St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1888-04-14
COvINGTON, PARISH, LA. APRIL a. 1899

ne or smoking cigarettsA chatting
with their nsighborA
The very poor have rarely many
household duties TO perform. TheiI
children are not allowed to occupy
much Of their time. but are sent to tn
mosque school or turned into ths
street to amuse themselves with othe,
children Of their clasa The actua
needs Of tho family are easily supplied,
for loaf Or two Of the black bread q
the country. the price q which is reg.
ulated BY government and 10 VERY
cheap. and few pounds of grapes o,
olives also very cheap are for then
quite sufficient 'daily bread" and two
or three simply-fashioned garments
constitute the needful raiment. Their
ID no setting to rights" a rooma
other than the rolling up and slowing
away in closets OF the pallets on which
they have slept Therefore. the mis-.
tress Of house is soon at liberty tc
curl up In = corner Of her divan with
her needlework and beloved cigarette.
u the weather Is inclement, or II 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 unrestrained child.
hood
1t is counted In Turkey . deep dis
grace for . woman to remain unmat.
ried. Both sexes marry young tho
girl Often at twelve or thirtecn, the
boy at sixteen or eighteen. A girl must
secure husband. no matter what the
sacrifice
Ii IS not an uncommon thing 20 $50
. Smart young woman married to a
superannuated old man and obliged to
carry on her young shoulders tho bur
den of providing for the whole house.
hold. Oae such I know we'll who. in
addition to taking in washing to pro-
vide food and raiment performs vari.
GUS duties her husband as ImGm (or
minister at public worship) 10 nov ut
fcriy disqualified for BY the infirmities
Of age The Office Of Imam in . small
village embodies that Of q Judge as
we'll for Mohamnnedan law and re-
ligion are 20 closely connected that
the expounder Of each can Be united
in one person. thus forming one body
In the hierarchy. The Imam 0f vii.
lage may thus be properly considered
the president Of the village. The wife
Of the Imam, Of whom I speak now em.
bodies in her fat little person all the
dignities Of his Office. No Mohamme.
dan house can be entered by the police
unless the Imam Of the parish takes
the lead And is the first to knock st the
toor and cross the Threshold. he
must also settle all disputes grant al
licenses. collect rentA ete All Of
ghich and - weaa- per. |
formed BY this competent little wife.
do not think she can take
his place in performing the ceremony
Of marriage. she must often assist 1t
and burying tho dead It Is
raSs 10 see how she mas become quite |
an autvcrat in her village Of Eve hun.
lred or eight hundred houseA
A more quiet and law-abiding COM
munity of their rank and condition it
would be hard to find in any land.
Only once did / witness any thing Of q
lisorderly nature during the summer
spent in the village and that was
settled by this energetic woman in a |
but unique manner When
passing the little mosque ono morning
we were arrested by the sound of |
angry voices. On turning . corner
We found two stslwart Turks. in the |
iress Of common laborcrs. engaged |
IN q fiery dispute. while the Imam's |
wife stood in her open doorway try.
ng with mild reasoning to quell the
to no purpose. it seemed.
'or while she Stopped to make her
salams" Cpolite greetings) to us one
# the angry men. who was armed
With an immense cudgel. began
;ounding the o,her over head and
houlders SO Justify that the stick
,roke Immediately the intrepid lit
lie woman caught up the broken
Weapon and. welding it right and
eft. with loud words Of command
'ade them begone. They dropped
heir heads and skunk away like two
whipped school.boys. as there il little
'se in looking for any appeal from
er decisions This prompt but
'rimi,ive way of settling . quarrel set
ne to thinking it might be we'll for
he good name of this vast empi re II
Is rulers would take some lessons v
rom so humble q source. especially
n dealing with the numerous bands o.
'ricands that are. even in this or
ny, a terror in the land. Ia
1t seems evident that Turkey too, .
iper to her breast when she gavethe
;ircassian refugees q foothold lere. I
,r these people furnish much q the
luff from which the most daing of I
rigands are made. and wDo can {
the power Oehi'd the q
,rone" these outlaws comma,d. when Z
is so we'll known that msay fair Z
ircassian slave has . lce whose
rength can not be estimatA Colonel i
ames Baker ID authority tr the state ?
tent. in a work publishes about ten b
ears ago. that .1he Crcassians in
iropean Turkey are estimated 1t 9
70 hundred thousand and are the I,
'rror of their neigIbors whether
urks or Christians. Their depreda- '