The Coolidge examiner., 1933-09-01


another hilltop and the aristocrats
a fourth.
Varna, on the Black sea, used to
be a grain port, but when the
boundary makers gave the rich
granary Of the Dobruja to Rumania
the city lost it's commercial impor-
tance. When wheat failed, little
drops Of water and little grains Of
sand did their bit. On the splen-
did sea front, cOmmOdiOus bath
houses and seaside villas were
built, and summer visitors now
flock in from all over central Eu-
rope to revel in sea and sun.
Varna Becomes Summer Resort.
For a time the authorities tried
to reserve the central section for
married folk; but they persisted in
forgetting to bring their marriage
licenses, and mixed bathing is now
firmly established. On the wings are
screened sections where men and
women are isolated and can dis
pense with suits, lie in the hot
sand and let Old Sol shoot health
into them through every pore.
Deprived Of Dobruja's bread,
Varna decided to eat cake; and va
cationers in increasing numbers
share and provide the fun. Hotels
claim to offer Bulgarian, Hungarian,
Bohemian, and German cooking, but
French habits are not yet under
stood. In Bulgaria one eats choc-
olate but drinks cocoa.
South of Varna is Mesemvriya.
where Byzantine emperors used to
| dispOrt themselves in the Euxine
From the sands many antique treas
ures have been rescued, and there
still exist imposing ruins of By
zantine churches.
Military service is not obligatory
in Bulgaria, although it is expedi-
ent but, in addition to the few
days of temporary labor which
male subjects are supposed to rem
der to their country, every eight
een-year-old does eight months of
obligatory labor under what resem-
bles military discipline.
Lands are reclaimed, roads and
bridges built, railways repaired.
eroding mountain sides reforested,
rampant rivers tanned, relief shell
ters constructed, and good citizen
ship learned by these organized la
borers, or trudovaks. Their badge
reads, work for Bulgaria" This
labor corps is one of the most dis
tinctive features of modern Bull
garian life.
Rose Industry important.
Jahangir. the Mogul emperor,
amused Nur Jahan by piping rose
water through her garden at Delhi,
and upon its surface she first dis
covered the bright pearls of altar.
Later an old Turk, seeing the wild
roses of Bulgaria, induced his COM
patriots to start the industry which
! won for the plain between the Bal
kans and the Middle Mountain the
name of "The Rose Valley"
The rose, as symbol of beauty,
innocence and modesty, has in
spired countless legends and songs
ever since it was born with Aphro-
dite from the sea foam or sprang
from Rosalie's wound, inflicted by
the chaste but intolerant Diana. But
one doesn't use perfume to prove
innocence, and rose smells even
sweeter under many strange names.
Altar of roses is used as q base
and fixative rather than for its
scent alone.
These unspoiled Bulgarian peas
ants, who never knew luxury. de-
pend on it for their daily bread,
and although they know no politi-
cal economy, it affects both their
economies and their politics. Be
cause of the competition between
private and cooperative dlstillers,
rose oil has come to involve bankers
and politicians as we'll as garden
ers. The old firms are not only find
ing a decreased sale, but are also
facing the competition of co-opera-
tive distiIleries opened under gov
ernment protection and boom con-
ditiOns.
The altar of roses produced by
the cooperative is deposited as col
lateral in the Agricultural bank,
which, although already holding a
thousand pounds OF so Of altar,
must still advance funds on ths
new crop.