Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-13
Harem Fngit0es.
Continued From Eleventh. Page

pute, the case of these heirs is highly interest
ing for the light it will throw on the Sultan's
life at Yildiz during the latter years Of his
reign The full, intimate story Of how the
old potentate lived with his thousand-odd
womenfoIk viii be revealed for the first time
in the courts.
No man ever saw this harem and came out
alive to describe it, but Mrs. Anna Bowman
Dodd, an American authoreSs, who died In
Paris few months ago. did get Abdul HamldS
permission to visit it in 1903, when 1t was sttIl
in its splendor, and she gave some authentic
details Of 1t in her book I'm the Palaces OF
the SultanS."
TT was within these closed walls that hum
dreds Of young girls were brought, year after
year, century after century, knowing not when
they came, sometimes acquired as SpoilS Of
war or purchased from far-away merchants
traficking in womans beauty with country,
parentage, creed all an obliterated page in child
hoods misty records" Mrs. Dodd wrote.
within the harem walls these lovely young
Georgians, Circassians, Greeks and Armenians
were housed Here they received an education
in manners and accomplishments which was
to fit them to be the companions OF the being
they were taught to believe was the greatest
of earthly kings. Their beauty also was de-
veloped to its most seductive allurement.
1.-THE Flowers OF Desire were pruned and
shaped by a multitude of skilled fingers. Voice,
speech, gesture, hearing-each and all of these
were trained to exquisite finished perfeCtion.
In that school Of love were taught the secret
arts of seductive glances, the charm Of poetic
language and imagery, all the subtleties OF
languishing poses, every possible Indictment
wrought by the grace of the body in the whirl
and plastic pose Of the laScivious Eastern dances.
Through each progressive phase of such arts
must the crude, half-Savage beauty pass.
aY1d in
passes her life amid the golden walls Of her
symmetrically built hive. In the midst Of the
amber-hued draperies Of perfumed honey this
queen continues, In darkness as bright as
day to her million faceted eye, her work Of
conscientious maternity. She holds herself
obedient to the inscrutable law of destiny,
whose fatality she never questions.
I'm the golden, sunlit chambers of the harem
not one but hundreds, of queen-bee women
work, as they have worked for centuries, UNI
der the laws ordained by the f1ahometan male
who can guess the long succession of revoltS
among these primitive hothouse-bred vOlup.
tuaries? Who has registered the stifed long.
ings? Who responded to the wild fiutteripgs
among these Gagged birds for q wider, fuller exc
istence; for the life Of freedom beyond the
golden chamber, beyond the latticed window,
beyond the maddening trickle of falling water
and the throbbing torture Of the nightingaleS'
songs?
How many q puiSSant effort, how many
heroic struggles have the tiled walls Of the
harem pavilions heard and seen?"
MUCH new light has been shed ON Abdul
Avn Hands life by recent housekeeping ae
YildiZ Kiosk.
The Red Sultan" lived In this beautiful site
above the BOSporus with his horde Of women
for more than 30 years without ever having .
moments peace Of mind. He was in deadly
fear Of being poisoned or aSSassinated or q
being struck by lightning.
Knowing this weakness, Kaiser Wilhelm sent
Abdul a writing desk and chair with glass feet
Every time there was q thunderstorm the Sui
tan rushed to this desk and would not bulge
from it until the sun shone again.
40 copyright, 1930.)
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