The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-01-13
| coNsrANr1NopLE CHRISTMAS.
Polyglot Assemblage by Which the Day
 is Observed.

| IS observed.
 In no other town in the world is such | a heterogeneous polyglot assemblage of human beings to be found as in Con- stantinople. The capital of the Otto man empire appears to possess a strange fascination for all the most weird specimens of humanity, and one meets at every step human oddities in such profusion that one is lost in won- der as to who they all can be, what they are doing, where they come from, and
 how they live. The Turkish months are lunar months, and consequently they do not keep pace with our calendar months. Ranlazan, the month of fast ing, during which the Mohammedan neither eats, drinks nor smokes be-
 tween three a.. m. and sunset, has now ended, and this year Bairam, the sub lsequent three days of feasting, has con tinued with our Christmas week, with
 the result that, with both Christian and Mohammedan festivities at hand, the shops, bazaars, markets and streets are much more crowded than they usually
 are at this time of the year. There are absolutely no traffic regulations, and AOhC NoIt ClCtL a ott1li WAlC1C lAC lAhSos AlO matter how narrow the thoroughfare. Foot passengers, strings of loaded horses, mules and hamals Cor porters), icarriages, horsemen and patrols of troops are mixed up in what seems to be inextricable confusion, and it is only by the strictest observance of an un-
 written law, giving precedence to those most in need of it. that congestion of the crowd is avoided. The good man lners of the east also go far towards fla lcilitating movement and diminishing
 discomfort, for there is none of that in-
 considerate rudeness, jostling and push ling too often observable in western towns.
 Of all the frequenters of the streets of Constantinople, those who receive the
 greatest consideration are undoubtedly
 the hamals and the pariah dogs; but
 even the hamal gives way to the pariah
 dog. Everything is carried by hanals.
 It is obvious that hamal loaded with
 la large piece of furniture, as, for in Istance, a wardrobe or bookcase, can mot put down his burden or pick his way through a crowd, and so the crowd iudhCS M S@y HUI Iltiti---ctil aDui lut pdIIdn
 dogs. We see group of these poor,
 harmless doggies shivering and huddled together for warmth on the narrow, wet pavement of the Grande Rue de Pera They entirely block the pavement, yet a
 hamal struggling painfully along with a
 barrel of cement on his back steps off the pavement on to the greasy, uneven ieobhlestenes Of the street rather than
 disturb them. And these street dogs understand a Constantinople crowd bet
 ter than any human member of it..
 They have their own laws and regula-
 tions, which they rigidly adhere to-.
 They are divided into colonies, each of
 which occupies separate district, and
 no one dog is allowed to cross the boun-
 dary between one district and another
 But how can one describe the human Ithrong? Here are hooded and cloaked
 Arabs, black-robed Greek priests with
 their long hair coiled up beneath their tall headgear, brown-robed, bare-footed,
 bare-headed friars with shaven crowns,
 long-robed and turbaned holy men and
 dervishes devout pilgrims from distant
 countries, who are passing through
 Constantinople on their way to Mecca
 Persians, Greats, Armenians, Albani-
 ans, specimens of all nations (excepting,
 perhaps, Russians), Turkish soldiers
 and police, mounted officers with their orderlies, vendors of everything imag- inab1e, Sisters of Mercy, yelled Tur- ! kish ladies, unveiled fashionably attired
 Glaour ladies. A closely yelled Turkish woman begs a blessing of a passing holy
 man almost under the noses of pair oi horses; a famal carrying an immense Christmas tree with spread of about half the width of the street. sweeps of
 a choice selection of picture hats, anc proceeds quite unconscious of the rav- ages he is committing in his wake; an6 Ibeggars are everywhere, whining, i'm
 pertaining every passer-by. If begging were not a profession no doubt z lpaying one--in Costatiople, the awful 7 deforrnities and sufferings of many o those who solicit aims would touch tn, ! lmost stony hearted. Here is woman crouching against the wall with blin, baby in her arms. The little one neve ! moves, neither does the woman, bu
 beneath the baby one of her hands il
 outstretched, open and we cannot resis
 ordpping something ito that palm. I'm lmediately afterwards, however we ar ! beset by a hale and hearty elderly mal who carries large bag over his back : He demands bread. We tell him tha Il he has already more than he can eat il his bag, which, indeed, he has, and h.
 pursues his way without attempting t : deny the fact. Then we come upon tw : rosy, healthy children comparing tn earnings of the morning at street cor
 liner, and one of them has as man, coins as his chubby little hands will hold. One beggar Is known to be tn owner of considerable household prop
 Ierty; another will only accept silver
 land there are impostors innumerable
 Yet with all the falsehood and roguer, e to which the charitably inclined are ex e posed, there is still much real distres Il land suffering in Constantinople which e with sufficient discrimination, may wei $ be alleviated. Here Is typical pictur l. of begging. A number of beggars, som
 deforned or cripples, some not, assem Il ble outside the English church at Mod It during the morning service on Sunday e land havnis purchased fruit and ssweet ,- lfron the itinerant vendors thereof the, S have quite a festive little picnic till tn j. service draws to a close The moment q however, that they hear the last tone