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HAREMLIK

H A R E M L
TURKISH
BY

SOME PAGES FROM THE LIFE OF

WOMEN

DEMETRA VAKA
(MRS.

KENNETH BROWN)

BOSTON AND NEW YORK

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY

MDCCCCIX

COPYRIGHT,

1909,

BY DEMETRA KENNETH BROWN

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Published

May

iqoq

To KENNETH BROWN WHO HAS NOT CROSSED THE THRESHOLD OF A

HAREM, BUT WITHOUT WHOSE HELP THESE FRIENDS OF MINE WOULD NEVER HAVE CROSSED THEIRS

NOTE
The
tious,

contents of this book are not

it

ficti-

unusual as parts of

may appear
for

to

American readers.

There has been some

rearranging of facts, to
ness

make

compact-

incidents of several days have someSubstantially,

times been told as of one.

however, everything

is

true as told.

CONTENTS
I.

Coming Home to Turkey

....

II.

MiHiRMAH
DjIMLAH, THE THINKER, SeLIM PAsha's

30

III.

Fourth Wife

59

IV.

Valid6 H anoum, the Resigned First

Wife
V.

84

The Gift-Wife from the Sultan's

Palace
96
129

VI.

HouLME H ANOUM, THE Discontented

VII. Suffragettes of the

VIII.

Harem

.153

The Love of Nor-Sembah and HaKiF

Bey

191

IX.

A
A

Day's Entertainment in the Ha-

rem
X.

219
.
.

Flight from the Harem

249

COMING HOME TO TURKEY

The
mist was slowly lifting

so slowly
hand
to

that one could imagine an invisible

be reluctantly drawing aside

face of nature.

veils

from the
clearer,

As the

air

became

the slender minarets were seen

first

above
little,

the other buildings

and

then,

little

by

Constantinople,
herself to our

Queen

of Cities,

revealed
if

hungry

eyes.

And

as

Nature

were but Constantinople's handmaiden, the

last of the fog

was suddenly transmuted

to

glorious sunshine, that

we might

the

more

surely

be surprised and dazzled with the

beauty of the Sultan's capital.

The steamer

slowly puffed onward.

city,

On

one side of us lay the seven-hilled

all

where

races dwell peacefully together;

on the

other was Stamboul, the ancient capital of

Byzantium, with the remnants of

its

old wall,

and the ever famous Old

Serai,

dark and

mysterious as the crimes committed within

its

walls.

To

the other passengers

all

was new and

thrilling,

and they were rushing from one

side of the steamer to the other, exclaiming,

shouting, incapable,

it

seemed

to

me, of ap-

preciating the splendors nature

was lavishing
they

before their eyes.

The more beauty

if

saw, the more they shouted, as

by power

of lung they could induce their souls to ad-

miration.
I sat quietly in

my

steamer-chair, too

much moved
was

for

any expression.
it

To me

it

all familiar,

and dear as
I

could not be to

casual tourists.

knew

the lights

and shadas one

ows

of this land,

and loved them

;

loves one's native country

for Constantinople

was

my birthplace, as it had been that of all my ancestors for seven centuries. But I knew
and admiration
2

that the chorus of delight

would become
be landed.

critical as

soon as we should
in every-

To me

there

was poetry

thing; but these others would see only the

narrow, dirty streets; and the stray dogs

most

vitally

characteristic

of

Turkey
tug, with

would be
ing

just so

many

snapping curs, howl-

and

littering the streets.

Towards us
the

there

came a small

same smokestack

as that of our steamer,

and a conversation
tain

started between our capof the line. I heard the

in Italian,

and an inspector

words that passed between them

and threw back

my

head and laughed.

asked
a

"What

is

it,

mademoiselle?"
me.

French colonel

sitting beside

''We cannot land,"

I

I explained.

Though

had laughed,
felt

was

bitterly disappointed.

as a

mother must when her baby mis-

behaves before her friends.

''Why can we not land?"

For a minute
be wise
for

doubted whether

it

would

me

to speak.

Of

the thirty-five

passengers I was the only one

who knew
3

-iU,^r>
Italian,

and

therefore, in spite of the loud

conversation, I

was the only one who had

understood what passed between the captain

and the

inspector.

**You wished to see the Bosphorus the

first

day," I said at length to the Frenchman.

*'Your wish will be granted:

we

are going

now

to the

head of the Bosphorus."

not land here?"
let

*'But

why do we

'Xolonel, after I have answered you,

my
the

words remain yours alone."

city,

I pointed to

every minute growing lovelier, and

gave him the one horrid word

''Plague!"
really,
let
it

The Frenchman
mademoiselle?"
I nodded.

turned pale. ''Not

"Just so!
I
it

Only don't

worry you

in the least.
;

have lived through

many
its

plagues here

for

comes

yearly,

and

duration depends entirely on the amount

of

money needed

to

be extracted from the

imperial treasury."
It

was natural that the Frenchman should

look at

me

as

if

were losing

my

mind.

It

^JjULo^^
takes a lifetime to understand

many

things in

Turkey:

it

takes generations to understand

the political machinations.

The

press

is

not

permitted to

publish the news; and by the

time plain facts have passed through the

tenth mouth, they have borrowed such gor-

geous hues of phantasy that

it

takes a seer to

discover the original grain of truth.

The

Oriental

forbidden

the truth

finds so-

lace in the magnificence of his inventions.

"What do you mean?"

in

the

Frenchman

asked again. For three years he had been

command

of the smallest fortress in the

is

world, which

on the island

of Crete.

He

had flown the

five flags of the

powers over

his tiny fortifications,

and thought he knew

Turkey and the Turks

as foreigners do,
dominion
for

who have

lived in the Sultan's

a time. But I was a Turkish subject, and we

had been Turkish subjects ever since there

had been Turks

in

Europe.
I
replied.
'*

"I mean

this,"

Money

is

needed by the

officials.

The

public treasury
5

.JjULo,h>
is

empty.

The

Sultan hugs his

own

as

usual over-filled.

He

can be made to give

little, if

frightened,
:

and the plague does

actual disease, but the
of

frighten

him not the

quarantining,

and the complaints

So he
will dole

the

foreign powers.
to clean the city.

out

money

little

of this will

be spent

on

cleaning the

rest will

go to the inter-

ested officials.

If the

Sultan does not give

enough

at

first,

the plague will continue until

he gives the necessary amount. I know a

Greek gentleman
of that

into

whose pocket a

little

money

will go.

He

holds quite an

exalted governmental position, but the gov-

ernment has forgotten

ten or fifteen years."

to

pay him

for the last

While we were
ing on,
to

talking, our boat

was steam-

and the marvellous Bosphorus began

its

show us

beauties. Its hills

those neverI

to-be-forgotten hills

appeared now green,

for years,

now

violet,

then purple, and again blue.

have watched them

never alike.
6

and they are

They

are small or large, straight-

lined or full of curves, according to the light,

and the hour, and the season. And the deep

blue sky hangs low over them, loving them;

and
its

it

gives to the waters of the

Bosphorus

own

blue

tint,

and makes

of

them

living

waters, as they hurry on to the Mediterranean.

At the very end

of the Bosphorus,

where

there were no houses, nothing but a barren rock, the steamer stopped, and

its little

boats

dumped

us on shore.

Then

it

went

away, having escaped the quarantining in

Russia, which would have been
it

its

fate

had

touched at an infected port.

We waited
together.
I

here for several hours,

all

three

classes of passengers

mixed indiscriminately

The

others

fumed and

fretted,

but

was quite content. In Turkey

Every minute of
it

I forget the

value of time.
is

living there

joy;
It

why hurry

by?

was

late in the afternoon

us,

when a
waning

small

steamer called for

and we went down the

in the
light,

Bosphorus.

And now,

the river had changed again,

and

in its

new
7

-iiULo
beauties even the other passengers forgot

hunger,

thirst, fatigue,

and indignation. As
Saint Sophia rose

we drew near Stamboul,

dark blue sky seemed
than when I saw
it

above the other mosques, and against the

to

me more

gigantic
its

last.

I thought of

mys-

terious, closed door, of

which every Greek

I

child learns in infancy.

had

first

seen that

door with the believing eyes of childhood,

for

which no myth
it

is

unreal.

Later, I

had
girl,

seen

with the eyes of the grown-up

soul begins to doubt the world,

whose

and

whose mind Occidental education renders

sceptical.

But think as

I might,

even now,
America,
Greeks,
all

after six years of

work

in practical

that

little

door to me, as to

contained the hope of our race.

No

matter

where we may have been born, nor where our

ancestors
little

may have been

born, that closed

all

door means everything to

those in
to

whose veins flows the blood which belongs

Greece, and which,

when

the time comes,

must be shed
8

for the

freedom of the greater

Greece,

still

under the yoke of Turkey

for
all

for
for

Macedonia,
Thessaly,

Albania,
the

for

Thrace,
islands,

for

Greek

and,

above

all,
is

for Constantinople.

Here
to every

the myth, which has been repeated

for nearly five

Greek child

hundred
since

years the

That door has not been opened

fatal

day the Turkish army entered

Constantinople in 1453,

when Constantinos
fell

Paleologos, the last Greek Emperor,

de-

fending his capital.

It

was on an Easter Sunday, and the

officiating

clergy were

in

Saint

Sophia.

When

the cry rang through the church that

II

Mahomet
been

had taken the

city,

the clergy,

grasping the bejewelled Bible, which had

in Saint

Sophia since the Bible was put

together,
into the

and the Communion Cup, rushed

side room,
It

little

and closed the door

behind them.

has never been opened since,

in spite of all the efforts of the

Turks and we
;

children of the Greeks are told that, before

the door closed the Bishop of Constantinople

.JjUk
said that he

would come out and

finish the

Holy Liturgy on the day when a Greek army

should
again,

march
and give

back
it

into

Constantinople

to

its

rightful ruler

and

its

own
Told
lieve

religion.
is

This

the story of the

little

closed door.

to us in our cradles,
it

we

implicitly bein spite

for years,

and, who knows,

All I

of the scepticism of the age, perhaps

lieve
it

we

be-

until

we

die.

know

is

that I never

look at Saint Sophia without thinking of the

little

door and what

it

stands

for,

and never

go into the magnificent building without going to look at

it,

just as I always

go to see

the Venus of Milo in the Louvre.

Deep

in

my

heart
is,

is

the belief that to be as beautiful

to

as she

and

have lived so many centuries

commanding

the admiration of the world,

something immortal from the soul of Praxiteles

must have passed

into the statue.

And

because of that thought I cannot help feeling

that the beautiful statue
that cold, dark place,

on

its

pedestal, in

must be unhappy and

lO

^jjJiMj^^
homesick and as soon as I
;

and stand by her

alone, she
tell

railing.

am in Paris I go When we are left

and

and
all

I,

speak to her in Greek. I

her of

the doings of the Greeks,

as
if

little

by

little,

a ray of the Attic sun were

falling

on the white marble, the whiteness

it

softens;
alive,

becomes mellower, yellower, and

is

as the marble
shiver.

in Greece,

until

can see her

is

The immortal spark

of the face

in

her

awake.

The beauty

becomes

human, the

lips
is

move, and she speaks. But

only for her and

what she says

haps
it is

me

per-

of the

day when the

little

door in

Saint Sophia will open, and the holy mass

will

be

finished,

and the

Greeks,

again
all

leaders of the world, will gather

exiles

up
live

our

and bring them back

to

under

the sky of Hellas.

I

came out

of

my

dreams when we ap-

proached the Galata Bridge landing, and

disembarked, not into a Christian Constantinople, but a

Mussulman. Yet

do not hate

the Turks as

many Greeks

do.

On

the conII

trary, I love

them
their

for I

know

all their

good

points

and

virtues.

Moreover, they

conquered us
decayed.
It is

fairly,

because our race had

our task to deserve to rule

again for something besides the memories of

our splendid past.

It

was very
I

natural,

coming home
subject,

to

Tur-

key.

was born a Turkish

I

and as

such I returned.

found nothing changed.

left it
;

Everything was as I had

and when

met

my

mother,

we

finished the

argument I

had so

cavalierly interrupted six years before.

