Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1896-04-24
A TURKISH CEMETERY.
A City Of Slender Shafts Beneath
Massive Expresses.


other?''
Because it is there the trumpet
Of the archangel viii be first heard.
The true believers who lie at Scutari
will first rise to answer it; next the
faithful from other parts of the earth.
After that the Hebrews, and lastly,
the Giaours, who follow the gods.
Thus spoke ma old turbaned Turk,
who stood beneath a cypress tree,
on the slopes of the world-famed
cemetery on the Sea of Marmora.
CAL know" he went on, in calm.
judicial accents, "tnat when the last
days of the world are drawing near,
the Osnanli will be driven forth from
STEAMBOAT by the Frank. Then, for
a space, there will be trouble and
turmoil on the earth; all sons of the
faithful will fly to Scutari as a re
fuge; there they, the living and the
dead alike, will await the day of
Judgment.
With that, thinking it was a hurt
to his dignity to parley longer with a
Giaour, he gathered his robes about
him, saluted majestically, then
passed slowly away down one of the
long, broad avenues leading to the
gates of the cemetery, leaving the
stranger to wander at his pleasure
through that forest of tall tomb
stones standing erect.
The coup doeil is picturesque in the
extreme. As far as one can see, the
long slender shafts of marble rise
beneath the shadow of the massive
cypresses-the tree Of Allah the o.
manli call it, which points it's finger
to the sky-while the luxuriant vege-
tation Of the east clusters around the
base of the slabs, emphasizing their
snowy whiteness and preventing
them from being too dazzling to the
eye
Each tomb bears it's own decora-
ton. A single leafet, the dropping
petals of rose or graceful frond of
fern indicate that a female form lies
below. A turban or fez shows that
the dead person was a man. Lamps,
ostrich eggs, sashes, fringed and
colored handkerchiefs, of varied hue,
all have their own Specification;
while here and there will be some
tall stone, sculptured from end to
end, its ornamentation in high relief,
encircled by a number of smaller
ones, which proves that the father
of famly-a man of wealth-rests
here, surrounded by the wives and
children. A curved scimitar shows
that man of war reposes there; an
anchor marks the sleeping place Of a
sailor; a wand of Office proves that the
dead man held some post of COM
mand. So on, till something is
learned Of all, even though one may
not be able to decipher the fantastic
Arabic characters which tell with
more detail the history of the dead.
The terms in which the Turk ex-
presses his lamentations are often
very pathetic especially when they
refer to the loss of his wife or child.
Here is one, taken from the tomb
of young girl, which effectually
combats the common Western delu-
sion that the Osmanh believe that
women are born without souls or
hope of future life.
THE cold blast of fate caused this
nightingale to wing its way to heaven.
There it has found its awaited bliss.
Zeinab is the name of her who lies
below, and for her Lababa, who
wrote these lines, offers humble petit
ton. Weep not for her, for, though
dead, she has become sojourner in
the gardens Of Paradise. st. Paul.