The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1880-10-02
Turkish Domestic Life.

Every Turk leads two lives. He may
be in the society of Europeans during
six hours of every day. He is then well
dressed, yivaeious, perhaps intelligent.
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
governs his acts. His life when it is in
the busy whirl of the world, is super
fetal and unreal. How artificial it is can
be seen in the alacrity with which, on his
return to his harem, he lays off the
broadcloth clothes of his public exis
tence, and dons the white baggy trousers,
the open necked vest, and the long gown
dear to his heart. He is only ready to be
Mt ease when he releases his feet from
patent leather and from stockings, and
thrusts them into unheeled slippers.
Then he is himself, for he is at home.
The harem is to every Turk his refuge.
To it he may flee from every care. About
the harem cling all the sweetest as
sociations of his life. All his best feel
ings find exercise 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 his
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, mothers,
sisters and wives, wait upon the man
coming YEARLY home from his struggle
with life. They are to him humble
servants or merry companions, as his
mood is. They please him with chill
dren, 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
selection of wives among the Turks. A
woman born in mud hovel often rules
in pasha's palace. At the very best,
Turkish women rarely have any educa-
tion beyond 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 su-
perstitious as they can be after years Of
hereditary Ignorance. But they are
positive in opinion, and intoierant
of opposition. Moreover, they are,
above all things else, ardent and bigoted
Mahammedans 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, be-
cause he knows the futility of logic in
such discussion. Often pasha meets
at home petition which he has refused
in his office, and yielding to sheer i'm
portunity 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 violates
| his promise to support a new measure,
because the women of his household Oh
| ject to the deviation from custom He
must yield to his home circle, or break
with them entirely. These women are
under no influence by which their opin-
ions may be changed. They live in a
world of their own, and are entirely un.
aware of an existence preferable to their
own, and know nothing of that outside
world to which they are simply curiosi
ties of intique origin.
This glance at the home life of the
Turk and its influence upon hi@e leave:
little to hope from the Turks in the di
rection of voluntary abandonment of old
systems and practices. Ha,per's Nag
| nzinP