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WOMEN IN TURKEY. 49
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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
-«Gp- • - The Word Harem Has A Very Vari...
scarlet crape or sky blue satin , tlieir heads covered with diamonds , necklaces round tlieir throatsdrops in tlieir earsbrooches in their
, , corsage , bracelets on both arms and legs , and rings on their fingers . Bare feet sometimes appear beneath the red crape robeand their
, hair is cut square over their foreheads , like that of men—but these details of the toilet are very unimportant . The manners of the fair
sex are looked on as expressive of the deepest respect , mingled with _, reverential fear , to the lord of the harem . Should he enter , there
is instant silence ; one of his wives removes his boots , another puts on his slippers , a third offers him his dressing gown , while a fourth
brings his pipe , his coffee , or preserves . He alone possesses the right of speaking , and when he deigns to address one of his
companions , she blushes , casts down her eyes , smiles , replies in a low voiceas though she feared making the charm dissolveand waking *
from , dream too delightful to last ! All this is a farce , which deceives nobody ; any more than we are duped by the assumed timidity
of a boarding-school miss . In their hearts , these women have very little sympathy for their lord and master . These beings so easily
and sweetly agitated , whose voice is but a low murmur , address very liard words to each other , in a shrill and screaming tone , and there
is hardly any extremity to which they will not proceed against the one who enjoys the sultan ' s favor . The favorite slaves would be
much to be pitied if they did not allow themselves retaliation , but they are far _froni denying themselves this pleasure .
The ladies of Constantinople are not contented with contemplating the world through the bars of their casements , they walk in the
town , in the bazaars , everywhere they please , without being subjected to any awkward surveillance . The Venetian women enjoyed
formerly , thanks to their mask , an extreme liberty ; the veil of the Turkish women renders them the same service . Not only it conceals
the face , not only the ferradjah covers the whole form and gives it the appearance of a bundlebut veil and ferradjah are all the same
in material , form , and nearl , y in color ; it is a domino , in which all are alike .
After what has just been said about the manners of Oriental husbands towards their wivesit miht be thought that brutality
was the basis of their disposition , . g Nothing could be more false , for the Turk of every age and rank holds from nature , a politeness ,
delicacy , and gentleness of manner which other nations only acquire after long studypainful effortsand an almost eternal constraint .
, , Never would a Turk be guilty of a word or gesture which could give offence to a woman , and if he treats his wife almost like a being
deprived of reason , it is because she really does nothing to raise herself to a higher position . I wish any one could see the
confused and distressed mien of a Turk placed between a European woman and his troops of odalisques . * He is even more severe with
ber * , Odalisque The Turkish means , language literally must , chambermaid he learned ; to or make rather all woman illusions for disappear the cham- 1
VOL . IV . E
Women In Turkey. 49
WOMEN IN TURKEY . 49
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Sept. 1, 1859, page 49, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01091859/page/49/
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