Yet, though nothing else had changed, I

had.
ideas,

I returned to

my

native land with

new

and a mind and

of
I

full of

Occidental quesfind

tioning,

meant

to

out things.

Many
new
their

my
:

childhood friends had been

Turkish

girls

them

now looked upon

with

interest.

Before, I

had taken them and

way

of living as a matter of course.

Generations of

my
I

ancestors had prepared

me
12

for them,

and

had

lived

among them,

looking upon their customs and habits as

quite as natural as
stay in

my

own. But during

my

America

heard Turkey spoken of

with hatred and scorn, the Turks reviled as

despicable, their

women
I
it

as miserable crea-

tures, living in practical slavery for the

base
at

desires of
this talk.

men.

had stood bewildered

Could

possibly be as the Ameri-

cans said, and I never have

known

it?

Now,
them

was

to see for myself,

and not only

to ask

to see but to talk with the

their thoughts

women,

about their

lives

and

their customs.

When
a young

went away from Turkey I was but an

idealist, believing implicitly

girl,

in the goodness of the world.

was now

six

years older,

and
it

knew
is

the world as a girl

has to learn

who

suddenly thrown on her

own

resources in a strange land.

Out

of that

experience I was going to study the Turkish

women who had been my

days after
letter:

friends in

my

girl-

hood. Naturally I was delighted, only a few

my

arrival, to receive the following

13

Jjlpjj^
Beloved One, from a far-away country come
:

Do

you remember your young friends

or

have hooks and knowledge within them made

your formerly dear heart
like

a bookcase ? If

you

still

love us,

come

to see us.
little

Two

loving hearts, and the

buds that

have sprung from them,

Nassarah and Tsakran,

their gardener.

their buds,

and

This

little letter,

with

its

English words and

of the

Turkish phraseology,

set

me dreaming

many

hours they and I had spent happily

the shores of the Bosphorus,
to

together on

before I

came

America.

And

was

filled

with curiosity to see

how two

girls

whom
in

had known so intimately could dwell

such

apparent happiness, while sharing the love

of a

husband between them.

male slave came
visit to

few days
trunk,

later a

for

me and my

to

pay a

the two roses, their buds,

and

their gardener,

who

lived

some distance away

in

Dolma

Baktshfe.

14

I arrived at their house a

time.

h'ttle

before lunch

A French maid received me and helped

with

me

off

my

wraps, and then a slave con-

ducted

me

to the

Turkish bath, that I might

rid myself entirely of the dust

and

fatigue of

the short journey.

After I had been thor-

oughly scrubbed and put into clean clothes,

another slave brought
coffee
;

me

a cup of black

and

only after these preliminaries did

my

hostesses burst into

It is

my

room, as

if

had

just arrived.

a blessed custom which

permits guests to be cleaned and refreshed

before meeting their hosts.
I

had

lived so

long in a civilized country that I had forgotten

how much more

civilized,
is.

in

some

respects, uncivilized

Turkey

Nassarah and Tsakran, though married

and the mothers

as gay
rolled

of

two children each, were

as

and

full of life

when

they and I

hoops along the Bosphorus and cast

it.

pebbles into

They looked
ones.

like

sisters,

and very loving

One was

clad in a

loose pink silk garment, the other in rich

15

yellow,

and both had

their

dark hair dressed

seized

with pale pink plumes.

nearly
carried
of glass

They

me and
*'

me

into

their

living-room,
glass

made

and

called yally kiosky,

pavilion."

There we reclined on low divans

for a

and talked

few minutes before luncheon

was announced.

The dining-room was

European dining-room.
the good old times
sit

not different from a

I gave a sigh for

when

the Turks used to

with their feet curled under them and eat

with the ten forks and spoons that nature

had provided them

taste
tips.
itself
is first

with, maintaining that

transmitted through the finger-

However, nothing of the delicious food

was European, and

was delighted

to

see the courses brought

on

in brass trays

carried

on the heads of the

slaves.

When

the

meal was finished a slave came

in carrying

a brass wash-basin. Another followed with a

graceful brass pitcher of water;
third followed with soap, perfumes,

and

still

and towels

and we might
i6

just as well

have eaten with

our fingers after

all.

When we

were again

seated, or rather reclining, in the yally kiosky,

I said

talk to

^^Now

me."

Nassarah took some tobacco with her

slender fingers

and

rolled a cigarette,

which

she passed to the second wife of her husband.

Rolling one for herself, she coaxed the flame
of a

match between her palms and lighted

them.

Then

she turned to me.

like

**What would you

lah's

me

to tell you, Al-

beloved?" she asked.

'^Tell

me

about your marriage and how

to get the

you both happened

same husband,"

I said impertinently.

At that both began

each other, and
children.
'^Tell her,

to giggle,

and embrace
two

make funny

faces, like

Nassarah," said Tsakran,

"tell

her!"

Most Turkish women

dians,

are natural comecapital

and Nassarah had been a

one
her,

from her childhood.

She looked about

17

"

taking
besides

in

her

audience, which
of

consisted,

Tsakran and myself,

slaves,
if

about ten

young

a sort of ladies in attendance.

tell

Then, as
story, she
*'

she were a miradju about to

began

with their

customary words
!

The beginning of the tale

Good

evening,

most honorable company!''

All giggled delightedly at this.

''When

married Hilmi Pasha I was so

much
he

in love with

him

was nearly

crazy.

could not go to sleep, but just lay there while

slept,

and watched him, and

"

''Oh, you must see him," the second wife burst

in.

He

is

an

ideal lover

Blond, with

blue eyes, and such a lovely mustache; and

tall,

with such a beautiful figure!''

And

thereupon she jumped up and began to walk

up and down,
Pasha's lordly

to give
gait.

me an
her,

idea of Hilmi

Nassarah

grabbed

however,

and

pulled her back to her divan.

"Keep
i8

quiet!" she said.

"I

am

telling

the story."

.iJULo/>
Tsakran made a face
at her suppression,

and then gave a

**I

kiss to the other wife.

was

telling

you," Nassarah went on,

in love I could not sleep.

"that I was so

much

year later
I

my

girl,

my

Zelma, was born,

in love with

and

was more and more

my

lord."

At

this

point she threw herself on her

knees, laid her

arms on the

floor,

bent her

head down on them, and prayed aloud that

Allah might never permit her to live to see

sorrow

fall

on her master. Tsakran and the

slaves did the same,

and

for a

few minutes

the

room was
this did

filled

with their wailing voices.

But

not last long, and then, as cheer-

fully as ever,

Nassarah
other
!

Hanoum
girl

continued

"Then my
suffered

little

came, and I
!

oh

how

suffered
in,

And
for
for

the

learned doctor was called

I should live, but

and he said
me.

no more children
No, no boy

And

had no boy!

my
to

Hilmi Pasha!
see me."

Just then Tsakran

came

19

.JJJuL
The mention
too
fell

of the auspicious visit

was

much

for

the two wives, and again they

other's necks, giggling

upon each

and

kissing.
'^It

was then
of
it.

I thought of a plan, I

and

told

Tsakran

was not going

son.

to let

Hilmi

Pasha die without a

ran,

Here was Tsak-

young and beautiful, and ready to marry

for she

knew what a good

at

lord Hilmi is."

Tsakran nodded
**That night,
beautiful head
pillow, I put

me

violendy.

when Hilmi Pasha's most

resting

was

on a most white
his

my
it

arms around

neck and
talked, so

told

him my

plan,

and talked and

that next day

was arranged
to

that

Tsakran
Hilmi."

was

to

be made ready

marry

my

She made an oratorical pause, and looked

around

her.

''Allah rewarded us," she said.

"Two
At

boys have been born, the one within

of the other."

two years

this point in the narrative

a slave an-

nounced Hilmi Pasha. The

ance
all rose,

ladies in attendout.

bowed, and went

20

barely
I

remembered Hilmi Pasha,

I
in,

al-

though

had known him before

went away
he kissed
it

from Turkey.
his first wife

When
first,

he came

then his second, and

seemed
his

to

me

that there

was a

difference in

manner

to the two, the first kiss being

that of a lover, the second that of an older

man to a pet child. He talked with me

America.
It

concerning affairs in
after

was

just

the assassina-

tion of President

McKinley. All the papers

to say

printed in
that he
of the
in

Turkey were only permitted

of indigestion.

had died

The news
be printed

murder

of a ruler can never

it is

Turkey, because

supposed to put ideas

into the heads of the malcontents.

ever,
all

Howat

every one in Turkey

the truth
it.

who counted

knew

about McKinley and

discussed

Hilmi Pasha expressed his astonishment

at

the inability of the American

to suppress the anarchists.
*^

governIs n't

ment

he

the third one they have killed?'' he asked.

21

.jjUU^o
I explained that

Lincoln and Garfield were

not killed by anarchists, but Hilmi Pasha

only smiled as
slang,

much

as to say,

in

our

*'What

are you giving us?"

is

In
so

Turkey the

truth about public matters

often suppressed that he thought I

had some

reason for not telling

Since his

it

now.

two wives could hardly follow

politics,

a conversation on American

Hilmi
if

Pasha turned
she had

to

Nassarah and asked her

French novel.

finished her

From
comIn the

that the talk drifted to French literature

pared to English and American.

midst of our conversation a slave brought in

two backgammon boards, handsomely

inlaid

with ivory, and placed them on low tables

similarly inlaid.

Then we played

this

game

so universal in Turkey, Hilmi

first

Pasha playing
first,

with me, then with his

and then

with his second wife.

The
kissed
eldest,

children

came

in next

and were

all

by

their father, beginning with the

girl

a beautiful

with light hair and

22

.J})jojJ:>
dark
of a
eyes,

named Zelma

after the heroine

French novel.

I stayed visiting

my

friends for ten days.

In the morning we would get up and spend

a good part of the forenoon in the Turkish

bath together. After luncheon we would

lie

about on couches, reading, and playing cards

and backgammon, or

listening to the dra-

matic or spicy tales of the miradjus, the professional

women story-tellers. Then we would

sit

go for long walks, and

on the

hilltops to

watch the sun

set.

One day

they proposed that I should acvisit to

company them on a
some seven hours

a friend of theirs
I

distant.

accepted, on

condition that they would travel in the regular

Turkish fashion and not

in

broughams.

They
two

joyously agreed, and the next morning

large, springless

wagons, covered like

at the door.

prairie schooners,

were waiting

Their
tresses,

floors

were covered with thick matslaves,

and wives,
in,

and children

all

climbed

and we were

off.

23

.Msj^
Halfway on our journey we
ate luncheon

by a fountain

in a

little

valley finely culti-

vated as a market garden. There were with

us a eunuch and two slaves whose especial

duty

it

was
I

to sing

and play

to enliven the

journey.

was dressed

in Turkish fashion,

to avoid causing

remark from other travellers,

and

for comfort.

At the end
in a large

of our journey

we were received

bedroom, where slave

women

un-

dressed us and took us to the bathing-house

on the shore of the

were put in

sea.

After the bath,

we

loose, clean

garments lent us by

the mistress of the house.

Thus

attired,

we

next

came

to the waiting-room,

where the

hostess received us.

She was middle-aged,

finger-nails I

and from her deeply dyed

that she

knew

was

of the old school.

She spoke

nothing except Turkish, but that with a volubiHty to frighten a lawyer.

Her waiting-

room was very

old-fashioned.

settle

ran

around two sides of the room, covered with

hard cushions.
24

There were no

chairs.

We

-iAU
all sat

in a row, with our feet curled under

us,

and drank sherbet.

Two

copper-colored

slaves

came

in,

very lightly clothed,

and
old

danced a Circassian dance.

miradju told us a story.

Then an

The

miradjus play

an important part
life.

in old-fashioned

harem

Some

of

them have great imaginative

power, invent their

own

stories,

and

attain

to considerable fame, as a writer does with

us.

Others merely repeat what they have

been taught, though they

may

embellish

it

by

their personality in reciting, as

an actor

embellishes his part.

The story

that

day was the well-known one

of Derfe Vdr^, a rather Boccaccian tale, that

pointed a strong moral, however.

