The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-12-19
MEDICAL 81
ON Trial V7&
To Any Reliable Man.
ORIENTAL MORALS AND MANNERS
illustrating How "AbduI the Damn
ed" Can Fool People.
From the Hartforl Courant.


In a letter to the Wilmington (O) Morn
ing News the Hon. Watson r. Sperry says
he has read Judge Terreurs description of
Sultan Abdul Hamid IL with a good deal
of interest. He vouches for its lifelikeness
low, musical voice, gentle melancholy,
fine sentiments, and all. They are char
acterisucally oriental, he says.
AT Teheran he came TO know very we'll
a prince of the royal house Of Persia who
would have taken judge Terrell into camp
just as quickly. This prince had that kind
of voice and those sentiments. He had
also beautiful face with a suggestion of
saintiiness in it; boylsh and innocent eye;
a love Of flowers and OF all the beauties
of nature; a curiosity, too. about knowl-
edge. lie had experience in state affairs.
He was always good-natured and obliging
when Mr. Sperry saw him-and he saw a
great deal of him. The morality which this
prince professed was of the highest order;
he was quick to respond 10 every intellec-
tual appeal to the finer emotions; he really
seemed to have standards of right and JUS
tice.
One day the American missionaries at
TehJan discovered that water was being
stolen from a stream owned by them in
fee simply for the better irrigation of an
adjacent garden-the property of the
prince. Running water is by far the most
valuable real estate in Northern Persia"
The missionaries complained to Mr.. Sper-
ry. We went TO the prince. The prince $
eyes were as innocent and his voice as mus
zeal as ever. He knew nothing about the
water stealing of course. He gave imme-
diae orders that it should not be repeated.
1t was repeated, however. Another com
plant from the missionaries; another visit
to the prince; another exhibition of grieV-
ed surprise and fresh orders to his high
ness servants; and renewal of the steal
ing. Then Mr. Sperry brought the ma tier
to the notice of the Persian government
and-this time-the stealing was stopped.
Mr.. Sperrys guess is that the prince had
by then got all the water he needed for his
garden. The eX-minster continues:
This amiabe and attractive oriental po-
tenate also undertook, while I was in
Persia, to murder an old manor at least
to imprson him, in a sort of private pris-
on. In the public prisons of Persia the
inmates are not fed by the authorities.
The prisoners must be fed by their friends
So when a great man takes poor man
prisoner the prisQGal''s friends must sup
ply him If he is to live; but this
is Ss1su.,3 e'1iicult thing 70 do in cage
"
greatNAN takes care not to let it be
known just where for the moment his pri-
vate prison is. AS there WAS no formal
accusation of any kind against this Old
man, and as he had papers of naturaliza-
ton which gave him a prima facie right
to be regarded as a citizen of the United
States, | saw to it thai he was not harmed
at considerable cost to myself i'm money
and other things. The man, by the way,
was an Armenian, and his wife was a dis
tant relative of the shah. In due time the
wrath of the prince subsidized; but l have
no doubt that | saved the Old man from
death. OF course all this did not disturb
the oriental friendship between the prince
and me in the least-the prince still pre-
served his look of innocence and spoke
musically of abstract right and justice,
and admired his flowers. Those who know
the east do not bank to any considerable
extent on langulshing eyes and melodious
and seductive voices
Mr.. Sperry has yet to meet an educat-
ed Turk who is not a charming man per-
sonally. He believes that Sultan Abdul
Hamid II could have stopped the butchery
of the Armenians at the outstart if he
had wished to do so as easily as his friend
the prince could have stopped the stealing
Of that water. He believes that force Is
the only thing that is of any real use in
dealing with orientals. They ought to
know themselves better than we can know
them, he suggests, and one of the old
Turkish proverbs advises: kiss the
hand thou darest not biter