National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-04-16


I should have lain down and died on the spot.
All my dreams Of luxurious, sleepy, sensu-
GUS paradise, filed with undulating figures of
trsuscendent beauty, were gone, and was
fully possessed of the demon of mirth, and
provoked the others into my own state Of mind;
q capacity which has never deserted me at any
time or place, or with any person, In my life,
and we were soon the maddest of the crowd in
the perfumed waters. would be afraid to tell
the freaks we performed, and antics and pranks
we cut. Although 1t did not in the least stsrtle
the natives, it might some who have imagined
me to be the model of perfection in deport-
ment.
But then, you must remember that Mrs.
Grundy does not live in Constantinople, and
she had no one to tell tales out of school ex-
cept my ownself, and never tell more than
suits me-.
1T WAS TWO FULL HOURS
before our wild sport ended, and we slid out of
the water and sat talking in little knots of
four or five, while the attendants were drying
our hair, and separating 1t till it stood out in
light puff al around our heads. Not tsngle
was left in It, and no comb or brush was used.
Then we were laid on the same marble divans,
though with thick bathing towel this time
under us, while the attendants punched and
pulled and rubbed all our joints, and cracked,
all our knuckles, and elbows and shoulders,
till thought 1 should be always even more
unsteady than ever. They don't give you the
least chance to make protest to this sort OF
thing. They roll you and rub you, up and
down and round and round, till you only want
q chance to get your hands freeto "punch their
heads" when all at once, painting and per-
spring, they grin at you and say pekkey, which
means sail right" and then you can put on
your handsome bathing dress, aud have your
towels spread out on the diyan about you.
Then the other ladies came about me like bees
around holly-hock, and proceeded to admire
me from head to foot.
Before, when we were in the water, in the
wild revel, think they did not know was a
foreigner; but when they found Twas an Amer
lean their wonder knew no bounds, and was
closely examined from head to feet. They ad-
mired my feet in particular, for the Turkish
women have very largo feet, and 81 am Gas
the politicians with their hands in their
shirt bosoms) proud and happy to say that
mine are proportional so that can wear num-
Der twos." Ny habitual modesty has kept me
from acknowledging this fact long time, and
no one can tell how glad am for this opportu-
nifty for enlightening the public. Two of the
loveliest women ever saw, with eyes Ike stars
came and began to talk to me, and finally in
yited me to visit them at their house next day
1 gave my address, and they said they would
send carriage for me at noon. They were
the two favoritc wives of the Grand Vizer.
1 promised to go, and then nearly all the women
around invited me in turn to visit them.
shall have enough to do if 1 accept all their in
vitations.
Then the attendants came in anl we all fol
lowed them
THROUGH A SUCCESSION OF ROOMS,
resting short time in each, and drinking
lemonade and sherbet, and eating conserve:
made of roses and violets-or, at least, favored
with the perfume of those flowers. Then We
went into another room cooler still, where most
of the ladies smoked while they chatted Of
their dresses, husbands, firtstions, etc. One
thing surprises me: the perfect freedom with
which they tell each other of their fiirtations,
some of which go somewhat beyond the de-
corum of our American fiirtstions even. With
all the jealousy and hesrt-burnings that are
openly displayed, should think they would
fear each others tongues; but it seems they dc
not.
After the ladies had all finished smoking
their narghilas and little histories of how they
had managed to throw dust into the eunuch'i
eyes, ETC., they
PROCEEDED TO PERFORM THEIR ToLETTEs,
something wonderful to see. am woman,
and thought knew all their little faults and
something of the intricacies of the toilette; but
learned more that day than ever thought
any one knew. First, an old woman came to
each woman or girl, bearing a dressing-case
filled with the most marvellous of compounds
for the improvement of the beauty under their
care. Little looking glasses were given to each
woman, and then commenced the operation.
All the superfuous hairs on the face were re-
moved by little pincers; then the women
brought out stiff little brushes made of bristles,
and after dipping them into q preparation OF
arsenic, proceeded to, by means of pulling the
skin of the face tightly, puncture it with the
sharp bristles, which thus leaves an indelible
white beneath the surface, which is perfectly
dazzling in its transparency and brilliancy.
Next, the eyebrows are carefully brushed
with q soft brush, and then the smoke of
frankincense, mixed with oil of rose, is laid on
while the eyelashes are dyed with some vege-
table dye, which leaves them brilliant black,
and under the eyelids and on the upper lid is
laid a norf IF paIa hrouru which rir,aa tba
whole eye beauty and languor most bewitch-
ing. Then, when a rich carmine, or rather
rose-leaf pink, is arsistically spread on the
cheeks, and the full lips of deep cherry color,
the faces In their coloring are most lovely,
These colors do not fade or rub of, but STAY
until another long-protracted bath of Sspor
and tepid water opens the pores for another ap-
plicstion.
The teeth are attended to with the most
scrupulous care, and it is these old women who
perform all needful operations in dentistry,
which, however, consists mostly in caring for
the teeth, and not in pulling or filling them,
though they do sometimes do that.
UGLINEss OF THE ATTENDANTS.
Some Of the beauties of the harems are con-
sidered by these old women to have too much
blood, and so they are made to sit with ten to
twenty leeches upon them while the operation
Of identifying them goes on. Others are made
to drink a viIlainous compound looking like
blood, others to undergo other regimen, &c.
These old women are in general the most hor.
rible looking hays imaginable to see. Iasked
of one who seemed to be on the shady side of
her five hundreth year, how old she was. She
told me she was forty-four. Others confessed
to about the same age, and found, also, that
those who looked, even after they were dressed,
to be about forty, were from eighteen to twenty.
These women fade very rapidly in complexion;
and their skin takes q shriveled appearance
impossible to describe. I think 1t comes from
the pernicious habit Of using these cosmetics,
as they do from infancy almost. It must be
that, for certainly lives like theirs, free from
labor or care such as bows our American wo-
men before their time, does not affect them.
They very rarely nurse their babes, because
they fear to spoil the contour of their busts by
the exercise of that holy Office, granted to wo-
man alone.
THE TOILET FINISHED.
The beauties, natural and manufactured, re-
garded themselves in their hand-glasses with
evident satisfaction, and each other with con-
tempt. Some of them, who were quite plain in
the water, became beautiful after the opera