Our prose

troubadour put marvellous facial expression

into her rendering of
it,

and kept her audi-

ence of some twenty-five

terested.

women

deeply in-

When she finished we all exclaimed,

!

^'Mashalah
applause.

Mashalah /"
this

in admiration

and

When

was

over, dinner

was

served in the garden, which was surrounded

25

by a high
from low

wall.
tables.

We sat on

the grass, and ate

I learned that night,

from Nassarah and

Tsakran, that our hostess was the fourth wife

of a very rich pasha.

She was reputed an

extremely clever talker, which counts for a

great deal in Turkey.

She could

not,

how-

ever, get along with the other three wives,

it

may be by

reason of her

gift,

and therein the

fore she lived

by

herself with her retinue.

She had two grown sons, both

army,

and was very anxious

to

make a marriage
proposed

between her youngest son and Nassarah's

eldest

daughter.

This

alliance

kept the two families in close friendship,

and although Zelma was

too
*^

still

several years

young

to marry, she called our hostess

mother," and treated her with great cere-

mony.

We

stayed there three days, and I met

several friends of the old

Hanoum. Turkish
ab-

women do
breviated

not

make our abominable

calls.

When

they

call,

they bring

26

their

work and spend

needle-workers,

the day.

They
of

are

clever

and some

them

imitate flowers wonderfully in their embroidery.

Naturally they were very curious about

America, and I told them

position here.

much

of

woman's

In

their

expressive faces I

read their pity for them, and inwardly I

smiled as I thought of the pity that American

women

feel for

them.

We

made

the return trip on a beautiful

moonlight night.

When we came
To make

to start

we

found our wagons festooned with purple and

yellow wistaria.
anter,

the journey pleas-

our hostess and her retinue accom-

panied us halfway, bringing also a wagon

full of

Armenian hanendes, men musicians,

to play and sing to us.

Thus
various
roof.

in

my first harem visit I saw nothing

dwelling under the same

but pleasant relations existing between the

women

It is true that

both Nassarah and Tsak-

ran were sweet, commonplace young

women
27

 not very
whose
lives

dififerent

by nature from many

friends
I

commonplace American
are

have,

spent with

dressmakers,

manicures, masseuses, and in various frivolous pursuits.

With these two young women

had a peaceful and
pleas-

and

their friends I

ant time.

Except for the absence of

visiting

men
was

might almost have been

household.

an American
to

What

difference existed
girls.

the advantage of the Turkish

They

were

entirely natural

and spontaneous. They

did not pretend to be anything that they were

not.

They were

as

happy and merry as

little

brooks, whose usefulness was limited, but

who
one

at least

had no aspirations

to pass for

rivers.

They were good

blissfully

mothers, and

made

man
it

happy.

They read a lot of

They took
it

French novels, without pretending that they

did
for the sake of
**

culture."

everything naturally, and enjoyed

rally.

natu-

There was no unwholesome introspec-

tion

that horrible attribute of the average

half-educated European and American wo-

28

,JjULg>e>
man.

They never dreamed

of setting the

world aright; and when I talked cant to them

to see

how

they would take

it,

they looked

at

me
*^

in bewilderment, then
:

exclaimed

laughed and

Why,

little

blossom

Allah meant
to

women
for

to

be beautiful and good;

real mothers.

be true wives,

and

Is n't that

enough

mere woman?''
I went

away from them with the regret with

which one leaves something good and wholesome, but also I was disappointed. I wanted
to see

something new and different; I wanted

to discuss

and

vivisect

and Nassarah and

for
it

Tsakran were too healthy and happy

that.

My

next

visit,

however, was of quite

I

another character. In

went beneath the

surface as far as I could wish.

II

MIHIRMAH
It had been hot
so; and even
all

day
it

long, oppressively

now

that

was dark, the heat

had not
noises,

relented.

Pera, that city of curious

to

was sending up
its

me

the echoing

shouts of

venders.

In Constantinople the

small merchants carry their wares on their

backs, and advertise their quality by power
of lung.

To

the conglomeration of advertisshrill

ing tunes

was added the

monotonous

barking of the world-famed dogs,

who

bark,

apparently, with the simple desire of adding

to the noises of the hot city; for they

bark

even when eating.

The
into

mixture of sounds

about

me was
came

rapidly depressing me,

when a

servant

my

room, stumbled over a chair, in the

semi-obscurity,

and handed me a

note.
it,

^'A slave, mademoiselle, brought

is

and

waiting for an answer."

30

A slave The word

!

was

poetry.

It

opened

a vista of large, bare Turkish rooms, of low,

linen-covered divans, of filmy clothes, bare
feet,

absolute inaction, cooling sherbets

of quiet. I

and

opened the note and, with the

:

help of a candle, read

city.

Little Cherry Blossom:

The wind

brings

me

joyous news of your

sweet presence in our miserable

der the sky is bluer
sweeter.

No won-

and

the scent of the flowers

Will you

not, Allah^s beloved, glad-

den a

human heart by your luminous presence?

to

Come

me
I

Hasten

to

my

bosom, so that I

may
train

tell

you how happy I

live

shall be to see

you
the

again.

now

at Chartal.

Tell

me

which

will be honored by you,

and

slaves

will meet you.

MlHIRMAH.
'^Well," I muttered to myself, ^^I

am

glad

she does not attribute this intense heat to

my

luminous presence.''
I scribbled

And

to her flowery note

an answer

in pencil,

on the back
31

of

my
And

card, telling her that I

would come to

her on the next afternoon boat.

it

was

at the quaint landing of Asiatic

Chartal that a spacious ox-wagon met me;

and, contrary to
all

Ottoman

etiquette,

it

was

my
me,

hostess herself

who was

there to receive

Mihirmah,

in a loose, pale-blue silk

garment, looking as cool as the European

women looked hot and uncomfortable in their

tight clothes,

"Dear
for

little

thunder-storm, do forgive

me

coming myself," she begged, while we

were embracing. "I had to come. But you

shall

be

left

alone to rest as soon as

we

reach

home."

The word "thunder-storm" made me

laugh.
that
as
it

"Mihirmah, dear, I haven't heard

applied to

name

me

for years.

Horrible
it is

sounds, and great a reflection as

it

on

my

temper, yet
!

does

me good

to hear it."

" Why

Do you mean to say that you don't

any more when poor Turkish
chil-

get angry

dren wish to oppose you?" 32

"You

forget that I don't live

among Turk-

ish people

any more/'

"Well, you are

among them now,

praise

be to Allah!"

With

that

we

stepped into the ox- wagon.

soft mattresses,

There we reclined on the

while the dark silk curtains with their gold

tassels flapped in
electric

and

out,

a kind of Eastern

fan

primitive, but very attractive.

After a drive of a mile and a half through

streets as yet unspoiled

by Europeans, we
It

came

to

Mihirmah's dwelling.

was a ram-

bling old structure, half stucco

and half wood,

and, like most Turkish houses, surrounded

by an immense old-fashioned garden,

closed

in-

by a

tall wall.

The house was

tents,

almost

overhanging the sea of the Propontis, and not

far

from the house were

where one

could

camp

out at a moment's notice.

All the slaves were in the hall, as

tered,

we
us.

en-

and threw rose-blossoms over

My

hostess turned to a pretty

young slave of

about

fifteen,

and said

33

"Guselli [beauty] here

is

your mistress.

You
face,

are to love her as you love your

own

and

to take care of her as

if

she were

your

own

eyes."

With

this

she kissed

me and went
bowing

away.
to the

All the slaves followed her,

floor,

and kissing

their fingers to tell

me

that

was welcome.
and
I

Guselli

and

were

left

alone

to bathe

to rest.

When
I

opened

my

eyes a few hours later,

was covered with

flowers,

and

was leaning over me, coaxing

'^You lazy
little

my me to

hostess

awake.
I

thunder-storm,

have

been

sitting

here waiting to welcome you

formally to

my
to

home, and you have allowed

your

spirit

wander thousands
let

of

miles

from here. Get up, and

us go to the gar-

den, where dinner has been waiting for us

ever so long."

As

I played with the flowers I also ex-

amined

my

hostess,

clad in a yellow silk

entere, her throat bare,

and her head adorned

with amber beads.

34

-JJUL2>>
"My
that

dear," I exclaimed, ''do you

fulfilled

know

you have more than

your pro-

mise?
''I

You know

are stunning."
it,"

she said simply.

''But
did,

She

lifted

me to my feet. And run we

ner was
lanterns,

now we must run!"

to a part of the

down

garden overhanging the

sea.

There our din-

served, beneath the light of Chinese

while the soothing waves of the

Propontis rhythmically lapped the foot of

our garden wall.

So far I knew absolutely nothing of Mihir-

mah's grown-up

life.

had seen nothing

of

her for ten years.

We

had been

friends in

childhood, and even after she had gone from

Constantinople to Broussa to

live,

we had
That

written to each other for several years.

night,

when we were comfortably

:

settled in

her room, I asked her

all

"Mihirmah,

tell

me

about yourself

and how did you

find out that I

was here?"

"Djimlah

told

me, and that you were

going to stay some time with her.

And
35

thought

if

you could do

that,

you might also

white lamb.

be able to come here to me,

little

And you do
not?"

love

me

as

much

as ever, do

you

I reassured her.

She embraced

me

several

times,

and gave

me

assurance of her

own
tell

undying affection; then asked: *^Now

me how
in

the world has treated

you?"
knowing that

''Treated

me!"

I repeated,

Oriental eyes matrimony was the only

treatment
treated

worth
all.
it

recording.
I

''It

hasn't
living."

me at "My! But
"It
is,

am

earning

my

must be funny!" Mihirmah

cried.

when you view

garments

it

from a palace,

with hordes of slaves to wait on you, and

fairylike

to

adorn you but

;

it is

not

funny when you walk side by side with stern

reality.

But now

for yourself.

Out with

it!

Are you married?"

Mihirmah's merry face clouded. She was

no longer the gay and

reckless girl of a

mo-

ment
36

before.

"Yes,
I
in

little

heart, I am,'' she said.

knew from her tone

connection with
it.

that there

was sorrow

*^No children?" I

asked.

''No boys?"
girl.

*'0h, yes, one boy, one

You
!

will see

them to-morrow

perfect beauties

"

And

in her maternal pride her face

was happy

again.

She did not volunteer more, and there

was no use
bit.

my

trying to get the story bit

by

knew Turkish women

come
to
tell

too well.

When

the time should

me, there would

It

be no necessity
told simply

for questions.

would be

and
talk.

frankly,

as only Turkish

women can

Two nights
Mihirmah was

later I

heard

it.

All

day long

restless.

Upon

her babies and

of

upon me she lavished an immense amount

caresses.

She proposed various excursions;

yet

no sooner did we decide upon one than

the plan
sidered.

was given up and another con-

The whole household was

affected

by her mood. There was no singing among

37

the slaves, no chattering, no laughter. the children sat

feet

Even

upon the rug

quietly.

at their mother's

and played

The boy,

a dear
his

little

fellow,

would get up
his mother,
little,

often,

throw

arms

around
Bey,

and

lisp:

^'Mudder, Ali

the

loves

his

mudder

loves

her ever so big." Mihirmah would take the

child in her arms, kiss

him

wildly

then hold

him away from

her, looking into his eyes,

and sigh deeply as she put him back on the

floor.

At

night, as

we

sat together

by the
air

latticed

windows and inhaled the sea

with
said
:

mingled

the

perfume

of

flowers,

Mihirmah

thunder-storm,

''Little

when do you

think

we earn

the right to live?"

I never thought about
it.

"I don't know.

When

do you think we do?"

''When we conceive a great thought, form

a great wish, and perform a good
act.

have

had the

first

two, but I never had the last

though Allah gave 38

me

the chance once."

Under her breath she added:

give

''Will

he ever

me

the chance again?''

silent for several

She was
this.

minutes after

I waited for her to speak.

*'Do you remember Ali Machmet Bey?'^

she asked
*'

me

presently.

