Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1883-10-12
LIFE IN TURK Ely.
How Farmers Live There-Tho Dcgra-
dalton OF Woman.


To the Editor Of the Free Press and Times:
Though Trebizond is about in the latitude
of New York, lis climate corresponds very
nearly to that Of North Carolina. This is due
and fills the atmosphere. In the Summer
season this dampncssis so great that clothing, |
especially shoes, If left for a little time IN a
closet, mildew, and are covered with mould. |
This dampness, coming as 1t does fresh from
the sea, is the least harmful possible, and the |
town is a fairly healthy one. Sometimes a
Winter passes without the ground being
scarce whitened with snow, at other times
foot or more Of snow falls, but only to re-
main day or two on the ground. In Sum-
mer the mercury rarely touches 90, Fahren-
heit, but there is little relief at night, and
therefore to pass Summer here is very try
ing. During the day fresh breeze comes in
from the sea which is very helpful. At night
the breeze Is of land, and Ia apt TO be hot
and unrefreshing. In the morning and again
at evening there IS period OF calm which IS
willing beyond expression.
We have been escaping these facilitating
heats by taking up our residence in the noun
tains back Of the town at height of 1000 feet
above the SEQ level. We rent rooms in a
respectable farm house, and bringing our own
furniture keep house for ourselves. Here
the mercury is about ten degrees lower than
in the city, and we are rarely without an
invigorating breeze. The scenery is very de-
delightful. The window before which l am
writing looks down into deep ravine, aud
toward fields on the opposite side. Farm
houses dot the landscape half concealed in
groves of trees. Lines of trees and green
hedges mark the boundaries of the fields
which are also brilliantly green with corn
and tobacco. This ravinc upons out 10 the
sea, whose blue-back waters bound the
horizon to the porth. The roads are, for the
most part, hut bride paths. and, through
very picturesque, are abominabe in the ex-
IRENE for all practical uses.
The inhabitants Of this immediate vicinity
are mainly Turks aud Greeks. When l
speak Of Turks, it should be remembered
| that 1t is the governing class referred to, who
are Moslcms in religion, while the Greeks,
since their subjugation more than four hun
dred years ago, are o subject class and
In religion are part OF the Eastern Chris
tau church. Our landlord is Greek
and also priest IN the Greek church. We
have seen but little OF the religion Of this
family. On Sunday morning, as on other
his donkey load Of produce, while the farm
operations go on as usual, with only this diff
ference that the priest, who on other days
| works with the Others on the Lord s-day starts
for church clothed IN his robes Of office,
doubtless hoping to do the religion for the
whole family. Adjoining the church is
school house where the boys get the rudi-
ments of an education, but absolutely moth
| ing is done for the girls.
One day as we sat by the path that leads
from grove opposite. the mother Of 35
years, and her daughter OF sixteen, came
along bending low under enormous bundles Of
wood. When we spoke word of surprise
and sympathy the mother replied, "Ths is
our trade, what else should we do z" And so
that daughter, Of fine appearance, sprightly
and intelligent, must drag out life of
ignorance in this form of drudgery. She is
healthy and elastic and makes play Of half
her work now, but look at the worn and
stolid face OF the mother reveals what, few
years will do for the daughter also.
1t is astonishing to see what a pressure OF
| work these farmers are under from early till
late. They have no machines 10 help them
| out, and most Of their fields are so steep that
plough can not be used. These fields
must be spaded. Instead Of spade, how
ever, they Use two-pronged fork. Seven
| girls form line each with fork, and
striking them IN aud pulling them back in
concert clod as long as the line is turned
over Then falling back they repeat the
operation until they have crossed the field.
| After the spading instead OF harrow the
| clods are knocked to pieces with heavy hoes.
And after the crops are growing and hoeing
is TO be done there is no help from cutiva-
tors, but all must again be done by hand.
And when the harvests are gathered it is rare
that an ANNA! assists in bringing in the
loads. The young men. the girls and the
women are again seen slowly crawling up
| these steep ascents with baskets of potatoes
or onions or cucumbcrs on their backs. One
is half inclined to covet the vigor that can
endure such toll without going sdown under
| it.
While all the other members OF the family
are laboring in this way, the grandmother OF
05 cares for the house and the small children
from time to time calling the nursing moth
ers from the field to feed their crying babes.
In Winter the abors of these villagers may
not be quite 30 severe, but spinning, weav-
ing, knitting AMI sewing for a family of Is
fill the time as completely as the Summer
work.
The crops are Of very great variety,
wheat, rye, barley, corn, hemp, max, silk,
onions, cucumbers, melons, tomatoes, egg
plant, hazel nuts, wanuls, apples. pears,
peaches, grapes, figs pomegranates, plums,
cherries, cltrons, lemons and oranges. To-.
bacco is also found on nearly every farm.
This is the wild Turkish tobacco, 80 well
known in England which may have found
its way even TO the United States. 1t is a
very profitable crop to the farmer, but the
government takes care to secure the lions
share of the profit The cultivated fields
crowd SO closely on each other that very
little place il left for meadows or pastures.
Many animals are sent to the higher noun
tain submits, where only grass can flourish,
and are pastured 70. the season. Those
animals that remain browse along the hedges,
and are fed weeds pulled from among the
corn. The winter food Of the animals is
chiefly corn stalks.
So far as possible these farmers aim to get
two crops year off their land. An early
crop of potatoes Is removed In July, the
ground is Immediately spaded and corn plant
ed which will mature in October. So cucum.
bers and onions are followed by turnips and
cabbages. They fcrtiize their land as best
they cansfrom their stables and some bring
donkey loads of manure from the city, espe-
cially for their tobacco fields. Land that has
been thus pressed to do it's utmost for more
than two thousand years can hardly be ex-
pected to match the native prairies Of our
Western States, but should say the crops
here would compare well with most Of those
on the hill farms in New England.
All this produce pays its 1.-THE to the gov
eminent, not in kind us in the interior of the
country. Each village has its board OF ap-
praisers composed OF one from each com
munity-Turkish, Greek and Armenian
whose duty it Is to estimate the value OF the
different crops while they are growing A
tenth of this estimate is demanded in cash.
When the appraisal is fairly made the bur-
den does not press heavily on the taxpayer,
since the market is 80 near that his produce
can easily be turned to cash. NJ. Z. Z.