Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 218, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 September 1918 — Why Turks Are Confident. [ARTICLE]

Why Turks Are Confident.

Amid the many menacing perils that threaten iris thorny throne the new sultan of Turkey can find consolation for all Moslem disasters by contemplating the “Shining Stone” in the mosque of St. Sophia. This is a slab of translucent marble, brought from Persia, which has been fixed to the western side of the gallery. It emits rays of dazzling brilliancy during periods of Turkish prosperity or of religious triumphs for Islam, but becomes black and opaque, however cloudless the skies, Whenever some calamity is about to befall the Ottoman empire or the faith. It has not hitherto been darkened during the present war, though the sultan’s armies have so frequently been defeated and the power of Islam seemed to suffer eclipse. Thus the mystic stone, ever shining, proves to believing Moslems that, however fate may frown, the real victory remains with-them.