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•''4 
 
 BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
A TURKISH LAPY IN ORDINARY STREET COSTUME (chARSHAf), 
 BUT WITH VEIL TURNED BACK 
 
BEHIND TURKISH 
 LATTICES 
 
 THE STORY OF A TURKISH 
 WOMAN'S LIFE 
 
 BY HESTER DONALDSON JENKINS 
 
 I 
 
 WITH 24 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
 J. B. LIPriNCOTT COMPANY 
 
 LOxNDON: CHATTO &- WIND US 
 
 1911 
 
!-• 
 
 
 j4ll rights reserved 
 
SRLF 
 
 to 
 
 1707 
 
 FOREWORD 
 
 AN OPEN LETTER TO MY TURKISH 
 FRIENDS 
 
 Dear Halkleh and Nelufer, Nasi?/, Meliha, Sabiha 
 and Leila, Hammiet Hanum and Nakieh Hamim, and 
 the other Turkish ladies whose hospitality and acquaint- 
 ance I have enjoyed — 
 
 For nine years I have lived in your heautifid city of 
 Constantinople, and have learned to love Turkey and 
 you. I have grieved with you over the dark days that 
 are past, and have rejoiced with you over the wonderfid 
 transformation that July 1908 made in your land, and 
 now I hope with you for the happy future of Turkey. 
 
 And for no one do I desire this future more than 
 for the women of Turkey, to whom a free government 
 brings a chance for grozcth and more abundant life. 
 You ichom I address ajc educated aiul enlightened 
 women. May the day be hastened when all the women 
 of Turkey shall receive the same developmsnt as you ! 
 
 People in my country knoxo little of yours, and perhaps 
 lea^t of all do they knoxo the Turkish wom^n. I write 
 this book in the desire to make my American friends 
 acquainted with my Turkish friends. My acquaintance 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 is limited to women of Constantinople and a Jew others ; 
 I am sonij I do not knozv the women of the interior 
 Turkish totons and villages. My picture even of you 
 whom I know must be inadequate; I cannot convey 
 the charm of your simple, gentle natures, your gracious 
 and graceful manners, your low warbling voices, and 
 your lovely expressive faces. It is but a crude thing to 
 tell how you live, what you rcear, and what you eat and 
 read ; but, lacking a creative pen, I must satisfy myself 
 with this analysis of the life of Turkish zoomen, in the 
 hope that from the bouquet of homely details that I 
 cull for my readers from the felds and gardens on the 
 Bosphorus^ they may be able to detect the exquisite 
 aroma of the beautiful Turkish personality. 
 
 
 -*» 
 
 VI 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 I. Babyhood 1 
 
 II. The School Life of a Turkish Girl 9 
 
 III. Where the Brook and River meet 30 
 
 IV. Marriage 37 
 V. Husbands and Wives 52 
 
 VI. Divorce 78 
 
 VII. Turkish Housekeeping 84 
 
 VIII. How a Turkish Woman amuses herself 102 
 
 IX. The Reaper Death 121 
 
 X. Religious Observances 133 
 
 XI. Workers and Beggars 154 
 
 XII. Characteristics and Possibilities 167 
 
 Vll 
 
■v 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 A Turkish Lady in ordinary Street Costume 
 
 (Charshaf), but with Veil turned back Frontispiece 
 
 9t 
 
 Coming out of School 
 
 Making Turkish Rugs 
 
 StambouLj from the Bosphorus 
 
 The Sweet Waters of Asia 
 
 Before the Mosque of Sultan Ahmed 
 
 Caiques on the Upper Bosphorus 
 
 A Turkish Lady in informal Out-of-Doors Dress, 
 
 for Summer Resort or Country 
 Planning the Second Marriage 
 A Turkish House 
 
 Ornamental Writing on a Turkish Tomb 
 Buying a Dish of Ice-Cream 
 Buying at the Door 
 Out for a Walk 
 The Sweet Waters of Europe 
 " Shall I marry soon ? " 
 In a Turkish Cemetery 
 
 Turkish Cemetery at Eyoub on the Golden Horn 
 Resting in the Cemetery 
 Mosque of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror 
 Interior of the Mosque of Ahmed 
 The Mihrab, or Altar, of a Mosque in Broussa 
 The Galata Bridge 
 A Street-Seller and Gipsies 
 
 ix 
 
 10 
 18 
 22 
 40 
 65 
 76 
 
 78 
 
 83 
 
 84 
 
 87 
 
 92 
 
 96 
 
 103 
 
 105 
 
 106 
 
 122 
 
 124 
 
 129 
 
 135 
 
 138 
 
 152 
 
 158 
 
 170 
 
'f 
 
 ^ 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 BABYHOOD 
 
 " Where did you come from, Baby dear ? 
 Out of the everywhere into the Here. 
 
 How did it all just come to be you ? 
 God thought about me and so I grew." 
 
 A BABY is the same marvel in Turkey as in the 
 Western world. A Turkish mother will sit and 
 gaze at her infant with wide eyes, pondering 
 many things in her heart, as did Mary of old. 
 When a girl baby is born, the mother is pleased, 
 for any child is a joy and a wonder to her ; but 
 the father is inclined to be disappointed, for a 
 boy baby is so much more desirable than a 
 girl. If a succession of girls is born to a family, 
 one of them will be dressed as a boy, partly as 
 a sentimental satisfaction and partly to cajole 
 fate into sending them a boy. At Turkish 
 weddings I have often seen, leaning against 
 her mother's knee, a girl-faced child with long 
 
V 
 
 BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 curls, but dressed in trousers and a boy's full 
 costume. 
 
 When I heard that Gule had given birth to a 
 child, I went immediately to inquire for her. 
 Her sister received me, and I was struck by 
 the fact that instead of wearing her hair in a 
 braid down her back, and being slackly dressed 
 with heelless slippers, she had her hair hand- 
 somely arranged and was prettily gowned. 
 
 " How is Gule ? " I asked. 
 
 " Very well, Effendim ; won't you come in 
 and see her ? " 
 
 " Oh no," I replied hastily, " I came only to 
 inquire ; I am sure she is not fit to see any one." 
 
 " Oh yes," she insisted, " she expects people ; 
 other ladies are there, you must come in." 
 
 Thus urged, I allowed myself to be led into 
 the best bedroom, where Gule and the new- 
 born baby lay in state. Gule, gowned in a fluff 
 of white lace, lay on a pink silk coverlet, her 
 dark head resting on a pink silk, lace-trimmed 
 pillow. At her feet, in a crib, lay the tiny mite 
 of humanity that had just entered the world. 
 Around the room, some squatting on the floor, 
 some seated on chairs, most of them smoking 
 cigarettes, and some of them talking, sat per- 
 haps fifteen Turkish ladies watching the slight 
 movements of mother and baby with deep 
 interest. It seems they come early on the day 
 
 2 
 
 
BABYHOOD 
 
 after a birth, stay many hours, then are suc- 
 ceeded by other friends, thus keeping the sick 
 room full of inquisitive women for three days, 
 leaving the poor little mother only the nights 
 in which to feel herself alone with her treasure ; 
 and even then a nurse watches her for fear a 
 peri should possess either mother or child. 
 They generally bring presents, but I, not 
 knowing of the custom, had brought none. 
 The sister gave me a cup of hot-spiced, red 
 liquid to drink, this being a beverage special 
 to such occasions. After pressing Gule's hand, 
 and whispering my congratulations, I left, but 
 none of the seated women stirred. Had I 
 known the Turkish salutation, I ought to have 
 said, " MashaUah ! long-lived and happy may 
 it be ! " I asked Gule later if she did not find 
 it very tiring to have so many women in the 
 room for so long. She replied that as they 
 were quiet she did not mind it at the time, but 
 that afterwards she found herself exhausted. 
 Sometimes guests are invited for the third day, 
 and offered a collation and music, in which 
 case they all bring baskets of sweets tied up 
 with flowers. AVhen we had left the room I 
 inquired the baby's name, and how it was given. 
 " Selma," replied the sister ; and the baby was 
 named by the imam of the parish whispering 
 the name " Selma, Selma, Selma," three times 
 
 3 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 in the baby's ear. There is no other christen- 
 ing ceremony, except the prayer that accom- 
 panies every act. On the eighth day the 
 young mother goes to the pubHc bath for a 
 ceremony of purification. She is accompanied 
 by relatives, and servants carrying towels, brass 
 basins, new garments, and all the toilet requi- 
 sites ; and baby is borne before the procession 
 in her nurse's arms. Into the bath, before the 
 mother enters it, the midwife throws some 
 magic medicaments, and only after muttering 
 spells, and blowing three times, does she let 
 her patient enter the chamber of purification. 
 
 Boys later, sometimes many years later, 
 must be circumcised, and this gives occasion 
 for a social gathering, with sweets and puppet- 
 shows, and perhaps dancing, to amuse the 
 child and the guests ; but the girl goes through 
 no other ceremony until her marriage. 
 
 A girl has only one name, which lasts her 
 for her life. When she is old enough to receive 
 the title, she is called Hanuniy which corre- 
 sponds' to our Miss and Mrs. Thus Gule is 
 addressed as Gule Hanum, and Selma as Selma 
 Hamcm,. In addressing a Turkish lady, it is 
 courtesy to say Hanum Effendi, or more briefly 
 Effendzm. Effendi means lord or lady, and 
 Effendim is my lord, or my lady, or more like 
 Monsieur and Madame in French. This word 
 
 4 
 
BABYHOOD 
 
 Effendini is used constantly in conversation. 
 Sometimes quite a ceremony will be conducted 
 with simply this word, thus : 
 
 '* Pray be seated, EfFendim," with an indica- 
 tion of the best divan. 
 
 " EfFendim ! " deprecatingly from the guest. 
 
 " EfFendim ! " firmly from the hostess. 
 
 " EfFendim ! " accepts the guest, seating her- 
 self and spreading her hands. 
 
 " Effendim ! " with emphasis of satisfaction, 
 from the hostess. 
 
 JNlany of the names have a meaning ; thus 
 Melck is Angel, Nasly is Graceful, Mihri is 
 Sun, Leila is Night, Nelufer is Lotus blossom, 
 Grule is Rose, and GuUstan is Rose-garden. 
 
 As Western customs are creeping into 
 Turkey, Turkish ladies are adopting the Euro- 
 pean custom, for their European friends, of 
 taking their husband's name. I have a friend 
 who is always known among the Turks, or to 
 those who address her in Turkish, as Hammiet 
 Haiiuin, but she has a French visiting card on 
 which is engraved Madame Houloiissi Bey. 
 
 A Turkish baby is very carefully swathed 
 and generally fastened to a board resembling 
 a small ironing board, to keep its back straight, 
 and often it is veiled that it may take no ill 
 from the air. In Turkish households there 
 are many servants, so Baby of course has a 
 
 5 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 dada or nurse, generally a Greek or Armenian 
 woman. The child has no perambulator and 
 seldom goes out, but when she does so it is 
 in the arms of the dada. 
 
 Should Baby be taken ill, what can be done 
 to cure her ? If Baby's parents are very pro- 
 gressive a good doctor will be called, either a 
 Christian physician, or an educated Turkish 
 physician ; but if the family are at all old- 
 fashioned, a Moslem priest will be called to 
 exorcise the ailment. Has Baby mumps ? 
 The priest will write on the swollen glands a 
 verse from the Koran. Has Baby sore eyes ? 
 The priest will breathe on the sore spots, for 
 his breath, from constant repetition of the 
 Most Great Name, has acquired a healing 
 power. If Baby seems very weak, it may be 
 taken to a tekkeli (monastery) of dervishes on 
 a Thursday after they have howled, and the 
 holy sheikh of the dervishes will lay the child 
 on the floor face downward, and step on its 
 little legs above the knees. This looks fright- 
 ful, and always excites tourists who witness 
 it, but it is really not at all painful, as the 
 sheikh wears smooth heelless slippers, and 
 steps on the soft part of the thighs. There 
 are shops where magic charms may be bought 
 for any ailment, in the form of sacred writings 
 about the heart, the hand, the foot, or whatever 
 
 6 
 
BABYHOOD 
 
 member is ailing, which may be swallowed or 
 dissolved in water and drunk, or worn on the 
 diseased spot. 
 
 I once went into a house where the child had 
 been having convulsions. As the family was 
 an educated family, they had sent for a good 
 physician, but the grandmother had also in- 
 sisted upon a priest being called. He asked the 
 child's name, and being told it was Ayatullah, 
 shook his head. In that name, said he, occur 
 the letters of the name of God (Allah) three 
 times, therefore the angels loved the child, and 
 came to whisper in its ear, and the child might 
 be so attracted by them that it would follow 
 them to Paradise. He would advise changing 
 the name. I said to the educated mother — 
 
 *' Would you really fear such a thing ? " 
 
 She answered, half-shamefaced, *' I should 
 not like him to want to go to the angels." 
 
 But education triumphed ; Ayatullah's name 
 remained unchanged, and he recovered from 
 the convulsions. 
 
 A Turkish baby has no toys, and her dolls 
 are of the simplest, — httle rag creatures made 
 by a doting mother or grandmother, or a 
 kitten dressed in a bit of silk. 
 
 More than one Turk has said to me, " We 
 have no mothers," and by that they meant 
 that their women used no intelligence in bring- 
 
 7 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 ing up children. A Turkish child is given 
 food, clothing, and shelter, and many caresses, 
 but it has absolutely no training, moral or 
 physical ; it just grows, like Topsy. Its 
 parents talk before it with absolute frankness, 
 so that it early has a sophistication that shocks 
 our more reserved Western ideas. 
 
 American education for women in Turkey 
 has it very much at heart to make good 
 mothers of these loving, ignorant women, the 
 best of whom long to be taught to train their 
 children. 
 
^ 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE SCHOOL LIFE OF A TURKISH GIRL 
 
 When a Turkish girl reaches the age of five 
 or six years, she must go to school. She will 
 probably begin with a mosque school, which 
 is very simple, somewhat similar to a dame 
 school in an English village. 
 
 The hodja or teacher of this school will be 
 informed that there is a new pupil awaiting 
 him at such an house, and thither one morning 
 he will betake himself, followed by his whole 
 school, walking in twos behind him, the smallest 
 children first, the largest last. They form a 
 quaint procession, the little boys in fezzes and 
 padded calico coats, the little girls in long 
 straight outer garments with soft voluminous 
 white kerchiefs over their heads and shoulders. 
 The hodja and the children are courteously 
 received by the parents, and the hodja is invited 
 to seat himself. The new pupil is placed on 
 his knee and given her first introduction to 
 learning. After prayer the hodja pulls a paper- 
 covered primer from his pocket and opens it. 
 
 9 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 Putting on his spectacles, he points to the first 
 letter and pronounces impressively Elif^ the 
 name of the first letter of the Turkish alphabet. 
 Elif, lisps the child on his lap. 
 
 Bell, says the liodja ; and JSeh, repeats the 
 child. Peh, teh, seh, having been pronounced 
 by both master and pupil, the child is con- 
 sidered to be launched on the sea of learning, 
 and the first lesson is over. Then the children 
 are all seated cross-legged on the floor, the new 
 pupil with them, and a delicious meal of sweets 
 and pilaff is given them. If the parents are 
 rich, a present of money is made to the hodja, 
 and piastres, silver coins worth four cents each, 
 are given to the children. 
 
 When all the honey dishes are eaten and the 
 little fingers licked clean, a donkey is brought 
 to the door, and the child is mounted on the 
 gentle grey beast, seated on a red velvet saddle, 
 and led to the school, the hodja striding before 
 her and the children marching two by two be- 
 hind her. At the school, she is lifted from her 
 proud position high above the other children, 
 and is placed humbly on the floor, where she 
 becomes one of the regular pupils of the 
 school, without further personal distinction. 
 
 The plan of these schools is simple. A 
 room, or if necessary two, is crowded with 
 little mattresses on the floor, on each of which 
 
 10 
 
SCHOOL LIFE OF A TURKISH GIRL 
 
 sits a little pupil cross-legged before a crude 
 low pine desk big enough to hold one book. 
 The liodja sits in front of the children, where 
 he can watch them. The curriculum consists 
 of reading and writing Turkish, simple figur- 
 ing, sometimes a bit of geography from one 
 map, and the reading of the Koran in the 
 original Arabic. This last they do not pretend 
 to understand, but they learn to sway for- 
 wards and backwards, and read, or half intone, 
 the sacred book in a loud nasal voice. The 
 teaching is entirely individual, there being no 
 class work. While one pupil is reading or 
 writing or ciphering for the hodja^ the others 
 are all studying aloud, filling the air with a 
 noise which may be heard far down the 
 street. 
 
 In these schools the children learn to recog- 
 nise and form the exceedingly difficult Arabic 
 letters used in Turkish, and to read very 
 simple Turkish ; and by the constant reading 
 aloud their tongues acquire great glibness in 
 forming either the soft Turkish sounds or the 
 guttural Arabic. The way they write would 
 seem very strange to us. They hold the paper 
 in the palm of the hand instead of laying it on 
 a flat surface, and write with pointed sticks 
 dipped in thick ink, writing from right to left, 
 with a scratching sound. After the writing is 
 
 11 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 finished, they shake blue sand over it to blot 
 it, so that the letters stick thick with sand. 
 Every piece of writing is begun by a sign 
 that means Bismillah : in the Name of God. 
 The elementary Turkish Readers are curious 
 books, of which I will give an idea. 
 
 The first reading will probably be a moral 
 lesson, perhaps an account of all your father 
 and mother do for you, ending with the state- 
 ment that God does even more as He gives 
 you your parents, and the exhortation to obey 
 Him in all things, as Allah loves a good child, 
 but hates a naughty child. The second read- 
 ing will be a rudimentary geography lesson 
 giving the words for world, coritinent, hemi- 
 sphere, with the names Asia, Africa, Europe, 
 America, and Australia. The third will be a 
 moral tale, such for instance as that of polite 
 little Ali, who picked up a cane for an old 
 gentleman and was rewarded by a sweetmeat ; 
 of generous little Selma, who, having a de- 
 licious sweet, gave half of it to her brother ; 
 or of naughty Orkhan, who was rude to his 
 teacher, and whom God did not love. A 
 simple lesson in addition will follow, and some 
 more geography, and perhaps an account of 
 how farmers live, with ever and anon the 
 moral tale and the injunction to study hard 
 and grow up to be a good man or woman. 
 
 12 
 
SCHOOL LIFE OF A TURKISH GIRL 
 
 Such are the elementary Readers in Turkish. 
 A very advanced Reader, intended solely for 
 girls, gives elaborate advice as to conduct to- 
 wards your mother, your husband (who seems, 
 according to this manual, to be very difficult 
 to manage), and to your mother-in-law — a very 
 important personage to a bride. I have seen 
 girls reading this book with great interest. 
 Sometimes, too, the advanced Readers contain 
 horrible stories, stories quite unfit for childish 
 ears, as we should think. Such was the story 
 of two soldiers returning from their military 
 service, who wagered that their parents would 
 not recognise them. One went to the inn kept 
 by his parents, and was not recognised, but in 
 the night was murdered by his mother for the 
 gold he had displayed. The terror and the 
 remorse of the mother when the second soldier 
 told her what she had done are quite horrid. 
 This story I have found in more than one 
 book. 
 
 The mosque schools are badly crowded 
 rather dirty, and totally without ventilation. 
 A Turkish youth to whom I gave English 
 lessons, wrote me a not uninteresting account 
 of his experience in such a primary school. 
 I will tell part of his story in his own quaint 
 phraseology : 
 
 13 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 " To my dearest Teacher- — 
 
 " I feel obliged to thank you heartily because 
 you recommended me to make an English 
 composition on the subject ' the description of 
 my school life.' I wished for many years past 
 to write a book relating to my childhood and 
 the earlier times of my youngness, but could 
 find neither time nor courage to begin that 
 great work. An order of a teacher was needed . 
 
 " One day when I was five years old, a child 
 running after butterflies, ravaging, devastating 
 our flower garden, making paper boats, launch- 
 ing them with the necessary ceremonial in our 
 large pond, walking in the long alleys of our 
 garden with the dignity and pride of a general 
 among his men, giving military salutes to the 
 large trees on my sides, one day in my earliest 
 childhood filled with such great occupations, 
 my father seriously told me that I must go to 
 school. What was school ? I did not know 
 perfectly well. To me it meant a small room 
 much smaller than ours, personifying dullness, 
 in which children like me were not allowed to 
 play, but were under control of a Monsieur 
 Turbane, who never laughed, never played with 
 the children as our men used to do with me, 
 and was always ready to punish their most 
 innocent doings." 
 
 He tells then of the ceremony of entering 
 14 
 
SCHOOL LIFE OF A TURKISH GIRL 
 
 the school, which I have described a few pages 
 above, and continues with an account of the 
 school itself. His composition ends with a 
 pretty tale of boy-and-girl friendship. 
 
 " The class-room was filled up by children 
 of both sexes, girls in one part, boys in another, 
 all sitting cross-legged on the floor, and study- 
 ing aloud. We entered, all the children rose ; 
 the teacher saluted them and I hastened to 
 imitate him, giving my familiar military salute, 
 thinking at the moment of my trees. All the 
 children laughed noisily, so that the master 
 turned his eyes on me, and, seeing my hand 
 lifted up for the salute, could not help joining 
 in the laughter of the children. 
 
 " I was placed in the first class, immediately 
 before the mattress reserved for the hodja, 
 between two children repugnantly dirty ; one, 
 an amateur of handwriting, used his forefinger 
 wetted in his mouth to wipe out nearly every 
 word he wrote. Time made me accustom 
 myself to the school. The lessons I liked 
 most were geography and history. I disliked 
 the Koran because I understood nothing of 
 the Arabic in which it was written. Painting 
 was my best amusement. One day I made a 
 portrait of one of the little girls in our class. 
 I showed it to her ; she was exceedingly pleased. 
 We were no more foreigners one to the other. 
 
 15 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 Some weeks after this acquaintance, I drew 
 her attention by a heroic act. 
 
 " One day she had forgotten to bring ink to 
 school. She went to take it out of the bottle 
 and, not holding it firmly, it fell ; nearly all 
 the contents poured out, dirtifying the chair 
 of the hodja and a large part of the floor. The 
 poor little girl became deadly pale. She had 
 only time to return hastily to her place in 
 great fear, when the hodja entered, having 
 heard the noise of the falling bottle. 
 
 " ' Who did this ? ' asked the latter furiously 
 in a fulminating voice. 
 
 " The reply was mine : ' I, sir.' 
 
 " I was not contradicted by my fellows. The 
 master rewarded my heroic act by a pair of 
 formidable slaps in my face. 
 
 "The incident marked the beginning of a 
 deep, true friendship which existed between 
 Afifeh and me for many years. She exercised 
 a very good influence upon my life : her char- 
 acter, her heart were truly angelic, and mine 
 grew mild. 
 
 " I passed four years in the primary school. 
 The marks I obtained in the last examinations 
 were the very best. I was a very idle school- 
 boy, but I endeavoured to prepare myself for 
 these examinations in the most perfect way, 
 because I was in a hurry to obtain my certifi- 
 
 16 
 
SCHOOL LIFE OF A TURKISH GIKL 
 
 cate and to leave this school, where I was left 
 friendless. Death had deprived me of my 
 only friend, Afifeh. Some human creatures 
 seem to have accidentally fallen from heaven 
 upon earth. They are at first desirous of 
 looking at and comprehending the nature of 
 men and things surrounding them. But soon 
 their curiosity is satisfied. They feel a strong 
 dislike for the world, and hasten to return to 
 their celestial abode. She was that kind of crea- 
 ture. Her grave is in my soul : I can never 
 forget her angelical figure. Such an innocent, 
 spotless love, felt in the spring of life, is worthy 
 to be kept in the heart until its last beating." 
 It is only at the primary schools that boys 
 and girls are allowed to be together. After 
 our little girl has finished her course at this 
 school, perhaps she will go to the Sultan 
 Ahmed School, the oldest school in Constanti- 
 nople, a low-ceiled stone building in the heart 
 of Stamboul, or perhaps to the Dar-ul-malumat, 
 a school where girls learn to teach. Both of 
 these schools are exclusively for girls, and are 
 taught mainly by women, a few elderly 
 hodjas or managers being the only men who 
 are allowed entrance to the premises. Here 
 the girls sit on benches and have rude desks, 
 here also are blackboards and a few maps ; but 
 ventilation and hygiene are as little considered 
 
 17 B 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 as in the mosque schools. The curriculum 
 shows some advance over the mosque schools, 
 including grammar, arithmetic, Persian, a 
 little Turkish history, and always courses in em- 
 broidery and other hand- work. The methods 
 of teaching are scarcely superior to those in 
 the primary schools. The teachers here keep 
 on their charshafs, with the veils turned back, 
 and the girls all wear white head-coverings, be- 
 cause of the occasional appearance of a man. 
 
 There is one so-called industrial school in 
 Stamboul, where the orphans who form the 
 student body study half a day and embroider 
 the second half-day, the sale of their em- 
 broidery bringing in enough to pay for their 
 board, bed, and tuition. In all these schools, 
 work is suspended for the regular prayers 
 which are offered five times a day. 
 
 The greater part of the girls of Constanti- 
 nople leave school when they finish the course 
 of the mosque school. If they are then rich 
 and ambitious, they have a French, English, 
 or German governess in the house ; if they 
 are unambitious or poor, they study no fur- 
 ther. Sometimes by the aid of governesses the 
 young ladies become quite accomplished. I 
 know a lady who speaks English exquisitely, 
 and constantly reads it, who knows French 
 and Greek, who paints a little, and plays the 
 
 18 
 
SCHOOL LIFE OF A TURKISH GIRL 
 
 piano finely. Her most intimate friend has 
 never had a governess, but she has taken 
 lessons on the piano, which she plays well, 
 and being of a family of poets, has read her 
 own literature widely and understandingly, 
 and has a love for the beautiful in literature, 
 music, and nature. The best-educated Turkish 
 women are of course those who have been 
 educated at the foreign schools, either the 
 French Sisters' schools, the English High 
 School, or, highest of all, the American College 
 for Girls in Constantinople. These girls are, 
 unfortunately, few in number, as the Govern- 
 ment of Abdul Hamid was very much afraid 
 of Western education for the Turkish youth, 
 and kept them out of the foreign schools. A 
 few persisted in attending them, and when 
 withdrawn by the Government, would bide 
 their time and re-enter ; but of these only one 
 Turkish woman has ever taken the degree of 
 Bachelor of Arts, and she took it from the 
 American College for Girls in 1901. After the 
 revolution. Government opposition ceased, and 
 Turkish girls, eager for the education hitherto 
 denied them, began to flock into the foreign 
 schools. The new Government, moreover, 
 realises the need of better schools for its 
 daughters, and is making plans for an adequate 
 system of education in Constantinople. 
 
 19 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 Pierre Loti has written in his charming style 
 a novel called Disenchanted, in which he tells 
 of a large class of educated Turkish women, 
 who are fitted for a freer life than they 
 are permitted to lead, and who are very rest- 
 less and unhappy under the close restric- 
 tions of a Turkish woman's life. There is a 
 good deal of truth in this picture, for a little 
 knowledge has always been a dangerous thing, 
 and the pioneers in learning have many hard- 
 ships to encounter. But the French writer 
 exaggerates both the numbers of educated 
 women and their standard of learning. The 
 upper class of Turkish women do not read 
 Hegel and play Bach, and have not trained 
 philosophic minds. If one speak several lan- 
 guages and read French novels and play mode- 
 rately classical European music, she is far 
 above her fellows. Among my acquaintances, 
 there are just two Turkish women who care 
 to read philosophy, or can understand higher 
 mathematics ; one is Halideh Hanum, who 
 graduated from the American College for Girls 
 in 1901, and has studied and written by herself 
 ever since, and the other is Nazly Hanum, 
 who is now (1909-10) a senior in the same 
 college.^ There are probably a few others ; 
 
 ^ Since the above was written, Nazly Hanum has taken her 
 degree of Bachelor of Arts from the American College for Girls 
 at Constantinople. 
 