Indeed I do. Don't you know how you

I used to trot after

and

him and
.^"

call

him our

prophet and our patissah

''You cared for him, did you not,

mountain-spring? But you
forgot him.
left

little

Turkey and
but

I left Constantinople, too,

never, never forgot him.

How

could I?

He

was the best and most generous boy

our playfellows."

of all

"Yes," I assented, "and warm-hearted and

strong-headed, quick to take offense, and

quick to forgive and apologize."

As
back

I spoke a scene of
to

my
side.

childhood came

me.

It

was

in a high

marble

hall,

with a cistern at one

Ali

Machmet
it.

came
I

to the chain of the

bucket and held

came afterward and

insisted that I

must
39

draw water

first.

We

fought,

and

Ali

Machchain.

met struck me on the head with the

No sooner, however, had the chain landed on my stubborn head than he came to me, took
from
his pockets all
soldier,

he had,

wooden

and

five piastres,

a penknife, a and even

*'I

now
any
I,

can hear the

litde

boy say: "Take you forgive me."

:

of these, only say that

the greedy litde

if

girl,

said

want

all

of

them

am

to forgive you.''

"Take them!" he

answered.

"Only
soldier,

let

me

sleep one

more night with my

I will explain to

him why he must

" I gave

go,

won't you, thunder-storm ?

him back

the soldier and the knife, and told

him he
cistern;

might draw the water

for his wistful tone

first

from the

when he spoke

of his sol-

dier melted

my

heart; but

the five piastres

feasted

became common property, and we

them
that afternoon.
I

on

As

was

lost in

my

reminiscences, Mihir-

mah
40

put her hand on mine.

What

are you

thinking about, dear one?"

"About
''It is

Ali

Machmet,"

I answered.

about him I
left

His image never

am going to tell you. my heart, and when his

mother chose
as

me

to
is

be his wife I went to him

in dreamland.

happy

as one

My

little

boy was born

little

in less

than a year, and

later.

my

daughter a year

She was only a

few months old when I heard

my

mother-infor-

law she give her

!

is

dead now, and may Allah

tell

to another

woman how
know

she

made our match. She

was
listening,

did not

that I

and

I listened because I ex-

pected her to say that

my

lord

had loved

me

from childhood. Instead she said that he had

not wished to marry and had repeatedly
refused,

and that only when she had begged

to

on her knees that she should be permitted

hold his baby before she died, had he given

in

he was her only

was proposed
will

child,

you know.

When

I
*

to him,

he had answered:
other.'

Oh, she

do as well as any

"After I heard these words I ran into the

garden. I shrieked, I tore

my hair.

became
41

ill,

and begged Allah

to take
live.

he meant that I should

me to him but When I became

;

well again, I could not look at Ali

Machmet,
speak,

I could
so I
left

not bear to hear

him

parents, with

to my grandmy babies and a few of my slaves. I told my grandmother that I had left my husband for the present. He came to see

him and came here

me, but I refused to see him.

Then

his

mother was taken

ill

and

died, but this did

not bring about any change between us. Ali

Machmet saw my grandmother and arranged

things with her very liberally indeed; not

once did he complain.

^'You
for

see, little

blossom, he did not care

constantly to see the chil-

me.

He came

dren; for he loved them dearly.

My

heart

was

full of

madness, and I even hated

my

children because he loved them.

Sometimes

I used to think that I should like to kill

them
say:

and throw
'

their corpses at

him and

You took me so
42

that I might give children to

!

your mother. There are the children

I took

their breath

away because
it,

it

was mine.' I

came very near doing

that I

too, for I

know now

had a kind

of madness.

''Then a desire to make him jealous, to

torture

him

in

some way, came upon me; and

without any more thought I

faithful slaves write
telling

made one
But

of

my

him an anonymous
lover.
I

letter

him

that I

had a

ought to
is

have known better;

the kind of

for Ali

Machmet

not

man to believe anonymous letters.

wrote a
love-letter,

''Finally, in despair, I

such a one as I could write only to Ali Mach-

met

himself, with a foreign

it

name on
it

top,

signed

with

my

name, and sent

to

my

husband. In two days he was here with the

letter.

was

in

my room

with the children.

He
and

did not have them taken out.

sat near

He came
his lap,

me, took the

in mine.

little girl in

and put the boy

Then he
it

took from

his portfolio the letter, gave

to

me, and

waited. I read the

thing.

letter,

and did not say any-

He asked me quietly if I had written it.

"I nodded

my

head.

43

^''To

whom

did you write

it?'
it/

he asked.
I said."

'^'To you, since you have

Mihirmah's eyes

filled

with tears, and a sob

came

to her throat.
little

''Dear

mountain-spring, I told him

else;

just the truth

and nothing and

I

but his eyes

kill

were

full of

anger,

knew he could

me

if

he did not master himself.

tell

'''Mihirmah,' he said, 'I want you to

me where
such

can find
I tell

this

man.'

''How could

him, since there was no

to

man?

had only wanted

to

make him

jealous

and bring him

me. I told him that

there

was no such man.

"He took my hands and put the one on the head of my boy and the other on that of my
girl.

'For their sake!' he said.

old jealousy of

"The

mine came back

to in

me

fiercer

than ever.

jumped

up,

and

doing so threw the boy to the

floor,

and he

began
child

to cry.

Ali
it

Machmet

picked up the

and soothed

for a while.

Then he put

him down and came over

44

to

me.

*'*Mihirmah/ he said very

don't want to live with

quietly, 'if

you
but
go-

me you need

not,

you must not be a wicked woman.

ing
this

am

away now. In a week you must

man's name.'

write

me

How

could I? There was

no such name."
''But,

my

beautiful

Mihirmah,"

ex-

claimed,

"why

didn't you write him the

truth?"

"Yes," she said

chance Allah gave

quietly, "it

was the one

me

to

perform a great,
to live
;

good act and earn the right

not;

but I did

and

in ten days I

was a divorced woman.

He

cast

me

off as
its

he would a garment that

I

had served

purpose.

had given him a

boy, and I was good for nothing more. This

thought tortured

my

heart enough to

kill it

and turn
this

it

to ashes;

but

my

humiliation,

and

new proof

that he did not care for me,

of loving him."

did not cure

me

Mihirmah took my hands and almost

crushed them between hers.
I love
' '

Little blossom,

him now more than

I ever did before,

45

and there are days,

bit of life in

like to-day,

when every

me cries out for him. I shall go mad for love of a man who puts me out of his
as easily as one brushes

life

away a speck

of

dust.

But he has been generous

in all of his

settlements.

He even left me my

children,

on

the condition that I was to remain a good

woman, and
away when

that he should take the

I

little girl

was unworthy
after

of her.

''Two days

he divorced

me

he took

the eunuchs away.

You

understand, blos-

som, what that means? I was no longer a

wife

no

one cared for

me any

more.

could take

my

choice,

and be good or bad. I

fought myself for months after this to keep

my

hands from doing violence

to

my

body.
the

Then

the old people were taken

ill,

first

one and then the other, and both died. Caring for

them occupied
Ali

my mind

for a year."

"Is
asked.

Machmet married again?"

''Oh, no, dear one!

He

does not care for

women. His heart

46

is

in the

army.

He

has

only one wish, and that

is

to get the ear of the

Sultan and
to

tell

him

all

that our

army needs

be powerful again. For years now he has

his superiors

been waiting and hoping; but

are

men

of the old regime, they

do not be-

lieve in

new guns and new methods. They

prevent him every time from having an inter-

view with our Calif."

**How long
asked.

is it

since he divorced

you?" I

"Two

long years, dear one, and I have

never seen him since.

He

sends for the chil-

dren once a week, and keeps them a day and

a night with him. That
see
is

why you

did not

them the first night you came. They were

with him.

When
is

they
to

come back they

talk

incessantly of

him

me, and though every

word they say

I

a new burn to the old wound,

it

make them say

over and over again, to be

tortured the more."

Mihirmah put her head

cried for hours.
fore I
It

in

my

lap

and

was almost daybreak beand put her

to

managed

to soothe her

47

sleep.

The next morning

she was

ill

and had

to stay in bed, but the

morning following she

to forgive

was

herself again,

and begged me

her for letting her

pleasure.
I don't

sorrow interfere with

my

know when

have ever met with

It

more
so

real

unhappiness than hers.

was not

much

the open outburst as the following

days of suppressed suffering that impressed

me. I began to wonder

help her

if

I could not possibly

result

to

wonder what the

Stamboul

would

be

if

went

to

to Ali

Machmet's

house and told him every word his wife had

told me.

One minute

I thought

it

a very

simple and perfect plan; the next I was not

so sure.

Thus
denly

several
Ali

days passed,
ill.

when

sud-

little

fell

I went to his

room

to see him.

He had
it

quite a high temperature. '*Do you think

can be the measles?'' I asked

his mother.

She was kneeling beside the

child's couch,

her cool cheek resting against his hot one.

48

J})lSJ^
" No, the
fruit,
little villain

has been eating green

he

tells

me."

I was dejected at the answer.

plan had

come

to

me which

the measles would help.

easily.

Yet I would not give up so

I seized

Mihirmah's hand and dragged her away

from the bed.

**Come with me,"

the next
Ali

I said breathlessly.
*'

In

room

I faced her.

Mihirmah,

little

may be

dangerously

ill.

Send

for

your

husband. Telegraph him, and he

to-day or to-morrow."
*'But,

will

be here

my lovely jasmine," Mihirmah

is

pro-

tested, rather bewildered, ''little Ali

ill

not

enough

to send for his father.

He

will

be

all

right in a

day or two.

It is his little

stom-

ach, that's all."

''But,

my

darling Mihirmah,"

I cried,

more

excited, "don't

you see that

it

does not

matter

how

sick the child really is."

to

She shook her head. "I have shammed

my husband
man.

once,

and

am

a divorced wo-

I will not

sham

again."

49

"Mihirmah, has
before?'' I asked.

little

Ali ever

been sick

"No, he never
looks

has.

He

is

his father in

and

in health."
is

"Well, then, don't you see that Allah

giving

you another chance?

if

Send
it

for Ali
will at

Machmet;
least

nothing comes of

you

have seen him."

:

There we stood
stinct of the

I,

the Greek, with the in-

merchant, wishing to manufac-

ture an opportunity; she, the Oriental fatalist,

willing to suffer the will of Allah, but not to
avail herself of conditions that
ulating.

needed manip-

But

had made up

my mind

that

on

this

day the Greek should win

and I
for

did.
It

took time, however, and the telegram

late that there

was sent so
Ali

was not time

Machmet

to

come

that day.

Mihirmah,

when

the telegram

was

sent, retired to her

room and prayed

the child.
I,

for hours to Allah. I sat

by

too,

was praying

to

my God;

but I rather think that our prayers were as

SO

different

as the languages

they were adlittle

dressed in; for I was praying that

Ali

might at

least

have the measles.

slept
all
little.

That night Mihirmah

white
spirit

Like a

she roamed

over the house,

and about the garden.

The morning came, a

unruffled

very lovely one,

in

by the storm that was going on

our hearts. I don't know how far Mihirmah's

prayers had travelled toward Allah, but mine,

thanks to the proverb, ^^Aide-toi

faidera,^^

et

Dieu

were being answered;

little Ali's

for I

had

seen personally to

stomach, and.

my

simple measures were acting efficaciously.

first

The

afternoon

train

brought Ali
in

Machmet. By

that time I

had succeeded

convincing Mihirmah that the boy really

had

all

the

symptoms

of measles.

had bethat as

come

desperate; for she had told

me

soon as her husband arrived she would throw

herself at his feet

and confess her ruse

Ali

to him.

As soon

as I

saw

Machmet coming on

horseback, I rushed to the child and took off

SI

him

the ten or twelve coverlets which I

his fever.

had
al-

on him, to accentuate most by

force, I

Then,

dragged the mother to the

bedside, there to await the coming of her

husband and
;

I myself, too excited to

do any-

thing but stand about in the garden and tear

my

handkerchief to pieces, waited the result

of the meeting.

Ali

Machmet had brought

a doctor with

him,

who

stayed with the child some time.

