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WOMEI? IN TURKEY. 45
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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-«Gp- • - The Word Harem Has A Very Vari...
I hardly met witli any polygamist peasants , but such as had married in their earlyouth a much older woman possessing some
y wealth . With this exception , the home of the Moslem peasant resembles that of the Christian one , and , with regret do I say it , the
former might often serve as a model to the latter . Should each have equal fidelity , the advantage is on the side of the Turk , for his
is not imposed either by religious or civil law , by custom , morality , or public opinionand the inducement is the kindness of his nature ,
, which revolts from the thought of afflicting his companion . Neither does he make her purchase loj ill treatment , nor even by ill humour ,
the privilege of which he might deprive her , —that of being sole mistress of his house ; never does he retaliate , by making her unhappy ,
for the restraint he imposes upon himself for her sake . His simple and generous mind is incapable of these petty meannesses . The
tradition of feminine weakness is not regarded as a fable in the East , and therefore the weak are considered to have every claim on the
strong . The woman , being reputed feeble , has everything permitted heror nearlso ; to be angry without a cause , not to have ordinary
common , sense y , to say anything she likes , to do precisely the reverse of what is asked , and particularly of what is ordered , to work only
just as much as she likes , to spend in her own way the money her husband earnsto feign illnessto complain without rhyme or reason ,
such are . her , privileges . By , virtue of what law or institution , by the direct or indirect effect of what custom or principle , does she
enjoy all this ? The law gives her up defenceless to the caprice of her lord and master ; custom condemns her . It is therefore only
the kindness of heart , the tenderness , the natural generosity of the Turkwhich insure his wife an almost absolute impunity . The
, Turkish peasant has a feeling" at once paternal and lover-like for his companion ; never does he knowingly and willingly disoblige her ,
and there is no annoyance to which he would not cheerfully submit for her sake .
Woman ages rapidly in these climes ; man on the contrary , better aclaptedfor fatis and privationsenjoys an almost eternal verdure .
Nothing is more gue common here , than to see a man between eighty and ninety years of age surrounded by his infant children .
Notwithstanding this disproportion , the union contracted almost in childhood is rarely sundered but by death ; I have seen women ,
decrepit , hideous , and infirm , protected , cared for , adored by fine old menupright as the mountain pine , their silvery beards long and
, abundant , their eyes bright and serene . " How much must _loye your husband ! " I said one day to
an old woman , blind you and paralytic , whom one of those stately old men of whom I have just spoken had brought to me in the hope
that I could restore her to sight and motion . The old woman had come astride on a donkeywhich her husband led by the bridle as .
he walked by her side . , He had afterwards taken her in his arms ,
placed her on a bench near my door , and had installed his poor
Womei? In Turkey. 45
WOMEI _? IN TURKEY . 45
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Sept. 1, 1859, page 45, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01091859/page/45/
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