A COLONIAL GIRL IN GREECE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 92, 11 January 1908, Page 11

A COLONIAL GIRL IN GREECE.

• i. . • * n. ■ ' Fancy being, in Athens ! I can't properly realiso it yet; or, rather, it seems so natural'that there : is nothing to realise. And it is heavenly weather. I said yesterday it was like New South Wales; but to-day there siaems something ethereal in tho atmosphere, a purity and glorious colouring that, J have hitherto only seen at Zormatt nr.Cliamonix. Wo liavon't done much to-day, hut first thing, at 7.45 a.m.. on tho way to the post k for our letters, I climho.d a littlo spur of Liliettos. and had a glorious viow of the town and Acropolis beyond. Then this morning wo went to tho teniplo of Jupiter, Olympia, and this, afternoon . to tho Stadium and sat on "its marble benches to watch tho snn set. jiist to tho left, of the t'anllierm. There wasn't a' cloud in the sky, but tho colouring was lovely, very Oriental—-an orange-red glare stretching high up into the sky and blending ■jnost wonderfully in to the intense blue

above. Later it changed to palo shades of pink and yollow, and'nil t*.o time tho view of tho Acropolis in tho foregroniul sharply outlined against the sky with tho blno hills of Aeginu beyond wa sglorious.. Later wo came down and sat where wo could see tho Temple of Jupiter in the: evening liglit with the,pink and blue colouring still in tho sky, and a bright moon already in tho second quarter above.

f I want to stay a full fortnight and try to' absorb a littlo Greek'art, but- it will mean staying in tho city-most of the time. Thereare not many excursions within .our means. Marjorie's opinion of Athens has ■.'gone, up considerably since our outing this, afternoon. Certainly the modern town is glaring and uninteresting, likewise dirty and- dusty. . ; Later.

We'woro only 12-days-in Athens, but-for the ordinary tourist who, though taking a fairly intelligent interest in things, is neithei' an-archmol.ogist -nor an.'artist, it is enough to get a pretty good idea of tlus. place. I spent practically all my time at tho museums and Acropolis; 'and was overjoyed at-being'; able to get books (though not till our stay , was half done) from the .British school-at Athens. My postcards wil ldescribo ancient /Athens'to you better than I can. 1 All.you want is the colouring, and that is so hard to describe.

When::\v.o;ifirst wont--there the weather was glorious;- clear and hot. with intense bluo sky,' and the sunset an orange glow without' a cloud. Then some dull days,with gorgeous sunsets,- making the white marblo glow with pink and purpli; lights. Then a heavy storm of'rain which cleared up in time to givo us a good impression as wo left, the threo prominent hills—tlie flat-topped Acropolis, and tho cone-shaped Lvcabottus, and Philapappos— standing out grey-green against tho bluo stones of T'cntlikmi; The rain has made everything so fresh, and there was oven a little grass springing in tho desert-like plain. Wo cbmhed all tho hills to see tho view from every side. At last- Marjoric grew wearied, • but I persuaded her to conic to >tho storied olive-surrounded home of Sophocles"Tljis heaven-fostered haunt, Earth's fairest honey-gleaming Colonos, Where the. nightingale in cool green eovorfc, . warblcth ever clear." It really seemed a pity to miss it. The train turned'us out on a barren, dusty, clayey plain. In front was a rock mound ;(one can't- call it a hill) with ono miserable pine and two tombstones. on top. And this was "gleaming Colonos!" • You can imagino Marjorie's remarks; "dust heap" was about the most complimentary, and indeed, as tho wind was high at the time, not altogether inappropriate. Another excursion we made —to Eleusis—was also not wholly successful. We nhoso a lino bright morning, but it gradually clouded up, and no sooner wore wo on the train than it. began, to rain. Arrived at the: primitive station, we mado our way straight to tho ruins of the sacred enclosure, and were lucky enough to find a clr.v cave, from which we tried to make head or tail of the confused

mass in front of lis. These ruins are rather worse, than those at Olvmpia. Thero isn't a single pillar standing, though you can see the ground plan of the temples and fragments of various portions of tho buildings. Indeed, if you go round with microscope, tape measure, and a considerable knowledge of archaeology, you can trace earlier temples beneath the later ones, but wo were neither so keen

nor so well-in formed as that. The great charm of tho place to me (apart from' associations) was its situation. Tho temj>les," crowded together in a -miserably insufficient space, as'at OJympia, wore built- on; an artificially levelled hit of ground on the' sido/ofia hill, and faced the plain and the'hhie iiiountains boyoml it. The hill at; the hack 'was tho Acropolis of >tho town. No traces of its building remain, but there is a glorious view from tho the bay to Salamis on the onosidc/ahd'on the. 1 , other the sacred enclosure just- below, .and plains stretching/on nil fades—tligpfirst fertile plains I had seen in Greece—with newly ploughed fields, _ and v in some places" the green crops appearing ■ just above the ground. '-' '• >'

