July 12, 1917 
LAND & WATER 
^9 
Typical crowd at foot of 
fraternisations that even 
this war has produced. 
We have heard much of 
the mysterious language 
b\- which Tommy conversef 
witli his brothers in arms 
in France, but think of the 
possibihties of Unguistic 
ingenuity where Anglo- 
Saxon, Gaul, Latin Sla\% 
and Hellene (not to men- 
tion the Annamites and 
the l^lack sons of Ham 
from Senegal) meet on 
common ground each con- 
tributing his little bit of 
knowledge to the common 
stock. 
If George Borrow iiad 
ever been fortunate enough 
to discover that particular 
corner he would have 
lingered for hours every 
day, interpreting for each 
"brother" in turn. And 
quite often lie would have 
found a passing gypsy on 
whom to practise his 
erudition, for Venizclos 
Street is the happy hunt- 
ing ground of the strange 
creatures of Bohemia who 
live in miserable little 
shanties outside the old 
waUs of the town, and who 
send their wrinkled wives 
and copper-coloured little 
children down to the 
centre to beg in persistent 
md wheedling accents. 
Penny Johnny," "penny 
Johnny," is their principal 
refrain repeated twenty times a minute as they scamper over 
the cobbles on their bare feet. 
; ***** 
Journalism in Salonika occasionally has its own special ex- 
'citements. » Quite often, sometimes for patent, sometimes for 
occult reasons, newspapers are suppressed, and disappear 
from circulation for a day or a week— sometimes indefinitely. 
There was one pro-Boche journal which disappeared ver\ 
early in the days of the Allied occupation. A guard of gen- 
darmes was mounted over the door of the impritnerie — and 
they were faithfully there months afterwards at a time when 
a newspaper of unimpeachable sympathies was using the 
machine. 
In the days before Greece was split into two halves on the 
Venizelist movement, and Royalist officers were still clanking 
up and down Salonika— the time before we had our little 
revolution here, and King Constantine's supporters were sent 
packing off to the south— we had the incident of the Rizos- 
pastis (Radical). This was in the very best style of fiery 
Continental journalism. Suddenly one hot afternoon sixteen 
brave Royalist officers descended on the editor and his 
assistant, and crowding with difficulty into the room, drew 
their swords and proceeded to wreck the staff and the establish- 
ment. ' was conducted to the office shortly afterwards, 
and by this time the 
editor, with a bandage 
round his head, was 
writing a fiery leading 
article for the morrow 
- naturally dealing 
with the incident — 
with a strict attention 
to business which ex- 
cited one's admiration. 
.\part from smiting the 
«'(litor with a sword, 
tlie invaders had be- 
haved simply like so 
many spiteful school- 
boys. The contents of 
tiie ink-pots bespat- 
tered the walls ; a 
l")(ii little table, which 
h.id never been built to 
stand any strain, was 
broken into mat h- 
wood , papers were 
thr. uui about, and a 
rrulitvocd and Ihulenrond. 
Roman Arch, Salonika 
Old Monastery, now Brigade Headquarters 
portrait of Venizelos on the 
wall was slashed and de- 
faced. This being, at that 
time, almost entirely a 
Greek affair, the gallant 
band was sent to Athens 
where they went through 
the form of a disciplinary 
incarceration, and no doubt 
later on took a charac- 
teristic part in the outbreak 
of December last. 
It is perhaps superfluous 
to say that journalism here 
has its comic side. There 
was the Evening Post, an 
attempt at an English 
journal, which a year or 
more ago struggled along 
for a week, and then one 
evening came out as the 
Evening Spot — and died of 
the shock. And any de- 
scription of our efforts, 
however incomplete, should 
contain a reference to the 
Ifiberal, a paper published 
half in Greek, half in 
English. It was a brave 
effort — but never before had 
such wonderful English 
been given to the world. 
It would have turned a 
cultured Babu enviously 
green. The first number 
contained a note which 
said ; " We bog pardon 
from our readers for the 
very bad English of our 
paper. We have discovered 
our unrepereable mistake 
th« very lost moment. W e 
have been deceived inconsciously ; our neset Paper-number 
will prove real English." 
And the main article, addressed to " Kis Majesty the 
King of The Greeks," said : 
" Sire, you are the child of the Greek people you are his 
creature. You have been nourrished with his own milk, 
with his pure milk, a milk of so many bitternesses, of so long 
a slawcry and of so many shopes you belong to him entirely 
and you are the great Child which this people created as his 
symbol as a holy symbol for the realisation of his national 
dream, . . . You are the successor of the marmlest emperor 
of Byzantiurfi." 
And after being told at length in the same sort of language 
of the things he ought not to have done, Constantine is 
further addressed : 
You are the irresspossible foctor of the state, the holy 
nymbol of the notion, the Crown to wich everybody owes 
respect and faith." 
Unhappily, four columns of an appeal couched in such 
moving terms had no effect on the " successor of the marmlest 
Emperor of Byzantium." Constantine, reigns in Athens, but 
the Liberal died a very early death. ( Happily, King Con- 
stantine at the moment of \vriting has been deposed : how the 
poor Z.j6«;'(j/ would have rejoiced!) Three weeks after the 
. first number a second 
appeared, with a por^ 
trait of "The Great . 
Gladstone" as one of 
its features. But alas, 
the English had not 
improved in the mean- 
time. Among the ad- 
a d V e r t i sements we 
could still read ' The 
Columbus bar of Mrs. 
Pipina is accomplished 
and perfect from any 
point of view. All 
the world to the Mrs. 
Pipina 's Bar." It may 
be that all the world 
went to drink with 
the fascinating Mrs. 
Pipina, but the Liberal 
did not find similar 
support. And so passed 
an attempt to develop 
Anglo- Greik relations. 
liidtmitvd iind Vndcrwovd, 
