New-York tribune., 1903-05-31

the education of the fair sex. and has been in
strumental in establishing girls schools in Con-
stantinop1e and other Turkish towns.
The institution Of the order of Che1aha'' Win
vhich he endowed Mrs. CiOeet, is an illustration
q the present Sutans respect for the women
OF foreign nations. Shortly after he hN'"'"
ruler in place of his brother, the unfor
Murad who was deposed on the ground lhat
he was an imbecile, the Russo o-Turkish war
troke out The atrocities of the conflict caused
me rest of the world to shudder. Not only were
lombatants slaughtered by wholesale, but the
fugitive inhabitants of the raVaged districts zen
victims to pestilence and famine.
1t was at this time that English woman,
the Baroness Burdett- CouttS, who is sometimes
tpoken OF as the richest woman IN England
Instituted the Turkish Compassionate Fund-
fhe baroness dispensed small fortune IN mar
boring refugee non-combatants of all creeds in
Constantinople, Adrianople, Philippopohs and
other cities and in furnishing help to those too
ecak or poor to flee to haven of safety. The
honey was dispensed through young Brooklyn
man William Lehman AShmead Bartlett, whom
she afterward married, to the great astonish-
lnent of two continents. At the time OF her
marriage the bride was siXty-sl1 and the bride
groom was twenty-nine.
The Sultan was so impressed with the phi
lanthropy of the English woman that on Au-
gust 20 1878 the Turkish Minister of Foreign
Affairs telegraphed 10 the Turkish Ambassador
at the Court of st. James:
Our august master has been much touched
= the kindness and generosity displayed by the
ISaroness Burdett-C Coutts toward the innocent
victims of the Russian atrocities, and directs
You to express his most sincere thanks not only
20 that noble lady but to the other members
the committee instigated through her inl-
'a.ive"
Later the Sultan established the order of the
hcfakat and first invested Lady Layard with
its Gordon. Lady Layard was then in Turkey
in charge of the work. At the same time the
"urlish ruler sent the decoration to the bar
Tness.
Since the establishment of the order Of the
Thefakat, its meaning of pity, mercy, kindness
,nd henevolence" has apparently lost some OF
fits original significance. The Sultan still con-
fines the badge of the ChefaHat to women, but
gives it to wives Of ambassadors and ministers.
sonnet times it is sent to their homes by an aide
ie-camp, or, as often, it is conferred on them
publicly on the Friday that the Sultan goes to
prayers at the Hamidieh Mosque The niece of
a recent American Ambassador, in telling of the
way she received her decoration, said
Il had been informed that the Sultan was to
confer on me the Gordon Of the Chefakat on the
following Friday before the crowd of ambassa-
doris. their attaches and friends in the little
building adjacent to the palace, which IS set
apart for the foreign representatives. supposed
at first that the Sultan was himself going to pin
il on, and when thought Of his three hundred
wives, a shadow from the Arabian Nights passed |
over ne and made a little frightened. Later |
/ found that my fears were entirely unfounded. |
When the aide e-de-camp had taken our cards and |
we had taken seats at a window of the ambas |
sadors' room, a procession began to pass by |
along the promenade below. On either side |
lows Of Turkish troops stood to arms if |
awaiting sudden attack. As soon as the Turk |
ish clock struck G. which is the hour of II among
western nations, there appeared number of |
carriages containing ladies Of the harem Then |
came a carriage surrounded by a bodyguard |
and drawn by two prancing Arabs. in which sat |
= thin tired looking man. with such sad ex- |
1ression that il made almost sorry for him |
He bowed to us. and later an aide de-camp |
cam TO US and, saying that the Sultan sent US
his salutatons presented me with due formality |
the Gordon Of the Chefakat. 1t was very pretty"