Ignorance, the usual attendant of poverty, is great in the rural districts of Greece, and especially in those difficult of access. In Greece, as in Albania and Montenegro, they believe in perfidious nymphs, who secure the affections of young men, and then drag them down below the water; they believe in vampyres, in the evil eye and witchcraft. But the Greeks are an inquiring race, anxious to learn, in spite of their poverty. The peasant of Ithaca will stop a traveller of education on the road, in order that he may read to him the poetry of Homer. Elementary schools have been established in nearly every village, in spite of the poverty of the Government. If no school buildings can be secured, the classes meet in the open air. The scholars, far from playing truant, hardly raise their eyes from the books to notice a passing stranger or the flight of a bird. The scholars in the superior schools and at the University of Athens are equally {84} conscientious and assiduous. It may be that some of them merely aspire to become orators, but they certainly do not resort to a city on the pretence of study, whilst in reality they yield themselves up to debauchery. Amongst the students of the University of Athens there are many who work half the night at some handicraft, others who hire themselves out as servants or coachmen, to enable them to pursue their studies as lawyers or physicians. This love of study cannot fail to secure to the Greek nation an intellectual influence far greater than could be looked for from the smallness of its numbers. The Greeks of the East, moreover, look upon Athens as their intellectual centre, whither they send their sons in pursuit of knowledge. They found scholarships in connection with the schools of Athens, and largely contribute towards their support. And it is not only the rich Greek merchants of Trieste, Saloniki, Smyrna, Marseilles, and London who are thus mindful of the true interests of their native country, but peasants of Thracia and Macedonia, too, devote their savings to the promotion of public education. The people themselves support their schools and museums, and pay their professors. The Academy of Athens, the Polytechnic School, the University, and the Arsakeion, an excellent ladies’ college—these all owe their existence to the zeal of Greek citizens, and not to the Government. It may readily be understood from this how carefully these institutions are being watched by the entire nation, and how salutary must be the influence of young men and women returning to their native provinces after they have been educated at them.