THE WHIRLPOOL OF THE BALKAN'S 



191 



another of them, 

 Kolokotronis, later 

 won renown as a regu- 

 lar officer and an 

 equestrian statue has 

 been erected to him in 

 the square near the 

 Parliament House in 

 Athens. 



Like Robin Hood, 

 the Balkan brigands 

 are always represent- 

 ed as the protectors 

 of the poor and the 

 weak, the friend of all 

 Christians and the 

 ruthless scourge of the 

 Ottoman oppressor. 

 Thousands of legends 

 and songs have grown 

 out of their exploits ; 

 and had they made 

 war against the com- 

 mon foe only instead, 

 as they too often did, 

 among themselves, 

 their fame would rest 

 upon a far firmer 

 foundation. 



Nevertheless, among 

 all the agencies which 

 contributed in the end 

 to the winning of Bul- 

 garian independence, 

 the brigands were by 

 far the most continu- 

 ously active ; and the 

 long centuries of 

 Turkish misrule were 

 constantly broken by 

 a series of abortive re- 

 volts, which were sup- 

 pressed with increas- 

 ing cruelty, until the brutal massacres of 

 1875 inspired Mr. Gladstone to the fa- 

 mous Midlothian campaign, gave to the 

 Tsar a convenient handle against the Sul- 

 tan, and brought on the Russo-Turkish 

 War. 



THE TREATY OF SAN STEEANO CURBED 

 BULGARIA 



That war was ended by the Treaty of 

 San Stefano, which essayed to establish 

 a big Bulgaria ; but, thanks to Disraeli, 

 British influence brought about the Con- 



Hei 



Photograph by Hester Donaldson Jenkins 



A VILLAGE LASS OF BULGARIA CARRYING WATER LOR 

 LEER MOTHER 



! is the land of the attar of roses. The world's supply of this 

 perfume comes from southern Bulgaria. 



gress of Berlin, and it was a little Bul- 

 garia which finally secured a place at the 

 world's council table. 



A lowly place it was, but with splendid 

 courage the Bulgarian set out to make it 

 better, and the story of Bulgarian devel- 

 opment in a single generation finds few 

 parallels among modern nations. Except 

 for the humiliating war with her one- 

 time allies in the Balkans and her subse- 

 quent suicidal espousal of pan-German- 

 ism, Bulgaria's advance has been constant 

 and remarkable in the face of grave ob- 



