The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-06-01
THE UNSPEAKABLE TURK
From Pearson's Weekly.

From Pearsons Weekly.
 T IS a good many years since made my first travels in and about Tur- key, an experience often since repeated, and I can only say that I liked the Turk from the first.
 To begin with. the Turk, be he of high or low degree. Is a gentleman, and white man" all through for all his olive skin.
 Then I have always found him hos pitable to a degree. and the pink of courtesy I remember when travelling in outlying districts coming to a small town. The governor and other chief men, as soon as they heard of my arrival came to see me, and in the evening we all went down to the river bank, where a fire was lighted, and I was royalty entertained at an al fresco and musical meal.
 Another of the Turks great points is his sportsmanship. He is not per haps a sportsman in the way of fol- lowing field sports or games, but he shows himself a tn orough sportsman in his kindness to animals.
 I was practically struck by this trait in his character when travelling through Albania with an escort of Turkish soldiers. I was In a hurry, and we moved by forced marches Con horseback), after being ten hours in the saddle at a stretch and over vil- lainous country.
 It was tough work, but when we came to a journeys end I at least could gratefully fling hy horse and give myself and steed up to being made comfortable by my servants.
 Not so my escorts; they had Snone to wait on them; and I noticed that no matter how tired, stiff and saddle sore the Turkish soldiers might be, they looked after their horses first.
 The magnificent fighting qualities of the Turkish soldier his absolute in- difference to death and danger, and his splendid stamina, are too well known Turk, soldier or not, Is not only a brave man, but, as rule, sincerely religious man.
 Popular ina agination depicts the Turk as the tyrant of the harem, the oc- cupants of which he regards as in- finitely beneath him, and mere dolls and playthings. but like most of our notions about the Turk, the picture is false.
 Only wealthy Turks can afford sev- eral wives, and many are monogamists. Apart from that, while the Turkish lady is not "emancipated," as we un- derstand the term. I have no hesita- tion in saying that, taken as a whole, women in Turkey are infinitely better treated than women in England.
 Of course, the Turk is not perfect. For all his splendid dash In battle. he lacks energy, and is indolent to an ex- asperating degree; at least, from our point of view.
 The Turk cannot conceive the idea of man engaging in public life, un- less he means to get something out of it-and that something money.
 AS to the cruelty of the Turk and n1S SlauSnterlns pTopoHSitlo6, ticIo IS something to be said on the other side.
 Take Macedonia; on the one side you have the Bulgarian Christians; on the other, the Greek Christians. They are everlastingly raiding each other in search of converts, and they convert Macedonia into a cockpit for their re- ligous battles.
 Macedonia becomes disturbed, and the Turk comes along and restores order certainly with very heavy hand.
 I like the Turk. and I fear this new constitutional government will not prove an unmixed blessing to him. He has been accustomed for centuries to autocracy, and. therefore, do not see why he should take any more kindly to sudden violent change to democ- racy than we after long years of con