Evening star., 1898-12-24
TRUST NOT IN A TURK

| when the Armenian troubles were at
their heightss bit Short of two years ago."
said navaif paymaster, my ship, the San
Francisco. flagship of the Mediterranean
! squadron, carrying Admiral Kirklands bit
| OF bunting, dropped her mudhook in the
| harbor of the most important seaport town
| IN one of the main provinces of Turkey,
Asia. The idea insane horing there was not
alone to kilF Ftime, but to give the engineers
chance for some ,overhauling required by
| the machinery. After the ship had been
swinging to her anchor for an hour or so,
a gayly-caParisoTfed' shoreboat came off
from the beach, bearing messenger from
the vail, OF Turkish governor, of the prov
lnce. He was in full Turkish uniform, this
messenger, and he jabbered. at the gangway
for some time before the officer of the deck
thought OF sending for Lieut.. Ward, the
champion iinguist of the American navy,
VINO was then attached to the San Fran
CISCO Ward is really a sharp when II
comes to the languages, and he has won
Wloe renown at it. What Ward doesn't
KNOW kn ABOUT any old language, living, or
dead and buried, from ancient Carthagin-
ian down to the coon French of Louisiana,
En. worth Knowing. So the officer of the
deck sent for Ward to seq If he could pick
any talk out of this violently gesticulating
duck IN the baggy gilt pants at the gang
way: 1t was easy, easy for Ward, talking
ARABIC was, and in no time he had the
van messenger reduced to smiles with his
lurkiSh Jokes The messengers message
was the simplest thing in life He simply
bore the respects of the vail, who would
De pleased to come off to the San Francisco
himself on the following day, with the
gracious admfrdrs invitation, etc, etc. All
OF this was carried aft to Admiral Kirk
iand, OF course. and also, of course, the
3iuH OLD gentleman replied that he'd be
uehgnted TO receive his vali-shp aboard
the san Francisco on the following after
noon.
well, the vail, GORGEOUS as the eastern
star IN his clothes and jewels, came off to
the san Francisco, attended by his en-
5ourage' whatever that means, on the fol-
lowing afternoon. The vail was a good
looking Turk, with a shrewd eve In his
nsad, and he was the incarnation, quintes-
sence and tin-type of courtesy and
grace. He spoke only in Turkish and
OF course, Lieut. Ward had to be Summoned
TO interpret his talk to the admiral. At
the gangWay the vail expressed his appr.-
cation of the nobility of Admiral Kirk
Is' .and' as exhibited by his gracious invita-
ton, and got off lot of other taffy like
that, which Lieut. Ward faithfully trans
!ated. fhen the vail was conducted aft to
the admirafs cabin, where, with the as
s1stance of the dragoman. Ward, the bluff
tied down for a talk
NOW, ought to say that Admiral Kirk
iand didn't have a bit of use in the world
Ior 1t Iurk, and he was also pretty sore at
enis tinie over the Armenian massacres. He
wouid ike to have had permission from
tnis government to waltz into the harbor
OF Constantlnople and to blow that town
out OF the water. and, what's more. he
a',1 ol.I1 sald so right out loud, so that he
couid pc heard. So that he didn't feel par
tlcuiarly honored over the visit of this
vaH-man, big gun as thu latter was in the
eyes or the sultan. The vail, Admiral
hlrkiand and Lieut.. Ward, the Interpreter.
nf f6o
talk ''"AeS ioi
Ward said Admiral Kirkland to his
1lle.I i1i.e.rIpreter' you can tell that beady-eyed
IeVii, uen tnat looks as If has got murder in
MS heart, across the table, that IL I had
my way about 1t, I'd keel-haul every blith-
erlng mothers son of a Turk that wears
nair; you tell him that Ward and the ad-
~ atitai "a looked as graciously as you please
dt tne pleased-looking vali
The august admiral translated Ward
70 the boWlng vail. commends me to ten
der TO your ,exee4Iency his renewed assur-
anees e: OF MS most devoted and solicitous
,,,,;I. Then the vail bowed his thanks grace
Did you tell the curnudgeon that
ward" inquired the bluff old admiral. All
lsht. NoW you Just tell him that if these
outrageous massacres continue. I'll be
swuzzied IL I won't some day forget my
ORDERS, or, at any rate, get aWav from
caole @ communication. and find some pre-
L
now. Tell him that, Ward-tel the black
proved runt that, lieutenant, If you'll be
SO Kind and Admiral Kirkland, with his
lace Wreathed in gracious mellow smiles
vail. :, ri VI 'A~
The most august admiral translated
Lieutenant Ward, desires lfne to convey to
your eAceileney the hope that your pres
eht slatlon IS one of unending happiness
Ior you and your-er-famly, and to ex-
press the earnest hope that your shadow
may never no. never, grow less.
Which the vail received with MANY MR.
INJURED expressions of gratitude.
oh, 1t was pretty good, that talk of the
admlrals and the wallis. Ward said after
ward that it was torture for him. he
wanted so fercely to yell, to roll on the
ground and shout. With a countenance
that was the very picture of amiablity
the splendid old admiral said the most terri
bic things right to the Wallis face, and pre-
tended that he expected Ward TO translate
them just that way. Now. Admiral Kirk
land wasn't just what you could call a-er-
profane man. but Ward says that he did
permit himself to drift into few harm
less swear words as he pleasantly con-
verSed with the vail. The converse ton
went on in this way for almost an hour
and then the vail rose and, with many ex-
pressions of appreciation and gratitude
for the good time that had been given to
him, he departed from the ship.
'"The next day, Lieutenant Ward went
ashore alone on some personal business
ne ran sIldck INTO une vail q snort dis
tance away from the latter's palace. The
vail beckoned to Ward to approach him.
:" My boy said the vail. In perfect,
liquid, burbling English speech-the most
perfect English for foreigner that Ward
had ever heard he sad-'My boy, will
you be good enough to say to the gracious
Admiral kirkland for me that l regard
you not only as an interpreter of inesti-
nable value but as a gifted diplomatist
as well?"
Costly Setting for a Tooth.
The solitary tooth of Buddha Is to be con-
tanned in what will probably be the most
valuable Golfer in the world. A Shan chief
tain recently sent to Moulmein, in Burmah
an emerald worth, it is declared, two lakhs