The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1869-04-08
The Harems of Constantinople
The Sultan and the Sultana--Oourt Life
at the Turkish Capital

! Az bAo uIh16H Onp1bdls
The following are extracts from a series
of Constantinople letters published in the
/ Perseverance, of Milan:
! The Sultan is an indolent man of lynn
phatic temperament ; he has not had
much education and understands no Eu-
ropean language but French, OF which
| he can speak few words. His fayorite
occupation is to look after his poultry
ward, which contains the rarest specimens
of hens, ducks, geese, swans. etc. He
gives enormous prices for rare birds, and
passes hours in feeding his hens and wat
ching his cocks fight. Among the higher
officers of his court there area few able
men, bat the great maj ority of them, like
the general body Of the employees of the
State, are ignorant and inefficint. All the
places under government are given by
favor, which is usually gained by servi-
ces that cannot be openly acknowledged.
But the inefficiency OF the administra-
tion and the nullity of the sovereign, are
a small evil compared with the influence
exercised by foreign diplomacy and for
eigners in general =
There are really at Constantinople as
many governments as foreign representa-
lives each of whom gives his country
men far more protection than they would
be entitled to at home.
The power which exercises the creates
influence is Russia She is the real pro-
moter Of the demands of the varions ma
tionalities, and especially of 100000
Greek Inhabitants at Constantinople, who
still dream of the restoration Of the By
zantine empire. Even in outward APP.
pearance it is easily distinguished from all
Others It occupies a magnificent palace
which being built on the heights of Pera,
commands the whole of the capital, and
looks down upon the residence of the
Sultan, the Golden Horn, and the distant
roofs of Stamboul, as if its wide portals
only awaited the entrance of the Gar
During the winter season the palace is
opened to all the higher society of the
town, and in the brilliantly lighted rooms
balls and concerts are frequently given.
At Constantinople an ambassador is res
pected and feared in proportion to the
magnifcence of his surroundings.
Though the interior of the harem is
Notwithstanding the spread of Euro
pean notions among the Enthusiastically
closed to all male visitors, the society of
foreign ladies is eagerly souugt by the
wives Of all the higher functionaries. The
rooms they occupy. even in the wealthiest
houses, are low and dark and furnished
in very bad taste, chiefly owing to the
mania Of Turkish women for taWdry or
naments from Vienna or Paris BY the
side of the finest specimens Of oriental
art, may frequently be seen a vase of COM
mon Bohemian glass, with dusty wax flow
ers, which they prize more highly than
many of the beautiful ornaments oftheir
native manufacture. The same is the
case with their dress y Z which is
caricature of the fashions Of Paris.
They have discarded velvet jackets and
trowsers for stays, shiny boots, longtrains
and chignons * 1t has also be-
come the fashion to learn music and a
teacher on the piano forte (of course a la
dy) has made Il fortune by giving lessons
in the harems. Another fashion is to have
your portrait taken. Their favorite az
fist is an Englishwoman-a Miss Curtis.
Some time ago this lady was commission
ed to paint a full length portrrit of one
of the Sultanas The sultana was short
and stout, and Miss Curtis painted her &C
cordingly. This, however, gave great of
Tense, and the sultan insisted on her being
made foot taller, saying that, as she was
only nineteen years old, she would be
sure to grow to that size. But instead of
growing taller, the Sultana only grew
stouter; so that at the end Of twelve
month the portrait was hardly recogniz-
able. Miss Curtis was then requested to
paint the picture third time, and it is
now nailed up to the ceiling of the harem.