The Iuka vidette. (Iuka, Miss.) 1894-1912, 1910-05-19
Letter From Smyrna, Turkey.

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by 3. W. Counce, a sailor on the
United States Wa Steamer Mon
tana, now in Eastern waters, to
his brother, Marcus Counce, of
Red Sulphur Springs, Tenn.
Brother Mark: Pardon me for
waiting SO long before answering
but have been busy most of nv
time and have had no way until
we arrived here to send letters
away. | am feeling fairly well and
hope same to you all.
We arrived here on the goth, no
liberty until the 3Oth. We had
liborty in Syria the 10Th from / p.
m. until II p. IN. same day, so
will tell first of our first liberty.
The place is small, population
OF about ten or fifteen thousand
inhabitants, Of which two-thirds
are beggars of the worst type.
The milk man crives his herd
OF goats over the city and milks
before your eyes SO as to prevent
milk adulteration. The only stock
saw was stations of scrubby
kind, weigh from five to eight
hundred pounds. At the wharf
was large number of men and
boys with long cared mules( Jacks)
with large wooden saddles to hire
at one shilling (25c) per hour. /
rode none myself. OF course they
are lazy and it takes one or two
boys with whips, etc, to make
them go. The city is about 5000
years old. All the buildings are
built of stone, the streets are also
stone. Streets are about IL ,r IS
feet wide and the sides and walks
are where they display their wares
and merchandise. The Greek
Catholic is the established relig-
ion. They have exceedingly fine
churches especially on the inside
but not so costly as here. 1t (the
city, is located on the side of a
mountain which adds much to its
beauty. In the center of town is
a place of about B acres. This is
filled with tables and chairs and is
used for drinking garden. Ev-
cry man is a-saloon himself. Ev-
cry man, woman and child have
something to sell post cards, rings,
beads and such and all in reality
are beggars. They will charge
you two prices for their stuff un-
til you get wise. They have little
sense to decency or virtue, more
to the latter than the first. All
Turkish women have their faces
covered SO as not to be recogniz-
ed. They are dark and dirty
while the Greek are fair and plump
and some are beautiful. On the
18th we left there and came here.
distance of 100 miles. We made
it in s hours and | wish had
words TO describe the scenery
throug the Grecian archipelago.
1t is most wonderful Then we
came in this place, a place take
for population of 200, 900 yet it
may be far more. 1t is hard 70 es-
innate the population of any of
these cities as the streets are so
narrow and several families live
III the same building. Smyrna is
very old, it was an ancient CITY in
Christ's day and is one OF the fin
est cities of this part of the world.
Of course old Smyrna is dead,
nothing there now but ruins of old
walls, castles, etc. 1t is on the
hill just outside new Smyrna. 1t
is said 10 cate back nearly 1000
years. ! visited the ruins but
there isn't much to be seen. In
the temple whose walls are yet
standing in part, is where Christ
lectuied the disciples so say our
guides. 1T was here where Christ
was brought by His mother in in
fancy and here is where His father
and mother went after His cruel
fixion. There are not nearly so