Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-10-23
TURKISH DOMESTIC LTF6 IN TEE WAY
OF REFORM.


Every Turk leads two lives. He may
be in the society of Europeans during SIX
hours of every day. He is then well
But this part of his life is not the part
which forms his motives. 1t is not then
that the final causes are at work which
govern his acts. His life, when he is in
the busy whirl OF the world, is superficial
and unreal How artificial it Is can be
seen in the alacrity WITH which, on his re-
turn to his harem, he lays of the broad
cloth clothes of his public existence and
dons the white baggy trousers, the open
necked vest, and the long gown dear to his
heart. He is only ready to be at ease
when he releases his feet from patent
leather and from stockings, and tbrusts
them into unheeled slippers. Then he is
himself, for he is at home. The harem is
TO every Turk his haven of refuge. To it
he may flee from every care. About the
harem cling all the sweetest associations
of his life. All his best feelings find exer-
else in that sacred place. His mother,
perhaps, is there, or his sisters. There
only he enjoys the prattle OF his children.
There alone in all the world can the tired
man find the balm of sympathy. There
he has books and can study in peace if he
will. There he enjoys the riches Of his
splendid flower garden. In the domain of
the women, with hills and wales and moon
touched sea before his eyes, he dreams
away his summer evenings under the subtle
spell of nature And here he meets the
controlling influences of his life. The
women of the harem, mother, sisters and
wives, wait upon the man coming YEARLY
home from his struggle with life. They
are to him humble servants or merry COM
panions. as his mood is. They please him
with his children, or leave him alone with
his books, at his behest. Sooner or later,
however, they assert their woman's right
of talking on serious topics, and then they
have him at their mercy. Now these
women who make the home of the Turk
are rarely his equals in mental acquire
ments. No question of blood rules the Sc.
lection of wives among the Turks. A
woman born in mud howell often rules in
a pasha's palace. AT the very best, Turk
ish women rarely have any education be-
yond the primer. They believe in signs
and wonders in the active agency of evil
spirits; IN the existence of great dragon
who periodically attempts to swallow the
moon; in charms and incantations. In
short, they are as superstitious as they can
be after centuries of hereditary ignorance.
But they are positive In opinion, and in
tolerant of opposition Moreover, they
are, above all things else, ardent and big
oted Mohammedans Such are the intel
lectual surroundings of the Turk during
that part of his life which he loves. And
when the women of his house turn the
conversation upon public affairs, the poor
man is helpless In their hands, because he
knows the futility of logic in such discus
sion. Often pasha meets at home petit
ton which he has refused in his office, and
yielding to sheer importantly on the part
of his women, he rewards the shrewdness
of the man who has found means to invoke
such aids. Often it has happened that the
pasha disappoints an ambassador and vio-
lates his promise to support a new meas
ure, because the women of his household
object to the deviation from custom. He
must yield to his home circle or break with
them entirely. These women are under no
influences by which their opinions may be
changed. They live In world of their
own, and are entirely unaware of an exist
ence preferable to their own, and know
nothing of that outside world to which
they are simply curiosities of antique
origin. This glance at the home life of the
Turk and its influence upon him, leaves
little to hope from the Turks in the direc-
ton of voluntary abandonment of OLD sys-
TENS and practices. Henry 0. Dwight, in
Harper's Magazine for October.