The Pensacola journal., 1907-07-09


laughs, no one speaks loud. Head is
laid on head and hand to mouth. Men
sit all day on divans along walls and
whisper once an hour, says the cor
respondent of the Washington Post
When Turk comes TO your room
he opens the door suddenly now and
then to see who is listening. AS in
Maeterlfnck play, there is always
somebody behind the door.
If you want to say 'Htbe Sultan"
you say nothing "Yiidiz, in Turk
ish means a star, but the word is ex-
tinct- The Sultan lives in Yildiz
Kiosk, and astronomy is no longer
discussed.
But it is with Yildiz that the whis-
pers deal 1t stands over there on the
hiH above the Bosporus, far from the
ancient city, where the great Sultans
used to lve-far across the Golden
Horn and Pera from the Sublime
Porte or Offices of the state, COM
pared to which our home Office and
war, office are fervid hives of indus
try.
There it stands, visible, but unap-
prCachable-a conglOmerate town in
itself, containing everything that the
heart Of man could desire-pa laces
and barracks, and gardens and kitoh-
ems and porcelain factories and pris-
OnS and stables and wCmen's apart
ments and places of worship. And in
the midst of all, encircled by ring
after ring of precaution, joined to the
outer world only by long strands of
telegraph wires, squats the Spider
Sultan-''feels at each thread and
lives along the line" 1t is about him
that the flies in the city whisper.
rs he dead?"
BETTER, OR DEAD?
Has he certainly been very ill?"
They say he's better now
HE was at the Sefamlik. He has
missed only one Friday all these
years"
That comes of good conscience"
They say he never looked better
since the Greek war"
1T was that Times, leader of Jan
8 set him up. 1t proved England
could do nothing for Macedonia. He's
quite well again"
Did you hear about the censor?
He delayed a telegram saying his
Majesty was better. Next day he
came to the Office as well as usual,
felt uneasy after lunch, and died on
his doorstep. His own brother has
been compelled to succeed him. Per-
haps he will be more careful
Do you know that inscription on
the tomb of a pasha who was master
Of the mint. and other things till, as
the gravestone says, the imperial
will decreed that on such and such a
day his honorable functions should
cease?'
In those times it was bowstring,
now it is coffee"
'fBest not to eat from the palace
Whats a man to do when all the
salary he touches is his free meal?"
He can always sell it,
They, say 5000 trays are sent out
from the palace now
Il wish | had a generals rank to
eat up to.
so the whispers run, and you gather
that the Sultan has probably been i'll
and perhaps better. OLner whispers
follow, in lower tones
The Shah was mortal. Is it not
true that all men are mortal? Could
even a record murderer live forever?
If he should die, what then?
Well then, the next eldest of the
prophets Ene will be his present
ma jesty's own brother, Reschad, son
of Abdul Mejid. They say he drinks.
They say he is a Liberal. They say
he has pledged himself to Constitu-
ton.
Shut Up For Years.
No one knows. He has been shut
UP for years and years. One thing
only is certaln-he is sixty-four.
There are two other brothers be-
sides, but the next eldest here is
Youssouf Izzet Din, son of Abdul AZiZ,
whose veins were cut with scissors.
He. too, has peen shut up for years
and years, living like a stalled bull.
The crazy Sultan Murad v has a
son still living, in jail, And there are
other rightfuI heirs making twelve in
all, and including three Of his pres
ent majesty's sons-before we come
to the favorite son, burhan ed Din,
said to be pleasing youth of twenty
one, fond of toys.
That he is his fathers choice is not
necessarily a testimonial of merit, but
the Sheikh-ul-Islam-a kind of eccles-
iastical commissioner to the Sultan,
with just a dash of archbishop thrown
in-is said to have declared ten of