St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1893-08-03

upon his charger and held by two
attendants. The road was sprinkled
with sand, watered and swept. The
steps at the left entrance OF the
mosque were wiped and rug put in
place. Four carriages containing
the ladies OF the harem drove into
the court of the mosque, their horses
were embarrassed and led away,
leaving the occupants to see what
they could of the pageant from their
closed vehicles. Several patriarchal
old sheiks in green, yellow and red
silk robes walked in most dignihed
manner to the entrance OF the
mosque, making brilliant picture
against a sea of white turbans. The
generals and officers of the army,
English, German and Turkish, drew
up in line near the steps and the
members of the Sultan's cabinet
were grouped about the iron gate
leading into the court. At II O'Clock
the final sweeping was done, gun
was fired, the muezzin on the
minaret called all to prayer and in
stantly every eye was directed to the
road, where two distinguished
pashas rode in advance of a black
and gilt landau drawn by a pair Of
splendid sorrel horses. Within the
carriage, facing general of his
army, a hero of Plevna, sat the
monarch of all the Turks, thin, dark
man with full beard, worn and
rather weary face and slight stoop.
ing figure. 1t is easy to talk of the
sick man" and laugh at the fragile
condition of the Turkish empire, but
when one sees the Sultan in his own
capital it is difficult to believe that
the country is in the helpless,
decayed state often represented.
Especially was this the case when,
after a half hour in the mosque, the
Sultan reviewed his troops from
side window. The band from the
first regiment played European airs
on an eminence above, while down
the hill, past the side of the mosque
and into place above filed sixteen
regiments, or from 10000 to 1900
men in perfect step and with the
latest German military tactics. The
Sultan's guard, regiment from
Tripoli, Syria, came last, dressed in
red and black with a green rope
knotted around their fezes. Their
faces were of the most reckless and
hardened type and one could easily
believe they would fight to the
death. After the infantry came four
regiments of cavalry, the first with a
fine band, whose horses appeared to
move without guidance from their
riders. Two troops Of lancers, the
first on white, the second on black
horses, each with tiny red flag on
the tips of their lances rode spirited
ly by. Carbineers on white and bay
horses followed, all showing perfect
drill. The Sultan came out Of the
mosque with brighter face, step
ped into a victoria drawn by white
horses, cracked his whip and drove
himself rapidly up the hill. He wait
ed little longer to see the display
of Arabian and Hungarian horses,
with long names and tails, the most
beautiful animals we had ever seen,
and then went to witness another
exclusively Turkish service, that of
the "Whirling Dervishes." The
dizzy motion of these fanatics has
too often been described to be at
tempted in this letter. 1t was less
narrowing than the performances
of the "Howling Dervishes" which
we had seen the day before, where the
sheik, or high priest closed the exer-
cises by walking over the bodies of
nearly a dozen children afflicted with
disease, whose ailments he was thus
supposed to cure.
An afternoon at harem, where
our hostess was Turkish lady of
rank and an authoress, two visits to
the wonderful Mosque of st. Sophia,
a walk through the museum, made
interesting by the explanations of
an archaeologist, and our stay in
Constantinople was over. Paying
to get out of the country as well as
paying to get in, as all travellers
must do in Turkey, we left for
Greece, feeling that we had seen our
last of oriental life. Again the
Mediterranean was kind and in two
days we were at port. We had
passed the Island of Euboea, had
seen the graceful temple of Minerva
upon the heights of Cape Suniam,
and with Salamis near at hand had
stopped at the busy little town of
Piraeus, A small portion of our
enthusiasm at coming into Greece
was dampened by having bouquet
of violets and a lemon distracted
from us at the custom house, but
we recovered from the shock by
learning that it was precaution
against phylloxera. A short drive
and we were in Athens, the city
to which all other cities owe what
they possess of beauty or of grace,
We had received various opinions of
the charms of Athens, from that of
the young man who declared there
was nothing worth going there for,