Then
bed.

the doctor went away,

and

Ali

Machchild's

met and Mihirmah were alone by the

When

a slave

came and

told

me

that

the master had retired to the pavilion

we had

prepared for him in the garden, I went into

the sick-room.

Mihirmah, white as a

sheet,

sat staring at the sleeping child.

"What
know who

did the doctor say?" I asked.

at

Mihirmah looked

me

as

if

she did not

I was, at first; then she

answered

that the doctor

had said the child did not

have the measles, although the vomiting was

a bad
52
sign.

I chuckled inwardly, I to
tell

knowing that were

the

Mihirmah what had caused

vomiting there would be trouble for the

Greek

infidel.

''What did Ali Machmet say

asked.

to

you?"

Mihirmah broke down completely

at

my

words. It was like a fierce rain on a hot sum-

mer's day.

She cried

in torrents,
to

and that
door

was

all I

was destined

know,

for the
in.

opened and Ali Machmet came

She did

not see him, but I did, and rearranged

batteries a
little,

my

but not too much, for I was

as afraid as ever of Mihirmah's tongue.

He came
head.

near,

and put

his

hand on her
tear-

She was startled and turned her

stained face toward him.

tears

There are

tears

and

ugly

tears

and pretty

tears, tears that

it all

annoy and those that

attract;

depends

on the attitude

of the onlooker.

I suppose

Mihirmah's tears were very pretty to her

former husband, for he was very gentle and

kind to her.
53

"And now, Mihirmah, you had

to your
after

better go
to her,

room and rest a little," he said

he had soothed her.

instantly,

She obeyed him

alone with him. I
guessing

and I was
far

left

knew he was very

from
like

who

I was.

In a voice as much
it,

a child's as I could make

I said:
sleep

to

"Take them,
night with

only

let

me

one more

my

soldier,

him why he must

storm?"

go,

explain won't you, thunderI will

Then
and
it

I laughed

and gave him

to see

my

hand,

did

me good

how

glad he was to

see me.

We chatted for a half-hour or so, and

then the slave came to say that dinner was

ready.

"

Of course you
I said.
I

will eat

with us, Ali Machall

met?"

saw

protest written

over

him. "If you do not, you are very cruel, be-

cause

it is

my

only chance to see you."

I hurried to

When

had him caught,

Mihirmah's room.

"Mihirmah,
54

my

dear one, there are two

roads to men's hearts, according to an old

foolish

Greek proverb; through

their

stom-

achs, with

good food, and through

their eyes,

with good looks.

look, pretty."
I

You

are,

and you must

found I did not have

it

to urge her to this,

and

was a

terribly attractive

Mihirmah,
lips,

with her pale face and tremulous

who

came

into the dining-room.

Our meal was a

I felt that

happy

one.

was happy because

I

things were going well.

knew

that Mihir-

mah must be
tell,

happy, in a bitter and sweet

way, in her husband's presence; and

who can
at

but that he was happy, too ?

any
it.

rate,

he did not look as

if

he disliked

We
which

finished eating the twenty-odd dishes

us,

that were served

is

and had come to the fruit,

the best part of a Turkish meal,

as the serving force retires

tion takes a

and the conversalingers

more intimate tone and

for

on

sometimes

an hour. All was going well

angel whispered to
his

when my bad
Ali

me

to ask

Machmet about

work and the army.

55

^J^hoj-^
"The little fellow will never know what his
illness

has cost his father/' he said in a sad

^^For years

voice.

now

have been trying

to

reach our Calif, but forces stronger than

my

own always kept me out of

at last, I

his sight.

To-day,

was going

to

have

my interview. The

palace-physician had consented to smuggle

me

in to him,

and

all

the chances were favor-

able.

Now the opportunity is lost,

of

and

may

never have another."

There was a noise

chair overturning,

broken

dishes, of a

and Mihirmah was

felt

at the

feet of her husband. I

that

all

my schemand

ing had been in vain.

"My

lord,

master of

my

life

my
ru-

death," Mihirmah was waihng, "/ have

ined your chance. I brought you here

when

perhaps I ought to have waited."

I

jumped

to

my

feet,

and ran

to her.

"Listen, Mihirmah! Let

me

take Ali

Mach-

met

to the pavilion

and have a

talk with him.

I promise I will

tell

him everything."

"No,
56

little

thunder-storm," she said, "you

go to the garden.
suffer alone."

must speak

must

Ali

Machmet had

risen

and was trying

position.

to

Hft his wife

from her kneeh'ng

He

looked, bewildered, from one to the other

of us. I tried to speak to him; but
first

Mihirmah
to

implored, then

commanded me

go to
I

the garden and leave her alone with him.

went, but not to the garden. I sat at the head

of the stairs, to keep the slaves

away
if

if

they

should appear, and to be at hand

should need me.

Mihirmah

Opposite the

stairs

was a long window,

of
it,

and through the upper part

which was

not latticed, I could see the sky.

My tongue
!

mechanically was praying

'^
:

Oh

Allah, help

her!" I repeated
ing star
fell,

it

over and over.

shoot-

and

my

prayer caught

it.

My

superstitious

soul

leaped.

*^My

prayer

caught the shooting star," I found myself

saying,
It

and then

I kept

on praying. on those
stairs

seemed years that

I sat

57

-ZJULo>^
till

I could not stand

it

any longer. Making

the sign of the cross three times over

heart,

my
I
in

crept toward the fatal room.

little

opened the door ever so

and peeped

then quietly I drew back and went out into

the garden.
**

Remember,

lady," I apostrophized

my-

self,

while I tried hard to keep the dry sobs

from

my

throat, '^you
to

have done a great

act,

and according

Mihirmah you have earned

the right to live."

Then
down;

looked up at the friendly sky and

laughed, while tears at last

for

came streaming

what

had seen

in the closed

room

was what, according

to the Orientals, causes

Allah to smile, and the flowers to grow more

beautiful,

and the birds

to sing their sweetest

song: for in the closed

room

above, Mihir-

mah's head was nestling on her husband's

heart,

and

Ali

Machmet's face was radiant

as that of a lover.

Ill

DJIMLAH, THE THINKER, SELIM

PASHA'S
I

FOURTH WIFE
to

LOOKED forward

my

third visit with

even greater anticipation than to the other

two and, indeed,

:

it

promised to be

all

a stu-

dent of Turkish customs could ask

friend I

for.

The
to

was

to visit

was a

girl I

had known
I

better than any other

Osmanli

girl.

was

find her the

mother

of three children,

and

the fourth wife of one of the most powerful

pashas in the Sultan's entourage,

a man
her family
interested

much

older than herself, to

in

whom

had given her

your-Ieave.
to see

marriage without a by-

was tremendously

how

she had accepted the situation.

Djimlah, moreover, had a vigorous and

original mind,

which had attracted

me in our
began
frightful.

youth

although as she grew up and

were

to think of love, her thoughts

59

Once she said to me

'
'

Love has nothing to do

is

with one's thoughts or one's aspirations. It

merely a manifestation of the senses.

intensity

The

of

one's love depends

on one's
loves a
is

physical condition.

When

man

woman

he does not care whether she

good

or bad, whether she will be a friend

and com-

panion to him or not.

He

simply wants that

woman, and
for the

will

do

all

he can to get her. As

instincts as

woman, she obeys her

blindly as an animal.'*

''How about her soul?"

I asked.
little

She laughed scornfully. ''You

of a flower,

petal

woman
is

has no soul."
I

"Yes, that
cried.
trine.

what you Turks say,"

"But we do not

believe in that doc-

Woman
is all

has a soul."

"No, she hasn't," Djimlah contradicted;

"she
If

emotions and senses."

girl

an ugly
it

had spoken as Djimlah

spoke,

would have been very repulsive;

girl

but the radiant loveliness of the

fail

could not
her

to modify the impression

made by

60

,za
words. While speaking, she would clasp her

hands above her head, the sleeves

falling

away from her white arms; she would

close her eyes, in a

half

way

that

made

the light
lips

shining through

them

softer;

and her

forming her words were fresh and crimson,

like

a rose with the dew on

it.

The Greek

in

me, looking at her, forgave her words

of

one
may
she

the judges

who

liberated the accused

Phryne, because she was so beautiful,

have been an ancestor of mine.

prefaced
all

And

her blighting remarks with such

*'

endearments as
*'

little

crest of the

wave,"

little

mountain brook," or
tree." It

''flower of the

almond
to

was

as

if

were being taken

a slaughter-house through a rose-con-

servatory.

Foreigners she hated intensely, and to be

the wife of a foreigner

was

to her the

most

miserable existence imaginable.

One
''love

day,

when she was

telling

me

that

was a necessity

of the body, like food

and

air,

and that when the senses awoke

6i

and asked
I asked
:

their due, they

ought to get

it,"

is

''Djimlah, since love

rightful

nothing but the

since

demand

of sense,

and

you be-

lieve in its gratification, while at the

same

time you hate foreigners so tremendously,

what should you do

foreigner?"
''

if

you

fell

in love with a

Oh

I should let

him love me

for

a while,

and then have him

She said
this

killed."

without the slightest tremor

in her voice, without the faintest

added pink
sinner she

mounting her cheeks.

What a
men

would have made, had she been a European

woman

How many
to eternal

souls of

she would
slight

have sent

damnation with a

shrug of her superb shoulders!

When
less

she had written to

me

in her fault-

French, asking

me to visit her, I was both

knew
her hus-

pleased and surprised; for I

band's household to be one of the very orthodox, into which foreigners were almost never

allowed to penetrate.

During

my

girlhood,

62

although I had been in

many
in

haremliks, I

had never happened

than one wife was

to

be

one where more

all

living,

and they had

been somewhat Europeanized. Selim Pasha's

was the
opening
It

first
its

old-fashioned

harem which was

doors to me.
herself

was Djimlah
brougham.

who

called for

me

in her

tall,

powerful eunuch

opened the door of her

I

carriage,

and when

was

in

it,

jumped up

to his seat beside the

off.

coachman, and we were

Djimlah, with two slaves.

Inside was

When
I

she took
envel-

me

in her in

arms and kissed me,

was

oped

an atmosphere of subtle perfume and

I thought

rich luxury.

how

a French writer

would have loved

maculate
let

to describe her.

Her imgauzy,

yashmak,

transparently

me see

her beauty, resplendent, yet some-

how

softer

than I remembered

it.

She had
type
:

always been of the

she looked
as she
still

tall, self-reliant

now

more sure

of herself, invested

was with the name of a powerful pasha.

In our girlhood we had been on the same

63

social footing;

but with the turning of the

wheel of fortune I had gone under and had

become a breadwinner
ried

she had been

car-

up

to the top.

The

present meeting was

the

first for six

years.

It is difficult to talk in a carriage

anywhere,
Roll-

but in Constantinople

it is

impossible.

ing over the miserable

pavement makes a
Djimlah and
I,

noise worthy of the dogs.

after our first embrace, lay

back against the

cushions and closed our eyes, she holding

my hand

in hers.

Once, when the carriage

stopped for a minute, she opened her eyes

and looking long and

" You have changed,

earnestly at me, said,

:

with delightful Oriental frankness

little

America

flower.

has robbed you of your youth. I must keep

you here and help you

to get

it

back."

When we arrived at her palace, she took me directly to my room, where a pretty slave
was waiting
*^This
is

for

me.
said, and, point-

your room," she

is

ing to the slave, "she

yours also."

She

64

opened a large cupboard whose shelves were

filled

with clothes: ''And here

is all

you

will

need while you stay with us."

she added
'*
:

To
If

the slave

this is

Kondje,

your mistress.

she does

not look any better

does now,
let

when she

leaves than she

me

never see your face again.

If she improves,

you can ask

me

anything

you

like."

Drawing the

slave to her

and
as

petting her, she went on, pointing to

if

me
at

were an inanimate object: ''Kondje,

she used to be very pretty

look
is

her

now

Could you believe that she

younger

than I?"

The

slave shook her head,

and looked me

up and down compassionately.

I burst out laughing.

"Really, Djimlah,

you must learn

just

to spare

my

feelings

have
tell

come from America, where we don't

the truth like that."

