CONSTANTINOPLE AS SHE IS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 281, 19 April 1913, Page 9

CONSTANTINOPLE AS SHE IS

A GU.MI'SK FROM WIINI.V. I (liv R. W. Service, in tlie .Montreal "Sim.") To-day for a fascinated hour 1 stood on the great bridge over Hie (.'olden Horn, and watched the most wonderful procession in the world. Beggars innumerable there were, displaying their scars, their hideous deformities, scarecrow children who fell at my feet, kissiiijjf my muddy shoes, and crying in the most piteous of whines : "Baksheesh, seignor; baksheesh, captain"; sellers of candy, with tables on which lay great slabs of putty-like sweet-meats; vendors of drinks, with wooden frames containing tumblers strung round their waists; Kurdish porters with their hump-like leather pillows, bent under their prodigious loads; Greek priests in flowing black caftans: Moslems in the green turban of Mcssa; the dancing Dervish in brown fez a foot high; - the Embassy Kavass. gorgeous in gold embroidery; Persians in coats of greasy sheepskin; Arabs in the flowing rob.es of the desert; >Krank women in- Parisian costumes; anaemic Greek ladies; uxorious pashas; atrocious eunuchs; 'Armenians in shirts and sashes of gorgeous colouring, baggy trousers and brogue-like shoes; lithe, graceful Greek boatmen; ringletted Spanish Jews; Circassian officers in blue and gold. Albanians, ISessaraliians. 'Ana- , t.olians— a niosiac of strange, peoples, drawn from every nook and corner of this bizarre Ottoman Empire;"' kaleidoscopic in colouring, infinite in variety, bewildering in movement. And over nil ' dominates the Fez. The stream of traffic flows crimson with it. Turn where you will, it greets you. crying: "Alien!. Intruder! Dog of a Frank!" Till by-aml-bye it, gets on your nerves and you; hate it. There were Turkish women in formless black, with short black veils through which one could discern the }{leam"of paint on features flat and uncomely. But the modesty that made them conceal their faces did not pre-', vent them from holding up their skirts high enough to show unshapely legs al-; most to the knees. A STTiOXG ENMITY AGAIXST STIIAXGEIIS. , - I wandered here and there amid the narrow, noisome streets, and everywhere was there antipathy, challenge, antagonism. Once as I was passing a mosque a bearded soldier struck at me. I was never so taken aback. and mechanically proceeded .to take ofV my coat. Like magic a crowd gathered., 'lhen some conciliating Greeks explained that I - had trespassed on the sacred precincts of a mosque, aud the sentry, also bowed and .apologised.. But 1 walked away, trembling, wit'h resentment, find!'" the '' incident ,](. ft an uglv jnipression.. In the Tjootllj-Jike shops that lined the greasy, alleys, the owners, sitting cross-. J egged, dvahlc nauseous 'coffee t and, .smoked, villainous , tobacco. A.' shcep.-j .tied outside a butcher's stall, at I flic carcasses of his brothers. r l.liCy, w^ere Of the fat-tailed, variety, flic tail seem-:

in« soiiietim.es a.lilioijt as large ;i,s •tlie. whole animal. A baker :; ili front of hjs-; o+.cn ..was- stacking ,:iip'lriSves of pale bread. One toppled over into tlie gutter. whereat lie replaced it. after polishing'it with.' a greasy apron. In the pro.visirfii '.bpfjths were slabs of terra-cotta. coloured -cheese, speckled with what looked'■ like., caraway seeds. A public' .letter-,writer was composing an epistlefor a., Turkish soldier —lo his mother: or sweetheart, "let us hope; At the. fonn.' tains in- front of the mosque. tftvoteewcrc Wi)sliing .their. hanil's" a'iid paratorv to'prayer#.. And.'.alas! T fear ' thejfc. •Athens .all had been triumph and joy:, in Constantinople, all is worry and gloom. The faces under the fez arc clouded .as the rain-sodden sky overhead ~ And as if to punctuate their uuhappiness. the guns of Chatalja thunder in tlieir ears. One feels sorrv for them. Dazed, deceived, desperate, they face the consciousness of defeat, and every crash of tlidse drumming guns forces it relentlessly home. What will happen next? Will the Bulgars rend their last defences, sweep on them, make them drink the bitter cup to the dregs? How sicki tliev arc with doubt, distrust, and dread!