Otherwise, we spent our time in .Athens, didn't even go to' Marathon (a tiresome and expansive excursion), iind contentedourselves with a view of Salamis from the sea. Moved the nniseums: and the stiituo. aro arranged so that one can ; trace the development from the' primitive formless' iiqagb to .tlio perfection of the Parthenon martles .(a.'fow. pieces of which are still to be seen in Athens, though tho bulk are in the British Museum) arid' the -over-perfection—tho conscious "display of technique—in the Niki tying her sandal.. , - .

These are really all of Greece that one caii see as the Athenians' loved it. pno;' knows that the' glory has gone from Athens,' arid fronv. tho-groves and fields; that, "whatever the brightness of the. sunshine ov, the Clearness of the atmosphere, however vivid the blue of the'sea by Salami's, an Athenian rcr turning from the Shades to visit' His ancient hauiits would, find here only forgetfuluess and desolation. . But if, after roaming the streets v mil.'cursing the Fates that brought. Athens so low, ho were to make his way to the Museum, there he would find many an. image that be knew well of old. . I loved;the minor exhibits,; too, the tomb-, stones -with groups of the dead men or women taking farewell of friends or relations— here, a man'with his god, and there an artless little girl, in very, low relief, loaning carelessly against a post—aud , votive offerings to gods and goddesses,, very different from those one sees nowadays in the Roman Catholic churches. They are carved m marble, —sometimes symbolic, but generally representing suppliants approaching; the god with perhaps a pig or other animal, as t)io sacrifice: Of the ,modern buildings, tho. Public Library,'..and. Academy.of .Science iiite.vested me exceedingly. They are built of boautiful dazzling'white pentaiic marble, and they aro decorated and painted in imitation of tho-old. temples. I had no. idea\beforo of the amount of colour in Greek architecture, or its strikin", effect..

making sets of clothes for little dolls. This is the town where more toys are made, perhaps, than in any other place in the world but the child visitor to the town would have more pleasure in the toys than the child who lives there. For in SonneWrg. tho home of children's playthings, the children have not much time for play. Most of the members of a family have to work vert hard in-

deed lo make a living out of these toys, and wen the children have to help anti-carry tile biy baskets in which ~. tlie -toys.-are packed when'finished. • It;-was u Souneberg workman who brought homo from tho .first great • London'-Exhibi-tion a Climese <lo!! made of liea\"y coloured paper with movable.head.and limbs. Before l that timo _only.-wood and feather, were used 111 the trado..-•:.Tlicii n somc clover person learned how, tp make Jiairless was heads, and- very uglv-.tho d 0115... must have > looked. ■Thoj:wax and.varmsh Were, put on the prepared head with, a. brush..often ; verv unevenly, and Jtlie uolls' .faces were very expressionless, A thimble, iso tho story goes, one .day fell into a dish' of fluid wax; and wlion.it was taken out it was-found to be beautifully covered with ail even coating, of wax. 1

The mail who made this discovery built :a inctory for malting papier-mache: dolls..:and> dipping their hea\ls ill.,the was. Then he painted the paper in flesh colour,. ' and managed to make the'wa,x. face look very like a real, person's skin -face. Then,,spine ,0110 else, found out 'how to put in the 'eves,, most ■of> which ; are ..iiow madei iir .a .JiWle-itown called Ijaucha;-. 'It was .not. verv long before the cleverVTrorkmen' made..tho eves movable and ; a doll . that - could movents eves, -go to- sleop. At first when \tficjr:: a verv splendidVdoll they used to put real hair on it, but they foimd out pretty, soon that the hair, of the-Ahjjbra goat .mado.ieven;.botter wgs, and that'lij thev ;:u,se n now, except for the cheaper dolls that ; havo wool wigs. ; And . so. ,they' went -on ..niaking' 'better dolls every year until thev had ..the: beautir, ful jointed talking dolls that, we can now see in the shops. r , , „ J list. at. present • Sonneberg is verv busv. making' Teddy- bears- for the . children of, America, and,',they send awaT) every week to the United 10,000 of these* -The children of France and England , are also very fond of...Teddy .bears; and .Sonneberg makes a grpat-; number another toy animal cnllcd a Ganiso monkovthat is very popular, m America, and. these, too,- flro. made iri,the kittle IGeraaufmouh-v, tain town'. '. -,