Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1905-08-10

in and began to dance before the sui
Dat stood it first rate until a girl got
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 a body to see Little
Egypt" but when this dancer waltzed
up to dad and wiggled in a 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 | held him by the
coat, and it was over | 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 a 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 a 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
jardiniere, through a section of rubber
hose, and goes to sleep like a China
man smoking opium, and that they
drink rare wines and dance with ban
giles on their legs and ropes of pearls
on thelr neckS ana arms.
| have seen alleged limitations of {
Turkish harem on the stage, will
American girls doing the acting, ant
it would make you feel as though you
would invest in a harem when you go
old enough, but, gee, when you see
regular harem. run by an up-to-dat
Turk. O think of the Mormon apostl
who has 40 wives of all ages, from 7
down to a ~16-year-old hired girl, wit
a hairlip and warts on her thumbs
This harem was like a big stock bar
in the states, with a big room to e1
, ercise the colts, and box stalls for tn
different wives and their families t
) live in and do their W cooking an
washing.
Instead of sitting by a bath playin
. a harp. the poor old wives stand by
washtub and play tunes on the was
board. and scrub. and take care
e children. | thought the custom
spanking children was an American il
stitution, but it is as old as the age
for | saw a Turkish mother grab up
y child that had lifted a kitten by Il
n tail, and take it across her knee ar
:, give it a few with a red hand covert
r with soapsuds. and the young Tul
e yelled bloody murder, just like {
q American kid. and then sat down {
its knees, so the spanking wouldr
= hurt. and called its mother ame
e a language | couldn't understand, b
e | knew what the child said, by instin'
d Dad started to interfere, because he
a member of the humane society, b
it the unique that was showing us arou1
% saved dads life by pushing him alor
re before the woman got a chance
Re brain him with the dashboard.
is The women mostly had on the
1t baggy Turkish trousers. like t
IS Zouaves wear, and a jacket, a
ST a cloth around their heads, a
Id they acted as though if the ne
II meal came along all right they wol
be in luck. We saw a few won
at pretty white, and they were Circassi
IN slaves. with big eyes and hoops in tn
lg ears. and a little different clothes {
IN but there were non that dad wol
lit buy at an auction. or at a bargain sa
if they were marked down to SO cen
We passed one woman running
n American sewing machine, and d