l
Iqr—u
. .,.....~‘yg.-.._. I" ~‘, . t...e~..g.m- v-nw<-v v-
‘ By LOUIS DE WOLF.
N almost every part of the Balkans
I these days one runs across romance
and tragedy at every street corner.
It was for example, in Constantinople
I met “The Princess," waiting table.
dancing and being generally agreeable
to suCh guests as wished to have an in:
epiration for their toasts. And it was in
Jerusalem I met “The Colonel," who was
my dragoman.
How )hese two were associated before
the war was the romance; their station
now is the tragedy. anti because the story
5s true it is a remarkable illustration of
the condition of things in the less trav-
eled highways of after war Europe.
The whole range of services are per-
formed by many exiled members of the old
Russian nobility. One sees them in Porn,
in the .iust’ovite~the men, hootblacks.
public porters and waiters; the women.
peddlers of handmade Russian dolls. sec-
outl hand furs and both rare and tawdry
trinkets. in the liHSl’OVltO I saw others
of these Russian ladies as waitresses.
The." are wan women now, and may or
may ttt~t have been lovelywhut Tlil‘I
Priitr‘r~s-—
Among lvl‘ [temple her story must lir-
a not uncommon one. I ltnmv; but just
what xix-as the truth about her~thc truth
that \vnuitl outrhal fiction in its strangw
ness’.’
There site was, sitting at a table with
some guests. drinking; coffee. That “Fur
lit-r who littti frv—
qurtttcd tho restauran’ hefnre told it)».
And IVWJi‘ a cup tit" coffee she would tell
her i:..‘.;‘.t- — Sophie. and t‘
not she was :t:
ortistm-rztt, a sttvt‘ies now not countv-
named in Russia.
To one she ll.i(l men-
tion! -l a son, li year: old. at school hack
Yrs, she hoped to return
rustnnt, travelers
flit“.
day.
That t‘-'!"ilill_£' i‘lll- drunk t't‘it‘ev‘ vrifh z;
some
but fold I‘lr' in: more. Six l Wis lt-J.‘ lllEI :»
inn that
nltign-Iimr; t'c'inl't. Tho
hotbed in a litiihl'n': 117l>
of {tl'l'illifrl‘l’ill‘lx
thi 1.: Hi
but i1" .‘xiilst-titillt :fitw [i this:
main‘ ,‘ln t: is}: t ’t'it'avivridio which . ..
i0 llrt‘t‘lltiliilmit Y'Il YEW ititt‘t'it 3‘ litm-
oraiimzs. Thur v'ltulv th. :1 t“
n Moorish pal» The
nrt'hvvztys are hunt: v'ith ittt‘xpetr
sive hm r‘luriotislf.’ vulnrml draperies
of hide and The walls are
dark plt'asineiy and dirtth
lighted luv the small tum: r t‘iw’tr;;‘
bull’s. Rows of
size line the trails
the 2:1"
t"li'i'|ll_\.}' Ct"-
).lttstwn'itv is
1i“:‘}' {.1
J"l in its .0le
There it always c-nv .
iltt- ()rit niui
itil’tiz'I
within .5
t‘ 'llii-léxt!
:lilli.
l‘t'l],
tahlt-s of “grimy
. Maxim: an open
space in thew-21hr :‘wr dancing.
Our standards brand this >131)“
rate; it is quitu
the thing—1min!iwuiaily gimp u“.
advent of jazz. The tourist rarely
gets many from jazz.
ous strains seem to have niadu .1
world conquest. Nor has the I'siti_.. \
write in Constantinople ('nt‘nlteti,
By midnight pillt'l‘ is
with jazz and me arms to more
furiously. Rush hour Int-.2 is. at
.about it and brings on more .n‘ the fur
mer llusian writers
hostesses. The latter wwar senil-eveuitn;
dress and. it yhu are without a partner,
will dam-e with you gladly and join you
at your table later. ’l‘hty are gratinus
companions and they seem to have grown
accustomed to this manner it livitr'
in (‘unstantiriuple
its t'atnplgttn
,r"
”W noisy
nobility as
film;
M. 3‘“
different from the traditions 01‘ their
birth. Yet you womler—-wltat is the
story each of these delicately nuriurwl
and too privileged women has to tell?
‘Vhat. especially, of THE Princess? 'l‘hat
seemed the particular mystery and
key. perhaps, to the rest.
