The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1920-06-29
.ADRIANOPLE HOLY CITY
is PLACE OF MYSTERY
PRAYERS STILL ARE CALLED
FROM THE MINARETS. HAS
MANY CHARMS.

ADRIANOPLE, Thrace.-The de-
cadence of the two centuries, present :
political and economic disintegration,
wars without end. and an uncertain !,
future. have been unable to destroy !
the ineffable charm the Turks origi- |
nally gave to this city of eighty odd
thousand souls. Adrianople is still a
holy city in faith and appearance.
Romance still abides here.
''The orient is the only place left ,
to Europe where cities seen at close
range are beautiful" remarked Jules :
Sebotin, a French aviator, while Wis
iting the most beautiful of all
mosques, Sinan's masterpiece here,
the mosque of a thousand windows
but one erected at the order of Sui
tan Selim II in the sixteenth century.
The first impression of the city had
been one of infinite beauty. Arriv-
ing from across the lofty Balkans in
an airplane the city had been seen
with a rush, place of spires and
slate domes and red roofs, planted at
the intersection of three rivers. 1t
had been welcomed sight. 1t had
come at the end of four hours ride
and it was the journeys end to tired
aviator.
Seen from aloft the city, surround
ed by poplars at its outer rim, its
house gardens within the city show
ing green vines and flowers, its out
wing fields bare, aroused memories
of Mardin on the mountains, DER
bekr by the Tigris and hosts of other
Turkish cities, always sleeping in /
beauty, whether visited by sunshine |
or moonlight. The longer the stay |
in Adrianople the more the charm of |
this beauty grows, charm that is as
great afoot as aloft
, Adrianople is a place that has the |
. tone of country friendship about it, |
, not unlike a county seat of the south !
, The center of the agricultural ex-
change business of eastern and west |
| ern Thrace, it is frequented by peas
| ants and traders of Turkish, Greek, |
Bulgarian, Jewish and Armenian ma
t tionalities. There is record of but
] one American ever having done bust |
r ness in the city, and he came there
from Paris and bought up all the
brooms.
May Stay on the Morrow.
While no day knows what the next
) may bring forth in the way of politi-
cal strife and crime, today the city
preserves this tone of friendship and
order. Strangers as they go along
the streets or visit the shops are
treated with kindly concern. The
Turkish officers salute courteously
and there is no CLINT of hostility in
the eyes of the Turkish soldiers car
rying their new rifles recently distrib-
uted them by Col. Defer Tayar Bey.
His martial law is administered with
gentleness, though there is no doubt
that the silken glove hides the mailed
fist.
The decadence of Adrianople goes
at dignified pace. There is little
or none of the seething squalor and
dirt and noise and poverty of Con-
stantinople. There is none of the
clamor of Constantinople's street
cars and automobiles. There are a |
: few ragged beggar children who be-
siege the stranger, but for the most
= part Adrianople endures its shabby
, gentility with pride and calm. Here
9 there are none of the fallen houses
l and dusty streets which characterize
the majority of the cities of Asia
: Minor
= Any day the city may surprise the
2 world by tremendous massacre, but |
? meanwhile its life goes on as smooth !
ly as the flow of the rivers.
: Undoubtedly the life of Adrianople |
! is fraught with that deep mystery !
: which seems to cling inevitably to the
sinful, idle, sleepy orient, but of this
} mystery the stranger sees only the |
charm.
Prayers are called from the nina
: rets as of old, also the old and new |
bazaars do a slender business in sell |
! ing American and European calicoes |
and homespun cloths and Turkish sill |
ver-mounted pipes and cigaret hold
ers, rugs, junk to passing customers;
, or else when these are lacking they
swap with each other after the happy
J manner of the old orient.
Decadence seems to have height
/ ened the beauty of the majestic old
| mosque of Sultan Bayzid The win
= dows are broken in, the locks are
5 rustedA in the doors, the grass is
| growing up between the fagstones,
the fountain in the court no longer
splashes its waters in the sunshine
and the interior Of the mosque itself 4
is slowly deteriorating.
Few worshipper came here, but on
the drowsy Friday mornings, the Il
Musulman's day of worship, come
devoted band of musicians and sing /
, ers. The aviator and the Associated L
. Press correspondent stumbled uponi|
this group. As they turned to go Il
away one of the red fezzed band Il
came and saluted with the lovable
/, simplicity of the Turk and said cal
lab esmarladik," 'May God abide
with you.'