women or men. They seem to be clad for the stage rather than for the field, and they might pose as ballet dancers. They wear knee breeches and leggings, above which are several short white skirts that stand out from the body like those of the lady bareback rider in the circus. A vest, richly embroidered, reaches to the waist, and a fez tops the outfit. The shoes are of red leather turned up at the toes like old-fashioned skates, and have fat red woollen tassels at the tips.

The costumes of the Greek country women vary according to the locality. A common field dress is of linen homespun falling from the neck almost to the feet. Over this is worn a sleeveless sacque of white wool which reaches to the thighs. The headgear is a knit or felt cap of bright red, or perhaps a coloured handkerchief.

The farm girls are uniformly straight, due, it may be, to the heavy burdens which they carry on their heads. They are intelligent, industrious, and thrifty, and they add to the earnings of the farm by their home industries. Every girl is expected to spin, weave, and embroider her own wedding gown, which has a linen skirt so loaded with silk that it may weigh a couple of pounds.

In some parts of Greece the farmer's daughter, when she is married, is supposed to bring a trousseau of at least three costumes. One is for everyday wear, one for Sundays, and the other for festivals. At the wedding, these and the rest of her dowry are borne to the church on the back of a mule. As the married couple leave the church their friends throw candies at them. At the house of the groom the man enters first and shuts the door. The bride then smears the closed door with honey and throws a ripe pomegranate at it. If the pomegranate

Wood is so scarce in Greece that roots and branches are carefully gathered for fuel. For the most part Greek agriculture is quite backward; much of the ploughing is done by oxen, while the crops are usually carried from the fields on the backs of animals.

The modern Greeks are born politicians and spend a large part of their afternoons sitting about café tables discussing the world situation and the part Greece must have in setting it right.

When a modern Greek makes a fortune he wants to do something for his country or his native city. Athens owes the re-building of the ancient Stadium to the gift of a great merchant prince.

A series of hermits spent fifty years of their lives on top of one of the columns of the Temple of Zeus, not far from the Acropolis. They subsisted on food pulled up in baskets from below.

breaks and the seeds stick in the honey, it is a sign that her married life will be happy.

As the pomegranate strikes the door, the husband opens it and offers his bride bread and salt. She dips the bread into the salt and eats it, and then touches some water and oil. After this the husband lifts her inside the house and puts her in a corner with her back against the wall. She stays there without speaking while the man and his friends are eating the wedding feast, and it is not until the last guest leaves that she may make herself at home. This is probably the one time of her life when every Xantippe is silent.

CHAPTER XXVI

DIGGING UP OLD GREECE

AM on the spot that the ancients called "The Navel of the Earth." Almost under my feet was the den of Pytho, the serpent oracle, slain by the sun god, Apollo; and I can throw a piece of marble from a broken statue or column into a hole in the rocks that may have been the mouth of the oracle of Delphi.

It was the oracle that made the city of Delphi, which is now represented by the ruins about me. It was consulted by the leaders of the republics of Greece on all matters of moment, such as the making of laws, the beginning of wars, and the rise and fall of nations and men. Alexander the Great believed in it; Philip of Macedon bowed down before it; and Solon, the lawgiver, Pindar the poet, and Plato the wise man, all spoke of it with respect.

I drove the one hundred and fifty miles between Athens and Delphi in an American motor-car. In ancient times everyone walked or rode on horses or in chariots. They went up from the Gulf of Corinth on foot, for chariots could not climb the steep mountain. Delphi is situated on the slope of Mount Parnassus, as high up as the top of the Blue Ridge, and the mountain rises above it for another mile or more. A good automobile road now winds up to Kastri, a town near the site of the Oracle City.

I am writing this in the midst of the ruins. The Gulf of