The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1889-06-07
rae sunrAN,s PRETTY PET
A Peep at the Ladies OF the Turkish
SeraGlio.


Among the most striking features of
Constantlnople are the minarets, of
which some of the mosques have four, or
even six. says a correspondent of the
New York Morning Journal. Near the
summit is u little gallery, from which
five times a day the muezzin calls the
believers to prayer.
However, by the aid of an imperial
firman, l secured photographs of three
ladies of the harcm. One of these danes
is, 1 was informed a charming woman,
pretty and graceful, but not at all intel
ectuel. The other two are fair and
probably would be tickle if they had the
opportunity.
i did not visit the seraglio, or see the
inside of any of the sultan's palaces, but
even their superb eXteriors were q treat
to look at.
The bazaars are very interesting and
numerous; but the grand bazaar, called
Bezesteen, is certainly best worth seeing.
1t consists of long emu covered over
with lofty arches, lighted by apartures in
the roof, and branching off in every
direction. There you can get everything
sou want; but except you are with a
dotlNS, w uol III uuS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS,
give more than half the price the mer.
chant asks.
Constantinoplc is well supplied with
trampays, and possesses ever an under
ground railroad. which runs from Pera
to Galata, and which, | think, belongs to
an English company.
There are plenty of Turkish ladies to
be seen in the streets and the bszaars,
but as they are shrouded from head to
foot in caftans or mantels, and as over
their heads is thrown a yashmak-a thin
and gausy veil which only shows the
nose and mouth, there is very little
chance Of studying Turkish beauty.
Some Of them dress in grea! style, their
%caftans being of velvet or silk, in the
most gaudy colors, and many sport neat
Persian boots. which, by the everlasting
mud in the streets OF Constan-
tinople, they have ample oppor-
tunity of showing. Many of the
richer class travel in Sedan chairs.
There are numerous Persian women
here, who are even more closely yelled
than their Turkish sisters. There is no
opening in the "ruh-band' of the Persian
lady, and instead Of gauze it is made of
white calico or cambria, and how these
poor creatures can see or breathe is more
than | con understand.
Apropos of Persia, l met the other day
an Austrian doctor who had just returned
from that country, and who certainly
gave us no very glorious accounts of it.
The shah, he said, is a beast in every
sense of the word; his officials follow the
example OF their master, and as long as
the government is in such a rotten con-
dition the country could not and would
not be open to civilization. The Austrian
doctor gave us very graphic descriptions
If the adventures he had, especially in
the interior, where on one Or two occa-
sions he was nearly starved, as not even
for gold would some of the peasants give
Persian customs which the savant de-
show how much the people are still be-
hind us.
There is one thing which displcascs me
here, and that is the servilc tone of the
press. Ii anything happens which the
government does not wish to be known,
word is sent round, l understand, to the
press and they do not mention q syllable
of it, otherwise the respective paper
ceases TO exist, it may be for months, it
may be forever. You can easily imagine
how it stands with the law in q country
where the press is 30 much handicapped.
He only can obtain justice here, many
think, who is willing and able to pay for
it, and not even from the international
tribunal, before which disputes arc
brought in which one or both parties arc
foreigners, can you expect Il just and sat.
isfactoIy judgment, for tbs judges are
Turks and the assessors only are for
eigners.
So you see in what a miserable condi-
ton is justice in Turkey. Nearly every
branch of the administration is in a sim
liar stare, as every official, from the mos,
insignificant clerk to the highest dignitary,
can, | believe, be bribed. 1t is, there.
fore, not astonishing that the Christian
population of this country has only one
wish, and this is. May the Turks soon
be driven out of Europe"
When a Turk enters a room he behaves
very differently from us; he takes off his
boots aud keeps on his hat or 'fez;'' and
just az he in this instance does the reverse
from what we do, 30 does he mismanage
everything else.
cannot conclude without expressing
my horror of the word "bahsheesh," cI
Zip" 1t has haunted me in my dreams
n night and has hung like the sword of
Damocles over my head during the day
it has cmptied my purse and made me
consider every official, waiter, porter
in fact nearly every body my enemy.
Travellers IN this country must make up
their minds to give ''baksheesh" freely,
as it indeed, is the open sesame TO the
bport1 pf tho ipbnhjtaptc