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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 17, 1915)
4 THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAN, PORTLAND, JANUARY IT, 1915. Village X ilW, v- "S? -3- ,Sufs s M X 1 1 VI" J. 1 1 .x .'.Aft v "'4V li, - ;&aV Vf ; r . , HfV ' t Str .-rub 9 Br JOHN "W. HARRINGTON. they Invaded Constantinople Itself In TO the wars once more the Cossacks Oaring- forays, (ro. rough rWers of the Tsar, who The rough riding knights of old for centuries have been In read- swarmed to the border when there was lness to do his commands. need of them In every direction. To the Their home has for ages been upon Poor they were champions, and what if the grass-grown steppes. As free a tney were maniereni concerning me the air above, as reckless of danger as property of the rich, what difference the creatures of the wild, they have lived beneath the stars. The popular conception of the Cos sack Is a whiskered atrocity who rides did it make If they were open handed and generous to those of low estate? The Turks and the nations of the East who brought gold and spices from the with the speed of the wind, comes to do magic lands of sun called the Kazaks acts of pillage and of rapine and then "robbers." Many ,a caravan was pil froes back again Into the bosom of the laged by the marauding riders. There tall grass from which he came. By were certain things, like weapons and many he is supposed to belong to a ammunition, food and equipment, which legendary tribe whose history stretches they had to have. They divided their back into the blackness of the dark spoils in council In accordance with ages from which he has not yet their ideas of equity. One of the fam emergcd. ous pictures of Cossack life represents No; the Cossack is in many respects a council where the chiefs are making like the simple Russian peasant; in oth- up their accounts as they dictate to ers he" is like the cowboy of the West- their scribe. About the group gathers em plains whose home Is as much in the saddle as In his own village. Far from being oppressors, the Cossacks were once known entirely as the de fenders of the poor and the wronged. The name Kasak Is of Tartar origin a motley crowd. The dress of the Cos sack has become more or less conven tional as the years have gone. We see him in the long coat of brown or of green with the great lambskin cap on his head with strong belts containing and means "Freeman." It was applied cartridges about his waist. He shows to men who. driven from the more settled communities, took up the life of the unsettled countries and under the blue sky rode without the trammel of tradition, without the Interference of Kings, potentates and powers. There was a time when nobles laid heavy hand upon the subject, and human life was held In small account. When the Cossack communities were the Influence of military training. The Cossack of today Is a model of ele gance compared with what he used to be. He seized garments covered with gold lace, coats of silks and sable and smeared them with mire and tallow to show his supreme disregard of fine trappings. He wore coarse garb, but in the care of his weapons the Cossack has always been punctilious. "His marksmanship was deadly and Ska. AX! . . ' tsrft first formed they were Inhabited only accurate even while riding at full speed by men. The Kazachestvo took vows of celibacy. It was an order that lived like anchorites and fought like demons. As the ages have passed there have been many changes. The Cossacks have families and their own home life. At first, however, young and daring youths were sent out to ride with the Cos Backs, and there was no system of chiv alry more punctilious than was this frovernment of the men of the steppes. Offenses that Involved violation of their as that of the cowboys of the Western United States. The Cossacks have been expert swordsmen for centuries. Their : ci- . Mill "jrf - lj II V 000. The military service begins at 18 years and is continued for 20. After that the male Cossacks are placed In the reserve or en the National Defense. To this day they are of the flower of the Russian army and constitute one of the most efficient light cavalry or ganizations in the world. Old Battleship Oregon fContnued Prom Pag 2.) dently in trouble. Looking back, we saw. Instead of what we expected, our own fighting ships in fighting array, simply a heavy pall of smoke and not an American ship In view. Schley turned around and grimly said to Cap tain Cook, 'Well, Cook, we'll have to stand alone with this crowd,' but just then, out of a curtain of smoke there came a mighty foam-crested wave, and after a dash of Immense brilliancy a roar followed that bespoke a 13-lnch gun. It Oqucndo, which had been riddled with .shells, caught fire. About that time the Oregon and Brooklyn each put a big Bhell aboard the Maria There, Admiral Cervera's flagship, and she be gan to burn, turning for the beach at 10.J1. The fight with the Visraya began at 10:36 and at 10:50 the Oregon got close enough to land several six-inch shell on the Vlscaya and dropped a few II lnch projectiles around the Colon. Oreicon Wind Vp Flxht. At the end of 24 minutes of clou action, an eight-Inch shell from the Brooklyn struck the Vlscaya' bow a glancing blow and exploded In her tube a torpedo that was ready to be fired. Immediately after, the Oregon fired an eight-inch shell that struck the Viscaya's quarterdeck rail and raked her fore and aft, one end of her bridge tumbling down, and at 11:06 she turned and heuded for shore, her dck a mass of flames and her flag hauled down. The Brooklyn and Oregon chased the Colon and the race lusted from 11:25 to 1:15. It was about that time that the Oregon raised a signal reading "Remember the Mulne." and the Brook lyn answered, "We did." The Sleepy Egyptian. (Leslie's.) Egyptians can lie down and go to sleep anywhere. They look around un til they find a particularly busy place in the street where there i a patch of was the Oregon