Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1869-12-08

y
lonely hut of Wissahicon, when it saw
the murders heart.
Now look how wonderful are the ways
of Heaven. That very night as the
widow sat by her fireside-sat there
with q crushed heart and hot eNelldsr
thinking of her husband, who now lay
on the drenchcd soil Of Paoli-there was
a tap at the door. She opened II, ana
that husbund, living though covered
with Wounds, was in her arms.
He jhad fallen at Paoli, but not IN
death. He was alive, and his wife pan
ting on his bosom.
That night there was a prayer ana
thanksgiving in the wOod-embowercd
cottage of NissahicOn.
Literature ia Turkey.
Since the day when AmrOn decreed
that all book, except the Koran should
he DESTROYED. on the ground that if they
contained what was in that sacred vol
Ume they were unnecessary, and If they
contained what was not in it they were
heretical. Literature has come to q stand
still among the Alah0metans, excepting
for q brief but brilliant period under the
Caliphs of Bagdad and those OF Grenada.
The Koran strictly foTbidS the learning
of any language but that in which 1t IS
written, and for more than fOnr hundred
years, this prohibition was very strictly
observed. Thus, from the capture Of
COnstantinOplC in 1853, when the Turks
completed the sUbjUgatiOn of the Byzan-
tine Empire, down to the accession OF
the present Sultan, no literature was pos
gible. The COnqucrOrs held that the ho-
ran contained all that was necessary to
know, and tolerated no other literature
than comments on their sacred Book.
They could not converse with any fOr-
eigners except those who understood
I Turkish, unless it was through interpre-
ters, and thus they were at the mercy of
a amercenary and unprincipled set Ofmen,
who were frequently hired TO put a
wrong gloss on their communications.
/ In this way the shrewd, UnscrupulOuS
diplomatists Of Europe frequently gained
advantages over the stOlid Turks. But
the Turkish government had no alteTna-
tive but to employ these men. Sultan
NahmOud IL. lwhOse mother, il is said,
was French woman was the first tOat-
TEMPT to break through the absurd fanat-
icism which prevailed around him. He
set the priests at defiance, and sanction
: ed the establishment of an official jour
nal published in the Turkish language,
and the publication of q paperin French,
called the Journal dc CORStdatHlOplC.
/ The circulation of these two papers was
very small, for few, except the highest
of the officials, could or dared read them.
/ MahmOUd's son and successor, Abdul
Mediid, however, possessed more nerve,
and boldly resisted the Ulemas or priests,
and the progressive movement of the age
/ was not without its effect upon Turkey.
I The Sultan threw down the barriers be-
tween his Christian and Mahometan
subjects, placing them both on the same
/ level, and guaranteeing to the Christians
full protection. He perceived the supe-
riOTitv Of Europeans in diplomacy, war;
/ the arts and sciences, and literature, and
rightly attributing this TO their superior
education, he established system Of
public instruction and schools, and ap-
pointed n Minister Of Education, whom
he commissioned TO prepare a series of
primary textbooks for general use. The
results Of the famous Hatti-SheTitf, or
! Imperial decree, of the 2Gth Of January
| 1855, have been very beneficial, and the
| Turks have made rapid progress In many
wavs. The salvation Of their empire
/ from Russia by England and France,
oncned their ewes To their own Weak kneSS,
/ and to The causes OF il, and it is credita-
bic to them that they have prOfited by
/ the lesson. Among other changes has
/ been the introduction Of the French Ian
! guagc into common use. Many Of their
| statesmen and leading men are now pro-
/ ffcicnts in French. As soon as the Euro
peans at Pera could freely move and act,
newspapers began to multiply, edited
chiefly by F'TCnchmen; and whereas, in
/ 1889 at the time Of MahmOUd's death,
II III i
stantinople, there are now twenty-eight.
/ These are in a variety of languages
/ Turkish, Arabic. Hebrew, Bulgarian,
| Greek, French, English and Italian, for
/ COnstantinOple Is 4 city wherein 'mer-
chants much do cOngregate," and has
/ its jews quarter, its Greek quarter, its
| French quarter and so Oh. 1t IS also IA
nous for its dirt and the number of its
dogs; but the scavCnGer and the dog
I catcher being modern improvements,
will one day find their way to ''Old stam-
/ bouI's wall, - and abate both of these nUi-
| sances.
But not only have the Turks learned
/ to read wspapeTs-they have also learn
ed to become contributors Of articles and
of Photographic illustrations to them. A
recent number of the Literary and Scion
| tifc ReCieJU, published in Turkish, con-
tains historical notices of Greece by Mum
if Effendi; also q comprehensive histori-
cal sketch of Abyssinia, with a photo
/ graph of the late Emperor Theodore.
And there is an illustrated newspaper,
very creditabIy designed and executed,
also iii the Turkish language, which has
a considerable circulation. There is but
little doubt that where the great civili-
ZCr, the newspaper, gets q firm footing,
the door will soon be opened for the in
PRODUCTION of Improvements of every
kind, and for the reform of abuses. The
most deSpOtiC governments are giving
way before 1.-THE Turkish government
being one Of the most notable cases in
point. It is, however, possible that one
reason whyt Sublime Porte has thrown
aside its rigid adherence TO the veTnacu-
lar language Of the nation, is that it
/ found itselfsO often betrayed by its "drag-
Omans" or interpreters. These men were
mostly Greeks or Armenians, and were
! fTeqUentlyin the pay of Russia. They
| were q little better than spies and secret
! agents in their behalf. Whenever it was
/ considered desirable to create disturb
ance in COnstantinOpIe, and to excite the
fuTiOusly bigOted MussUlman population
/ to attack the Christians, in order to bring
| about pretcXt for interference in behalf
of the latter, these secret agents were
! the means employed. In this way Aus
tria and Russia Kept the Turks in con-
slant hot water, and, but for the inter
ventiOn Of England and France, they
would long since have divided the Otto
man Empire between them. The spread
/ of education will gradually remove fa-
naticism and give strength 10 the nation.
! The fact that the Turks are tTanslating
scientific and other books out of foreign
languages into their own is proof that
/ they have already let go their hold on
their ancient belief that there was no
! truth to be found outside of the Koran,
and that the Angel Gabriel wished them
TO learn no other language than the Ara-
| bic.
REMINISCENT OF 'FIFTY-SEVEN.'
The late Julian Legrand famous
/ Paris merchant, was fond of telling the
I following incident of his mercantile
! life no npy-ar ,.IpsaI tlo Y1arotfy.a IY1f