romantic albania by demetra vaka in the century magazine, march 1917, pp. 778-784
TRANSCRIPT
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8/10/2019 Romantic Albania by Demetra Vaka in the Century Magazine, March 1917, Pp. 778-784
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Vol. 93 MARCH, 1917 No.5
TABLE OF CONTENTSThe President and his Day's Workby David Lawrence, pp. 641-652 -PDF
From the Life of Sir Watson Tylerby Harvey O'Higgins, pp. 653-662 -PDF
Lincoln and Peter Cartwrightby J.B. Merwyn, pp. 663-665 -PDF
Another Arabian Nightby Simeon Strunsky, pp. 666-672 -PDF
At the Gateby Myla Jo Closser, pp. 673-675 -PDF
A Timorous Shepherd(Verse)by Morris Bishop, p. 676 -PDF
The Cloistered Cityby Harry A. Franck, pp. 677-690 -PDF
Should We Fight for Prohibition?by Albert Jay Nock, pp. 691-693 -PDF
The Invalid(Verse)by Leolyn Louise Everett, p. 694 -PDF
The Bunker Mouseby Frederick Stuart Greene, pp. 695-707 -PDF
War Debts and Future Peaceby Joseph E. Davies, pp. 708-713 -PDFMrs. Fiske, to the Actor-in-the-Makingby Alexander Woollcott, pp. 714-722 -PDF
The Blundering in Greeceby T. Lothrop Stoddard, pp. 723-732 -PDF
His Father's Business(Verse)by Robert Gilbert Welsh, p. 733 -PDF
Aurora the Magnificentby Gertrude Hall, pp. 734-751 -PDF
The New York Policeby Henry Rood, pp. 752-764 -PDF
Ironstoneby Phyllis Bottome, pp. 765-777 -PDF
Romantic Albaniaby Demetra Vaka, pp. 778-784 -PDF
This Distrust of Demoracyby Seymour Deming, pp. 785-790 -PDF
The Story of the Eelby Edwin Bjorkman, pp. 791-793 -PDF
Rembrandt, A Self-Portraitby A.T. Van Laer, p. 794 -PDF
Turkish Dick(Verse)by Thomas Newell Metcalf, p. 795 -PDF
On First Looking into a Subway Excavation(Verse)by Christopher Morley, p. 796 -PDF
Big Gameby Frederick Lewis Allen, pp. 797-799 -PDF
One Who Benefits(Verse)by E.L. McKinney, p. 800 -PDF
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8/10/2019 Romantic Albania by Demetra Vaka in the Century Magazine, March 1917, Pp. 778-784
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Vol. 93
cS-^.^^fe-^-e
T h e President and his D ay s W o r k
By D A V I D L A W R E N C E
H A T a Pr e s id en t of th e Un i t ed
States can do is prescribed by the
Const i tu t ion and innumerab le s ta tu tes de
r ived theref rom; what a Presiden t cannot
do is a proscription imposed by society.
T h e one defines his legal pow ers, the othe r
limits his personal l iberty. T o survey not
alone what the President must do to dis
charge the manifold duties of his office,
bu t wh at he is by convention, custom , or
other cause prevented from doing, one
must observe from day to day his tr ials
and tr ibulations, his vexations, his tangled
problems, h is unremit t ing labors , h is op
por tun i t ies fo r e r ror , and unders tand
something of his public and private wor
r ies and apprehensions. Th es e consti tu te
an una llur ing , though fascinating, side of
the Presidency of which the general pub
lic gets only an occa sionar glimpse. Fo r
while the office is the most powerful in
the worl d, the para dox of i t is th at the
Pre side nt is at the same time th e most
res t r ic ted person in the countryre
str icted as to personal l iberty, and the ex
ercise of that degree of selfishness or de
sire for self-enjoyment, however small ,
w ith w hich every man is by na tur e en
dowed.
Few people ever stop to think what a
captive of convention and dignity a Presi
den t rea l ly i s. T he c i ty of W ash ing ton
is not his accustomed residence; it is, in
C o p y r i g h t , 1 9 17 . b y T H E C E N T
fact , the home town of few, being simply
a house of transients, and in the later
years of life intimate friends are not easily
made. The refore , un less the new Presi
den t has p rev iously l ived amid Washing
ton s m igrat ory populatio n and is accli
mate d to the city s periodic changes, he
finds himself alone in a stra ng e en viron
ment, a cold atmosphere depressing to the
new -com er. Even after he has ma de
friends he cannot call upon them casually
or a t random . For m, tha t ancien t regu
lato r of W as hin gto n l ife, is the imm ediate
bar r ier . Discre t ion is ano ther . T h e
President may drop in on his fr iends now
and then, but not too frequently. Such
visits,
un less d is t r ibu ted wi th ca lcu la t ing
foresight, are apt to be misun derstood , and
it is difficult ,to disc rim inate . So the new
President must at once detach himself
from private l ife, pr imarily because disin
terested men are
few. Somebody is al
ways want ing someth ing f rom the Presi
dent.
