The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1873-01-30
DIR Gglouue..
The wemep of the Harem.

These ladies enjoy a much greater de-
gree of liberty than is generally supposed.
They visit each other great deal, aud
enjoy all the pleasures of gossip and
scandal which their freer sisters can do.
As they never read, and never work, and
have no household duties to occupy their
leasure, talk, and eating and drinking. and
unlimited smoking, ara their only re-
sources for killing time At home they
vary these amusements BY calling in tho
aid OF the singing and dancing girl.. as
they do not consider it disniied 70 prsc-
tice or possess these accomplishments
themselves. The singing aad dancing
women are professionals, and generally
of very unequivocal charactcr-in fact,
almost universally a disrcputsble class.
Then. too on Fridays the ladies go 10 the
bath. and spend the day there chatting
and go.sipins with each other. This Is
their club. and they enjoy it thoroughly
once week.
Shopping, toe, is another of their pas
times In the bazars you meet them IL
great numbers. either on foot or perched |
on small donkeys. niuffied up and covered |
with large silk cloaks, with only bright |
pair Of wicked looking eyes visible, ard |
guarded by en- old women or sable eunuch |
They are quite eager ami as animated |
in shopping as any Western woman can
be- The richer ladies have also goods
brought to their houses by female traders. |
who make a very profitable trade out of
their fanciful customers, who are entirely |
regardless of expense in gratifying any |
within or caprice that seixes them.
The expenses of mans harem in |
Turkey far surpsss all those for the rest |
of his household It is his most expen- |
sive luxury.
The best trait of these lazy, idle. and
uneducated women is their devotion to |
their offspring. They are good mothers, |
and their love and devotion are reciprc- !
Gated by their children. The stronRes. /
sentiment the Turk has is his reverence |
for his mother However elevated his
position, he always stands in her presence |
until i.vited to sit down, compliment |
he pays to Zone besides 1t is related of
the famous Ibrahim Pasha. of Egypt, |
that on one occasion, having offended his |
mother, the old lady Intentionally omitted |
asking him 10 sit down, and compelled |
him to stand up for an hour--a severe |
punishment for an Oriental. Yet he at |
the time was absolute arbiter Of life and |
death throughout Egypt, and still slave |
to the within of an old woman, because
she was his mother. Women who CAP |
command reverence and obedience as un.
qualified, as this surely must deserve it. |
The practice of purchasing Georgian |
and Circassian women for the harems is
still kept up, Constantinople being the |
great mart or central depot of these will |
ing victims.
They prefer the gilded slavery of the |
harems, where they soon become desrots, |
to the life of hardship and privation which |
would be their lot az home. On all the |
steamers coming from Constantinople you
may meet some sensusi-looking Turkish |
Or Egg ptian magnate in charge of beyy |
of yelled females. whom he Is bringing |
back to replenish bis stock of wives OF !
slaves. They are carefully secluded in |
private cabins, ard when permitted TO |
breathe fresh air on deck, resemble walk |
ing bundles Of black silk, SO carefully are |
they euveioped. neither face nor figure TO !
be seen.
The surprise of foreign visitors to these |
Gagged birds is very great when they are
emptuously condoled with On the lit |
tie care their husbands take o. them, and |
the Indifference they ilast feel toward
them, in permitting their unvailed faces |
to be seen by every eye. The Eastern
women is proud of the precautions her
husband takes to insure her fidelity. con- /!
ceiving it to be mark of his interest in
her. At the same time they conceive
themselves perfectly at liberty to battle
that vigilance if they can, and intigue is
\ passion with them, although the pun
ishment. if detested, is sure and sudden
death.
As to what we regard a. the
pisasIres of home and society, they are
neither known nor priced in those regions
They live an animal existence. and enjoy
life in that sense only. An educated and
cultivated woman Is . rdrd 0eis among
them. Such one was the princess Of
Said pasha, former Viceroy Of Egypt
She not not onlv vas 3 musician, but
poetess as vel. and impressed all foreign
ladies who ss~ Der by the grace and ele-
gance of her manners and speech.
While very young the Eastern women
may be charming, but they become pre-
mxturely old At an age when Western
women are 10 their pri,ne. Early devel
opinent they sre maria eable at ten
years of agel, aud the in5o,ent life they
lead, stufhng themselves With unwhole-
sone food, tend to produce this effect,
together with the enervating effects of
climate and early maternity.
Such Is q true picture of the life of 20
Eastern woman, who is the pampered and
pettsd plsythinK, not the companion,
eounselor, and friend, of her husband.
and whose code of morality is SO lax as
10 justify the restraints placed upon her.
sunless. indeed, il may be argued that tho
effect is produced by that very cause. and
the system which seeks to prevent pro-
duces the universal laxity of morals, which
no one can dcny.-From The Life OF an
Eastery Women" by EDWIN DD LEON,
in Harper's Magazine for February.
a'oropnrxtiya ystur. aE welI.kuouu