DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4752#0265
THE GREEKS IN ASIATIC TURKEY 255
Greek who had sold you a coin for four times its
value would be ready to hang himself with chagrin
if he found reason to think that he might have got
five times the value by a change of tactics. But you
must take men as you find them, and not be angry
because they are ignorant and suspicious. Their
suspicion springs to a great degree from their
ignorance; and I think it is the same to some
extent with the English suspicion of Greeks.
They feel that they don't know the Greeks well
enough to estimate individual character, and dis-
trust all alike.
After I found out their ways, I never named a
price to these Greek emissaries ; for, when they
have gained their object in discovering which are
the more valuable coins, they often conceal them
forthwith, and won't permit you a second glance.
If there is any coin of interest, of which you wish
to make a note, you will be wise not to sort it out,
but to keep it along with the rest, and go on talking
in a general way ; meanwhile you can identify it,
and fix its description in your memory ; but as
soon as you begin to write down a description they
snatch the whole set away from you, for they
suspect that the value of the good coin will be
diminished, if it gets into your book. My friend,
the '• Wandering Scholar,"' is troubled in conscience
at having once taken part in this method of acquir-
Greek who had sold you a coin for four times its
value would be ready to hang himself with chagrin
if he found reason to think that he might have got
five times the value by a change of tactics. But you
must take men as you find them, and not be angry
because they are ignorant and suspicious. Their
suspicion springs to a great degree from their
ignorance; and I think it is the same to some
extent with the English suspicion of Greeks.
They feel that they don't know the Greeks well
enough to estimate individual character, and dis-
trust all alike.
After I found out their ways, I never named a
price to these Greek emissaries ; for, when they
have gained their object in discovering which are
the more valuable coins, they often conceal them
forthwith, and won't permit you a second glance.
If there is any coin of interest, of which you wish
to make a note, you will be wise not to sort it out,
but to keep it along with the rest, and go on talking
in a general way ; meanwhile you can identify it,
and fix its description in your memory ; but as
soon as you begin to write down a description they
snatch the whole set away from you, for they
suspect that the value of the good coin will be
diminished, if it gets into your book. My friend,
the '• Wandering Scholar,"' is troubled in conscience
at having once taken part in this method of acquir-