done much, and under the most unfavorable conditions. They
will do more. The struggle upward of an intelligent and ambitious people
is deeply interesting, and the effort in Greece appeals especially to
Americans, because the country, in spite of its form of government, is a
democracy.

When we left Patras we left the Ionian Sea, and I ought therefore to
bring these slight records to a close. But it was the same blue water,
after all, that was washing the shores of the long, lake-like gulf
beyond, and the impression produced by its pure, early-world tint, lasts
as far as Corinth; here one turns inland, and the next crested waves
which one meets are AEgean. They rouse other sensations.

There is now a railroad from Patras to Athens. On the morning when we
made the transit there was given to us for our sole use a saloon on
wheels, which was much larger than the compartments of an English
railway carriage, and smaller than an American parlor car. In its centre
was a long table, and a cushioned bench ran round its four sides; broad
windows gave us a wide view of the landscape as we rolled (rather
slowly) along. The track follows the gulf all the way to Corinth, and we
passed through miles of vineyards. But I did not think of currants here;
they had been left behind at Zante. There is, indeed, only one thing to
think of, and the heart beats quickly as Parnassus lifts its head above
the other snow-clad summits. "The prophetess of Delphi was hypnotized,
of course." This sudden incursion of modernity was due no doubt to the
mode of our progress through this sacred country. We ought to have been
crossing the gulf in a Phaeacian boat, which needs no pilot, or, at the
very least, in a bark with an azure prow. But even upon an iron track,
through utilitarian currant fields, the spell descends again when the
second peak becomes visible at the eastern end of the bay.

"Not here, O Apollo!
Are haunts meet for thee,
But where Helicon breaks down
In cliff to the sea--"

How many times, in lands far from here, had I read these lines for their
mere beauty, without hope of more!

And now before my eyes was Helicon itself.

THE END

ILLUSTRATED BOOKS OF TRAVEL AND DESCRIPTION

=_FROM THE BLACK SEA THROUGH PERSIA AND INDIA._= Written and
Illustrated by EDWIN LORD WEEKS. 8vo, Cloth, Uncut Edges and Gilt
Top. (_About Ready._)

=_NOTES IN JAPAN._= Written and Illustrated by ALFRED PARSONS. Crown
8vo, Cloth,