The Medina sentinel. [volume] (Medina, Ohio) 1888-1961, 1921-10-20

know, but certainly no one besides
Frenchmanl Or an American could
have got thru all the red tape 50
easily.
(My letters to you are always 50
detailed that we never get any place.
/ fear that you may say Of them as
has been said, Of the novels Of that
first novelist Rieding They move
slower than life itself.)
Mersina's street car service con-
sists of little box-like arrangements
which seat about IL persons. They
are hauled about the city twice
daily-what fine service on track
about two and one-half feet wide and
a miniature steam engine. Even in
such an arrangement there are first
and second class cars.
After the fellows and two girls ar
rived from the boat, some of them
went in swimming and the others OF
us went shopping for provisions. We
ran across two Armenians with a lit
tie shop. They have just returned
from the United States and are wait
ing to get back to their old homes in
the interior. / fear they will have to
wait for some time yet. They came
back to look after their families but
find that they are up behind the
Turkish lines. They say they do not
like this country and want to 60 back
to America but that they are not
allowed to return. n
We had dinner at the Hotel. Some
meal ordered from a menu we could
not read and from waiter that
could not understand French. ! wish
more people could come over here and
live awhile, it would do them good
sharpen up their ingenuity at least.
But I thanked the waiter for one
thing. After dinner he told me that
/ could have the best room in the
house.
We then looked over the town. 1t
has about 10000 population mostly
Arabic, making Arabic the language
of the town.
That night I spent alone in Mer-
sina. Supper by the sea with the
moon and candles for light was quite
attractive. had quite scrap to get
clear sheets and towels in my room,
the main trouble being that they
could not understand why | wanted
them. -
The next morning / took the train
for Adana. You would be pleased to
see me going to the station ahead of
time for once, but it is necessary
here for the trains are just as likely
to go ahead of time as behind time,
and the station clocks by which they
run are about as reliable as ten
year old dollar watch. Invent second
class on the train. There was diff
ference between 3.55 and 600 Turk
ish pounds in price, and the difference
in accommodations was that the first
class compartment had red plush
seats and the second class had striped
plush.
It was quite the best train / have
seen since I left New York, that is
SO far as luxurious coaches were con-
cerned, tho it was mixed freight and
passenger, for it is on the old Berlin
to Bagdad proposed R. R. The funny
little four wheeled freight cars were
all marked Brussels to Bagdad, or
Bagdad with the Turkish crescent
and star and on the other side they
were marked "8 cheaveaux, 40 hom-
mes" or vice versa, for they were
used for French transportation dur
ing the war.
Every few miles along the railway
were high towers built of earth with
remains Of stone castles at the top.
These were the old signal towers
which were built by the Romans some
1000 years ago and later used some
what by the Crusaders. So here, just
south of the Taurus mountains was
the old trail Of those great Empire
builders the Romans, who held this
part of the world under more peace
full sway than it had ever known be-
fore or has ever known since. And
from the looks of things now it will
be SO long in the future from now as
the Romans are in the past before
Asia Minor is again as peaceful as
then. Turk, Italian, Armenian,
Kurd, French, Greek and English in
terests will keep this country in
constant state Of turmoil as long as
Greek ambition, French desire ard
Italian and English ambition and in-
trigue have their sway. And con-
stantly the Russian Bolsheyiki