Our next halting-place is still more primitive, with its four houses, the tiny inn, a large stable, and a poultry yard. Here, however, the Mayor is ready to join us, in his long Persian shawl, robe, and turban, his documents wrapped in a case of flannel. Like the driver, I notice that, as he steps into his seat, he is careful to take off his muddy shoes. Indeed, the godly cleanliness of Islam, if it does not quite follow our Western traditions, is a very real and honest ideal. The body, as the cheik had assured me, is clean if the clothes be dirty; and I am beginning to think that those “little visitors” in the hotel beds must really be “suffered in kindness.”
I well remember the shock with which one of my friends met the suggestion that he might drown some of the kittens who were arriving, just then, with most alarming rapidity. He said, “the Koran would not permit it!”
Another weary day, amidst so much mud and so many ruins, naturally stirs my companion to thoughts of what might be done by a few dollars.
“I do not mind your having any concessions,” I said, “if you will keep your hands off the architecture. I was hearing the other day about a scheme for building a railway in co-operation with the Turks: one rail to be laid by them and the other by the Americans! I should feel far more safe in a yaili with one wheel!
It is a delightful pastime to work out big schemes for smashing up Europe, Asia, and America; in order to rebuild the world tastefully and according to hygiene, like a couple of happy children with their bricks; but we have at last reached the conclusion of the whole matter. East is East and West is West. If they attempt to “take turns” building railways, the trains will certainly “go off the line.”
I have never been able to understand why anyone should be so afraid of the Cheriat Laws. With all respect for my present company, I say, what I afterwards repeated to Sir William Tyrell, “I would rather trust myself in a Turkish court than appeal to American justice.” In the first case, you may find yourself in the hands of a kind-hearted judge; the second adventure depends entirely on cash. English justice has no equal; but our laws for women are themselves unjust, and the best workman can do little with poor material. Trials, like marriages in foreign countries, should be illegal unless the Consul, or someone equally expert, is present to “watch for” his fellow-countryman. What crimes have not we committed in the name of Justice through ignorance of foreign customs!
“Those who face the choice of trusting themselves to the Cheriat or keeping away from Turkey, may find that these laws are not so terrible after all,” answered the American.
Zeyneb once said that the great merit of Moslem “Commandments” was the absence of mystery. “The i’s are all carefully dotted. We are not told, for instance, that we should give to the poor; we are told the precise percentage of income that must be allotted to charity. Though our laws come from the great Prophet of Allah they are not ecclesiastical.”
In Moslem countries the Head of the State must be elected by the people; he has full executive and legislative power, but he is also personally responsible to the nation. We cannot deny that Mustapha Kemal Pasha has rigidly adhered to this theory of government in his daily practice.
This is the true Democracy. Born without any advantages of caste or family, Fethi Bey laughs at all my allusions to “old ancestors.” The attitude does seem peculiar to Western minds, and may often lead to confusion between us, but it is not without charm.