The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1878-07-11
A TURKISH WEDDING.


Gazette says:
A Turkish proverb thus defines wom-
an at the different periods of her age:
Ten to twenty, rest to the eye of
the beholder; twenty to thirty. still fair
and full of flesh; thirty to forty, a
mother of many boys and girls; forty
to fifty, an old woman of the deceitful;
fifty to sixty, slay her with knifcr'
This sounds bad; but the very atrocity
of the sentiment marks it us one of
those impotent protests wherewith a
Turk seeks to revenge himself for the
meddlesome part which old women
play in his domestic affairs. He would
not be so bitter against the race if he
had not found by experience that old
women are more than match for him:
and. indeed, Turkish lady is so far
FROM having ended her life at fifty that
she may be said to inaugurate ut that
age quite a new career of activity and
usefulness. She becomes a chartered
gossip, and retails the talk of the town
from harem to harem. Having mar
ried off her own children, and being
comfortably settled in the house of one
of her sons. she can give all her time
to the business of other people, and oc-
cupies herself in arranging marriages.
She is treated with great respect, for
young women look up to her as
shrewd adviser, and men are afraid of
Der tongue; beside it is a precept of
the Mussol'nan religion to regard gray
hairs as crown Of honor. 1t should
be added that the 0oting fondness of
Turkish mothers for then sons il al.
ways requited when tn ~ grow Old by a
deep attachment on the sons part. A
Turk looks upon his mother as his tru-
est friend; he pets her tenderly, goes to
her for counsel in all his difficulties;
and he knows that while out gossiping
she will always be OF the watch for OPP
portunities to advance his worldly af-
fairs. In the bygone bow-string days
old ladies had tie chief hand in the
palace plots which deposed rulers; and
their influence as political intriguers is
still as great as that of dowagers in
Western countries. But, as above said,
the main business of their lives is
matchmaking. They talk of duyum
(weddings) wherever they go; and, as
they have their allotted parts as nego-
tiators in all the preliminaries of a mar
riage, they need affect no secrecy in
discussing this favorite subject.
The old lady who visits harem with
view to finding a blide for a male
relative is called geurudji Zone who
inspects); and certain ceremonious OBJ
scrvances always attend her coming.
She may be a stranger to the house,
but it is enough that on removing her
veil and feradje (cloak) she should an
nOunce her matrimonial mission, and
any marriageable girls whom there
may be in the house will be at once
tricked out for her inspection. 1t stands
to reason that the mother of trades
man will not 60 and call as a geurudji
upon the wife of Pasha; but if she
did SO she would be made welcome all
the same, Tor what we call social dis
tinctiOns are almost unknown in a
country where street porters and water
men have often risen to the highest
dignities in the State, and where the
greatest ladies see no disgrace in own
ing that they are the daughters of Cir
cassian slaves. A Turkish lady will
show her daughters to all who present
themselves as geurudjis, just as an En-
glish woman will allow her girls who
are " OUT TO dance with strange. inn
pccunious bachelors; and, in fact, the
fOrmality is merely q recognition of the
circumstance that the Young lady is
manageable. So soon as the geurudii
has been made comfortable with coffee.
in comes the Turkish missy in her best
clothes, and performs modest obeis-
ance, and then the compliments begin.
mach Allah! (Allah's marveD lady,
your daughter is like a full moon
What eyes, what plumpness! If she
were slave she would be worth
q thousand purses" = and SO on.
When these civilities have been fol-
lowed by suitable answers from the
mother, who will perhaps descant on
her daughters accomplishments. the
interview ends with mutual assurance
that :" if fate SO wills it, both ladies
will be happy to arrange marriage.
This may lead to nothing; but suppos-
ing the geurudji to mean business, she
will 90 home and. inform her SON Of the
lovely bride she has found for him; and
if his imagination should be inflamed
by her dcscription-which it generally
is. for those old Turkish ladies' are
wonderful word-painters-the next step
will be to ask the consent of the girls
parents in writing. The letter is gen.
orally sent with q present of fruit and
flowers, and then day is appointed
when the lover shall ride by the young
lady's house and be examined by her
through her window grating. This very
trying ordeal sometimes produces the
intimati0n that fate is not propitious,"
which is polite way of conveying that
the young lady has seen her sutton and
does not like the look of him; but in
most cases where the preliminaries
have been adroitlv managed the gou.