SCHOOL LIFE OF A TURKISH GIRL 
 
 perhaps Selma Hanum, sister to Ahmed Riza 
 Bey, who is at present President of the Cham- 
 ber of Deputies, is among them. She fol- 
 lowed her brother to Paris in her youth and 
 spent ten years there, where he, a political 
 exile, was organising the Young Turk party. 
 She is a very intelligent woman, with an ex- 
 cellent grasp of political and educational prob- 
 lems. Another intelligent woman is Fatma 
 Alieh Hanum, a much older woman than those 
 I have mentioned, who has written a novel and 
 some charming discourses on Turkish life, but 
 I doubt her having any interest in German 
 philosophy. The discontent of which Pierre 
 Loti writes is common enough, for the influ- 
 ence of the poorer French literature on its 
 constant readers has been to give false ideas of 
 life, to increase sentimentality, and to arouse 
 discontent. 
 
 But even the women who read French novels 
 form a very small minority in the country. 
 The average Turkish lady is as simple and 
 almost as uncontrolled as a little child. Her 
 conversation is largely made up of exclama- 
 tions such as " Vai, vai, vai ! " or " Allah, 
 Allah ! " which she will mutter perhaps twenty 
 times in lieu of reasonable discourse. She has 
 no notion of even the simplest items of know- 
 ledge. An American teacher was once gather- 
 
 21 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 ing roots and plants in a field, when such a 
 woman accosted her, and asked her why she 
 picked them when there were no flowers on 
 them. The teacher tried to explain that she 
 did it in order to study the plants, and learn of 
 their life, and how they differed from one 
 another. The woman listened dully, and then 
 exclaimed, " May Allah give you sense ! " 
 
 The only intellectual activity in such women 
 seems to be curiosity about persons. When 
 you cross the Bosphorus in a steamer, if you 
 go into the cabin reserved for the harem, that 
 is, the women, you are often plied with ques- 
 tions : 
 
 " Where do you come from ? " 
 
 ** Are you EngUsh ? " 
 
 *' Are you married ? " 
 
 " Why not ? You are beautiful : wouldn't 
 your mother arrange a marriage for you ? " 
 
 " Do you like Constantinople ? " 
 
 " How far is America ? " 
 
 "Don't you think you will ever get 
 married ? " 
 
 " Why did you go to town ? " 
 
 " What did you get ? " 
 
 " See what I bought." 
 
 Then you will be shown the purchases of 
 one woman, and invited to take a bit of 
 another woman's ring of bread. 
 
SCHOOL LIFE OF A TURKISH GIRL 
 
 Intelligent men dread taking^ such women 
 to wife. I knew one Turk who rebelled 
 against having a wife who could not be a com- 
 panion to him, and finally became betrothed 
 to a Frenchwoman. Another well-educated 
 Turkish gentleman expressed himself to me as 
 follows : 
 
 " Do you suppose I could be happy with a 
 woman who had never an idea, and could only 
 mutter ' Allah, Allah, Allah ' ? I would like 
 to marry, but we have no women fit to be wife 
 to a thoughtful man ; I can't marry a baby ! " 
 
 The distance between such babies as the 
 uneducated Turkish women and such culti- 
 vated women as those I spoke of above is so 
 great that it seems impossible that ten years of 
 good schooling and discipline can bridge it, but 
 such is the fact. I should like to quote here 
 from a composition written for the junior class 
 of the American College for Girls in Constan- 
 tinople, by a Turkish girl. It is not one of 
 her best compositions, but it is on the subject 
 of women's education, and will at least show 
 her command of English and her general 
 thoughtfulness. 
 
 "Women and the Turkish Constitution 
 
 "The Turkish constitution lias brought about 
 a great many changes, one being in the situa- 
 
 23 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 tion of women. Up to now, no education was 
 considered necessary for woman, and her 
 greatest work in life was to be a housewife ; 
 no other was found to fit her except to be a 
 nurse. Women were considered to be much 
 lower than men in everything. They were 
 supposed to stay at home, deprived of every 
 advantage in life, while their fathers, brothers, 
 and husbands enjoyed themselves in every 
 way ; they were excused for ignorance when 
 there were no schools to develop their minds. 
 Some of them worked very hard to bring 
 about this beneficent change. Women played 
 a great part in the revolution ; they were most 
 active members of the committee, for they 
 were the ones who carried the news and letters 
 when it was impossible for men to do so. 
 Many of them left their homes, families, and 
 children, and in spite of the drawbacks arising 
 from their sex, threw their lives into great 
 danger. Some of them went to Paris to work 
 there with Young Turks, and wrote to the 
 French,' pleading the cause of women in 
 Turkey. This was the past. How does it 
 compare with the present ? The newspapers 
 are printing article after article saying that 
 women must work and help men. I hope it is 
 not only in the way recognised by the past 
 that we are expected to help men. Then the 
 
 24 
 
SCHOOL LIFE OF A TURKISH GIRL 
 
 question arises, Are we prepared for any other 
 work than that ? No. How can we, since 
 we are not educated ? Then the thing we need 
 most is education and good schools. We as 
 well as the men have suffered, and we must 
 also have our freedom." 
 
 Shortly after the revolution of July 1908, 
 Halideh Hanum was asked to write, for the 
 English paper the Nation, something about 
 Turkish women. I will give here a part of the 
 short article : 
 
 " The generation of women who have already 
 been the means of propagating large and liberal 
 ideas are in an educated minority. They are 
 the fortunate few who were not morally maimed 
 by some of the foolish and unworthy creatures 
 who call themselves governesses. They are 
 women who had by chance fallen into good and 
 honest hands, or had been taught by their 
 fathers or husbands. Naturally this minority 
 understood that the salvation of a nation lies 
 in the proper education of high-minded and 
 patriotic women. They understood that the 
 reason why Anglo-Saxons occupy so lofty a 
 moral position in the world's civilisation is due 
 to their sacred ideas of womanhood and home. 
 These women have worked silently, but know- 
 ingly, bringing up liberal-minded sons and 
 patriotic daughters, building honest hearths 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 where real comradeship dwells, where a man is 
 encouraged to go on in serving his country 
 although that service means sometimes worse 
 than death. 
 
 "Now as to what they are doing or will 
 likely do in future, I will add a few words. 
 At present a warm discussion is going on in 
 the Turkish papers on the Turkish women's 
 position. Some women began to demand, 
 after the revolution, their right to learn and 
 work with their companions in life ; what they 
 can do in future will be decided by the kind of 
 instruction they will get. 
 
 " I am very glad to be able to address Eng- 
 lish-speaking women on behalf of all Turkish 
 women. We are doing our best to place 
 English influence and the English language 
 foremost in our future schools for girls. The 
 actual cry of the Turkish women to more civi- 
 lised womanhood, especially to England and 
 America, is this : You go and teach the 
 savage, you descend into the slums. Come to 
 this laAd, where the most terrible want, the 
 want of knowledge, exists. Come and help to 
 disperse the dark clouds of ignorance. We 
 are working ever so hard to get away from the 
 slavery of ignorance. The opening of schools 
 by the English everywhere in Turkey would 
 
 be welcomed by Turkish mothers. Simple, 
 
 26 
 
SCHOOL LIFE OF A TURKISH GIRL 
 
 healthy, human teaching, such as Anglo- 
 Saxons are able to give, is what we want. Give 
 us living examples of your great serious women. 
 But let the conditions be such that poorer 
 classes may have it within their power to send 
 their children to school. For we ask not for 
 luxury, or grand institutions where comfort is 
 found, but for simple teaching. More than 
 for bread and water, more than any other want, 
 we cry for knowledge and healthy Anglo-Saxon 
 influence." 
 
 Halideh Hanum was asked also to write for 
 the Turkish papers soon after the revolution, 
 and has been a writer of much influence ever 
 since. Her first article was a tribute to the 
 College from which she had received her edu- 
 cation, and which had fitted her for the work 
 she was asked to do. I will close this chapter 
 on the schooling of Turkish women by a trans- 
 lation of a part of this article, showing how 
 deeply appreciative of education a Turkish 
 woman can be : 
 
 "To Our College 
 
 " In the dark days when our country was 
 covered by a dense cloud, in the midst of dis- 
 aster and despair, to you I lifted my eyes. 
 With the finest subtleties and the broadest 
 
 27 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 realities of civilisation and humanity, you ex- 
 tended knowledge to the darkest horizon of 
 Turkey, O Institution ! And you, honoured 
 women, yea, you teachers, who left your own 
 land and your own people to elevate and en- 
 lighten the dark corner of this freedomless, 
 portionless land, sacrificing your finest years 
 in your piety ; you have struggled to bring 
 light to Ottoman soil, to Ottoman civilisation, 
 fighting for learning and culture. This first 
 opportunity to speak through the Ottoman 
 press this day I consecrate to a greeting to you. 
 The large ideas from which Turkey was shut 
 out, the great feelings which were opened up 
 to me in your class-rooms, the ideas to which 
 I was led in your libraries, showing me that 
 there was no difference in men for race, class, 
 sect, or religion, these ideas that make me live 
 like a person, a civilised person, a humanity- 
 loving person, that enabled me to live larger 
 thoughts, generous thoughts, thoughts such as 
 you were living ; these ideas I owe you, O 
 women, and to each and all of you I essay to 
 express my gratitude and to live according to 
 the principles which I owe to your teaching 
 alone. I love that beautiful white building, 
 those ordered yellow garden paths ; I love the 
 garden that knew my first hopes and dis- 
 couragements. I love the clear- browed pro- 
 
 28 
 
SCHOOL LIFE OF A TURKISH GIRL 
 
 fessors, and the faces of those humble, old-time 
 servants ; I love every corner, every corridor, 
 the long dormitory which for years held my 
 little white bed, and my loyal comrades each 
 and all, I love, love, love the College." 
 
 89 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 WHERE THE BROOK AND RIVER MEET 
 
 Until twelve or thirteen years old, a little 
 Turkish girl wears nothing on her head or over 
 her face, unless cold weather makes a hood or 
 soft kerchief desirable. There is nothing to 
 distinguish her dress at this time from that 
 of an Armenian or Greek child, but no one for 
 an instant could mistake her for an American 
 child. Except that her skirts are rather short, 
 her dress is not childish according to our 
 notions of suitable child wear. If she be poor 
 her dress is absolutely plain, buttoned down 
 the front to her ankles, and of red flannel or 
 figured and wadded calico. If her parents can 
 spend more money on her clothes, she is dressed 
 in brocaded silk, or hea\y plush or striped 
 satin, with ruffles and falls of lace and ribbon. 
 On gala occasions she has an aigrette or a 
 bunch of artificial flowers or a bit of silver 
 tinsel tied in her hair, which is allowed to hang 
 in waves. I remember seeing a plump child 
 of perhaps seven years dressed in an orange- 
 
 30 
 
WHERE THE BROOK AND RIVER MEET 
 
 plush dress with large brown spots in it, lace 
 bunched at her neck, ribbons floating from her 
 waist, a red bow and a blue artificial flower 
 with green leaves in her hair, striped stockings 
 showing a few inches below her skirts, march- 
 ing along evidently conscious of her finery, and 
 holding a red balloon in her chubby hand. It 
 was Jiai?'am, and she was going to the nearest 
 maidan, or open square, to play with her 
 friends. 
 
 There are in the Turkish year two Bairams 
 or festivals, roughly corresponding to our 
 Easter and Christmas. One is a holiday of 
 three, and one of five days. They do not 
 always come at the same season of the year, 
 for the Turkish year follows apparent solar 
 time and thus is two weeks shorter than ours. 
 So a Baiixim that comes in the spring one year, 
 will come two weeks earlier every year until it 
 is a winter holiday, and then an autumn holi- 
 day. But that does not make it any less joyous; 
 in fact, it may lend variety to its celebration. 
 The first B air am in the year is the SheJdi^ 
 Bairam, or Bairam of Sweets. The day before 
 this festival, while the Moslems are still ob- 
 serving their month of fasting, booths are 
 erected all over the city for the sale of candy. 
 They spring up in the middle of the main 
 streets and obstruct traffic ; they fill the edges 
 
 31 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 of the open squares, and brighten the town 
 with their white paviHons and piles of gay- 
 coloured candy. The open squares are filled 
 with rude swings and whirligigs, and hither 
 come our decked-out maidens to swing, or go 
 round and round, or perhaps with a score of 
 companions to climb into a long waggon with 
 fluttering yellow curtains and cushioned floor, 
 and sitting crosslegged, to drive slowly up and - 
 down. What fun they do have, and how 
 many sweets they do eat ! There are sticks 
 of wood dipped in a red sticky sweet until a 
 gluey ball forms on the end ; there are little 
 roosters and cats of red paste ; there are rings 
 of cream candy, and gum drops, and fig paste, 
 and cocoanut chip, each kind more luscious 
 than the last. On that day people send 
 baskets of sweets to their friends ; and the 
 butcher and the baker, to remind their patrons 
 of the eternal fitness of baksheesh, send them 
 round baskets of cheap candy covered with 
 green or red mosquito veiling, and tied up 
 with a flower. A little girl can have the most 
 enjoyment in the viaidan, with other children, 
 but a more demure form of entertainment is 
 going to make Baii^am visits with Ana (Mama) 
 and modestly taking but one sweet at each 
 house. 
 
 The later Bairam is the Coiirban Bairam.^ 
 32 
 
WHERE THE BROOK AND RIVER MEET 
 
 or B air am of Sacrifice. For this occasion a 
 sheep is supposed to be slaughtered and eaten 
 by each Moslem family, in memory of the ram 
 whose timely appearance saved Isaac from his 
 father's knife. The streets are full of sheep 
 and thick-woolled rams for days before Bairain, 
 and the high steps of the Yeni Jaini, just at 
 the end of the Karakeuy Bridge^ is massed 
 with woolly sheep. Men carry the sheep 
 across their shoulders as the Good Shepherd 
 does in the picture. On B air am the rams 
 are 'often decorated with flowers and veiling, 
 and their horns are gilded. 
 
 Our little girl will probably be taken to her 
 grandfather's for this feast of mutton, and will 
 wonder about the service of prayer, as she 
 eats a bit of the sacrificial sheep. If she is 
 a fortunate little girl she will receive a few 
 presents at both Bairams, but she is sure in 
 any case to have a nice new handkerchief with 
 a coloured border, or perhaps entirely pink or 
 lavender. A child is very happy at Bairam. 
 
 The month of Ramazan is not without its 
 pleasures also. A little girl is not expected to 
 fast, but she can enjoy the elaborate evening 
 meal after the adults have fasted all day, and 
 she likes the drums that sound much of the 
 night. But the best treat of this month is 
 being taken by Baba (Papa) to see the comical 
 
 33 C 
 
"^ BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 Karaguez. Karague%, literally "Black Eyes," 
 is a Turkish hero something between Punch 
 and Bluebeard. His story is portrayed nightly 
 in Ramazan by means of paper figures, jointed 
 so as to permit activity, who leap and dance 
 and salute one another, then knock each other 
 over, before a little window, to the huge delight 
 of the children. The audience sit on boards 
 put over stools, or on rickety chairs, and listen 
 to the coarse dialogue in the mincing voice 
 of the manager of the puppets, and watch the 
 little fellows go through their manoeuvres 
 behind the transparent screen. Between acts 
 they eat peanuts and listen to the scraping 
 music of the oots and fiddles, or if very tired, 
 for it is now long after sunset, they fall asleep 
 in Babas arms, to be waked when dear, funny 
 Karaguez reappears. 
 
 With such joy is a little girl's life filled. 
 She is free to play with girls and boys ; she 
 may go about with Baba ; she has free range of 
 both the harem where Ana lives, and the other 
 part of 'the house, the selamlik, where Baba 
 lives. And she is free to run bareheaded in 
 the fields, lifting her little face to the sunshine. 
 
 Then comes a change : Ana looks at her and 
 says she is growing big, she must put on a 
 charsliqf. Oh, how she hates it ! The char- 
 shaf is a silk cloak coming to her ankles, and 
 
 34 
 
WHERE THE BROOK AND RH ER MEET 
 
 reaching up over her head, hiding her hair. 
 That is bad enough, for it restricts her move- 
 ments ; but that is not the worst. Dropping 
 from the c/iars/iaj' over her face is a horrid thick 
 veil, through which the world looks dark. She 
 is sure she can never keep it down. How 
 gaily she used to skip over the hills to school, 
 leaving her servant far behind. Now she 
 must walk demurely as becomes a little lady, 
 and she thinks the sun will never look bright 
 again. She has however some days when she 
 thinks it is fine to be grown-up, and looks 
 with pity on her friends who are still little 
 girls. On her little boy friends she never 
 looks again. Her Hfe is henceforth in the 
 harem, and she will never speak to another 
 man except her father and her brother, and 
 when she marries, her husband. A Turkish 
 girl has peculiar reason to stand " with reluc- 
 tant feet " on the shores of womanhood. 
 
 The wearing of the veil is not enjoined by 
 the Koran ; women had more freedom in the 
 Prophet's day than they have at present. The 
 covering of a woman's face, and more especi- 
 ally the hair, is a tradition with the Turks, so 
 strong, however, that it has all the force of a 
 religious law. In the country a woman may 
 wear a silk cloak without the cape over the 
 head, but simply a light, white kerchief over 
 
 35 
 
' BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 head and shoulders, but she would be deemed 
 exceedmgly immodest should she let a lock of 
 her hair escape from her bashiorta or head- 
 covering. One spring I visited a Turkish 
 house which was well protected from the street, 
 but whose verandah was overlooked by a neigh- 
 bouring house inhabited by Greeks. My 
 hostess occasionally came to the verandah in 
 her house dress, which greatly distressed her 
 good grandmother. " Nigiuar, Nigiuar," she 
 would groan, "where do you expect to go 
 when you die, if you let that Greek man see 
 your hair ? " Nigiuar would laugh and put on 
 her bashiorta. 
 
 When a girl has put on her charshaf she is 
 marriageable. So long as she is kept in school, 
 she herself thinks little about marriage, al- 
 though her parents are probably on the lookout 
 for a suitable husband for her; but as soon 
 as she leaves school, her fancy lightly turns 
 to thoughts of love, and she dreams of the 
 hero who will mysteriously come into her life. 
 Her wild free motions become demure, her 
 voice takes on a cooing sound, her eye melts 
 in tenderness. She is getting ready for her 
 mate. 
 
 S6 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 MARRIAGE 
 
 A MOTHER, of course, desires the best possible 
 husband for her daughter; but how can she 
 find him ? For she, like her daughter, sees no 
 men. First of all she goes to her friends and 
 asks about their eligible sons, and listens to 
 their glowing reports of their sons' virtues. 
 But if, after sifting what they say, she does 
 not feel satisfied with the picture, she will 
 go further and ask otiier friends, and may at 
 length possibly be reduced to calUng a pro- 
 fessional match-maker to her aid. 
 
 Sometimes the search is quickly rewarded, 
 and more than one suitable candidate presents 
 himself. In that case the girl's taste may be 
 consulted. My friend Mezideh was given her 
 choice of two photographs. One, the picture 
 of a young Shereefy thoughtful and interesting, 
 pleased her very much, and she chose him, but 
 she longed to see himself. One day he came 
 to the house to make the proper business 
 arrangements with her father ; she peeped from 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 the lattice windows as he passed under them, 
 but caught only the most tantalising glimpse - 
 of her betrothed. So she begged her sister 
 Belkis, who had not yet put on the charshaf, 
 to make an excuse for entering the room 
 where the men were seated, and to leave the 
 door open in apparent carelessness, so that 
 Mezideh might see the original of the photo- 
 graph. Belkis was more than willing to run 
 into the room ; but alas for Mezideh's hopes, 
 in her eagerness the child slammed the door 
 behind her, and Mezideh was again shut off 
 from her betrothed. She never looked into 
 his eyes until he lifted her wedding veil from 
 her face, but she loved him witli that first 
 look, and is still a loving and happy wife. 
 
 Mezideh's experience in not seeing the man 
 she married until after the marriage ceremony 
 used to be the general one in Turkey, and is 
 still very common ; but in more advanced 
 families acquaintance after betrothal, or even 
 before betrothal, is occasionally permitted. 
 Rabieh' was permitted to know and learn to 
 care for her husband between the betrothal 
 and the marriage. She and Reshad read 
 together, and became good friends in the six 
 months that preceded their marriage. Saliha's 
 father permitted Hussein Bey to court her 
 while she was still in school, and she thought 
 
 38 
 
MARRIAGE 
 
 she was doing well to marry the only man she 
 knew, and one who knew that she was an 
 educated woman. The marriage turned out 
 happily, but there were several years of ad- 
 justment needed before they really understood 
 and loved each other. It seemed as if the 
 formal courtship had never really acquainted 
 them at all. 
 
 Selma was brought up in a large household, 
 with two boy cousins. When they grew up, 
 her parents betrothed her to one of them, but 
 she preferred the other, and broke her engage- 
 ment to Ferdi in order to marry Orkhan, 
 forming a real love match, a most unusual 
 case, being the only Turkish marriage I 
 ever heard of that was not arranged for the 
 bride. The chances of happiness, however, in 
 marriages thus arranged, seem almost as great 
 as they are in countries where the young 
 people choose for themselves. Betrothal pre- 
 sents, such as silver hand-mirrors and snuff- 
 boxes, are often exchanged, and it used to be 
 the custom for the groom's mother to offer 
 gum-drops to the bride, one of which she 
 would bite in half, sending the other half as a 
 love token to the groom. 
 
 There are two ceremonies of marriage — the 
 legal and religious ceremony, and the social 
 ceremony. At the former, the bride is never 
 
 39 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 present, and the groom rarely, but both are 
 represented by proxies. The two fathers or 
 guardians are present, and the imavi of the 
 parish. An imam is an official of both church 
 and state, being part priest and part notary- 
 public, and in both capacities officiating at 
 all marriage contracts. At this meeting the 
 bride's dowry is settled, and the marriage is 
 legalised, and consecrated by prayer. After 
 this the contracting parties are legally married, 
 and may dispense with any further ceremony, as 
 indeed Hassan and Belkis did, and widows or 
 divorced women usually do ; but most couples 
 prefer the social ceremony before they take up 
 their life together. I will describe the first 
 Turkish wedding that I attended in Con- 
 stantinople. 
 
 A Turkish wedding where the parties are 
 of high rank is an interesting sight, and one 
 that Europeans in Constantinople are always 
 desirous to witness. Invitations to them are, 
 however, difficult to obtain, so my friend and I 
 consideted ourselves fortunate when one came 
 to us through an Armenian girl, a student in 
 the American College for Girls. The Gover- 
 nor of Adrianople was to marry his nephew to 
 the daughter of another Pasha, and Zabelle, 
 whose father, though an Armenian, is high in 
 Turkish employ, received an urgent invitation 
 
 40 
 
MARRIAGE 
 
 to be present at the wedding. As she needed 
 chaperons, we were glad to act in that capa- 
 city. 
 
 The wedding was to take place at nine 
 o'clock in the morning, in Beylerbey on the 
 Bosphorus. W'e arrayed ourselves in our best 
 garments, taking care, however, to avoid black, 
 which the Turks consider a discourteous colour. 
 The house was one of the enormous, unpainted 
 ones that are so common here, surrounding a 
 pretty garden. In the upper story were the 
 rooms newly furnished for the bride and 
 groom. 
 
 When we entered, the Governor's wife, 
 young and attractive in a Parisian gown of 
 lilac brocade and chiffon, greeted Zabelle most 
 cordially, and addressed us in true Oriental 
 style, telling us that we must feel as if we were 
 at home. We were given seats in the big 
 room on the upper floor, where were gathered 
 the most curious crowd of women I have ever 
 seen. The first impression was of great 
 splendour of fabrics, contrasting strangely with 
 the bareness of the large room. Then one 
 began to notice the grotesque style of the 
 gowns. A few were elegant and well-fitting, 
 but most of them were of a cut of which you 
 could not even dream. Never before had I 
 seen so many rich and gorgeous brocades, stiff 
 
 41 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 with their weight of silver and gold threads. 
 Before the morning was over, the room con- 
 tained a gown of every bright colour known to 
 man. They were made almost invariably with 
 long trains ; but these trains were more often 
 than not tucked up into belts, producing any- 
 thing but a dignified rear view. The com- 
 monest style was that of a short, ill-fitting, 
 double-breasted box-coat,though this style vied 
 in popularity with a sort of full, round waist 
 with no fit at all, separated from the skirt by 
 what seemed like a string tied round the waist. 
 Some of the women were fat, and being guilt- 
 less of stays, they rolled out in great folds over 
 the cord or belt that confined their waists. 
 The curious jacket effect was evidently one 
 step towards a fitted dress. There were a few 
 d^coUet^ gowns with well-cut skirts. 
 
 Almost every one wore rich jewels, some 
 of them having on a considerable fortune in 
 diamond ornaments. Most wore ear-rings, 
 the popular style being those which depended 
 nearly to the shoulders. There were only a 
 few gloved hands ; and these, as well as the bare 
 hands, were covered with dazzling rings. On 
 the heads of all the women who were distinctly 
 Turkish in dress were perched little toque- 
 like caps made of chiffon or silk inartistically 
 laid on. They tended toward the shade of 
 
 42 
 
MARRIAGE 
 
 the gown, but rarely reached it. Only the 
 exceedingly rich could have afforded such 
 splendid costumes as these women wore com- 
 placently ; only the truly medieval could have 
 originated them. 
 
 Soon after our arrival, a servant approached 
 with cigarettes, but Zabelle waved her away, 
 and she departed to offer them to the more 
 fashionable women. Then followed a servant 
 with a great silver filigree tray on which stood 
 large goblets to match, two filled with a pink 
 sweetmeat like the filling of chocolate creams, 
 and the other with water and spoons. We 
 took a spoonful of the sweetmeat, putting it into 
 our mouth at once and returning the spoon to 
 the goblet of water. 
 
 After these courtesies, we were taken to 
 inspect the rooms that had been furnished for 
 the bridal couple. They were three in number 
 — two small salons and the bridal chamber. 
 The former were furnished in what they con- 
 sider European fashion, that is, with a row of 
 upholstered chairs and couches round the walls, 
 and rugs on the floors — nothing else. The 
 chamber was of greater interest ; it contained 
 a large bed, to mount which a footstool was 
 needed, and other European furniture. The 
 bedding was magnificent, all of it embroidered 
 deeply in an exquisite design in silver, even to 
 
 4a 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 the fine sheet of rich white silk which hung 
 below the spread. Bolsters, pillows, &;c., all of 
 the same elegance, covered the bed. I was 
 disturbed to discover some little black specks 
 on these sumptuous fittings, and started to 
 blow them off, but was stopped by Zabelle. 
 " Don't," she said ; " they are sesame seeds to 
 keep offthe Evil Eye." 
 
 The footstool and towel cover were also 
 embroidered in silver, and two pairs of white 
 and silver slippers stood under the bed. An 
 array of presents occupied one corner of the 
 room, and on a table lay neatly folded the 
 clothes the groom would wear on the second 
 day of the feasting, capped by his starched 
 shirt and tie. His night-clothes, of striped 
 white silk, lay beside them, and on the bed lay 
 the bride's exquisite night-gown, of silk to 
 match his. The dress she would wear on the 
 following day, a rose-silk creation, hung on a 
 dress-form in the middle of the room. We 
 exclaimed ''Mashallah ! " (God be praised !) and 
 ** Chok guzel! " (Very beautiful !) several times, 
 and then moved away to allow others to gaze 
 and admire. 
 
 We next seated ourselves in the large hall, 
 and watched the guests arrive. It was a 
 curious sight, and thoroughly medieval — the 
 gorgeous brocades and jewels, the utter absence 
 
 44 
 
MARRIAGE 
 
 of any attempt at sociability, but in its place a 
 stiff sitting about the room, the whole object of 
 which seemed to be to see and be seen, the low 
 salaams of the entering women, and the vary- 
 ing degrees of respect shown to lower or higher 
 rank. When an especially grand person en- 
 tered, the women would rise and attempt to 
 scoop with their hands below their skirts, a 
 salaam not nearly so graceful as a less profound 
 one. The ordinary salute, or teviend, consists 
 in touching the heart, the lips, and the brow, 
 with the hand, in token ©f their being at the 
 service of the one saluted. 
 