Mr . Ta f t wen t ab o u t W ash in g to n
freely, for he had lived there several years
before being elected to the Presidency;
but the general cr i t icism of him was that
he spent too much time socially, and his
defense, i t will be remembered, was that
the White House was a lonesome p lace .
M r. R oosevelt provided his ow n recrea
t ion ,boxers , wrest le r s , and rough-r iders ,
U R Y C o . A l l r i g h t s r e s e r v e d .
G 4 1
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8/10/2019 Romantic Albania by Demetra Vaka in the Century Magazine, March 1917, Pp. 778-784
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Romantic Albania
By D E M E T R A V A K A
Author of "She who Sowed the Seed," etc.
H E first t ime I visi ted Alb ania I
went wi th my bro ther , who was one
of a party of officials sent to investigate
a recent uprising . As usua l , the cause had
been taxes, discussed with rifles and knives,
and as usual the outcome had been none
too favorable to Tu rk ey . N ow , to save
her face, she was resort ing to that com
monest form of useless governmental ac
t iv i ty , " inves t igat ing ."
After the d ip lomat ic work was over ,
the intent ion of our party had been to
push on through cent ra l and nor thern Al
bania , Montenegro , Serb ia , and Bulgar ia ,
and so back to Cons tan t inople .by way of
the Black Sea. Un for tu nate ly , one of our
mem bers , a s l im, fascinat ing Fren chm an,
had brought wi th h im an unnecessary
am o u n t of F ren ch g a l l an t ry . T h e Al b a
nians took his gal lantry too seriously, and
it cost him his life, although ofEcially he
died of typhoid fever. O u r mission wa s
to pacify, no t to seek fur the r t ro uble . T h e
incident dampened the spiri t of our party.
"O ne mus t have a s t rong s tomach to
stand the diet of Albania," one of the
Greek s r em ark ed , w i t h a g r i m ace . "M i n e
has always been del icate, and I have tasted
enough of this savage country to give me
indige stion for the rest of my life. I go
n o f a r t h e r . "
T h e res t s ided wi th h im. Th ey we re
pampered ci ty men, and the coarse food,
the unavoidable hardships , the cons tan t
t ravel ing on muleback a long t ra i l s that
made them dizzy , coupled wi th the r i sk
of losing their l ives should they chance to
ofifend the untutored Albanian sense of
propr ie ty , were not to thei r t as te . Bu t
for my brother the Balkans possessed an
al lu rem en t he could never resis t . As for
me, I was young and fu l l o f en thus iasm;
my world had been made up of books, 'and
778
the mys tery of the Balkans a t t racted me
beyond the desire for comfort .
" O h , do let us go on " I urg ed my
brother , wh o needed no urg in g . T h u s our
par ty of many dwindled down to us two
and one zapt ieh , a southern A lbania n and
a good fe l low, who knew how to cont ro l
the muleteers , and how to obta in what we
needed from the Alb anian s wi th out get
t ing in to f igh ts wi th them . M oreo ver , he
had a good voice, and enl ivened our long
r ides wi th wei rd Albanian songs , which
seemed to invoke the spiri ts of that wild
coun t ry . T h e res t o f the mi l i t ary escor t
we dismissed ; for, as my broth er re
marked , i t added to our danger , no t to our
safety, since one could see the hair of the
Albanians rise, l ike the ruffs of angry dogs,
a t s ight of the Turkish so ld iery .
Alb ania is not on ly the oldest chi ld of
the Balkans , bu t the o ldes t count ry in
Eu rop e. It is a pa rt of ancie nt Il lyr ia,
and has survived the at tacks of the Ro
m an s an d t h e Hu n s , t h e M aced o n i an s an d
the Greeks , the Serbs and the Bulgars ,
and seems l ikely to survive those of the
Tu rk s . Yet i t l acks the two gre at fun
damental s that un i te a people and make a
nat ion , a common language and a common
rel igion. Cap able of resis t ing aggression
and of fighting fiercely and stubbornly,
the Albanians have never been ab le , de
spi te their great pride in, and love for,
their country, to put aside their family,
their t r iba l , and the ir rel igious feudsv in
order to form a homogeneous whole .
W e found the southern pa r t Greek in
speech, Greek in looks, and Greek in fai th.
