Anonymous

“ Girls reach their majority at nine and are frequently married a year later, though not usually until fifteen. By that time all the education they get is acquired. Instead of being taught all the abstruse sciences she is taught all the caressing words and gestures possible to imagine—how to walk, sit, look and speak so as to appear the most seductive in the eyes of the husband who gets her. ”

“ About the only thing I ever noticed the Turkish women do for their little children was to make toys for them, and they make the most grotesque-looking dogs, lions, cows, rabbits, elephants, camels and doll babies out of rags for their amusement. They never nurse their babies for fear of spoiling the shape of the bust. They are very poor mothers, as they are too ignorant themselves to understand their responsibilities or to teach their children. ”

“ In all Mohammedan countries it is customary for wealthy men to keep a harem; for, though four is the number of wives to which the faithful are restricted by the Koran, there is no limit to the number of concubines a man may have, except his ability to maintain them. The mention of a harem naturally suggests to most people the female portion of the royal households of Turkey and Persia and Egypt. In the sultan’s harem each wife—he alone can have seven—has a separate suite of apartments, and a separate troop of female slaves to wait upon her and do her bidding. ”

“ The little girls are taught to sew and embroider, how to walk gracefully, and recline in the most negligent manner upon the divans, how to play by ear a little on the lute, and to sing their interminable love songs. ”

“ As I found the Turkish women—and I happened to have obtained, by a fortunate circumstance, a chance to know them in their homes accorded to very few foreign women, and to absolutely no foreign man—they are gentle, submissive, loving, and with many natural [6] gifts in addition to their beauty. If they were educated they would be the equal of any women in Europe. ”

“ In the Harem.
Many people have an idea that Turkish women absolutely do nothing that is either useful or ornamental aside from the decoration of their own persons, but that is not altogether true, as my residence of over a year in their country taught me, for they are really dextrous with the needle and do work which is as fine as that done by the sisters in the convents, or that of the wives of the feudal noblemen of olden times. ”

“ The duties of guarding the harem or seraglio, as it is sometimes called, are intrusted to a small army of eunuchs, the chief officer of whom generally enjoys considerable political influence. The inmates of the harem lead a very secluded life. ”

“ Access may easily be had to the seraglio, with the exception of the harem, which is scrupulously guarded from even the eyes of strangers. The English have improperly confounded the two terms “seraglio” and “harem.”
Dervishes.
A Dervish, in Mohammedan countries, is a class of people resembling in many respects the monks of Christendom. The dervishes are divided into many different brotherhoods and orders. They live mostly in well endowed convents, called Tekkije or Changah, and are under a chief with the title of a Sheik. ”

“ No Turkish wife of the better class is ever expected to do any domestic labor whatever, nor to make any of the household linen, nor any garments for herself or members of the household, nor to sew any buttons on, nor, above all, to make her husband’s shirts ”

“ No fear of an angry husband haunts their minds, for they are not expected to do anything, and their husbands very rarely enter the harems before six o’clock. By this time they are all back, rosy and sweet from their bath.
At the baths there is often an old woman who has the faculty of relating stories, and she is eagerly listened to by the grown-up children; the stories are generally of the Arabian nights order, full of genii, beautiful ladies, and charming youths and jealous husbands. ”

“ Some of the monks are married, and allowed to live out of the monastery, but must sleep there some nights weekly. Their devotional exercises consist in meetings for worship, prayers, religious dances, and mortifications. As the convent does not provide them with clothing, they are obliged to work more or less. ”

“ From the earliest times, pious persons in the East have held it to be meritorious to renounce earthly joys, to free themselves from the trammels of domestic and [10] social life, and to devote their thoughts in poverty and retirement to the contemplation of God. ”

“ They very seldom learn how to read, or perhaps books would help them through, and they never make their own clothes, though they do sometimes decorate them very elaborately after others have made them. ”

“ This is an entirely new book, just published, and embodies all the latest ideas in needlework, crochet, knitting and embroidery. It contains designs and directions for making nearly fifty different patterns of knitted laces, many charming crochet patterns, also instruction for making many useful articles of wearing apparel and numerous articles for home decoration, among which are tidies, chair-scarfs, doylies, purses, table mats, shopping bags, lamp shades, shawls, Afghans, toilet sets, counterpanes, sofa-cushions, chair-covers, pin-cushions, dressing slippers, babies’ socks, etc., etc. ”

“ These are used in many of the wealthiest homes for parlor decorations: they form a magnificent display. Ladies are delighted with them. We are the largest importers, and to introduce our goods we make the following great offer:—For 10 cts. ”