"Nasty country, anyhow!" she observed.

The

slave

came

to

me and

threw her arms

is
it

around me.

"Young Hanoum,

a dis-

65

-JJUU
appointment
thetically.

in

love?" she asked sympa-

"Nonsense!" Djimlah

interjected, ''Fool-

ishness! that's the reason.

ting a

Instead of

let-

good strong
it

man

take care of her,

she

is

doing

for herself

disgracing Allah
all

and

his sons.

Now

good-by, and rest

you

can."

Kondje took her task

and massaged me,
over.

to heart.

She bathed
to

as

if

were

be made

Then she brought out several garments,

them
all

and

after discarding

as not befitting

my

beauty,
it,

lack of

or she

to

be more accurate,

my

at last satisfied herself

closet.

from

a fresh armful from the

After I had rested, I went

down

to the

garden, where Djimlah presented

other
three

me

to the
their

wives of

Selim Pasha,
guests.

ladies-in-waiting,

and a few

We were
coming

twenty-seven in

all,

and we reclined under a

for the

canopy
sunset.

of flowers,

and waited

high wall hid us from the outside

world, and a pergola, covered with pink and

66

purple wistaria, protected us from any masculine eyes which might chance to look over

from the side

I took
ions.

of the palace reserved for

men.
cush-

my

seat

by Djimlah, on a

lot of

Presently one of the

women

reached up a

bare arm, plucked a bunch of wistaria, and

threw

it

at another

woman. Simultaneously

several bare

arms went up, and pink and

left,

purple wistaria went flying right and

that in a few minutes the ground

so

and the

Turkish rugs on which we were reclining

were covered with

^*

flowers.

Give us some music, beautiful ones," said

first wife,

the

who was

the head of the house-

hold,

and who was addressed as Validd

Hanoum.
Some
zithers,

of the

young

slaves picked
of the East

up

their

and the music

charmed

our ears for a few minutes.

''See

now, see how

fast

he

is

travelling!"
to

exclaimed Djimlah,

pointing

the sun.

"He

is

getting impatient to reach his

home
67

and throw and

rest

his

arms around

his

women-folk

from the day's labor."

to

She turned
little

me.

**Do you remember,

bride of the river,

to catch the

how you and

once

I used

to

run

sun when we were small ?

And do you remember how

engrossed with
Propontis ?
"

we were

so

him

that

we

fell

into the

"Yes, I do remember," I answered; *'how

very happy

we were

then,

Djimlah!"

"Why
Allah's

'then'?" inquired the young wo-

man. " Are

we not happy now ? Are you not,

ray?"
I questioned.

little

"Are you?"

"Of

course I am," the young wife an-

swered, clasping her youngest child to her

bosom. "I

am

even more happy

now

with

my
as

babies and

my

lord."

Then

she added,

if

the thought had just come to her,

"You

have not taken a master to your heart, dear

one

why

You remember how we

used to

plan about our husbands, and you always

said

you would marry a prince ever so great

68

and powerful.
is

have

my

husband; where

yours,
*'I

little

blossom?"
all

have searched
in despair I

Europe," I replied,

'*

and

have crossed the ocean and

gone to America.
evades

He

is

quite elusive; he

me

everywhere."
it

"Does

make you

sad,

Allah's

little

cloud?" said the Valide Hanoum, leaning

over and running her fingers over

my

hair.

"Look! look

at

him now!"

cried another,

pointing to the sun.

"He

is

kissing the hills

good-by.

Look, how he makes them blush;

they grow in their love for him!

how pink

In their joy

now

they will sing in colors."

"Mashallah! mashallah!" exclaimed several

women,

kissing their fingers to the de-

parting sun.

From

outside the walls a shep-

herd was singing the sunset song as he walked

behind his sheep.

their

The

slaves, this softly

time of
singing,

own

accord,

were

"

Happy, happy we, dwellers

of this beautiful

land!"

These women were

all

intoxicated with the

69

-JJUU^O
beauty of nature before them.

Nowhere
life.

have I seen such pure enjoyment of

Nothing was bothering them. They had no

other career except that of being beautiful

and happy.

The color

of the sky

was spreading, taking

Golden Horn, and

in the Byzantine wall, the

the slender minarets silhouetted from afar;

and the East

little

by

little

crept again into

my blood, and I let myself go and be happy in

mere
existence.

After sunset the Valide

signal of departure,

Hanoum

gave the
chil-

and

at

once wives,

dren, guests,

and

slaves rose to their feet.

pillows,

Two

eunuchs carried the rugs and

while the others carried the young children.

There were eight

two
hill

of these black cerberi

of

for

each wife. As we descended from the

itself in full

the dwelling presented

view.

It

was a huge, ugly wooden structure

ninety rooms, looking

more

like a factory

than a rich residence.

Of

the ninety rooms

only twenty were given over to the master

70

and

his retinue;

the rest belonged to the

women.

The

Validd

Hanoum,

in her position as
first floor,

first wife,

occupied the

and had
any other

more rooms
wife.

assigned to her than

Djimlah,

my

friend, as fourth wife,

was destined
of

to see the

world from the top

the house; and she had only fourteen

for herself.

rooms
house,

There was but one bathbelonged to the Valide

the ladies took their hour-

and

that
all

Hanoum; but

long ablutions there.

On

each floor there

was a connecting passage

to the other side of

the house, through which the master could

visit

each wife without being seen by the

others.

As

I said before, this household

was a very

strict one,
all

and the women of the house obeyed

the laws of their creed,

and followed the

Their nails

prescribed customs rigorously.

were profusely dyed, and

their indoor robes

were one-piece garments of very costly materials.

Their hair was done up in braids,

71

while gauzy pieces of

silk,

cut bias, were arSaluting with

floor,

ranged round their heads.

the graceful temena touching the

knees, the heart, the
lips,

the

and the forehead

was customary, on every occasion; and

attention

strict

was given

to precedence.

The
table,

Valide

Hanoum

sat at the

head of the

the second wife sitting at the foot.

sat at the right of the
first,

The third wife

and

the fourth at the right of the second.

On

no occasion were these places changed. The

first

wife was served

first,

and

it

was she who

Also per-

gave the signal for conversation.

mission for inviting guests or going out to

pay

visits

was granted or refused by the

Valide.

As

far as I could judge, there

was no

jeal-

ousy between the wives.

The

others looked

upon the Valide as a mother, though she was

little

older than the second

to

and

third wife.

was given

understand that the harmony

of the household

depended absolutely on the

first wife.

character of the

As the household

^2

was very

Oriental, the only chairs to be seen

were in the dining-room. There were several

reception rooms, one of which
to

was supposed
It

be furnished

in

European

fashion.
in

was

as

European as the Oriental rooms

Amer-

ica are Oriental.

In the
there

sixty-five

rooms assigned

to

women
of

was not a room

is,

that could be called a

bedroom, that

that

had the appearance

being given over to that use. Instead, there

were many rooms bare of furniture except

for rugs

and pillows and one or two low

with mother-of-pearl.

tables

inlaid

These
at the

rooms had beautiful damask hangings

windows, and a low platform with two steps

leading
this

up

to

it,

on one side of the room.

On

platform was a silken rug, and baskets

or vases of flowers.
ity

Had one had

the curiosin

to

open the large cupboards

all

these

rooms, one would have found

clothes neatly folded away.

the bed-

The Turks never

of cotton.

use hard mattresses, like ours, but several

well-kept soft ones,

made

From
73

the closets the bedclothes were taken at night

and arranged on the low platforms. This

mode
their

of living, I suppose,

is

a remnant of

former nomadic habits.

the
first

On
was

night of

my

arrival,

while I

lying

on

my

platform, thinking over

day's experience, the door of

softly to let

my my room opened
a eunuch was
for the

Djimlah pass. I was certain that

while she sat in

my room

crouching at
night
tal

my

door. She

was ready

her hair done up

in

in that queer

Orien-

fashion becoming only to Eastern

women.
mid-

It

was divided

two and parted

in the

dle; each division again subdivided in two,

and each braided

loosely.

Then

the ends of

the two front braids were tied up by a wide,

soft piece of silk,

which hung loose

of

in the

back and formed a kind

the face.
blue,

background

for

Djimlah's headdress was of pale

which brought out the color of her deep

blue eyes. As she sat at the foot of

my

plat-

form a lovely perfume of roses emanated

from
74

her.

"Sun-ray," I said to her, *'your approach

signals roses." **Yes,

blossom of the almond tree," was

her reply.
shall

"I have had

yours
let

my

rose-bath.

You

have

presently.

But before

Kondje comes,
time

us

make

use of the flying

not

so?"

Djimlah always spoke

Turkish, to the consternation of

ears,

my

poor
for

which had been out of training

years.

Though

she spoke French and Eng-

lish perfectly,

she seldom

made

use of them.
to

She abhorred anything foreign

tanism, her strong affection for

Mahomebeing her

me

only exception.
"Little river," she said bluntly, as
is

the
liv-

Turkish custom,
ing

*^I

hate to think of you

away

in that half-civilized

country of

America.
married."

You

really

must stay here and be

"Do

you think, Djimlah,

my

dear," I

asked, matching her

own

frankness, "that I

should be happy with a quarter of a hus-

band?"
75

-ZJULo
She laughed
'*I
till

the tears

came

to her eyes.

have just been paying a

visit to

Nas-

sarah and Tsakran," I went on; ''but Tsak-

ran

is

little kitten,

and

I don't think
is

it

mat-

ters to her

whether she

the

first

or second

wife;

and Nassarah,

for the sake of the boys,

does not mind sharing her husband."

''There
little

is

where you make a mistake,

my

one," Djimlah said.

your husband.

What

"You never share man gives to one

What he
is is

woman
third.

he never gives to another. he never

to his first wife

It

to his second or

always amuses
to

me how

slow you

European women are

understand men.

You

put up with the greatest outrages in

order to remain the only wives.

like a

A man

is

not

woman, who
by nature
:

is

essentially a mother.

A man

is

polygamous. His nature

it is

must expand sometimes

more than one

woman that he must love;

sometimes he gives
it is

himself over to state matters; sometimes

a career or a profession that he needs.

But
is

whatever he does, the love of one

76

woman

not and cannot be enough to occupy him.

When

man

has a nature to love more

than one woman, what happens ? According

to our sacred laws

he

may marry

them.

They
chil-

are loved

and honored by him, and the

second or third love are his
his

dren of
dren,

this

chil-

and share

name

as they share his

in

property.
tries

But what happens

your counrepudi-

and with your habits?

A man

ates his first wife, generally with a great deal

of scandal, for a second.

He

gives her

little

money, and her children

companionship.
his wife,
lives

lose their father's

If the

man
Or

cannot divorce
of a dog,
if

he leads her the

life

and

a libertine himself.

he loves an-

other

woman, and she

loves him,
carries a

and they
burden of

live together, the

woman

shame, and the children born out of their

great love are outcasts."

As Djimlah spoke

of our system her blue

eyes widened, her long earrings shook,

disgust

and

was painted on her beautiful

features.
lec-

I chuckled inwardly,

remembering some

77

tures I

had heard
of the

in

America

in

which the
of as

women

harem were spoken

most

miserable beings, and in which our duty was

pointed out to us to work toward their deliverance.

*^Djimlah," I said, ^^you speak of course

from your experience, as perhaps the most

loved of the wives. Suppose to-morrow your

husband were

to cast

you aside and bring

into the household a

younger and possibly a

handsomer wife what then?"

Djimlah's pretty face lighted up with a
smile.

^^You dear, dear yavroum, you

If

will

never understand.

more
shall
still

wives,

it

does not alter

be his Djimlah

my husband has ten my position. I then as always. He will

have
for

love

me

for myself, for the love I

him, and for the children I have given him."

''But,

Djimlah, wouldn't that love be

if

greater

he loved only you, and shared

it

with no one else ? If you were the only affection in his life?"

Djimlah caressed
78

my

hand.

''My

little

one, don't

make

this

mistake in

life.

