News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1882-12-21
LETTER FROM TURKEY.
CoNsTANTINOPLE Nov. 9th, 'S2.
II .u- o., odd Ci.rht In Tho 1.;t,- dn.


fully picked, as the Turks keep the
old Jewish usage of taking for sacri-
fee only those that are absolutely
without blemish. A nick in the ear
makes q sheep useless for sacrifical
purposes. A crowd of buyers were
chaffering with tue shepherds over
prices. The fact that the animals
were being sold for religious sacrifice
and i'll the court of a place of relig-
ious worship, did not of course dimin-
ish the sharpness of the bargains
driven. Close by in the same court,
were money changers sitting at low
/ tables, with piles of coin in front of
them, ready to turn an honest penny
out of the necessities OF the dealers in
sheep. The whole scene illustrated the
way i'll which these eastern lands cling
to their ancient customs. For we
have record of a scene in the cuur:
of place of worship, not so many
miles away from here, that took place
1900 years ago, when our Savior drove
away the dealers in animals, and over
threw the tables of the money chang
ers. Then, as now, the scene was as
far as possible from suggesting the
least idea of religious feeling in the
minds of the traders or tue by stand
ers. But the odd sight that attracted
my attention was the manner in which
the sheep were taken away after pur-
chase. In this city, trucks and drays
find small occupation; men do the
carrying. Now, inasmuch as a sheep
can be led through a crowded street
by Il stranger about as easily as St.
Louis mule, you can see that the trials
of the purchaser have only just begun
when he has beaten down the price Of
his two or three sheep the last five
cents, But necessity is the mother of
invention, even in Turkey. So after
man had. bought three good big fell
lows he had them deposited on their
backs on the pavement and coolly tied
the fore foot to the hind foot on each
side, he then set the sheep upon its
tail, aud behold the legs thus bound
together hung helplessly on each side
like loop, then a burly porter sat
himself down on the ground with his
back to the unhappy least, passed
his right arm through the loop formed
by the right legs, and his left arm
through the left legs, and arose to his
feet with the sheep suspended on his
back after the fashion of a rag mans
basket. The three sheep being mount
ell on three men i'll this fashion. the
purchaser headed the procession and
it marched solemnL away in single
file. Each porter had an amply horn
ed heal resting on The top of his red
cap, and huge ami heavy tail bob
bing about his lower extremities. The
sacrifice for which these sheep are pur-
chased is a great occasion with the
Turks. They celebrate by it the an
niversary, they say, of the day on
which Abraham undertook to offer up
his son as a sacrifice, but was pre-
vented by the angel who showed him
a ram ready to hand which took the
place on the altar of the luckless boy.
But as in many other cases of Bible
history, Mohammed either forgot what
he learned from the Jews, or purpose
" changed the story 50 as to make a
distinction between Moslem tradition
and Jewish record. The Moslems
have it that Ishmael and not Isaac,
was the son taken by Abraham to be
sacrificed.
The Mohammedan version of the
Bible stories is funny enough. Thus
the story of Abraham, for instance, is
composed of several. According TO
the Moslems, Abraham was born at
he court of Nimrod, was cast out by
his mother, grew up and destroyed
his fathers idols, and was cast into a
fiery furnace by the wicked king, be-
cause he would not worship idols.
Thus the stories of Moses, of Gideon,
and of the three young men at the
Assyrian court, are hopelessly iumbled
~ with that OF Abraham in Textbook
that Moslems regard as special reve-
lation from God.
We have been having rather excit-
ing times here during the Egyptian
troubles. At one time the Turks |
made no bones about telling us that
they wished US all in The bottom of the |
Red Sea. At one time it fairly seem |
ed as if they were likely to try to put
US there, or to get rid of us in some |
equally permanent manner, but the big |
English guns at Alexandria have had |
wonderfully calming effect on the
minds of the people, and now we are
more safe than we were before the
trouble began. The Turkish Govern
ment has been rather painfully i'm
pressed by the English conquest Of
Egypt, with the fact that its Empire
is gradually waning. During two years
it has lost Tunis and Egypt. Russia
is waiting for chance To take Arme-
MIA, and Austria is comfortably antic-
ipating day when she shall have
Macedonia. The Sultan is depressed |
and helpless. He is now proposing
to reform his system Of government
SO as TO remove the excuse for fol eign
But it is too late. He
has neither the men nor the means to
turn over new leaf. The poverty of
the Turks has just been illustrated by
a little incident here. On Il great
state occasion the ministers were at
the palace in fall uniform, congratu-
lating the Sultan upon the anuiver-
sary, suddenly mob of angry women
upon the scene, demanding
to see the secretary of the treasury.
They said that they were starving be-
cause the treasury bad failed to pay
any salaries for some months. They
wished TO get the money due them or
their husbands on the spot. For this
purpose they wished to get hold of the
secretary of the treasury, assured that
they would squeeze ii out of him.
Things looked pretty badly for the
unhappy gentleman who manages the
finances of the Empire. But that wise
incOntinently fed from the
palace by a back door. Then the
angry ladies were informed that he had
gone back to his office, four miles
away, and were compelled to wear out
their ardor in the weary march To the
treasury building. Those who leach
ed the treasury tired and foot sore,
found it empty and well guarded, and