W h e n we en t e red t h e m o u n t a i n o u s r eg i on
that , af ter several days of arduous mule-
back riding, brought us to the plateaus of
cent ra l Albania , mos t of the people were
Mohammedans, though only the officials ,
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R O M A N T I C A L B A N I A
779
who came f rom Constant inople , spoke
T u r k i sh . T ur k i sh , i nde e d, w a s l i t tl e
known among the Albanians except
among those who had worked in Constan
tinople as body-guards, a career for which
their fai thfulness and bravery eminently
fitted them.
T he se M oha m m e da ns o f c e n t r a l A l
bania were despised a l ike by Turks and by
Chr is t ian s . T h e fac t tha t they had turned
Mohammedans to save the i r lands and to
keep on the r ight side of the conqueror
made them an object of contempt to the
T u rk s and of ha t red to the Chr is t ian s . I t
is tr ue tha t this hap pen ed in the fifteenth
century, but in the Balkans they have long
mem ories. Bein g in the majo rity here,
how ever, they are a pow erful faction, and
in addit ion to their periodic r isings against
the Turks they have f ierce religious feuds
wi th the or thodox Albanians of the south,
and wi th the Albanians of the nor th , who
have become Cathol ics throug h A ust r ia n
and I ta l ian inf luences . Th ou gh re l igion
sits l ightly on the shoulders of these wild
mo unta inee rs, in its vario us forms i t has
helped to fashion those differences which
have impeded the welding of the country
into a homogeneous who le . T h e only cer
tain bond between the various tr ibes is
their excessive pride in Albania and their
lust for blood. Ev ery rock, every stron g
hold, every mounta in has i t s his tory, and
th at history is wr it te n in blood.
Yet they compel one 's sympathy, and
they compelled my adm iratio n. I f at t imes
they exasperated me with their boastful-
ness of being the greatest country in the
wor ld because they were the grea tes t
fighters, if I becam e we ary of he arin g ho w
once,
under I skander Bey, they had he ld
mil l ions of Turks a t bay, I had to remem
ber that they were only children in civil i
zation, and that greatness, f rom their point
of view, consisted in the capacity to shed
blood.
After we lef t the south, we did not take
our own mules wi th us . W e reasoned
that the best way to procure guides for
the inte r ior would be to hi re mules wi th
the i r mule teers . O u r reasoning proved
false. T o begin with , we discovered tha t
the mule teers knew only the main- t rav
eled roads, if one may thus dignify the
iBountain trai ls which connected one part
of the country wi th another ; and in addi
t ion, since all our muleteers "owed blood,"
they had to leave us at most inconvenient
spots, since their feuds had not at all been
arra ng ed w ith a view to the convenience
of travelers.
During the f irst three days of our jour
ney we encountered l i t t le tha t was inte r
es t ing beyond our unexpec ted changing of
mule teers . T h e vi l lages we passed
through, whether la rge or smal l , were
squal id and miserable . T h e cont ras t be
tween the grandeur of the landscape and
the human misery was overpower ing.
Amid these wonder ful , lof ty he ights one
expected to see wonderful edif ices and
men and women of inte l lec t ; and one saw
only huts , women bowed under the burden
of heavy work, and men, armed to the
teeth, ready to take l ife. A t t imes it
seemed to me that I could actually hear
Albania moaning, and begging for peace ,
that she might end this existence of al
way s tear ing to pieces. An unfa tho mab le
sadness sett led upon me. M y smallness,
my incapacity to help, crushed my spir i t .
I heard Albania call , and all I could an
sw e r w a s : " N o , A lba n ia , I c a nno t he lp
you. N o one can help you, because you
are the key to Constant inople f rom the
Adr ia t ic ; and a l l the grea t Chr is t ian na
t ions , pre tending they a re t rying to pre
serve the balance of power, have their
greedy eyes f ixed on the Golden Horn and
the terr ible hegemony of Europe, to which
ever ythin g else mu st be sacrif iced. Bleed
on, Albania ; for through your blood each
one hopes to wade to Constant inople ."
A t one of the la rge r vi l lages where we
spent the night our t rouble wi th guides
came to an end. W e always mad e it a
point , whi le our tents were be ing pi tched,
to call on the religious head of the com
m uni ty , w he the r a M ussu lm a n , a Ca tho
lic, o r a n O r th odo x . W e w e r e a lw a ys
courteo usly received, and since we spoke
their respective languages, we came into
di rec t comm unica t ion wi th them. As a
rule they were men of simple minds, and
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T H E C E N T U R Y M A G A Z I N E
although they were desirous of putt ing an
end to the feuds, one felt that they were
more or less imbued with the spir i t of the
cou ntry. Inde ed, I regre t to say tha t we
found more animosi ty be tween the two
branches of the followers of Christ than
between the Chr is t ians and the Moham
medans .