TIIK C-JTY LOOKS T.IKK AX AT'MKI) CAMP. Everywhere T turn there art' soldiers, su that the city looks like an armed camp. And. indeed. it is. Most of the mosques and public buildings arc transformed into barracks and hospitals; ill every./'open ]>lace are Hoops encamped; transport waggons lino the streets: swarthy. uncouth, bearded. the soldier in khaki slouches sullenly along, scarcely deigning to salute the dandified oll'iecv iu his fez embroidered with gold. Down the cobblestones of the narrow streets clank uiikcpt hands nf cavalry; small, wiry ponies, with huge, unwieldy, saddles. on which, loan brown men. tired and travel-worn, perched like monkeys. Tied lip and relieved of their great saddles. T afterwards saw some of these little ponies. They were skin and hone, caked with filth; on their backs were raw sores as big as dinner plates. A regiment bound for the front is marching past. There must be over a thousand of them, and one marvels at the ingenuity of nature in achieving so many elaborations of facial ugliness. Squat jlild sturdy, with grim, bearded faces and smouldering fatidical eyes, they march past, pounding the ground vigorously with the right foot: yet one notices that this empliasis of the step is most pronounced in the vicinity of their oll'icer; afar there is a tendency to minimise the jar. Thev are clad in khaki, coarse as sacking: and except in foot and headwear, there is a reasonable conformity iu their uniform. Hut thoug-h thev are loaded down with ammunition. their rilles are of an old and obsolete pat-tern. They file past, preceded by buglers, and beaded- by one pock-marked savage, who towers bead and shoulders over them all. a little bulldog commander of Napoleonic dignity. regards them with brooding, taci'urn eves: but of other oll'iccrs f see few. whole companies seeming to lie in charge of veteran non-coms with service medals on their breasts. These marching men leave in me an impression of barbarism. of pent-up ]ust. of insensate cnieltv. (lod help those. I thought, who seek their mercy. Drunk wifli the bloodlust. mad with the virus of victory, it needed 110 stretch of the imagination to see in them the fiends incarnate of 1 hi* Macedonian massjicre. (be butchers of the Armenian shambles.

TfROKRy TIEfiIMKXTS HACK KKOM FRONT.

A* I turned invny I sec slowlv np)>ro»i cliitiy the renin;tnt of a not Iht renimcnl. And wliiil, a cant rust! Men 1 they emne. Tile Broken I'rijjiuli'. the lasers of l.wlc limiiiis. the men of Mmisisfir. Ami licic is no limv of insolent 1 in<ilc. mi Herman maivh-stc|i. no Inienlenl ln'ji riii'_!'. C a -iiui 1. irres|innsilile. --I'l'illi 11 n)le.'iderlcss. tlie li'illl. ul'ev colirini slinlVli's aT>athi-tua 11v nlmnr. Those llnil lime coals a re wca rinir them: tin l liooil thrown liver the lieai! :t 11(1 a si-;U'f wound tiii llan-1 iki- annnid it. 'l'liesc emits nre torn, mud-corroded. lianuini' »1 ilie skirls in I'm veil ril >i mis. vet t.liey -"'■ve to hide the runs and lilth lieneudi. Their iinnv limits tliev lmve discarded, ami wenr either low -lines, ilie rural mocassin. or -oniciiines merelv ra«s |Ttonnd vonnd the feet. There must lie five hlllldreil of llieni. Tliev slu'ii-ll iilon" ill twos mid threes. often sinu'lv. ■ showing no interest in tlieir -nvronndnone in cnr-li other, walking with

the ghastly gait of sonambulists. Their bodies are tliin to emaciation, their faces (leaked and hollow as masks of death, and many clutch hunks of evilcoloured bread, which they gnaw and mumble like vats, not because they are hungry, but because they have starved many days. A pitiful procession it is. this lagging line of crushed and broken men. Then! is an inlinitc weariness in their every movement, a nausea of protest in their haunted eyes. The slow step, tlie bowed head, the utter dejection speak more eloquently than any work of pen. And as the faltering column trails its weary way. its misery becomes more and more poignant. Here are soldiers almost too weak to walk, holding-011 to the back straps of those in front, bent almost double, their faces those of old men. Neither to riirht nor to left they look, moving as if in a hideous dream. Nearly all are injured, some with heads bound in bloody lint,] some with arms slung in grimy sacking, some with feet swathed in clotted rags. Here are strange men groping like the blind, and many, oh. so many, with their arms thrown round the necks of their . stronger comrades, their feet trailin<r on (the ground, and death branded 011 their blanched and listless faces. And as I look jjjg.iin I hear, grim with fate, the drumming guns of Chatalja. RAWED AND BROKEN MEN GNAWING STALE BREAD. Turn where I, will, I see. those ragged, broken men .gnawing their stale bread. ,With. stacked ai'ins open places, they stand'tike stiltlies of pathetic -resignation. / Sitting' ojl 'their knapsacks, they doze in itHle.' of , rain. The.y look like .sheep" in their grey coats— • shecp.'bljiilg.driven to. the shambles, yet so patient, so stoic, in their misery. An officer-thein with .the .flat of, his sword'fctrifl'e;sting 011 some bales of hay, an\l Jld.W; liumbly. how submissively they rise!.. The wharfside streets are choked w'ith" rt'iugees. A crude ox cart holds their all of household goods, a sack of fiiiur. some bedding, a few cookery utensils—little' else.' Sometimes a shaggy calf is ropftt'to the waggon where the .little grtfyoxen wait so 'patiently. A ajaif wife, .a babv at breast, a brood of. ragged children go-to every waggon. „Thev arc:.the pdorest of the lot. clad in next.to sacking, and have never known anything hunger, suffering; : Yes. tjic*y have left' their homes, not for .fear .of the Bulgars—for thev declare lli/it- it is the. retreating Turk -W'ho. has burned their barn and stacks — 1 .but. because . they , Cannot- bear the I thought-: 'of living under Christian rule. { Theirs is a fanatic- loyalty to their I -.faith. anil for that t'bey will push into j 'the deserts of Asia, {starve and thirst.. 1 and grapple with The unknown.. Like a | pall. Rejection, overlays Constantinople, | and it'begins to.fifleet trip. I climb'the | tower of Stninboiil and look down 011 a! drab', rajfi-.soddfn city; .The skv is j satuniijiP:' t'lie Hippodrome is 'deserted;-1 ■the did; Seraglio glooms amid, its , cy- j -presses y(rom a minaret I. tiji' ilurtlike i'rticc, of a mezzin. If Ts.iilJ. sfoVnge, and sad as'.dertth. 'pregli,tfn.t with the spirit of;.'tlte fill', unhappy, ■past..• T feel that'.f'want to leave, the ! place and 4 never sec it" again. ' I