 Many of the women had their hair stained 
 with henna, varying from shrimp pink to scarlet 
 in colour. I noticed presently that these seemed 
 to be elderly women, and Zabelle explained 
 that grey hairs unfitted a Moslem from praying, 
 so she was obliged to resort to henna in her 
 old age. Anything more curious in appear- 
 ance than one of these old women, wrinkled, 
 toothless, pale, with scarlet locks surmounted 
 by a toque of some gay shade, their shapeless 
 bulk tricked out in billows of priceless silk, 
 and flashing with diamonds and uncut emeralds, 
 while she puffed clouds of tobacco smoke from 
 her nose, I could not well imagine. One old 
 creature came rolling in with all the com- 
 placency that a Paris gown can give. But 
 
 45 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 alas for our risibles, the costume was nothing 
 but a room gown, a lace negligee, enthely 
 unsuited for any place but one's own room. 
 
 When we had sat for an hour or more, and 
 the rooms had become crowded, we heard the 
 approach of the wedding party. It seems that 
 the bride is brought to the door in a carriage, 
 and there the groom meets her, and taking her 
 hand, leads her up to the state-room through 
 the ranks of guests. The women stood on 
 chairs, and because a man was entering the 
 harem^ and they had no veils, they laid tiny 
 handkerchiefs on their heads, and thus satis- 
 iied conventions. The bridal couple passed 
 through, and entering the best room, closed 
 the door. Here the groom removed the veil, 
 and looked for the first time on the bride's 
 face ; then he passed out quietly, and everyone 
 crowded in to see the bride. 
 
 But we had gazed at her loveliness for only 
 
 a few minutes when an excitement arose. A 
 
 black eunuch with a fine decoration on his breast 
 
 pushed through the rooms, and announced her 
 
 Highness one of the daughters of the Sultan, 
 
 and said that she must see the ceremony. So 
 
 the groom, who had gone to the selamlik^ was 
 
 recalled, and led by the eunuch, the bridal 
 
 procession took place a second time. 
 
 This curiously inadequate ceremony is — 
 46 
 
MARRIAGE 
 
 except for the legal betrothal which has taken 
 place some days or weeks before, at which the 
 bride herself is not present, the empty substi- 
 tute for our solemn religious service with its 
 promises and its vows. The bridegroom takes 
 possession of the bride ; nothing else is sug- 
 gested. 
 
 The doors of the house were then thrown 
 open for any women who chose to come in and 
 see the bride, and they availed themselves of 
 the opportunity in crowds, pushing before the 
 little lady and staring at her solemnly by the 
 half-hour, never saying a word. The bride was 
 a pretty, delicate-featured maiden of fifteen, 
 clad in a beautiful Paris gown of white satin 
 embroidered in pale green and silver. She 
 wore a superb tiara of diamonds, from which 
 depended on each side of her face long strands 
 of silver tinsel, which fell on the floor around 
 her as she sat with eyes modestly cast down. 
 For two whole days the bride sat as a spectacle 
 for the guests and passers-by. It was strange 
 to us — the utter absence of romance, of reli- 
 gious sentiment, of the idea of starting a home, 
 or of any companionship between husband and 
 wife. The wedding day is simply the one day 
 when a woman may be stared at, and admired, 
 and perhaps envied. The only human touch 
 was the tears of her ^mother. Eating then 
 
 47 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 began. We dined at the second table after the 
 Sultan's daughter had finished. Such abund- 
 ance — and all good. We had nine courses, 
 exclusive of hors-6! oeuvre and fruit ; thick fish 
 soup, then mutton, then pastry with meat in 
 it, followed by sweet pastry, then a dish of 
 beans, then chicken, then blanc-mange made 
 of powdered chicken-breast, next stuffed ^^^ 
 plant, followed by a queer jelly, and lastly 
 the dish that closes every wedding, rice pilaffs 
 with another kind oi pilaff strongly flavoured 
 with saffron. 
 
 We ate rapidly and no one talked ; for it 
 is bad luck to talk while eating. The good- 
 natured women reached across the table for 
 anything that took their fancy, speared dainties 
 with their forks, spread out their elbows, and 
 at the end of the meal gobbled up the fruit 
 from the epergne with their fingers. Naturally 
 they needed washing after that ; so the silver 
 bowl and graceful pitcher and soap that were 
 offered were useful. We omitted this cere- 
 mony, • but accepted the perfume that was 
 scattered over us as we reascended the stairs. 
 
 Music in the garden, which the women 
 watched through the lattices, completed the 
 entertainment for the day. The affair took 
 us six hours : I suppose the other guests 
 stayed until sunset. * 
 
 48 
 
MARRIAGE 
 
 On that day great kettles of pilaff are 
 cooked and distributed to the poor who choose 
 to call for it, and the doors of the house are 
 open to any woman who wishes to come for 
 pilaff or to see the bride. 
 
 I have since attended other weddings where 
 the gowns were more western and the table 
 manners much better than at this one. The 
 graciousness of the host is always beautiful. 
 Sometimes the father of the bride loosens a 
 girdle from his daughter's waist in token of 
 resigning the possession of her to another. It 
 is also usual for the groom as he leaves the 
 bride, in token of pleasure with her appearance, 
 to toss a handful of silver coins to the crowd, 
 who scramble for them eagerly. The young 
 girls present cluster around the bride, and 
 accept from her hands a bit of thread of the 
 silver tinsel hanging beside her face, as a pro- 
 mise of a speedy marriage for themselves. 
 Turkish weddings used to last three days, but 
 at present are usually confined to one day. 
 They are sometimes of great splendour. I 
 was invited last year to a wedding for which 
 the bride's father had sent to England for 
 a diamond tiara worth £60,000. When the 
 tiara came, however, he was dissatisfied and 
 ordered for her a more magnificent one. 
 
 At one time there was an attempt to pass 
 49 D 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 a sumptuary law restricting the expenses of 
 weddings. This law failed to pass, but I will 
 give some of its provisions, as an indication of 
 the outlay it was intended to check. Article I. 
 abolished betrothal presents, and limited wed- 
 ding presents to the value of 100 piastres (about 
 18 shillings), 500 piastres, or 1000 piastres, ac- 
 cording to the means of the givers. Article V. 
 limited the wedding dinner to soup, saffron 
 pilaff, and five other dishes. Article VI. aimed 
 to discourage ostentatious expenditure by for- 
 bidding the bride or the groom to pay more 
 than the regular price at the prenuptial baths. 
 Article VII. obliged the bride to buy her own 
 cosmetics and ornaments, not allowing the 
 groom to give them to her. Article VIII. 
 forbade luxurious preparations in the bridal 
 chamber. Articles IX., X., and XI. restricted 
 the marriage entertainment and especially ex- 
 cluded fireworks. Finally, Article XII. ordered 
 the conjugal establishment to be fitted to the 
 means of the newly wedded pair. Among 
 these sumptuary laws was one specification of 
 quite a different nature, one that shows the 
 low estimate of a wife at the time when the 
 custom existed. The bride, it states, may not 
 be marked with a steel thread, that is, branded. 
 These sumptuary laws were not passed, but 
 in the existing Turkish law there are some 
 
 50 
 
MARRIAGE 
 
 curious general specifications concerning mar- 
 riage. Marriage is regarded as meritorious for 
 the normal man, but he is slightly restricted 
 in his choice of a wife. He may not marry a 
 non-existent being, such as a mermaid or a 
 djinn (the genii of the Ai'abian Nights)^ nor 
 may he marry a pagan ; that is, his wife must 
 be a Moslem, a Christian, or a Jewess. A 
 man's wife should be inferior to him in age, 
 fortune, and dignity, but superior in manners, 
 politeness, modesty, and beauty. This last 
 seems a very pleasant plan, but a little difficult 
 of execution at times. Ladies of the royal 
 family have to marry beneath their social dig- 
 nity ; but the pasha who is honoured by the 
 hand of a princess may be very unfortunate, 
 for the princess may be ugly or ill-tempered, 
 she is always exacting, and her husband is for- 
 bidden to take another wife to comfort him. 
 The Sultan's wives are never of his rank, one 
 of his titles being " Son of a Slave." A wed- 
 ding may not take place at prayer time nor 
 during Ramazan, the month of fasting. 
 
 The law ordains that when a virgin is in- 
 formed of her marriage, she must instantly 
 declare her opposition before witnesses, or she 
 loses her right to decline, and further states 
 that marriage by force or by joke is valid, 
 only a verbal consent being necessary. 
 
 51 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 HUSBANDS AND WIVES 
 
 The question of plural marriages is one that 
 has a great interest for people who are study- 
 ing Turkish conditions. 
 
 The Koranic law allows every man to have 
 four wives if he desires, but on the condition 
 that he treat the four in exactly the same 
 fashion, giving to each one as much as he does 
 to any one of the others. This used to be an 
 easy condition, in the days when a woman 
 lived the simple life and had no possessions 
 but silks and jewels. If then one wife had a 
 beautiful turquoise ring, it was easy to give 
 turquoise rings to the other wives ; if a chelebi 
 (master of the house) purchased a rich Brusa 
 silk for' one, he could afford to purchase hand- 
 some silks for all. But conditions have 
 changed ; women have higher standards of 
 living, and it costs much more to keep a wife 
 in Constantinople than formerly ; moreover, a 
 husband is legally bound to support a wife ac- 
 cording to her station. If nowadays a man 
 
 52 
 
HUSBANDS AND WIVES 
 
 has four wives with European tastes he must 
 be very rich to gratify them. He may be able 
 to buy one grand piano but hardly four; he 
 may engage an expensive governess for one 
 wife, but cannot support several governesses. 
 So there are economic reasons why a Turkish 
 gentleman should take to himself fewer wives 
 than in the past. 
 
 This economic reason, however, does not 
 hold for the lower classes. One day I was 
 rowed on the Bosphorus by two fine-looking 
 peasants, one elderly and one young. I asked 
 the older man if they were father and son. 
 He replied that they were, and that he had 
 several sons. " All children of one mother ? " 
 I asked. Oh no, he had a wife in Constanti- 
 nople, who cooked for him and several sons, 
 and kept their little home ; then he had two in 
 the village in the country where he went when 
 the winter was too cold for open boats in the 
 Bosphorus. Did they cost him much ? Oh 
 no, Janum (sweetheart). They worked for 
 him, and kept him in the winter when his 
 caique was of no use. Three wives were very 
 nice for a man, they all helped. But there are 
 not enough women in Turkey, even with the 
 importation of slaves, for every man to have 
 several wives, and every woman prefers to be 
 the first or only wife. 
 
 53 
 
J»». 
 BEHII^D TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 Another reason for the decrease in the 
 number of wives, in the coast cities at least, is 
 the gradual turning of public sentiment away 
 from polygamy. The Turks have seen how 
 Europeans regard plural marriages, and they 
 begin to be ashamed of them. I once asked a 
 Turk of my acquaintance if his father had 
 several wives. He drew himself up haughtily, 
 " I know no one who has more than one wife," 
 he answered. I think he must have referred 
 to his own social set exclusively, for I chance 
 to know many plural marriages ; but certainly 
 there were more in the past generation than 
 there are at present. For instance, I know a 
 sweet lady who is her husband's only wife, and 
 whose establishment is just like a Western 
 home ; but her father had half-a-dozen wives 
 and odalisques — Circassian, Turk, and even 
 negro. 
 
 Perhaps the story of Vefik Bey's second 
 marriage will give you an idea how a con- 
 scientious modern Turk has come to feel about 
 plural r^arriages. Vefik Bey had a pretty, doll- 
 like wife, whom he loved tenderly, and by 
 whom he had two children. One of his 
 children stayed a great deal with her grand- 
 mother, and thither he used to go to see her 
 or fetch her home. At her house lived a lady 
 totally unlike Madame Vefik Bey, plain but 
 
 54 
 
HUSBANDS AND WIVES 
 
 intelligent and fascinating. Vefik Bey fell in 
 love with her and soon married her, keeping 
 her, however, in tlie grandmother's house still. 
 They had two children. The first wife resented 
 the marriage bitterly, and Vefik Bey never felt 
 comfortable about it. He had a legal right to 
 the second wife, but he always felt that he 
 was injuring his first wife, and after a few 
 years he divorced the second lady. But he 
 assured her support and that of their children. 
 His two sets of children are constantly together 
 and he dispenses even-handed justice to them, 
 giving exactly the same advantages to the 
 second wife's children as to those of the first, 
 and always striving to make up to his first 
 wife for what his conscience calls his temporary 
 infidelity to her. 
 
 It seems to me it will not be long before 
 Turkey will become a monogamous country. 
 But let us consider how the polygamy that still 
 exists there works. 
 
 A man who has several wives may put them 
 and tlieir children all in one great rambling 
 house, where they live together in the greatest 
 intimacy, or he may build a separate house for 
 each wife, and visit these houses in turn. The 
 biggest harem I ever saw was in a celebrated 
 mansion in Damascus, belonging to ancient 
 governors of that institution for centuries. 
 
 55 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 The place was very beautiful, consisting of 
 courtyard after courtyard with marble pave- 
 ments and running fountains, off each court- 
 yard many rooms, often open in the court -side. 
 Here I saw scores of women — I believe there 
 were said to be ninety-five — all in ndglig^e and 
 all regarding me very curiously. Of course 
 they were not the wives of one man nor 
 of several, but were all the womenfolk of a 
 patriarchal family, sisters, cousins, and aunts. 
 This family was Arabic, however. I know of no 
 such large establishment of Turks. Where the 
 wives live in separate establishments jealousy 
 is often the reason. I know an Englishwoman 
 who maiTied a noble Turk who had one other 
 wife. This wife was shocked and incensed at 
 her husband's marriage with a Gkiaur (an 
 infidel), and retired in dudgeon to her family. 
 Her husband went after her and entreated her 
 to return, assuring her that she was the mother 
 of his children and his real wife. She consented 
 to his wishes provided that "that other woman " 
 should he kept out of her sight. He was not 
 a wealthy man, but he put the English wife in 
 a little kiosk in the garden, while the Turkish 
 lady kept the house, and he divided his time 
 between them. The last time I heard of them 
 the two wives had become friends and were 
 constantly together. 
 
 56 
 
HUSBANDS AND WIVES 
 
 Oftentimes a family of several wives and 
 many children seem very happy together, the 
 wives feeling towards each other like sisters, 
 apparently. One girl, whose father had three 
 wives, told me she was very lonesome when 
 she first left home, for it was so jolly and 
 pleasant in their large family that a small family 
 seemed dull to her. 
 
 Many of the wives of Turks are not them- 
 selves Turkish. They are occasionally Persians, 
 more rarely Christians by birth, and very often 
 Circassians from the Caucasus mountains. In 
 that country the parent looks on a beautiful 
 daughter as a valuable asset, for he can sell 
 her to Constantinople, and she is equally eager 
 to go, for in her native mountains she can be 
 but a drudge, while in Constantinople she may 
 hope to enter some pasha's harem and become 
 a fine lady, living in luxury and waited on by 
 many servants. There are certain women in 
 the city-capital whose business it is to train 
 such girls for their future lords and husbands. 
 They teach the maidens to make themselves 
 beautiful with finger-nails stained dark red, 
 eyes darkened by hohl, skin softened by baths 
 and hair carefully tended, then they teach them 
 to dance or play musical instruments, and if the 
 pupils show a desire for it, they may learn 
 to read and write. These women sometimes 
 
 67 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 become slaves, and often are made legal wives 
 with fine social positions. 
 
 Such a woman was Gulestan. She had 
 been taken from this training establishment and 
 given to the Sultan, where she had waited on 
 his wives. In course of time he presented her 
 to a pasha, who married her. She was very 
 happy with the pasha until one day he was 
 told he must go into exile. When he went 
 to the boat to embark for his voyage, Gulestan 
 was with him. The police, who watched every 
 outgoing vessel, objected to her boarding the 
 steamer. She drew herself up to her full height 
 and assumed a majestic demeanour. " What I 
 did not our Padisha give me to this man to 
 be his wife, and shall I not accompany him 
 whom I love ? " The police fell back, and 
 Gulestan accompanied her pasha to his place 
 of banishment, remaining with him until he 
 died there. 
 
 There is one thing to be said for polygamy 
 in Turkey — it seems to result in fewer illicit 
 unions* than in Europe and there are no illegiti- 
 mate children. All a man's children have the 
 same legal rights. There are many happy 
 marriages and contented households in Turkey, 
 although, as everywhere, there are some miser- 
 able marriages. Occasionally a woman can- 
 not endure a plural marriage. Such a woman 
 
 58 
 
HUSBANDS AND WIVES 
 
 was the Circassian Mihri, whose story I will 
 relate at some length. 
 
 The details as I have given them do not all 
 belong to JNlihri's story, but are in themselves 
 true, as is the whole story. 
 
 MIHRI, THE CIRCASSIAN GIRL 
 
 " Even in a golden cage the nightingale deplores its native 
 land.'' — Turkish Proverb. 
 
 When the family had finished eating their 
 bean stew from the iron pot set on the floor, 
 they all left the windowless earthen cellar ex- 
 cept the mother, who put aside a portion for 
 Mihri. 
 
 " When she is tired wandering over the 
 mountains," she said to herself, " she will 
 come home hungry." 
 
 But Mihri did not return for many hours. 
 The hut in which she lived with her parents 
 and brothers was on the outskirts of the village 
 of INIlety, in the heart of the Caucasus moun- 
 tains. The mud cottage, on whose roof a 
 neighbour's cow ruminated, while another hut 
 rose above and behind it on the hillside, was 
 dark and dirty, and the restless, dreamy girl of 
 fifteen could not bear to stay in or near it longer 
 than eating and sleeping required. While 
 her mother spun in the clay plot before the 
 
 59 
 
i BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 house, she was far away from the sordid village, 
 and fed her soul on the grandeur of the moun- 
 tains and the exhilaration of the pure air. 
 This afternoon she had walked far through 
 the valley, taking the well-paved Georgian 
 road as little as possible, preferring rather to 
 scramble like a goat over the rocks and along 
 the grassy slopes. Sometimes she would look 
 down on the road and wonder about the 
 travellers that passed by staidly in stage-coach 
 or on their own beasts. What was the world 
 whither the swarthy Persian merchant was 
 taking his wares ? To whom might that long- 
 haired, black-robed Russian priest be hasten- 
 ing? There were ladies in that carriage, in 
 beautiful furs and feathered hats such as she 
 had never seen. In what kind of a world did 
 such ladies dwell ? She glanced down at her 
 patched, ragged frock, which had been old 
 before she was born ; then with a shrug she 
 darted off into the hills away from these people, 
 who after all were nothing to her. Her friends 
 were th'C brawling stream, to which she must 
 climb many feet down, for it had cut deep into 
 the valley ; the tumbling waterfalls, whose icy 
 stream she loved to quaff from her little hands 
 and dash over her face ; the flocks of woolly 
 sheep, whose silly, wavering movements she 
 so often watched with affectionate contempt ; 
 
 60 
 
HUSBANDS AND WIVES 
 
 and the wild mountain goat, whose leaps 
 from rock to rock were scarcely surer than 
 her own. 
 
 The sun set while she was up among the 
 peaks, and she stood with tangled, falling hair 
 and flying, ragged garments on a ridge and 
 looked eagerly into the western flames, her 
 face lit up by their glow, until they dropped 
 behind the great black peaks opposite her. 
 Then, with a deep sigh, she put her hand over 
 her dazzled eyes and sank down on a mossy 
 stone, lying perfectly still, with her palms 
 shutting in the vision she had been seeing. 
 The air grew colder and fanned her cheek, 
 until, stretching her arms and opening her 
 eyes, slie looked upon a twilight scene. Drowsy 
 tinklings told of distant folds into which the 
 flocks were being gathered for the night. 
 
 Mihri jumped up and started once more 
 over the hills, swinging her arms as she walked 
 and drawing long breaths into her lungs. How 
 she loved these starry, frosty nights ! Vague 
 exciting thoughts came to her brain, and long- 
 ings for she knew not what ; her strong young 
 muscles rejoiced to be active, and sometimes 
 she shouted for the joy of living, and the 
 strength of the hills. 
 
 When she reached home her family were 
 all huddled on skins on the earthen floor of 
 
 61 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 the one room. The men were snoring ster- 
 torously, but the mother moved aside to permit 
 Mihri to He beside her. Hastily eating the 
 food set aside for her, the girl threw herself 
 down, and laying her hand on her mother's, 
 quickly fell into a dreamless sleep. 
 
 Many days passed this way, and Mihri grew 
 taller, and her figure swelled the patched frock 
 to tightness. One day as she was sitting on 
 the hill - slope, fashioning a few mountain 
 flowers into a garland, she saw with her sharp 
 young eyes three strange men in red fezzes 
 leave the posting station and take their way 
 across to the village. She dropped the flowers 
 in her lap and leaned forward to watch them. 
 What could they want in that pile of mud 
 huts ? Was the world coming to her house ? 
 The villagers were gathering about the strange 
 men. She saw Circassian men with tall fur 
 caps, and weapons all across their breasts, stroll 
 slowly toward the visitors ; she saw rough, 
 ragged children silently push into the circle ; 
 she sa^y gaunt, tattered women, some still hold- 
 ing the spindle, others with squalid babies in 
 their arms ; she could see her mother's thin 
 form, and her father lazily leaning against a 
 gun. A fierce-looking dog or two prowled 
 about the outskirts. With excited curiosity 
 
 Mihri jumped up, scattering her flowers, and 
 
 62 
 
HUSBANDS AND WIVES 
 
 ran down into the valley. As she neared the 
 group she could hear the strangers talking 
 fast and smoothly, with occasional monosyl- 
 labic answers from the Circassians. She also 
 noticed three young girls of the village stand- 
 ing close together behind the strangers, looking 
 frightened, one of them weeping. How strange 
 the visitors looked. They were much darker 
 than her own people, and their faces suggested 
 to her the great birds of the mountains that 
 prey upon the smaller fowl. Even dressed as 
 they were in fine broadcloth and smooth, tas- 
 selled fez, she found them more fearful than 
 the heavily armed villagers, and their smiles 
 chilled her more than the dour expression of 
 the mute Circassians. 
 
 As she stole up behind her mother, some 
 one remarked, " Here she is," and to her great 
 confusion, every eye in the group was turned 
 on her. Blushing, and shrinking from the 
 piercing gaze of the strangers, she turned and 
 fled into the hut ; but her father, striding after 
 her, caught her rudely by the wrist and dragged 
 her out again. 
 
 " Stand up, Mihri," said he sternly, " and let 
 these Armenian gentlemen see you." 
 
 She stood still, her heart fluttering like a 
 frightened bird, while the three strangers ,,^ 
 coolly looked her over from her tangled head to V^ 
 
 63 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 her ill-shod feet. She was a beautiful wild 
 creature, as she stood with flushing face and 
 heaving breast. Her skin was fair with the 
 warm colour that sun and mountain breeze 
 bestow, her hair was a mass of red gold fall- 
 ing over her straight shoulders, her eyes were 
 fiercely blue ; a lithe, well-rounded figure and 
 little hands and feet also attracted the atten- 
 tion of the Armenians, who said, " She will do ; 
 send her to the inn with the other maidens. 
 We pay at the inn." And they withdrew 
 with dignity from the little crowd. 
 
 " What is it, father ? Where am I to be 
 sent ? " cried Mihri shrilly. 
 
 " These strangers will take you and the 
 three other maids to the great city of Stam- 
 boul," replied her father coldly ; " there you 
 will be given to some rich man who will keep 
 you well." 
 
 Mihri's world seemed turning upside down. 
 She could not understand it. Now she wept 
 in the lean arms of her mother, who told her 
 how poor they were and how they needed the 
 money the Armenians would pay for her sale ; 
 now she stormed at being torn from her 
 mountains ; and then, a curiosity about life in 
 the great city would steal over her, and vague 
 hopes of happiness such as she had never known. 
 She could not sleep on her wolf-skin, but when 
 
 64 
 
^ 
 
HUSBANDS AND WIVES 
 
 the men were all asleep, she stepped lightly 
 over them, and bounded out into the night. 
 
 Miles she walked over the hills, and climbed 
 high up on the ridge. The life-giving sense of 
 freedom that the mountains always gave her, 
 struggled with the oppression of coming con- 
 finement. Higher and higher she climbed, 
 until exhausted she fell on the mountain side 
 and slept. When she awaked it was morning : 
 the sun was peeping over the mountains behind 
 her, and the fresh life of the day was beginning. 
 What would this day bring to her ? Into what 
 new life was she entering ? With the joyous 
 rush of life in her veins came hope and an in- 
 terest in the great city to which she was going, 
 and a faint distant dream of a man there who 
 should love and cherish her. 
 
 The four girls were taken to the inn, where 
 their ragged clothes were exchanged for whole, 
 clean garments, such as they had never seen. 
 They fingered the smooth stuff of their dresses 
 curiously, and looked shyly at each other, 
 wondering at the change that plaited hair and 
 woman's dress made to their appearance. But 
 when the Turkish charshaf was put over their 
 pretty dresses, and a veil was dropped over 
 their faces by the Armenian woman who was 
 to take charge of them, Mihri was stifled, 
 and tore the silk veil from her hot face, crying 
 
 65 E 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 *' I won't, I won't." The old woman shrugged 
 her shoulders and said, " Let it be ; thou 
 needest it not in thy mountains, but when we 
 get to the city, we must hide thy beautiful face 
 from evil men." 
 
 Mihri started. Was she beautiful? She 
 ran to the little mirror into which she had 
 looked previously simply as into something 
 new and strange, scarce regarding the face 
 reflected therein. Now she looked eagerly 
 at the bright countenance that was looking at 
 her. Yes, she was pretty, as the mountain 
 roses were pretty, as the little birds were pretty, 
 as the fleecy clouds were pretty. To think of 
 being one of the beautiful things of the beau- 
 tiful world ! A joyous vanity awoke in her 
 heart, and she was docile once more. But at 
 parting with her mother she struggled fiercely 
 again, clinging to her and weeping stormily, 
 until her father tore them apart and led the 
 unhappy woman home. 
 
 At the other villages they picked up more 
 Circassian girls, some fair-haired, some with 
 glossy chestnut curls, all shy and beautiful. 
 Every moment of the journey was a wonder 
 to Mihri — the day on the great military road, 
 the wonderful city of Tiflis, the sea which 
 greeted her startled eyes at Batoum, and whose 
 beauty and mystery filled her heart to bursting, 
 
 m 
 
HUSBANDS AND WIVES 
 
 the six days' voyage, and finally the arrival at 
 the heavenly white city on the Bosphonis. 
 
 The slave-market was conducted very 
 quietly, Mihri and one of the other girls being 
 taken by an old hanum who trained girls for 
 noble harems. They were carried to a great 
 marble house surrounded by broad grounds — 
 but, woe to Mihri, all enclosed within high 
 yellow walls, and guarded by soldiers. Here 
 Mihri was dressed beautifully and taught to 
 sing and dance, and when they saw that her 
 mind was eager, they taught her to read, and 
 thus opened up a new world to her. But 
 while her mind expanded with new experi- 
 ences, her body longed and pined for freedom. 
 How gladly would she have given all the 
 luxuries of her life in the great prison-palace 
 for one ramble over her mountains, whose 
 grand beauty had been wrought into her hfe. 
 
 Then she was given to Abbas Pasha. At 
 the sight of his olive face and deep, tender 
 eyes, love sprang up in Mihri's heart, and she 
 kissed his slender hands Avith passion. Abbas 
 Pasha looked upon her beautiful, love-lighted 
 countenance and her graceful form, and de- 
 clared that she was worthy to be his wife, 
 not his odalisque, as he had planned. How 
 the other girls envied her ; the wife of the 
 rich young pasha was indeed a fortunate girl. 
 
