St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-07-28

Cneer the fefSlan IOCeutatc
Hours.
London Modern Society.
Without indiscretion, it may be noted
that the denizens of the royal seragiio be-
longing to his interesting majesty, who
are under the care of the Koji BaShi, or
chief eunuch, and his fellows, are about
800; that of these 300 many ale cildren,
and 200, at least, are simply servants,
large number being negresses.
has its corresponding dignity in
the Anderun. Few additions have
been made of late years to the number
of inmates of the royal seragio, and 1t
contains absolutely no European Or
male persons over the age of eleven.
Each royal faYoIite has her separate
pavilion and her staff of servants, her
eeuipages, her jewels and her revenue.
The principal fayOrite generally has
some Understanding title conferred
upon her, such as ''Ihe Delight of the
State"
The ladies are never seen abroad I'M
yelled, save one Or two Of the handsomer
or more flighty of the number. who
sometimes, when driving in their ''glass
coaches" purpOSely give rather lib
eral display of florid charms to passers-
by in carriages or on horseback. The
legends of tattooed Greek princes not
WithStanding, 1T is quite certain that, as
a rule, no man save the king, enters the
royal harem, or, having done SO,
leaves it alive. Some years ago an UNI
fortunate workman, while engaged in
eXcaYating a water-eourse, suddenly
found himself in the royal harem, and
nearly died of fright accordingly (by
the way, the indoor dress worn by
Persian ladies has been described as
precisely resembling the costume of
ballet girl, minus the maillot) but the
king, seeing how the matter stood, par
doned him,
The means of getting rid of those who
have ceased to please is simple and yet
ingenious. There is no sewing up in
sacks, no casting from towers, no bow
string, no poisoning. Some provincial
general is informed that he will be IA
vored with wire from the royal harem:
To refuse is impossible; The disguised
lady arrives and is placed at the head of
her new husbands household. She usu-
ally insists on his divOrcing his other
wives, and in any case treats them as
servants and interiors. One old gen
eral, who had become the recipient of
these royal favorS (the lady led him a
sad life) never alluded to her but-in a
whisper, of course-as ''the old camel"
Beauty and youth are the few and SIM
pie qualifications for entering the royal
harem. Various accomplishments such
as singing, playing on the hand drum,
or tumbak, the tambourine or the har-
monica are often acquired after the lady
has been received into the seraglO.
Only the fresh arrivals and those who
have failed to please live together in a
sort of barraek under the supervision
of the Amin-i-Akdas, an old faYorlte,
who acts as sort of "Mother of the
Maids" Every Thursday there is a
kind of review, the shah personally in
than the recognized wives and favor
ties. The throwing of the handker
chief is no invention, and has
not gone out of practice. The
number of legitimate wives Tor
akdD for every MusSulman is four,
The head wife of the present shah (WhO
is his cousin also) and who bears the
title of Shuko-es-Sultana, is the great
granddaughter of Futteh Ali Sha, a
monarch whose family WIS so large that
no of his descendants were alive at his
death. This lady is the mother of the
crown prince, or VaIliad. Her marriage
with the Snan was one OF pOllcy. Inc
next wife in seniority is the daughter of
a son of Futteh Ali Shah. She is only
known to rumor as having somewhat
sharp temper.
The third wife, and the actual favor
lite, is Anys-u-Dowlet. She has been a
legitimate wife nearly thirteen years, is
very fat. fairly good-looking, and is said
to be very good-tempered and attractive.
She actually accompanied the shah as
far as Moscow OH his first journey to
Europe, but the attempts to see her made
by the Russians of all classes were so
pertinacious that, to her great disap-
pointment, she was sent back to Tehe-
ran. The Anys-u-Dowlet has immense
influence. and yet she never takes
bride, but her own family is we'll cared
for. three of her relatives filling impor-
tant positions at the court, where their
| reputation is not that of her royal kins-
woman. The whole family were the
children of village miller, who lived
near Dimarvend. nearly extinct vol
cano, which, capped with eternal snow.
towers over Teheran, and may be seen,
| it is said, at distance of 200 miles.