Omaha daily bee., 1889-09-29

faced negro eunuch dressed In black with n
long whip In his hand and the carriages were
drawn by magnificent horses. There
were some beautiful girls among them
and l noticed half q dozen red.headed
Circassians whose cheeks were as rosy as
those of an English bar maid, and who would
have passed for bellies in Cleveland, New
York or Chicago. AT the head of the harem
procession was the carriage of the mother OF
the sultan, who is known as the Waldo Sui
tana, and who practically rules the harem.
The Waldo Sultana has one of the wings
OF the palace set apart for her use. She has
n court almost as important as that of the
sultan himself. She has her eInuchs and
her servants, and she Is probably the only
one whom his majesty implicitly trusts. She
acts as the go-between between the sultan
and his wives, and she really chooses his
wives for MIN. i have been in Constanti-
nople during the greater part of the NOLAN.
medan lent, or of the month known as Ram
a2ans During this month the Mo-
hammendans fast from sunrise TO sum
set aud they engage in numerous prayers.
AT the close OF it will come their Easter
Balram, when every Turk will come out in
new clothes and when the whole Mohamme-
dan world will engage in rejoicing. AT this
time each year the sultan takes a new and
favorite slave to wife and this slave is Sc
lected from a large number by the Valide
Sultana. AS l write, the young lady
is probably in training for her
new position, and she has
been within the hand of the Valide Sultana
for Il NUMBER OF months. SIX months before
Ramuzan each year the Georgian slave mer.
chants and others who have girls whom they
wish to sell to the sultan bring their young
ladies TO the sultan's mother. She looks
over them and picks out fifteen or more.
These are taken into the palace and are fed
like so many prize horses. Shortly before
Bairam she looks over the lot again and
picks out the one who is to he the
BRIDE OF THE SULTAN.
The sultan has, | believe, the right to take
such OF the other girls as strike his fancy,
but his Balram bride he does not see until
the night after this feast. He finds her in
his chamber when he retires to rest mt night,
and the story at Con stantinople is that the
new bride must crawl under the clothes
from the foot of the bed In token of her sub
lection. If she happens to please the
sultan she is given n separate
apartment, and If she has children they
are legitimate and rank with other princes
and Processes. If the sultan does not like
her she ranks with the other slaves of the
palace and, 1T may be, never sees his majesty
again.
The ~favorite ladies of the sultan's harem
have by no means a bad time. They are
certainly better off than they would be IN
their native lands, and many of them esteem
IL u great honor to be brought to CONSTANT
nople and sold. Their life in the harem Is a
do-nothing, lazy one. They spend the day in
chatting, eating and sleeping. Most Of them
smoke cigarettes, and they go out dining
under charge of their eunuchs when they
can get permission. The sultan has d very
nice little theater in his palace, and music
for this is often furnished by the ladies of
the harom. The price of a slave is largely
increased if she is u good musician, and
some of these girls are good dancers and
singers. The price for an ordinary slave
girl OF the desirable age. ranging from
twelve to sixteen, is 5000. If she is beautiful
she may be worth Two Thousand and
- g.l 20 -, pllaftnp 90 ahta nIn
is n good musician, the mother of the
sultan will give from five to six thousand
dollars for her. Rich blonde beauties with
blue eyes and transparent skins always bring
high prices il plump and we'll rounded, but l
am told that black girls are brought from
Africa and sold for a song in Constantinople.
The slave market of the city has long since
been done away with, but the buying and
selling
STILL GOES on UNDERuAND,
and the terms of slavery outside of the pal
ace are such that after a slave has served
seven years she must, if she desires, be re-
leased. More than baif the marriages IN
Turkey are, it is SAID, made with slaves, but
the slave having u child is usually elevated to
the position of wife.
The foreign artists who come TO Constan-
tinople are often asked by the sultan to give
performances to himself and his friends in
his royal theater within the palace. AT such
times the tavorite ladies of the seraglio get a
glimpse of outside life through lattlced win
dows of their boxes, and the event is the sub
ject of gossip in the harem for weeks to
come. In connection with this theater, l
was told an incident which gives some in
sight into the kindness of the ~sultap's ma
ture. On the ga of last February, when
an Italian opera troupe was playing in Con-
stantinople, the American minister, MIR.
Oscar Straus, gave an entertainment to the
Americans at his home, in celebration
of Washington's birthday. Az this
entertainment he had engaged this
Italian opera truope, consisting of two hun
dred and fifty musicians, to perform. Late
in the afternoon of the 22d Mr.. Straus re-
ceived a note from the Italian manager say
ing that the sultan had requested the troupe
to come that night to the palace, and mas
much as the request of his majesty was
EQUIVALENT TO A COMMAND,
he could not keep his engagement with HIM.
II was too late at this time to counuermand
the invitation for the entertainment and Mr..
Straus sent u messenger to the sultan ex-
planning the situation and asking him to al
low the troupe to come to his house either
before or after the entertainment at the pal
ace. His majesty at once sent back IL mes
senger, saying that ne would under no con-
ditions disturb the entertainment of Mr..
Straus, and that it would suit him Just as
well to have the truope to come TO the palace
after their entertainment was over, which
was done. AT another time he disarranged
one of his dinners mt the palace to accommo.
date the American minister, aud am told
here that q close friendship has existed be-
tween MIR. Straus and his majesty during the
whole of the formers ministry.
FRANK G. CARPENTER.