Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 November 1908 — Orientalism in Commerce. [ARTICLE]

Orientalism in Commerce.

Even in its commerce Smyrna is Oriental. Few Westerns care a fig for Smyrna, but that famous old city regards the fig as the mainstay if its prosperity. The most popular merrymaking of Smyrna’s year is the fig festival. That takes place when the export of the fig harvest from the interior gets in. The first train load enters the station with the engine beflagged, the wagons covered with branches and garlands, and there areartillery salutes and flourishes of trumpets. These, however, arp as nothing compared with the noisy rejoicings of the populace, who follow loaded camels through the city to the grand bazaar singing and dancing with all the unrestrained fervor of the Orient —London Globe.