The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1874-05-23
The Legend of the Baths.


A King of Constantinople had, so the
history tells us, daughter whose beau
ty, grace and virtues were Of that SUI
perIatve character peculiar to herOines
of the Middle Ages, but who was afllict-
ed with a sickness upon which all the
medical skill of Byzantium could make
no impression The faculty, nOnpulSs-
ed, acted very much as it is wont to act
under similar circumstances in these
modern times, and got rid of an obsti-
nate patient that would neither
get well nor die, by recommending
change of air. Dagh- Hammam, as it is
now called, was the spot selected for the
princess, and there the king built pal
ace for her reception, anu in that pal
ace she took up her aoo ie, an breath
ed the mountain air and drank the
mountain water, but without deriving
any advantage from one or the other.
One day, however, the princess was
induIging in tile favorite pastime of
COustantinOple young ladies, looking
out of the window, when she saw
bear; no very unusual occurrence, but
this bear truck the princess by his re-
markably detected aspect. The prin-
Cess sympalhies gushed forth at once,
and she drew parallel between the
woe-begone animal and herself. l.
"There," said she to herself, sis a
bear that possesses all the requisite ele-
ments Tor being very nice and very
! happy hear, but. he isn't; far from it;
his fur is ragged, his skin is NANCY, his
bones are nearly through it; he has not
an atom of bears grease about him,
and his doleful expression of counter
ance shows lowness of spirits equal to
my own. Like myself, that bear is
con lrnied invalid"
Thus soliluquizing, the princess watch
ed the movements of the bear, and re
marked thathe went and plunged into
pool OF mud, after rolling in Which for a
space of time he got out, sat down at
the edge of the pool, rested, and then
plunged again; and after going through
the ritual several times, with precision
. ana soeinnity, withdrew to the noun
tain. Next day the bear came again,
aud the next after that, and SO on for
several days, until at last the princess
began to notice a change in his person-
. al appearance His hide was Il IS patchy
. hls cuuntenance more cheerful, aud his
! step more bithe.
Day by day the improvemcntcontnu-
! ed; sleekness, obviously induced by
! plentiful secret ion OF the potent grease,
| came over the ragged fur; it lost Its
rusty color, crlrled aDundantly over a
, healthy skin, and at length the once
n.elancholy object stood a regenerate
bear, sound in body and happy in mind.
/ Then lie CAME no more to the pool.
Ponderirg over these things, the prin-
J cess came to the conclusion that if roll
ing in the mud brought back health to
an apparently worn out bear, it could
} do no less for an invalid princess. So
her highness took a preliminary roll,
| and, finding it warm and on the whole
agreeable, She built herself a bathing
| house around the pool, and, daily iml-
tating the bear, was at the end of two
! months restored to perfect health. Then
the king. her father, to CONNIE morate
the event, built public baths there, aud
from gener alton to generation the fame
of the springs of Dagh- HaMmam have
come down to the present day. TheIe
is certain resemblance between the
| legend attaching to these mineral
springs aud to that of King Bladud's
pigs, which associated with the chaly-
beate springs of Bath, in England. In
point of sen timent, however, that of
Dagh- Hamm AL has perhaps the advan-
tage, a sickly bear being on the whole
a less piosaic object than herd of dis
eased pigs. .n..
The waters of Kourou and Of Dagh-
| Hammam are composed, in great part,
of chlosulphuric salts and hydrosul-
phuric gas, and enjoys a deserved repu-
tation for efficacy in skin disease and
rheumatic affections. Not far from the
springs are some interesting ruins,
which are doubtless those of the hos
pital and pa lace descT ibed by the old
Byzantine historian as having been con-
structed in this neighborhood by Con-
stantine aud his empress, Helena.