The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-22

lusion." by Albert Bigelow Paine in
 February Outing.
 Y SUPPOSE there is no more beauti-
 ful city from the outside and no
 more disheartening city from the in- side than Constantipole. From the out side 1t Is all fairyland and enchant- ment. From the inside 1t is all grime and wretchedness. Viewed from the en- trance of the Bosporus. through the haze of morning. 1t is vision. Viewed from carriage driven through the streets it becomes a nightmare. If one only might see 1t as we did-at sunrise, with minarets and domes rising from the foliage, all aglow with the magic of morning-and could be willing then to sail away from that dream spectacle, his hunger unsatished, he would hold at least one supreme illusion in his heart.
 For that is what it is-just an illu- sion-the most superb fantasy in the world. It is a perpetual show, but hard ly a pleasing one. It is besmirched and raucous, 1t is wretched.
 Hawkers, guides, beggars, porters weave In and out and mingle vocifer- ously To leave the ship is to be as- sailed from every side. Across the street is a row of coffee houses where unholy music and singing keep up most of the time. Also, there are dogs, scores of them-a wolfish, breed-and they are seldom silent. This is the reverse of the picture. As the outside is fairyland, to this is inferno.
 Some kind of ceremony was in pro- gress in the mosque when we arrived, but as usual in such places, VIC did not mind. We went right in just the same. and our guides, too, and we talked and pointed and did what we could to break up the services. Old turbaned sons of the prophet were kneeling and lowing and praying here and there, and were good deal in the way. Sometimes we fell over them, but we were charitably disposed and did not kick them-at least, I didn't and I don't think any of the party did. We might kick a dog--kick at him, I mean--if we tripped over one, but we do not kick Aoslem mot live one. We only take his pie ture and step on him and muss him up, and make few notes and @.
 I have been wondering what would happen to a party of tourists-Moslems for instance--who broke into an Ameri- can church during services, with guides to point and explain, and stared at the people who were saying their prayers and talked them over as if they were wax figures. An American congregation would be annoyed by a mob like that. and would remove 1t and put it in the calaboose. But then such things wouldn't happen in America. We have cowed our foreign visitors. Besides. there Is noth- ing in an American church that for eigner would care to sec.
 Of all vilianious roads, those outside of Scutari arc the most depraved. They are not roads at all, but just washes and wallows and ditches and stone gul- lies. have seen bad roads in virginia, roads surveyed by George Washington. and never touched since, but they were a dream of luxury as compared with these of Turkey. Our carriages billowed and bobbed and pitched and bumped themselves until got out and walked to keep from being lamed for life.
 And then the houses-the villas had expected to see; dear me. how can I pic ture those cheap. ugly, unpainted, over ! decorated architectural crimes? Tney are wooden and belong to the jigsaw period gone mad. They suggest an owner who hes been too busy saving money for >to acquire any taste who has speptrh his savings for lumber and trimmiysss and had nothing left for psin' still, he managed to reserve enough ito put iron bars on his windows --that/'is mart of the house. the