 67 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 Despite what she knew of Turkish life, it was 
 a shock to her to find that Abbas had already 
 two wives, and a swift, sharp jealousy seized 
 her as she looked upon two young, pretty 
 women who had the right to call her husband 
 theirs. Fatma, twenty-two years old, had a 
 plump figure, beautiful soft white hands cov- 
 ered with rings, and curious black eyes. She 
 had been the first wife, but in her loneliness 
 after leaving her father's populous harem, she 
 had welcomed the coming of a second wife, 
 Meliha. Meliha had a very dark, aquiline coun- 
 tenance, with black eyes, white teeth, and tawny 
 skin. She was phlegmatic and quiet, and any 
 little friction between her and Fatma had been 
 but as spice in their monotonous existence. 
 
 The two young women greeted Mihri lazily, 
 idly hoping she would help to pass some of the 
 long hours of the empty days. Mihri looked 
 at them fiercely, but finding that Abbas seemed 
 to care nothing for them, she settled down into 
 a contempt for their shallowness. Each wife 
 had her own suite of rooms, just like the other 
 two, and when one had a new gown the others 
 also received one ; and Mihri was given jewels 
 like theirs, translucent Mecca stones, flashing 
 brilliants, and intense turquoises. But despite 
 all this equality of treatment, for the first 
 months of her marriage Mihri knew, and lived 
 
 68 
 
HUSBANDS AND WIVES 
 
 in the knowledge, that the heart of Abbas was 
 given to her alone. He lived in her part of 
 the harem and scarcely noticed the other wives, 
 and under his caresses and words of love INIihri's 
 heart swelled with ecstasy and she had no 
 thought for her mountain home. 
 
 For six blissful months Mihri lived in her 
 fool's paradise ; then the serpent entered. 
 Fatma and MeHha each gave birth to a child 
 within a month of each other. Fatma had two 
 others, but this was Meliha's first child, and was 
 a boy, as was Fatma's baby also, Mashallah 
 (God be praised). How Mihri longed for a 
 child, but none came to her. And the knife 
 entered her heart when Abbas Pasha began to 
 neglect her for the young mothers and their 
 precious babies. Days passed and he did not 
 come near Mihri ; weeks, and he scarcely noticed 
 her, in his absorption in the children. Mihri 
 wept and stormed in her lonely rooms. At 
 length he came to her, but he talked continu- 
 ally of the babies ; and Mihri knew, as she had 
 not known even in his absence, that her lover 
 was hers no longer. Then she brooded and 
 grew thin, and could scarce lift her heavy eyes 
 to him when he came to her. Fatma and 
 Meliha shrugged their shoulders, and said, 
 " What would you ? men are ever so," and they 
 
 turned from the sullen girl to their constant 
 
 69 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 source of amusement, their babies, taking end- 
 less joy in comparing the progress of the little 
 pets. To Mihri the joy of life had turned to 
 bitterness, and she knew not why she lived on. 
 One day in spring, a year and a half after 
 Mihri's coming to Constantinople, a caique was 
 making its way slowly along the Asiatic shore 
 of the Bosphorus toward the Sweet Waters of 
 Asia. It was one of the large caiques intended 
 to carry a harem, and was heavily laden. On 
 the cushioned seats reclined three Turkish 
 women, in the centre of the boat were four stal- 
 wart oarsmen, and behind the women, sitting 
 crosslegged above them, was a smooth-faced, 
 long-armed black man, who quietly directed 
 the expedition. It was a pretty sight, the long, 
 pointed yellow boat, the rowers in crepy white 
 shirts open at the breast, their brown faces 
 glistening beneath their red fezzes, the black 
 figure at the bow, upright and slender, and the 
 three women lolling under bright parasols. 
 The dress of the ladies indicated their rank, for 
 they wore, not the cape of the charshaf drawn 
 over their heads, as the usual Turkish woman 
 does in Stamboul nowadays, but the light silk 
 cloak ending at the throat, and about their 
 heads and across their faces, so as to expose 
 only the eyes, several folds of thick creamy 
 veiling. The three ladies were the wives of 
 
 70 
 
HUSBANDS AND WIVES 
 
 Abbas Pasha, taken out for a row on the 
 Bosphorus by the master of the harem, 
 
 Fatma eagerly watched all that the caique 
 passed, darting here and there half- childish, 
 half-coy glances. She continuously fingered her 
 veil, now putting her hand under it to arrange 
 a stray curl more becomingly, now pushing it 
 away from her full red mouth. Beside her re- 
 clined Meliha. She sat very quietly, with no 
 anticipation of the future, and no responsibility 
 for the present, her every muscle as much at 
 rest as those of a sleeping cat. Her right hand 
 held a red parasol at an easy angle, and her left, 
 brown, slender, and stained a deep amber at the 
 nails andfinger-tips, rested in abandon in her lap. 
 
 Opposite these two comfortable figures sat 
 the tense, upright form of Mihri, staring now 
 with sulky abstraction at the water, now with 
 defiance or anger at her companions. Every 
 now and then she pulled her slender white 
 fingers nervously, then subsided into inaction. 
 She took no part in the conversation carried on 
 almost continuously between the other women 
 and the eunuch, or the rowers. The conversa- 
 tion turned as usual on the babies at home. 
 
 "I did not like to leave Ayatullah," said 
 Meliha, with however no anxiety in her voice, 
 but only a brooding tenderness, " but he is very 
 much better to-day, Mashallah ! " 
 
 71 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 " Inshallah ! he will soon be quite well," said 
 Fatma, beaming; "my little one is always well." 
 
 Fat ma patted her hand, and then babbled 
 about her own precious one, and how he already 
 resembled his JBaba, and how little care he was, 
 and how his sister two years old was jealous 
 whenever his mother took him up. 
 
 All through the conversation, Mihri listened 
 scornfully, and watched the water slipping past 
 their boat. Fatma and Meliha paid very little 
 attention to her glowering face, continuing 
 their idle chatter. Exhausting the subject of 
 their babies for the moment, they began to 
 talk of the scenes they were passing. 
 
 " How beautiful is this shore now with the 
 red-bud trees in bloom among the fresh 
 greenery," said Meliha. 
 
 Fatma's eyes were turned away from the 
 shore. A light caique shot past them, and a 
 youth tried to catch a glance from her, but was 
 unpleasantly conscious of the gaze of the black 
 man. Fatma giggled and lowered her para- 
 sol. Mihri looked straight before her and saw 
 nothing. She was filled with contempt for it 
 all, the rides in the caique, Fatma's little 
 coquetries, Meliha's satisfaction in the gentle 
 motion — and how she hated the black man ! 
 
 A steamer puffed by them, and in its wake 
 
 the caique rose and feU. Fatma screamed 
 
 72 
 
HUSBANDS AND WIVES 
 
 slightly and clung to Meliha, who sat as im- 
 passive as ever. 
 
 "Has it stopped rolling ? " cried Fatma. 
 " Oh, how frightened I was ; but I rather liked 
 it too. Why don't we go faster ? " she asked 
 the leading rower. 
 
 " We cannot here, Effendim,'' replied the 
 cdiquegee; "the current is very strong, the place 
 right here is called the Rascal current, it can 
 make trouble." 
 
 " I am very sure it is stupid to go so slowly," 
 said Fatma. " See, we have only left Vanikeuy 
 a little behind us." 
 
 " If the Hanwn Effendi wishes, I can tell her 
 a story about this current," said the cdiquegee. 
 
 Fatma fixed her sparkling eyes on him, and 
 bade him proceed ; Meliha Ustened lazily. 
 Mihri pursued her own thoughts. 
 
 " Once upon a time, once upon a day, there 
 was something or there was nothing, there was 
 a great Padisha," began the cdiquegee^ follow- 
 ing the usual formula for beginning a Turkish 
 tale. " He was in these waters in his ten-oared 
 cdique, and he wished greatly to go fast. But 
 the women could not row swiftly, for the stream 
 was strong, strong. So when his Majesty cried 
 * Faster, faster,' they replied, saying thus — 
 
 " ' Sire, there are three Padishas ; your Majesty 
 is Padisha over the earth, and there is a Padisha 
 
 73 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 of the heavens, and a Padisha of the sea. At 
 this moment all these three are giving us their 
 orders at once, and whom to obey, we know 
 not. Perhaps presently the orders of one 
 Padisha will be stronger than those of the 
 others, then his word we shall obey.' " 
 
 Fatma and Meliha laughed gleefully, the 
 eunuch joining in their amusement, but Mihri's 
 face grew tenser than ever. 
 
 How could they be happy, those fools ? 
 How could they love Abbas Pasha, as they 
 pretended, and be satisfied to share him with 
 each other and with her ? Bah, they did not 
 know how to love. She could show them. 
 She had been happy just six months, while he 
 was hers alone ; but now, now, when he was 
 always with them, fussing over those silly 
 babies, and caressing the mothers — her face 
 burned. When he saw her jealousy he laughed, 
 laughed, and she was dying, ah ! They did not 
 need him, stupid Meliha and silly Fatma, they 
 had their babies, and they liked each other, and 
 were willing to go about in the charge of the 
 black man. But she had been a free mountain 
 girl, and although she would have given up 
 her liberty gladly, so gladly for Abbas if he had 
 loved her, now that his love was gone she could 
 not stand it, she could not and would not. She 
 
 jerked herself suddenly, and the boat lurched. 
 
 74 
 
HUSBANDS AND WIVES 
 
 *' Look out, couzmim " (my lamb), cried the 
 cdiquegee who sat nearest her. 
 
 " O-o-o ! " screamed Fatma. 
 
 " You careless Mihri," said Meliha sharply, 
 "why can't you sit still like other people, and 
 enjoy the fine day ? " 
 
 "Sit still," muttered Mihri, "that is it, 
 Allah ! always sit still, when I am wild to 
 scream and run and get away." 
 
 What if the boat tipped over, and her hot 
 brain and heart had been cooled for ever in 
 the sea ? Why should it not be ? Her pulse 
 throbbed heavily as the thought entered her 
 mind and took possession of her. 
 
 A school of porpoises came tumbling by, 
 rolling over and over in clumsy circles. 
 
 " They will tip the caique^'' cried Fatma, who 
 was thoroughly enjoying the little excitement. 
 
 " No, no, couzou?n" said the cdiquegee 
 soothingly, " they never come under the boat ; 
 they are too afraid." 
 
 Mihri watched the rolling bodies tumble on 
 up the Bosphorus. They were going towards 
 the Black Sea, they were going to her country. 
 A sharp longing for one glimpse of her dear 
 Caucasus mountains seized her, then she knew 
 they were for ever gone out of her life, gone, 
 as was Abbas' love. Now she had nothing 
 
 more to hope for. She could have other 
 
 76 
 
* BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 %t lovers, the women she knew all liad lovers, but 
 she cared nothing for them, intrigue was hate- 
 ful to her ; she wanted home, and she wanted 
 Abbas all to herself — Abbas, who should love 
 her as she loved him. No, there was no hope 
 for joy in her life, better end it. 
 
 Meliha and Fatma went on chattering, their 
 little minds too occupied with trifles of their 
 everyday existence to admit any consciousness 
 of the tragedy in Mihri's soul. Content in 
 their creature comfort, they could not conceive 
 of the passion of loneliness and jealousy that 
 was tearing her fiery soul. " Mihri was always 
 dull," they thought vaguely. Fatma leaned 
 over to Meliha and whispered in her ear about 
 the youth who had stared at her in passing. 
 To Mihri their chatter was maddening, it was 
 such emptiness that her life now held. But 
 she could leave it all. She grew calm as the 
 great thought settled in her brain, and detached 
 her from the irritating surroundings. The two 
 women ceased to annoy her when she thought 
 of death's peace. She could even watch the 
 black man without her wonted fierce repulsion. 
 Then her mind turned to her husband. Would 
 he care ? A wave of desire to see him just 
 once before she went, to kiss his warm lips and 
 be held in his arms only once more. But with 
 an effort she turned from the seductive thought. 
 
 76 
 
_Jl 
 
HUSBANDS AND WIVES 
 
 If she could ever do it, she could now, when 
 hope was dead in her breast. Better never 
 return to the palace where she had been so 
 unhappy. She could die easily here in the 
 free air, it would be like going home, like break- 
 ing prison ; she had always so loved God's great 
 out of doors. She breathed softly, " Mother! " 
 
 They had passed Candilli now, and were 
 nearing Anatolia Hissar with strong steady 
 strokes. A steamer was coming almost across 
 their bows to land at Vanikeuy. Now — 
 
 With a spring like a young panther's she 
 leaped from the boat towards the oncoming 
 vessel. For a moment the eight oars were 
 suspended in the air, as the boat settled after 
 the sudden push, then the men pulled strongly 
 out of the path of the steamer. Mihri's body 
 disappeared in the swirl of the vessel. The 
 eunuch crouched in his seat, his teeth chatter- 
 ing and his face grey in fear of his master. 
 Fatma and INIeliha fell into each other's arms 
 crying, " Mihri ! O JNIihri ! Aman ! Aman ! " 
 
 Shivering, sobbing, and wailing, they clung 
 to each other. 
 
 The caique turned about, and leaving the 
 Sweet Waters, whither it had been bound, it 
 returned to the mansion of Abbas Pasha, to 
 tell him that his wild canary had broken from 
 
 the cage. 
 
 n 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 DIVORCE 
 
 When a bride has been handed by her father 
 to her husband, what will she think of the 
 latter, and he of her ? and how will they get 
 on together? Of course, he is lord of the 
 household, the chelebi (master), which — if she 
 is wise — she does not resent, but sets herself to 
 work to find out his nature, and fit herself to it, 
 and, as soon as may be, by woman's wiles gain 
 a supremacy over him. She need not wait on 
 him — no lady in the capital does that — al- 
 though eastern ladies of old, as Turkish peasants 
 still, tended their husbands like handmaids. 
 But neither will he wait on her, unless he 
 is very exceptional. Nevertheless, I know of 
 one case in which a husband waits on a wife 
 as tenderly as if he were American. 
 
 She has legal control of her property, and 
 may legally go into court and plead her own 
 case, against her husband or another ; and she 
 may sue and be sued independently of her 
 husband. The children belong to their mother, 
 
 78 
 
TURKISH LADY IN' INFORMAL OUT-OF-DOORS DRESS, FOR SUMMER 
 RESORT OR COUNTRY 
 
. DIVORCE 
 
 and after her death, to her nearest female 
 relative, her mother, sister, or daughter. But 
 practically these rights do not exist, for a 
 husband who is minded to tyrannise over his 
 wife would find means to prevent her from 
 any such independent act, and few women are 
 intelligent enough to use these legal privileges. 
 Her one recourse in case of severe oppression 
 is divorce ; that is legally very easy, but unless 
 a father or another husband be waiting to take 
 her, she cannot divorce her husband, for a 
 young Turkish woman is not fitted by her 
 training, nor permitted by public sentiment, 
 to live alone. It is well that she has these 
 legal rights, for as she grows more intelligent 
 she can use them, although now they are little 
 more than nominal. 
 
 The restrictions of a Turkish woman depend 
 very much on the liberality or illiberality of 
 her husband. If he be very strict in his ideas, 
 he will order her to make her charshaf come 
 down well over her hands, and her veil very 
 thick. He will see to it that she never goes 
 out unattended, he may even keep a eunuch 
 to attend her, and he will never let a man look 
 on her face. He will keep her closely in the 
 house and all her windows latticed, and I 
 assure you it is very hard to see anything from 
 behind a Turkish lattice. He will put high 
 
 79 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 walls around her garden lest she be overlooked 
 by a neighbour. He will never speak of her 
 to another man, but will regard as an insult 
 any allusion to his wife. He will object to 
 her reading or studying, and will consider that 
 for her to be known about is the deepest grief 
 that can come to him. He will eat and live 
 separate from her, only visiting her on occa- 
 sions. He would not think of telling her of 
 any of his interests nor talking to her as a friend, 
 and he would kill a man whom he saw speaking 
 to her or looking at her. Such was the old 
 Turk in his harem. 
 
 A pasha in Cesarea was something of this 
 sort of husband. One day he was found beat- 
 ing a stranger who had dared to look at the 
 pasha's wife, an enormously fat woman of whose 
 beauty he was immensely proud and jealous. 
 He explained his action thus : 
 
 " You looked at her once, eh ! a man cannot 
 help looking, for that I would not beat you. 
 You looked at her twice ; a man naturally 
 looks at a beautiful thing twice, for that I 
 would not beat you. But you looked at her 
 three times, and for that I beat you, yes." 
 
 This despotic husband is fortunately growing 
 out of fashion. As the men of Turkey are 
 becoming educated, they are becoming much 
 more liberal to their wives. 
 
 80 
 
DIVORCE 
 
 In regard to a woman's dress there is little 
 change, although the veils tend to become 
 thinner and are more easily lifted, while the 
 charshaf, from a shapeless garment intended to 
 bundle a woman's figure, has become a stylish, 
 becoming garment. Immediately after the 
 revolution of July 1908, a good many women 
 threw up their veils and appeared on the streets 
 without them. This aroused a storm of indig- 
 nation among the priests, and the women 
 immediately put their veils down over their 
 faces again. As Halideh Hanum wrote, "As 
 a fact, no reasonable Turkish woman asks 
 to unveil. All that they ask for is a liberal 
 education, and a right to accompany their 
 husbands and to become fit educators of the 
 future generation." 
 
 There is an increasingly large number of 
 Turkish men who wish their wives to be edu- 
 cated, and who will grant them as much freedom 
 as they can use, and will allow them to see all 
 the men friends of their husbands, whenever the 
 friends are worthy of the honour. Such men 
 talk with their wives, study with them if the 
 wives are fitted for study, and sometimes teach 
 them, allow them to go through the streets un- 
 accompanied, and to attend the theatres for 
 women, and treat them as friends. I know 
 several households in which the women have 
 
 81 F 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 every real opportunity for growth and happi- 
 ness. 
 
 But if a marriage be unhappy, divorce is 
 legally very easy, and equally easy for women 
 or men. It needs but the words, " I divorce 
 you," and a slight money payment. I have 
 been told that the sum to be paid is an odd 
 one, such as $2.38, or 9s. lid., so that one 
 must make change to pay it, and thus time is 
 given to retract the words before it is too late. 
 If she divorce her husband with good cause, 
 such as desertion, cruelty, or refusal to support, 
 the divorced wife takes her dowry back ; in- 
 deed, it has never passed out of her hands 
 nominally. Both parties may marry again 
 immediately, and this may be repeated as often 
 as is wished ; but such easy divorces are opposed 
 to the law of the Prophet, which reads, " The 
 curse of Allah rests on him who capriciously 
 repudiates his wife." A Turkish child whom 
 I knew once begged a Protestant woman to 
 become a Moslem, urging as a great attraction 
 that divorce was so easy for a Moslem. A 
 very curious case of divorce and remarriage 
 was told me of a Turkish shopkeeper in 
 Scutari. He, it seems, could not get along 
 with his wife, so divorced her. She was very 
 sad over the break-up of her home, and shed 
 
 so many tears that her friends became very 
 
 82 
 
DIVORCE 
 
 sorry for her. After some months of bachelor 
 freedom, the man decided to marry again and 
 asked his neighbours to find him a suitable 
 wife. To one of the neighbours occurred the 
 original idea of re-marrying the divorced 
 couple ; so he plotted, with the aid of the 
 divorced wife, to trick her former husband. 
 The marriage was held just as usual, except 
 that there was no social ceremony, as he was 
 told that he was marrying a widow, and also 
 that the bride stipulated that no candle should 
 be lit on her wedding evening. All went as 
 planned, and the groom was charmed with his 
 elusive bride, shrinking into the shadow. In 
 his conversation with her, however, he told 
 how tired he had grown of his first wife, but 
 how dear the bride should always be to him. 
 At last she could no longer stand the criticisms 
 of herself and lit the candle. When the 
 horrified husband saw his first wife, who had 
 now become his second, he was remorseful for 
 his former actions, and as they had both learned 
 a lesson, they lived happily together for many 
 years. 
 
 83 
 

 CHAPTER VII 
 
 TURKISH HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 Would you like to see a typical Turkish 
 house ? Imagine, situated in a generous en- 
 closure of green lawn dotted with rose-bushes 
 and shady trees, the whole surrounded by a 
 high stone wall, a square, rambling, unpainted 
 house, with scanty eaves, and no ornament 
 except a religious motto on a blue background 
 hung over the front door. No chimneys rise 
 from the flat roof, but from several windows 
 protrude some yards of stove-pipe, which turn 
 just outside the window, and go upward. 
 From these pipes, if the day be cool, smoke 
 rises, and a scant brown liquid falls, staining 
 the side of the wall in rich browns and yellows. 
 This means, of course, that there are one or 
 more European stoves in the house, porcelain 
 or iron, or at least a great open ojak or oven 
 for cooking, and that the family is not restricted 
 to mangals (braziers) for heat. On the left of 
 the front door all the windows are latticed with 
 kafesses or closely crossed screens of narrow 
 
 84 
 
A TLRKISH HOUSE 
 
TURKISH HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 strips of wood, but to the right of the main 
 entrance the windows are unprotected by 
 blind or lattice. This means that the house 
 is evenly divided into the selamlik or men's 
 quarters, and the harem or women's quarters ; 
 and if you go inside you will probably find two 
 staircases ascending, the one to the right, the 
 other to the left, and leading to entirely sepa- 
 rated parts of the house. The hall is plain, the 
 floor is covered with yellow matting, the stairs 
 are of marble with a carved railing of coarse 
 pine-wood. A little way up the stairs, a 
 pretty little marble fountain in the wall offers 
 a chance for refreshment. 
 
 The kitchen, the eating-rooms, and some 
 other rooms lie behind the staircase ; to the 
 right is a little room, quite empty but for yellow 
 matting on the floor, where lady guests may 
 pile their outer garments, wrapped each in its 
 square of cloth, of painted cotton, or of em- 
 broidered satin, according to the wealth of the 
 owner, in neat piles on the floor, and may stand 
 their brightly coloured umbrellas in one corner. 
 
 Let us mount one of the staircases, the men 
 to the right, for they may not visit the harem, 
 the women to the left. The commonest ar- 
 rangement of rooms consists of a large oblong 
 room or hall, one end open to the staircase, 
 surrounded on three sides by small rooms open- 
 
 85 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 ing out of it. Several of the latter are bed- 
 rooms, and one or two are sitting-rooms. The 
 hall is carpeted with matting unless the owner 
 is immensely wealthy, and stiff chairs stand 
 around the sides. The ceiling is of pine-wood 
 rather prettily inlaid. In one house that I 
 have visited, the largest ceiling was elaborately 
 carved in flowers of wood and painted tin. 
 The smaller rooms of the house are all alike 
 in shape ; the Turkish architect never con- 
 siders the function of a room, but builds his 
 dining-room and bedroom alike, with plenty of 
 windows. 
 
 Entering the chief parlour, we find its floor 
 thickly covered with bright, warm rugs, two 
 low divans covered with red cotton shaped into 
 the corners of the room, a set of European up- 
 holstered chairs in rows against the walls, and 
 in the middle of the room a brass mangal or 
 brazier with shining rim, like a flower whose 
 centre is a bed of coals, and two handsome 
 handles to move the mangal if you desire. Two 
 tiny tables of brown wood inlaid with mother- 
 of-pearl, on each of which is a china ash-tray, 
 and a box of matches for cigarettes, complete 
 the furniture of the room. There are no pic- 
 tures nor ornaments in an old-fashioned Turk- 
 ish house, for man was forbidden to make unto 
 
 himself an image of anything in the heavens 
 
 86 
 
TURKISH HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 above, the earth beneatli, or the waters under 
 the earth, and the Moslems have obeyed this 
 injunction literally. The only authorised form 
 of picture in a strict Mussulman household is 
 an Arabic text or perhaps a Persian verse 
 written out in the really beautiful ornamental 
 writing, — perhaps tall gold letters on a black 
 ground, perhaps a few gold letters on a pale 
 green or pink ground with tiny conventional 
 flowers dotted over it, perhaps small black 
 letters on a pink ground with a wide scroll 
 border ; or, commonest style of motto, gilt 
 letters on a vivid blue ground, with a gilt 
 geometrical design for a border. These may 
 be framed or unframed. There are artists in 
 Turkey who make a profession of this orna- 
 mental writing, and there have been some 
 great names of calligraphists handed down as 
 reverently as are the names of Cimabue or 
 Giotto in Italy. I have seen a text so written 
 that the prolonged tails of the letters formed a 
 ship, and another written in a circle with the 
 extended tails converging in the centre. In 
 old Turkish houses and in present Arabic 
 houses the divan khane^ or reception room, 
 contains a raised alcove at one end, with long 
 divans on three sides, and at one side the special 
 seat of the Buyuk Hanum (great lady), with 
 niches for her treasures and jewels. 
 
 87 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 In these Turkish houses there used always 
 to be a sort of dumb-waiter, that instead of 
 going from one floor to another turned around, 
 carrying dishes or messages from the selamlik 
 to the harem. This creaking cupboard was the 
 repository of many a secret, and used to figure 
 romantically in old Turkish stories. 
 
 Now you have seen a typical Turkish house, 
 but there are many deviations from the type, 
 the principal differences showing themselves 
 in the arrangements of the dining-rooms and 
 the bedrooms, and in the furniture. 
 
 In an old-time household there are two 
 dining-rooms, one for the men and one for the 
 women, and the table is a large tray placed on 
 a low stool, around which the people sit on 
 the floor. In the centre of this table is placed 
 the main dish, from which the eaters dip each 
 his own supply of food to his own plate, or 
 perhaps eat it directly from the central dish. 
 No conversation is held at this meal, but atten- 
 tion is devoted solely to eating. After the 
 meal a brass ewer and bowl with water and 
 soap are furnished for washing the hands, a 
 very grateful offer. On a special occasion, 
 rose water is poured over the fingers. I have 
 twice partaken of this old-time Turkish meal. 
 One of those times I had to eat soft eggs from 
 a central dish, a feat which I found difficult. 
 
 88 
 
TURKISH HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 A progressive family in Constantinople 
 makes very different arrangements for eating. 
 The husband and wife and all the children eat 
 together at a European table set just as ours 
 are, and everything is served prettily with 
 china, silver, and glass. At Turkish wed- 
 dings where there are many guests, some old- 
 fashioned and some modern, two tables may 
 be set, one a long, flower-trimmed European 
 table, the other a round table with central 
 dishes, and the guests will be disposed accord- 
 ing to their tastes. 
 
 In old times it was very easy for a Turk to 
 take up his bed and walk, for his bed consisted 
 of a mattress and covers which were rolled up 
 in a corner by day, and spread out on the floor 
 by night. The furnishings always included a 
 thick yorgan or quilt of cotton, and a perfectly 
 hard pillow. Nowadays most bedrooms con- 
 tain bedroom sets with bedstead, bureau, and 
 washstand. Of course the washstand must 
 have a faucet, for no Moslem will wash in 
 standing water. The bed may or may not 
 have a spring, and the mattress is of loose cotton, 
 that feels soft to the touch but when pressed 
 down becomes pretty hard. Periodically a 
 Turkish housekeeper calls in a man to fluff 
 up all the mattresses and pillows of the house 
 with what looks like an enormous violin bow, 
 
 89 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 whose rhythmic, whirring bang resounds all 
 through the house. 
 
 Although there are many rooms in every 
 Turkish house as simply furnished as those 
 I have described, in a modern and expensive 
 house you will find many European furnishings 
 such as a piano, a few pictures, a case of books, 
 some vases and ornaments. I once called on 
 a princess in a white marble palace on the 
 Marmora, whose rooms, as far as I saw them, 
 were very handsome. The great marble hall 
 was elegantly carpeted with Oriental rugs, and 
 a huge carved teakwood screen stood near the 
 door. The occasion of my call was Bairam^ 
 and a huge basket of flowers sent with one's 
 good wishes filled the hall with fragrance. 
 We were shown into the first room at the right 
 by a small very black negress, dressed in trail- 
 ing scarlet silk with a scarlet toque perched 
 on her woolly head. The reception room con- 
 tained sofas, chairs, and stools, all handsomely 
 upholstered, and many tables large and small. 
 On the wall hung some priceless rugs of silk. 
 The servants who passed us sweetmeats, coffee, 
 and cigarettes carried richly chased silver trays, 
 across which, and hanging down in front, were 
 purple or scarlet covers with their heavy silver 
 embroidery resembling altar-cloths. The prin- 
 cess was dressed in what might have been a 
 
 90 
 
TURKISH HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 Doucet tea-gown of pale yellow, and was 
 exactly one's girlhood's ideal of a princess — 
 beautiful and gracious, with white hands which 
 it seemed natural to kiss. 
 
