DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4593#0021
6 THE ISLES AND SHRINES OF GREECE
Ages of misfortune and oppression have not sufficed
to quench this sentiment, though there is the same
difficulty to-day that there used to be in giving it
united expression. It is but sixty-five years since
the new kingdom of Greece was formed after the de-
liverance from Turkish rule. In that time it has
made rapid progress in adapting itself to the condi-
tions of European civilization in the nineteenth cen-
tury. The process is still going on. If it is somewhat
melancholy to see the ruins of the older Greece, it is
extremely interesting to see the work of building the
new nation on the ruins of the old. Our own country
is an example of a nation whose development is pro-
ceeding with the greatest rapidity and on the grandest
scale. This is one reason, as Professor Palmer has so
well shown in his address on " The Glory of the Im-
perfect," why America is one of the most interesting
countries in the world to live in. The process of mak-
ing history is even more fascinating than the process
of reviewing it after it is made. For the same reason
I find it hard to be simply a student of archaeology
or history in Greece. Many go there whose interest
and occupation it is to study simply the monuments of
the past and who have little time for or little interest
in the present. They hardly care for anything that is
not older than the Christian era. Antiquity is at a
premium here, and it brings its price. On the other
hand, the Philistine finds his way to Greece also. He
has no time or taste for anything that is not still alive
and capable of making a bargain. A merchant resi-
dent in Greece, and born of English parents, told me
that he had been in Athens several times, but he had
never climbed to see the Parthenon.
Ages of misfortune and oppression have not sufficed
to quench this sentiment, though there is the same
difficulty to-day that there used to be in giving it
united expression. It is but sixty-five years since
the new kingdom of Greece was formed after the de-
liverance from Turkish rule. In that time it has
made rapid progress in adapting itself to the condi-
tions of European civilization in the nineteenth cen-
tury. The process is still going on. If it is somewhat
melancholy to see the ruins of the older Greece, it is
extremely interesting to see the work of building the
new nation on the ruins of the old. Our own country
is an example of a nation whose development is pro-
ceeding with the greatest rapidity and on the grandest
scale. This is one reason, as Professor Palmer has so
well shown in his address on " The Glory of the Im-
perfect," why America is one of the most interesting
countries in the world to live in. The process of mak-
ing history is even more fascinating than the process
of reviewing it after it is made. For the same reason
I find it hard to be simply a student of archaeology
or history in Greece. Many go there whose interest
and occupation it is to study simply the monuments of
the past and who have little time for or little interest
in the present. They hardly care for anything that is
not older than the Christian era. Antiquity is at a
premium here, and it brings its price. On the other
hand, the Philistine finds his way to Greece also. He
has no time or taste for anything that is not still alive
and capable of making a bargain. A merchant resi-
dent in Greece, and born of English parents, told me
that he had been in Athens several times, but he had
never climbed to see the Parthenon.