River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1905-08-10

in and began to dance before the sui
tan.
Dat stood it first rate until girl got
on the carpet barefooted and began
one of those willowy sort of dances
that nearly broke up the Chicago fair,
when people left the buildings filled
with the work of the worlds artists,
in all lines of progress, and went to
the Midway in body to see Little
Egypt" but when this dancer waltzed
up to dad and wiggled in foreign Ian
guage, dad sashayed up to her and
couldn't hold him back.
He was just getting warmed up to
balance to partners" when a frown
came over the sultan's face, and he
looked cross at dad, and then the
hewgag sounded, and the girls scat
tered out of : side door, and dad want
ed to follow, but I held him by the
coat, and it was over. l think those
girls were the only ones in the whole
harem that were good looking
Dad breathed hard a little from his
exercise, and said he was ready to in
spect the stock, and the sultan de-
tailed a tall negro, with a face dried
up like mummy, and we started out
through the harem, dad pulling the
long hair on the side of his head over
his bald spot, and throwing his Shout
ders back and drawing in his stomach.
to make him look Young
Well, say, there is nothing about a
harem, much different from keeping
house at home, except that there is
more of it. The idea people get of
harems is that the women are all
young and beautiful, and that they sit
around swimming tank and play
guitars and keep the flies off the mar
who owns the place. while he smokes
the vile Turkish tobacco burning in a
jardiniere, through section of rubber
hose, and goes to sleep like China
man smoking opium, and that they
drink rare wines and dance with ban
giles on their legs and ropes of pearls
on their necks and arms.
| have seen alleged limitations of a
Turkish harem on the stage, with
American girls doing the acting, and
it would make you feel as though you
would invest in harem when you got
old enough, but, gee, when you see a
regular harem run by an up-to-date
Turk, you think of the Mormon apostle
who has 40 wives of all ages, from 70
down to 16-year-old hired girl, with
hairlip and warts on her thumbs.
This harem was like a big stock barn
in the states, with big room to ex-
ercise the colts, and box stalls for the
different wives and their families to
live in and do their own cooking and
washing.
Instead of sitting by bath playing
a harp, the poor old wives stand by a
washtub and play tunes on the wash
board, and scrub, and take care of
children. l thought the custom of
spanking children was an American in
stitution, but it is as old as the ages,
for / saw Turkish mother grab up a
child that had lifted kitten by the
tail, and take it across her knee and
give it few with red hand covered
with soapsuds, and the young Turk
yelled bloody murder, just like an
American kid, and then sat down on
it's knees, so the spanking wouldn't
hurt, and called its mother names in
a language | couldn't understand, but
| knew what the child said, by instinct
Dad started to interfere, because he is
a member of the humane society, but
the unique that was showing us around
saved dads life by pushing him along,
before the woman got chance to
brain him with the washboard.
The women mostly had on these
baggy Turkish trousers, like the
Zouaves wear, and a jacket, and
a cloth around their heads, and
they acted as though if the next
meal came along all right they would
be in luck. We saw a few women
pretty white, and they were Circassian
slaves, with big eyes and hoops in their
ears, and a little different clothes on,
but there were none that dad would
buy at an auction, or at bargain sale,
if they were marked down to SO cents.
We passed one woman running an
American sewing machine. and dad