Waterbury Democrat., 1901-06-12
A CALL IN CoNsTANTINoPLE.

Mrs M A Crosley, wife of the pastor of the Central Universalist church of Indianapolis and who is we'll known in Brooklyn, contributes to the In- dianapolis Sentinel description of her recent visit to Turkish harem.
 My visit to a Turkish harem," says Mrs Crosley, was 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 infuen- tial Turks. The homes are so closely guarded that it is difficult matter to gain entrance to one of these harems.n
 Mrs Crosley was able to gain ad- mittance for all the ladies of her party through the influence of friends she has made ifl the many years she has been going to Turkey. The harem visited was that of any influential Turk at Constantinople connected with the government of the city.
 1NThe first thing to do" writes Mrs Cros1ey, tiff one wishes to see the inside of harem is to secure a per nit, or as foreigners like to call 1t, an invitation. Knowing that we would be welcomed to the home of the official our whole party went there in car riages. I sent in my card by the ser want at the door, and it was carried to the first wife, who is really the word was sent back by the servants to admit us, and we were brought into large reception room.
 Our party consisted only of wom- en; as, of course. no men are allowed 10 enter the harefns. Tn some homes eunuchs are efnployed to take ehAfge, but only female le1servantslwer used in this 1ome.lf L1vy 9A l9 st 1Is S ll7s 5
 While we we're adIniring 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 a woman apparently 50. years old to the last wife, beautiful, dark girl of 16.s They were dressed in the loose flowing robes of their country, the lower part of their gar ments 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 attention of the women, as we were believe, 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 jew elry 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 conyersed quite freely and pleasantly. It is the custom whenever foreigners call on the native women to take them presents, and we had come prepared in this respect We gave them beauti- full flowers, bright colored ribbons and other gay presents we knew women would like to have, for strangely enough feminine likes in regard to pretty things seem to-be the same the world over. Our gifts made them happy and they treated us with the greatest courtesy.
 Ut is the Turkish custom to offer everyone cigarettes, and of course they were presented to us. We all took one, for to have refused would have been a serious breach of eti- quette. We were also asked to smoke the nagh1ich, a kind of pipe where the smoke is drawn through a glass bowl filled with water into the mouth by means of a long rubber tube. The Turkish women divide their time be- tween their needlework and the nagh- lich, or "hubble-bubble," as the Eng fish call it. We declined the treat, saying we much preferred the ciga- es,which made excellent souvenirs