Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1906-03-17
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balcony of a certain hotel at Therepia,
watching the glorious illumination OF
the mountains of Anadolia by the set
ting sun, discussing Oriental poetry
and philosophy, the great historical
events of the Ottoman Empire, and
the uncertainty of all human things of
empires rs we'll as of individuals. /
was not surprised to hear from his
youngest daughter, the sapphire-eyed
Mlhrlm, that she and all her sisters
adore their father, and would consider
it the greatest happiness in life to die
for him, if by their death they could
increase his happiness.
And yet, the newspapers We're in
forming us these last few days that
two of Noory Pasha's daughters have
secretly left their fathers "Knoak" 1T
Booyookdere, and as fugitives tried to
reach Europe against his will!
From friends in ConstNntinople, and
from ladies who visited the two sisters
in Belgrade, l obtained information
which not only places this incident in
its true light, but reveals to us little
of that greater of great enigmas-the
soul of a Turkish woman.
The jealous guarding against all out
side influences, the absence of almost
every distraction, often concentrates
the affections of the young Turkish
woman, deepens and intensifes them.
Behind the barred doors in the high
walls surrounding q Turkish house,
behind the latticed windows and thick
curtains there is much more romance
in Turkish family life, than is, dreamt
of by us unromantic Gyaoors. The de-
votion of Turkish children to their
parents is very great and very tender,
but the devotion of the sisters and
brothers to each other can hardly find
its equal anywhere among the Chris
tians. NoOry Pasha's daughters fur
nish a beautiful illustration Of that
fact.
Zeynella Hanum, the eldest daughter
Of Noory Pasha, is delicate and
pretty young woman Of twenty-five or
twenty-three. After her marriage her
health began rapidly to deteriorate,
The Turkish "Hakims" knew only so
much: that she is dying slowly, and
that they cannot help it! Zeynella Ha-
mum herself, as good Turkish woman'
seems to have reconciled herself TO
her fate. AfteA all, what is the harem
but sort of grave, with silk and vel
vet tapestries and soft sofas and
cushions, and what is the grave but
FOR many n wOman-a better sort OF
the harem?
But the youngest sister, Noorlya Ha-
mum, loved her elder sister with a
more intense love than Zeynella loved
- e'i-- i~~;~1od HOY
father letting Zeynella be examined
by the hest European doctors in Con-
Stantinople. 1t was not difficult 10
persuade Noory Pasha to do so. The
European doctors saw Zeynella, and
saw that she was suffering from con-
sumption in the first stage. They
thought that the only chance of saving
her life would be to place her in one
of the modern sanatoria for consump-
tives in Germany or France. But to
send a young Turkish woman to a
modern sanatorium in the cursed
Gyaoor-land, that implied far greater
reform than the great Powers have
ever dared to demand. If Noory PNsha
had been a private Effendi, he might
have done it; but he, the Musteshar of
the Foreign Office of the Sublime
Porte, a pillar of the YildiZ Kiosk-he
could never do it! 1t would have been
The practical proof of the EXTREMIST lib
it would have been an inno-
walton upon which even the bOldest
member of Young Turkey would not
have dared to venture.
The husband of Zeynella Hanum, her
father, and she herself took it for
granted that it was the inscrutable
will of Allah that she should die slow
ly on the shores of the BOsphorus.
But the young Nooriya loved her sister
too much to accept such a death with
out a challenge. She determined to
fight the giant of the Oriental fatalism,
the "Kismet." She determined to
take her sister to that strange country
Of infidels, but where science can save
people from the clutches of death. OF
they would have to leave the
of their father unknown to
him. She begged her invalid elder sis
ter to trust to her love and her cour-
age. Not that her own plucky heart
did not fail her sometimes when con-
the long journey through
the terra incognita to an equally I'M
known country. Fortunately, she and
her sister were good friends with a
young French lady, MademolselIe Mar
celle de Veyssen. Nooriya had full con-
fidence in Mademoisele Marcelle, told
her of her burning desire to try to
save the life Of her sister by taking
her to the best doctors in Europe and
to the best place for her recovery. She
appealed to the young French girl to
help her. Mademoiselle Marcelle, with
the chivalrous spirit of her nation,
agreed to once TO place herself entirely
at the service of Nooriya.
AS the Turkish frontier at Mustapha
Pasha could not be passed without q
the most important task for
the young ladies was how to get q
pass. After some difficulty and delay
Marcelle induced an
elderly French lady TO cede them her
own pass. But then there was another
The true proprietress of the
pass was described as a gray-haired
lady of flfty-two. travelling with her
two grown-up daughters. For Nooriya
that was a difficulty only for a mo-
ment. She decided that she would be
The gray.haired lady of fifty-two, and
Leynella and Marcelle were to be her
two grown-up daughters. She pow
1ered her hair to look gray, and she
painted her face to look as old as it
could through a thick veil And she
played her role admirably throughout
the journey from Constantinople to
polgrode AT MuSt0nha pnsbo tho