If

you
the

were the most

intelligent

woman

in

world, the most entertaining, the most brilliant,

the most beautiful, you could never be

is

everything to your husband. That

the

way
of

Allah has

made them;

that

is

the

way

all

them are and those that are not are good

for nothing."

^^Djimlah," I said at

last,

perceiving that

she would never see

my

point of view, ''how

they, too,

about the

women? Don't

need

more than one

in their lives?''

Djimlah smiled her wise smile again.

*'

Yavroum, women are not

like

men.

Wothe
ef-

men, good women, natural women, are mothers

above

all.

Their hearts are

filled

moment

they become mothers. All their

fort, their

ambition, their love, settles on the

head of the child."

Just then

Kondje came

in,

carrying a small
in

basket

full of rose-petals.

She spoke

low

tones to the
ously,

young

wife,

who blushed
good-night.

furi-

and shyly bade

me

79

"Honored Hanoum/'
to

the

young
to

girl

said

me,

"may

be so blessed as

have the

pleasure of giving you your bath of roses?"

"You may,"

I answered, "if
'

you

will call

me anything

else except

Honored Hanoum.'
brook and

I can stand being the bride of the

the cloud of the sky, but I draw the line at

being 'Honored.'
venerable.

It

makes me

feel old

and
have

And, besides, you know

not yet a husband, so I can't be 'Honored,'

anyway."
Kondje,
filled it

giggling,

took

down my

hair,

with rose-petals, and rubbed them

into the hair

and

scalp.

Afterwards she did

the
I

same

to

my

body, so that in half an hour

filled

and the room were

with the odor

of roses,
flowers.

and

went

to sleep

dreaming of

The
an

following

days revealed to
to her

me

Djimlah so foreign
entirely

former

self as to

be

new

person.

Even her beauty had

al-

changed. It was no longer the audacious

lurement of a handsome animal: there was

80

calm and repose

for

in

it.

She was

still

woman

men
if

to love desperately,

but with a higher

love,

one

less

maddening than the one she

six years ago.
sitting

would have inspired

One night,

as

we were

on the foot of

my

bed and talking

of the past, I said to

her:

*'Djimlah, you have changed morally and

mentally

much more than

have physically,
for the better.

though your change has been

What

has done it?"

little

She laughed, and there was a

her rippling young laugh.
crest of the wave,

scorn in
little

'^You dear

because you have been

^

studying and running around the world,

im-

proving' and 'enlarging' your mind, you

think that you
are ignorant as

know something. Why, you

my baby. You may think you

are ahead of me, but really you are very far

behind.

The

mysteries of the world, which

of,

you do not even dream

will

are mine.

You

never

know them Then

and are

his.

"

until

you love a man

She clasped her

8i

hands over her

its

breast,

and her face changed

expression. It

was

lovely with a loveliness

mystic and holy. She leaned towards me, and

in

a voice tremulous and

full of

melody, spoke

of her motherhood.

''To be a mother!

To

see the pink rosy mouth of your baby seeking

life

from your very body!"

''

She raised her

are to wo-

hands.

Allah

how good you

men

No,

little

mountain-spring, books will

life

never teach you

as a

man and
human

a child

will.

Books may feed your mind, but your heart

will

be starved

and

beings must

live through the heart."

She had moved me; I believed her; but

habit
I

was stronger than momentary emotion.

living

was

through
:

my

mind, and the next

minute I asked her

*'

was nothing but

it

You used

to say that love

a matter of the senses. Did you find

^'At
first,

so

"

yes

then

all at

once

it

changed.

You become
restful

new person

a good woman
child.

when Allah gives you a

comes over the
82

Something
retire

senses,

and they

to the

background they no longer dominate

;

love."

'*And thus a

woman

acquires a soul?" I

inquired flippantly.

She replied soberly

**A

may be
life

woman

has no soul. It

that

if

she had she would spend her

it,

cultivating

and

forget that she

had

to devote herself to

those to

whom

she must give a soul.

wo-

man
give,

is

a one-thought creature. Besides, she

:

stands for abnegation to

know

life,

she must

always give, and never ask for anything

in

return.

Through giving she grows

never through receiving, for then she shrinks."

This was

my Djimlah of six years ago

and
fast

She

had

travelled far

on the road which

leads to the divine throne, through her love

and her mother-love. She was

do not teach
life.

right

books

IV
VALIDfi

HANOUM, THE RESIGNED FIRST WIFE

my
arrival in this

Three

days after

Turkof the

ish household, as I

was coming out

bathing-house, I was presented with a small

basket trimmed with gauze and flowers. Ex-

amining

it,

found that

it

contained an em-

broidered scarf, and a note from the Valid^

requesting me,
if

willing, to

spend the day

with her. I

was delighted as was Djimlah

of consideration

at

this

mark

from the

Valid^.

The
mony.

older

Hanoum

received

me

at the

threshold of her apartment with great cere-

We

both salaamed to the ground in

the proper salutation, the temena, the Validd,

as the older, beginning
first.

This day I spent with her was one of the

most interesting of
84

my

stay.

Very rarely

have

been so fortunate as

to

meet a

woman

who had so little of the common feminine pettiness in her nature. The Valide Hanoum
was
easily

queen

of her household.

She was

in her thirty-eighth year,

but retained

much

of

what must once have been her

chief claim

to beauty, her splendid figure. I

do not think

her face could ever have been considered

beautiful in the East, for their standard
is

very high. In America she would have been

called a very

handsome woman. She was

type,

of

the brunette
hair, clear

with wonderful

brown

complexion, and large gray eyes.

personality.

But her great charm was her

She directed the conversation
she had heard
that Turkish
to

in French, as

me

say the day of

my arrival

was bothering me. According

Turkish standards she was highly edu-

cated.

She knew Arabic and Persian

litera-

ture well, and, through translations, Greek.

Though
little

she spoke French fluently, she was

acquainted with French writers; and in

speaking the language she used Oriental

85

idioms entirely. She was a great admirer of

the Greek tragedians, and thought Sophocles

understood

women well

*'as well as

man
as so

can," she added with a whimsical smile.

Her breadth

of character struck

me

unusual that I told her, after I had spent half

the day with her, that were I to spend a few

years with her I should

become a nice person.

She liked the compliment very much, and

said so.

Turkish
of

women do

not

make our
to

pretence

disparaging

compliments

themselves. After a second thought she said

earnestly
'^
:

I asked.
for
^

You would not like our life after a while."

a few minutes.
''For

''Why?"

She considered

many reasons; but uppermost for your blood.

There
is

no use going against nature. For

life,

generations you have led a different

and

you could not accept ours."

"Do you
for

think that

it

would be impossible

European women
"

to

come and

live

with

you ?
86

.JJ1JJ^
''No,

my

child,

not impossible, for

many
for

European women have married our men and

lived happily
;

but

it

would be impossible

you.

By
I

the way,",
that
it

and

knew

was coming,

she was smiling now, be

''I shall

very happy to see you marry, yavrounty to

see

you happy,
little

for

you have become dear to

me, the
I

have seen of you."

this refrain of

have learned to expect

''you

must marry";

for the

Turkish
of

women
happi-

consider marriage the

ness. I

acme

human
like

have come since to think

it

them,

but at the time

did annoy me.

The

Valide was very unlike

my

friend

Djimlah.

What

she

knew

of our life she did

not condemn.

She even considered certain

ways

of ours superior to theirs.

The

key-

note of her character was tolerance and kindness.

In the course of the conversation I told

her of what I had asked Djimlah on

my

first

night in the household, and of Djimlah's ways

of looking at things.

"

Do you agree with her, Valide Hanoum ? "

87

MLsj^
I asked, burning with the desire to hear her

views on the subject.

She looked before her

as
if

for a

few minutes,

she were considering either Djimlah's

words, or whether she should really take the

trouble to enlighten

my

poor brain.

After

a while she drew from her embroidered bag

some tobacco, took a

sheet of tissue paper

out of a book three inches long by one wide,

and made

herself a cigarette.

slave pre-

sented her the flame of a match between her

palms.

The

Valide lighted her cigarette and

it

took two or three puffs, holding

of gold tongs,

with a pair

which hung by a golden chain

from her waist.

^^When
*'I

I married
fifteen

my

husband," she

said,

was only

and he was seventeen.

Within four years two big boys were born to

us."

She raised her eyes to the

*'I

ceiling

and

thanked Allah.
bly happy."

was very happy

terri-

She

lost herself for

a few min-

utes in that happiness.

told

''When

my

husband

me

that he wished to take another wife to

88

his
dle.

bosom,

my
one

heart

was knifed

to the

mid-

I cried for
like

days and days.

walked

about

in a

dream but
;

all

the while I

knew

that he

was

right, that the thing

had

to

be done. After a while

but I could not
I told
live

I fought myself

down,

with the second wife.

him

so.

He bought me

a beautiful

house at Scutari, and I moved there with

retinue

my

and

slaves.

Of course my husband
whenever he
liked.

was

to

come and

see us

This arrangement pained him very much;

and

in

a few months he came to

tell

me

that

he had given up the idea of second marriage.

We lived
my
I

for another year,

when

found out

that the other

woman was

dying for love of

longed for her.

husband, and that he

also that

still

knew

my

life

was no longer the

I

same. I
again to
I

made them marry, and

went back

my

house at Scutari. I was young,

I

was proud,

was

hurt.

I did not see

why

my husband
bands very

should want another wife.

Wolittle

men when young

well.

don't understand their hus-

Two

years passed, a

89

girl

was born
me.

to them,

and they named her

to see

after
often,

My

husband came

me

very

but I could not

feel the

same toward
for

him.

He

understood
I

it,

and never asked

more than

could give him.

it,

My

child,

can

you believe
suffered for

but I was glad, glad that he

me

that

if

I could not

make

him

love

me, at least I could make him

suffer.

*'At the end of two years the mother

child

and

came

to see

me.

The child was

very deli-

cate; the

mother looked dying.

for a

She stayed
it

with

me
I

few days; and when

was
let

time to go, she could not go

her.

could not

understood

many

things then.
I

When

I told

he

fell

my husband that to my knees and

was

to

keep them,

cried like a boy.''

She leaned over and took

my

hand.

"You
is

never know, yavroum, in what

way Allah

going to help you to come out of your

self.

mean

But he

is

always watching and waiting

to give us our chance.

He

gave

me mine and
the love of

I took

it,

and with

it

came back

90

_ilUL2.^o
my
husband, a newer and younger
love,

love that

was

tried.

''After that Allah

marked me

for his

own,
a

and

I travelled the

road of sorrow.
it

It is

long, long road,

and you follow

bleeding.

But at the end Allah shows you

peace descends upon you.

his face,

and

You understand

many
fore,

things that you never understood be-

and the people become your brothers.

I

The way
hardest;

was

to

know sorrow was

of the

my

eyes.

came

to

my first-born boy was killed before A few months later a baby girl me in this world. When I learned to
and she
to

love her

put her arms around me,

Allah took her from me.

grief I forgot

In

my
his

husband
is

my motherly and my duties

with
unlivable.

towards him. That

the

way always

women.
It

made

home sad and

was

at that time that the Sultan

gave to
the

my

pasha a beautiful young

woman from
did
so,

palace.

As our ways
her.

are,

he had to free her

and marry
never

Though he

he has

made

her his wife, as he did not raise

91

her

veil

after the
to

wedding ceremony. She

was confided
tect.
all I

me to take care of and to proI did

it

Her

life

was not very happy, and

could to

make

so.

After our master

married Djimlah, she dared even speak to

him about Aishe; but he was

quite stern in
gift-

the old creed, and he did not believe in

wives.

Djimlah,

however,

gave

her

her

second-born boy to love and bring up as her

very own, and in this

way

to learn the joy of

to her im-

motherhood.

The

child

was taken

mediately after

its

birth.

Djimlah had an

idea that should our master chance to see the

beauty from the palace with his

could not but love her. It hurts us

child,
all to

he

have

a young and beautiful

woman among
love.

us

who
it

may

never
use.

know a good man's

Our pasha went

But

was no

to her
still

and saw
remains

the boy, but the adopted mother

an

official

wife only. She

is

very happy, how-

ever, with her little gift-son,

and he loves her

more than he does

his

own mother. Of course

is

he does not know that Djimlah really

92

his

mother. Ever since that arrangement, though,

I think there
is

more happiness

all

round

in

the house, for Allah has sent his blessing for a

good

act.''

