Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-11-26
HARRISBURG aA TELEGRAPH

bacco bulk large in the consular in
voices. Aforementioned Greeks have
given new prestige to the fig indus
try by introducing western methods
of sanitary preparation and packing
of the product
Smyrna is still, as of Yore, the
principal gateway to Asia Minor and
most American missionaries working
in the interior enter and leave via
Smyrna. From this city one may go
by rail in two hours to ancient Ephe-
sus. or to the original city of Phila-
delphia. There is railway connection
at Afium Kara Hissar with the Bag
dad Railway and Constantinople.
Where Many Religions Meet
Our present concern with the hust-
ling and rather quarrelsome old city
is religions. Here most of the sects
of the East and West impinge. An
hours stroll along the Bund, or amid
the bazars and foreign shops of
Frank street, makes this plain.
Most of the men wear the red fez,
but that is a sign of Ottoman citizen
ship, and not of religion. Christians
and Moslems both wear it, These
men with the big white or green tur-
bans, however, we know as hadjis, or
Moslems who have made the pilgrim
age to Mecca. The very closeness of
the contact in Smyrna between the
reth and the Camel Driver of the
Mecca has led to frequent clashes,
and a sort of religious irritability.
Greek priests, in flowing black
robes, and with tall circular black
hat, with a projecting rim at the top,
are numerous. They are eager cham
pions OF the civil as we'll as of the re-
ligious rights of their people. The
Armenian priests, also dressed in
black, but with smaller headgear, are
seen less frequently. The Latin
Church as the Church of Rome is
called in the Levant, is represented
by the three missionary bodies, the
Jesuits and Dominicans in black, and
the F'ranciscans in brown. They do
an extensive missionary and educa-
tional work in Turkey. Their head
quarters are in Europe.
American missions at Smyrna are
maintained by the American Board,
of Boston. Their chief plants are
the International Institute and the
Girls School Owing to the troubled
conditions brought about by the war
all the foreign schools have been SER
iously hampered. Word that 1 have
received since the Tennessee's launch
was fired upon, says that the Interna-
tional Institute has now between
hundred and fifty and two hundred
students, of various races and creeds.
This is far below normal, but the
other four largest foreign schools
have less than a dozen boarders
among them all. The neutrality and
popularity of the American flag in
this crisis is the reason for this dis
parity A company of Boy Scouts is
maintained in the Institute.
The Gateway of the Martyrs
In the subapostolic age the city of
Smyrna won the name among the
early Christians as "the gateway of
Martyrs" because so many Christians
from the Churches of Asia Minor
passed through it on their way to suf
fer martyrdom at Rome. Rev. DR..
F. E. Clark, founder of Christian En-
deavor. has lately written a book,
1.-THE Holy Land of Asia Minor"
which contains an interesting por-
trayal of Smyrna from the religious
side.
The tomb of Polycarp is to-day the
most celebrated sight of the city.
Polycarp, who was a disciple of st.
John, suffered martyrdom here in the
year 1866.
Because of the religious sensitive
ness of the community, and the dan
ger of a clash between the Moslems
and the Christians, foreign warships
have usually found it necessary to
proceed to Smyrna whenever there
has been trouble in the Levant.
THE RELIGIOUS RAMBLER.