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OMAHA COMMERCIAL, MISSIONARIES WHO RECKNTLV INVADED IOWA, At. ONO THE ROCK ISLAND LINES.- Photo by Stigleman Studio, Council niufN.
Ragusa, Unconquered Foe of the Turk
K
NAGl'SA?" said the man who was
U.-tening to the travel r In ou:-of-the-way
places.' "Whre Is It?"
The traveler told him-It was a
Dalmatian -seaport on the. Adri
atic. - ,
"Well?" queried the man.
In that ''well'' was summed - up what
the world at large today knows of the or.ee
famous little republic that was the Tuik's
one unconquered foe when ' the terrible
Mohammedan Invader overrun southern
Europe. . :"
But the twentieth century descendants of
the handful of men' who baffled for years,'
both In battle and diplomacy, the outnum
bering hordes "of onsweuping Turk are
perhaps prouder of this glory of their an
cestors than of the fact that' their father"'
owned and sailed and their town gave Its
name to ' the famed argosies of old. Tholr
eent'ment is that of one of their counc llo.-s
of Ktate: . ......
"We are an exceedingly proud people.
We have a right to be; We are in the very
heart of the region south ot Venice un.l
east of-the Adriatic that, Hinc the coming
of the Turk, has been an almo t continuous
battleground between Christian and Mus
sulman. Our Slavonic legnds are full of
bloody battles ami heroic deeds. Few Id
ealities there are south of German Austria
that have- not been under Turkish rule at
some time or other. But we a mere hand
ful of- men, even in our pultniest days
have never been under Mussulman rule.
The Turk has never entered our gatej ex
cept as a"-peaeeful merchant. He has not
left his impress upon Us except In the mat
ter of drees, and that we got second hind
from the people about us. The Turk?
let ub oppose him In Macedonia, and he
will run from Ragusianx."
Let the Infrequent tourist within the
gates of this once famous town listen long
enough to a native, and he will hear many
Interestlng things. He will be told that
Itagusa for over 2,(W0 years was an In
dependent republic, with a government
elmilar to that which existed In ancient
Bparta at the time of the I'erslan Invasion.
He will learn that Ragusa was the gate
way of the Orient's trade with the Occident,
and that lis little rock-bnund harbor was
filled with lleets of argosies for centuries.
He will hear how the Turk laid covetous
eyes on the rich port, and struggled for Its
possession, all In vain; how once It was
besieged for fifteen months by Saracens
from the sea and Turks from the land, all
In vain. In short, the eulogist of the deeds
of his fathers will continue relating
historical facts until the listener tires of
how Turkish commander after commander
and envoy after envoy met with discomfit
ure at the hands of the Ragusi u.s of old;
end when he does end. It will be with a
proud flourish Hnd a triumphant note;
"n'gusa. mark yon, has never been con
quered by the Infidels."
The traveler, the while lie listens, can
not help thinking of the ccntrast-thc
prosperous Ragusa of the time of the
Crusades and several centuries after, the
first port of Christendom and of the
argoelua; the Rugua of today, dwindled
from Tiitma to 7,oi"i souls, a port Into which
only dork less" coasters put with" any
regularity and from which scarcely a d 1
' lar's worth of merchandise is shipped to ihe
maikeis of the west. The reflection of
former glories Is seen everywhere in this
mountain and scabound town of a race,
who, -though never a warlike people; mid
given more to commerce than to the sword,
would not and did not bend to the yoke
of the Turk when seemingly more jiowerful
t cunmunltles about them succumbed before
the onslaughts of the Invader. .
The reflection of former deeds lias, been
resting on Ragusa since the days of. the
Armada, when Ihe Ragusians turned .many
of their argosies in i ships of the line,
and Joined fortunes vith the Spaniard.
Swiftly "after that defeat.' trade swerved
to Venice; the argufies dwindled and
crumbled; plagues swept" the republic;
earthquakes tumbled the town about the
heads of the inhabitants; It became in
volved In the Napoleonic wars; Russia be
sieged it': the .French took It; and tinelly,
on Napoleoa's downfall, it passed into the
haiift-: of Austria with tile rest of Dalin.itia,
and ceased forever to be an independent
power. . .. j - ' - it
Rut now tb's little city, whose wily
diplomatists and fortifications, which are
still strong, saw to It that the Turkh never
entered its gates except as drivers of
caravans, loaded with the precious products
of the Orient, is arousing Itself from its
long lethurgy. Along with the Introduc
tion of western dress by traveled Ragu
sians among their turhaned and kilted fel
low townsmen, the big, muscular, dark
skinned and fair-eyed descendants of old
Romans, old Greeks and Slavs, have
caught the modern commercial spirit. They
are endeavoring to revive. In part at
least, some of their former supremacy on
t lie peas.
Five years ago a company of Rugusi in
merchants was formed with the express
purpose of sending out modern argosies.
They would have a line of ships belonging
to that port that Would In lug tin;
name of Ragusa once more before the
commercial world. So the president of the
company went to England to buy a big
steamer, taking with him a captain and
mate to officer the ship back. All Itagusa
waited for mouths ahead, anxious that
the return of the first modern argosy
should be received with a memorial wel
come. The president tixed his choice on the old
Liverpool steamer, known under the Hrll
ish flag as lrrd Napier, it was big- over
4.0-iO tons but that was the best that could
be said of it. For two years it had been
laid up on the mud flats of the Rlvi r Tyne,
condemned as unstaworthy by Rritl h mari
time laws
A crew was picked up ill Newcastle-cn-tlie
Tyne. Tile sailors consisted of one
American, a Spaniard, a liruzillan, a Rus
sian anil a Tuik. The firemen were Swe
dish, Italian. Austrian, Argentinian and
German The cabin boy was Scotch With
this motley crew, the new argosy, remtned
Ralkan, left England. Its rusty engines pro
testing at every revolution. The old, worn
sails were pulled out of the lockers and at
tempts were made to set them, but a pufT
of wind snuffed them as though they had
been spider webs. Occasionally the en
gines stopped to rest, the steeling gear re
fused to work and i'alkan's course wai like
that of a drunken snake. The boats cnake.l
and split open as they swui K In the davits.
