Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-08-04

Sk1ll1uI 1nlay1ng ana OfntulenbdIlOn. Their ancestors may have shouldered these very weapons to march with Kara Mustapha to Vienna, and thought them tlife anticipated even then. Not for its weight in gold would fire one of those venerable relics. However, their owners use government powder, and that probably accounts for their im- munity from accident.
 By twos and threes the graybeards joined the circle, fine, handsome old fellows, full of that dignity which the oriental has by nature. Old and young, they make picturesque group. Their costume is far from unbecoming-stock- ings of openwork reaching barely to the knees; wide blue brooches, leaving the knee bare; broad sash and gay-cOlOred shirt; and, if the wearer be well-tO-do, a short jacket which just covers the shoulder-blades; for headgear, a faded fez bound round with bright handker- chief, and as often as not a wild rose stuck in the folds. Despite the ravages of time and weather, their garments re- tain color enough for effect, and the brown, sinewy limbs and dark faces show well against white stockings and blue brooches.
 The twilight decpens and the air grows softer. In the homesteads the little fires begin to twinkle, peeping through the cracks of the log houses and showing the cheery hustle within. The young donkeys, which always muster
 
 for their evening scamper, and the children take advantage of the fact. For some time the noise has been in creasing, and the thick clouds of dust rising slowly in the heavy air show out against the darkening glow. The fiocks are coming in from the hills, and as the tinkle of the sheep-bells begins to sound the women emerge, pan in hand, and begin to fit about the fires. Slowly the bleating mass comes forward, pour ing over the hill down into the little valley below the Oda, where stands the well, surrounded by chattering women. The sheep eXpend all their energies on bleating, but the moro mercurial goats find time for an infinite number of sin
 
 Arcadia is not yet vanished from hl- man ken, for here are musical shep- herds piping to music-loving sheep; and very soft and plaintive are the ten der notes floating on the cool evening air. Each shepherd is accompanied by two or three dogs. Then, when all arc in the valley, the milking begins. in- volving a vast amount of rushing to and fro, bleating, barking and shrill ejaculation, for this is the women S work. The shepherds are calling up their dogs, putting on their enormous felt cloaks, and looking to their guns, for, the milking over. tho focks will | be off to tho hills to spend the night under the stars, Every moment the air grows darker and the confusion greater, savory scents fill the village, and the fragrance of tobacco mingles ] with the odOr of the cracking pine branches. Buddy bands of firelight fit across the open spaces magnifying the | figures which come out of the darkness into the blaze, and away in the eastern sky the evening stars are rising. As the confusion reaches its height, bang! the flash of the sunset gun shoots up 1 from the mosque and glitters on the humble minaret. The sun has set, and the solemn call to prayer rolls over the village and wakes the echoes of the dark pine woods. Globe.