and as our ghade. wraD a dusty cloth around their men and officers saw It, they yelled faces, curl up and peacefully glide off with delight. nt0 dreamless sleep. In walking; along Oregon's Shells Tclllns;. the street one has to be careful of ev- "Over her low freeboard broke the ery splotch of shadow that he conies to surging waters that she pushed aside for far of stepping on a native' face, in her mighty race, and they dashed Even when you do step on this usually sensitive part of the anatomy, they merely sit up, yawn thankfully that you are a niodlum-slsed man and lazily turn over on the other side. But thes are the people that the papers are quot ing as being In bloody revolt. The only danger of revolt would be If some coun try should come along and phks a law prohibiting the use of all shady spots from 1 till 3. Then there would he trouble the amount of bloodshed makes even the most uninterested shudder. As soon as an Egyptian find out his sword across the breast of his new ly born son and say, "Well, Kazak, this is all I have to leave you." The Cossacks were connected with the political intrigues of the centuries, although their nature was such that they would never consent to engage in merely mercenary wars. They took part or the ill-treatment of the weak proficiency in arm came from their only In such military enterprises as After. roHSSfl keep it warm was a ration fit to be them to be of the earth earthy, have untamed coursers of the steppes and, called a luxury. always had an idealistic side in their with weapons In their teeth, swam For property the Cossack cared little nature. They are worshipers of heroes; turbulent streams alongside 'their wiry or nothing. For him in the old days or even dreamers of dreams. They had the rough and tumble knighthood f roin their men idols they stood for all which he sprang It was enough to have those things which made for the chiv- his clothes and his fighting implements, airy of old. Even when the communities became.. And out of the .mists of time looms more established the Cossack would lay the figure of Mazeppa, an Adonis of the Steppes, the subject of the Byronio poem which bears his name. Whatever the reason of the departure of Mazeppa from Poland it is quite steeds. Neither fatigue, nor peril, nor heat of day, nor gloom of night prevented them from their duties to their native land. They came in squadrons with the fleetness of the wind, rushing down upon the foe like a tempest. Their charges were like those of the wild Mamelukes. Regardless of dan- well known that for the commission ger and riding with incomparable skill, of some offense he had to flee for his they spread terror into the ranks of life and that he escaped to the Ukraine, their foes. The present Cossacks pro one of the provinces in which there serve all the traditions of their ances were many Cossack communities. He tors. They are soldiers of the Little WW k A WW i ? - i h . Wat's ,.,r--x- I ; x r. . .; 'IV HI s. x- 7.2- ' i ' . i tf Crossing A Elver - f IBM IE MONDE ' JLUISTREt.. ' and the oppressed were punished with environment. The steppes in which they believed were right, although It Is became secretary or scribe to the Cos- Father; they are couriers of the Tsar. up against her great steel turret under that a person Is an American hi first the mouths of the big 13-inch gun breathless question is: "Will there be that were hurling death and defiance many American coming over this Win- death. The sentences were quickly Im posed and speedily executed. Cowboy Justice and Cossack rule are the same In principle. The sense of right and wrong, the primitive creed of the Cos sacks, reinforced the courage engen dered by their manner of living. they sought their livelihood were cov red with grass often so high that only the head and shoulders of rlreds ap peared above the top of It. Game was abundant In those thick tangles, fruit could be obtained easily, the rivers teemed with fish. The wants of the difficult enough indeed to follow the sack chief Samollowitch. and In 1687 he Either In thousands or individually at the enemy. She wa coming up to ter?" High and low, merchant and course of their reasoning in some cases, succeeded him in office, they are ready to undertake deeds of help the Brooklyn in her terrible un- donkey boys, they ask the same ques- A guards of the frontier they pro- Cossacks were few and simple. They tected the poor, and often In rescuing could do with much or little. A slice of Once the Cossacks even made a Tsar The Cossacks are essentially a mill- peril. They have been accused at times where they backed the claims of the tary organisation. In peace they car- of cruelty and ferocity, but on the oth- boy Dmitri, who made certain preten- ry on such industries as are necessary er hand there are many accounts of sions to royal descent, which the Cos- for their support and for that of their' courtesy and forbearance on their part socks supported with their arms. - families, but when the bugles blow which speak well for their ancient or- The Cossacks, although, according they are quickly to horse. They can der of rough riding chivalry. to the popular conception, they are tide like centaurs and swim like fish. It is estimated that the Cossack pop- enun.1 strue-irlA with these four Kreat tion. for half of Ecvnt lives on the tour- Spanish cruisers, and every shot that lsts and tho greatest number of the she was firing seemed to take effect." are from the United States. f.ast Win Mr. Graham wrote that It was at ter 7000 Americans came to Evypt, 9:40 o'clock Sunday morning, July 3. that the Egyptians know that If the 1S98, after the Spanish fleet steamed war holds back the American there out of Santiago harbor, that the first will be a good many tight belt in and those carried Into slavery by the Turk horae flesh carried under the saddle to supposed by those who know little of The Cossacks of old rode the almost ulation of Russia 1 more than 3,000,- shot was fired, and at 10:33 the around the pyramids.