Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-09-06

gentle compulsion. They have withdrawn
because others have exploited the lands
which they occupied but never reduced to
possession, from which they skinned the
surface opulence, while furnishing no sus-
tenance to the processes which produced
1t. If the population of what is still called
Turkey in Europe be. as is likely. about
six millions. less than a third are
once under Turkish sway. the lands of
Greece, Bosnia. Herzegovina, Servia,
Bulgaria and Roumania, there are vir-
tually no Turks at all. They can live
only as they find dumb, servile human
cattle to herd drive and slaughter. They
are a stock which came from the upland
steppes of Asia; they are careful now
as always, when possible. to bury their
dead across the Bosporus in the soil of
Asia. From Asia they came, to Asia they
return with little regret; and being
totally unhistoric people. it is doubtful
whether centuries of European abode
would In their future tradition be much
more than tale of Scheherezade.
The Turk a Good Fellow.
retained nearly all the virtues. and they
are many-so many as to make a normal
Turkish gentleman a most agreeable and
even lovable person. With his woman
kind uncontaminated by western notions;
with his faith in Islam-a faith not native
but acquired and inherited-undisturb
either by Arabic mysticism or occidental
casuistry: with his pride of official rank
and garb fully gratified or with scope for
his unquestioned and oft-proven ability as
soldier, the Turk exhibits many fine
qualities. It matters not that his salary
as an official is never paid; there is the
land of Baksheesh always open. It mat
tiers not that the shelter which we call his
house Is bare. rickety or in disrepair; Is
he not naturally dweler in booths or
tents? 1t matters not that his towns are
filthy and unwholesome. that disease and
death stalk abroad; his hour will strike
only when fate ordains, as it would any
way. ri syfrsarf sf#
1t matters not that there, is plenty to-
day and want tomorrow such are the
vicissitudes of life. If lit rains. we are
us enjoy it: when battle is raging let us
fight. too. so Allah wills, Fl and, so on
through the long range Of humap condi-
tons and conduct. To apprehend a
resignation that verges ozanIapathy We
must reverse almost every concept we
have: in order to understand and do
justice to the Turk. We need q fourth
dimension. He is our antipodes. But he
is domestic. hospitable within >his posi-
bilities, companionable, interested in you
he has dignity. a repose6 a plea:sant way
which are delightful. Above all, strange
as it may sound, he is the rsaost tolerant
of all human beings There are i'm Turkey
more faiths, sects, denominations and re-
Igions. more license in-profession and
behavior, than in any other territorial
expanse of equal size. II 6ohiy the ad-
herents of these various cuHs bay. often
and enough, and If only thsyndol not in
act. word or precept subysSt q existing
rule and order: nothing else matters at
all. Islam is the most democratic OF all
natural religions: there are no ORDERS, no
priestly INTERPRETATION, no governors, no
hierarchy of any sort. Internationally in
dependent temper of the Turk is thus
confirmed by his faith. There is the
caliph, the padishah, the embodiment of
theocratic power: and then there are all
the rest exalted or humbled. enriched
or impoverished. preserved or destroyed
kept alive or killed. regulated in every
relation of life by a power and conditions
that affect all alike: birth, Inheritance
life at all. Tolerant and democratic-both
In a contemptuous sort of way-the Turk
is also in ordinary life a kindly, gentle
soul. His women folk are under no COM
pulsion or discipline, he is generous to the
very utmost; his slaves are scarcely
aware of their bondage. SO easy is the
yoke. With divorce dependent upon his
whim and accomplished by his own unfet-
tered will. the rearrangement of domestic
relations is so easy that social conditions
are scarcely disturbed. A disordered mind
makes its unhappy owner a public charge;
beggars are humored. tolerated and sup
ported by aims. especially the halt, the
manned and the blind; the dogs of Con-
stantinople drive ladies from the side
walks and make vehicles swerve by their
sluggish inertia. Easy indifference and a
liberal soul combine to make Turkish life
a thing apart; sort of genial inefficiency
1t all. Yet beneath 1t is the
volcano of indiscipline. Guile and the
G~ct. 49,