Show q AW A M KING G cs fr 4 A land of strange contrasts Is tur key in its state of transition western styles stylea crowding out old customs Cut toma creating incongruities by WILLIAM T ELLIS ellas constantinople standing on the top of one of the ruined towers of the which mohammed the conqueror built in 1453 when he laid siege elege to constantinople I 1 studied the strange city which lay extended be fore me as a magnificent panorama viewed from a distance constanel Const antl nople Is a city of wonderful contrasts it links the present with the past before these stones were piled form ing by the walls alls of the castle the name of the prophet this was the cap ital of a christian empire and it still bears the name of the arst christian roman raman emperor many traces of iti ancient splendor abide the ayzan tine glories ruay nay still be seen in part by the tourist who will III also find evl evi dences of the crusaders activities here where the two continents im up these blue aters have haie sailed throughout the centuries all kinds of craft now in sight eight of one are a few turkish warships a small email american gun boat the darting cliques calques of the turbaned boatmen and freighters of taano nations nation together with cumber some large native crafts with the hinged masts this gatei gateway ay la is so eo im to the worlds world s pea that by Inter international rational agreement no warships may pass through it eui european poll ties are more concerned with turkish affairs than with any other single subject so the marvelous rejuvenation of the ottoman empire Is of deep interest to civilization paradoxes of progress the present stage in turkeys rapid waking awaking Is that of contrast the palaces along the practical ly all of them owned until the revo lution by abdul hamid are rather tawdry creations at best but they are in contrast with the miserable hovels of the people whose dwellings are meager beyond the tha western compre tension the word home as a synonym for house can scarcely be ab used here in turkey along the water front la Is a palace which was used by the parliament until fire gutted it not far away Is the present palace of the reigning sul tan who is a mere shadow of the ab of his deposed brother in tre persed between palaces are the residences of pashas and moro morn or less prosperous citizens with the lat alced windows of the baroma baro ma turned toward the water there Is the ro mance of the mysterious about these airty lattices a western woman would surely keep them clean and about the iron barred tunnels that lead un der the houses to the water one cannot help speculating as to the tragedies that have been enacted along these shoes the system of seclusion for women that islam ordains has many disadvantages one be ing that it requires a man to build a high wall alongside of his house 0 a keep his neighbor from overlooking his harem schools are beginning to come to their own in turkey but the minaret still dominates the landscape and the walling wailing cry of the cuenin five times a day to is a familiar sound to all parts of the city the coolie and the automobile that the old order is passing is patent to everybody who knows how to look at things in the large people cannot have even a form of cons titu dional government and yet treat one section of the community as mere beasts of burden the newspaper a moving picture show the automobile ft r and the school book are forerunners of the iw bitable new day nov that constantinople has reckless red autos driven through its narrow overcrowd ed streets it la Is bound to have also a chariot of progress of which this la Is A symbol there Is not room on the same highway of civilization for a twenty horse power automobile and a man gling under the load of an ox cox con stantin ople has had the latter latte for centuries it Is now getting the form er ibe incredible burdens b adens which these coolies or hamala bear bould seem like fiction to the debt orn ern world frequently I 1 have haie seen a man carrying trying ca a doan chairs on hla his back another bore at ono one time thirty six of the big square oilcans oil cans which the standard oil company has mide a not uncommon load I 1 saw a man with a grand rapids roll top desk and the office chair fastened to it on hla his bark back A packing case Is one of the cOmnO commonest Pst of loads I 1 saw a coolie crossing the galata calata bridge with a cof fin on his back now it if the awaking of turkey means anything it must mean the emancipation of the ae j 5 14 4 ake x constantinople and its beautiful harbor mon man people from these ancient burdens big hats hate and moslem veils the advent of the western styles involves unforeseen difficulties for an oriental people it Is easy tor for the turk in baggy trousers and shoes that slip off to sit elt cross legged on the floor door when he dons tie trousers and patent leathers he must abandon this fashion the new furniture of mod ern style to which turkey has become so devoted postulates homo home somewhat after the idea of europe or america the new food and the new ways all are insidiously under cutting the old order the dress of the women offers perhaps the best illustration of this most moslem women v die along the streets like water birds on land draped from head to hel in hideous black azars whether they are old or young homely or clr handsome nobody can tell this custom involves mysteries which no mere man can solve HOW flow two heavily veiled women nomen can recognize each other coher on the street Is beyond comprehension sometimes the yells veils are getting perilously thin in the case of the younger women and their wearers bearers do not hesitate to stare at their pleasure on foreign men albort bumping into the ancient na tive crafts of the are a number of new warships of which turkey la Is very proud the urk loves lovea weapons big and little while the order for disarmament has gone out it yet remains true that in the cities as well as in the euial parts men tote a gun as they say in texas and carry a knife stuck into the vol aminous gladle I 1 never traveled with a pistol in my belt in plain tight until I 1 went out into the interior of turkey where every eiery man his to bo be his own policeman with this warlike disposition it Is natural that the turks should be interested te rested in their fleet alf ir pride in the two var warships ships recently purchased from germany Is not knolly shared by the foreign community the latter say that there la Is now on the do noi photius a now new classi cation of warships first class second class and secondhand they tell ou cou that the young turks were afraid tra t trust th to bring the ships from germany so BO they had german of man them until just outside the dar canelles da nelles where they ran up the tur kibb flag the german officers demanded two hundred and fifty arid and marks tor for their services vices and refused to haul baul down the turkish flag until the sum bum was paid rumor has it that one of the ships broke down en route at any rate the turkish government paid the money and the ships sailed up the streaming bright new crescent flags behind them cholera rat traps and religion the cholera Is raging in constantinople at present and it affords an opportunity port unity of at observing the difference between the tha old and the new lime Is sprinkled in the gutters by the city but for the most part the people who so far as the moslem population are concerned are arrant fatalists say kismet and do not amend their unsanitary ways that modern knowledge Is beginning to late Is shown by the lively sale of rat traps which street venders benders display as a sort eort of choleff cho left lerit cure explaining that the cholera germs are carried by rats confusing con the bubonic plague with cho cholera I 1 era yew new turkey must go a long way ba foro fore she finds herself standing in the equality of fellowship with the wide awake and enlightened nations of the m world arid copyright 1911 by joseph B bowles |