The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1888-08-03
A TURKISH VILLAGE.
Interesting Sketch Of Scenes in and
About an Anatolian Hamlet.

The Turk is essentially domestic
creature. However widely he travels,
his thoughts are always centered on his
early home. No lapse of time weakens
the tie which binds him to his native
country. no sense of beauty or magnifi-
cence ever supplants his village in the
warmest corner OF his affections. Never
theless, he expends little more than
affection upon his native place, having
hardly any taste for improvement and
none at all for unnecessary labor;
consequently the appearance - an
Anatolian hamlet is as nearly immuta-
bic as any thing in this world can be.
To describe one village is to describe
all other villages in Anatolia inhabited
by the same race, for they differ in
nothing but the accident of position.
Perhaps in Kara Euren. resembling
hundreds of other villages in all its ar
rangements. but excelling in the beauty
of its surroundings, there is as good an
example of the home of the Turk as
all AnatOlia can show.
Kara Euren, then. is a little village
in the center of Asia Minor, a sample
spot where manners are patriarchal
and hustle is unknown: where civiliza-
ton has not penetrated and education
is undreamed of; where the tourist
Is not and the European rare as
roses in December. Kara Euran has
no place in history. Its annals, did it
possess any, would prove dull to the
least exacting reader. Generations
have lived and died here. in life and
death alike unknown to fame. To
architectural distinction it can lay no
claim. Flat-roofed mud huts, alter
mating with wooden shanties, effect to
shelter its inhabitants. Even anti
quarian interest. which lends interest
TO many humble spot, is utterly want
ing
Yet. in one respect. Kara Euren is
blessed above more pretentiOus places;
if the handiwork of man is unattractive.
that of nature makes ample amends.
The village nestles on green slopes
under the shadow of the great pine
woods. Above the forest-clad hills
great gaunt peaks rise solemnly against
the blue sky. and the snow glitters on
their ancient heads even at the end of
an Asiatic June. Down the mountains
and through the pines little brooklets
babble and splash all through the long.
hot summer. and at the foot of the
woods lie the waters of the blue lake.
in whose still depths the snow-capped
peaks and dark-green pines and mirror
which lends them loneliness even great
er than their own.
II is needless to say that the village
is guiltless of any attempt at regu-
larity. Perhaps fifty log shanties and
as many mud hUts are scattered over
the three or four little hills on which
the village stands Some of the
wooden erections are picturesque
enough, but painfully deficient in point
of construction. The greatest possible
weight with the least possible strength
their builders set thelnselve to solve.
As for the mud huts. the roofs OF few
are high as a man on horseback. and.
owing to the slope on which they are
built and the nature of the materials.
in wandering about Kara Euren one
perpetually finds ones self trespassing
on somebody's rooi. and in imminent
danger of disappearing down the ample
hole which too often supplies the place
of a chimney.
Through the hot hours of the day the
village is deserted. The young men
are all away on the hills with the
flocks. The graybeards are enjoying a
solemn nap in the shade. Half a dozen
women and a score of dusky brats rep
resent the inhabitants. But when the
sun is going down in fame behind the
dark peaks. and the brief evening twi-
light is coming on apace, and the soft.
warm air is full of sounds At this
hour every one is awake and stirring.
the heat of the day is over. and the
men are coming home from the fields
and the mountains
There goes q plcwman. happy in =
days work done-an odd figure: tall
and spare, scorched almost to blackness
by blazing suns, holding his goad over
his head like lance. With infinite
dignity he strides tiny donkey. heed
les Of the fact that his toes trail in the
dust on either side. In front trOts q
still more diminutire ass, bearing the
pillow slowed away in his pannie,s. the
long shaft wasgiing far behind his head
and such . pillow! Surely that crooked
stick. shod with = bit of iron like q
magnihed thimble. must be own brother
to the instrument with which Triptole-
mus first blessed mankind. Then three
or four handsome young fellows join
the circle in front Of the guest-house.
sitting dutifully down behind the
elders They have been hunting among
the hills, and bring in mixed bag con-
sisting Of dozen hares. q thrush and
two blackbirds. Wonderful and fearful
are their guns. though bearing traces Of
skillful inlaying and Ornamentation.
Their ancestors may have shouldered
these very weapons to march with Kara
Mustapha to Vienna, and thought them
triae antiquated even then. Not for
its weight in gold would fire one Of
those venerable relics. However, thar