Home life in Hellas, Greece and the Greeks - eBooks4Greeks.gr

286 HOME LIFE IN HELLASof the papers have come down to a halfpenny.The newsboys gain about a third of a farthingon every copy. Everybody reads their wares,including the boys themselves. At least, theymanage to learn their contents and proclaimwhat they judge to be the most attractive items.If any news of assumed importance arrives,thepapers issue supplements, and the boys are letloose again, careering through the streets withshrill cries of " Pardtima." " All the winners," thestereotyped rubric of the London newsboy, hasno place in their vocabulary. The interest ispurely political. Sporting events, which occupyso large a space in our halfpenny evening papers,have no place in their Athenian contemporaries.The debates in the Chamber and party moves,with comments thereupon, come first. Everythingwhich transpires abroad that has any bearingon Greece is carefully chronicled. The utterancesof European statesmen concerning Greekquestions are reported in full, and are often madethe subject of a leading article. There is littlecourt news and no " society " gossip. A columnis devoted to current events in Athens, andanother to the world outside. The typographyand get-up of the papers is generally good, andnearly all of them are copiously illustrated. Advertisementsare few and rates low, and the largestcirculation probably does not exceed 15,000, sothat special cables are rare. The most importantitems in foreign newspapers are telegraphed from