 An elaborate piece of furniture that is some- 
 times seen in Turkish houses is a marble con- 
 sole table, surmounted by a gilded mirror and 
 candelabra, and flanked by niches containing 
 silver or china or little mirrors. No Turkish 
 house is satisfactory to its owner unless it 
 commands a fine view, and to this end over- 
 hanging stories and projecting balconies are 
 common. Little kiosks by the waterside or on 
 a hill-top where the ladies may sit and enjoy 
 the view, are built in most grounds. Baths 
 are also attached to most houses, while in the 
 more modest sort, a tiny closet with a drain 
 for carrying off the water must suffice. 
 
 I have often been asked what the Turks eat 
 — very good food indeed. There is an abun- 
 dance of luscious fruit in Turkey, melons of 
 several sorts, the best being a longish yellow- 
 skinned melon of fine flavour ; apples, peaches, 
 apricots, and nectarines ; many oranges and 
 lemons, although no grape-fruit ; figs red or 
 green, fresh from the trees or half-dried in 
 Smyrna; mulberries, black or white; Japanese 
 medlars ; and of grapes a hundred varieties, 
 of which the most delicious are the famous 
 
 91 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 Chaoush grapes. There are also cherries, 
 and the deep-coloured, deep-flavoured Vishna 
 cherry, and strawberries rather pale and taste- 
 less to our palates, and raspberries. Bananas 
 are scarce and high-priced. Vegetables are also 
 abundant in Turkey, and the cooks are skilful 
 in preparing them a great many different ways. 
 Besides all the vegetables common in the north 
 of the United States, potatoes, tomatoes, beans 
 of all sorts, carrots, onions, turnips, peas, 
 asparagus, cucumber and succulent salads, and 
 spinach, there are southern vegetables such as 
 okra, vegetable marrow, artichoke, egg-plant, 
 squash, and cauliflower. Many of these vege- 
 tables are cooked in olive oil and served cold ; 
 artichoke thus prepared, and seasoned with tiny 
 onions and pieces of lemon, will melt in the 
 mouth. Another attractive way of preparing 
 vegetables is to stuff" them. Vegetable mar- 
 rows stuffed with rice, tomatoes stuffed with 
 rice and meat to be eaten hot, or stuffed with 
 rice and pine-nuts to be eaten cold, are excel- 
 lent dishes. Egg plant also is good stuffed 
 with green peppers, or filled with rice. The 
 -^$orn in Turkey is coarse and unattractive ; I 
 ^^-never saw it on the table, but once was 
 attracted by a huge kettle of it boiling away 
 under a spreading pine-tree near our College. 
 I purchased a fine rich-looking cob, and a 
 
 92 ^ 
 
BIYINU A DISH OF ICK-CHKAM 
 
TURKISH HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 paper of coarse salt, and tried to eat it, but I 
 could not finish it — the corn was not fit for the 
 table. Sweet potatoes are not to be had, nor 
 bleached celery, but the cooked celery root is 
 very good. 
 
 A usual luncheon dish is a vegetable or fruit 
 stew with tiny pieces of meat in it, such as 
 green beans and bits of mutton, prunes or 
 stewed apricot with bits of meat ; carrots, 
 celery and meat, chestnuts and meat stewed to- 
 gether, celery and meat, and a thousand othei* 
 combinations. Another delectable dish is of 
 dolinas. Dohna is the past participle of the 
 verb " to fill," but it seems to state the process 
 rather inversely, for the main part is the fill- 
 ing of rice, pine-nuts, and currants, which is 
 enwrapped by grape leaves, some in oil to be 
 eaten cold, and some in water to be eaten hot 
 with a cream sauce. The taste for cold oil 
 dolmas needs generally to be cultivated by 
 foreigners, but, once acquired, it becomes a 
 passion. They are the most toothsome pos- 
 sible lunch for a picnic ; piled up high in 
 platters they promise gratification to the most 
 eager appetite. Little fishes stuffed with nuts 
 and raisins afford another proof of the Turkish 
 cook's ingenuity. 
 
 The commonest form of meat on a Turkish 
 table is kibobs, which are little squares of 
 
 93 
 

 BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 roasted mutton. Sometimes a kihob, and then 
 a bay-leaf, and then another kibob and a shoe 
 of sword-fish, will all be run on a skewer and 
 turned before a little coal fire to a delicious 
 brownness. A dish of kibobs should properly 
 be accompanied by pilaffs in fact every Turkish 
 dinner should include pilaff'. This consists of 
 rice cooked in meat-stock so that each grain 
 is perfect, and with tomato, or chicken giblets, 
 or pine-nuts, or, for a special wedding dish, 
 with saffron. This takes the place on the 
 Oriental table that the potato does in the west. 
 Of course fish is much eaten on the coast, 
 varying from the huge sword-fish carved in 
 slices to the delicate mullet, red and white, and 
 the tasty anchovy dried and eaten uncooked. 
 One dish that I cannot admire is entrails, 
 even when it is disguised in a thick sauce. 
 
 The milk of the country is obtained from 
 cows, sheep, goats, and buffaloes. As none of 
 these animals are inspected, we mistrust the 
 milk to the extent of always boiling it, which 
 of course does away with cream, but there is 
 a delicious sort of heavy cream sold in rolls 
 which is made by boiling buffalo milk until 
 it becomes almost solid. This is called kaimak^ 
 and may be eaten with bread or cooked fruit 
 or on sweet dishes ; or when frozen it makes 
 a very fair ice-cream, especially if eaten with a 
 
 94 
 
TURKISH HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 delicate fruit ice. This ice-cream is called don- 
 durma, and the man who sells it in the streets 
 is the dondurmagee ; no resident American 
 can resist the smile of the dondurmagee in 
 spring, but will stop on the road wherever met 
 to buy a fluted saucer of the frozen delight, and 
 eat it while the dondurmagee in red and blue 
 apron, scarlet flannel sash and light-coloured 
 shirt, his sleeves rolled up and his fez over his 
 ear, dishes out more from his travelling freezer. 
 This brings us to the famous Turkish sweet- 
 meats. Milk and honey and almonds are their 
 principal ingredients, and they are rich and 
 succulent, cloying in their sweetness. One 
 dish looks like a thin cake of brown dough 
 soaked in honey, with little rolls of kaivial on 
 it ; another is called *' wire cake " because the 
 dough is in strings ; another is pastry with 
 chopped-up almonds ; others resemble blanc- 
 mange with cinnamon or rose water over its 
 polished surface. One apparent blanc-mange 
 proves to be made of powdered chicken breast, 
 and is most toothsome. Of Turkish candy all 
 the world knows, especially of the famous 
 Rahat locoom, or " Turkish delight " as we call 
 it, and this is but one of a dozen kinds of excel- 
 lent sweets. You have doubtless also heard 
 of the famous rose-leaf jam, but do you know 
 of the orange-flower preserve, and the currant 
 
 95 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 jam with every seed picked out of the currants 
 beforehand ? One can, moreover, eat a good 
 deal of these sweetmeats, for Turkey is not 
 yet sufficiently civilised to have " impure food," 
 and her candies are of pure sugar. 
 
 The principal drink of Turkey is coffee, 
 thick, black, either cloyingly sweet or entirely 
 free from sugar, in tiny cups. This is drunk 
 for breakfast, mixed with hot milk and ladled 
 out of a bowl; it is taken after every meal, 
 and is offered to every visitor as soon as she 
 enters a house. The Turks also use fruit 
 sherbets or shrubs — orange, lemon, strawberry, 
 or whatever fruit is in season. They are also 
 lovers of clear water, and a Turk will look at 
 his glass or call for water from his favourite 
 spring with as much attention as a Frenchman 
 will give to his wine. 
 
 Turkish women live a very sedentary life, and 
 very few of them have any intelligence about 
 suitable times for eating or correct quantities, 
 therefore they eat frequently, and often become 
 fat arid shapeless. 
 
 There is a good story told of a Turkish 
 gourmand. It is said there was once a man 
 who dearly loved his evening meal, and every 
 day while he worked he would plan the repast 
 that should end his day. At the thought of 
 the viands his mouth would water and he would 
 
 96 
 
BUYING AT THE DOOR 
 
TURKISH HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 rejoice over the food that was coming. Then 
 in the ev^ening he would eat the meal thus 
 planned. One day it occurred to him that he 
 got more enjoyment from the long anticipation 
 than from the brief realisation ; and then the 
 thought came to him, why not have the antici- 
 pation without spending the money the dinner 
 had been costing? So he tried the plan; all 
 day he would say, " I shall have kibobs and fine 
 pilaff to-mght, and after that, wire cake and 
 yogurt y He would lick his lips in anticipation 
 and be happy all day, and at night he would eat 
 a simple meal of olives and bread, and remark, 
 *' 'Tis as if I had eaten." This plan worked so 
 well that in the course of years he had saved 
 enough money to build a mosque, which he 
 called " The 'Tis-as-if-I-had-eaten Mosque." 
 
 Turkish dress is in a transition state. A 
 century ago, the dress of both men and women 
 was very gay and picturesque, long flowing 
 robes, rich fur trimmings, huge turbans for the 
 men, and jewels for all ; but Sultan Mahmoud 
 the Reformer introduced European costumes 
 into Turkey and did away with caftan and 
 turban. Women's dress was less affected than 
 men's by this reform, but gradually women 
 have come to dress more and more like Euro- 
 peans. The dress of the grandmothers, con- 
 sisting of loose silk trousers, yellow slippers, 
 
 97 G 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 embroidered jackets, and flowing sleeves, such 
 as one sees in pictures of Turkish beauties, 
 can now be seen only in the bazaars or in some 
 family chest. In interior towns the women 
 still wear full dark bloomers, and their hair in 
 braids down their backs, but in the coast cities 
 the better class of women wear suits or cos- 
 tumes in the latest French fashion in the house, 
 while over it they put the stylish modernised 
 charshaf and veil. The lower classes have 
 unfortunately abandoned their picturesque old 
 costumes for cheap clothing " made in Ger- 
 many " or Vienna, over which they wear shape- 
 less long cloaks, and a bashi-orta on the head. 
 A Turkish lady who sees something of Western 
 society sometimes dresses beautifully, but one 
 often sees absurd combinations of Oriental and 
 Occidental garments, or such misapplied Euro- 
 pean clothes as the lace negligee I saw at my first 
 wedding. Most Turkish women are very slack 
 about their clothes when in the house. I have, 
 in calhng, seen ladies with hair in untidy braids, 
 their heelless slippers slapping the floor at every 
 step, their loose wrappers carelessly put on ; 
 while to go into the street those same ladies 
 would make themselves very smart. Oriental 
 ladies are exceedingly fond of perfumes, musk 
 and attar of roses being the favourite scents. 
 What are a Turkish lady's duties ? She 
 98 
 
TURKISH HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 has but two ; to be attractive to her husband 
 and to bear him cliildren. She is not expected 
 to do any housework ; she rarely is the house- 
 keeper, and she never seems to make or to 
 repair garments. Of course I am speaking of 
 the well-to-do. There are poor women who 
 must do all their housework and work hard, 
 but the middle-class Turkish woman does 
 not work. She has plenty of servants who 
 not only cook and wash and clean, but also 
 do the marketing and act as maid or escort to 
 their mistresses, and nurse to the children. 
 These are also often slaves. Britain put a 
 stop to black slavery in Turkey, nominally at 
 least, but ignored white slaver)^ The Cir- 
 cassian parents, as I have said before, sell 
 their children into slaverj% hoping to make 
 the girl's fortune thereby, and there are regu- 
 lar, though secret, slave markets in Turkey. 
 Slavery is in direct opposition to Islamic law, 
 for the Koran recognises as legitimate property 
 only those taken captive in a holy war. But so 
 long as free women cannot appear unveiled be- 
 fore men, slaves are necessary in a household. 
 How does slavery work in Turkey ? The 
 women of course form only one class of slave, 
 the house or family slave, there being no ques- 
 tion of her working in the fields, and there 
 being no factories in Turkey. 
 
 99 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 The law gives an owner great power over 
 his slave, but also great responsibility. Fatma 
 Alieh Hanum has written a chapter on Turkish 
 slavery, in which she draws a charming picture 
 of a household with its devoted slaves, for 
 whom the master and mistress care as if for 
 their children, and my slight observation tends 
 to confirm her views. A slack servant may be 
 discharged ; a slave never. A slave must be 
 trained, and tended if she is sick, and married 
 when she becomes marriageable ; she is often 
 legally adopted by her mistress, and more 
 often legally married to a suitable man. A 
 Turkish lady once brought to the American 
 College for Girls, her little daughter, and a Cir- 
 cassian slave girl. When the daughter left to be 
 married, the slave girl continued her education, 
 and was eventually legally adopted by the 
 mother of her mistress. I know another Turkish 
 lady who has the most charming relations with 
 one of her slaves, whom she calls " Sister," and 
 who has shared in her own education and advan- 
 tages. • The slave girl accompanies her mistress 
 to weddings and calls, and has her own room and 
 her own library of English and Turkish books. 
 
 Let me tell you the story of Resha. She is 
 a black girl, the daughter of an Abyssinian 
 prince taken in a raid. Tewfik Effendi wanted 
 a slave for his daughter Saliha, so he got a friend 
 
 100 
 
TURKISH HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 to purchase him one and send her to him. He 
 told his daughter that a Uttle black girl was 
 coming to live with her and belong to her. 
 Now the child had heard tales of dreadful 
 black people who gobbled up little girls, and 
 she was very much frightened. Resha, in her 
 turn, was equally frightened for fear her white 
 mistresses would eat her. The black child ar- 
 rived and was put to sleep in the room with the 
 white child, and both children spent a sleepless 
 night, each trembling in her little bed for fear of 
 the other girl. Soon, however, Resha became 
 Saliha's devoted little maid, performing all per- 
 sonal services for her. When Saliha married, 
 Resha went with her to her husband's house, 
 and when the children were born, Resha be- 
 came their nurse. Saliha has lately told me 
 that Resha has become a great care to her, and 
 that she cannot dismiss her as she would a 
 servant ; for although she freed her some years 
 ago, she feels, nevertheless, that Resha's happi- 
 ness is her charge. She would like to marry 
 the slave, but has not yet found a suitable 
 husband for her. I said, " I suppose she wants 
 a black husband ? " " Oh no," replied Saliha, 
 " she wants him very white, in fact she says he 
 must be blond." Saliha Hanum is looking for 
 the right man for her fastidious black maid, who 
 is rather handsome in the Abyssinian style 
 
 101 
 
T 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 HOW A TURKISH WOMAN AMUSES HERSELF 
 
 The amusements of a Turkish lady we should 
 consider rather mild. She is seldom intellec- 
 tual, therefore her pleasures are not intellectual, 
 nor have lectures, clubs, concerts, and reading 
 circles been open to her under the old regime. 
 She is not athletic even in her youth, so she 
 plays no tennis or golf, and makes no walk- 
 ing nor riding expeditions, nor would these be 
 proper for a modest Moslem. Fancy playing 
 tennis in a veil or riding a bicycle in a cliarshaf. 
 She plays no games, such as bridge, whist, or 
 dominoes, although Turkish men are fond of 
 games of chance. She does not become ab- 
 sorbed in fancy work, her hands do not require 
 to be occupied. What then does she do ? 
 
 For the most part she sits. The Turkish 
 verb to sit is constantly used where we should 
 say stay or live or visit. For instance, to the 
 question, " Where are you living ? " one gets 
 the response, " I am sitting in Stamboul ; " or 
 " Are you married ? " brings the answer, " No, 
 I am sitting at home." And this is literally 
 
 102 
 
HOW A WOMAN AMUSES HERSELF 
 true. All Oriental women occupy an enormous 
 proportion of their time in sitting. And when 
 they sit it is not in the restless way that we 
 have, but with the hands idly folded in the 
 lap, in the perfect repose of a sleeping cat, 
 often for hours without even conversation. 
 They often sit cross-legged on the low divans, 
 or on cushions on the floor. Having dropped 
 off their slippers, they may put their feet under 
 them, or raise their knees high, in more or less 
 awkward positions : but Turkish etiquette for- 
 bids that the feet be extended ; their little feet 
 and stocky ankles must be kept out of sight in 
 the house. Smoking is very common among 
 Turkish women, who can roll cigarettes and 
 light them with great deftness, and who keep 
 cigarettes always at hand to offer to a guest 
 after her coffee. Turkish cigarettes are pure 
 tobacco, light and of a fine flavour, and a con- 
 stant smoker consumes an enormous number 
 in a day. 
 
 Turkish women love to go out of doors and 
 sit. On a Friday afternoon one may see all the 
 open fields and hillsides, and even the sides of 
 the roads, in Scutari or some other half-country 
 suburb, bright with the charshafs and parasols 
 of sitting women. Perhaps a husband brings 
 his wives out, perhaps a group of women is 
 escorted by a servant, perhaps a mother has 
 
 103 
 
 % 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 brought her children to the maidan — there they 
 are, hundreds on the greensward. Near by are 
 itinerant vendors of dondurma, of sweet heha 
 cakes like our wafers, of candy for the children, 
 of paper kites or cheap windmills, who drive a 
 brisk traffic with the sitting women. The latter 
 derive much amusement watching passers-by 
 either on foot or in carriages, and occasionally 
 rejoice in the monotonous strains of a hand 
 organ. 
 
 Turkish ladies alsovisiteach other frequently, 
 coming early and staying late. At these visits 
 there are coffee, cigarettes, and conversation. 
 The B air am calls are most scrupulously made 
 by a polite Turk. The great social occasions of 
 hanuins' life are the weddings, and next to those 
 in interest are the circumcisions. It is possible 
 to attend an inferior sort of theatre nowa- 
 days, as there are occasional little theatres 
 exclusively for women. Also, there are a few 
 theatres with a partition down the middle of 
 the auditorium dividing the men from the 
 women,. and somewhat hiding the stage. At 
 these theatres the plays have generally been a 
 poor sort of European play, put on by Turkish 
 men and Armenian women, for of course no 
 Moslem woman would appear before the foot- 
 lights. But since the revolution a number of 
 Turkish plays have been produced, imperfect in 
 
 104 
 
HOW A WOMAN AMUSES HERSELF 
 
 structure, but full of patriotism intensely pleas- 
 ing to the Ottoman population. The favourite 
 of these plays is called Fatherland, and was 
 played by many groups of amateurs during the 
 months after the July revolution. At one gala 
 performance in the great courtyard of the 
 Ministry of AVar, there was a special section of 
 seats reserved for women, railed off from the 
 rest. 
 
 Turkish hanums love flowers and beautiful 
 views, and are fond of being taken for a row 
 on the Bosphorus, or the Golden Horn. Be- 
 ginning with the first Friday in May, the great 
 Turkish resort is the Sweet Waters of Europe, 
 which is the narrowing end of the Golden Horn. 
 You approach this usually by open boat up the 
 Horn. As you advance you encounter many 
 other gay boat-loads, from some of which music 
 may be heard, and when you have rowed three- 
 quarters of an hour, the stream, now narrow be- 
 tween its green banks, is full of light barques, 
 and on the shores are seated group after group 
 of veiled ladies and playing children. Refresh- 
 ment booths are everywhere, and yellow mats 
 spread out invitingly under the trees. Parties 
 of gipsies in pink or yellow or motley flowing 
 robes will dance for you or tell you a wondrous 
 fortune. Will you have your fortune read ? 
 That toothless old woman sitting alone will do 
 
 105 
 
 '^ 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 it for you. She gets out her kerchief of beads, 
 shells, and buttons, and mumbles over them ; 
 then looking up says shrewdly, " What is his 
 name ? " You demur, you came to ask, not 
 to tell ; but she insists, wagging her old head. 
 " Ah, yes, he loves you very much, more than 
 you do him, he will come over the water, there 
 is a letter" — and on she mumbles while you 
 toss her a coin. The young gipsies are dash- 
 ing, seductive creatures, with a constant whine 
 for baksheesh. To the Sweet Waters come 
 carriages bearing sultanas from the Palace, 
 who do not mingle with the crowd, but pass 
 by, giving you tantalising glimpses of bright 
 eyes and painted cheeks behind the white folds 
 of veil that are rarely worn except by princesses 
 nowadays. The hanuvis stay at the Sweet 
 Waters all the long summer afternoon, but 
 they must be in their houses at sunset. A 
 Turkish day practically ends at sunset. 
 
 This last statement requires a little explana- 
 tion of Turkish time. As Turkey follows 
 apparent lunar time in her year, which is thus 
 two weeks short of our year, she follows 
 apparent solar time for her day; that is, 
 twelve o'clock Turkish is always sunset. As 
 this time shifts with the lengthening or de- 
 creasing of the days, Turkish time relative to 
 our time changes every day. For instance, 
 
 106 
 
 Ik 
 
HOW A WOMAN AMUSES HERSELF 
 
 early in September the sun sets at six o'clock ; 
 at that time it is very easy for us foreigners 
 to calculate the Turkish hour, for it will be 
 exactly six hours either later or earlier than 
 our watches record. But when the sun sets 
 at 6.20 or at 7.12 the calculation becomes 
 more elaborate, and one is in danger of adding 
 when one should subtract from the sunset 
 hour, and consequently making engagements 
 for an inconvenient time. Moreover, when a 
 man says, " I will come at three o'clock," the 
 question immediately arises, " Do you mean 
 Turkish or Frank time ? " (We Westerners 
 are all called Franks in memory of the crusad- 
 ing Franks.) Of course this confusion does 
 not exist in a pure Ottoman household, where 
 they have no concern for Frank time unless 
 they take a railway j ourney. But their watches 
 have to be shifted every day or two to fit the 
 apparent solar time, be put ahead a minute or 
 two every day as the nights come earlier, and 
 be put back a wee bit every day as the nights 
 shorten. The supper hour in Turkey is always 
 shortly after sunset, and under the old regime 
 no little boats might ply on the Bosphorus, 
 and no steamers run after sunset, so that the 
 life of the Turkish quarters ceased at sunset. 
 This seems to the Turks perfectly natural. 
 
 They say, " We always sup at the same time, 
 
 107 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 just after sunset, but you sup in the daylight 
 in the summer, and by lamplight in the winter, 
 which is very queer." Nevertheless men, 
 especially scientific men, realise the incon- 
 venience of having a calendar different from 
 that of all the rest of the world. In business 
 relations with foreign countries they are 
 obliged to accept the Frank year, which results 
 in a fiscal year of fifty-two weeks, and a re- 
 ligious year of fifty weeks. This produced a 
 curious effect in calculation in regard to Abdul 
 Hamid. In a certain time he grew twenty- 
 six years older, that is, he had twenty-six birth- 
 day anniversaries according to the religious 
 year, but he had reigned only twenty -five years, 
 for his reign was calculated by the fiscal or 
 Western year. 
 
 Shortly after the July revolution a Turk 
 introduced a bill into Parliament proposing to 
 accept the Western calendar for the year and 
 its time for the day, the former for business 
 reasons, the latter because he said it would 
 lengthen the Turk's day for work. Turks do 
 not rise especially early and they cease to do 
 anything after sunset, so their days in winter 
 are extremely short. At this writing, however, 
 the bill had not been passed. During the 
 nights, bekgees or night watchmen strike the 
 
 hour by pounding on the paving stones with 
 
 108 
 
HOW A WOMAN AMUSES HERSELF 
 
 iron-shod sticks. To a sleepless Frank the 
 sound is very weird in the middle of the night, 
 and as the hour struck is not our hour, he does 
 not at first realise what the sound is. Some- 
 times six or eight bekgees may be heard almost 
 at once, not exactly together, for nothing is 
 exact in Turkey, but one following another, 
 some near and some farther away. The first 
 night I spent in Turkey I heard the hollow 
 sound and tried to determine its origin, recog- 
 nising that it was metal striking against some- 
 thing non-metallic ; and having heard absurd 
 tales of Turkish horrors, I decided it was a 
 skeleton hitting a gibbet. 
 
 A Turkish woman, like every other woman, 
 likes to shop. She never markets ; her ser- 
 vants or her husband patronise the fish stalls 
 where the iridescent fishes are temptingly 
 displayed on round trays, the tiny vivid vege- 
 table booths where strings of red peppers and 
 onions vie with piles of deep red egg-plant and 
 green vegetables and yellow melons to make 
 a bower of colour, the meat shops where all 
 sorts of meats hang exposed to the air, the 
 great bake shops where savoury loaves are piled 
 up fresh from the oven, and the fruit shops, 
 and tiny milk shops, and neat groceries. These 
 she does not visit, but she likes to go to the 
 great bazaars in Stamboul, or to the European 
 
 109 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 shops in Pera. Her interest in the third-rate 
 Pera shops I do not share, but the attraction 
 the bazaars exert on her I can quite understand. 
 The Stamboul bazaars are centuries old and 
 most picturesque. They consist of a number 
 of narrow paved streets, covered with blue 
 starred vaulting which springs from columns or 
 pillars. The entrances are closed at night with 
 heavy iron doors. These streets are filled with 
 tiny shops, each industry occupying one or 
 more lanes, there being a goldsmiths' street, a 
 shoemakers' street, a booksellers' lane, the cloth 
 bazaar, the second-hand quarter, rug streets, 
 embroidery streets, and others. The wee shops, 
 generally of a size to permit the proprietor 
 to sit at his narghileh (water pipe) and reach 
 out his long arms towards whatever strikes 
 the customer's fancy, are wedged against one 
 another tightly, and often the space of the 
 lane is half filled with the laden trays of pedlars. 
 Here is a fascinating place to shop. Seated 
 comfortably, and perhaps served with Turkish 
 coffee in a tiny cup or Persian tea in a glass, 
 you may examine rugs, embroideries, or silks 
 for charshafs^ or red and yellow slippers, at 
 your leisure, and the joy of bargaining is always 
 yours. Think of the pleasure of getting for 
 twenty piastres the article for which the shop- 
 man has asked you forty-five, and for which he 
 
 110 
 
HOW A WOMAN AMUSES HERSELF 
 
 declares despairingly he himself paid twenty- 
 five. Your joy may be clouded later by find- 
 ing that the article is worth only fifteen, but 
 after all it is the war of wits rather than the 
 reduction in price that charms you. There 
 are some quaint little eating places in the 
 bazaars, but these are not open to Turkish 
 women, who may not sit in a general eating 
 room. There is no place in Stamboul, except 
 the houses of friends, no inn or hotel or restau- 
 rant where a Moslem woman is permitted to 
 rest, eat, or spend the night ; she must return 
 to her home in the suburbs when she is tired 
 of shopping or very hungry. If she has to 
 cross the Bosphorus to get home she may pur- 
 chase little cakes, or bread, or fruit on the 
 boat or at the station, and eat them in the 
 cabin reserved for the Imreiii. The goods she 
 has purchased are probably wrapped in a huge 
 bundle wrap and carried by her servant. 
 
 There is one other social occasion in the 
 Turkish woman's life, a visit to the bath. 
 Any view of Constantinople from a height 
 shows the small yellow domes of these baths, 
 which are scattered all over the city. They 
 are built of stone in the shape of a dome, with 
 no windows except in the roof, which gives 
 sufficient light. There are four or five domed 
 rooms joined together, the outermost being 
 
 111 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 cool and the others increasing in warmth until 
 the inmost is extremely hot. Here the women 
 of the neighbourhood congregate, and after a 
 good soak and rub, and probably a shampoo, 
 they dress their hair elaborately, gird their 
 loins with a striped red and blue towel, put 
 wooden clogs on their feet, and sit down on 
 the marble edge of a pool, prepared to enjoy 
 their friends. Here they drink coffee, smoke 
 cigarettes, tell the gossip of the neighbourhood, 
 perhaps partake of a light lunch, and enjoy 
 themselves for hours. Sometimes they return 
 to the hot chamber for successive bathes before 
 resuming their garments and leaving the bath. 
 The building generally resounds with the howls 
 of children who are having their heads heavily 
 lathered, and whose eyes, mouths, and noses 
 are full of soap. The baths are also used as 
 places to " make up " the beauties with cos- 
 metics, henna, and kohl. 
 
