The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-05-08

/ to mitigate the rigor of this diet BY pre-
/ facing the whole with timed oysters, and
interpolating a curried fowl instead of one
! of the muttons but with that we must be
( content. For breakfast meanwhile. timed
/ haddocks. timed sausages, coffee, toast
/ jam For lunch pilav, which is certain to
/ be excellent, cold tongue and Dutch cheese
! Win native Wine excellent stun sold at
! about penny a pound Who dares to talk
/ OF privations in the Turkish camp?
/ Before breakfast we must go and see the
/ kalmakam about the supply and the price
/ OF forage. Kaimakam | believe to be the
/ turkish for second-in-command; anyhow. a
/ lieutenant colonel is so named, and so is
/ L had long been familiar with the word,
/ chiefly in connection with joint notes of
| the powers providing for the appointment
or not-of Christian kaimakams in various
! parts. But l never took any real interest
! in the status and functions of kaimakam
! untll knew one to speak to, and my stable
! bill depended him. After that L began
| 10 appreciate his power for good, and |
am firmly opposed to any project which
| excellent friend the kaimakam of Elassona,
! 1t is o'clock when we reach his house,
! but he is already we'll into his morning 5
business. The Turks count their hours from
sunrise to sunset, the time between them
being divided into twelve equal hours
| therefore Turkish hour is never exactly
the same length any two days together.
and Turkish watch, being regulated only
each week is never exactly right, How
ever, the management has the merit of get
ting the Turk UP by sunrise; after that ne
can afford little unpunetuality through
| the day.
The kaimakam is little black-headed,
| liquid black-eyed. black frock-coated Turk,
with an expression mild almost to effemi-
| Macy As man, | own | was inclined TO
undervaue the kaimakam hey, until one
| afternoon he provoked a race, and rode
away from my fastest pony with boy1sh
! laugh in his mouth, and his toes somewhere
about the level with his grey's ears. After
that, he cheerfully trotted off up half
n ion ln~ fgi tA
| over some eXtra-Special Greek wine for the
| use Of the English strangers Since that
have loved and respected the kaimakam.
AS we enter he rises from before his desk
| on a little daiS, Selaams, snakes handS,
sets us down. salaams again, ana presents
cigarettes. Presently a servant comes IN
with the relentless cups of coffee. From
| time to time an orderly comes IN, cllchS
| his heels together, and presents some doc
ument to be dealt with; so far as can
make out the kaimakam is at present per-
forming the duties of an extra quartermas5
of Demitri. the kaimakam talking little
French, we lay our case before the kama
kan. The khan where our horses are
ouartered,is dark and dirty; 1t contains sol
ders who steal our oats and our chopped
straw: the owner, moreover, is thle1 VINO
charges exorbitant prices for food and lit
ter. at the beginning of our statement the
kaimakam said two or three words IN an
undertone to subordinate VINO Went
quickly out of the room. AT the end or II;
| the subordinate returned and SAID a rev
words in an undertOne TO the kalmakan.
It was all over; the new STABLE mag naq Os sen
| laam O just kaimakam. protector or the
| stranger!
A WORD FOR THE TURKS.
Then breakfast, looking out over the mu-
nicipal garden-where they seem to grow
mainly onions and coffee-tables-on to the
| fifty wards of pebbles with five feet of
stream running through it which is the
River Xerias in embryo; the other end of
| IL re WA hing
clothes there in the sunshine, and not one
of the untaught Asiatic reservists dreams
! for a moment of offering them an incivility.
| Greek tradesmen make their profit out of
! the troops; the Greek consul nleS the
| Greek flag, and circulates apocryphal sto-
! ries of coming Greek attacks. But the rud-
! est Anatolians and Circassians never lift
/ a finger against the Greek, ana DelleVe
l can say with perfect truth that ooVVo Oh
! Tommy Atkins would have done more OUT
! rage on Saturday night than these turks
| have done all the time they have been mere
| Then the unpleasantest part OF the day
! writing Writing is duty, no doubt, ana
| therefore a pleasure, of course. But Wnen
the sun is shining through budding poplaTsi
| and long files of gun horses are being leo
| down to water, and bugleS are singing from
! every hill till the blood leaps up ana down
! in company with them-why, then even
| writing letters for the Daily Mail seems
| for the moment less of privilege than II
really is. So tell the groom to bring my
! pony round--the one didn't rice yesterday.
| Here is the little lieutenant come to take
| us to see what is going on. Let us get
! into the sun and the air OF the nils. AS
| matter of fact the sun has gone in, but
| the air is always with us II we IKE 70 go
| up into it. Elassona itself lies in hole
| We cantor through the lines we race alonS
| the dusty unmetalled roads, we sWitchback
| precariously over the rocky hill tracks, tlll
! we come to the encampment CHOSEN LOT tLe
/ Turk treats the British correspondent IKE
| an inspecting general; the communicating
chief waits for him when he rides out 10
| Having made his nina 10
take correspondent with his army, ne
treats him as a guest and as friend
| on coming back | desire to cash cneck.
| Charlie and ] walk through the market
| place-the size of a good-Sized London back
| garden Dirty peddlers implore us to try
| hill to the implanted wooden bank An
| empty packing case decorates the threshold,
whereto you climb up wooden ladder
The bankers clerk-he is really sub
agent of the tobacco ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS a
rusty overcoat and partly buttoned pair
of trousers a pink shirt and teZ, a pair
| of spectacles. and weeks beard. He re-
CARDS with suspicion ana my cheque
with positive aversion. But presently ne ne
makes some spidery marks on my letter OF
credit counts out twenty dirty turkish
pounds. wipes his pen on his finger, wipes
| his finger on his SEAL ticks the paper ana
makes the imprint. Great Is the circuit sys-
Then dinner; take care not to pull your
| chair leg through the hole in the moor.
| Then one pipe for English tobacco must
be husbanded. Then bed at 8. As Charlie
| craWlS maSSiVely over the moor we Teau
out Turkish proverbs for him to translate.
| Perhaps IF not live, dead him got is MS
happiest effort. But you get tired even of
laughing, so ! crawl inside my bag gor on
| the insect powder; but sleep is too urgent
to trouble about that. 1t is time to dream
| / am directing d Turkish battery on the
1 big mountain just south of here, and that
| Charlie will get in front of the guns. But
| if this is roughing it where is luxury to
| be found?
|
SAFETY ALONE IN PROMPTNESS.