TURKEY IN ASIA.


Is there a Turkey in Asia as well as a Turkey in Europe?

Yes, there is; and it is governed by the same sultan, and filled by the
same sort of persons. All the Turks are Mahomedans.

You may know a Mahomedan city at a distance. When we look at a Christian
city we see the steeples and spires of churches; but when we look at a
Mahomedan city we see rising above the houses and trees the domes and
minarets of mosques. What are domes and minarets? A dome is the round top
of a mosque: and the minarets are the tall slender towers. A minaret is
of great use to the Mahomedans.

Do you see the little narrow gallery outside the minaret. There is a man
standing there. He is calling people to say their prayers. He calls so
loud that all the people below can hear, and the sounds he utters are
like sweet music. But would it not make you sad to hear them when you
remembered what he was telling people to do? To pray to the god of
Mahomet, not to the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ; but to a
false god: to no God. This man goes up the dark narrow stairs winding
inside the minaret five times a day: first he goes as soon as the sun
rises, then at noon, next in the afternoon, then at sunset, and last of
all in the night. Ascending and descending those steep stairs is all his
business, and it is hard work, and fatigues him very much.

In the court of the mosque there is a fountain. There every one washes
before he goes into the mosque to repeat his prayers, thinking to please
God by clean hands instead of a clean heart. Inside the mosque there are