: TAVOT pleasant MKubnres OF - THE STTMCKF.X CITY. Yet T have'two plea stmt memories', T -Vnttcrly. regret T did not see ilie inteviov ; of Saint Sophia; that yellow monntnin o"f stone,'whosc llo'or Ims, weltered with the, hlo'dil:-of n'lahv Christian martvrs; lnit.it, has )>een turned into a cholera, •'hospital... However. T visited one of the ,'Qfaher'and ncyei' will T forget delight avid, surprise when !>' »ilU'ci«zed under "tlie sla't of mat ting at, ilie 'ijfid stood beneath, the mighty.' ilbme,' The 1 vast ulterior was lined .with .fine T i ei;'sia.u e'tii" anirfif 'eN(.•eedini; bea"htv. and through the domes and windows rif lnanv-eoloiired glass. t,he evening sun shone like n heuedietion. T was conscious of a real sense of awe. even though T shuffled round in a pair of slippers of Gargantuan size, The lloors were .covered with precious rugs, and there was the gilded cage of the • Sultan, and his own sacred carpet. Hefore windows that looked towards Mecca, were volumes of the Koran hound in •green. and from one a white-bearded priest was reading, the light fulling on liis face so that his expression was almost spiritual. A myriad lamps were everywhere suspended, and on the rich carpels under the dome worshippers were going through what looked 'like physical culture exercises, but were really prayers. Tt was nil vasl.lv interesting. P'euliarlv impressive, and indescribablv beautiful. My second memory is of «i dark night when T took n wrong turning and became lost in the muddy, mazy street of Stamboul. Scarred cats and mangy dogs fought amid the offal which at sunset is deposited in the gutters. On T went for miles, st.nmblincr through the arches of. the ancient wall and past a dozen gruesome graveyards. Then at last, us T was beginnintr to despair. T met. a little Turkish officer eari*viiiir a paper bag under his military cloak.

THE WEAKNESS AM) STIiEXOTII OR . ASIA. ' Tdo mil pretend to speak French, but 11 can make sounds comprehensible to the average Frenchman, and as this Turkcould make similar sounds, I was able ■to explain the situation. He was ur'banely polite, accompanied me miles out; jif his wny. and saw me safelv to a. carriage. Then, as T thanked him. lie drew from his paper ling, and with a low bow. begged me to accept of it, a large tipple. I will always have a grateful memory of that little oll'icer. After all. however, he is only one in a thousand. Superficially I have found tlie well-educated Turk affable and courteous; yet' scratch that surface a little and you lind the ugly Asiatic. And at' heart he will always remain the Asiatic —slipshod, evasive, adverse to progress, procrastinating, lying, and detestable, if von will: but, he has his great virtue, his religion, his fierce devotion to it. his hatred of heresy. There lies his strength and his salvation. It is incredible that the world at large should have been so ill-informed as not to have foreseen the issue of this war. A studv of conditions would have revealed much that is now so starkly plain. Yet. how foolish to talk of driving the Turk from Europe. Hit bv bit he hits been shorn of his vast dominions, driven into his little corner: but. when the last word is said', he will still hold that corner, and 100 years from now. a (horn in her side. Europe will have her Turk, and (the festering point of that thorn) Turkey will have her cynical citadel, her unspeakable Stamhoul. Yet (o-dav (he face under the fey, is grev with gloom, lie) raved, beaten, abashed, lie turns his troubled eves towards the lowering West, and there.

willi manv ilonltls. lie limrs Tlic ilvniMmitin- -mux lint I Imve no douliN.