Turkey is not yet a Western nation. In spite of the reforms in dress and other customs which have been forced upon that land, it remains true to its tradition, the tradition of the East. Only recently a new proof of this was brought to light when some Turkish schoolchildren put a tack in the teacher's chair. Of course, they had been led by an infiltration of western ideas to believe that such a joke would so pain the teacher as to amuse the class. They reckoned not upon the Oriental influences that were to work upon that tack.

Schooled in the apathy of the mystic, in the ataraxy of the Oriental stoic, the teacher sat quietly upon the tack and conducted his class. Then, when he had ended his lecture, he expelled them all. Thus did tradition of the East vanquish the smartness of the West in a Turkish seat of learning.