The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1907-05-04

Wife of Noted Litterateur Who Lived Among Them
Tells Of Their Lives and Religion


The happiest woman. in the world!
Where is she to be found? America
proudly lays claim to possessing the
most beautiful and intellectual OF
women, France points to the splendid
vivacity and daintiness Of her gentle
sex, England boasts Of the British
matron, and so it goes; each nation
periodically holds it's head aloft in the
insistment that in all the world "our
women" lead all others in, this partlc-
ular characteristic, or that particular
virtue. Every land that: boasts a flag
extols the virtue of it's women folk.
But the happiest Of women!S Where
are they to be found? ,Demetra Vaka
Brown, traveller, student, authoress
and wife of the noted 2literateur and
editor, Kenneth Brown, says the hap
piest woman in all the world abide in
Turkey-the land Of flowers and
land where the life Of peace, the
thought of purity, and the apprecia-
ton of all that is beautiful in nature
has found, perhaps, its highest devel-
opment-the land of the "unspeakable
Turk"
s"How silly" said Mrs Brown, when
she heard the automatic characterize
ton. How shallow - how little is
known of Turkey and it's customs
you suppose the women Of the harem
are unhappy-they are the happiest
women in the world. have talked
and lived with the wives or Selim
Pasha, four in all, land discussed the
very problems that arise at once in
the American mind as. soon as this
question of the Turkish harem is
mooted-they have told me their
stories, their hopes, their fears-and
they are happy, very, very happy. |
have lived in other Turkish house
holds, and everywhere have found
that happiness is the rule, not the -ex-
ception. In America have lived ten
years, and have seen two happy
women. They were happy because
their husbands were passionately in
love with them. Woman's happiness
depends on love, you know, and >on
love alone
But, Mrs. Brown asked, would
you be happy with quarter of hus-
band?"
Show me- she replied, 'the woman
who has the whole of a husband
She pursed her pretty month and
brought into play g a.; snail array Ct
/ tiny wrinkles that furrowed up her
dainty forehead when asked if she
thought the Turkish mode of life
would bring happiness in the United
States. She seemed at loss for an
answer. She shrugged her little
shoulders, and shook her head with
half yes and halfsa no. and
then she sighed rather than said:
Perhaps -no-perhaps not-but
what does that mean you don't I'M
derstand-it is the point of view, the
mental process from which their hap
piness springs. Perhaps you must
understand the religion of the Turkish
woman to conceive why she is happy
even then it may be difficult. 1t
should be explained
Remember she said, in warning,
II do not indorse the harem; neither
do I condemn it. ] Go not give an
opinion. l simply tell you what ! have
seen what know-that the Turkish
women are equally as intelligent as
the American women, indeed many OF
them are more SO, and that happiness,
great happiness, is the invariable rule.
In the articles have written that are
appearing in Appleton's Magazine, |
express no personal opinion. just
relate exact conversations as they
took place, and set down happenings
of fact. From these pictures Of harem
life, those who run may read.
"You may judge for yourself wheth-
er it is best to have four wives or
one,' she added, with charming
touch of humor
A hundred questions arose in my
mind. What of divorce-what Of in
trigue-what of the future generation
what of this horrifying system OF
selling women into slavery-what of
the vile pestilential storm Of immoral
ity that must result from a system
that permits man having as many
wives as hermay choose to buy-What
of the passions aroused in rivalry for
the love of man, the hatred, the re-.
venge, the jealousy, the, crime; and so
on ad infinitum But the first sentence
of this charming travellers story
checked the flood of thought at once.
You see," she said, the child is
the most sacred thing inaTurkey. The
birth of child Immediately sanctifes
marriage-it is the law. The bearer
of the first child is the first wife.
There is no such thing in Turkey as
the illegitimacy of children. Woman's
holy mission is to become a mother
this is the will of the law Of Allah.
Nothing is so sweet, SO clarifying to
the Turkish woman as the thought of
motherhood And only those women
are ignored who fail to reproduce
their kind. There is no. race suicide
in Turkey. The holy thought OF moth
.erhood is the perfect state there
''Some one once said,'' remarked,