Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1906-10-24

unbelieved adventures and escapes.
mas arrived safe in Paris. Beautiful,
educated, of charming manner, this
woman, who fed from Con antinople
distinguished as a slave ana reached
Cairo, then. evading an army of spies
and traitors. managed to board a
vessel and reach France, has started
a crusade to free women of Turkey
to rescue the thousands Of wives"
from their gilded prisons, and to es.
tablish an era of freedom and end
the slavery.
AS yet even she has not dared to
suggest the abolition of harems, but
she strives to give the women of the
harem a breath of freedom, a glimpse
of life, the privileges of common
slave; air. sunlight. and the eompan-
ionship of her fellow beings.
The story of the princess. a tale Of
adventure and intrigue. of horrors,
mysteries. of peril, of death, and of
heroic effort to regain freedom and
escape the gilded hell in which she
lived has stirred al Paris and the
movement for reform advocated by
the beautifui Evadne has met with
the earnest support of men prominent
the French government. The task
she knows, is stupendous and practi-
cally she is urging a reform that
means a more serious disturbance
in Turkey than a revolt against the
throne. But with the horror Of her
own life, the thrilling adventures OF
her escape stil!l fresh upon her mind,
the Princess declares.
The Princess Cheref Ouroussoff
was the daughter of a wealthy man
and she was beautiful, more beauu
full than any of her sisters, according
to the European idea. but not to the
idea of the ordinary Turk, for she Is
not fat, and, to be truly beautiful in
Turkey, woman must be fat-the
fatter the more beautiful But it
happened that one of the favorite
nephews of the sultan had been edu.
Gated in Paris, and had learned to
combine the wickadness of the Turk
with the vice of Paris. Also, he was
cured of the 'dca that fat comprises
| beauty
When he returned to Constantinople
he saw the princess-by a sheer ac-
cident. He saw her slender. graceful
figure and caught a glimpse of her
perfect blond hair, her dark eyes.
her perfect complexion-and ne de-
sired her for his harem.
That accidental view led the girl
into life of misery, but perhaps in
to less misery than would have been
her fate had she escaped the prince.
So, after the bargaining was over.
the girl was torn from the harem Of
her father, and she rode in state to
the narem of her husband.
Il was envied she said in telling
the story. My husband was the
favorite of the sultan, his castle a
beautiful one on the banks of the
river, and he was liberal in mis- v'sve
that is, liberal from Turks tano
point-so perhaps my lot was fat
pleasanter than that of tens of thu
sands of others, happier, | know than
the lots of my poor sisters-wno
envied me.
Il had everything money could buy
yet / was a slave, or worse than a
slave, the creature of the will of an
educated monster. was not the favor.
/ lite. although my husband appeared
pleased with my society, and charm
| ed him with my paying and singin..
which were after the European style
Also | spoke English and French and
could read. The Georgians. the
| blacks, even the Russian and German
beauties of his harem envied me.
One never can know unless one has
lived in harem as an inmate all the
horrors of that life. The pace, gilded
| sumptuously furnished, beautifully
crowded with works of art, fragrant
with perfumes and rare exotics
decked with fiowers-was a charnel
house. Murders happened there unt.l
one grew sick with the awfulness Of
it.
One never dared ask what had be.
come of some beautiful favorite. One
learned never to ask questions there.
IL one was missing that was all. Per
perhaps someone had heard a scream
in the night, the patter of feet. then
silence, perhaps a dagger thrust had
ended the misery of one, or cru i
fair throat. The blacks were all train.
ed and before daygreak a body was
thrown into the river-~and no one
asked why.
But the worst of it was to live
The jealousies, the intrigues, the con.
slant chickering's, and hatreds, the
vice, the wickeduess of It all killed
the soul and destroyed hope. To sit
behind bars and gaze upon fountain
| playing in a sun lit eourtward to catch
a glimpse of people moving in a
street made one long to beat upon the
bars and struggle to freedom. enyied
the ayes, the lowest slaves, who
could meet free people and walk the
streets breathing the free air.
We were creatures of the viii
of our husband at all times, also we
must obey his sister and his favorite
wife, the mother Of his heir. Even
when we did these things we were
liable to suffer from their displeasure
and many did.
Once tasted freedom. and
during the hours that | dreamed, anc
| lolled upon silken coucnes in beautf.