Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 287, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 December 1913 — COVNTRY LIFE IN GREECE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

COVNTRY LIFE IN GREECE

tr*p N GREECE today counh — try life refers almost exKJ l\i clusively to the peasants yfe try. The modern edu--39 . cated Greek is essentialVj I yjj ly a townsman, and y; though some few of the "" wealthy classes have

Beats in the vicinity of Athens, rustic .pursuits have little attraction for him. There is but little, also, of what we should term provincial life, for Athens Is the one city of any pretensions to culture, and in it is centered the whole "social life of the nation. The majority of well-to-do Greeks make their money ‘abroad —in Egypt, Smyrna and other parts of the Levant, as well as in western Europe—returning periodically to Athens to fipend the fruits of their toil. Rural Greece, nevertheless, presents many interesting aspects. The scenery, in most parts possessed of a splendour entirely its own, is made the more romantic by the great historical traditions associated with almost every name upota the map; against such a background the peasant —physically and, perhaps, morally by far the finer half of the modern Greek race—makes a picturesque flgtire. The currant fields at least in the Peloponnesus, are the most characteristic scene of rustic labors. But great and Important as the currant industry Is, the vines are curiously local in •their distribution, and it is only a relatively small portion of the country which can be thus cultivated. Elsewhere the crops are of a more universal kind, and in essence the occupations of the peasantry are familiar, however peculiar the details which arise out of local conditions may appear; ! —; The Greek peasant has much ado, thanks to the general poverty of the soil, to wring a bare living out of agriculture. His indutsry is prodigious, especially in the mountainous regions where the traveler’s admiration is extorted by the diligence with

which small patches of ground, stolen a a it were from the barren slopes, are cultivated and the peasant works with Implement of the most primitive kind witness, for example, the plow seen in. one of the accompanying p h q t o g r aphs, which consists of little more than an ironshod spike, yoked to a pair o f undersized cattle. No doubt

the said spike efficiently achieves all that is necessary—the soil is so shallow that it will bear little more than a mere scratching! Naturally, in a country with the physical charcteristics of Greece, the activities of much of rural population are pastoral. The goatherd is a familar figure everywhere; the shepherd also, but to a less degree. The goat, indeed, is the Greek peasant’s cow, providing him with milk, cheese, and flesh. It is interesting to note that the herdsmen still retain that knack of throwing the voice from height to height across the intervening valleys, which in classic times made possible the transmission of news at a speed that almost rivalled the modern telegraph. The national costume (which is,

strictly, Albanian in origin). Ts dyings out in Greece, but is still worn by many peasants, though donned in fullest glory only on festal occasions. Usually the working garb-is a pair of shoddy trousers in place of the snowy fustanella, or kilt, and a flimsy cotton blouse (generally of a greyish drab color and a check pattern), which has very full skirts, and thus appears to end in a quaint abbreviated petticoat. In Thessaly, where reminiscences of Turkish rule survive, not only In the mosques and other buildings, but in the habits and appearance of the people, the fez is not unusual, and garments in the Turkish of baggy breeches and a sash round the middle are often seen. It was from the great plain of Thessaly that the ancient Greeks obtained their finest horses (of thetype seen in tfee-Barthenoi frieze), and in this northern part of Greek territory horse-breeding is sti)l an important pursuit. The windmills of Greece perhaps daserve a word of notice. In place of the cumbrous great arms which similar structure in this country carries, the Greek windmill carries sails of canvas which can be spread \o greater or less extent, as circumstances require, upon the spider’s weblike arrangement of spokes to whk.h they are attached. The wtells also or, at least, their machinery for drawing the water —are often of a very curious pattern. It is no uncommon thing to see a blindfold donkey patiently perambulating a circle and supplying motive power, through the beam to which he is harnessed, to an arrangement of clumsy wooden cogwheels actuating an endless chain of earthen pots, which automatically empty themselves of the fluid hoisted from the depths. f But Greek peasant activities are by no means entirely agricultural and pastoral. In addition to currants and vines, are orange groves at Kalamata yielding superb fruit scarcely inferior to that of Jaffa, and tobacco is grown in various districts. The mineral resources of the country are considerable, and large numbers of worker* find employment in the lead mines of Lavrion, in the marble quarries of Pentelicbn and elsewhere. Among the accompanying photographs will be found a picture taken at the mag nesite quarries of Limme, in Euboea, which are worked by a British company under a concession from the monks at Galatake, near by.

A. E. JOHNSON.