The Canton advocate. [volume] (Canton, D.T. [S.D.]) 1877-1897, 1880-11-04
stockings, and thrusts them into un-
heeled slippers. Then he is himself,

stockings, and thrusts them into un-
heeled slippers. Then he is himself.
for he is at home. 4
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 ex-
ercise in thatsacred place. His moth
er, perhaps, is there, or his sisters.
There only he enjoys the prattle of his
children. There alone in all the world
can the the tired man find the balm of
sympathy. There he has his books,
and can study in peace if he will. There
he enjoys the riches of his splendid
fiower-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 influence
of his life. The women of the harem
mothers. sisters, and wives wait up
on the man coming wearily home
from his struggles 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 as
sert their woman's right of talking on
serous topics, and then they have him
at their mercy. Now these women
who make the home of the Turk are
rarely his equals in the mental acquire
ments. No question of blood rules the
selection of wives among the Turks. A
woman born in q mud-hovel often
rules in a Pasha's palace. At the very
best, Turkish women rarely have any
education beyond the primer. They
believe III signs and wonders; in the
active agency of evil spirits; III the ex-
istence of a great dragoon who peri
odically attempts to swallow the moon;
In charms and incantations. In short
they are as superstituous as they can
be after centuries of hereditary ignor-
ance But they are positive in opinion
and intolerent of opposition. More
over, they are, above all things else,
ardent and bigoted Mohammedans.
Such are the intellectual surroundings
of the Turk during that part of his life
which he loves. And when the women
of his house turn the conversation up
on public affairs, the poor man is help
less in their hands, because he knows
the fltility of logic in such discussions.
Often Pasha meets at home petition
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 involve such aids. Often it
has happened that the Pasha disap-
points an Ambassador, and violates
his promise to support a new measure,
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 i'll world of their own, and
are entirely unaware of an existence
preferable to their own, and know
nothing of the 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
leave little to hope from the Turks in
direction of voluntary abandonment
old symptoms and practice.