St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1880-03-26
Letter from Turkey.
SIvAs, TURKEY, Jan. I6, 1880

SIVAS, TURKEY, Jan. 10, 1880.
My Dear Friends: Before the memo
ries of Il night, which we spent in
grist mill, on our overland journey from
Constantinople to this city become dim
in our mind, we will give you the bene-
fit of our experience, trusting if ever
you visit Asia Minor, you will fare as
well. The shades of night gathered
about us, after the sun disappeared be-
hind the rampant of hills in the west,
over which we had passed. Having
travelled IL hours that day, with only
brief stay at noon for rest by a foun-
tain, naturally found us weary, dusty
and hungry, longing for shelter from
the damp air of the valley, which sent
the cold chilis over rs as soon as the
sun sank below the visible horizon. We
had been promised mill for resting
place that night, but no one had pic
tured its comforts, nor want of them, to
us, and we were eager for the new, I'M
tried experiences before US, for any
change from the barren hills which had
girt us round all day, seemed inviting
and condemn us not, for we are hu-
mau), we lOnged for some new, tangible
visions to strengthen the inner man, for
riding i'll the native carriages, gives
play to all the limbs of the body, and is
excellent in its way, for developing
muscle and appetite as well as the
Christian graces of patience and for
bearance. Imagine riding in hay
or express wagon, as you sometimes see
parties OF picnic excursions in the coun-
try, only plolOng the time to 10 or IL
hours in day for two or three weeks,
and you will not wonder that we felt as
if we could eat an OK!
AT last we saw the longed- for
goal before us; it was built of rough
stones, filled i'll with clay, about feet
in height, covered with earth, upon
which the grass was growing. The wa
ter for the machinery was carried across
a kind of bridge from the hillside, en-
tering the roof in the rear of the struc-
ture. AT the door stood a native con-
veyance, waiting for the grist that was
being ground. Let us glance at it before
we enter; notice two wheels made of
plank and bound with iron, two feet in
diameter, and the axle turns with
the wheels as they revolve; the
place for carrying the load of grain is
above the wheels and extends ouly
about a foot behind them in the shape
of the letter V; the acute angle, much
prolonged, extends almost to the ami
mails heads. The buffaloes are larger
than the oxen of this country, very
strongly built, usually black, with very
little hair on their skin, and their curv-
ed horns lying back against their necks,
you might consider them the ugliest
looking animals which you ever saw
used us beasts of burden. Upon enter
ing the mill we found it consisted of
three rooms /; in a corner of the largest
one was the quaint old machinery.
which be9gared description, and you
only wondered why so much wood
should have been used in a country
where yOu ride for days without seeing
a tree.
Slow as this mill seems to an Ameri-
can,. Especially Yankee,) it is rapid
in comparison with the one commonly
used by many of the Armenians. the
one referred to in the Bible, "two wo-
men grinding at the mill,n which is
turned by their own hands. On the
right of this large room, where bags of
flour and grain were standing, was a
room for horses and donkevs. On the
left the private storerOom of the owner
of the mill; the latter, our sleeping
apartment for the night Two holes as
large as by inch pane of glass, in
wall at least foot thick, did not ad- |
NIT much of the damp night air. The