THE THEATRE OF DIONYSOS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2934, 8 June 1910, Page 100

THE THEATRE OF DIONYSOS.

A Farewell Offering to Pan.— I am glad that the theatre if Dionysos should accidentally have been kept till our. last afternoon in Athens. It never tempted me, seen from behind the railings of that dusty road; and now the charm of it quite took my breath away. It has not the tragic romance of the theatre at Delphi, looking at the wars of the clouds with the mountains. It lies rather low, and only one side sees a "strip of sea and a tip of blue hills. It is, so- to speak, the theatre itself which is the poem, the play; strictly speaking it is the seats. That semi-circle of stone 2hairs; what company of men or gods was ever as comely, as delicate, as pathetic as this? They are at fin.it sight similar, with slight variations of height; but they are quite different in the carrying-out of the same exquisite shape, and time has made them individual by breaking their lines, by effacing here, less there; especially by painting them with delicate difference of weathering. The marble has taken, on the whole, a colour of ivory deepening into sulphur yellow,, but with every variety in the intensity and distribution of this heavenly colour, and of the lilac which the dark stains take in contrast to it. The chairs, with their deep, curved seats, are as different as any row of different occupants could be—some erect, long-backed, the arm-rests still intact, like majestic, braced athletes; others shorter, with a slightness as of youth, others giving almost the bowed shoulders; the tried, deep seat of age. And each bears the name of its occupant—- — The Priests of All the Gods of Athens,— from the oldest, grown out of the soil, to such parvenu divinities as Hadrian the Saviour and Antinous. - And in the midst, next to the magistrates and the polemarch (I think), sits the .high pries* of "Dionysos himself, with satyrs dancing with wine-skins round a great vine-tree carved in the back, and Chimaeras on the base, and a lovely Cupid, kneeling almost in the attitude of Michel Angelo's, in low relief on the arm-rests. Then there are the priest of Demeter and Persephone, the priest of Theseus, the priest of Hephaistos, the priest of Artemis, all the solemn and gracious assembly We do not want to see their human form: their ghosts have been embodied into these exquisite marble shapes, their delicate curved legs and backs barely raised out of the block, their deep, .rounded seats and irregularlv broken arm-rests; marble limbs, marble raiment of —lnexpressibly Lovely Ivory and Sulphur Yellow and Lavender, — passing the loveliness, the tints, and the shimmer and smoothness of Oriental silk. And here teind there, between them, where the rain-water has left a tiny pool in the stone, a bit of thyme or scented ragwort is returning to lite; nay, just above, a miniature fig tree is trying to grow, and has succeeded in a crop of minute autumn leaves. Tearing myself away most unwillingly from that godlike company of empty seats, we climbed up the steep, ruinstrewn rock of the Acropolis, exquisitely rosy lilac in the sunless afternoon light. At"the top, under the great wall of the Acropolis, are several natural caves, and one of these, formerly .sacred to _ Pan and the Graces, has been clcsed with a wooden rail and turned into a chapel. Some poorly dressed women were saying their prayers before the shabby little images hung to the bare rock and burning incense to them. The incense met one in the open air; and from the town came —The Sounds of Church Bells, clashing cymbal-like together, as they do in this country, so that one wondered for a moment whether it might not be one of those great flocks of sheep and goats which one sees going across the hill of Pbilopappos opposite. The sun was setting *,among clouds, a bright spot of reflection revealing it in the water of the bay; the hills of and Salamis rising ultramarine against the suffused lividness. When the women had finished their prayers and left, I put some pennies in the little money-box, taking two of these thin yellow tapers which lie there for sale.' * I lit and stuck them in the brass candlestand, and burnt a bit of dry thyme, a farewell offering to Pan and the other divinities of the place.— Vernon Lee, in. the Westminster Gazette.

ELMIRA PRI** V SYSTEM. The development of the reformatory system is one of the most notable achievements of American penology of late years (says Elizabeth Sloan, Chesser, in the Daily Express). It was gradually recognised that the only way to protect society against crime was to reform the criminals, and so prevent the manufacture of habitual criminals to prey upon the community. Gradually what is called the "Elmira system" was evolved, and at the present time the prison of Elmira, in the United States of America, is recognised as the model reformatory of the world. The fundamental idea is not the infliction of punishment for crime committed, but the conversion of the prisoners into industrious and law-abiding citizens. Elmira is a school rather than a prison, as we understand the term. The system is educational; the aim and ideal a training of mind, muscles, and morals up to a certain standard. For this end ample, interesting, useful, and educative work is provided. The reformatory contains, on an average, 1500 young men from 18 to 30 years of age. Inside the white walls which" surround the central -building the workshops are occupied from early morning until evening with squads of men working earnestly at their chosen trade, while others are gardening, or farming, or attending lectures, gymnasium, or military drill. The reformatory is like a commune, where the blacksmith, the bricklayer, the . shoemaker, and the plumber are all working for the common good. Each lad has to master a trade to fit him to earn an honest living on his discharge. He enters the reformatory under the indeterminate sentence plan, which means that he must remain until he is fitted by education and moral training to go back to a life of freedom in the world. When, a prisoner arrives at Elmira he is first examined by the superintendent and doctor, and is then "graded" according to his physical, mental, and intellectual standard'.' He is made to attend certain classes at school, he is put to learn a suitable trade, and he is, if physically fit, recruited to- the reformatory's military corps. All the prisoners are divided into three grades, which provides an excellent system of classification. A prisoner, on admission, enters the middle grade. With six months' good conduct he advances to the first grade ; by misconduct or lack of progress he sinks to the third grade, where he must remain until he has served one month with good conduct and obedience to the laws. When he has served his minimum sentence and been six months in the first grade he is eligible for "parole," which means that he may leave the prison to work at his trade outside under the guidance of a probationary officer. The day's routine- is one of interesting but fairly hard l work. The prisoners work in turn at the school of letters, the military department, and the industrial school. The highest-grade prisoners at the school of letters have lectures in literature, ethics, history, and political economy. They conduct debates. They teach in the lower-grade classes, and they run a newspaper, which is edited and printed on the premises, and contains interesting notes of current events outside the prison, and details of concerts and lectures at Elmira. The middle-grade prisoners study languages, arithmetic, literature, etc., and the third grade, which contains the most illiterate, study under a special adaptation of kindergarten methods. One of the most interesting features of the Elmira system is the military organisaion. All the able-bodied prisoners are enrolled in the regiment, which contains 1200 men, divided into 16 battalions. A regimental dress parade occurs every day, with the usual accompaniments of musical bands, salute of the national colours, and discharge of a field-piece for evening gun. The military training helps to maintain discipline, and is very popular with the men. It has been found that discharged prisoners are very ready to enlist or join Volunteer military organisations. Thirty-one trades are taught at Elmira, and each prisoner receives a thorough training in his chosen trade. They are paid in actual coin, and all work with the knowledge that the faster they progress industrially, intellectually, and. morally the sooner will they be discharged. Thus idleness is impossible; the deadly monotony of our system does not exist.