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Show Smyrna, Turkey, April 27, 1930. Dear Friends:- *~ The time has gone quickly since my last circular and we have had no extra vacations for cold weather, influenza, earthquakes or other such calamaties. I think that the first thing I had better tell about is one of the last things that has happened, namely my trip to Pergamos. I have had my papers made out for the place twice over before without getting there. This time I had a chance to go with Mrs Flint from the College, and Ess Towner of Adana, who crossed Europe with me when we both first came out to Turkey in 1912, We had the college automobile, and perfect weather and I even took a school day for it, one when I had very few classes. We started about half-past six and drove through the beautiful spring country, most of it that could be cultivated too, but a great deal of it that was not. We reached Bergama, the modern Pergamos about eleven. The modern town is quite a good sized, reasonably prosperous looking Turkish village* much more of a place than Ephesus, which is a little village, and Sardis which is just a tiny group of houses. Bergama is down on the flat land, and most of the Roman city seems to have been there too, there are remains of an amphitheater, baths and a basilica, but the Hellenistic Pergamos, was all up on the acropolis, and that is the part that has been excavated. It was a fine situation, this hill standing out sharply where two valleys come together, terraced, with the public buildings on one terrace above another. I kept thinking all the time of the "Tall mountain, citied to the top, crowded with culture" in the "Grammarian's Funeral." It might have easily been Pergamos in its palmy days, when it was a capital, in the century following the break-up of Alexander's empire. It had three beautiful gymnasiums, one for children, one for young men, one for adults. There was a wonderful great altar to Zeus, with a great deal of statuary which is either gone altogether or in museums. There is a very large theatre, with a little gem of an Ionic temple at one side, and a large temple to Athena. She and Zeus were the guardians of the city. There are great granaries on t&e upper terrace for storing provisions. Then on the very highest point of the hill, there is a very large temple built by Traian, which was the center for emperor worship in the province or Asia, and is supposed to be the "Satan's Seat" of Revelation. Of course that was a later building than those of the Hellenistic period, and some people say it spoiled the artistic symetry of the acropolis and some people say it did not, but it is hard to tell now it is all in ruins. For over all the city grows the yellow mustard now. We started home about four o'clock, and then as you might say our adventures really began, for our chauffeur who was new to the trip took a wrong turn which carried us an hour out of our way before we discovered it, for the country is really very like, and no town. Then on the way home, at a lonely stretch of sort of moor land above the sea, our gasoline gave out at nearly six p,m. Well, we were cheerful enough at first as we still had food and we were sure someone would come along. But as a matter of fact they didn't, except one boy on horseback who took our money for gasoline and never came back, thus sadly dashing our habitual trust in the peasantry. However he did not call the brigands to rub us, anyway* So, there being nothing else to do we stayed there all night, for the chauffeur wouldn't leave us alone in such a place to go to hunt gas, and probably would have been afraid to go alone himself. About half past five next morning, after what can not be called a restful night, the size of the car not making restfulness easy, Miss Towner and I started out and walked three hours till we reached a village. There may have been a nearer one across the hills, but not kno?ri.ng the country we stuck to the road we had come by., and reached one at last, a little seaport where they had gas and a most dilapidated car that we sent back to the others, ^hen we had coffee and rested till our own car came along again and took us back to Smyrna. We have had quite a lot of visitors this spring. Dr and Mrs Goodsell were here for a few days very shortly before they left Turkey for America, a loss which we still find it very hard to reconcile ourselves to, regardless of what he may bo able to do at mission headquarters. During the time of their visit here I had the great joy for one day of seeing Mr and Mrs Richards from my own home town of Saratoga. Their ship was in the harbor about six hours, and it gave a chance for a nice little visit which I certainly was glad to have. The next visitors were Dr and Mrs MacNaughton, retiring from the mission and on their way to America, Smyrna was their first station over forty years ago, and they made it their last |