THE TURKISH VILLAGE.—Before the Columbian Exposition closed, the Turkish Village had become one of the prominent features of the Midway Plaisance, and drew a host of visitors. Its chief attractions were the theater and the bazaar, though the mosque, camps and cottages, the Persian tent, Cleopatra’s needle and the serpentine column were among the curious things to see. Upon the stage of the theater the scenes presented were purely oriental, giving, it was claimed, a just idea of the manners and customs of the various countries included in the Turkish empire, but in reality attracting the untutored American chiefly by the peculiar character of the dancing witnessed there. Aside from the dancing, though, there was much in the stage performances to interest, and, in a way of its own, the scene was educational. The musicians who performed were artists of their kind, and the fencing, war scenes and representations of weddings and funerals were all exhibitions of more or less merit. The mosque was a structure built in imitation of the famous mosque of the Sultan Selim, and from an upper story a muezzin called out the summons to prayer at the intervals the Koran designates. The bazaar was an attraction. Here delicious coffee was served to favored guests; here Turkish rugs and carpets and all sorts of bijouterie from Turkey were on sale, and here clever American girls, acting as managers and saleswomen, did a thriving business. It was here, too, that the dignified character made famous by Mark Twain and Sunset Cox, and known as ” Far Away Moses,” acted as a sort of major-domo.

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