Travels in Southeastern Europe

The burden of the Balkans / by M. Edith Durham.

ROUND ABOUT RESNA. 127 my man, the headman of the village, and often the priest. We squished and slopped through mud or slipped on ice, according to whether it froze or thawed, climbed rickety wooden ladders to the upper floors, ducked our heads under low doorways. I choked in the pungent wood-smoke, questioned, listened, tried in a tangle of contradictory statements to strike an average of truth; shuddered, was wrung with pity; wondered and was disgusted in turn as adversity cast a fierce searchlight on human nature, and exposed its best and its worst with pitiless impartiality. Now and then we had a joke, and I caught women taking off and hiding their silver waist-clasps and ornaments, in order to look as poor as possible. Then came the writing of the list, on which everyone clamoured to be placed. We remounted and left the village, with its sins and sorrows, for there was yet another to visit before we turned our horses homewards, and cantered back in the dusk over ground now soft, that would freeze again ere morn. It is ill riding in the dark on such tracks, and we clattered into Resna soon after the Turkish clock on the tower struck twelve, and told that the sun had set. My landlady flew to put wood in the stove, sprawled on her stomach before it, and blew violently into the hot ashes. There was a rush of folk who were waiting to see me, and, having dropped my man at his village, I wrestled with them singlehanded. My meal was either cold or frizzled, for my landlady cooked it casually at any hour that
/ 395
Pages

Actions

file_download Download Options Download this page PDF - Page 127 Image - Page 127 Plain Text - Page 127

About this Item

Title
The burden of the Balkans / by M. Edith Durham.
Author
Durham, Mary Edith, 1863-1944.
Canvas
Page 127
Publication
London :: Nelson,
[1905]
Subject terms
Eastern question (Balkan)
Balkan Peninsula -- Description and travel.

Technical Details

Link to this Item
https://name.umdl.umich.edu/ans3900.0001.001
Link to this scan
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/b/bosnia/ans3900.0001.001/134

Rights and Permissions

The University of Michigan Library provides access to these materials for educational and research purposes. These materials are likely in the public domain. If you decide to use any of these materials, you are responsible for making your own legal assessment and securing any necessary permission. If you have questions about the collection, please contact [email protected] . If you have concerns about the inclusion of an item in this collection, please contact [email protected] .

DPLA Rights Statement: No Copyright - United States

Related Links

Manifest
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/api/manifest/bosnia:ans3900.0001.001

Cite this Item

Full citation
"The burden of the Balkans / by M. Edith Durham." In the digital collection Travels in Southeastern Europe. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/ans3900.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed May 1, 2025.
Do you have questions about this content? Need to report a problem? Please contact us.