St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1877-06-22


Zaghra, five hours from the railroad,
and to reach it we must remain in Yeni-
Zaghra over night. You must know
that there is no travelling done in Tur
key in the night. Both custom and
prudence demand that wherever the
night finds you, there you must remain
till morning. So we staid in Yeni-
Zaghra.
1t is a town of some FIVE hundred
houses, and of enough Importance to
boast town clock. We saw them in
several places in Bulgaria, but as this
was the first it attracted our attention.
1t was on a tower built expressly for
that purpose, and as we were after
wards told, at the expense of the gov
ernment. 1t was a proof of the foster
ing care of the Turkish government for
its people that we were surprised to see
and wish it to have due credit therefor
Yeni-Zaghra is a mixed village, both
the mosque and the church receiving
their vOtaries. Of all the Christian
population however, there is but one
Protestant, ,Vliu Mihoff, man to whom
all honor is due for his steadfastness in
the truth. He has met with much op-
position. Two or three times even his
wife has left him, but his forgiving
spirit, his mildness, but frmness of
character has overcome her opposition
and she has at last come out to take her
stand by the side of her husband. He
is man that commands much respect
in the community, and no doubt his
quiet, consistent life breaches louder
than sermons to his neighbors. We
were so fortunate as to find him at the
railway station and he took US home
with him and entertained us with
the best that his house afforded. AS
he did not know a word of English,
French or German, and our attainments
at that time in Bulgarian were limited,
1--WE have since acquired six words,) we
were obliged to communicate with him
in Turkish, of which we knew a very
little more. We got along very well
however, being able to introduce a
much greater range of subjects than
we could discuss in all their bearings.
The universal sign language comes
wonderfully convenient at such time.
We had hoped that our host would take
us into his family, so that we might see
something of domestic life among the
BulgaTians, but in this we were disap-
pointed. The best room of the house
was given up to US, table spread
whenever we were hungry and beds
were made up on the divan for our ac-
commodatiOn. The family however
staid in the other room, ate in their ac-
customed fashion from a low table, sit
ting on the floor, which served them
also for Il common bed as well as seat.
In strolling about the streets of Yeni
Zaghra in search of ''things new and
strange" the principle thing that inter
ested us was jewelry. AS a sample of
how wOrkmen are remunerated in Bull
garia, there were finger rings that
looked like silver, with cut glass stones
of various colors, the price of which
was tUe paraS, or about half a cent each
We ran across one thing in the yard of
akhan that l was sorry to see. 1t was
an empty cask, marked "Pure Boston
Rum, Trull Bros. Distillers." 1t has
been said that the exports of America
are rum and missionaries. Here within
a few miles of each other was a sad
verifcation OF the fact-and both from
New England. Let the temperance re-
formers of st. JOhnsbury take this text
and preach sermon.
Another of our American products Of
a less Objectionable character had found
, its way to this little Bulgarian village
In grocery store we saw several old
boxes marked ''Gas-light oil, 65 net
pounds, Bostwick and Tilford, N. V
American petroleum is lighting the
world. In Turkish the only word fol
oil is yah, which means butter and lard
r as well; but petroleum goes by thu
/ name of ''Americana gas"
r The journey of five hours from Yen
) (new) to Eski (old) Zaghra was made il
Talega. 1t was a mournful exper
ence and do not wish to delay long il
remembrance of it. The jolly old We
, hicle had but one spring, the road wal
| cut up with wheel tracks, and every bon,
| in our bodies ached long before ou
| journeys end.
! 1t was a broad, beautiful plain tha
s we passed over, with the rugged Balk
f ans on our right. There were dozen
f of villages lying all about, but scores
l might be supported just as well. Th'
: soil is rich black loan, but it has onl,
/ it's natural fertility. The people d.
2 not seem to know the value of manur
except for fuel. 1t is lying in hug
q piles outside of every village, where i
] is taken to get it out of the way, and j
J.. used as basking place for dogs, and
e as we saw in some cases for lazy men
n A peculiar feature of the country
S the funereal mounds that are scattere,
n around in all directions. They seem t.
+ be the same that 1 have noticed in va
d rious places in Asia Minor and in tn
d Crimea, and without doubt were mostl
g used as sepulchres and monuments 70
e the dead: have heard another theor.