 Special baths are used for ceremonial ablu- 
 tions before weddings and other family events, 
 and also after births, as I said elsewhere. The 
 whole family, all the women and the infant 
 boys, together with the slaves, will go together 
 for this occasion. The slaves will carry a fresh 
 outfit of clothing for each lady, which is 
 donned after the bath. 
 
 Such are the amusements of Turkish women. 
 
HOW A WOMAN AMUSES HERSELF 
 
 There are some fasliionable women who enjoy 
 a good deal of European society among the 
 wives of diplomats ; there are, of course, cer- 
 tain women who take every opportunity for a 
 love intrigue ; there are, as in all countries, 
 some women so poor or so ill that Hfe holds no 
 pleasures for them. But the ordinary Turkish 
 woman is happy in simple pleasures ; the beauty 
 of the country, a good dinner, a pleasant cigar- 
 ette, visits with her friends, driving and rowing, 
 a little music, and above all her husband and 
 her children. I will close this chapter with the 
 relation of a simple incident that once came 
 to my attention and charmed me with its 
 breath of simple happiness. I will call it 
 
 IN THE WOMEN'S CABIN 
 
 I first noticed her in the women's waiting 
 room at the Scutari scala. The room was full 
 when I entered ; two rows of women lined the 
 walls, sitting on the long high seats which ran 
 around three sides, and dangling their slippered, 
 gay-stockinged feet several inches from the 
 floor. A gaunt female in a scant snufF-coloured 
 ferigi was talking loudly to a wizened little 
 woman, and trying to pay her ten paras for a 
 great ring of bread as large as a grace hoop, 
 made appetising by a coating of sesame seeds. 
 
 113 H 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 The owner of the semitt, which was one of a 
 basket full, seemed bent on generosity, and 
 refused to take the coin. The gaunt female 
 pushed the copper into her hand with a loud 
 laugh, and looked around her for approval. 
 " You must have it," she said ; then her eye 
 fell upon me in the doorway, and with a wink 
 she asked, " Isn't it so, my lamb ? " All of the 
 women laughed sympathetically, regarding me 
 with quick interest. 
 
 It was then that a young woman in a purple 
 charshaf shot with silver, her veil put back 
 from her pretty oval face, pushed a little nearer 
 her neighbour, a jet-black woman with a solemn 
 child between her knees, and made room for 
 me beside her. As I took the proffered seat, 
 I looked around the room, at my snufF-coloured 
 friend, who was contentedly munching her 
 semitt^ at the semitgee, who had nearly sold out 
 her stock to the children who were waiting 
 with their mothers, at the ragged gipsy, who 
 took advantage of my glance to beg of me, 
 and finally my gaze rested on the dainty figure 
 beside me. Her charshaf seemed new and was 
 of a stylish cut, coming down long enough to 
 show only her slippers and just a line of her 
 pale green stockings, instead of slinking in 
 shortly below the knee and leaving the thick 
 ankle exposed, as did those of the other women 
 
 114 
 
HOW A WOMAN AMUSES HERSELF 
 
 present. The cape of it was laid in pretty 
 folds about her face, carefully concealing her 
 hair but bringing out the deep colour of eye- 
 brow and eye. A handsome parasol lay across 
 her lap, and her gloved hands sparkled with 
 rings. In harmony with all this freshness, her 
 face had that still glow which bespeaks inner 
 contentment. She interested me so much that 
 when the door was unlocked and the guard 
 had cried " Stamboula," and the women poured 
 out of the waiting room, I kept sight of her 
 amidst the jostling crowd of passengers, and 
 passing across the open deck, followed her into 
 one of the small cabins reserved for the harem. 
 Only one other woman was in the cabin, 
 although there was place for ten. She was 
 of the most approved type of Turkish beauty, 
 rolling in fat, with large but light eyes, and 
 hair which had been bleached a light red by 
 heiifia. Laying back her veil and removing 
 her slippers, she curled herself up on the horse- 
 hair cushions ; and after one curious glance 
 at me, turned her side to the wall, and rolling 
 a cigarette between deft, yellow- stained fingers, 
 proceeded to smoke it with half-closed eyes. 
 Having watched the smoker until her face 
 became hazy in the clouds which she puffed 
 gently into the room, I turned all my attention 
 to my pretty acquaintance of the waiting room, 
 
 115 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 who had also laid back her veil and was re- 
 garding me with friendly eyes. As she caught 
 my glance, she smiled, disclosing a row of 
 small white teeth, and inquired in Turkish — 
 
 " EngUsh ? " 
 
 '* Not English," said I. 
 
 " American ? " 
 
 " Yes, Effendim,;' I replied. 
 
 " Do you come from America ? " was the 
 next question, and then — 
 
 *' Is America as beautiful as Constantinople?" 
 
 I looked out of the small window at the 
 widening of the Bosphorus into the Marmora ; 
 the sun was sparkling on the blue waves, and 
 the Princes Islands lay bathed in haze just 
 beyond Kadikeuy. 
 
 " No," I replied, " not so beautiful." 
 
 She smiled complacently. Her eyes, which 
 had followed mine to the open window, turned 
 again to the door. 
 
 " Once taste the waters of the Bosphorus, 
 and you will never cease to long for them," 
 she quoted, but her mind was not on the shin- 
 ing waters outside. 
 
 The door opened and a man entered to punch 
 our first-class tickets. Both women hastily let 
 down their veils while the door was opening, 
 but put them back again while the ticket man 
 was performing his task. As he went out he 
 
 116 
 
HOW A WOMAN AMUSES HERSELF 
 
 passed a small window which looked into the 
 body of the boat, and inadvertently pushed 
 aside a little red curtain which protected the 
 harem from the curious gaze of lounging men. 
 Her bright eyes were instantly fastened on 
 this window with an eager gaze, as though 
 something outside were absorbing her atten- 
 tion. In a moment an official had closed the 
 curtain, and she sank back on the seat with 
 a sigh almost of rapture. Soon she bent for- 
 ward again, and clasping her hands before her, 
 and throwing back her head with a pretty 
 movement, said in a low,thriUing, sweet voice — 
 
 ** I am so happy." 
 
 It was not necessary for me to say anything, 
 my sympathy must have spoken from my 
 eyes, for she poured out her little story with 
 the spontaneity and in the tender warbling 
 voice of a bird. 
 
 She was sixteen years old ; she had just 
 begun to wonder when she should be married 
 and what her husband would be like, when 
 her kind father found her one. Once only 
 she had seen her bridegroom before the mar- 
 riage ; when she had peeped at him from be- 
 hind the great sandalwood screen that shut off 
 the harem. He was, oh, so handsome, that 
 although he looked stern she had hoped her 
 
 father would make the proper settlements and 
 
 117 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 they could be married. At last, after fifteen 
 long days, came the wedding. How afraid she 
 was. What if he should not like her when he 
 lifted the white veil from her face ? Her heart 
 beat so hard. But he did like her, yes he did, 
 for he tossed great handfuls of silver piastres 
 to the crowd of guests, and then she knew 
 that he was pleased. But after that he hardly 
 looked at her and his manner was cold, and 
 she was so afraid she could not please him. 
 He took her to his home, and she wore all her 
 prettiest gowns (and some of them were the 
 loveliest she had ever seen), but only occasion- 
 ally would he say, " It is pretty." No, he had 
 no other wife : she drew herself up. Then re- 
 suming her intimate manner, she continued : 
 " I knew, however, that he thought I was 
 pretty, but he would not tell me so ; but now 
 I understand him, 'the kettle has found its 
 lid,' and we love each other dearly. See," she 
 said, and throwing her arm about my neck, 
 she drew me to the little window, and pointing, 
 showed me through a narrow strip of glass un- 
 protected by the red curtain an officer seated 
 not far from the cabin. 
 
 " Isn't he beautiful ? " she asked ecstatically, 
 following her exclamation with the customary 
 expression, "Mashallah" which is used to avert 
 the Evil Eye from one who has been compli- 
 
 118 
 
HOW A WOMAN AMUSES HERSELF 
 
 merited, but uttering it perfunctorily, as though 
 her happiness had cast out fear. She settled 
 down once more, but with her eyes still on the 
 window. " He knew I wanted to go to Koum 
 Kapou to visit my mother, and I begged him 
 oh, so hard to come with me, and he gruffly 
 said he could not be seen travelling about with 
 women. So I got ready to come alone, al- 
 though I could not bear to leave him — we've 
 been married only two months," appealingly, 
 " but I had to see Mama. Eh, well, my black 
 servant put me into the carriage, and when we 
 got to the scala, oh, there he was getting on 
 the boat, and I feel sure, I feel sure he is going 
 with me ! " and her voice broke with the ful- 
 ness of her joy. 
 
 The other woman was watching her lazily 
 from the corner. 
 
 As the steamer bumped against the wooden 
 dock of the scala^ I left the cabin and my pretty 
 companion and joined the pushing crowd of 
 passengers. The landing was made only after 
 repeated efforts, the delay giving me ample 
 time to observe the husband of the fair Turk. 
 He was evidently a captain in the cavalry, as 
 his shining boots, his gold epaulettes, and trail- 
 ing sword indicated. He was well-made but 
 rather small; olive-skinned, straight-featured, 
 and large-eyed, his face would have been ini- 
 
 119 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 passive in expression but for the furtive glances 
 he continually cast at the door of the women's 
 cabin. 
 
 " Heidi, heidi^ cried the boatman, '* Stam- 
 boul," and the press began. I was rapidly 
 pushed off the boat, elbowed by women and 
 jostled by men. I made my way up the dilapi- 
 dated steps of the bridge, but before going 
 towards Galata, I turned to look for my ac- 
 quaintance once more. She was just being 
 handed into a carriage by the black man, and, 
 after a half-hesitating movement, her husband 
 followed her, and shut the door. 
 
 120 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE REAPER, DEATH 
 
 There is a sound of wailing in the house ; 
 Death has entered it, and no ideals of self- 
 restraint keep the members of the household 
 from loud expression of their grief. But there 
 is little time for demonstrations, for the fune- 
 ral, according to Turkish law, must take place 
 within twenty-four hours of the decease. 
 
 The body is first washed, which is a sacred 
 rite. Imams perform this ceremony for men, 
 but women are engaged to do it for women. 
 In washing, great gentleness must be used, else 
 will the washer draw down on herself the 
 wrath of the dead, as they believe. The corpse, 
 as a last pious act, is made to go through the 
 iiamaz in gruesome pantomime, the stiff hands 
 being folded and moved according to the daily 
 prayer motions. The body is next sheeted, 
 with bits of cotton placed under the armpits, 
 and between the fingers and toes, and laid in 
 a plain pine box. Pepper, spice, and rose water 
 
 are sprinkled over the body. Over the feet 
 
 121 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 and body are laid fine cashmere shawls, which 
 will be removed when the body is placed in 
 the grave. Imams hasten to the house to take 
 part in the funeral services, from whom the 
 head of the house picks out a suitable number ; 
 if he be rich, and the lately deceased a person 
 of importance, the number is large, amounting 
 sometimes to twelve ; for a poor funeral, or 
 for a woman, one is sufficient. These Imams 
 chant over the dead body all night, chanting 
 in the names of the twelve followers of the 
 Prophet. In long wailing tones, sometimes of 
 piercing sweetness, they recite the life, apparent 
 death, and resurrection of Jesus, for curiously 
 enough the Moslems regard Jesus as their hope 
 of immortality, and think that he will preside 
 over the Last Judgment. At the third hour 
 (that is, nine hours before sunset) the coffined 
 body is completely covered with gauze scarfs 
 and shawls, even to the face ; then the Imams 
 ask each member of the household formally if 
 he owed aught to the deceased, or has aught 
 to forgive. If any one should have a claim to 
 make, it must be settled before the ceremony 
 proceeds ; if, however, no one present has 
 cause for complaint, the dead is pronounced 
 ready to leave the home in peace, and is 
 carried forth head foremost from the house, 
 
 on the shoulders of men. 
 
 122 
 
THE REAPER, DEATH 
 
 Often the coffin is next taken to a mosque, 
 preferably a very sacred one such as the 
 Mosque of the Conqueror in Stamboul, or the 
 sacred Mosque in Eyoub, where there is a spe- 
 cial large stone slab for the reception of coffins. 
 Many times I have seen the pine box covered 
 with shawls, lying before a mosque to absorb 
 the holy influence of the place. Few people 
 and no women follow the coffin to the cemetery. 
 There the body is let down into the grave with 
 prayer, and then, when all but one priest have 
 turned away, he calls down into the grave in 
 a loud tone, giving directions to the soul that 
 is voyaging forth. He watches at the grave 
 until midnight, while at the house of death the 
 other Imams continue in prayer. Then they 
 partake of food and sherbet, receive the pay 
 for their services, and leave the house. In a 
 well-to-do house where death has taken place, 
 cooks will prepare great piles of sweet cakes, 
 and serve them in the grounds to all who 
 choose to call for them. Needless to say 
 there are many of these ; but, having accepted 
 the hospitality of the house, they must in 
 return pray for the dead. 
 
 The Moslems do not mourn as those without 
 
 hope, for they believe in the immortality of the 
 
 soul, and a beautiful Paradise for those who die 
 
 in the faith. The question of woman's immor- 
 
 123 
 
 'V. 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 tality has often been discussed. Undoubtedly 
 the general feeling among Moslems of an 
 earlier time was that she had no soul, but this 
 is not Koranic, nor is it now held by the intelli- 
 gent. The Koran reads, " God has promised 
 to believers, men and women, gardens beneath 
 which rivers flow, and goodly places in the 
 Garden of Eden, to dwell therein for ever." 
 The following prayer for women, which forms 
 a part of the burial service, shows her claim to 
 spiritual blessings : — 
 
 " O Allah, pardon Thou our living and our dead, 
 those of us looking on, and those of us absent, our little 
 ones and our adults, our men and our women. 
 
 " O Allah, unto whomsoever Thou grant life, cause 
 Thou her to live resigned to Thy will (a Moslem), and 
 whomsoever Thou call away, make Thou her to die in 
 the faith. 
 
 " Cause Thou this departed one to possess Thy solace 
 and Thy ease. Thy mercy and Thy grace ; O Allah, if 
 she have been a worker of good works, then do Thou 
 add unto her good works, and if she have been an evil 
 Tfdoer, do Thou pass it over. And may security and 
 glad tidings surround her with honour and privilege. 
 And free Thou her from the torment of the grave, and 
 from Hell fires, causing her to dwell in the abodes of 
 the Paradises with her children. 
 
 " O Allah, make Thou her tomb a garden of the" 
 gardens of Heaven, and let not her grave be a pit of 
 the pits of perdition. For Thy mercy's sake, O Thou 
 most compassionate of the merciful."" 
 
 124 
 
THE REAPER, DEATH 
 
 The Moslems consider that they are but en- 
 camped in this world, their true home being 
 beyond, hence they wear no mourning gar- 
 ments for those who are gone. They regard 
 excessive sorrow for children as sinful, because 
 they think it interferes with the children's rest 
 in Paradise, but to mourn for parents is a filial 
 duty. Nevertheless, I have seen very deep 
 grief for a lost child by her heartbroken mother. 
 
 Mohammedan cemeteries are weird, and often 
 very beautiful. It has long been a custom to 
 plant a cypress tree by every grave to protect 
 the soul from evil influences, so a cemetery is 
 always filled with what Hawthorne so poeti- 
 cally called "dark flames of huge funeral 
 candles, w^hich spread dusk and twilight about 
 them instead of cheerful radiance." Some- 
 times the shade is very dense among these 
 trees, but sometimes it is flecked with the 
 southern sunlight. Each grave has a headstone 
 and a footstone, and sometimes a slab of stone 
 between, in which last there is generally a 
 round hollow for the rain to fill with water, 
 that the birds may drink therefrom. The 
 graves all point to the lioly Kaaba at Mecca. 
 A woman's grave is dug to a depth corre- 
 sponding to her height up to her shoulder. 
 
 The headstones of the men's graves are 
 adorned with verses from the Koran, or obituary 
 
 125 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 verses. They are painted bright colours, blue, 
 or green, or black, or red, with raised letters in 
 gilt, and are surmounted by stone representa- 
 tions of the head dress the deceased used to 
 wear. The older tombs show great towering 
 turbans, the rank of the deceased being com- 
 mensurate with the size of the turban; but now 
 that turbans are no longer worn, the tombstone 
 loses much of its former impressiveness, being 
 capped only by a red fez with its tassel in stone. 
 AVomen's tombstones are like the men's, only 
 there is no crowning fez, and the decora- 
 tions are always floral or geometric figures on 
 the marble. A conventionalised tree with a 
 straight stem directly in the middle of the 
 stone and branches to right and left is common. 
 I have been told that a woman who has borne 
 children is entitled to full-blown flowers or 
 fruit carved on her tombstone, while a childless 
 woman or maid has only buds. Sometimes a 
 lot in the cemetery is surrounded by a gilt 
 cage-like structure, especially if the tomb be 
 that of h saint. In the latter case one generally 
 sees bits of old rags tied to the gilt rails, for 
 pilgrims thus do honour to a saint, in the pious 
 hope of personal reward. Small graveyards 
 are dotted all over Constantinople and may 
 even be found on private premises, but the 
 great cemetery of Scutari, extending for miles, 
 
 126 
 
 % 
 
THE REAPER, DEATH 
 
 with streets and lanes running through it, is 
 one of the largest cemeteries in the world. 
 Some corners are bright with fresh newly 
 painted gravestones, but most of the tombs 
 have become grey with age, and fallen into 
 decay. As you ride through this weirdly lovely 
 grove of cypresses, your horse now trips over 
 a fallen stone and now strikes his hoof against 
 a marble turban, fallen in the pathway. All 
 is in melancholy decay. A Turkish girl once 
 wrote : — 
 
 " A Turkish cemetery is not like an English 
 graveyard, which is rather like a garden. But 
 I think that it is appropriate for a place of the 
 dead to be falling into ruins, and as for flowers, 
 the dead do not need them, they have more 
 beautiful flowers in heaven." 
 
 It will not be inappropriate to relate here a 
 discourse on death and sorrow that I once 
 listened to behind the lattices. I will call it 
 
 THE DISCONSOLATE LOVER 
 
 "Tears are a language^ but only he who sheds them under- 
 stands it." — Proverb. 
 
 It was that mellow hour after dinner when 
 one inclines to reminiscence. Azizi Hanum 
 half reclined on the piled-up cushions of her 
 
 sedia, now drawing gently at the cigarette 
 
 1^7 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 between her white teeth, now laying it on the 
 little inlaid table beside her and sipping a tiny 
 cup of thick black coffee. Her movements 
 were slow and pleasant, her irregular face was 
 informed with the beauty of intellect and spirit. 
 Her large, beautifully shaped reddish-brown 
 eyes seemed to have looked steadily at the 
 sadness of the world, and her grave, gracious 
 manner conferred a dignity on one whom she 
 honoured with her attention. She was a perfect 
 listener, her eyes seeming to draw out the 
 things you wanted most to say ; but just now 
 she was talking slowly, meditatively, in pure 
 French. 
 
 " Yes, it is true we Turks have a feeling for 
 melancholy and even tragedy. We prefer it 
 in our books and dramas. The Albanians are 
 quite different; they cannot bear a tragic ending 
 to a tale. To them melancholy is not pleasing, 
 as it is to us." She laughed slightly. " I am 
 always amused when I think of the Albanian 
 soldiers who saw a performance of Karaguez. 
 No, not the vulgar little puppet-show the 
 common people take such pleasure in at Rama- 
 zan, but an aristocratic Karaguez, at a grand 
 pasha's house, in which a pretty love story was 
 acted. In Turkish stories the lovers never 
 come together in the end, but this infuriated 
 the Albanians, who, drawing their revolvers, 
 
 128 
 
THE REAPER, DEATH 
 
 shouted, ' Make them happy, make them 
 happy,' until the frightened manager was 
 obHged to spoil the sad ending of his story, and 
 bring the lovers together." 
 
 She took another sip of coffee and a few 
 whiffs of her cigarette before she resumed — 
 
 " When we feel a thing, we feel it very in- 
 tensely : it kills us." She looked sombrely out 
 of the latticed window, then began the following 
 simple tale of Turkish grief and constancy : 
 
 " When I was a child I lived with my 
 grandmother near the great cemetery in 
 Scutari. There was a broad meadow before 
 our house, in which I often played, but I pre- 
 ferred to loiter in the cemetery, keeping near 
 its edge so as not to be lost in its cheerless 
 depths. I used to pore over the tombstones, 
 reading the inscriptions and trying to fancy 
 who lay there in his last sleep. The big stones 
 topped with enormous carved turbans some- 
 times frightened me a little, and those that 
 had fallen, or were perhaps broken, gave me a 
 sense of delicious desolation. I did not enjoy 
 the red marble fezzes that surmounted the 
 modern stones in memory of men ; they seemed 
 commonplace : but I greatly liked the women's 
 stones, graceful in form, decorated with carved 
 flowers and leaves, and painted in fair colours. 
 
 " One grave pleased me especially. It was 
 
 129 I 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 covered with a flat stone, and at its head was 
 another, beautifully carved, and always freshly 
 painted. Every three months I saw that it 
 was repainted, either living moss-green or the 
 vivid tint of blood ; and the legend stood out 
 in letters of gold. As the forest of mourning 
 cypress trees makes a dense shade, and most 
 of the stones had lost all their colour, this 
 bright one stood out like a thought of love in 
 a dark heart. I often saw a man sitting on 
 the flat stone, leaning his head on his hand in 
 an attitude of infinite desolation. He seemed 
 old, for his hair was nearly white, and his face 
 was deeply lined. When he was at the pretty 
 grave, I would keep some distance away, peep- 
 ing at him from behind the trees, my little 
 heart aching for his hopeless grief. 
 
 "One day my grandmother took me for a 
 walk, and I begged to go into the cemetery. 
 It was very interesting, for the old lady knew 
 many of the men and women who were sleep- 
 ing there, and would tell me their stories. 
 
 " W.hen we reached the pretty grave, I asked 
 her eagerly who was buried there. 
 
 " ' Ah, I knew her well,' said grandmother. 
 * She was one of the most beautiful ladies I 
 have ever seen. She died a year ago, leaving 
 her husband almost mad with grief at her 
 loss,' 
 
 13Q 
 
THE REAPER, DEATH 
 
 " * Oh,' I cried, ' that is the old man who 
 comes and sits on her grave ? ' 
 
 '* ' Old !' exclaimed my grandmother ; ' Aman, 
 Aman, he is little more than thirty years of 
 age ; it is grief that has whitened his hair and 
 bowed his shoulders. AVhy, my lamb,' she 
 continued, ' he was so unable to exist without 
 the sight of his beautiful wife, that he had her 
 grave opened three times in six months.' 
 
 " I shuddered with horror. 
 
 " ' Yes, you may well shudder ; the first time 
 the grave was opened, the fair face was scarcely 
 changed, but the last time — ' She stopped 
 abruptly, then after a moment added, ' He 
 swooned and had to be carried home.' 
 
 " You may imagine the powerful impression 
 this tale of sorrow and fidelity made on my 
 childish mind. I watched the grave as con- 
 stantly as I could after that, and often saw 
 the bereaved husband sitting on the stone, 
 alone in his sorrow. 
 
 " Afterwards my grandmother told me that 
 
 his friends, fearing for his sanity and thinking 
 
 a second wife would take him out of his sorrow, 
 
 forced a marriage on him. He went through 
 
 the forms, but in a lifeless and mechanical 
 
 manner, and after his marriage continued to 
 
 come as before to the grave where lay his 
 
 only love. 
 
 131 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 " A year later I missed him for some time 
 from his ghostly haunt, and was told he was 
 ill — how, no doctor could tell, but nigh unto 
 death. In a few weeks he was dead, and I 
 hope his soul is with his beloved in the blessed 
 gardens. But for me the memory of his dis- 
 consolate attitude and grief-stricken counte- 
 nance has always been one of such poignant 
 sadness that I can scarcely bear to recall it." 
 
 132 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES 
 
 Little Turkish girls are early taught the 
 forms of the JNIohammedan religion. They are 
 trained to " make the Namaz " five times a day, 
 which is to kneel on a little prayer rug, or with 
 the family on a family prayer rug (the rugs 
 being used to guard against impurities), and say 
 several prayers, bowing their faces to the floor 
 and raising their hands. The hour for this 
 JVamaz is indicated by the muezzins or priests, 
 who ascend the minaret of the mosque, and 
 from high above the people call them to prayer. 
 It is a beautiful tenor call that rings through 
 the air. At its sound all Moslems are supposed 
 to bow themselves in prayer. Moslem schools 
 suspend their exercises to enable the scholars 
 to join with all the Mohammedan world in 
 prayer to the One God. 
 
 As I have said before, school children are 
 taught to read the Koran in the original 
 Arabic, but they do not understand what they 
 are reading. If they learn to recite the whole 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 Koran from memory they, like the men, re- 
 ceive the title of Hafiz. The Moslems con- 
 sider it a desecration to translate the Koran 
 from the Arabic language into any other 
 tongue, so no one can read it in Turkish. But 
 the youth are not on this account left unin- 
 telligent in regard to its contents, for they are 
 given to read a book suitable for their years, 
 full of rules of conduct and religious dogma 
 and even the old stories that appear in the Old 
 Testament and the Koran. If they study this 
 book carefully, they learn all that an ordinary 
 Moslem need know for his soul's salvation. 
 They learn of the great line of God's prophets, 
 beginning with Noah and Abraham, and ending 
 with Jesus and Mohammed ; they learn of the 
 companions and followers of Mohammed, and 
 the growth of Islam ; they learn of angels and 
 heavenly powers, of the joys of Paradise and 
 the pains of Gehenna ; they learn how and 
 when to pray, and that they should give alms 
 and be just and merciful; they learn of the 
 ninety-nine attributes of God, and say them 
 over on their rosaries ; they learn when to fast 
 and to feast, and how desirable it is to make a 
 pilgrimage to the Holy City Mecca, or to the 
 tomb of a saint, — they learn all this and much 
 more from this little book that every house- 
 hold possesses. 
 
 134 
 
RELIGIOUS OBS10RVANCIJS 
 
 A girl has no other religious teaching, 
 nothing corresponding to our Sunday schools, 
 nor does she often attend services in the 
 mosques. Women may not be present with 
 the men in service. There is an occasional 
 mosque reserved for women, and in some others, 
 arrangements are made by which a congrega- 
 tion of women and girls may be accommodated 
 behind curtains, where they may hear the 
 chanting of the Imams, but cannot be seen by 
 the male worshippers. I know Turkish women 
 who have never been inside a mosque, for they 
 are not expected to attend services as the men 
 are. Mosques are not a religious necessity, 
 only a convenience ; the Naviaz may be per- 
 formed with equal merit in any other place, 
 providing the worshipper face Mecca. The 
 Namaz must always be preceded by ablutions. 
 Very sensible, practical sermons are sometimes 
 preached to congregations of men, but women 
 almost never hear such. There is a screened 
 gallery in Saint Sophia, behind which certain 
 women may observe the services in the great 
 auditorium below. The finest service of the 
 year is on the so-called '* Night of Power " in 
 the month Ramazan, when prayer avails much. 
 On the first Night of Power, the Koran is said 
 to have come down entire to the lower heavens, 
 whence it was revealed in portions to the 
 
 135 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 Prophet by the angel Gabriel. On this night 
 every year, the destinies of men are revealed to 
 angels, and, as it were, their accounts for the 
 year are made up. All animals are said to feel 
 the power of Allah at this time, and to bow 
 before him. On that night the immense church 
 is full of rows of men rising and falhng rhythmi- 
 cally, while the white-turbaned Imams chant 
 a thrilling invocation to worship. The ladies 
 from the gallery can see the thousands of 
 twinkling olive oil lights close to the heads 
 of the worshippers, and the great pillars and 
 domes of the building that fade away into ob- 
 scurity far above. They can hear the piercing 
 notes of the Imams^ and the adoring cries of 
 " Allah ! " from the multitude. Those who 
 attend the service must feel deeply the mys- 
 tery and beauty of religion. 
 
