Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1897-11-04
Letter from DIR. Lucy w aite Written
from COustantinople.

| We are in the land of the unspeak-
able Turk, the land of mosques and
veiled ladies, of the fez and the CANNES.
| The Sultan may rule in Constantinople,
but the dogs are in possession. Every
truthful traveller must admit that the
| dog is the most striking feature of orien-
tai life. He NAV lave over the view
from the Bosporus, bUt the moment his
foot is on terra irma, le must keep his
eyes on the ground if he would avoid
committing the most heinous crime IN
the eyes of a MISUNDERSTANDING their
sacred animal. He may dream of the
oriental splendor, of the mosques and
palaces, but the monstrous droning of
the pious Mohammedans at prayers is
rudely transformed at all hours of the
night, into the bowling of thousand
beasts, called in this benighted country
dogs, but which certainly bear more
respecting American dog would be IN
suited if classed as second cousin to the
dirty, diseased, and half-staryed canine
which infests the streets of Constanti-
nople and Smyrna. And this is the
sacred animal Of the Turk. The women
must 60 yelled, but the dog roams un-
mOlested, and woe betide anyone who
disturbs him. A heavy penalty is i'm
posed for running over OF in any way
injuring dog.
To give any idea of the Turks, one
must on the start divide them into two
distinct classes upper and lower, ifyou
will-aristocrat and plebian-the palace
and the street.-the educated and the
| ignorant-but separate them you must
by chasm wide and deep, for the edu-
Gated. intelligent Turk is the most hos
pitable, cultured gentleman, while the
Turk of the street and of the bazaar is
truly the ''unspeakable", the most dirty,
uncouth, forbidding creature the imag-
ination could picture. 1t is the same
old story in Turkey as in all other coun-
tries of Europe, the few ladies and gen.
tlemen, the same the world over wher-
ever found, and then the great un-
washed, and as far as my experience
goes, the contrast is greater here in
Turkey than in any other part of Europe.
Add to the filth of the people, the dirty,
narrow, crooked, ill-paved streets filed
to over-fowing with the dogs in all
stages of disease and garbage several
days old, and five days of sightseeing
quite sufflces the average kAmerican, 4,
Notwithstanding the magnificent views
from the sea of Marmora and the en-
trancing rides up the Bosporus. Con-
stantinople has been truly called a
| 'whited sepulchre"; not all the waters
of the Black Sea would cleanse it for a
day.
Our experience in hospital work has
| been everywhere most pleasant. The
greatest courtesy has met us on every
| hand. DR.. Senn's name is an open Sc
same. He is as we'll known among the
physicians and surgeons of first rank in
Europe as in his own country and the
| honors paid him at the head Of the pro
fession in all lands cannot fail to be a
matter of pride to every American SUR
geon. We visited the Civil and Military
! hospitals in Naples, Rome, Athens and
Constantinople.
In Rome we found the most beautiful
buildings; in Athens the most skillful
surgery in the handling of the wounds
of the late war, and strange to say, in
Constantinople the most modern meth
DDS and most careful attention to details
in carrying out aseptic measures. The
surgeons in charge of the Hospitals in
Turkey in nearly every case have been
| educated in either France Or Germany
so that they cannot be said to represent
the average Turkish surgeon. Wewere
| fortunate in finding woman physician
in both Athens and Constantinople
Through them we were able to learn
| much of the status of women in both
countries. DR.. Kalopathakis Of Athens
| is graduate of the Paris University ot
| Medicine, having taken seven years to
1
Greek, her mother an American. She
| is, of course. intensely interested in
| everything American, although it is an
interesting fact that she looks and talks
like a foreigner, and is thoroughly
| Greek i'll sympathy. We spent only
| three days in Athens and in the short
time [ was privileged to spend in he1
company, we were obliged to talk very
rapidly in order to exchange all the in
| formation which we both sought. She
is quite little woman, very modest in
dress and manners and has made her
way as she says by working, not by talk.
ing. She lives in comparative peace
with her professional brothers. While
they do nothing to advance her profes-
sionally, they are not aggresslvely op-
posed to her, and several Of the loca
surgeons are her good friends. She has
done thorough, scientific work, is re-
spected by the profession and the peo-
pie and is enjoying "a good practice
The women of Athens are quite pro-
yressive. They have their Woman'e
club for literary and scientific work and
are now planning to build a woman's
hospital, with the intention of putting
| DR.. Kalopathakis in charge. During
/ the late war she went to the scene o
action and did good service. Although
she has had excellent training in sur.