In this par t icu la r vi l lage there were tw o
flocks: the Greek, which was mostly
Vlach, and the Mu ssul ma n. W e ca lled
on the heads of both, and both offered us
the hospi ta l i ty of the i r houses . T h e M us
sulman had a most charming wife, so sweet
and childlike that I wished to stay with
her; and we chose fortunately, for not
only had I a delightful bed to sleep in,
but a bath, which was the most ingenious
thin g I had seen in Alb ania . I t wa s a
hole sunk in the floor of the kitchen, about
the size of a barrel , and made of cement
by p r e t t y E m m e ne H a nou m ' s husba nd
himself He had buil t i t to keep vege
tables in , but Emmene Hanoum used i t as
a ba th- tub.
She was a delightful and vivacious host
ess, and waxed eloquent over the peaceful
spir i t that possessed their vil lagers, and
the fr iendship that subsisted between the
C h r i s ti a n s a n d M o h a m m e d a n s . " W e -
have n' t had a blood-feud or an uprising
for ever and ever so lon g," she d eclared.
Holding up two rosy f ingers , she went on
impress ive ly, "Not for more than two
years . "
Her hands were pre t ty and wel l kept .
T he M ussu lm a n A lba n ia ns t r e a t t he i r
wives be t te r than the Chr is t ians do, and
whenever they can afford i t , they engage
Chr is t ian women to wai t upon them.
Sweet Emmene had "never put her hands
into cold water ," as the saying is, which
means that she had always had a maid.
She was tal l and slender , and her two l i t
tle sons were alvvays climbing in her lap
or up on her back. She could neither read
nor wr i t e , but embroidered won der ful ly .
The vi l lage , she told me, was unusua l ly
prosperous , and there were men there who
owned as many as a hun dred sheep. Th ey
were all very hospitable, and every promi
nent c i t izen wished to ente r ta in us . Th os e
to whose houses we could not possibly go,
for i t would have taken us a month to
accept al l the invitat ions, gave us presents
of meat, eggs, vegetables, milk, and fruit .
Indeed, provisions for several days were
th rus t upon us, and th e people begged us
to te l l the Government what a wor thy,
peace- loving communi ty they were .
T h e Greek pr ies t here was a f ind. H e
was not only an educa ted, but a brdad-
minded, man, and, unl ike most Albanians ,
he rea l ized ' the fac t tha t Albania was not
the grea tes t country in the wor ld, wi th a
past , to which th e past of Gre ece and Ro me
was as nothing . H e was a southern Al
banian, an Epirote , and his Greek was
delig htful . Cer tainly his salary could no t
have come from his sm all flock, an d we
concluded tha t Greece was awakening to
the possibil i ty of Albania 's being divided,
and tha t the Albanians had be t te r be pre
pared to choose wisely. I t was ow ing to
Father Basi l tha t the Or thodox Chr is t ians
and the Mussulmans got a long wel l to
gethe r . Th es e tw o religions, I believe,
had formed an all iance against the Catho
lics ; for T u rk ey viewed the pro teges of
Aust r ia and I ta ly wi th grea te r disfavor
tha n those of l i t t le Gree ce. Greec e only
dreams of the redempt ion of Constant i
nople
Austr ia planned to acquire i t .
Father Basil saved us fronj guides and
the t roubles tha t went wi th them for the
rest of our jou rney . H e took us to his
heart; for he had seen nothing of civil iza
t ion since leaving Constantinople a few
years before, and i t was really on his ac
count that we stopped as long as we did
in tha t vi l lage . Ho ld ing sway over the
ent i re Or thodox popula t ion of tha t par t of
Albania, he had traveled a great deal
about the country and as fa r up as Mon
tenegro. H e wa s qui te aware of a l l the
poli t ical intr igues at work, and now and
then would close one eye and remark,
"Y ou see how thing s wo rk up here ."
After he heard of our troubles with the
muleteej-s, he caressed his silky beard in
silence for some time.
" I w onde r , " he m ur m ur e d a t l e ng th ,
and aga in, " I wonder ."
" W h a t ? "
my brother asked.
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R O M A N T I C A L B A N I A
781
"I wonder if Acheron, the fairy's son,
wou ld consent to go wi th you. H e know s
al l nor t hern Albania . Mo reov er , he owes
no blood, and no ne is owed to him, and
every one l ikes and respects him."
"Whose son did you say he was?" my
brother asked.
"A fairy's. Yo u see, he wa s found in
the w oods by a M ussu lm a n w he n he w a s
only a few mo nths old. H e had been
kept al ive by a goat, which daily stood
over him and gave him suck."
"But what makes you think his mother
w a s a f a i r y? "
"Because the honor of Albanian women
is above reproach; hence his mother could
only have been a fairy. An d since he was
found near the r iver Acheron, he was
named Acheron, a l though the man who
found him adopted him, and brought him
up in the faith of the prophet."
" O h ,
do
get him for u s " I cr ied. Bo th
his or igin and his Homeric name fasci
na ted me.