The masts toFsed back and forth from want
of proper bupport. The sailors growbd and
cursed their officers openly for brlngiag
them out on such an mint a worthy tub.
Thus diil the first of the modern urgcs'es
start for home.
The old, battered llalkan might have
staggered to its new home without mishap,
but It had yet to cross the Ray of Rlscay,
where many better vessels than it have
floundered.
On the third night out a storm arose anil
tossed the old steamer about. Illg na
washed over Its decks. The deck sianis
had not been pitched fr years, so the
water ciitertd freely and begin to li'l the
hold, laden, not like the urgosies of o d.
with Turkish and Indian silks, spices and
fruits, but with English coal.
The crew attempt; d to set the steam
pumps going, but they refused to work.
The water rose, put out th; furnaces and
the engines slopped. Then all hands set to
the task of bailing out with bucki ts, fo.m
Ing a chain up the engine-room companion.
Thus they labored for two day, resting
little and sleeping none at all. It was a
fight for life, in which even the captain's
daughter was obliged to take part.
On the third day the storm abateJ, and
the crew gained on the rising waters In
I lie hold. Then they restel- rested oae
whole day, lying almost sens, less nbjut
the deck, while the old i-hip rolled alml.-s'ly
In the subsiding feas.
Finally ihe men were uble to resume their
labors, the pumps were put In order, wreck
age cleared av.av. the furnaces reklndl-d
and the engines again started going. Ral
kan resumed its course.
Seven days later a crowd of citizens of
Ragusa stood watching the sea from the
walls of the town. News had reached them
by telegraph that their argosy would come
that morning. When the sun rose, the tur
haned and gaily-robed throngs on the stone,
quays, the roofs of the citadel and the ad
jacent cliffs made out the incoming steamer.
It limped Into the harbor, the first steam
ship to put in there in many a year. Inter
mingling with the enthusiastic cheers of
the multitudes ashore the new argosy's
am hor cable rattled through Its haws -pipes.
The little harbor, which In early
days had sheltered fleets, whs scarcely larg
enough foi the big steamer to swing in.
The crew aboard caught the cut iiusl ism
of the masses ashore, who had planicl
such a welcome i)M was given to th.. ar
gosies of old. Flags and banners II, w to
ail the ma.sis, cannons were find and the
harbor h ed the cheers of sailors and
populace in turn The bells of the ancient
monastery on the rocky ledge jutting out
Into Hie sea f langed a wild thorns of mi tal
llc peals and Ihe old abbot, in white cos
Back, blessed them ull from thu walls of
the monastery.
Soon the harbor was dotted with small
boais covered with colored awnings and
londiil with stalwart men and exceptionally
pretty women of the Spanish blondes typo,
Willi golden hair, blue eyes and creamy
brown skins, all going out to obtain a
closer- view of the big uteiiiner, the first
many had seen. The foreign sailors, few
of whom had ever heard of Ragusa Im
fore shipping, answered every cheer from
the rails.
That day n great celebration was held
aboard the old Ralkan. Wipe, fruits,
music ami flowers were brought aboard
by the prettiest girls of the town, who
afterumd danced on the deck with the
sailors. The men wh.i had safely navi
gated tiie ship home were as highly hon
ored and as much feted as were the ancient
Tiiaiim rs of the middle ages.
In the evening a ball was given, to which
came all the city oflleials, sons of the old
arlst icraey that governed IK) years ago.
The granddaughter of the last rector, who
was elected monthly to govern the town
when Ragusa was a republic, and whose
powtT Napoh'on crushed, danced with a
common sailor. Each member of that
crew, (onfli med vagabonds, most of them,
will ever remember when he came to
Ragusa on the first of Its new argosies.
Since then the same Ann that bought
Ralkan has added several more steamers
to In fleet. The old Ralkan still sails the
Mediterranean, nosing into nil sorts of out-of-the-way
oris with odd cargoes. Its
official flag Is the Austrian, but Its house
flag is flic little old banner of ancient
Ragusa. It has been much repaired and
tinkered with, but It Is only n question of
a few more years before It, too, will Join
that old fleet of the past, the ancient ar-
goslcH.
Rut at present the Ragushu:R are ex
tremely proud of It-almost as proud an
they are In their knowledge that In all
that region which the Turk once overran
they Hre his one unconquered foe.
ALRERT SONN1CHSEN.
Pointed Paragraphs
Divorce pulls the feathers from the wings
of love.
Although macaroni Is Iv.llow It is said to
bo a solid food.
Som;' men seem to believe that money
was only made to make.
Some men waste- a dollar s woilli of tuno
trying to save 5 cents.
Fortunate is the man who can give a good
bank account of himself.
If a woman hesitut. it must bu owing to
an Impediment in her speech.
The question of prei;edenee In this coun
try is mi rely a que-stion of hustle).
Worni'ii love uie-n for what they are, and
me-n love women for what they think they
at o
Eve n an umateur organist can play a wed
ding march that Is entirely satisfactory t
the j-lrl In the case.
Remorse Is like a wooden leg; It helps a
man on his way, but bu can uee where, he'd
be happier with out it. Chicago News.