Taking Freight at Vathy, Samos
Samos is an island of the Ægean Sea. It is eighty-seven miles in circumference and is noted as being the birthplace of Pythagoras. When Xerxes invaded Europe the people of Samos assisted the Greeks, and were finally brought themselves under the power of Athens, after a revolt in the days of Pericles, B. C. 441. Vathy itself is an important shipping town. Its wine is widely celebrated and is very cheap. The city is well built and clean, and the people are thrifty. Greek ideas and influence predominate. The language of the majority of the people is Greek. The writer was sitting under one of the store awnings near the landing, when two bright boys passed by on their way from school. They stopped for a moment to look at the stranger. I asked one of the boys what book he was studying. He did not quite understand me, but handed a book to me. I found that the book was half English and half Greek, arranged in parallel columns. The boys asked me in broken English to read the English column. Finding that I could read English, they remained with me for nearly an hour, urging me to go over several pages so that they could get my pronunciation. There is something significant in the fact that the boys of the East are engaged in the study of the English language. Thus the way is being prepared for English civilization, and, we trust, for a larger degree of English power in the Levant. The above picture was taken on the 22nd of May, 1894. There is much life in the picture. The small boats coming out from the shore toward the steamer give a fine idea of a scene which may be enjoyed almost any day in the harbors of the East.
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