The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-06-13
A CALL IN CONSTANTINOPLE.
How the Turkish Women Entertained
 the Preachers Wife.

1 the Preachers Wife. l Mrs. M. A. Crosley, wife of the pas tor of the Central Universalist church
 of Indianapolis, and who is well known | in Brooklyn, contributes to the "Indi- anapolis Sentinel" a description of her
 recent visit to Turkish harem.
 My visit to Turkish harem," says
 Mrs. Crosley, twas one of the rare ex- periences of my whole life, most of
 which has been spent in foreign lands.
 Few foreigners ever secure admission to the harems of the rich and influen- tial Turks The homes are so closely
 guarded that it is difficult matter to
 gain entrance. to one of the harems."
 Mrs Crosley was able to gain admit
 tance for all the ladies of her party
 through the influence of friends she
 has made in the many years she has
 been going to Turkey. The harem
 visited was that of an influential Turk
 at Constantinople connected with the
 government of the city.
 'The first thing to do,," writes Mrs.
 Crosley, If one wishes to see the in- side of harem is to secure a permit, UT, dS IOltlS IGlS llhc u Cdli IL, dl lll- vitatfon Knowing that we would be welcomed to the home of the official our whole party went there in carriages. I sent in my card by the servant at the door, and it was carried to the first wife, who is really the head of the household. By and by word was sent back by the servants to admit us and we were brought into a large reception room.
 Our party consisted only of women, as, of course, no men are allowed to enter the harems. In some homes eu- nuchs are employed to takeScharge, but only female servants were used in this home.
 While we were admiring the beau tiful furniture, the coverings of which were of silk heavily embroidered, the officials wives came in to meet us There were nine of them and they ranged from woman apparently fifty years old to the last wife, a beautiful, dark girl of sixteen. They were dressed in the loose flowing robes of their country, the lower part of the costume consisting of wide trousers gathered at the ankle. The trousers were so full, however, as to have al- most the appearance of skirts.
 Our clothes at once attracted the at tention of the women, as we were, be- lieve, the first party of foreigners they had ever really come in contact with although they must have seen others as they passed through the streets in their closed carriages.
 "They took off our bonnets and ex- amined them curiously and we had to explain how all our garments were made and worn. Any piece of jewelry at once caught their attention, and in return they showed us their ornaments, many of them of great value.
 Through an interpreter, a lady I had remembered to take with us, we quite freely and pleasantly. | It is the custom whenever foreigners all on the native women to take them | presents and we had come prepared in l his respect. We gave them beautiful l lowers, bright colorad ribbons and {, ,ther gay presents we knew women l would like to have, for strangely l though feminine likes in regard to l ,retty things seem to be the same the l world over. Our gifts made them lappy and they treated us with the reatest courtesy.
 Tt is the Turkish custom to offer very one cigarettes and of course they were presented to us. We all took one, or to have refused would have been a erious breach of etiquette. We were lso asked to smoke the naglich, kind f pipe where the smoke is drawn trough a glass bowl filled with water ito the mouth by means of a long rub CT tube. The Turkish women divide heir time between their needlework l