I had this sense of mysterious, exotic
things when my ship passed through the
Dardanelles. titat narrow waterway that
contracts in places to less titan two miles
and runs on for thirtydiw miles. empty-
ing into the Sea of Marmara. Tllt'll the
ship must sail 110 miles further before
coming to Constantinople. As in that
the
central t-ity so .too in the Dardanelles is
Visible the aftermath of a great (‘UlllllLL
In the narrower parts of the waterway
lie the wrecks of British cruisers and
other vessels used in the tizilllpoli catn-
pnlgn in the fruitlesa and fatal effort to
force a passage.
The peace terms, however. give Eng:-
land virtual control of Constantinople.
The British Gen. Harrington heads the
Allied Military Commission a.- mm-
mantler in chief of 20.0““ tilen~—F?tl;:lish,
French and Italian troops, British mm
trol facilitates travel in t‘onntautinople.
My first sight of the city wasn‘rmn the
Golden Horn, Where the ship anchors. it
13y before me serene. bathed in the sun,
“Showaml minaret.» glistening. its
hillsides verdant. I could not imagine
that this place was the home of 1.24;”),000
“pl§,,.m0§_l_ly hungry and unhappy. Some
175,000 of this nnmhur are war refugees
from all over Hump»). At least 50,000 of
w homeless are Russians belonging to
, the'rnilitary and noble classes under the
t regime. They do what they can
in Russian (if‘igll. ‘
1
{Elle Princess, Who Had Become 3
Dancing Girl. and the em, was
He'd Become a Dragomau.F0113d ;
‘ By {Tourist W >
After-War Romance
of the Orient
Behind
this
peddlen's
stall
in the
little
cafe in
which
the
form -. '
Print rs .
bacon” c
dancing
girl
and a
silvers.
The
Princess in her only street
gown on one of the paths
in Constantinople.
is live. Some of thorn ilnd l‘l;illilt}‘illl 1;?
{it the hi fit‘tt‘x'linwiur
I‘rint'ess. '
While I wonder about the Princess I
am tlmtravted by the sight of a dam-int;
outwith—a dark Skillllul man and a white
woman.
I...“
instance iii.
there is :1 Congregation of all races. this
13 neither a
I't‘llt‘C‘.
‘arv nor displcasing ort-ur-
(‘loser observation run-ah tint:
the man is an Algerian or a Hindu. who
can converse uith you in French as well
as: in his native tongue.
(iayttty increases with the passage of
midnight. l‘:\"‘i'j~".\‘il(‘l‘t‘ there is Scotch
and soda. A few tables have champagne.
which sells at eight American dollars a
battle. livery one seems to be dancing.
drinking and smoking: at once—all except
the Alohatnmedaus, whose Koran decrees
abstinence iron: hard liquor. They sip a
swett sirup and thick. Turkish coffee.
I find that I hate stayed until 5 in the
moraine. So has the Princess. Now she
is leaving. She has been invited to dine
sttfiirieutly and can wait again the four-
teen hours before her evening appear-
ance at the Museovite-to be some patron's
cmnpaninn. A little Rumanian girl has
sting her last song in her’native tongue
and picked from the floor enough small
change to pay for her lodging for another
day. ’
I too left the restaurant and took a cab
to the quay,. where the ship sailing for
Palestine lay anchored. I regsetted leavv
ing the Princess and the mystery of her
behind—and yet, was I not carrying the
mystery along with me?
O C O O .
Our ship docked at Haifa, sport 115
miles by rail north of Jerusalem. the
liut in t'tmstautiimtile, where,
"file I.
22 ' 7 won: thr- lzilis. tlevazt ' '
’-.'-'i . {in sea. l “as. oral-la I r”.
E.« '3'] .l' , t~‘:.:nt tlzttions lit‘t'tiiise ... “am."
t r l"t\‘--.t 2 stair. so i rv'prilri-i ‘~ f‘m'
iv i..‘i.~=i":‘_\ mi N'tirv Dame do i‘: .
,.
\\i‘.0,‘lt' the {rain iscan monk-4 132'- 2-1“. »r
to ir;t\'\'l¢.-r%. The lllll’ll‘dhlt‘l‘y. .i' l' , ~ ' .'
stilt. >|l§itiill". ageless in am...»
. n lllv‘ rv :xl i~ ruling to the Inna.» 4.
12nd ‘t'i! wall; 11‘
a ivxv minute:
..
«enit'r of .t.- city.
