Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1872-11-21
My Gltm psc OF the Sultan

Wy VII" Q8C Oh the sultan.
To see real king. queen or prince,
is to an American always something of
q show, and o rare one, too, unless the
inhabitants of this free country. who
don't believe in the humbug of royalty
ut home, cross the seas and view the
monarch on his native soil. Now and
then some stray waif of a prince does
us the honor of brief soiourn in the
great Republic, and the amount of hat
waving, hurrahing and frantic eager
ness to see and do homage to the
strange creature, makes one almost be-
lleve that American contempt for titled
splendor is not very genuine, after all.
Travellers abroad can have look at
Queen Victoria without much trouble.
and their continental majesties are
everyday sights to the scores of our
countrymen who visit GERMANY. or
cross the Alps into sunny Italy. But
the number of those who 60 far enough
to see the Sultan of Turkey is by no
means SO large as to make him an old
story or an uninteresting object, and I
must plead guilty to great curiosity to
see the Grand Turk upon nv arrival in
the capital of his empire.
Friday is the Turkish Sunday. and
on that day the Sultan, who is at the
head OF the Mohammedan religion, and
representative of the prophet upon
earth, In addition to his other Offices.
| always goes IN great state to MOSQUE.
or as We should say, to church. We
determined to witness this ceremony.
but it was impossible to find ont he.
forehand which of the manv beautiful
mosques of Constantinople he would
attend on the ensuing Friday; for in
order to avoid the crowds which would
otherwise assemble, it is not publicly
announced until the morning of the
day.
When that time came, and with it
the requisite information, we started
out in graceful caique, or Turkish
canoe, and crossed the Bosphorus to
the summer palace en- the Asiatic side.
Whatever may be said of the buildings
in Constantinople generally, the Sultan
takes good care to provide very com
Portable quarters for himself. His
palaces are all marvels of beauty. and
this one of white marble is pre-eminent.
~ so.
u
took good position near it. The road
by which the monarch must PASS was
lined with soldiers from the palace to
the mosque, and behind them stood
tremendous crowd of the most extraor
binary looking people, who in spite of
the short notice, had assembled to do
homage to their lord and master.
Close by me, on horeback, sat the
sen OF the Sultan, a choking bow
OF fifteen, but, unfortunately for him.
not heir to the throne, which is alwavs
filled by the eldest of the reieninp
family, and the heir apparent at this
time is nephew of the present mon
arch.
After we had waited until the trop-
ical heat of the sun threatened to drive
us off the field, flourish of trumpets
was heard, with music and great
shout, which was taken up and ran
along the line like the roar of the surf
upon the seashore. A few moments
more, and we saw the Grand Seienior
himself approaching.
He was moulded upon n sn1end;d
black horse, magnifcently caparisoned.
While his attendants and high officers
walked, leading their horses bv the
brldie, thus making him the one prom
lnent figure in the procession. The Sui.
tan wore the customary red fez and o
rich uniform. He is quite fleshy, and
has samewhat good looking, but
rather jnanimate face. Were I to guess
at his age, should put it at fifty Years.
The ceremonies at the mosque door
were peculiar. Three high officers pre-
coded the Sultan in single file, with
hands pressed together and eyes bent
upon the ground, while priest came
out to meet him with a sacred vessel in
each hand. He dismounted in a verv
business-like way, upon a piece of en-
broidered velvet, and entered the
mosque, all the officers making sa-
laams.
You should see Turk make O sa-
laam. 1t is far more graceful and sug-
gestlve than bow. With his right
hand he touches his heart, his lips and
his forehead, making at the same time
slight inclination of the body.
The whole ceremony. which wos vorv
interesting, reminded one of the re-
spect and worship paid to q deitv
rather than an earthly sovereign.
va oho AoAAO"1uB TEluay the sultan
attended mosque upon the European
side of the Bosphorus, in the city.
From the time he stepped into his
royal caique until the opposite shore
was reached, continuous salute was
fired from the Turkish men-of-war Of
anchor in the stream. All the yards
were manned, and oil the flags were
thrown to the breeze. It was a beauti-
full pageant, and quite exciting, though
| was somewhat afraid the clumsy
Turkish snilors on the yards might fail
into the water, and couldn't help think
ing they might possibly need their
gunpowder for other purposes before
many years. HAROLD.
The Temperance Bird.
Mary M. has pet canary bird.
Every day, at meal times, Mary
opens the cage door, and Dick flies out
ana alights upon her shoulder, where
he stays until the meal is over. He has
hccn taught that he must he quite still
while Mr.. NJ. asks blessing OH their
io"d; SO unless he comes ut once when
the cage door is opened, he waits in Vi.
!ence until the blessing is over.