The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-03-26

the vie Turkish tobacco burning in
Jardiniere, through section of rubber
hose, and goes to sleep like a China
man smoking opium, and that they
drink rare wines and dance with
bangles on their legs and ropes of
pearls on their necks and arms.
l 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 a harem when you got
old enough, but, gee. when you see
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 a 16-year old hired girl with
q hairlip and warts on her thumbs.
This harem was like 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 ana
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. | thought the custom CT
spanking children was an American
institution, but it is as old as the ages,
for l saw a Turkish mother grab up
child that had lifted kitten by the
tail, and take it across her knee and
give it a few with red hand covered
with SoapSuds, and the young Iurk
yelled bloody murder, Just IKE an
American kid, and then sat down on
it's knees, so the spanking wouldn't
hurt, and called it's mother names In
a language / couldn't understand, but
knew what the child said, by instinct.
Dad started to interfere, because ne Is
a member of the humane society, put
1.-The unique that was showing us around
saved dads life by pushing him along,
before the woman got chahce TO
brain him with the dashboard.
The women mostly had on these
baggy Turkish trousers, like the
Zouaves wear, and jacket. ana
| cloth around their heads and they
acted as though if the next meal came
along all right they would be In luck
| We saw few women pretty Whlte'
land they were CircasSian slaves. with
| big eyes and hoops in their ears, ana
a little different clothes on but there
were none that dad would buy at an
Iauction. or at a. bargain sale, if they
were marked down to SO cents.
We passed one woman running an
American sewing machine, and dad
said he'd bet she was an American
! and he went up to her and said: Hell
llo sis" She stopped the machine,
looked UP at dad with sort OF BoWelY
Expression, and said: "GWan, Chauncey
| Depew, you old peach. or I'll have you
pinched," and the unique took dad by
| the arm and pulled him along real
spry. but he hung back and looked
over his shoulder at the woman. but
she went on sewing, and dad said TO
me: "Well. wouldn't that frost You*
And we went on making the inspec-
| ton.
I don't think ever saw so many
children, outside of an orphan asylum
Ne~fryx an oil VI
exactly alike. They all had the same
beadv black eyes that look as though
they were afraid Of getting caught In
n trap. like muskrats. and their noses
had the same inquiring appearance, as
though the owner was speculatlng as 70
how much money the Visitors had IN
their pockets, and whether it was fast
ened in. Race suicide is Impossible Ill
Turkey, but a race of bandits is grow
ing up that will let no foreigners with
a pocketbook escape.
If took us an hour to go through
the harem, and it was more like go
ing through the quarters OF the work
ing women of a home laundry in the
tenement district of large city, than
comic opera, asgwe had been led 10
expect by waatItwe had read of ha-
rems. When we went into the harem
I think dad was going to insist on nav
ing the women dance for him, Wnlle |
he sat on a throne and threw kisses
at the most beautiful women in all
the world, but before we had got
around all the box stalls ] think If
any OF them had started to dance dad |
would have stampeded in a body.
We finally got back to the great |
marble room, where the sultan was
sleeping in a stuffed chair, surround
ed by his staff and one of them woke |
him up, and he asked dad what he
thought of the home life of crowned |
head, and dad said it beat anything |
he had ever seen, and he should rec
ommend to his government that the
harem system be adopted in America,
and actually the sultan seemed pleased |
He said as an evidence of his love Tor
America he wanted to present to the
president, through dad, so OF his wives
and if dad would indicate where he |
wanted them delivered, they would be
there, Johnny on the spot, or words
to that effect.
At first I thought dad would faint
away, but I whispered to him that it
owuld be discourteous to decline a
present, after giving the sultan a gold
mine, and that may be the old man
would be so mad, If he declined the
wives, that he would tie stones to our
legs and sink us in the Bosphorus, so
dad rallied and said, on behalf of
his government, he would accept the
kindly and thoughtful gift of his high
ness, and that he would cable for a
war vessel to take the wives to his
own America, and he would notify
the sultan when to round them up and
load them on the vessel,
Well sir / do not know what pos
sessed me to make scene, before we
got out of the presence of the sultan,
but it all came to me sudden, like an
comes to poet. l mad
been eating some fruit that I bought
in paper bag, and when l had eaten
the last of it, l wondered what /
would do with the bag. and then I
thought what fun it would be to blow
the bag up, and suddenly burst it,
when all was STILL So 1 blowed up
the bag, so it was as hard as a bladder,
and tied string around the neck, and
waited, | did not think how afraid
everybody in these old countries is OF
bombs, or L never would have done
it, honestly.
The sultan was signing some papers,
and looking out of the corners of his
eyes, to see If anybody was present
who was suspicious and dad was get
ting ready to make a salam, and back