The times., 1901-06-09
VISITING a TURKISH HAREM.
It's Owner, Having But Nine wives,
Keeps on Marrying


Mrs NJ a. Crosley, Of this city. wife Of
the pastor of the Central Universalist
Church. while in Turkey recentIy-a coun-
| try which she has visited twenty times
| and more-enjoyed the rare experience of
being admitted to the luxurious harem Of
| a wealthy official.
The first thing to DO" said Mrs. Cros-
ley to writer in the indianapolis Sem
tinal. IF one wishes to see the inside
Of harem, is to secure a permit, or, as
foreigners like to call it. an invitation.
knowing that we would be welcomed TO
| the home Of the official our whole party
went there in carriages l sent in my
card by the servant at the door and il
was carried to the first wife. who is real
ly the head cf the household. BY and by
word was sent back by the servants to
admit us and we were brought into a re-
ception room.
'Our party consisted only of women.
as, of course. no men are allowed to en-
ter the harems. In some homes eunuchs
are employed tc take charge. but only fe-
male servants were used in this home
While we were admiring the beautiful
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 wo-
man apparently fifty years old to the
last wife. q beautiful dark girl of six
teen They were dressed in the loose flow
ing robes of their country, the lower part
Of the costume consisting OF wide trous-
ers gathered al the ankle. The trousers
were so full, however, as to have almost
the appearance Of skirts
our clothes at once attracted the at
tentiCn Of the women, as we were, 1 be
lieve. the first party of foreigners they
had ever really come in contact with, al
though they must have seen others as
they passed through the streets in their
closed carriages.
They took off our bOnnets and exam
iucd them curiOusly and We had to ex-
plain 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, lady had
remembered to take with us, we con-
versed quite freely and pleasantly. 1t is
the custom whenever foreigners call on
the native women u take them presents
and we had come prepared in this respect.
We gave them beautiful flowers, bright
cOlOred ribbons, and other gay presents
we knew women would like to have,
Tor strangely enough, feminine likes in re-
gard to pretty things seem to be the same
the world over. Our gifts made them
happy and they treated US with the great
est courtesy.
1T is the Turkish custom to offer every
one cigarettes, and. OF course, they were
presented to US. We all took one. for to
have refused would have been a serious
breach of etiquette. We were also tasked
to smoke the naghlich, a kind OF pipe
where the smoke is drawn through glass
bowl tIi4yd with water into the mouth
by means Of a long rubber tubs The
Turkish women divide their time between
their needlewOTk and the naghlich or
hubble bubble, as the English call it.
We declined the treat, saying we much
preferred the cigarettes, which made ex-
cellent souvenirs anyway.
'One Of the wives. a beautiful Cauca-
sian woman, could speak French huently
and this made our visit more interesting
as several of the party could thus talk to
her. She invited us to go over the house
and pointed out all rooms, including the
dining rooms of the wives and also of
the master of the house This latter
room was fixed up so that the husband
might eni ertain great many of his
friends at once All of the wives never
gather with him in the dining room. how
ever. as Turkish custom DEGREES that not
more than one wife shall share the hus-
band meal at time with him.
Just as we were leaving the harem the
Caucasian woman took me to one side and
asked contdentially if knew some beau
tiful girls who would likely suit her hus-
band, as he desired another wife. I told
her had seen so few Turkish women I
could not make a selection, and that I
feared no American girl would wish TO
BECOME the tenth wife. This answer, al
though intended as jest, was taken Sc
riously by the wife who was not able to
understand this aversion to being chosen
so late.
Girls in Turkey are married very
young, between twelve and fifteen being
the usual ages. The girl who is not mar
ried by the time she is sixteen is
looked upon with wonder. IN our party
were two girls, each a little over twenty.
The inmates of the harem discovered they
were not married and Were SURPRISED be-
yond utterance. Why, how old are your
they enquired. And not married?' they
would say when told the girls ages. Nor
could they understand how such a thing
as a girl living to be twenty years old
without being married could come to
pass"