Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1869-12-16
Women In Turkey.

| Constantlnopie, with the attendant IN
fiux of the representatives Of other Eu-
ropean courts, seems to have precipi-
tated revolution in the fashions and
social habits of Turkish society. The
ladies have begun to make themselves
heard, and they no longer intend to be
compelled TO hide their beauty be-
meath The disfguring yashmsk, or be
hid away in the recesses of the harem.
They have looked upon the lovely
Frdnsa Imperotrisossy; they have seen
the peerless beauty of her face, and the
inexpressible elegance of her form. and
they do not understand why their
charms should not also dazzle and de-
light beholders. They have seen the
Lord of the Moslems himself give his
arm to a woman, and not only conduct
her to her palace, but accompany her
in the carriage and the caique, and
they naturally ask why they should be
obliged to veil their bright eyes and
fair complexions in cloud of game.
and take their solitary pleasure on the
water or at the Guenkson, without the
escort and companionship of their own
immediate lords. \ ''revolt OF the
harem" has, therefore, broken out In
every gall on the Bosphorus, and the
inner life of Stamboul is troubled. This
revolution has been going on silently
for some time, but the visit of the En-
press of the French appears to have
brought it TO a crisis. 1t is only few
years since the yashmak was worn ofso
dense material that ii was impossible
to recognize the features of the wearer,
and the ladies ambled along in wide
trousers and loose yellow papooshes
that gave a most ungainly appearance
to figures otherwise stately and very
well-proportioned. Now, however, the
bright eyes flash and the pearly teeth
dazzle with their brightness beneath
the veil, which, from the fineness of the
texture, no longer serves to conceal,
but rather adds coquettish charm to
the natural beauties beneath. The
slipshod p0po0Shes, too, are discarded,
and instead, a pretty foot, encased in
neat French 6ottins, peeps out from un-
der the flowing drapery. But the fs
Tedjie still remains to shroud the figure,
and prevent the suppleness and native
elegance of the form being seen, while,
, worse still, the total separation of the
; sexes, both in and out of doors, is rig
orously exacted. This custom, there
can be no doubt, will soon disappear,
and then Turkish women will safely
; bear comparison with the beauties OF
any other country in the world. l
fear that in enlightened Christendom"
there is a great deal of miseonception in
reference to the social position of wo-
men in this country. Most people i'm
agine that every Turkish house is a
Mormon establishment on larger or
lesser scale, and that the wives pass
their existence in pickering and dis
content. No mistake could be greater.
None of the Turkish ministers of state
possess more than one wife, and that
one is both honored and respected.
The poorer classes cannot afford the
luxury of several wiyes, while the
rich Turks in Stamboul have long
) since abandoned the practice. No
where, in fact, is woman more tenderly
and thoughtfully protected than in
Turkey. The harem, about which
such vague ideas exist in Europe, is
the sanctuary of the wife, into which
no care or trouble is permitted to en-
ter. The man is always the bread
winner; he alone bears the attendant
anxieties Of life; while the woman Is
sheltered from every storm, and her
days are passed in one continuous
round of innocent pleasures, free from
. the frivolous and sometimes guilty ex-
citements which make up the existence
of her sisters in the West. Nowhere
in Europe is that "pearl without price"
, the purity of woman, to be found IN
greater perfection than in the house
, holds of the Osmanli, and although
the Turks are, unfortunately, not free
from evils, (many of them introduced
from the other side of the Alps there
is one eyil-the social eyil-which has
no home among them. Even the laws
of the empire have been framed so as
to give protection in every way to wo-
man. No matter what political change
may affect the husband, the property
of the wife is always secure; under all
circumstances it remains her own, nor
, is it liable for her husbands debts, any
more than the property of married
woman in England or America, when
secured under settlement. This, too,
applies to all her property, not only
that which she may have possessed be-
fore marriage, but what she may have
subsequently acquired, and even if her
husband purchase houses and lands in
her name, they belong to her absolute
f ". and no claim of any kind against
him will reach them. Our lawmakers
might, therefore, take a leaf out Of the
Turkish statute book, when they are
considering the "Woman's Property
Bill" Even the slight disabilities un-
der which Turkish women do labor,
{ the comparative privacy of their life,
and concealment of their face and tig-
ure from public gaze, are only relies OF
rude, barbarous age, useful as
means Of protecting them from injury
and insult. Now, however, when a
, change in manners no longer necessi-
tateS the same observances, those re-
strictions are fast disappearing, and,
with improved education, the time is
not far distant when Turkey, in her So
, cial position, will contrast fayorably
with, what is so-called, the civilization
of the West.-Home Journal.