THE ARRIVAL AT ATHENS
The destroyer reached Piræus very early in the morning, and I obtained,
after some negotiations, permission from the authorities to land my
colony. I was soon convinced that I had made no mistake in undertaking
this task myself.
I herded my refugees temporarily in the compound of the custom-house,
and immediately appointed a committee of the most capable to attend
to the details of obtaining provisions, etc., and to distribute among
the families the necessary sums for their daily needs from a small
amount which had been provided at Smyrna for immediate necessities by
the representatives of the Near East Relief. I then set about finding
lodgings for my people and telegraphed to Washington an account of
the situation and asked for funds. I found Piræus, as well as Athens,
already crowded to saturation with refugees from Turkey. It soon became
apparent that it would be next to impossible to find lodgings for these
new arrivals. After running about frantically all day, toward evening I
obtained permission to make use of a large steamer that was undergoing
repairs in the harbor.
My appeal to Washington for financial help brought an immediate
telegraphic order for two thousand dollars, and about two weeks later,
Consul Oscar Heizer arrived from Constantinople with ample funds. A small
room in the basement of the American Consulate at Athens was accorded
to the personnel of the Smyrna office. This was crowded all day with
refugees and their innumerable relatives.
It was necessary to study carefully the case of each and determine to
what extent he was entitled to relief from the American Government, a
matter rendered doubly difficult by the lack of essential records. The
painfulness of the task was augmented by the fact that while American
citizens could be repatriated, many of those dependent on them could not
be sent to the United States.
The consular officials were obliged, therefore, actually to engage in
the gruesome business of tearing families apart, even to the extent of
separating aged parents from children, and to act as the agents of an
uncompromising system which was not rising to the emergency. A more
pleasant feature of the task was that of helping in the reuniting at
Athens of scattered families and in obtaining news of missing relatives.
This work, begun by me, was developed into an efficient system later by
the Athens Red Cross.
[Illustration: Other scenes of Smyrna in flames.]
It was very painful to me to be thrown into daily contact with the
beggared inhabitants of Asia Minor, whom I had known such a short time
before as self-supporting and prosperous. I remember with peculiar
distinctness the old guide of my hunting expeditions, an industrious
small farmer from the village of Develikeuy. Many an unforgettable day
have I spent in the pine woods with him, shooting woodcock and hare and
swapping Greek and American hunting yarns in his native tongue. The day
before I left Athens, I met him wandering about the streets in a dazed
condition. He told me that his beautiful and intelligent young daughter,
who was soon to have been married, had disappeared; he feared that she
had suffered a fate worse than death.
Mr. Heizer, on taking over the work, asked me the peculiar feature of the
job. I knew he was a very competent man, as he had done most of the work
of the Constantinople Consulate for years, so I replied, “The quality
most needed in this task is a human heart and not to try too much to
repress its promptings.”
From his reply I understood that he was aware of this requisite and
agreed with me. I therefore left my people with him without apprehension
and sailed to the United States on leave granted me by the department.