During the early hours of yesterday morning we reached Smyrna, one of the seven cities spoken of in the Book of Revelation, and we spent the day in its odd, underground bazaars. Wildness, madness and fiendishness have lost their terrors for me since landing at Smyrna.
LANDING AT SMYRNA
BY SPECIAL PERMISSION COPYRIGHT BY DR. J. L. LEEPER
Imagine all the wild animals of the zoo put together in one cage and all roaring at the same time and you will have some idea of the sound that greeted my ears as our ship dropped anchor. Then look over the rail and, as far as the eye can see, picture rowboats by the hundreds, so thickly crammed together that scarcely a bit of the water can be seen. Watch the oarsman pushing another boat or beating his brother boatman over the head with his oar, each of them yelling at the top of his voice, and you will have a dim outline of what really happened. All had the same object in view—that of getting as many passengers as they could carry, and as soon as possible.
Our dragoman turned us over to a Turkish guide who proved to be a scholar and a Christian.
The bazaars are filthy, but the filth simply serves to make prominent by contrast the beautiful embroideries and laces displayed there. If one dares to give more than a passing glance at any of these, the old Turks will follow trying to force a purchase.
To think that Homer should have chosen Smyrna for his birthplace! Yet it was and still is the most important city of Asia Minor, and is picturesquely situated on the Ægean Sea.
When we finally reached the ship, after the oarsmen's battles en route during which I had sat still with my eyes closed thinking hard, our Christian Turk came up to me, and, to my surprise and delight, whispered: "We know why we are safe, do we not?"