 Women observe the fast of Raniazan as re- 
 ligiously as the men. For that month of thirty 
 days they fast all day, from that moment in the 
 morning when they can just distinguish a black 
 hair from a white, to the moment when the sun- 
 set gun releases them. During this time they 
 may not eat, nor drink, nor enjoy any scent, 
 nor smoke, but from sunset until dawn they 
 may feast. This is hard on working people and 
 students, who have to keep the days full of 
 work, but it is easy on those who may lie abed 
 
 136 
 
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES 
 
 much of the day, and feast through the night. 
 Sick women, school children, and sometimes 
 others, may get a dispensation from the fast. 
 Naturally, the great feast meal comes at sunset, 
 and at this meal, called the Iftai\ there are 
 often many guests. After the meal is over, the 
 women smoke and visit, while the men go out. 
 Two hours after sunset, prayers are performed 
 either in the mosques or in the houses, after 
 which the men amuse themselves with dances 
 and shows, and the children are taken to see 
 Karaguez. 
 
 I have spoken elsewhere of the Bairams, the 
 two great annual feasts, when visits and send- 
 ing of sweets and flowers, and cards of con- 
 gratulation to one's acquaintances, fill up the 
 time. I will describe here an IJiar which I 
 once ate with some Turkish acquaintances. 
 
 The booming of the cannon from the Tope 
 Khaneh announced sunset. Upon its dull ex- 
 plosion, the six women seated about a table in 
 the harem of a fine house in Stamboul, each 
 hastily swallowed an ohve, or stretched out her 
 hand toward one of the little dishes near her ; 
 and before the reverberation had died away, 
 announcing that the Ramazan fast was at an 
 end for that day, they were well adv^anced in 
 the first course. They had been seated at table 
 for some minutes, one looking attentively at 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 her watch, another murmuring prayers, and all 
 waiting for twelve o'clock to sound. 
 
 The women of Reshad Bey's harem had four 
 guests this evening, three of whom were not 
 Moslems, but neighbours and friends of the 
 Turkish hosts. The room was square, with a 
 low wooden ceiling, and unfurnished except 
 for a thin rug on the floor, a stuffed divan 
 under the window, a little stand containing a 
 brass service for washing the hands, and the 
 dining table. This consisted of a huge round 
 wooden tray, placed on a strong squat stool. 
 It was covered with a cloth, and knives, forks, 
 and plates were laid for six ; while in the middle 
 were perhaps a dozen small dishes on a tray, 
 containing olives, jam, cheese, and dried fish. 
 A lamp hung low over the table, casting a 
 yellow light on the faces all so intent on their 
 food. 
 
 Reshad Bey's harem consisted of his wife, 
 known as the Buyuk Hanuni, or " Big Lady," 
 and his young daughter - in - law Kutchuk 
 Hanum^ov "Little Lady." Buyuk Hanum was 
 an impressive dowager. She was pale, with fine 
 wrinkles. Her features were strong and clear- 
 cut as a cameo, only the mouth was sunken by 
 the loss of teeth. Her hair, in weird contrast 
 with the severity of her face, was dyed scarlet, 
 
 and escaped in short fiery locks from the kerchief 
 
 138 
 
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES 
 
 with which her head was bound. Her figure 
 was a huddled mass ; her hands were Hke her 
 face, finely formed and wrinkled, and their 
 pallor was intensified by yellow cigarette stains. 
 
 Next to her sat Kutchuk Hanum, smiling, 
 dowdy, with hair loosely braided down her 
 back, and a large, soft, yellow kerchief thrown 
 over her head and shoulders. 
 
 Gulistan Hanum, the Turkish guest, had 
 her hair dressed in European fashion, with 
 glittering combs in it, and over her dress she 
 wore a loose fur-lined garment of hght-blue 
 brocaded satin, whose flowing sleeves she was 
 obliged to turn back before she could serve 
 herself. Her colouring was drab, her features 
 high, and her smile gracious and pleased. The 
 other three at the table were Hozanna, a 
 brilliantly pretty over-dressed Armenian lady ; 
 Rachel, a plain, quiet Hebrew ; and Evanthea, 
 a sensible-looking Greek, all dressed a la 
 FranJxCL 
 
 *' Buyuroon " (Serve yourselves), said Buyuk 
 Hanum, as the cannon was heard, and speaking, 
 dipped her bread in a dish of jam near her. Jt 
 
 When a few mouthfuls had been taken, a 
 heavy-footed maid placed on the table a dish 
 hot from the mangal. It quickened the appe- 
 tites of the fasting ladies, for the pasteima, 
 
 cooked with eggs, is made of strong meat, such 
 
 139 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 as buiffalo's, or even camel's flesh, and seasoned 
 heavily with pepper and garlic. Forks and 
 fingers were plunged into the dish, and the 
 dripping savoury morsels carried to the eager 
 mouths. The meal continued, scarcely a word 
 being spoken, except an occasional " Buyu- 
 roon " from Buyuk Hanum, or a request for 
 water from a guest, or an appreciative gurgle 
 or murmur of " Mashallah I " (Praise be to 
 God !) Coui*se followed course, served in 
 silence, and eaten from the one central dish, 
 or removed from there to the plates. Mussels 
 stuffed with rice and pine-nuts, little fishes 
 stuffed with raisins, pilaffs sweet dishes of 
 almond and dough, or honey and cream, or 
 of jelly, all succulent and savoury, were some 
 of the viands. 
 
 Kutchuk Hanum was the first to be surfeited, 
 and rose silently from the table. Going to the 
 brass ewer, she allowed perfumed water to be 
 poured over her hands, which then were rinsed 
 in the brass bowl, through whose perforated 
 bottom- the water disappeared. Then she left 
 the others. Gulistan Hanum followed her after 
 the tenth course, turning down her sleeves over 
 her hands when she had washed them. Rachel 
 and Evanthea tasted the pilaff th^it closed the 
 meal. They all adjourned to another room, and 
 seated themselves for a long sociable evening. 
 
 14<0 
 
 4r 
 
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES 
 
 The room that the ladies entered was long 
 and narrow, with two latticed Av-indows at one 
 end. In the middle of the floor, upon the thick 
 rugs, was placed a large brass mangal, from 
 whose coals a gentle heat radiated. A row of 
 upholstered chairs and sofas lined two sides 
 of the room, and a divan stood before the win- 
 dows. Buyuk Hanum waddled across the room, 
 and seated herself, grunting, on a cushion be- 
 fore the mangal. Gulistan and Rachel seated 
 themselves cross-legged on the floor near her. 
 Hozanna spread her silken skirts over one of 
 the chairs, and composed her hands and feet 
 decorously. Evanthea and Kutchuk Hanum 
 sat opposite her with folded hands. 
 
 A maid brought in steaming cups of coffee, 
 and for a moment no sound but sipping was to 
 be heard. After the maid had removed the 
 coffee, and cigarettes had been lighted, Buyuk 
 Hanum said, raising her wrinkled hand : 
 
 " Now we must have stories, I?ishailak, for 
 tales pass an evening pleasantly." 
 
 All expressing their delight at this proposi- 
 tion, Buyuk Hanum began the first story, as 
 became her age and position. " Eh ? " she said, 
 " one begins always with Nasr Eddin Hodja, 
 is it not ? " And drawing a long whiff of her 
 cigarette before she laid it on the rim of the 
 
 viajigaU she began : 
 
 141 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 " Bismillah. Once upon a day, once upon 
 a time, Nasr Eddin Hodja called to his wife : 
 ^Hanum, hanum, come and see ; the moon has 
 fallen into the well.' She ran at his call, and 
 looking into the well, sure enough she saw the 
 moon there floating on the water. ' What 
 shall we do,' he asked, ' to get it out ? ' For 
 it was a sad thing to lose the moon down the 
 well. She rubbed her head to think better, and 
 finally said, ' I will bring you a hook and rope, 
 and, Inshallah, you can pull it out.' This she 
 did ; and the hodja let them down into the 
 water, and pulled. The hook, catching on a 
 stone, would not come up easily, so he pulled, 
 pulled, pulled. Suddenly the stone gave way 
 and the hodja fell backward to the ground. 
 As he looked up to the sky, he saw the moon 
 in the heavens. ' Hanum^ hanum,' he cried, 
 * I have put it back into its place.' She, look- 
 ing up, agreed with him, and they went peace- 
 fully into the house." 
 
 The maid offered Buyuk Hanum another 
 cup of .coffee, then stood with her back against 
 the wall, open-mouthed in her interest in the 
 story. 
 
 " Mashallah,'' cried Gulistan, " it is a good 
 story." 
 
 Theguests laughed heartily, Kutchuk Hanum 
 giggling after all the others had stopped. 
 
 14.8 
 
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES 
 
 " What a child ! " said Buyuk Hanum, in 
 gentle reproof. " One would think she had 
 never heard the story before." 
 
 "I can never help laughing when I hear 
 about Nasr Eddin Hodja," said Evanthea. 
 
 " Nor I," in chorus. 
 
 " We want a tale from our Greek Madama," 
 said Kutchuk Hanum, smiling at Evanthea 
 apologetically. She had clear brown eyes, 
 regular but rather heavy features, light brown 
 hair whose ends had evidently once been dyed 
 with henna, and she wore spectacles. After 
 some urging she began : 
 
 " There was, once upon a time, two brothers, 
 Dimitri and George, the latter a little stupid, 
 and the former very hasty. They were horse- 
 merchants, owning many fine beasts. One 
 day a purchaser coming, asked for eight horses, 
 which Dimitri sent George to the stable to 
 fetch. When George returned he was driving 
 seven horses bound together by a cord, and 
 was riding on the eighth himself. Dimitri, 
 in counting the horses, omitted the one that 
 George rode, so found them only seven. In 
 anger he sent back his brother for the missing 
 horse. The poor fellow searched the stable in 
 vain, and was at length obliged to return to 
 his brother without having found it. Dimitri 
 was then filled with a blind wrath, and rushing 
 
 X43 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 on his brother, he stabbed him to the heart. 
 The horse, in the confusion, frightened by the 
 blood, ran to the stall where the seven others 
 were. The murderer, returning to the stall, 
 found eight horses there, and saw his error. 
 Full of remorse for his horrible deed, he prayed 
 God to transform him to a bird. And from 
 that time the accursed bird flies about, crying 
 in mournful tones — 
 
 " ' George, George, George, 
 Did you find the horse ? 
 Ha, ha, ha.' 
 
 AVhenever we see this bird, we make the sign 
 of the Cross for fear it will cast the Evil Eye 
 on us." 
 
 " Mashallah,'' said Gulistan Hanum hastily, 
 and Hozanna shivered. 
 
 " I know no stories except about Nasr Ed din 
 Hodja," said Kutchuk, laying down her coffee- 
 cup on the mangal rim. " He used to say, 
 * It might be worse,' whatever evil came to 
 him. One day, for his sins, the devil put him 
 into a 'great sack, and was carrying him off 
 to Gehenna. He kept chuckling to himself 
 in the bag, and saying, ' It might be worse.' 
 The devil was annoyed to hear him speak 
 thus, and said, ' What do you say ? If you 
 will tell me how it might be worse, I will let 
 you out of the sack.' 
 
 144 
 
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES 
 
 " ' I was thinking,' replied the hodja, ' that 
 it would be worse if you were in the sack, and 
 I had to carry you in this hot place.' So the 
 devil had to let him out." 
 
 All the ladies laughed at this tale. 
 
 '* It is much more amusing than mine," said 
 Evanthea. 
 
 It was Rachel's turn next. She was a poor 
 neighbour to whom the hanums were kind, and 
 who won their liking by her gentle, unobtrusive 
 manners and her dog-like gratitude for all 
 kindness. Her appearance reflected her mild 
 personality. Resignation — unquestioning, un- 
 resenting, infinitely humble — spoke in her large 
 near-sighted eyes, her figure so curiously bowed 
 at the waist, her calm forehead, and her soft 
 voice. The only aggressive thing about her 
 was her fierce red hair, which rose in a pompa- 
 dour from her face, and was knotted at the 
 back of her head. 
 
 She began, " I will tell you one of our 
 mashals that we often relate. 
 
 " Once there was a king who had a priest 
 and a rabbi. The rabbi was a great doctor, 
 and was so much favoured by the king for his 
 knowledge of medicines and herbs that the 
 priest hated him and wished to kill him. So 
 he proposed a contest "with the rabbi, in which 
 each should try to kill the other by his medi- 
 
 145 K 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 cines. He was to have the first chance himself. 
 He prepared a strong poison, which he was 
 sure would kill the rabbi immediately. But 
 the clever rabbi, knowing all about poisons, 
 took an antidote before appearing in the pre- 
 sence of the king or his court. The priest was 
 dismayed. What kind of rabbi was this that 
 could drink poison and not be hurt? He 
 began to be afraid. Then the rabbi opened a 
 large box, in which was a smaller box, and so 
 on until there were a thousand boxes. As he 
 opened the last box, he begged the king to 
 turn away his head, for even the odour would 
 kill him. The priest was pale, and shaking 
 with terror of this strange, potent poison. In 
 the last tiny box the rabbi had put a bit of 
 Jhiarmless jelly. He told the priest to take 
 some ; and the priest, swallowing it, fell dead 
 instantly. Then the rabbi offered it to the 
 king. But the king cried, ' How, would you 
 poison your king ? ' * It is not poison, sire,' 
 replied the rabbi, ' it is only jelly. See, I 
 will eat it myself,' and he took the remain- 
 ing morsel from the box. ' But why did you 
 not give the priest poison ? ' asked the king. 
 * Because it is not necessary to kill by poison 
 when you can kill by fright,' replied the rabbi." 
 The evening was growing late when Buyuk 
 Hanum said : 
 
 146 
 
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES 
 
 *' There is just time for one more story ; and 
 then an old woman must seek sleep, for my 
 days are past when I can sit through the night 
 until the morning drums. 
 
 " Once upon a day a youth passed down a 
 street reading a book. A hajiuiu, regarding 
 him from her lattice, saw that he was comely 
 and desired him. So she called out, ' Come in, 
 my soul, for my husband is away, and we can 
 eat and be merry.' The youth entered, putting 
 his book in his bosom as he did so. She asked, 
 * What book wast thou reading ? ' and he re- 
 plied, * It is called J^he Wiles of Women.'' 
 They then sat down and ate, and were merry. 
 
 " Presently her husband appeared ; and she 
 got up hastily, and pushing the youth into a 
 closet, locked the door. The pasha, entering, 
 cried aloud, ' AVhat do I see ? With whom 
 hast thou been feasting ? ' She answered softly, 
 ' Ah, my husband, I saw a youth who was 
 comely, and I prayed him to come in and eat 
 with me, for thou wast away.' ' Miserable 
 woman,' shouted the husband, 'where hast 
 thou put him ? ' 'In the closet.' ' Give me 
 the key,' he cried. She handed him the key, 
 and as he took it she cried ' Philopena.' ^ 
 He dropped the key and burst into a great 
 
 1 The Turks play the game of Philopena just as we do, the 
 one who accepts anj'thiug from the hand of the other having 
 to give a present. 
 
 147 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 laugh. ' Oh you clever woman, to trick me 
 so ! What shall I get thee for a present ? ' 
 And he rushed off to the bazaars to buy her a 
 gift. Then she opened the door and led forth 
 the youth, trembhng with fear. He went 
 from the house ; and as he passed her window 
 again, she leaned from it, and cried to him, 
 * Write this in thy book that is called T'he 
 Wiles of Women' " 
 
 Naturally in a land where the level of intel- 
 ligence is so low among women, superstition is 
 rife. Belief in djinns, peris, witches, and house 
 spirits is held by the lower classes, and Shaitan 
 or Satan is a very real personality to them. 
 Women and children will shrink from an old 
 hag, one answering to Kipling's description, 
 " a rag, a bone, and a hank of hair," with the 
 feeling that she may do them some serious 
 harm. The great popular belief is in the Evil 
 Eye. This may be averted by the wearing of 
 blue beads. All donkeys, buffaloes, and horses 
 have gay collars or decorations of blue beads, 
 and children of the lower classes wear a blue 
 charm in the hair. The blue charms may be in 
 the shape of eyes, or they may be crude con- 
 ventionalised hand shapes — that is, a palm, 
 and five fingers sticking out from it, generally 
 tipped with bits of coral. Another effective 
 
 charm is of blue beads, with a bit of coral, a bit 
 
 148 
 
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES 
 
 of alum, and a bit of clove in the end. I regret 
 that I cannot tell you wherein consists their 
 magic efficacy. Another way of averting the 
 Evil Eye, when cast by envy, is by giving the 
 glory to God in the exclamation " Mashallah ! " 
 (Praise be to God). It is dangerous to praise 
 a baby or a beautiful woman, for that may 
 bring the Evil Eye on them, but if the charm or 
 beauty be ascribed to God they will be safe. 
 So when a hanum sees a beautiful child, she 
 does not say, " How pretty she is ! " but pru- 
 dently exclaims " Mashallah ! " The strong 
 feeling that the name of Allah protects all who 
 invoke it is illustrated in the story of three 
 men who were called before a covetous sultan 
 who wished their goods. He asked the first 
 how he had obtained such wealth, and the 
 plaintiff justified himself. " He lies," cried the 
 sultan, " off with his head." The second, who 
 had overheard the first colloquy, fell before the 
 sultan, and acknowledging his guilty methods 
 of obtaining wealth, begged for mercy. " Off 
 with his head," cried the sultan. But the 
 third, to the demand of the sultan concerning 
 his wealth, replied, " Allah gave it," and the 
 sultan could not move against him. 
 
 Islam has always felt the magic influence of 
 words and formulae. Solomon, the Hebrew 
 king, the Oriental beau-ideal of a monarch, 
 
 149 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 was said to have great power over djinns and 
 spirits by virtue of the Most Great Name en- 
 graved on Solomon's seal. Therefore we are 
 not surprised to find shops filled with magic 
 writings, holy words, generally from the Koran, 
 to be used as a specific against illness, sorrow, 
 or disaster. The saintly dervishes may inter- 
 pret dreams, avert the Evil Eye, and discover 
 lost property. 
 
 The Turks have one unlucky day in the 
 week, which however is not Friday, as ours is, 
 and believe in many signs and presentiments. 
 Turkish fairy stories are very, very curious, full 
 of strange and monstrous creatures, and lacking 
 all plausibility. How much the children be- 
 lieve them to be true I cannot say. The bird w 
 about which clusters most superstition is the 
 stork, which however does not have the power 
 of bringing babies, ascribed to him in the Occi- 
 dent. He is called Baba Hadji, or " Father 
 Pilgrim," and on his return from his annual 
 pilgrimage is supposed to be able to prophesy 
 for the coming years. His first appearance is 
 watched, as were the flights of birds in ancient 
 Rome. The stork, they claim, never builds on 
 Christian buildings, but honours the mosques 
 or pious Moslem houses. 
 
 The Evil Eye is especially dreaded for new- 
 born babes. Those who come to see the baby 
 
 150 
 
 "« 
 
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES 
 
 seek to avert evil influences by spitting at the 
 child, and using abusive epithets. When all 
 the visitors have left, the women of the house- 
 hold throw on the mangal a clove for each visi- 
 tor. If it explodes it is proof that the person 
 named with it has been guilty of casting the 
 Evil Eye on either the hapless infant or its 
 mother. Measures are immediately taken to 
 protect the supposed victims, who are fumi- 
 gated with smoke arising from locks of hair 
 thrown on the live coals, this being accom- 
 panied by spittings, blowings, prayers, and 
 mystic incantations, until a fit of yawning 
 shows that the Evil Spirit has left the sufferer. 
 After this, a servant is sent to the house of 
 the guilty one to obtain possession surrepti- 
 tiously of a scrap of clothing belonging to the 
 woman who cast the spell, and this is burned 
 also in the presence of mother and child. Mid- 
 wives are very learned in spells to avert evil. 
 
 The educated Turk seems to me to have no 
 more superstition than we have, but there is a 
 much greater gulf between the educated and 
 the uneducated in Turkey than in Britain 
 and America, and while the latter are sunk 
 in ignorance and consequent superstition, the 
 Turks in whom reason has been cultivated 
 are lifted out of superstition into purified 
 
 rehgion. 
 
 151 
 
 4?r 
 
BEHIND TUKKISH LATTICES 
 
 The impression that her religion makes on 
 a Turkish woman varies as much as if she were 
 an American woman. Some Moslem women 
 are simply and naturally devout, and live con- 
 stantly in the fear of God. Some are indiffer- 
 ent, and observe only such religious duties as 
 they are forced to observe. I once saw two 
 Moslem ladies, one a Persian, the other a Turk, 
 in the month of the Bamazan^when both should 
 have been fasting, trying to avoid each other 
 in a European house by each disappearing 
 through doors, only to encounter each other, 
 and then rush through another door ; the reason 
 being that each had a cigarette in her mouth, 
 and did not wish to be seen by her co-religionist. 
 Some women are too sceptical or too broad- 
 minded to be orthodox Mohammedans. An- 
 other class are the Mystics, generally sad 
 women who go to seek comfort from certain 
 pious dervishes, and who come from the 
 presence of these men with their faces illumi- 
 nated with an unearthly joy, and their souls 
 lifted above their hard lots, and attuned to 
 eternal harmony. There was a sect of these 
 female Mystics called the Sisters of Roum, and 
 in Kavalla there even existed, some years ago, 
 a tekkeh of female dervishes. Every religious 
 lady has her favourite sheikh and her favourite 
 
 shrine to which she periodically makes offerings 
 
 152 
 
THE MIHRAIJ, OR ALTAR^ OF A MOSyL E IN BROUSSA 
 
-1 
 
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES ?■ 
 
 i 
 
 of money or shawls and draperies for their 
 tombs. The poor give candles and rags. 
 
 All of these types of women are known in 
 other countries ; in fact, in this matter of reli- ^.. 
 
 gion, as in all others, the Turkish women are '^-\ 
 
 our sisters, of one aspiration, one faith in God, t 
 
 one desire for beauty and happiness, one love 
 of family, and one love of knowledge when 
 they have once tasted it. 
 
 
 153 
 
 >. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 * WORKERS AND BEGGARS 
 
 In these days, when so many occupations are 
 being thrown open to Western women, and 
 their field of labour and interest is constantly 
 widening, it is interesting to know what occupa- 
 tions are open to an Oriental woman. 
 
 A Turkish hanum almost always marries ; in 
 which case, unless she is poor, she sits at ease 
 and is tended by her servants, not even darning 
 her husband's stockings. Of course if she is 
 poor all the household drudgery falls on her. 
 Nevertheless, there are some single women, 
 widows or unmarried girls, or a very few who 
 do not marry at all, who need to work. What 
 can they do ? 
 
 They may become servants, but only in 
 ^ Moslem households ; a Moslem would not work 
 in a Christian house. They may serve sweets 
 or fruit or semits in the women's cabin or wait- 
 ing-room of the steamers, but they can never 
 serve in shops for the general public. They 
 may wait on women in the baths, and give 
 
 154 
 
WORKERS AND BEGGARS 
 
 massage or assist in the toilet. There are no 
 Turkish trained nurses, although there are 
 some women who do a rough sort of nursing. 
 After the granting of the constitution some 
 women petitioned through the papers to be 
 allowed to study nursing, and the best surgeon 
 in Constantinople said he would admit a few 
 women into his hospital for training ; but the 
 counter revolution of April put a stop to all 
 such movements for a time. Another set of 
 women petitioned Hamdi Bey, the curator of 
 the Art jNIuseum, to admit them into the so- 
 called School of Fine Arts ; he replied that 
 that was impossible, as men were studying 
 there, and the accommodation was insufficient 
 to admit of women having separate rooms, but 
 that he would arrange later for Turkish women 
 to study drawing and painting. Gipsy women 
 tell fortunes and dance for money, but no 
 decent woman will do this. I suppose some 
 Turkish women must sew for a livelihood, but 
 all the ladies of my acquaintance get their 
 clothes made by Greek or French dressmakers. 
 Cooks, bath-maids, laundry-maids, wet-nurses,. 
 cofFee-servers, secretaries, readers of the Koran, 
 are found among Turkish women. Old women 
 hawk articles of dress, jewellery, embroideries, 
 and cosmetics from harem to harem, and carry 
 local gossip as do the New England sewing 
 
 155 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 women. In the royal palace the female officials 
 include the Lady of the Treasury, the Private 
 Secretary, the Keeper of the Seal, the Mistress 
 of Robes, the Lady Water-pourer, the Lady 
 Coffee-server, the Lady Pipe-keeper, the Mis- 
 tress of the Sherbets, the Lady AVet-nurse, the 
 Lady Chaplain, and other ladies in waiting. 
 
 The best occupation for Turkish women is 
 teaching. The Dar-ul-Malumat school turns 
 out a good many teachers in a year, who give 
 private lessons, become governesses, or teach 
 in the schools exclusively for girls. Of course, 
 these schools being few, this is not a large field. 
 Women also become matrons of schools and 
 orphanages. I call to mind a sweet-faced, 
 elderly lady who is principal or matron of the 
 Industrial School for Girls, and who, they say, 
 is like a mother to the orphan pupils in her 
 charge. Doing embroidery and making rugs 
 are trades by which a girl may make a meagre 
 living, and earn a little dowry for her settle- 
 ment in life. There practically exist no mills 
 or factories in Turkey. Professional match- 
 making, buying and training girls for the rich 
 harems, and guarding the members of the 
 imperial seraglio, are all occupations along the 
 ^^ line of housekeeping. A profession that is 
 coming to the fore since the revolution is that 
 
 of a writer, this being one which a married 
 
 156 
 
WORKERS AND BEGGARS 
 
 woman can best follow, and which will increase 
 in importance with the years. Partly because 
 there are so few trades for women, a very large 
 number are driven to the lucrative employment 
 of begging. I have gathered together a good 
 many facts about beggars, and several authen- 
 ticated anecdotes, all of which I have woven 
 into a story, which I will relate. 
 
 THE BEGGARS 
 
 " Do good and cast it into the sea : if the fishes do not know it, 
 God will." — Proverb. 
 
 The beggars on the old Karakeuy bridge (and 
 their name is legion) encounter three classes of 
 people crossing between Galata and Stamboul ; 
 those who unhesitatingly bestow a coin or two, 
 those who always refuse to give, and those 
 who may be persuaded by importunity or an 
 especially touching appeal. To the first class 
 belong the Moslems, to whom almsgiving is 
 natural both by religion and by temperament ; 
 to the second class belong the Jews and most 
 of the Armenians ; to the last class belong the 
 Levantines and Europeans. 
 
 Mrs. Wilkinson was a tender-hearted woman, 
 whose sympathies were continually excited by 
 the scenes on the bridge. Despite the argu- 
 ments of her husband that the beggars were 
 
 157 ^ 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 but encouraged in idleness by her gifts, despite 
 the amusement of her children at " Mother's 
 softness," despite the numerous times she had 
 been deceived by specious tales of woe, she had 
 never been able to harden herself to pass by a 
 beggar who looked ill, maimed, or wretched. 
 The dogs also were recipients of her bounty, 
 and as she never started for town without a 
 few crusts in her pocket for those hungry 
 creatures, and a handful of coppers for her poor, 
 she was generally accompanied by a train of 
 miserable canine and human followers. 
 
