The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-05-02

them-they seemed to give tho lie to the gurs
ana the forts and the long lines OF wild.oycd
riicmen. And then the hoarse challenge OF tho
sentinels at the approaches to the village brought
back the ominous truth again."
Mr.. Stevens is openly an admirer of tho
Turkish army and Of the Turks themselves. HI
does not attempt to conceal the fact that he de-
spises the Greeks. his impressions OF them being
gained apparently from a single visit to a village
on tho Greek sido Of the frontier. This is what
ho writes after spending several days with tho
Turks:
Tho first impression of tho Turkish army on
IN ignorant mind is one of melancholy. Tho
men arc so old. The Beers at Krngersdorp said
II went against the grain to have to shoot young
men. But surely the spectacle of these middle
aged privates Is far moro pathetic. AS you ride
down the long, dark-coated, dusty-gaitered,
loosc-sandalled lines. nearly every man must be
the father Of a family. Brown.bearded solidly
set, almost stiffenins into eldcrliness, steady
eyed. but sober eyed, and grave, with faces
speaking OF the tolls and dim perplexities
Of half a ifetime-who are these to DO
called away from thoir sheep pens and
their opium gardens to meet bullets and shell :
I know nothing of war, but to me 1t seems nat
ural that war should be for the young. In our
own army II is different. A man chooses to be q
soldicr; 1t is his trade and he must live by 1t; IL
he ties himself up with wife and children he does
1t at his own risk and at theirs. But these men
havo come from the hills of Macedonia. from the
Marmora, from distant Angora and Trcbizond,
because they must. 1t is not their chosen life,
yet they have no other. From twenty to thirty.
four-in wartime even until forty-onc month,
two months. six months, eight months almost
every year they must turn out on to bleak
mOuntaina m defcnd ftpir rare and thnir faith
against disatFection at homo and menace abroad.
What life is this ! The rim of the hills round
Elassona holds just now perhaps the greatest
tragedy in tho world.
"Greck against Turk Is no business Of mine,
but when l see these patient, weary. steadfast
soldiers standing to their arms in sheets of rain,
patrolling mountain tops in stabbing winds.
bumped on pack saddles, or marching by car
fridge boxes twelve hours a ~day-why, then /,
too, become a Turk, soaked to the marrow with
Turkish bitterness against the Greek. The
quarrel is none of these mems seeking, and
though they arc ready and anxious to fight,
they have none Of the exultation that effer-
vesces out Of mastik and Panhellenism.
They were called here by the menace Of
Greece; they stay hero to await attack,
to do their duty, and say nothing. The attack
does not come, and their mucky little homes are
going to rack and ruin the while. When / think
Of this am rs eager rs the eagerest Albanian to
go down into to green plain. with Larissa a dim
blotch at Its far end. to crumple up the Greeks
and crush them under foot. Down at Larissa
there must be hay for horses, fresh beef and
fresh vegetables for men. In Gods name. let US
put an end to this WEAKNESS of waiting and go
down to Larissa.
There is not a doubt in anybody's mind that
we can walk into Larissa whenever we please.
There are those VINO expect to DO viewing the
Acropolis within forty eight hours Of the declara-
ton of war; for though the Turkish War Office
maps of this country are the best cxtant, the
Turkish officer is occasionally hazy in his geo.
sraphy. Better informed. or more cautious.
spirits do not expect being further than Larissa
at the end of the time uoted-allowing time for
a decisive action and a circuitous march, cross
ing the Xerias and Salamvria. SO as to take
Larissa on its unfortifled southern side.
Smart, IL must be owned, the Turkish army
is not. saw a battery starting for the frontier
the other day: the gun carriages and the horses
were piled up with ragged bundles, beside which
q bank holiday excursionist's baggage is a
model of trimness. When a battalion lines up
on parade you will see one man In a blue-faced
uniform and another in a green. Their sandals
look like old list slippers. their CATERS like
badly wound hospital bandages; they are tied
up with loose ends of string. In the
marching regiments, and especially those of
the reserve. the officers are sometimes out
at elbow and at knee. The men move q little
heavily at their drill. and their double gives
IN impression Of rheumatism; what wonder
in O peasant of vc-and-thirty ! But all these
are small matters. The uniforms may be curious,
hut they are warm; the men want no better pro-
lection. The sandals and CATERS may not fit
like ammunition boots and putties, but neither
do they gall the foot and cause men to fall out on
tbn -aarob Tba a 1,aru MAJ ba m l;ttIn 1tahnr-
elled, but every one is dead keen and utterly q
stranger to fear; they know their men. and their
men trust them. The elder are tried in war. The
younger are well trained in the military college
at C~onstantinople; most of these speak French
%fuently, though they were never nearer Paris
than the Bulgarian frontier. As for stiffness at
the double, a man has q right to be a little stiff
when he can march twelve hours a day. KNAPP
sack on back, as many days as his officers like to
keep him at It. Smart this army assuredly Is
not; useful, workmanlike. u~ntiring. fearless. 1t
most assuredly is.
Lastly. transport. Edhem Pasha tells you
the truth first. and asks you not to publish 1t
afterward. II he deems publication inopportune.
He told me without reserve that there are only
provisions here for fifteen days. and he spoke of
it as a defect to be remedied Immediately. BY
to-day 1t has been considerably remedied. De-
pots are being rapidly established at Seradje,
a days journey in our rear. and at Elassona.
Roughly. there may now be enough provisions
stored to last the whole army three weeks.
Transport Is difficult, and always must be till
wagon roads or railways replace tho present
tracks. But the sinews of ponies and men will
overcome any difficulty, II there are enough Of
them and they arc tightly enough stretched.
There are enough, and they do dot spare them
selves. The Turkish army will manage to keep
itself alive till 1t enters Larissa. But how long,
how lonsT
One of the 1Imes's correspondents. writing
from the Milouna Pass just before tho outbreak
of war. mentions these interesting features Of
the situation:
"The men live very much the life of other SOL
diers In other camps, and for the nonco the Turk
seems to have reused himself from tho lethargic
or meditative condition he usually affects in the
fields and villages Of Anatolia. I was agrccably
surprised up at tho Milouna blockhouse the
other day to find the Albanian picket dancing q
queer sort of circle dance, hand IN hand. while
one Of their number played on Il reed pipe. With