St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1881-01-21
Letter from Turkey.
STvAs, TURKEY, Sept. 2, 80.

Dear Friends : Perhaps you would
| like to hear an account of a feast which
we attended. The daughter of one of
our nominally Protestant families was
engaged, and according to the custom
of this land, the family of the groom
appointed day when they would go
and interview her. Having been hidden
to this feast, we entered first after the
noonday cry from the minaret man who
called all the followers of Mohammed
to prayer.
As we wended our way to the upper
most room, we met the hostess, with n
sad face. who said her husband was i'll
with a fever, and she had requested her
guests not to come, but they had pre-
sented themselves, and preparations
were being made. When we entered
all honored us by rising and gave us
seats next to the mother and grand
mother of the groom. The latter was
seated in one corner above all the 9TH
ers, and the company was ranged round
according to their relative or pecuniary
value. All the guests were dressed in
silk or broadcloth, but your humble
servants, whose simple, light cambrics
contrasted strangely with the glitter
about them. We wore our hats, and
soon some Turkish women, who had
allowed them this room for this grand
occasion, came and seated themselves
at our feet, to inspect us, and at last
said we looked quite well if we would
take off our hats and dress our heads as
they did. At last to crafty them our
hats were removed, and all looked in
astonishment at the smoothly cOmbed
hair, and many hands were outstretch-
ed to feel and examine an American
hat, and great pleasure was expressed
that we had removed those baskets.
And since we have been inspected so
closely we return the compliment.
This pleasant old grandmother is
pleased to say that she has three daugh-
ters and three brides (sOns' wives) Oc-
cupying places of honor; while the
attire. The majority wore brown broad
cloth; their dress consisted of n short
sack, which only came to the bottom of
the waist, which was almost entirely
covered with gold embroidery of beau
tiful designs the skirt had only two
breadths, one in front and one behind
and the full Turkish drawers filled out
the sides. | noticed one of these dresses
; in shop which cost $40, and many are
more elaborate and expensive, and of
ten the open sack reveals an under gar
ment of flame cOlored silk; and some
still wear the heavy girdle of the land
p Il small Persian shawl, often costing
SIS or more, worn cornerwise about tn,
waist but those who lean to the FrdRI
Il styles often wear velvet belts, Orna
mented with gold and silver designs
the buckle an immense bow, as large a
a small saucer. On their heads the,
. had perhaps 80 pieces of gold, whicl
: were sewed on to bands of clOtl
or sometimes cover the Turkish fez
with a long pendant tassel falling dow
on the long, fine braids of hair, perhap
30 in number, and over all the invaria
BILE yOzma. without which no woman o
girl would think herself dressed an'
from one to five rows of coins OF gol,
/. suspended from the neck the fifth o
e lowest hangs below the belt, fancifu
) in shape and immense in size. Thi
gold is the girls dover and alway
70 worn by her, and her husband canno
e take it from her; and if he dies, sh
uses it for her support, taking off col
after coin as needed. No woman i
Turkey would be so foolish as to Civ
! this to her husband to use for specula
, ton or investment in lands, for real es
tate is no more to be depended upo
r here than in the West at home.
Il Children at their birth are eXpecte
b, to receive piece of gold from all the
ed friends. Sometimes Il piece is Onl
worth piastres or about 45 cents, otl
H. ers Ira, the Turkish pound, an
It sometimes you see a ) Ira piece wort
b over $50. | have noticed women wit
~ ~ at least $4,000 worth of gold coins o
n I, their head and neck Think of weariI
NJ this amount 30 years or longer, and NJ
able to read ! Also you often see vel
er heavy bracelets on their arms, an
rs. their hands dyed with some vegetabl,
,,r dark color, with rings on every fing,
III and very large one on the thum
ct, While engaged in estimating the walt
3 of one lady's dOweTy who was presen
"a which could not have been less tha
ad- $500, she took out a gngham hant
led kerchief with red and white borde
pa l = not hemmed, worth about York shi
-, ling; sometimes you see thin silk on
ted among the better classes. Our surpri
pc was greatly deepened when the bal
;lS- aG of this finely attiTed woman was brOug
to her, clad in a short dress of sol
VS. coarse, dark material. In America,
ria, poor woman has to decide between
rE, rE. dress for herself or her child, the de,
1ts, sion is always in favor of the child, W
pa appears in its long white robe, VIII
= 's' the mother turns her old dress.
: Next, the table attracts our atte
for tion. 1t is large for this country, a
high, at least ii inches from the flo
'ept covared with .nat;ra sbao+, so+ g.