The Monticellonian. [volume] (Monticello, Ark.) 1870-1920, 1916-12-21

| ical place for the landing of
Russian troops and supplies
bound for the Hungarian and Bulgar-
Ian frontiers, it has been smitten by
the iron fist of war, and since its swift
capture by the Teutons has endured
the hard fate of being repeatedly bonn
5arded by its friends.
Before the war this thriving little
city of 27000 inhabitants handled
practically all the surplus wheat raised
by the Roumanian peasants which did
not find its way up the Danube to the
great flour mills of Budapest, says
bulletin of the National Geographic
society.
Until hostilities began in 1911. Con
stanza was also the transfer point for
the extensive passenger service from
London, Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Wen
Ma and Budapest to GOnstantfnople
and the near East. Here express
steamers connected with the de luxe
trains from the west, making the run
to the Sublime Porte overnight.
Millions of dollars have been spent
on the harber and docks of Constanza
since the town became a Roumanian
possession by the treaty of Berlin.
which transferred the Dobrudja prov
ince to this country. The principal
improvements We're begun in 1896.
On Site of Ancient City.
Constanza, or Kustendje, with its
wide, clean streets. its numerous
mosques, synagogues and church, oc-
eupies the site of the ancient Toni,
Toms or Tones, the metropolis of the
Euxine The remains of many col
umns and fragments of statuary testify
To the Importance and the wealth OF
the city in those days. In the fourth
century Constantine the Great changed
the name of the port to Constantiana,
in honor of his sister During the
reign of Theodosius it experienced an
era of great prosperity As the metropo-
lis of Pontus, but after it passed under
the control of the Balgars and later
of the Turks its decline was rapid
In the RusSo-TurkiSh war of 1872 it
was bombarded by the russians, and
II years later surrendered TO the same
power without a blow in its defense.
Probably the most noteworthy event
in the history of ancient Toni was its
designation by the Emperor Augustus
as the place Of exile of the great Latin
poet, Publius OvidiuS Naso, Familiarity
known as ovid. The poets otfense
was the publication of ''Ars Amatoria,
which enjoys the questionable distinc-
ton, according to no less an authority
than the oxford scholar, George Sid
ney Owen, of being perhaps the most
immoral work ever written by a man
of genius. Augustus had become pc
euliarly sensitive about such literature
because he had been forced to Danish
and disinherit his own daughter, the
brilliant and beautiful Julia, on ac-
count of her seandalous intrigue with
the son of Mark Antony. This dis
grace was followed by second sean
dial in the imperial family-the notori-
Gus behavior of the younger Julia, the
emperor's granddaughter. AS Soera
teS was charged with having corrupted
the youth of Athens, so Ovid was
dttHitN ny tdSuSliS tlS at lCtiol III Edil
responsible for the corruption of youth
full society in Rome. Therefore he was
ordered to leave the capital and take
up his residence ut Toni, where he
remained for the last eight years of
his life, bitterly complaining of his
fate in series of letters, complied as
the five books of the "Tristia."
Turnu SEVERN a Busy Town.
Turnu SEVERN was the first town in
Roumania TO receive a baptism of
iron after hostilities We're declared
between that country and Austria-Hun-
garia. 1t is an 11-mile voyage down
the Danube from the international
boundary line at Verciorova to point
opposite Tarnu SEVERN. This busy
Roumanian town of S,000 inhabitants,
pleasantly situated on high ground and
partly hidden from the river by trees,