THE PROBLEM OF TURKEY 221 



dren ignorant, their religion corrupt, and their government 

 diabolical. 



In the preceding paragraph I have twice used the word "insur- 

 mountable" with a definite purpose. Are the natural obstacles so 

 insurmountable? It all depends on who is to surmount them. 

 Have you never seen a toddling infant stumble and fall over a 

 threshold? Have you seen a sick man clutch at his heart and sway 

 breathless at the top of three or four easy steps ? Think what ill 

 health does to business in New York. Consider the effect of an 

 adverse climate upon Rome. Remember that delicate climatic 

 adjustments have been one of the chief strands in the long cord of 

 evolution. Then ask what the climate of Turkey does to its inhab- 

 itants. It is not a disagreeable climate. In fact, it is in many ways 

 delightful. Rarely have I found nature more charming than on 

 a spring day when the purple Judas trees along the Bosphorus — 

 all probably cut for firewood by now — ^were in full bloom, and the 

 day was ushered in by a full chorus of nightingales. Equally 

 beautiful were some of the bracing autumn days when the first 

 showers fell on the mountains of the interior, and our horses' hoofs 

 struck fragrance from the dry leaves of the hardy little sage 

 bushes. Four years of residence in the interior, extensive later 

 travels, and constant intercourse with relatives in Constantinople 

 and with friends all over the country have given me abundant op- 

 portunities to sum up the net effects. Long before I had any cli- 

 matic theories I remember how we used to talk of the jaded feeling 

 which seemed to pervade all the foreigners at the end of the long 

 monotonous summers. Day after day was exactly the same. How 

 we longed for the first break in the fall — the day when the clouds 

 that had gradually been gathering should drop the first rain, 

 wash the dusty air, and bring a change. I lived there just after 

 leaving college ; I never had a sick day and scarcely a cold ; during 

 the vacations of Euphrates College where I taught at Harput I 

 travelled and lived out of doors most of the time; and at other 

 times I always had plenty of exercise and spent much of my spare 



