"It was very interesting to visit our fellow teacher at the
University and see what he was doing. There were about a
thousand students in the institution, nearly all of them
young men. Many were refugees and very poor. Some had no fire
in their rooms by which to study during cold weather. Many
boarded themselves, with the most meagre facilities for
preparing food. The Club occupied a rather roomy house rented
and furnished by the University. There was room for study,
games, reading, and writing, and the varied interests of the
students, with a good cafeteria furnishing food at barely
cost prices, and all under carefully strict regulations as
to all conduct. Mr. Iatrides carried this work on for more
than two years and then was invited to accept the position
permanently at full time service and with the rank and rewards
of a university professor. I rather thought he would go, but
he chose to continue with the College and we rejoiced. This
record chiefly for American readers who cannot adequately
recognize able and loyal overseas Greek associates.
I timed my visit to America that fall with some reference
to a national meeting of the Ahepa, which was held in Boston
soon after we landed. A-H-E-P-A was a rather ambitious
organization of Greeks in America (American Hellenic
Educational Progressive Association), among half a million
Hellenes who had migrated to Hesperia. This was a very
important and useful movement. Its members were Greek-
Americans, wholly loyal to the country of their adoption
and desirous of promoting Americanism in every respect,
including loyal citizenship among the members. At the same
time, they were as proud of their classical heritage as
were representatives of other nationalities whose fore-
fathers had settled in this country. The group gatherings
in different American cities where they could enjoy a
degree of social life, talk in their mother tongue,
confer and promote some community enterprises in the
way of philanthropy, education, business, picnics,
and excursions, including usually one annual trip of
those who could go on a visit to the old country,
were a cheerful and useful feature of their life in
the country of their adoption.
Some of the leaders at this annual meeting in Boston
gave me a cordial welcome and at one point in their
program, one of them asked me to take a few steps
with him. He opened a back stage door, and I found
myself on the platform of a large hall filled with
men, everyone standing, and with hearty applause
they welcomed the transfer of the College from Turkey
to Greece and welcomed me as its representative.
Afterward, I frequently addressed chapters of the
Ahepa in different cities, always with cordial and
courteous treatment and often with some gift or
gifts for American education in Macedonia."