" I wi l l t ry , though I don ' t say he wi l l
come. Ju s t no w he i s gu ardin g his adopted
fathe r 's flocks in the mo un tain s. I shall
send for him to-day."
The next evening a t dusk Acheron ap
peare d. H e certain ly did justice to his
or igin. H e was the handsom est spec imen
of a Gre ek I had seen in Alb an ia. T a ll
and well buil t , with classical features, he
mig ht have been Ach illes in person . H e
wore the fus tane l le , the s ta rched whi te
ki l t s of the southern Albanians; and the
lon g blue tassel of his fez fell grace fully
on his shoulders , mingl ing wi th his ha i r ,
which he wo re ra the r long. H e was as
different from the average unkempt shep
herd as a tho rou gh bre d is f rom a cart
horse. H is legging s, his waistco at, his
coa t were a l l beaut i ful ly embroidered: i t
seems that the women of Albania took
pleasure in giving him handsomely em
broidered garments to propi t ia te the
fairies, his kinsfolk.
Acheron l iked my brother , and having
looked me up and down, sa id he would
go with us if the priest would get some one
else to gu ard his fathe r 's f locks. T h is
Father Basil promised to do, and at the
next daybreak we were off , the father
admonishing us not to dare offer money to
Ach eron. " H e wi l l te l l you wh at he
would l ike to have, and you can send i t
to him," he told us.
Acheron proved to be the grea tes t de
l ight of our journe y. W it h a l l h is other
good points, he was clean and loved to
ba the . H ow he could have acquired such
habi ts in Albania I cannot imagine ; hered
i ty must be very s t rong . W ho ev er his
parents were, I am sure they could have
been no common people . Al th oug h he was
a Mussulman, Acheron adored the Virgin
Mary, of whom he spoke as " the l i t t le
Ch r is t ian fa i ry ." H e had a lso picked up
Greek as unedu ca ted people ra re ly do. I t
had come natural to him, as had his love
for poe t ry and his graceful man ners . H e
was Homeric in name, face, and disposi
t ion. H e believed absolutely in his fairy
origin, and played the part with fervor .
O ur j our ne y be c a m e A c he r on ' s j our ne y .
He knew the hiding-places of birds,
snakes, and beasts, and was quite at home
with them . H ad we been fol lowing any
par t icula r route and in a hur ry, he would
have been the most exasperating of guides.
As i t was , we s topped whenever he wanted
us to , and we awoke and s ta r ted on when
ever he told us to . T h u s we saw the
nor thern p ar t of Alb ania as tha t hand
some, ir responsible crea ture kn ew it . I t
was in the spr ingt ime, and the peaks were
ye t snow-capped; the t rees were in blos
som, and mill ions of wild f lowers tapes
tr ied the precipitous f lanks of the moun
tains.
An d we had Ache ron to expla in
everything, mingling fancies fearlessly
with facts and speaking of the fairies as
ever present.
Bathed in blood as Albania is, one
would imagine her devoid of al l except the
fierce romance of armed str ife; yet to
gether with the r if les and knives and
blood-feuds live the fairies and all sorts
of woodland and mounta in spi r i t s , who,
l ike the mill ions of wild f lowers, br ing
beauty and charm to the wi ld country.
And Acheron was the embodiment of mys
t ic,
roma nt ic Alba nia . Even it s ho r rors
we re not horr ible to him. H e told of the
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T H E C E N T U R Y M A G A Z I N E
kill ing of men with the same simplicity
wi th which he one day brought me a snake
to play with, never imagining that I might
no t care to touch i t. T o him all wild
animals were fr iends.
On ce at dusk as we were r idin g alo ng
a steep mountain-side, he walking by my
mount, suddenly he seized the reins of my
mule, br inging i t to a dangerous halt , a t
the same t ime ordering the others to stop.
As we wai ted brea thless , not knowing
w ha t to expect, we heard from afar the
hoofbeats of a galloping horse coming to
ward us at full speed.
Consider ing tha t our mules had to walk
on our rocky pa th wi th the utmost cau
t ion, this was marve lous . Acheron w as
greatly ex cited, and so we re my bro ther ,
the zaptieh, and L
The sound came nearer and nearer , and
we strained our eves to see the daring
rider . Ye t al tho ugh the sound passed
close to us in the gathering dusk, I saw
neither horse nor r ider; I only saw
Acheron salute and heard him say:
"M ay thy journ ey be of good omen I"
"Did you see the r ider?" I quest ioned.
" N o ;
but I know who i t was ."
" W h o w a s i t ? "
"The br ide of the mounta ins ."
