San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1895-12-09
MORNING CALL IN TURKEY.
How a Constantinople Hostess Entertains
Her yisitors.


How Constantinople Hostess Entertains
Her yisitors.
A lady who has recently visited Con-
stantinople thus describes morning
sall she. together with Nine. Szechenyl
Pasha, a lady of European birth, made
upon a Turkish lady: THE house,
which was situated in the Kassim
Pasha district, was an ordinary Turk
ish house, two-storied, built of wood,
and with trellis work before the win
dows. Each story contained two or
three rooms; the masters room was by
itself, and the windows were not pro-
tected by trellis work. The furniture
consisted principally of low touches
running along the walls and covered
with rugs, and low tables. In the
walls there were various cupboards.
"a fat and very hideous negro wom-
IN let us in and conducted us TO the
lady of the house, who was still in her
morning attire-trousers of some
coarse material, and a chemise to
match, and who disappeared at once,
sending instead her eldest daughter,
Fatima, into the room. She was a
pretty girl, fifteen years old, with a
sweet, pale face and beautiful dark
eyes. Her dress was fairly European
as regards the cut, but the colors were
entirely oriental She did her best to
entertain us, took down a musical in
strument, kind of mandolin, from
the wall, and, softly playing it, she
sang one of those Turkish songs which
so aptly seem to depict the life of
Turkish women. The song was monot-
onous and subdued and melancholy,
and like it is the life of Turkish
woman-monotonous melancholy and
subdued.
''In the meantime the negro woman
had brought us some preserved fruit
and in few places is this better than in
Constantinople-and of course, Mocha
and cigarettes. The negress then sat
down, examined my garments, my
gloves, my UMBRELLA, and placed, laugh
ingly, her fat, black hands next TO
mine. The lady of the house now re-
turned, dressed in gown which, for
variety of colors, rivaled, the rainbow,
kind of teagown with an immense
train, embroidered all over with gilt
buttons. She sat down and began to
prattle in Turkish; what did not un-
derstand my friend was good enough
to translate for me. In the course of
our conversation our hostess took out
her purse, very large one, and showed
us the diamonds intended for the bridal
ornament of her daughter And how
she gossiped! She was going to re-
move from Kassim Pasha to a place
where there were fewer manageable
girls, for here they were so unbearably
jealous and envious. They had recent
ly been to the valley of the sweet wa
ters,' where Frankish gentleman had
passed them, and now the neighbors
say that Fatima had lifted her veil and
allowed the stranger to look into her
eyes. And few days later a Frankish
gentleman had walked through Kas-
sim Pasha street, and looked up at the
houses, and they said it was the same
gentleman, and a good match for
Fatima had been spoiled,
"Then she began to ask from where
came, how far it was away, and so
on. Her brother had been attached to
one of the Turkish legations In some
western capital but her ideas were ex-
ceedingly hazy, and l did my best to
enlighten her. Before we took leave
they showed the, whole house, and
Fatima produced with much satisfac-
ton some of her treasures-a rug with
a mosque and small tower she herself
had made, a blotting pad published by
the makers of some much-advertised
ink, a talisman presented to her by
some Turkish priest, and a photograph
of Yvette Guilbert; but the little
Turkish maiden did not tell me how
she became possessed of the the por-
trait of this Partisan star. "-London
Queen.