Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1888-04-22
In THE ORIENT.
SOME OF rae STRANGE SIGHTS NOTED
IN C0NsrANfIN0PLB.
Dress Of the People -fhs Bands Of DOgs-Businoss
Msthods-Ths Professional Seribss-Bargain-
ing With the WHY Turk.
pslroit He Prts,.

4
q walk through come of the strange scenes
of Constantinople. The sun shines brightly
on the beautiful water of the Bosphorus.
The shores are bright in their fresh green
coloring, while the steamboats, and little
skiffs give the water q lively appearance.
We shall need TO walk carefully in the
crowds which I'LL the narrow streets, and
we shall find many strange things to in
| terest rs.
Zone of the first things you will notice Is
the fez, worn by all the Turks. 1t is red
felt cap with no visor, with q flat top and
black silk tassel. Turkish law requires
every male subject of the Sultan to wear
this kind Of q cap. The men wear very
funny trousers. There are no close fitting
pantaloons, such as men wear in America;
but loose, baggy contrivances, which look
lik two large bags fastened together at the
top. These are gathered around the waist
with colored girdle, which is sometimes
very handsome.
The streets are not much better than
our narrowest alleys, and so crooked and
dirty! We should not enjoy living in
such streets, and business would be quite
| impossible. You never met so many dogs
before. They are big yellow animals and
live in the streets. They have no owner,
but shit for themselves as well as they
can. You will stumble over them if you
are not careful, for they seem. to think
that the street belongs to themselves.
They lie down anywhere, before shop or
in the middle OF the street, and evidently
expect us to turn out for them. These
dogs organize themselves into bands, and
each company has its own district. 1t is
dangerous for q dog TO leave his own
proper territory, and he is likely to pay
dearly for tresspassing within his neigh
bors' limits.
The dogs are usually harmless, though
sometimes they commit very bold thefts.
A man was going home one evening with q
loaf of bread in his hand when one OF these
dogs snatched it from him and ran off as
fast as he could. The man gazsd helpless
ly after his lost sapper, but knew it would
be useless to run after the dog. He could
not take vengeance on the thief, and so he
deliberately kicked the next dog he saw.
He thought that settled accounts with the
whole community, even if the bread and
kick went to different dogs.
know you will laugh at the shops in
Constantinople. They are not like the
beautiful stores you have seen IN our
cities, with large plate-glass show win
dows and long rows Of elegant counters.
In Constantinople the principal stores are
in bsz lars. These bezaars are large Cne-
story buildings, with streets running
through them in every direction. On each
side of these streets are the little shops.
The floor is about two feet above the
street, and the owner usually sits on the
floor with his legs crossed under him. The
room is email, so that he can reach many
Of his goods without rising. As we pass
along we can look in at the various shops
and examine their goods.
The dogs are generous to each other. At
the soldiers barracks the deg, receive the
fragments after every meal. One day when
the food was brought out only two dogs
were in sight These might have had a
grand feast by themselves They did not
take mouthful, but started off ut full
speed in opposite directions. Soon their
barking summoned the whole pack, and
they ate tn II 0lnner uoSetner.
Let us stop first at this dry goods store.
As soon as the man sees us looking ut his
goods he takes his pipe from his mouth
and begins to chatter away in very live
ly fashion, showing Us some pieces of
goods. If you show any desire to make
purchase, he will name high price and
pretend he is giving you the article. If
you offer q much smaller sum he will fold
up the cloth and put it away with O gesture
of horror. When you turn away, how
ever, he will call you back and take your
own price or else make new offer much
below the frat.
In front of shoe shop you will sea long
strings of shoes hanging up by the door.
The shoes are usually made of red leather;
the toes are turned up in curve and the
back folded in at the heel. Sometimes
the leather is trimmed with silver thread.
They also have wooden sandals, and these
may be very deliberately ornamented with
inlaid work of mother-ofpearl.
One of the strapgest places is the car
penter shop. Here you will see q man
seated on the floor behind turning lathe.
Instead of using treadle as our woIkmen
do, he has bow and string, whish he
draws back and forth with his right hand,
and so makes the wheel revolve. He
holds the chisel in his left hand and
presses il against the wood with his bare
toes. Is that not strange way to use
turning lathtp
In some Of the little shops you may see
professional scribe. he has very i'm
portant air, and sits gravely on the mat,
with his ink-horn in his lap. He holds
his paper in his left hand while he
writes at the dictation of his employer.
They do not write on table or desk as We
do, and still they form their letters beau
tifully, although they do not make very
straight lines across the page. Ycu will
also see money changers sitting beside
their case of coins. People come to Con-
stantinople from all parts Of the world,
and must change their money for Turkish
coins. These money changers have inter-
esting collections Of money. In one Of
their cases / saw an old paper 10 cent
piece from the United States.
You might think, where the stores are
90 close together and the streets 30 narrow,
that pedlers would have poor chance.
Still there are great many of them who
sell fruit. These men carry trays Of fruit
on their heads. When they find good
place to stop, they set down the tray upon
high stool, take their scales from their
shoulders and are ready for business They
sell almost everything by weight aud are
usually careful, though the scales may be
very rude. I have seen them made sim
ply of two wooden saucers, sus-
pended by strings from straight stick.
This bar was held by another
string fastened In the middle, and the eye
must Judge when the two scales balanced.
The weights may be bits of iron or even
broken pieces of stone or brick. On the
tray these peddlers have large, luscious
grapes, and will give you all you Gin eat
for o cent or two. There are fresh green
| figs which do not look much like the dried
ones that come to us in boxes. The
ounces are large and the people cook
them with meat. The chestnuts are larger
than ours, though not quite 30 sweet.
They are roasted, taken from the shell
and cooked with meat and potatoes in q
very nice stew.