Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-12-05
Correspondence

mere woman, is destined 10 eN-
ercise a very great influence i'll
,ba future of Turkey. Women, here
tofore. have been a negligible guam
~ in this country. but If the princess
las her way they no longer will be,
t,r she is trying to bring about the
total emancipation of Turkish women;
princess reared in a harem ana
,oatinr in public, to thousands of Wo-
s,nn-.yes and men too--about woman
r,ohts in the Very heart of the SUI
inns denomnions! TO European IDEAS
his seems incredible and yet it IS one
of the wonderful trans formations WORK
oil nv the recent revolution.
Princess Fatimas meetings are at
tended not merely by the European
visitors. but by the wives OF ner-
chants, small officials and under OIL
,cers--thc most conservative classes III
turkey. The most wonderful part
about the gatherings Is the iact that
the women come unveiled. she IS ,.h
excellent speaker and talks in an earn
rsr. convincing way. She advocates
everything that will tend towards en-
ancipating her sex. She is forming
league and there is already huge
membership, even amongst the women
Of the lower and middle classes.
IyNBOUNDED ENERGY.
Fatima's energies seem to be limit
,oss She is founding schools for
Turkish girls. whose parents cannot
afford to have foreign govelnesses.
Now. this means a great deal. because
the Turkish woman OF the middle Grass
inr can be- II her husband is wealthy
enough to keep slaves she does Moth
Ing all day long but sit on cushion,
cat a sickly sweetmeat and play With
cheap German toys. She never reads,
rarely sews and has not an interest IN
tho world beyond the harem and Its
petty squabbes and intrigues.
Though princess, Fatima ed Mel
med knows this wearisom life very
We'll. Her father was a rich merchant
OF Medina, one OF the most conserVa-
tive towns in Turkey, and married hcr
To a. poor prince. When she entered
her husbands family she saw how
graat was the difference between the
life OF aristocratic Turkish hafelns
and those she had been used to, She
saw that the inmates of the former
had French and English goVerneses.
spoke foreign languages fiuently, wore
dresses from Paquin and mats rom
virot and had their rooms lu ,ls ,lod J..
a strange fashion, including brass ped
steads and wooden chairs. she, on her
marriage, could not even read anu
write Turkish.
In a few years after her marriage
she had not only mastered her motheI
tongue. but could speak and reao
French and English as Well. But ti'e
more she learned the more she longed
10 learn and see. She lonSed TO walk
about in the streets and go TO WISH
nor female friends on foot. Only on
very rare occasions did she leave Tue
garden OF the harem and then sne WAS
always in closed carriage, win inc
blue silk blinds lowered ana a stliihS
veil over her face. Her huspand hitu
but one wife not sc. mue D., pec, aus bez
approved of European ideas. put oe-
cause he said he could not afford more
since French cookery and English fur
niture had become the fashion. His
brothers lived with him and their wives !
lived with Fatima. II the wives gave
party, only women were present,
amongst them being the wives ana
daughters of men engaged at me vi
rerent embassies. II the husbands
gave a party, only men We're present
When Fatima heard the foreign am
bassadors' wives and daughters de-
scribe their parties, where men and |
women conversed freely. and talked,
not only of love, but of books, people,
politics and art, she says that she de-
terlnined that II she could possibly
bring it about, Turkish women should
also be free and be treated like grown
IN people instead of dolls. But this was
not so easy as it seemed. Not only ner
husband, but his and her own family
refused to let her change her life IN
the least.
you speak three foreign languages
and that Is enough emancipation lot
anybody" they said.
MAKES HER ESCAPE.
Thar ratima. determined to run away
10 Europe, to study and to see how
women lived there, so as to speak Win
some authority when she came PACK
again. Even running away was al
most impossible. SO closely was the ma
rem guarded. but at last she Dliped
a German governess to snluggle IN a
European woman's dress and hat, ana
one morning after her German lesson
she walked boldly out of the harem,
her hair cropped close to her head, Inc
paint and powder (Which even turkish
men use to an enormous extent) washed
from her face and 4 hundred dollars
worth of Turkish money,secretly hoard
cd up during three years, In hef pocket
STRUGGLE IN GERMANY.
Aided by the German governess, Fa-
TINA went to Germany and Wrote
thence to her husband and her father;
telling them what she had done ana
Ner reasons. Il flGya WIolc ptlS'N - '1v i
she should not have any money at az
unless she swore to return home at
once This she refused to do and be-
gan to fight against starvation IN Ber-
In, While attending some higher cours-
Is for women. Only a Turkish woman.
dalicately nurtured in the lap of east
EN- luxury. can form an adequate ldsa
OF what this woman went through.
WIS then that she saw the other side OF
tht melal-the rough side of independ-
cnt women, who must think for them
selves and keep the wolf from the door.
Al her small stock OF money was soon
gone she gave Turkish lessons In the
afternoons to a few youths who wished
10 riter a diplomatic academy. gong
10 har lectures in the mornings, ana
nrepa,ng for her examinations all
through the evenings and into the
smal.hours of the morning. But very
few reope wanted Turkish lessons at
all, ami Fatima often dined on nothing
better than a plate of ill-madc soup
and piece of coarse bread-fare that
she would not have touched 9, few
months before. But perseverance, had
It's Iew!td and flnal., Thtima obtained
hHr dipltma of higher education. More
Than that, she had studied the rights
and wrotss of the womens movement
" thlrppt and. as soon as tire -cEolu-
iun b;okeout in Turkey in the summer
Of 1905. sin determined to take advan-
ta2e of What was going on there to 1e-