 She knew every beggar on the bridge, al- 
 though some of them she could not endure to 
 speak with or look at, but only dropped her 
 coin into their hands hastily. The man with 
 no legs, the starving gipsy woman with her 
 tiny baby in her arms, the boy whose face had 
 been burnt, the mumbling old woman in a heap 
 against the rails, the blind man who eked out 
 his begging by selling cigarette papers, — she 
 gave to them all, receiving a thousand blessings 
 in return. Children never appealed to her in 
 vain, although it wrung her heart to see them 
 start on a life of begging, and with sadness she 
 watched their artless little faces become shrewd 
 and their manner whining and cringing. One 
 little girl attracted her particularly : she was 
 very dark, with soft black ringlets and large 
 
 158 
 
WORKERS AND BEGGARS 
 
 mournful eyes ; her figure was dainty, and well 
 set off by her shabby but bright garments ; her 
 features were decidedly aquiline. She was 
 named Djemili. AVhen Mrs. Wilkinson first 
 saw her, she was standing at the Galata end of 
 the bridge crying bitterly. Mrs. Wilkinson's 
 tender heart was at once touched. 
 
 " What is the matter, my child ? " she asked 
 gently. 
 
 " My father is dead," sobbed the child, " and 
 my mother is so, so ill. We have no bread in 
 the house, and how can she get well ? " 
 
 She looked up at Mrs. Wilkinson with 
 streaming eyes, appearing at once so sad and 
 so beautiful that Mrs. Wilkinson gave her a 
 quarter, and bade her take comfort. 
 
 Several days later the child was again in the 
 same place, crying as bitterly as before. Her 
 mother, her dear mother, was worse. The 
 child looked pale with misery, and Mrs. Wil- 
 kinson's heart yearned over her. All through 
 the winter she watched for the garish little 
 figure, and many a coin passed from her 
 crocheted purse into the lean brown hands of 
 the child. 
 
 A boy known as Hussein, a few years older 
 than the child, also touched Mrs. Wilkinson's 
 kind heart by his sad tale and ready tears. 
 
 One afternoon towards evening Mrs. Wilkin- 
 159 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 son was crossing to Stamboul. Djemili was 
 standing by the white-frocked men who take 
 toll, holding out her little hand with a beaming 
 smile; mother was better. Mrs. Wilkinson 
 had given a piastre to the toll-taker, and re- 
 ceived three ten-para bits in return. One she 
 tossed over to Djemili, the second was soon 
 given to the boy who crawled to her on 
 bandaged stumps. Hardening her heart to 
 the appeals of half-a-dozen ragged but healthy- 
 looking urchins she went on her way, but a 
 scrofulous baby took her last copper. Nearly 
 over the bridge, she stopped to listen to the 
 really beautiful voice of an Arab, who was re- 
 clining on a piece of matting against a lamp 
 post, and pouring out rich notes into the even- 
 ing air. He was large and broad-shouldered, 
 and did not look at all ill except that one eye 
 was bandaged. He was dressed in a loose 
 green robe, on his head was a striped silk square 
 falling in tasselled folds over his shoulders, 
 which, together with his greasy black locks, 
 franded his olive face. As he sang, he threw 
 back his head as though pouring out the music. 
 The soft sound of Arabic poetry joined to sad 
 Oriental chanting delighted Mrs. Wilkinson's 
 ear, as she stood before him until the song was 
 finished. As he ended it he turned his bold 
 eloquent glance on her, and slightly lifted his 
 
 160 
 
WORKERS AND BEGGARS 
 
 brass begging-bowl. She opened her purse, 
 and hunted for a copper. Finding one, as she 
 supposed, she dropped it into the bowl and 
 continued on her way. The melancholy song 
 of the Arab seemed to accompany her ; it 
 harmonised perfectly with the twilight hour 
 and the poetic atmosphere, half dove-colour, 
 half rosy, in which the idle ships on the Golden 
 Horn and the minareted domes of Stamboul 
 seemed almost to float. 
 
 It was not until she came to make up her 
 accounts that evening that she discovered that 
 she must have given the Arab beggar a lira 
 instead of ten paras. It was a little hard to 
 confess it to Mr. Wilkinson, but she was very 
 glad of his practical suggestion. 
 
 " Go to the beggar to-morrow and tell him of 
 your mistake. He can hardly keep the pound 
 if he wishes to have any clients on the bridge." 
 
 So the next day JNIrs. Wilkinson went back 
 to the spot where the Arab had sung melodi- 
 ously the evening before, but he was not there. 
 She looked up and down the bridge, but no 
 Arab. A crowd of expectant beggars gathered 
 about her, eager to learn her difficulty and the 
 chance of profit to themselves. She thought 
 of Hussein, but both he and Djemili were away 
 from their posts to-day. 
 
 " Eh, Abdul you want ? he never comes on 
 161 L 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 Friday, Inshallah ! But you might go to his 
 house ; I can show you the way." 
 
 " No, I," " I will go," cried half-a-dozen at 
 once. 
 
 His house ! Mrs. Wilkinson felt something 
 of a shock ; it seemed strange for beggars to 
 have houses : but if he had one she might try 
 to find it. So, choosing a bright-looking boy 
 from among the tatterdemalions who sur- 
 rounded her, she bade him lead the way. 
 
 A half-hour's walk brought her to a narrow, 
 dirty street, at the third house of which her 
 guide knocked. 
 
 To Mrs. Wilkinson's intense surprise Djemili 
 opened the door ; not, however, the weeping, 
 sad-eyed Djemili she knew, but a smiling 
 girl, who clapped her hands with joy at sight 
 of her patron. Before she could express her 
 astonishment, Djemili had led her upstairs. 
 The house was a two-story wooden house of 
 respectability, although dirty. In the front 
 room, on a sedia covered with bright cotton, 
 sat the Arab singer, cross-legged, smoking 
 his nargluleh in great comfort. Four mattress 
 beds were rolled up and placed against the 
 wall, and over each a dirty but warm quilt 
 was folded ; coarse matting lay on the floor ; 
 in the middle of the room was a cheap iron 
 mangal, which diffused a gentle warmth and 
 
 162 
 
WORKERS AND BEGGARS 
 
 on whose lids half-a-dozen slices of bread were 
 toasting. Lying on his stomach and basking 
 in the warmth was Hussein. 
 
 Mrs. Wilkinson looked about her in be- 
 wilderment. Djemili hastened to offer her 
 a stool, which she took, quite overcome by 
 her astonishment ; the man spoke — 
 
 " Madama, you gave me a lira last evening 
 by mistake and you are come for it." His 
 voice was musical, and his manner not with- 
 out dignity. 
 
 Mrs. A\'^ilkinson acknowledged her errand, 
 wondering what it was that made him look 
 different from last night. Oh, yes, she re- 
 membered ; one eye 'was blind then, but now 
 he seemed to have perfect sight. 
 
 Abdul prised up a piece of board from the 
 floor and took out a little bag of sacking, 
 which he opened and from which he extracted 
 a gold piece, handing it to his guest with the 
 air of a lord. 
 
 Hussein and Djemili were both standing 
 and smiling at her by this time, Djemili 
 almost bursting with mirth. 
 
 *' O Madama, O Madama," she cried, " don't 
 
 you see ? he is my father," pointing to the 
 
 singer, " and this my brother, and we all beg, 
 
 and all live here together happily in our little 
 
 home." 
 
 163 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 " But your sick mother ? " questioned Mrs. 
 Wilkinson. 
 
 Hussein roared, while Djemili explained, 
 *' She has gone to a neighbour's ; she is not 
 sick at all." 
 
 The musician smoked his nai^ghileh and 
 seemed lost in his dreams. At length Hussein 
 took it upon himself to make it all clear to 
 this lady, who was so kind, yet so slow of 
 understanding. 
 
 " We are regular beggars," he said ; " our 
 father can sing, and that brings in many paras, 
 but it is better to have some misfortune also, 
 so he glues up one eye. I weep and tell a sad 
 story, but people do not give nearly so much 
 to me as to Djemili. She is sweet," he de- 
 clared with enthusiasm, "she looks so pretty 
 when she cries that people give her a great 
 deal. This way we can have a comfortable 
 home ; only my mother does not beg, she keeps 
 the house." 
 
 " But how can you cry ? " asked Mrs. Wil- 
 kinson ; " you look very cheerful now, how can 
 you bring tears easily ? " 
 
 *' Ah, we have something for that, Mashal- 
 lah! See," and he pulled from his bosom a 
 little box from which he took a pinch of snufF 
 and drew it up his nose. In an instant the 
 tears were running down his face ; changing 
 
 164 
 
WORKERS AND BEGGARS 
 
 his expression to one of pitiful sadness, he 
 whined " Babam yok, anamjok, ehnek yok^ ver 
 own pa?^a " (I have no papa, no mama, no bread, 
 give me ten paras). Djemili laughed again 
 until the tears of mirth came to her eyes. 
 
 There was nothing for Mrs. Wilkinson to do 
 but join in the laugh, for these unmoral little 
 tots could not have been made to see their 
 profession as anything but an honourable one. 
 
 After that day she had always a smile or 
 a word for Hussein and Djemili when she 
 passed them, and they would smile in return 
 through their tears, but she saved her money 
 for the Little Sisters of the Poor, who knew 
 of the need of their old men and women. 
 
 About a year after this experience, she 
 missed the Arab family from the bridge for 
 two weeks. Then the father and Hussein 
 returned but not Djemili. The father sat 
 huddled in his old spot on the sidewalk, hold- 
 ing out his bowl mechanically, but he sang not 
 a note. Mrs. Wilkinson stopped before him 
 and asked, " Where is Djemili ? " Without 
 looking up, he replied in a hollow tone, "Dead." 
 He refused to say anything more, but sat with 
 his head sunk on his breast. Mrs. Wilkinson, 
 greatly shocked, crossed to Hussein's stand 
 and said : 
 
 " Tell me about Djemili." 
 165 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 Hussein burst into tears, tears for which 
 no snuff was needed. 
 
 " O Madama," he said, " the snuff we took 
 to make tears is bad for us, but Djemili would 
 not be careful ; the more she took the more 
 she cried, and the more people gave to her. 
 So one day she took very, very much, and it 
 made her awfully sick, and she went home, 
 and that night she died." 
 
 Mrs. Wilkinson found her own eyes wet 
 with sympathetic moisture, as she thought 
 of Djemili's pretty face and confiding ways, 
 and her untimely end. 
 
 " Since she has died, Madama," said Hussein, 
 " I have been very very sad, I have cried all 
 the time without any snuff, and have gained 
 much money, as much as Djemili and I used 
 to gain together." His voice sounded a little 
 less plaintive, but then he fell into tears again. 
 *' But, Madama, I would rather not gain ten 
 paras in a week, and have my pretty little 
 sister back again. Alas I it is God's will." 
 
 Inquiry among the other beggars proved the 
 truth of Hussein's story. Shortly after, he gave 
 up the forced tears and pathetic appeal as a 
 means of livelihood, and fastening his legs to 
 boards, spent his days as a lame boy, whose sad 
 infirmity drew many a piastre from the pockets 
 of the passers-by. 
 
 166 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 CHARACTERISTICS AND POSSIBILITIES 
 
 What are Turkish women like, and what are 
 their possibiHties ? Let us look at them and 
 see what their faces reveal. Even the gentle- 
 men may look in imagination on these Oriental 
 ladies. 
 
 I think the first thing that strikes the foreign 
 observer is that the Turks are not very dark, 
 not nearly so dark as the Armenians or the 
 Persians. Of course, there are exceptions to 
 this rule, one of whom was Abdul Hamid II., 
 but his mother was an Armenian, There has 
 been so much inter-marriage with Circassians 
 that the race has become light in colouring. 
 The typical colouring, I should say, is brown 
 hair and eyes and a colourless white skin, but 
 both black and fair hair are not uncommon, and 
 I have one friend with light red hair, hazel eyes, 
 and a delicate pink skin, and another with 
 chestnut hair and a pink complexion. Much 
 of the hair is abundant and softly curly, and is 
 worn either in long braids or arranged in the 
 
 167 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 latest European style. Eyes are generally large 
 and well-set, and for the most part dark. Pure 
 black eyes are not admired by the Turks, brown 
 or hazel being considered much prettier, and 
 most beautiful of all the blue eye, very rarely 
 seen in the Orient. 
 
 Turkish women generally have clear-cut, 
 delicate features, with full lips, although one 
 occasionally sees a coarse-featured, ugly young 
 woman. The old women either become hags — 
 hollow-eyed, pale, gaunt — or they settle into fat, 
 placid, white-skinned old women with traces 
 of early loveliness. The noses are sometimes 
 aquiline, although more often straight ; but it 
 is in the mouth that the Oriental look lurks, 
 the mouth, that feature that most reveals what 
 sort of people we are. The mouths are calm, 
 not constantly twitching or moving like the 
 American mouth, even when not speaking, 
 and are often slightly sensual, very friendly, 
 not very firm, sometimes sweetly pretty and 
 dimpled. Moles on the face are considered a 
 great beauty. Poets suggest that love has 
 kissed and left a spot, or that spirits whispering 
 in the ear have left their light touch on the 
 cheek. No Turkish woman is considered per- 
 fectly beautiful without a mole or two. 
 
 As hanuvis lead such a sedentary life, they 
 
 tend to grow fat, and this used to be considered 
 
 168 
 
CHARACTERISTICS AND POSSIBILITIES 
 
 a great beauty ; in fact, the old-fashioned beau- 
 ideal of beauty in a woman was to be fat, 
 white, and fair-haired. But as European 
 fashions have entered Constantinople, many 
 ladies have come to prefer a shght figure, and 
 some of them are very stylish according to our 
 Western ideas. The evolution of slimness 
 among the hanums tmghi be taken as an indica- 
 tion that sloth and apathy are being replaced 
 by activity and eagerness in the Turkish 
 character. I have seen more pretty white 
 hands on Turkish women than anywhere else 
 in the world — delicate, fine hands with well- 
 kept nails, even the dark red stain of the henna 
 on these nails setting off their pretty shape. 
 Europeanised ladies do not use the henna nor 
 generally dye the hair, but fastidious Turkish 
 ladies make up more than ladies of the same 
 class do in the West. Turkish ladies, for want 
 of other employment for their minds, have been 
 very vain. 
 
 I would like to describe one or two attractive 
 Turkish women. Nasiri has warm brown hair 
 and large clear brown eyes. Her complexion 
 is a softly pure cream, her face is oval and her 
 features good. When she opens her dewy 
 mouth, she discloses small white teeth, and a 
 dimple creeps into each cheek. Her expres- 
 sion is one of sweetness and freshness, but 
 
 169 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 does not suggest intellectual control. She is 
 tall and finely formed, and her brocaded black 
 silk charskqf is stylishly cut. Her veil, pushed 
 back in the house, shows tendrils of brown hair 
 over her clear brow. Her voice is tenderly 
 sweet, and she speaks her beautiful language 
 with soft eagerness. Nasiri is about twenty 
 years old and happily married. 
 
 Saliha has a full face, like the moon in the 
 heavens, as Turkish poets would say, suggesting 
 contemplation and serenity. Her abundant 
 hair, coiled in a wavy knot, is chestnut, and 
 her skin as delicate as the inside of a rose-leaf. 
 Her eyebrows brood delicately over her large, 
 soft, brown eyes. Her mouth, now slightly 
 open with pleasure in life, now drooping like a 
 hurt child's, is full-lipped and inviting, and her 
 teeth are like pearls. She is tall, and her figure, 
 suggesting vitality and motherhood, is neither 
 fat nor thin. Her voice has a cooing quality. 
 I saw her last clad in a cream-coloured dress- 
 ing gown with a bow of cherry ribbon in her 
 hair, bending over her first baby in an ecstasy 
 of mother love. 
 
 Turkish women are often not very strong 
 physically. They have known too little how 
 to live, and careless and slothful habits have 
 told on their strength. I see no reason why 
 
 they should not, with proper training in exer- 
 
 170 
 
CHARACTERISTICS AND POSSIBILITIES 
 
 cise and knowledge of their own bodies, become 
 a vigorous people. Dr. Nazim Bey, a remark- 
 able Turkish patriot, a man who, after receiv- 
 ing a fine general and medical education in 
 Paris, assumed the disguise of a hodja or a 
 dervish and went all over Asia JNIinor arousing 
 in people a hatred for the despotism of Abdul 
 Hamid, and a desire for freedom, and who 
 was one of the organisers of the recent revolu- 
 tion in Turkey, has interesting views on the 
 Turkish people. He told me that as a phy- 
 sician he had noticed that the mixed races were 
 the strongest physically and intellectually, and 
 that he based his ardent hope for the future of 
 the Turks partly on their being a mixed race, 
 and partly on their being a young race and 
 uninjured by the use of alcohol or absinthe. 
 He said that the Turks had as yet given 
 nothing to the world, that their native intelli- 
 gence had been stifled by despotism, but that 
 the time was soon coming when they would 
 contribute to the world's knowledge and ideals. 
 His ideas seemed reasonable, and his fervour 
 was contagious. " INIark my words," he said 
 eagerly, " the world will hear from the intelli- 
 gence of the Turks ere you and I are dead." 
 
 Others, Armenians and Europeans, agree 
 with Dr. Nazim Bey on the native and un- 
 debauched intelligence of the Turkish peasant, 
 
 171 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 and 1 see no reason why both men and women, 
 once free to develop, should not form a fine 
 race physically and intellectually. Women 
 have not been regarded by the Turks as in- 
 tellectually promising, as is shown by their 
 proverb, " Woman's hair is long, but her wit is 
 short." But they are coming to take their 
 place beside the men in intellectual work, as 
 their success in writing, studying, and teaching 
 amply demonstrates. 
 
 The moral character of Turkish hanwns 
 shows the same lack of training that marks 
 their physical and intellectual nature, but also 
 shows great possibilities. A Turkish wife and 
 mother is very loving and devoted, although 
 seldom intelligently so. She has been sharply 
 disciplined to modesty, but not at all to self- 
 control, and will cry aloud or scream, and let 
 herself behave in a way that shocks our Western 
 ideas. She is naturally intensely loyal, and this 
 quality easily develops into patriotism. She 
 has a great deal of natural pride ; in Turkey, 
 even among the women, one never forgets that 
 the Turks are the dominant race. In a mixed 
 school the Turks and the English girls associate 
 naturally, while the subject races form another 
 set. A sense of truth has not been developed 
 among Turkish women, for truth demands 
 intelligence, and that the average Turkish 
 
 172 
 
CHARACTERISTICS AND POSSIBILITIES 
 
 woman has not possessed. That they can 
 learn to regard truth very strictly is proved by 
 my experience of absolutely trustworthy Turk- 
 ish women who have received an education. 
 
 The Turks have been little understood by 
 the English-speaking peoples. They have been 
 judged, naturally but most unfortunately, by 
 the tyrannical and cruel actions of their late 
 Sultan, and often also by the excesses of Kurds 
 and Bashi-Bazouks, who, while they are Otto- 
 man subjects, are not Turks at all. The world, 
 nevertheless, has been forced to regard with 
 surprise and admiration that wonderful blood- 
 less Revolution of July 1908, by which they 
 threw off the shackles of a blighting despotism, 
 and in which they displayed not only heroism 
 and power of organisation, but such modera- 
 tion and magnanimity as made the revolution 
 one of the greatest of national achievements. 
 Again, when the treacherous Sultan and his 
 minions organised a counter-revolution in April 
 1909, and bathed Cilicia in innocent blood, and 
 imperilled the newly won liberty of Turkey, the 
 Young Turks were prompt, decisive, and able 
 in putting down both uprising and Sultan, and 
 still showed themselves untouched by rancour, 
 or spirit of revenge, or bloodthirstiness. The 
 splendid qualities which the Young Turks dis- 
 played in these cases as well as in the period of 
 
 173 
 
BEHEST) TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 sospoise before the outbreak in July, are also 
 possessed by the women of Turkey. They too 
 haveheroisin,self-sacrifice,love of liberty and of 
 hunumity, intelligence in service, and the lofty 
 quality of devotion to an abstract cause. 
 
 Let me tell you a little of their work for 
 their country. The conscious preparation for 
 the Revolution took about thirty years. A 
 handful of people in Paiis — ^among them Selma 
 Hanum, working with her brother Ahmed 
 Riza Bey, and another handful in Turkey, had 
 to arouse the whole slumbering land to a sense 
 of the horror of the tyranny under which they 
 were supinely lying, and to a hope in the power 
 of the Young Turk party to save them from 
 that tyranny. In this work of education 
 women toc^ their part. Several Turkish ladies 
 refused to marry, and gave themselves to teach- 
 ing that so they might enlighten and stimulate 
 such girls as showed a promise of inteUigence, 
 and win their adherence to the cause. WTien 
 the Young Turk party was well organised, 
 women .served to carry their dangerous mes- 
 sages and papers from one harem to another, 
 for a Moslem woman is never searched. In 
 Salonika, for years the headquarters of the 
 Young Turk party, among the most disinter- 
 ested and useful of these women was Gulistan 
 Hanum. She had been educated at the Ameri- 
 
 174 
 
CHAEACTERISTICS AXD POSSIBILITIES 
 
 can College for Girls at Constantinople, and 
 when she married Asim Bey,^ a fine young man, 
 she taught him English and became his friend 
 and companion. She used to take a Boston 
 journal, and culling articles from it that she 
 thought would interest the Turkish women, 
 translated and published them in Turkish 
 journals. Her work in the preparation for the 
 Revolution was recognised in Salonika, for 
 when the constitution was proclaimed there, 
 she was the spokeswoman for the Ottoman 
 women of the city, in an address to the leaders 
 of the Young Turk party. Women were 
 used not only to carry messages but also to 
 convert men to the cause, and in this work 
 they were often very successful. 
 
 In the chapter " School Life " I wrote of 
 Halideh Hanum, a graduate of the American 
 College for Girls at Constantinople. She is 
 one of the most ardent patriots I have ever 
 known, and her history is very interesting. 
 After she finished her College course with dis- 
 tinction, she married and soon became the 
 mother of two boys. During these years she 
 wrote a good deal, essays and sketches for the 
 most part, but could never publish them, as 
 all original writing was checked by the Govern- 
 
 ^ Asim Bey is now private secretary to Ahmed Riza Bey, 
 President of the Chamber of Deputies. 
 
 175 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 merit. But her literary attempts cultivated 
 her style, her personal experience disciplined 
 her character, and her studies in Turkish history 
 and literature sharpened both her intellect and 
 her patriotism. With July 1908 came the 
 opportunity to use these qualities. She was 
 lifted to the seventh heaven of joy by the Revo- 
 lution, and seizing her pen she wrote a poeti- 
 cal outburst entitled " Address of Othman to 
 the Third Army Corps," in which Othman, the 
 founder of the Ottoman Empire, is represented 
 as glorying in the deeds of the Army Corps 
 of Salonika that had executed the bloodless 
 revolution. This article, so Oriental in its 
 imagery and spirit that it is hardly translatable, 
 brought her immediate fame. The editors of 
 a Young Turk newspaper, the Tanine^ or Echoy 
 destined to play a large r61e in Ottoman poli- 
 tics, immediately engaged Halideh Hanum as 
 contributing editor, and she wrote for it regu- 
 larly under the name of Halideh Salih, Salih 
 being her husband's name. She wrote careful 
 intelligent articles on such subjects as woman's 
 education and curricula for new schools ; she 
 wrote burning essays on the griefs of the Cretan 
 Moslems and later on the cruel massacres 
 of the Armenians near Adana; she wrote 
 historical sketches of women who have swayed 
 Turkish rule and rulers ; and the people read 
 
 176 
 
CHARACTERISTICS AND POSSIBILITIES 
 
 all she wrote eagerly and called for more. Her 
 old manuscripts were gathered up into volumes 
 and she was asked to contribute to seven papers 
 and magazines. Her husband, an able pro- 
 fessor of physics in the so-called Turkish Uni- 
 versity, was appointed to the Ministry of 
 Education, with the avowed idea that he would 
 speak not only for himself but for his intellec- 
 tual wife. She was asked to teach a new school, 
 to organise women's clubs, to be honorary 
 member of men's clubs. The soldiery sent 
 her word that they adored her. There was 
 not a busier nor happier woman in the world 
 than Halideh Hanum from July 1908 to April 
 1909, and few women have been more influ- 
 ential. Throughout all this period she kept 
 moderate, sane, and unselfish, never leaving 
 off her veil, nor behaving otherwise than as 
 becomes a modest Turkish lady. 
 
 When the counter-revolution of April burst 
 upon the astonished city of Constantinople, 
 Halideh Hanum was temporarily carried down 
 by the flood that threatened to drown all pro- 
 gressive and enlightened Ottomans. The office 
 of Tanine was wrecked, and her manuscripts 
 were torn to pieces. She fled from Stamboul, 
 and with her children took refuge in her old 
 college. There she showed such endurance, 
 such heroism as one seldom sees. Her cry 
 
 177 M 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 was " My country, oh my country ! " with no 
 word of her own losses or danger. When the 
 army of liberation marched into the city and 
 freed it from the tyrant, and when Abdul 
 Hamid was deposed for ever from the throne 
 he had abused, Halideh Hanum was one of 
 the Young Turks who rejoiced solemnly over 
 the restored liberties of Turkey. She has re- 
 sumed her writing and will always retain her 
 eager intelligent interest in Ottoman politics, 
 as well as in the larger interests of humanity. 
 Halideh Hanum with her strong intellectual 
 grasp, her trained pen, and her beautiful ideal- 
 istic character, would be an honour to any 
 country that she called hers. 
 
 Halideh Salih is not the only woman writer 
 in Turkey. Ferideh Salih has written for the 
 papers, Niguiar Hanum is a recognised poet, 
 Fatma Alieh Hanum has written several 
 charming books, one lady is writing a play 
 with her husband, Meliha Hanum has trans- 
 lated some poems from English into Turkish. 
 Of the literary work of Gulistan Hanum I 
 have already spoken. The wife of Tewfik 
 Fikret Bey who is considered to be Turkey's 
 foremost living poet, learned all his poems by 
 heart in the old days, for fear that their papers 
 should be seized and destroyed. Several 
 special women's journals were published in 
 
 178 
 
CHARACTERISTICS AND POSSIBILITIES 
 
 the winter of 1908-0, containing some very- 
 worthy contributions from women. 
 
 Of course, the increased freedom that came 
 upon Turkey in 1908 aroused great desire in 
 the hearts of Turkish women for a fuller in- 
 tellectual life. Clubs started up all over the 
 city, and the ignorance and helplessness of so 
 many of the women, combined with their eager 
 desire for culture, was pitiful. Women peti- 
 tioned to be allowed to study nursing and art. 
 I know one very talented girl, Rabieh Hanum, 
 who without a single lesson in drawing or 
 painting has taught herself to reproduce in 
 black and white such great pictures as she 
 could copy. She is now hoping to study 
 abroad. In the plans made for women's 
 schools Selma Hanum and Halideh Hanum 
 are constantly consulted and will probably have 
 a large hand in working out details. They feel 
 that there are no Turkish women as yet trained 
 to take the headship and organisation of schools 
 for girls, and that American and English women 
 will be needed to start them ; but I am sure 
 Turkish women can be trained to make good 
 teachers, and will be quick to absorb Western 
 methods. In the American College for Girls, 
 we find t!ie Turkish girls very docile and eager 
 to learn. This year the Young Turk Govern- 
 ment has sent five girls to this college at state 
 
 179 
 
BEHIND TURKISH LATTICES 
 
 expense to be trained to teach in the coming 
 Turkish schools. 
 
 Have I not shown you enough to produce a 
 faith in the future of Turkish people, who can 
 count among them such inspiring intellects as 
 Halideh Hanum, such disinterested patriots as 
 Selma Hanum, such writers as Fatma Alieh 
 Hanum, such pure souls and promising intelli- 
 gences as are the Turkish women of whom I 
 have written here ? 
 
 In that future day when Turkey shall take 
 her rightful place among the enlightened 
 nations, by the side of the brave loyal men 
 you shall find intelligent, loving, and high- 
 minded Turkish women. 
 
 Printed by BALLANTrNB, HANSON 6» Co. 
 Edinburgh &= London