He had often spoken to me about this
par t icula r fa i ry who, mounted on an in
visible steed, galloped over the roughest
defi les of the mo un tain s. T h er e wa s not
the s l ightes t doubt but tha t Acheron be
lieved what he said, and I , being young
and in Albania, and in the deep dusk of
a t ow e r ing m ounta inI do no t know
wh eth er I believed i t or not. A t any rate,
I heard the ga l loping hoofs ; and a l though
my Ph ilist ine bro ther explained- them to
m e, when we were a lone , as the reverbera
t ions of some curious tr ick of echo among
the mounta ins , l ike the whisper ing ga l
ler ies in cer tain churches, his reasoning
did not wholly convince me at the t ime.
Before i t became dark we pitched our
t en t s ,
and l ighted the bri l l iant f ire which
was to keep wild beasts away from u,s;
and wonder ful ly wel l I s lept tha t night ,
and every night in the Balkans, af ter
many hours in the saddle.
Dur ing our t r ip we passed many smal l
vi l lages where the women, prema ture ly
old, worked in the f ields, and at evening
we a lways met them re turning to the i r
homes, car rying t remendous loads on the i r
heads ,
wi th l i t t le chi ldren tow ing f rom
the i r ski r t s . T h e wom en per form every
labor in Albania in order that the men
may preserve their streng th for f ighting.
Near many of these vil lages we dis
mounted to ta lk wi th the women, and they
stopped their work to talk with us or to
fetch us milk or cheese or even to go home
wi th us and cook mu tton for us. As a
rule they were absolute ly uneduca ted, but
honest , shrewd, and capable.
After leaving one of these vil lages, we
came upon a place where four paths
crossed, and there, securely fastened in a
sort of sl ing, a baby was ha ngi ng .
"Acheron," I c r ied, " there i s another
fairy baby l ike you "
Acheron shook his head.
" N o ,
that is an i l l-omened baby, and i t
is lef t here, wh ere fou r pa ths meet, to
break the spell ."
" W ha t k ind of spe l l ? "
"All his brothers and sisters have died,
because the j inn have crossed the threshold
of his home; so now they hang him here,
w i th t h r e e M a r os [ M a r ys ] w a tc l i i ng , t o
break the spell ." H e poin ted to three
women seated at the foot of a tree a l i t t le
distance off, and cont inu ed; "E ve ry mag ic
requires three or seven or nine Maros.
T h a t is wh y every fami ly, whethe r M us
sulman or Chr is t ian, names one gi r l M ar o,
a f ter your l i t t le Chr is t ian fai ry . Th er e
was once a vi l lage where a l l the Maros
died. T h e inhabi tants knew there must
be a spell over their village, so thev all
left it."
The three Maros had got up, and met
us before we reached the baby. T he y
asked us to say a prayer as we passed be
neath i t , to help break the spell , in order
that it might live, and not die like all its
brothers and-s is te r s .
In the outskir ts of another vil lage we
came upon a group of children feasting
about what looked l ike a small , newly
mad e , grave .
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R O M A N T I C A L B A N I A 7 83
" W h a t a r e t he y do ing ? " I asked A c he
ron.
"They have bur ied a ca t ," he repl ied.
"You know, a cat is a sacred animal, be
cause Christ produced one from his sleeve.
W h en a cat dies, the children of the
household invite their f r iends to come and
help bury i t , and then they si t about the
grave and feast ."
T he se w e r e M oha m m e da n c h i ld r e n , bu t
th r oughout A lba n ia w e f ound Chr i s t i a n
and Mohammedan be l ie f s and supers t i
t ions commingled a lm ost wi th ou t regard
to the part icular creed of any particular
person.
On arr iving at a town of some size, my
brother suggested tha t I wai t there a few
days while Acheron and he climbed to the
sum mit of a cer ta in mo unta in. I was in
vited to stay in the household of the pasha
of the tow n. T h e house was more like a
fortress tha n a hom e. I t was two stories
high, bui l t a round three s ides of a cour t
yard, and the outer wal l was pie rced wi th
windows only jus t wide enough to permi t
the muzzle of a r if le to be poked through.
T h e house ho ld w a s t r e m e ndous . T h e
w i f e ,a nd in A lba n ia m os t M us su lm a ns
a r e m onoga m ous ,the sons and their
wives , the daughters and the i r husbands ,
numerous near and dis tant kin , bes ides
guests, al l l ived in this one abod e. T h e
women of the household went about un
ve i led and were permi t ted to ta lk wi th
men. Al l wo re r ichly embroidered bloom
ers reaching to the ankle , wi th an ankle-
piece of exquisite embroidery, and short
jackets, or waistcoats, with long coats of
blue and whi te . Al l evinced the grea tes t
intere st in my jou rne y, an d especially in
the condit ions we had found in those re
gions where upr is ings had occur red.
