Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1907-08-01
LIFE in A HAREM
INMATES AT THE MERCY OF oeH
PoTIc WOMAN.
Mother Of the Sultan Has Absolute
Power Of Life and Death W''n'n
Its confnes-crueI Punish
nnent Frequent.

At the present moment, wnen SO
much attention is being paid 10 the
question OF equal rights Tor men anu
women, passing glimpse into the
harem of his serene. majesty, Aodui7
Hamid. exposes a condition OF Things
hard to believe and still harder 10
accept.
Curiously enough, however, IL is
not the sultan who is the most pow
erful and most dreaded autocrat IN
his own harem, but the sultan's moth
or known by the name OF "Failue.
IL is the sultan's mother who not only
regulates every incident OF the harem'
but possesses the right or lie ana
death over the women in it, and there
are almost no known instances In
which sultan has dared to save Ia
vorite from punishment ordered py
1.-The crown of yelled heads, as the
Valide is called in the harem
And next to the sultans mother
comes not the sultan's favorite wire,
as might be imagined, but the Has
nadar-osta, or grand mistress OF
finance. The sultan's chief wife, or
more correctly speaking, mistress,
ranks only third in the order OF the
harem, and seems to possess, more
over. no real power whatsoever. l
, use the word mistress, because the
sultan, which will probably come as
surprise to the majority OF English
/ readers. is not allowed to marry. This
J. extraordinary prohibition dates from
!, the time when a sultan, going upon
g some holy war, and taking his legiu-
> mate wife with him, found her sud
: denly seized by the enemy and led
!, into captivity. Now, the sultan, be-
ing considered the Almighty's de-
scendent and representative on earth,
his wife was, OF course, sacred, ana
could not become the property OF
. any lesser creature. Her seizure,
d therefore. created something like a
= panic in royal circles. A council was
Il called. and it was decided that hence
Is forward, to avoid repetitions of sim
d liar abomination, no sultan should
= ever marry.
4; The members of the harem are still
q Young slaves bought in Circassia
a Georgia, Armenia and other places
90 and practically educated in the harem
70 itself on the chance that the sultan
6, may one day notice them. 1t appears
. also that civilization has not made
&c great strides in the management o.
the royal harem, and that corpora
,r. punishments are still frequent, eu
70 nochs. called beating eunochs," still
IS being kept for refractory persons. Poi
" soned coffee is also not entirely out
er. fashion, while, grimmer still. the ter
n rible sack flung into the Bosphoru
3 even now does it's sinister work. |
is piteous to learn that, notwithstano
'er ing all thiss many parents willingl
n OK sell their children to supply the enol
,ig nous colony which constitutes tn
ere harem.
Elk; But life for Turkish potentate
~, In at best a troubled circumstance. In
asst fear of assassination is so great tina
go est the sultan, it seems, has not for year
fat slept two nights running in the sam
20, 70 chamber. The only person awai
rs: each night of the room selected is h
o es1 mother, who secretly gets it read
Ills. Two female slaves also lie, like fat
20; full dogs, extended across the doc
,es; way, ready to spring up at the sllgn
TO est noise or the faintest call from u
IoG sovereign. But for fear of treache
go even these are chained every nigh
ing and never until the last moment kno
.sS0O: to what part of the palace they are
Os4 be sent. The ordinary amusemen
a. of the harem are trivial enough, b
it is pleasant to learn that some
the women have the deeper JOY
red. motherhood, and that tnere are CD
u e, 5ran IN taLe caro- of and watch ov,
&C. WV " , =,
900 So many pet animals are kept all
ou that the royal harem has been call
&c veritable menagerie.
nc, ---