.\ lrruu-n . “Ni-Hi monk iIi‘-‘t"i-".l r:.v .~ i
t‘ltic‘i‘wl
lit- {‘21 wolves?» in
lilriolitl he would haw
aide linultsh. l
(lll:ll‘it‘l‘< \ .,,
small ()t"l. :» ,
iltl'ti‘t~i
., .. . .
l‘i'.t .1. .. .. .
t'vtiiétxti L:. : it:
‘~\‘:i.~ 1H;~:;:timl t z .-
t‘ie long. stoni-
lel'
.‘liiliill: a c-entl‘urldlde l writ
might limited \ hair. .t :.tt‘.‘
iztltlt- and a ‘.t.:.»h Maud. .\ large in ..
“lililtiw has .i rather phasinn irzu
fly. it lmk» Ii out our the glriit‘h
below.
l was awakened at 6 in the in :r::::;.: in;
the soft l‘t‘dl ot‘ the monastery lwlls.
whirh sauna-med those who would to
Worship. Attendance at these early :zaurn-
int: (i‘."~".)iillll> is a voluntary matter for
the guests. Breakfast. like the rest of
the mails. was extremely simple and
quite a contrast to the food served in (fun
strutinoplv. The {are is plain. and but.-
ter. even once a day, is a luxury.
Almost immediately upon my arrival
at the monastery l notieed a. fellow guest
~~somehuw he commanded attention. In
the morning I could survey him more
closely. It was“ his blue gray uniform.
lla‘ll‘ concealed by a flowing cloak of the
same color. that marked him from other
men there and told something of his
story. He had been a Colonel in the Rus-
sian army of the last Czar. His clothes
tcltl you that and the monks told you no
more, for it is their custom never to sits-
cuss those who seek asylum‘within the
monastery's walls.
Very vaguely I felt that the Colonel
fitted in somewhere in my experiences.
That feeling and the information gleaned
from the dragomen that he had been
exiled irom_Russia because of an incident
involving a lady, made me avid to learn
more. So I followed him on one ‘01 his
regular, _ semi-daily“ pilgrimages.
He went down therroad past the post"
ofllce, where the clerks earn about $10 a
week and must be "proficient in tourglan-
wages-English, French, Arabic saddle-
brew. Turning to the left he mafia
through the busy thoroughfare leading
to the Jatfa Gate, above which is. the
tower with the _two" faced clock—one tell-
ing the hour of the day according to
l: t: r t:'.)(‘;.ll -.~.lrul:t-
lions: the ofhvr it“?
fili‘. t i :n v Tritium
fashion. The Mosh-ta;
day i-tgtliis mail: the first hour when our
tinriss \vuuid read is A. At. Their limits
.ntriiw twelve at .3 in the “prime“. ‘.
tun-ding to European htuuandfi.
through the.
girl-seeded down
with ramp and
“UN." “r forty Wei. This is the quarter
of narrow streets crowded by bazaars.
Through all this maze of marketing and
vaiiitug to and In: on foot a donkey 1311’
tiently and ingeniously insinuates his
nay without direction from the brightly
tut-baited Arab astride him. And came!
(artisans: page; through ofttimcs. their
hut‘tit'm‘tl luldies touching the houses on
Cht'ii side".
hail-J street is all Color and pictur-
esqueness. There Are a few soberly
dressed Europeans. These seem very dis-
mal among the red tezzed Turks and the
Arabs and Bedoulns rolled in combina—
tions of purple. yellow and black. In~
deed. there are so many distractions that
I almost forgot the Colonel, whose faded
cloak i just glimpsed turning the corner.
Following him I came to a stone church,
over which is the Greek cross. The Col-
onel is solemnly greeted by one of the
church's holy men. conspicuous and
easily recognized by his black. conical
headpiece. his square cut beard and a
curl, of hair on each side of his head near
the ear. The Colonel entered. knelt in
prayer and came out again to retrace his
steps. '
I made bold to accost him and speak
with him. mentioning our common quar-
ters at the monastery 4:0 serve as an
introduction. He was very reticent, so
I'went on to tell of mystay at Constantl-
nople. Naturally I mentioned the/Erin:
seas and her name, Sophie.
The Colonel. who had been listening
politely but: llstlessly enough. now turned
to me an repeated softly. “Sophie?
when, "Oh. it is naming-Juli: firearms——
sophie is the name—but it Is noth-
1"”
Pianist”: Julia (late the
L‘avid
single step evc; y
("Lilith-l streei.
itV’.
