellers from America?" 



In this recurring question scholars find 

 a persistence of that spirit of Hellenic 

 curiosity which greeted the traveler in 

 the Odyssey with, "Who of men and 

 whence art thou ; where are thy city and 

 thy parents?" 



GENUINE CURIOSITY 



But modern Greek curiosity goes much 

 further, and the traveler is subjected, 

 even in the larger centers, to a searching 

 examination, which sometimes extends 

 even to a good-natured ransacking of his 

 baggage and which always insures a 

 good-sized gallery for even the smallest 

 transaction. An acquaintance of mine 

 who has done his Grecian experiences 

 into a book, which is a mine of informa- 

 tion touching the life of the Greek peo- 

 ple today, relates how at Amhissa, which 

 is the capital of a province and therefore 

 possessing the claim to citified indiffer- 

 ence, 29 people hung with eager interest 

 upon the bargaining as he haggled for 

 three lemons for 10 lepta, a little less 

 than two cents, in this showing how gen- 

 eral is the assumption that the Greek of 

 today stands forth in spirit, at least, ex- 

 actly as his classic ancestors did. I re- 

 member, during the revolution of IQOQ, 

 the late king, in talking to me of condi- 

 tions as they then existed, said that I 

 would find an accurate picture of things 



if I would read once more "The Erogs" 

 of Aristophanes. 



In fact, the ancient Athenian democ- 

 racy has projected itself well-nigh intact 

 into the life of Greece as it is today. 

 Class distinctions are unknown. Titles 

 of nobility are forbidden by the constitu- 

 tion, even though every native of Corfu 

 claims to be a Venetian count, and the 

 Crown Prince is known only as the Dia- 

 dochos, or Successor. Neither wealth 

 nor education hinders the association of 

 all upon terms of the most absolute 

 equality. 



"Five greeks, six generals" 



One unfortunate result of this extreme 

 democracy, so firmly fixed as a Hellenic 

 characteristic, is the disinclination to 

 obey a leader, which has had a strikingly 

 disastrous effect upon both the politics 

 and the commerce of the nation. The 

 Venetians in their day were wont to say, 

 "Five Greeks, six generals ;" and it is 

 only of late that anything like coherent 

 cooperation has been possible in Hellenic 

 affairs. 



Like many democratic peoples, both 

 ancient and modern, Greeks have an in- 

 tense distrust one of another; and such 

 of their joint-stock companies as have 

 met with any signal degree of success 

 have a considerable admixture of foreign 

 directors ; and jealousy, another charac- 

 teristic of democracy, is so much a Hel- 

 lenic trait that even the wisest and most 

 capable of Greek statesmen and warriors 

 cannot long go free of criticism, misrep- 

 resentation, or other form of attack. 



Because of this condition, copartner- 

 ships and joint-stock companies are rare 

 in Greek commerce ; but the individual 

 Greek seems amply able to take care of 

 himself in commercial strife. There is a 

 saying prevalent in the East, "Two Jews, 

 one Greek ;" and certain it is that Greece 

 shares with Scotland the reputation of 

 being able to hold its own against Israel's 

 competition. 



REAL HOSPITALITY 



I would not leave the impression that 

 the curiosity with which the Greek 

 searches into the stranger's affairs is due 

 to anything except an extreme friendli- 



