The silver state. [volume] (Unionville, Nev.) 1870-1903, 1886-06-05

He Tells AbOut Plural wives and Their
influence ON Prayer.
in. Y. Mail and Express.l

in. Y. Mail and Expressl
Tewfk Pasha, Turkish Minister at
Washington, is not turbaned Turk, but
all the same q Mohammedan from way
back. He is short in stature, somewhat
stopped from age, has retreating fore
head, blue eyes and gray whiskers. A
writer for the Mail and Express had
pleasant chat with him yesterday, and
managed to extract a little Oriental joke,
the third one he related since he be-
came q diplomas.
"The war between Turkey aud Greece?'
he queried, in response to question. Il
don't know anything about it only what
see in the papers, l have no idea what
Greece wants, and, as haven't even any
private advices on the subject, / must
be excused from discussing the outlook. !"
81 suppose you know all about the
harem, for it seems the duty of every
European who travels in Turkey to write
about the harem, and ignore the real
progress of the country. Half of these
writer's, though, don't know what a
harem means. 1t may mean Madame SO
and so, or Mesdames so and so, and that
is all. :"
''Is not it place where . husband
keeps his wives?'
"a husband keeps his wife or wives
in his house, as a rule, or in separate es-
tablisbments, The Mohammedan re-
ligion permits only four wives and those
under certain conditions, regulated by
the Koranic laws. If the first wife OBJ.
jects the husband cannot brisg q second
wife under the same roof; indeed, he can
not marry another at all unless he is
amply able to keep separate establish
ment. The law gives the wife the right
to have her husband dragged before the
courts il he violates that rule. and he is
dealt with accordingly. Plural wives
sre not universal among the Turks. /
haven't single friend in Constantinople,
and have good many, who has more
than one wife. | am told that in Asiatic
Turkey the custom of plural wives among
| the peassntry is very common. The
| first wife, who works 10 the field with
her husband, urges him to marry sec
ond, third, and frequently fourth
| wife. in order to have more assistance
| in tilling the farm. These woman, too,
are great company to each other, add
help to tighten the common daily bur-
dens.
''It is belief among the Mohamme-
dams that if early prayers are said forty
mornings in succession at the mosque,
before any one else arrives, the person so
doing shall have good luck and pros
perty. There was poor man in Con-
stsutinople who was the picture of bad
luck and improyidence. He concluded
to attempt the mascot feat. Every
morning early he repaired to the great
Mosque of st. Sophia and invariably
found some one ahead of him, thus break
ing the charm. One morning as usual,
he discovered the earlier devotee, and,
as he proved to be the same one all the
time, he thus spoke: My friend | am
poor, and need good luck. For many
mornings / have come hither to pray,
each time earlier than before. Give me
chance; tell me how you get here
earlier than l every day To which the
early devotee replied: L have two
wives. When l awake in the morning
one brings me my slippers. the other my
ablution bowl, and by these wives at.
tending to my wants together l am en-
abled to be off earlier for prayers than it
| had only one wife The poor man re-
solved to profit by the advice. lie got
him another wife, and in few days dis
covered the real secret of the early de-
votee, viz: the war between the two
women made this early morning prayer
at the Mosque blessing"