The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-02-24


in Turkey. But my Greek fliend de-
clares that the mise abe monarch's brain
has finally turned through fear The Sui
tan, according TO him is really insane, a
victim of homicidal mania, which perpet-
ually incltes him to d. eds of hood. He
Is certainly the NEST melancholy of rul-
ers. No one has ever seen him smi G
since he was quite a boy when he first
mounted his deposed brothers throne.
His eyes are always full of broodng sad
ness. Almost the only amusement he al
lows himself is to sit in a darkened room
OF the Yildz Kiosk, smoking cigarettes
for hours at a time, while afar off at the
extreme end of the apartment a couple
of singers chant in the gloom some OF
those long monotonous Tu. klsh songs
whose strange cadences rise and fall with
hypnotic effect. The singers have often
thought they heard him sobbing to HIM
self in the intervals of the chant. When
he gives the s gnal and the lights are
turned up his eyes are seen to be shining
like stars in his sallow face and he re-
tires to his private apartment with the
lettering steps of a man plunged In
dream. 1t is strange pleasure.
A more normal taste exhibited by the
silent brood .ng Padischah is the love of
flowers. 1t is the brightest side to his
nature. He has a passion for roses, as
indeed most Orlentals have. Every room
and corridor of the private apartments
at the Yildz Kiosk is filled with superb
rose trees in fu b DOM at a seasons
of the year. And when the Sultan gives
audience to ambassadors or other dis
tnguished Wis tors in the reception PAL
ace at the other end Of the imperial gar
dens ten minutes walk from the Kiosk,
the throne room is "a aglow with the
same gorgeous plants and immense
golden vases filled with the lovely bios
SONS are set around the steps of the
canopied divan. Persian gardeners, who
by tradition are the most highly skilled
in the art, are imported to keep the pal
aces stocked with the most perfect blooms
that can be obta ned. Every morning
some hundreds are brought from the
gardens for the palace use and of these
the most full and the most odorous
are placed in the Sultan's own working
room to give pleasure to his weary eyes.
This study" by the way, is other
wise furnished simply enough. 1t is, eN-
cepting the harem where the beautiful
Clrcassian wives pass the day
munching sweetmeats. smoking and brosd-
erlng on silk, the most jealousy guarded
spot in the palace. Very few Peep have
over entered the strdy. Those privileged
few who have penetrated into 1t have
brought word to the outside world that
c.
tapestries st. is absolutely plain. BY its
,arge window that looks over the garden
to the Bosphorus far down the hill is set
a solid desk built on the American pan,
with drawers above ii and on each side,
but in very handsome inlaid wood.
waterpipe cut in crystal and richly en-
crusted with gems stands by 1t. When the
Sultan is not smoking cigarettes and toll
ing over his desk, he is pu ling at his wa
terpipe, wrapped In dreams as he gazes
al the superb panorama of gardens,
mosque. city and wide blue waters that
stretches before him.
In this room he works long and hard.
Despite the prevalent belief. he is not
lazy man. He is very Industrious, indie
faugaby handling state papers and read
ing reports and petitions of all kinds. In
dustrious. but useless. For all his work
practically comes TO nothing He does not
understand the exceed,rsly complex con-
diton of the vast and inany-tongued EN-
pire he Is supposed to rule. The instruc-
lions he marks so carefully on the papers
he has poured over for hours are gener-
ally so contradictory or so impossible that
his ministers are practically forced TO ig-
more them. They do II with fear and
trembling, but they are rarely detected.
The Sultan appears not 70 remember one
day the systems and orders OF govern
ments which he deliberately framed the
day before. In this respect, as In others,
he has the air Of q man who lives perpet-
ually in misty. muddled dream--much
like the yellow. sombre-eyed ce estials
that one sees sucking abstrac, edly at their
long pipes in our own Chinatowns.
"CaIiph Of all the Faithful OF Islam"
though he is, Abdul Hamid allows him
self one qualification that must sho k
the orthodox Mahometan. He has estab-
lished O picture gallery at the private
palace and may often be seen strolling
up and down there, with his hands be-
hind his back, the perpetual cigarette be-
tween his lips Internationally studying the
works of art he has gathered around him.
I asked my Greek friend how the Shadow
of God" reconciled his taste with the ex-
press Prohibition Of the pictorial which
are solemnly laid down in the Koran.
He does not reconcile H.; he commits
IT," was the answer. "IIe probably
thinks It a greater crime than all his
bloodshed But he has one excuse-the
pictures are nearly al worthless"
1t appears that the Sultan has only a
love of pictures. knowledge and connois-
seurship are not In him. He is at the
mercy Of any smooth-tongued seller of
faxed" old masters that happen by. His
gallery is full Of "Raphaels," "Murillos"
Saltwater Rosas," fabricated in our day
al Amsterdam and Vienna. The only gem
uine pictures OF any value in his co.lec-
ton have passed TO him through dishon-
est hands. Without knowing IT, he has
been a recipient Of stolen goods. Miss
ing Gainsboroughs and vamoosed Van
Dycks ripped out Of their frames In the
famous European private galleries are
said TO be the main ornaments OF
his collection. And certainly picture
thieves. wise in Their generation, when
they have made a fe oalous hau', could
hardly do better than hasten on to Con-
stantinople and accept a big price In
money or jewels for the safe burial OF
the stolen work IN this most inaccessible
Of galleries.
One minor grief Abdul has always IN
his heart. He loves militarism, tho
sheen Of spears and the gorgeous passing
OF fine y-oquippcd Sold re. But fear
prevents D ~ from ua much as seeing o
soldier when he con help Il. II a. not
exactly that he Is afraid that his night
ing men will 80 him harm. bat they sug-
Rest ideas Of violent death and the lord
Of that military people turns a CHASTITY
frraeu aud framhlea lfka "A tally uglafa IA