Every one wanted to do something to
ma ke my stay as pleas ant as possible. I
slept in a large room where several beds
were made up on the f loor every night for
guests . Am on g us there was a you ng gi r l ,
wi th an ext remely a t t rac t ive Or ienta l face ,
who wore espec ia l ly wel l embroidered
c lothes . I could not make out wh at her
posit ion in the househ old mig ht be. A t
meal - t imes , when we sa t down, c ross-
legged on the ground, a round a huge ,
revolving-table, she seemed to have no spe
cial place. Des pite my you th, I was placed
next the head lady. Th is par t icu la r gi r l
took any place that happened to be vacant,
yet everybody petted her , and the old
hanoum
often pinched her cheek and
ca l led her naughty and endear ing names.
O n the second day of my stay I chanced
to see this gi r lher name was Kouze
sitt ing in a small , hidden arbor with a
youn g man, and he had his a rm arou nd
he r w a i s t . K n ow ing how the A lba n ia ns
felt about their women, I was seized with
the fear th at in a short t im e I should be
in the midst of a feud, when first this
young man, and then all his male relatives,
would have to be kil led.
An hour la te r , when we assembled for
our evening meal , Kouze , br ight -eyed and
unconcerned, came in . The more I looked
at her , the more she puzz led and a t t rac ted
m e.
De vi l t ry was in every glance of her
eye. Af ter dinn er I began to talk wit h
her , and her hum or surpr ised me. As
we were par t ing, I sa id:
"Do te l l them to put your bed next to
mine to-nig ht ."
She shook her head t i l l the long, gold-
blue tassel of her fez danced.
"You have too la rge eyes ," she an
sw e r e d ; " the y se e t oo m u c h . " N e v e r the
less,
when I went to bed, hers was next to
mine .
At dawn I was awakened by a whis
t l ing in the cour tyard under our win
dow sa w hi s t l i ng w hic h tu r ne d in to a
soft song.
Kouze rose quietly, sl ipped on her
bloomers and her long coa t , and c rept to
the window, sc rambled over the s i l l , and
with the dexter i ty of a ca t sprang to the
gr ound .
I rushed to the window jus t in t ime
to see the arms of the same young man
enci rc le Kouze before the two disappeared
among the t rees beyond the cour tyard.
Though i t was s t i l l very ear ly , I s lept no
m or e . W h o w a s t he r e t ha t I c ou ld w a r n
wi thout br inging on the ca tas t rophe I
wished to avoid ?
At breakfas t - t ime Kouze came in as
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T H E C E N T U R Y M A G A Z I N E
deb onair and impish as ever . Af ter th e
meal was over , I joined her .
"You rose very ear ly ," I ventured to
say.
"So I did ." Th er e was laugh ter in her
eyes and on her l ips. She pinched m y
cheek, and, ben din g l ike a bird, gave me a
kiss tha t was more l ike a peck. "C om e,
and I '11 show 3'ou some of my pr etty
c lothes ."
Froin a cupboard in the room in which
we slept she brought for th an armful of
the m ost exqu isite clothes, besides a lo t of
si lver brooches and bracelets. " T h ey are
all mine," she said.
I wanted to wqrn her of the danger she
was running, ye t somehow I could not
ma nag e i t . I fel t tha t I should receive
only r idicule in reply.
T h a t a f te rnoon the mother - invi ted me
to dr ive wi th her , and as we were re tur n
ing through the woods I espied Kouze , and
then made out tha t the young man was
aga in wi th her . Quic kly I turn ed my
liead away, afraid to look lest I should
a t t rac t a t tent ion to her . Ye t i t was my
hostess ' s laughter which made me look
again. *
" M a d c a p c h i l d r e n " s he m u r m u r e d ,
" m a dc a p c h i ld r e n "
" W h o are ma dca p?" I asked innocent ly .
She laughed again.
" Why, K ouz e a nd he r husba nd . "
" H e r husband? I c r ied. "W h y, is
K o u z e m a r r i e d ? "
" Y e s ,
she 's marr ied to my j^oungest
son."
I gasped. M y tragedy had blown away
in smoke.
"Then why does she l ive the way she
does?" I asked.
"Because she has no chi ldren. Th ou gh
she has been married a year , no child is
coming yet; so she has no standing in the
household, and must take whatever i s
lef t ."
That night when we were in bed, I
reached over and took Kouze ' s hand.
" I am so sor ry, dear ," I sa id . "T h is
af te rnoon your mother told me a l l . "
Kouze dropped my hand, got up, pul led
her mat t ress nearer mine , and then took
my hand again in hers.
" W h y are you so r ry ?" she asked, her
face very close to mine.
"You are t rea ted te r r ibly jus t because
you have no chi ldren."
"You," she answered, "a re a s imple
goose. I am as happy as a ne w m oon,
I 'm happy as a young rose, I 'm the
happiest of olive-trees."
