Historical relic or an archaeological centre

It as a historical relic or an archaeological centre, or as a place for observing the dress and behaviour of various races, or merely as a place for tasting some flavour of the Orient during a brief vacation. But they seldom consider the relation of that magnificent site to the life of the people to whom it is an inheritance, and still less do they question what influence the city has upon the surrounding regions, and the development of their populations. Such matters are left to the missionary with his optimistic views on the possibility of bringing forward backward peoples with advantage to themselves and the world.

Certain peculiarities of the life of the people of the city thrust themselves upon the stranger. Looking at the throngs of men and women, in picturesque and many coloured dress, who fill the streets of Constantinople, a salient point for attention is the discomfort to which they seem to have accustomed themselves. The bedraggled and unkempt appearance of a large part of the people; the impossible pavements of the streets; the pack- horses, donkeys, and perhaps even camels, which thrust the sauntered to the wall, forcing him to stand in a strained attitude of respectful attention while each procession of harden-bearers goes by; the use of men instead of beasts and trucks and drays, that they may, as the saying is private tours istanbul, “ earn an olive or two to put in their mouths by carrying a hogshead on their hacks ”; and the lazy tolerance of the cringing dogs which slouch along the street or occupy for rest or for family duties the dry and sunny side of the way, all show the people of the city to be at a point of civilization a century or two behind the age. Yet Constantinople was once, and by very many of these people is supposed to he now, a very Paris in leading the civilization of the world. The missionary will enquire why such an arrest of progress has occurred.

The people the stranger

Another curious characteristic of the people the stranger begins to learn from the moment that his foot is fairly on the shore. The frauds of greed never destroy social standing in this city. Official dignity persists though dragged through consecutive quagmires of embezzlement. The consequence is that in lay circles a man will perhaps kill one who suggests that he is ungodly, but will smile benignly when called a liar and a thief. As to the church, whomsoever a man may select on occasion to entrust with money for safekeeping, he will never entrust money to his parish priest or his imam or his rabbi or his bishop.

Once more, the stranger in Constantinople learns to suppress his surprise at the fondness of the people for imitation. He finds that there is progress in Turkey, but that much which appears to be such is mere mimicry. Imitation may be a valuable homage to superiority, but in observing this city a distinction is necessary between the imitation which marks a trend, and that which merely apes a result.