1133“” ' , f -
”The Princess said she has a son tour-r
teen " : 1- \ 7:5»
“For: rteen 2'" the Colonel interrupted
ice and looked at me as though I held.
his life's hopes 'in my power. Butt};
dered'fiay nothing. hatter all it must be
just an» uncanny; :. enee 9! names
‘ and dates withmtxeglimne. “Tell me;
téli me," he urged. . ~
Instead. I got him to tell-me his story.
430 told I220.
' 7..
{men in Jerusant...
. . 1.. .»
wizc m
37:2?in 5:}; C .7. ,7 :_:—-_
l discovered to be the
missing Russian Prince.
tor l Six‘illiiiff men to tell but my
\s‘nziz‘ier. lie had but: ill‘il'tllllt‘il It» a
girl of noble birth and influential family.
lie was a Colonel in the
Czar’s army. head of a Guards regiment
at st. i’etershurg and a prince in his own
right. His wife would be 'a princess. The
nuptials were being planned when he
lost his heart to a maiden oi‘ the middle
class. Sophie by name. Disregardiug the
power oi his betrotheti‘s {amily he broke
his pledge. and married Sophie.- raising
her to the rank of princess. > _ .
But he was to hold his own position
only a short while longer. His affianceti's
relatives belonged to the military clique.
as did .most of the nobility before the
revolution. He was dispatched to the
Caucasus. His plea to remain with his
young wife or to have her follow him
availed nothing. He went quietly, hoping
hat obedience would gain him permis-
sion to join his bride when their baby
would be born. But he was ordered even
further into the mountainous parts of
vast Russia and was practically denied
communication with the princess. his
wife, for their letters were intercepted.
“That was "fourteen years ago," the
Colonel continued. "I was sent from post
to post. and effectively guarded so that
escape was impossible. Nor did I Imow
where to seek Sophie-«and the years may
have brought her other loyalties—that
doubt almost drove me to madness.
“Then the war and the revolution
mine. I was routed from the country
tegéther with the rest of the nobility. I
have sought, in Paris. in Berlin, in
int «i
'Vienna, in all the capitals where the
exiled nobles find a sort of haven. but I
could not find Sophie. I was disheart-
ened. so I came here to live in prayer
and solitude.” ‘you see. I have become
reconciled—my heart is almost closed to
the hope your story holds for me." he
said quietly. “I am 55 years old new.
filth”
But I persuadefl‘xbim to go to Constan-
tinOple with me.‘ I‘ needed a firagoman.
. ~. .. ~ or.
ii: Rio 1;.} l:
I said, and who (.041
than lie? At last he
as wanted to clear up the iii}?
the Princess ? ‘ _ ‘
Back in the Ainseovite 9.131.311
Sophie. waitress a}:
recognized and
:zte—~i.lien stopped. Site I =t it.
she \VCI‘G'St't'illg a. mirage. l
still as 1.:
..\_- ‘ ‘ A
it. ,
,. .t ..
ittfitlst“
ll'n:
to her; she was ‘1‘.
trance. The sittcle syllaizle ..
my lips sent her hurrying to the :-
niy dragonittn. .. ._.
“Serge." she said. and was Elttf'iu.
Later the Colonel and the Princes: '
me that their story is no unusua‘ ‘1.
With variations, it is similar to " * T
the surviving exiled Russian lit '
The Princess is still at the I-iuseevite
the Colonel enrus some coppers as a? ,
terpreter and guide. They wish to L .
Paris. They hope, some day. to rttuqi
to St. Petershurg—yes, St. Peters '
for they are royalists through kirk;
and habit. .
Reunion with their son would be not:-
ing short of miraculous. It migh also.
be intelicitous, {or when the Princess fits-i
the boy was at school, which institution
was taken over by the State, so that hY
training and education he will he out of
sympathy with the royalistic hopes and
the traditional philosophy of his parents,
HEN we look at the leopards in
a menagerie our minds in.
stinctively turn to pictures of
the hot tropics and the torrid lands of
the equator. But there are leopards that
love the snow, and never willingly as.
scend below the levels where snowstorms
occur in summer as well as in Winter.
There is at least one specimen in this
country of the "snow leopard,” whose
home is among the lofty mountains alto-1t
Tibet. Thousands of tanned skins of the
snow leopard are carried to Shanghai It 1'
sale. but the living animal is rarely seen
away from his cool mountain home.
Norwalk Chronicler