"Happy wi thout be ing able to see your
husba nd? " I c r i e d .
"B ut I do see him a l l I w an t . Some
times I go to him, and sometimes I don' t ,
and I make him suffer . Som etimes I let
him kiss me, and sometimes I d on ' t , an d
he is ma dly in love wi th me . I t is a year
we are married, yet his hand trembles in
min e. I pray to the moo n and to the
stars and to all the trees that grow on
the mounta ins tha t they may wi thhold my
son's com ing yet ano ther year . I shall
be f if teen when the frost comes in; why
shou ld I bo the r? An d i t is such fun, and
I am the lord of my ma ster . W e are
lovers now. W he n children come .we
shall be old marrie d people, and I d on ' t
w an t to be old. Besides, if I had an
apartment, he could come to i t as his r ight.
Now I hold that r ight, and i t is as i t
should be ."
In amaz emen t I l i s tened. T h a t wi ld
Albanian chi ld , who could hardly read and
w r i t e , w a s p r om ulga t ing se n t im e nt s w hic h
years later I was to hear again from the
lips of th e mo st ad vanc ed, feminists of
Amer ica .
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This Dist rust of Democracy
By S E Y x V l O U R D E M I N G
W
E begin to repent of our democ
racy. I t is a high-class po pu lar
t u n e .
A t the direc tors ' table, in the
smoke-dimmed privacy of the club, in the
studious glooms of the scholar 's l ibrary,
at dinner- tables agleam with si lver and
snowy linen, in the mellowed shabbiness
of the author 's den, beside the ash-strewn
hearth of the statesman's town house, over
the mahogany desk of the professional,
wherever men of learning most do con
greg ate, this refrain is hu mm ed in com-
j:ilaint against the founders of the repub
l i c : how thoughtless of them to let us in
for i t Dem ocracy may have been wel l
enough in their day; in ours i t is going to
be a nuisance or worse.
In a t ime when, by the democra t iza t ion
of government, the moneyed class is losing
its money, and the intellectual ar istocracy,
by the democratization of education, is
losing i ts prestige, is i t any wonder that
the twain unite in a distrust of democ
racy? T h e increased supply of these
t ra ined min ds has so wh i t t led dow n the i r
earning power tha t unless the i r generos
i ty and idealism are equal to the stress
they resent the process which has reduced
the i r marke t pr ice and which threa tens ,
unless they are will ing to change from a
quasi-ruling class to the highest type of a
serving class, to push them out of the
fugue a l toge ther .
Distrust of democracy is the class view
of a class no t as yet class conscio us. T h e y
suppose their hosti l i ty to be directed
against a form of government. I t is really
di rec ted aga ins t tha t form of government
which would depr ive them of maste ry,
which form happens to be democracy.
This hosti l i ty is no more consciously rea
soned than the policeman's when Ke blud
geons a str iker or the soldier 's when he
shoots down a Boer farmer in behalf of
a Lon don broker . I t is autom at ic . H e
who has been dedicated and trained to the
service of a part icular class reacts to that
class.
T h u s it is not to be questioned tha t
those who distrust democracy are quite
sincere in their opinion, never having
traced i t to i ts source. T h ey reason , just
as oligarchs have always reasoned, that
oligarchy is better for society because it is
better for them. An d they are, of course,
society. T he y forget th at nev er in the
history of the world has an ar istocracy
been permanent ly proof aga ins t the temp
ta t ion to be t ray i t s s tewardsh ip. W it h
commerce so organized tha t he wh o would
continue in trade must protect himself at
the expense of and, if need be, by the ruin
of, his r ivals, we need hardly w on der tha t
men of business should distrust a system
which is now aiming at the rescue of the
most pit iable victims of the exist ing order .
W it h educa t ion hi the r to ens laved, if not
to the theory, cer tainly to the practice that
i ts benefits were to be converted into an
increased earning-power f irst and an in
creased serving-power only second, we
need hardly wonder tha t men of educa
tion should distrust a system which aims
to reverse that order , and to set up in
place of an ar istocracy of brains an ar is
tocracy of service.
T h a t dem ocracy is beset wi th peri ls is
not denied. N o one is sugg esting tha t
the millennium lies over the next r ise of
land. Bu t wi th proph ets of i ll so mu l t i -
tudinously eloquent of these peri ls, i t
might be wel l to inqui re whether they a re
perils of democracy or peri ls of those
who m democracy imper i l s . A t the same
t i m e ,
let us consider as premature the
br isk announcement tha t "democracy i s a
fa i lure ," when democracy has never ye t
been t r ied. Even Nie tzsche admits tha t ,
an admission which, extended quite as
jus t ly to Chr is t iani ty , might have induced
tha t other
Pistol
fury of his to aba te.
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