Sharp County record., 1888-03-08

rugs, eating sweetmeats, sippug cot-
fee or smoking cigarettes, chatting
with their neigubors
The very poor have rarely many
household duties TO perform Their
children are not allowed 60 occupy
much Of their time, but are sent to The
mosque school or turned into the
street TO amuse themselves with other
children Of their class The actual
needs Of the family are easily supplied,
for 3 loaf OF two Of the black bread Of
The country, the price Of which IS reg
uiated by government and is very
cheap, and few pounds Of grapes OF
olives, also very cheap, are for them
quite sufficient daily bread, ~ and two
OF three sjmply-tasuiOued garments
constitute the 1eedfuI raimeu. There
IS no setting to rights Of rooms,
other than the rolling up and slowing
away in closets Of the pallets on which
they have slept Therefore. the mis-
trpss Of q house Is soon at liberty To-
curl up in 3 corner Of her divan with
her needIeworz and beloved cigarette,
# the weather is iuclemeut, OF # the
day is fine, can Join some group on q
grassy hillside. and spend the entire
day in the most frivolous gossip, with
their children playing about them in
all the freedom Of unresrainsd child
hood
It is counted in Turkey q deep dis
grace for 3 woman to remain uumar-
risd. Both sexes marry young, the
girl often ut twelve OF thirteen, the
boy at sixteen OF aighten. 4 Zirt must
secure . husband. 10 matter what the
sacrifice.
It is not IN uncommon thing to see
J smart young woman married to .
superauuu1ed old man and obliged to
carry on her young shoulders the bur-
den Of providing for the whole house
hold. One such I know we'll. who, IN
addition to taking in washing to pro-
vide food and raImenL performs varI-
GUS duties her husband rs Imam Coz
minister OF public Worship IS now Ut
terIy disqualified for by the inhrmities
Of age. The Office Of Imam in q small
village smbodies that Of . Judge rs
WELL for MohammCdau law and re-
ligiou are 50 closely connected that
the expounder Of each can be united
in one person, thus forming one body
in the hierarchy The Imam Of vii
Iage may thus be properly considered
the president Of the village. The wife
of the Imam Of wh0uL speak now em-.
bodies in her fat little person Hu the
dfguities of his office. No M0lamme-
dam house can be entered by the police
unless the Imam Of the parish takes
the lead and is the first to knock l5 the
door and cross the -hreshuOld. He
must also settle all disputes. grant all
licenses. collect rents. etc. All Of
which and much more IS we'll per-
formed by this compeJeu5 little wife.
Although I do not think she. can take
his place in performing the ceremony
of marriage, she must often assist at
rvs,sI1thug I---aurying the dead. 1t IS
easy to see how sha nus become quite
an lutocraG in her village Of i've hum
dred OF eight hundred houses.
A more quiet and Law-abiding COM
munity Of their rank aud condition it
would be hard to ind in any land.
Only once did I witness any thing Of d
disorderiy nature during the summer
spent in the village. and that wHs
settled by this energetic woman in %
summary but unique manner. When
passing the little mosque one morning
we were arrested by he sound Of
angry voices On turning q corner
we found 5wo sUaIwart Turks. in the
dress Of common Laborcrs, engaged
in fiery dispute. while the Imam
wife stood in her open doorway try
ing with mild reasoning to queLL the
sturm-au TO no purpose, it seemed.
for while she Stopped to make Ler
'saIams (Polite greetings) to is one
Of the angry meu, who wis armed
with IN immense CudgeI. began
pounding the other over head md
shoulders so Justify that the stick
broke. Immediately the intrepid lit
tie woman caught up the broken
weapon and, welding it right and
left. with loud words Of command
babe them begUue. They dropped
their heads and skunk away Like 5wo
whipped schO0l-Joys. Us there IS little
use in looking for any appeal from
her decisions. This 7ruup5 but
prim jtiya EaT " settling o quarrel set
me- to thinking it might be we'll for
the good name Of this vast empire if
It's rulers would take some lessons
from 50 humble q source, especially
IN dealiu~with the numerous bands of
brigands that are, even in this. our
dav. q 5errur in the land.
It seems evident THAT Turkey took .
viper to her breast when sue gave the
Crrassian refugees o f0othold here.
for these people furnish much Of the
stuff from which The most daring Il
brigands are made. and who can
measure the 'Tower behind the