St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1880-07-02


eggs. The coarse flour is healthier than
the fine -four which is so much eaten in
the United States. Very good molasses
is made from the native grapes, so one
can have melasses gingerbread. All of
the natives have most beautiful teeth,
even when quite old, which is said to
be owing to their eating this coarse
bread, which keeps them well secured.
| noticed two washerwOmen from nv
window this morning (they usually go
to the fountains, even in cold weather,
to wash their clOthes), and two such
stout, perfectly built women | have
rarely seen. They will work all day and
board themselves for a little over 30
cents, their food consisting only of three
or four loaves of this dark bread. They
have their heads covered and most of
their faces, but this cold morning, when
water, if left in n cold room two hours
would be solid, you would be perfectly
amazed to see how little clothing these
women have on, and how loosely worn.
The weather has been warmer and
more spring-like since | wrote last, but
for fortnight it has stormed, and the
wind blew gale, and it is so cold wa
ter freezes in your room. You feel it
more than in New England, because
the houses are not so well constructed.
The wind comes in through the cracks
in the floor and windows. We have
tried to paste pieces of cloth on our
windows, but the cold soon cracks them
off. We console ourselves with the
thought that this is an unusually severe
winter in Turkey. Another winter we
hope to have a thick cushion of wool for
our divan. We improvise divans out
of boxes that we brought from Ameri-
ca, and cover with straw and calico.
We hope soon to receive materials for
covering the roof of our house from
Boston.
1t must seem singular to yon that
we have to send to America, but will
explain. The walls are so badly built of
brick, that they do not consider it safe
to cover it with tiles, which they make
here, for the walls are not strong enough
to sustain them, and as they found the
zinc on the roof expanded with the heat
and that it leaked badly, they put on
strips of cloth, and painted them, which
was only temporary arrangement, and
the floor of the attic was wet, and the
dishes to catch the water during long
shower filed, so we sent for something
else. DR.. Vests house is covered with
these tiles, but they are coarse and
heavy.
The pottery, or jars and flower pots
which they make here resemble those
in the art museum in New York-un-
glazed and porous, they leak when new.
Our drinking water is brought some
distance in one. Our wood to burn is
all kept in the cellar, and is not so
damp as you would suppose. When
this house was built the earth was car
ried out. of the cellar in bags on mems
backs, which the missionaries would
not have allowed, if the work had not
been let out by the job, so they could
not interfere. A letter from Casarea
informs us that they have suffered more
intensely perhaps than we, although
usually much warmer there, but they
have stone floors in their houses.
If some enterprising Yankees would
only come out here, and introduce some
of our agricultural and mechanical i'm
plements, they might make considera-
6le money and do much good; but it
would not answer for the missionaries
to attempt too much, or they would
follow them for the lOaves and fishes.
We have just learned that the Tartar
mail was unable to land at Samsun be-
cause of rough weather, so went on to
Trebizond, and returning found it the
second time so rough it is coming on
finally on the overland route. The
question of railway through Asia Mi
nor to Bagdad is still occasionally agi-
tated, and there are from six to eight
different plans projected, and we hope
1T will come as near US as Tocat, if there
should really be one built, but it looks
more like an air-castle at the present
time, and camels are still the railway
of the Turks.
Some of us talk of attending the an
nual meeting of The May ANNIVERSARIES
in ConstantinOple. 1t is customary for
missionaries to attend it once in two
years, and next year there is to be a
great meeting, being the union of the
three fields of Turkey. A sea voyage
may prove beneficial after the close
confinement in the house, owing to the
intense cold and bad travelling, yet one
half breads the ten days on horseback
to the Black Sea. They have a way of
guiding a horse by laying the rein
against his neck, not pulling the bit at
all, for the native bits are very hard on
the horses mouths. Many ladies and
all children, who do not like to ride
horseback, have something resembling
two boxes attached to either side of
the horse or camel, and the woman