THE WHIRLPOOL OF THE BALKANS 



195 



Greeks, who have delighted to spend 

 upon the mother country the fortunes 

 which they have gained abroad. 



To such generosity Athens owes the 

 noble group of buildings which comprises 

 the University, the National Library, and 

 the fine classic reproduction which houses 

 the Academy of Science, and, above all, 

 the noble Stadium, built upon the old 

 foundations and along the old lines and 

 ingeniously carrying in its fabric every 

 fragment of the old structure which could 

 be found. 



In the midst of all this modernity stand 

 the remnants of the golden days of 

 Athens, sedulously preserved and open 

 to inspection and study with a freedom 

 nowhere equaled. The focus, of course, 

 is the Acropolis, with its Parthenon, in- 

 comparable even in its ruins, its cliffs and 

 grottoes still the home of legend and of 

 fable (see pages 170 and 186). 



Within a narrow circle all the phases 

 of ancient Athenian life are represented. 

 Under the shadow of the mighty rock 

 stands the classic Temple of Theseus, 

 best preserved of all the ancient monu- 

 ments and serving a varied purpose 

 throughout the centuries as pagan temple, 

 Christian church, and Turkish palace. 



Only a few steps away rise the well- 

 kept walls of the Stoa of Hadrian, which, 

 with other works of Latin origin, speak 

 of that distant day when a Roman em- 

 peror ruled the violet-crowned city. 



DILAPIDATED FRESCOES REEICS OE EAREY 

 CHRISTIAN ERA 



Of the early Christian era there are 

 many dilapidated frescoes upon the walls 

 of nearly all the classic structures, and 

 the first expressions of the architectural 

 aspirations of our faith are to be found 

 in the beautiful little Byzantine churches, 

 the most striking of which is that of St. 

 Theodore, set down in the midst of one 

 of the great business streets of the city, 

 its foundations already sunken beneath 

 the detritus of the centuries, yet scrupu- 

 lously guarded against commercial en- 

 croachment. 



Of Turkish days there are but few dis- 

 tinct traces of structural importance ; but 

 the bazars, as typified by the Lane of the 

 Little Red Shoes, the home of the cob- 

 blers, or Hephaistos street, the quarter 



of the coppersmiths, are far more Ori- 

 ental than either Hellenic or European. 

 In this land of changing allegiance the 

 marks of the Venetian occupation, as 

 elsewhere, were set deep and strong. 

 Corfu is today, in its externals at least, 

 as much Italian as either Venice or 

 Naples ; while Nauplia, Patras, and many 

 of the island seaports still make use of 

 the battlemented fortresses erected by 

 the Latin rulers. 



THE PIRAEUS, ONE OE THE BUSIEST PORTS 

 OE THE MEDITERRANEAN 



As of old, the Greeks swarm the 

 seas. The Piraeus is one of the busiest 

 and most crowded of Mediterranean 

 ports ; it is indeed the center of trans- 

 shipment for all the East, and the Greek 

 merchant marine has multiplied its fleet 

 from year to year. The Corinthian 

 Canal, after many financial vicissitudes, 

 now seems in the way of becoming each 

 year a more and more useful route be- 

 tween the Ionian and the ^Egean Seas, 

 and its sheer walls are eloquent of the 

 persistence with which an ancient dream 

 has been fostered and brought to realiza- 

 tion. 



The Greeks are essentially a town peo- 

 ple — made so doubtless by the necessity, 

 in Turkish days, of coming together in 

 masses for self-defense. But, whatever 

 the reason, one-tenth of the entire popu- 

 lation is to be found in Athens and the 

 Piraeus. 



The drain of emigration from the rural 

 districts has been enormous. In the 

 striking words of one of the cabinet who 

 discussed the question with me, it con- 

 stitutes "a grave national hemorrhage.'' 

 Indeed, in some villages of the Pelopon- 

 nesus there remain scarcely enough men 

 to fill the offices. 



In one sense, however, the emigration 

 has been of benefit to the country ; for 

 large sums of money are sent back each 

 year, especially from America, to the 

 families which have been left at home. 



But, while Athens and a few of the 

 larger towns have taken on the aspect 

 of today, country life in Greece remains 

 in most of its fundamentals as it has 

 been for ages. Within two hours' drive 

 of Athens I have seen peasants plowing 

 their fields with crooked sticks, exactly 



