Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1897-01-30

uCuAuS CVSA ~ "a ouV eAS oSSs'ASA
al howl of street dog that some
bitten watchman had beaten with his
staff; dervishes had ceased their holy
waltzing and their demoniac bowling;
priests had left their lofty minarets
for the night; the Sultan had sunk
into trance; the bazaars, where no.
tions of all Nations are sold, were
barred and bolted up; the coffee shops
had quenched their charcoal fires A.; the
beggars on the bridge had dragged
home their stumps and sores, the SOL
diers of the Porto we're in their bar.
racks, dreaming of revolt; viziers
laid their uneasy heads on silken pill
lows; tho "sick mans" dying city
was dead asleep, and it made one
sleepy to feel even near six hundred
thousand sleepers. Human nature is
initiative; when it sees eating it
wants to eat, and when it sees sleep
ing it wants to sleep. Besides did l
not know that my countrymen in
Pera were wavering in their allegiance
to tho pleasant king of midnight. and
were half of them yawning ana
stretching over billiards and dominoes,
and looking with alright at the two
up lifted clock hands. Turks, who
have no amusements, go to bed early.
was sitting at the window of my
bedroom, meditative-one boot off,
and one boot on wondering if there
was ever minute, day or night, since
Constantine was placed in his porphyry
tomb, that some wild dog had not
barked in Pera, when tap came at
my door. 1 put my boot on, and
babe the visitor open the door.
1t was Antonio, my dragoman or
courier, whom had hired that day,
and thus he spoke:
Monsieur, sare, nous avons-we
ave got the fareman for the night"
Firman, you must know, is an Ash
attic word, signifying, in tins instance,
passport.
ooh, have you All right, Antonio !;
am ready" said ], buttoning up my
coat to the last button, and adjusting
my hat before the mirror.
"Vera good" returned my Albanian
guide, who, by the way, had the most
vilainous face imaginable; "come on,
sare."
That firmsn, the Sultan's gracious
permission gracious, but expensive
cost me $50 pinsters, or about
twenty. eight dollars.
Be it known unto you, reader, that
ever SO many Circassians, recently
whipped by the Russians in spite Of
their devoted courage and the genius
Of their leader, Schamyl. had been
offered few piasters per diem to join
the army of the Porte, had accepted
the offer readily, knowing that Tur.
key was the natural enemy of the land
of vermin and steppes. and had been
apprised on arriving at Stamboul, af'
ter many hungry days of forced march.
ing over countries innocent of bridges
and OF roads, that the Porte was una
BILE to pay the native troops, let alone
foreign ones. That was enough to
make the hungry Circassians angry,
was it not? A little way beyond the
Valley of the Sweet Waters, which is
o place of fashionable resort, equiva.
lent or thereabouts, to our Central
Park, those soldiers of hundred pa.
triotic battles had located their camp,
and were muttering discomfort in a
way that was very disagreeable to the
Turkish Government. 1t was in order
to see them that Antonio aud l left
the Pera Hotel at eleven o'clock at
night.
Escaping being torn to pieces Ey
the rival boatmen of Tophana,
tumbled down into the cradle Of a neat
caique, which, because it is pattern
boat, / will describe. 1t is long. and
sharp at both ends, and at both endsit
is boarded over, to prevent shipping
seas, with vanished planks, crossed ut
the top with little crowning rails OF
gilt carving, very dainty and very
smart. The cradle where l laid my
back against where the coxswain would
be seated in au American gig, was
lined with red cushions and white
lamb skins.
There were two boatmen, because
che Sweet Waters where We were to
land, was far up the Bosphorus, and
it was tolerablY hard work, even for
them, brawny and accustomed to row
ing as they were.
Antonio. my scoundrel of n guide.
held forth on the white minarets look
ing ghostlike IN the moonlight and on
the dark cypress trees throwing their
| heavy shaking shadows athwart the
phosphorescent water. He bade IN.
observe how the caiquejee (boatman,
fsstens his oars by leather loop to q
peg on the side of the boat, which had
no rowlocks-a simple plan, that pre-
vents their ever being lost, unless they
break in some of the vhirling and i'm
petuous currents of the Bosphorus
Every time looked the boatmer
laughed with all their teeth. and said
sflirmatively. Bono, Johuny.' upor