Turkish Inn in Sivas, Turkey
Title |
Turkish Inn in Sivas, Turkey |
Caption |
"Turkish Inn" |
Description |
"We got a late start and had some tire troubles so only made some sixty miles. Our arrival in town of course was a big event and soon the whole populace of Hakem Hahn [Hekimhan] was surging into the hahn [inn] yard. As travel is not heavy we had our choice of apartments, a row of three rooms opening on a rickety balcony. As I have described before the rooms are perfectly bare, mud floors, one without any window frames even, the others with windows pasted up with paper or carpet. We opened a few air holes and set up our beds, started our gasoline fire for supper. Seven women slept in one room, Mac [Laurence H. MacDaniels], Mr. Means, Peggy Niles in another and the other men in the dining room. With a bed across the opening we dared leave the doors open for ventilation, tho [sic] this invited cats and dogs to enter and sniff about. I wished that I could have had a phonograph record of the strange noises heard during the night....Early in the morning the whole place was astir, the hotel keeper and his children came along to peer in at us, the children gathered about, fleeing saucily whenever the 'hanje' or hotel keeper dressed in a black Prince Albert coat came round. It took a long time to pack up and load the trucks and longer to get them in shape for the trip, tires to be pumped, springs to be changed, carburetors to be cleaned, etc. The leading men of the town were provided with chairs down in the court yard to watch the performance and sat idly telling their beads. It was a mutual movie and tho [sic] tiresome, very interesting. By eleven o'clock we were off again in a shower. All day we chased the blue sky which kept retreating before us. The mud grew deeper and stickier each mile and on every slope all the passengers got out and walked or pushed. Finally Mac's [Laurence H. MacDaniels'] car balked stubbornly and as it was purring Peggy and I joined the honeymoon special which seemed in good shape, leaving Mac with Means, Garabed and one of the native mechanics....We reached there [the nearest village] after dark, found a hahn [inn] and welcome.... It had rained more in the night, wetting those left in the truck on the road, but they had abundant bedding to keep warm and reached our camping place about nine. Here we held a council of war and decided to push on, leaving all necessities behind with the other native mechanic....We reached here [Sivas, Turkey] about five and have had a good rest....we plan to go out to Samsoun [Samsun, on the Black Sea] in trucks next week." 18 April 1920 "Mac [Laurence H. MacDaniels] reached here [Sivas, Turkey] Sunday after three days of rain, sleet and mud." 24 April 1920. Both letters were written by Frances C. MacDaniels to her parents, Series 9. Additional Correspondence, Laurence H. and Frances C. MacDaniels Papers, 30/276 |
Date |
1920 |
Creator |
Laurence H. and Frances C. MacDaniels, graduates of the Class of 1912 of Oberlin College |
Object Type |
Image; first generation black and white photograph |
Digital Information |
jpeg derivative of original tiff image; HP ScanJet ADF flatbed scanner |
Copy Rights |
The photographs and drawings provided by the Oberlin College Archives (© Oberlin College Archives) may be downloaded for educational use by Oberlin College and the Oberlin School District. For other uses of Archives' photographs--including reproduction in a brochure, scholarly article or book, or other publication--please seek permission from: Oberlin College Archives (http://www.oberlin.edu/archive/using/services/application.html ). |
Metadata Creators |
Abraham D. Krikorian (b. 1937); Eugene L. Taylor (b. 1935) |
Image Number |
89 of 89 |
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