I could not help asking

how Djimlah

crept

into the household.

**I

gave her to
it

reply, *'and
life.

my husband,'' was the quick was the happiest deed of my

You

see,

yavroum, when I gave myself

to the luxury of sorrow I could not easily

come back
was
sickly,

to the life's joys.

The second

wife

and the
it

third only official.

And

one night, when

was cold and the wind

blew, I thought of

my

master

all

alone,"

she spoke as
ishing
of

if

she were describing one perisland,

on a desert

''and
to

thought

my wickedness and

cast about in

my mind
gift to

for a happier

inmate to come to our home.

Our Djimlah has proved

us
all.

be Allah's

My

little girl,

who was born

named

after

Djimlah's three sons, and

is

after her,

the joy of

my

old age."
''This

(She was thirtylittle

eight,

remember.)

girl

is

Al-

93

lah's

new proof

that he has forgiven

me my

selfish grief."
*'

Vahde Hanoum,

in

your heart you do not

approve of

men

being allowed to have more

than one wife, do you?" I asked.

^'

But
is

I do, yavroum,''^ she said vehemently;

''that

why

I told

you

my

life,

so that you
all

could see

how much

happier

we

are

if

things are done as Allah ordained them."

''But, Valide

Hanoum,"

I persisted,

"you
to

do not

really think that

God meant men

have more than one wife?"

"I think that he must,

wise I do not see
different

my little one,

other-

why he has

created them

from us

why they do not have the

we have."

same maternal

instincts as

"Just the same, Valide Hanoum," I said

with some warmth, "I do not think that

God

meant

it;

and

if

so

many

privileges

were not

allowed to
selves with

men

they would content them-

one wife."
tact

Here the Valide showed her

and her

sense of humor, for she leaned over, took

94

_JULo
me
to her, kissed

me

tenderly,

and said that

it

after all Allah

might have meant

see,

while

God
dif-

did not.

^^You

yavroum, things are

ferent, perhaps,

with you than they are with

us."

my heterodoxy she manifested by inviting me to spend another day with her, when she took me on
That the Valide did not mind
a long drive, on her

way

to a shrine to pray.

When
day,

she

left

the

mosque she

told

me

gayly

that she

had prayed

to Allah for

me

only that

and that she knew

I could not

go on

now
our

without God's blessing, and that a husband

sooner or later was coming to me.

On

way back
her
little

she told

me

that she

was expecting
not very

daughter-in-law,

who was

strong,

and who needed the care and advice

''She
is

of the old.

coming with her mother

and baby.

My

son, too, will be with them.

You must

see them," she said proudly, ''for

lilies

there are not two

more

beautiful in this

world than

my

boy and

his bride."

THE GIFT-WIFE FROM THE SULTAN'S PALACE

From what the Vah'de Hanoum had told me about Aishe Hanoum, Selim Pasha's third
wife,
it

was natural

I should take a special

interest in this

poor lady,

who was
when

wife and

no
I of

wife,

and mother only by proxy.

that,

had known before

the Sultan

Turkey

particularly desired to honor one

of his pashas, he presented

him with one

of

the beautiful

women who adorned

his palace

and who had not yet become

his wife.

I also

knew

that,

according to

Mussulman etiquette,
and make her
his

the pasha had to free her

wife.

But

had never before met such a wo-

man, and

until I

knew her

history I

had

taken no particular interest in Aishe Ha-

noum, beyond noticing her beauty;

for she

was
96

of a very retiring disposition.

had

thought her one of those persons

content to live their lives in a
reality pass by.

who

are
let

dream and

But meeting
asked her
if

her, after I

knew her

story, I

she was not going to invite

her.
replied, *^only

me

to

spend a day with

^^

Indeed
turn.

am," she
must

it is

not

my

find out

when

the second

wife wishes to have you; for

my

turn must

wait on
'^

hers.''

She told

me

that she

was not

well

enough

to see me.''

"

Oh

then will you spend to-morrow with

me?"
The
next morning, I had just finished
toilet

my
preit

morning

when a

slave

came

to

conduct

me
on

to Ai'sh^

Hanoum, from whom she

veil.

sented

me

with an indoor

I arranged

my

hair, to

show

my

appreciation of the
to the floor below,

gift,

and followed the slave

lived.

where her mistress

When

I entered her apartments, I found

her kneeling before an easel, deep in work.

97

As

the slave

announced me, she rose from the

to

ground and came

hand.
It

me

with outstretched

struck

me

as curious that she of-

fered to shake hands, instead of using the

temendy the Turkish form of salutation, since

I

knew her

to

be extremely punctilious
I

in the
this

customs of her nation.

to

suppose she did

make me

feel

more

at

home.
said,

''Welcome,
after kissing

young Hanoum," she

both cheeks.
I asked,

me on

''Do you paint?"

the easel, disguising

going toward

my

surprise at meeting

with such disregard of

in this

Mussulman customs

orthodox household.
painting, just playing.
It is

"No, not

only

an impression, not a reproduction

Allah's realities." believe
in

of

one of
not

Good Mussulmans do

"reproducing Allah's realities";

yet there stood on the easel a

tel.

charming pasI saw,

Even orthodox Moslems,

were not

above beating the devil round the stump.

"How
98

very

beautiful!"

exclaimed.

"Aish^ Hanoum, you are an

artist."

-AU
''Pray! pray! young

Hanoum/' she

pro-

tested, a little frightened

I thought, ''pray

do not say such

things.

am

not an

artist.

I only play with the colors.'^

"Let me
I persisted.

see

some more

of your playing,"

Rather reluctantly, though wishing to comply with her guest^s desires, she brought out

a large portfolio, containing several pastels

and water-colors, and we

to

sat

down on

a rug

examine them.

Whether they were

not
tell;

well done or not I canfull of life

but they were

and happi-

ness.

The

curious part was that, whenever

life,

she painted any outdoor

she painted
first

it

from her window, and on the canvas

the window, and then through
it

was

you saw the

landscape as she saw

it.

The more

I looked at her work, the

more
very
is

enthusiastic I grew.

"You must be
"It

talented," I said, turning to her.

pity that

you cannot go abroad

have studied

to study."

"But

many

years here."

99

"That

is all

very well/' I said,

still

busy

looking at the pictures; ''just the

same you

ought to go to Paris to study."

''What for?" she asked.

"Because
talent

I think

you have a great deal of

is

which unfortunately

wasted in a

harem." As

I spoke, I raised

my

eyes.

Ordinarily I

am not
;

a coward, though I do

run from a mouse but when

finely pencilled ones, there

my eyes met her

shiver go

was a curious look

of anger in

them that made a

down

my

back. "If I have said anything to offend

you," I said, "I beg you to forgive me. Believe

me

it

was

my
it

enthusiasm."
If

She smiled

in a

most charming way.

she

had been angry

" But

had gone quickly by.

to

why do you wish me

go to Paris?"

she asked again.

"I don't know,"

is

I said,

"except that Paris

nearer Turkey than any other great centre,

I feel that

and

you ought

to

have the advanall

tage of being where you could get

possible."

the help

lOO

.jjX^j^
"What
I
for?'' she inquired. to feel uncomfortable.

began
little,

knew her

very

and

this

was the

first

time I ever

visited a former Seraigli (one

who has been

an inmate of the Imperial palace).

"Because,"
I

answered lamely, "when a

person has talent she generally goes to Paris

or to

some other great

artistic centre."

"What
If I

for?" again insisted the question.

in

had not been

a harem, and in the

presence of a

what

afraid,
if

woman of whom I was my answer would have

foolish

somebeen,

"Well,

you are
is

enough not

to

know,
Inlying

why, what

the use of telling

you?"

stead, while that exquisite

hand was

on

my arm and those big almond-shaped eyes

tried to find a

were holding mine, I

explaining.
" If

way

of

you were

free to go,

you could see mas-

terpieces,

you could study various methods of

painting,

and

if

it

were

in you,

you might

become

great in turn."

"What

for?" was the calm inquiry.

lOI

.JUJLo
She was very beautiful; not
of the

Turkish

type, but of the pure Circassian, with exquisite lines

and a very low, musical

on
this earth I

voice,

and

of all things

am

most sus-

ceptible to physical beauty.

lar

At that particuhave derived

moment, however,
if

I should

great pleasure
pretty mouth.

could have smacked her

*'Well,'' I said calmly,

though I was
talent,

irri-

tated,

''

if

you had a great

and became
all

very famous, you would not only have

the

money you wanted, but

tion."

glory

and admira-

*'What for?" she repeated with inhuman

monotony.
^^For heaven's sake, Aishd
cried, ''I don't

Hanoum,"
but
if

know what
money."

for;

I could,

I should like to

become famous and have

glory
^'

and

lots of

What

for?"
I could

'*

Because then

go

all
is

over the

world, and see everything that

to

be seen,

and meet
I02

all sorts

of interesting people."

"What for?" "Hanoum doudoUj^^

you trying
to

I cried, lapsing into

the Turkish I had spoken as a child.

make

a fool

of me, or

"Are
''

She put her palms forward on the floor, and

then her head went

down and
too,

she laughed
considerably
for's."

immoderately.
relieved to have

laughed

done with her "what

if

She drew
took

me

to her as

were a baby, and

all

me

on her lap. " You would do

travel

these

things

and

about
it

like a

mail-bag be-

cause you think

would make you happy,

don't you, yavroum?^^ she asked.

"Of
"Is
to get

course I should be happy.''

this

why you

ran away from

home

famous and rich?"

to

She was speaking

were a
little bit

me

precisely as

if

of a thing,

and was

to

be

coaxed out of

my

foolishness.

"I have neither fame nor

swered, "so

riches," I an-

we need

not waste our breath."

"Sorry, yavroum, sorry," she said sympathetically.

"I should have

liked

you

to get

103

both; then you would see that

it

would not
is

have made you happy.

Happiness

not

acquired from satisfied desires."

^^What
^'

is

happiness, then?" I asked.

it].

Allah kerim [God only can explain

it

But

comes not from what we

let

possess, but

from what we

others possess;

and no

amount

of

fame would have made

go

me

leave

my home and
their

among

alien people to learn

ways

of doing something

which I take

great pleasure in doing in

my own way."

She

kissed

me

twice on the cheek and put

me

down by

her.

"You

are a dear litde one,"

she said as she began to prepare a cigarette.

"Aish^ Hanoum," I asked, ''don't you

really

sometimes wish you were a free Euro-

pean

woman?"
tissue

She wet the

paper of her cigarette

''I

and gave

it

a careful twist.

have never

seen a European
to belong," she
''

man

to

whom

I should like

informed me.

Goodness gracious, why should you be-

long to any

man

at all?"

104

J)ySjJ:>
''But I should not like to be one of those

detached females that come to us from Ingleterra

and your America.

me.
it

They

are repul-

sive to

flower;

must be productive and

A human being is like a tree or a useful. A

have a lord and children."

woman must
help saying.

''But you have no children," I could not

"Have
"Bring

I not,

though?" She clapped her

hands, and to the slave

in

who came

in she said,

my

son, please."
later the

few minutes
in.

young bey was

little

brought

He was

a sturdy
looks.

fellow, full

of health
in sight

and good

No

sooner was he

than mother and child were kissing

and

loving.

When,

after a

few minutes, he

was taken away, Aishe Hanoum informed me

that
till

he was twelve years old she was to

teach and instruct

him

herself.

"We

are al-

ways together except when

have guests.
say I have
till

Then

the child
!

is

out to play.

You

no children
the day I

I wish
to give

you would stay here

am

my

daughters away."

Jjlpjs:^
''Your daughters?" I repeated.
''Yes, I
slaves.

am

liberating

two

of

my young

bought them when they were ten

I instructed

years old.

them myself; and

now
give
I

they are going to be freed and given into

marriage, to be happy in the love they will

and take."
thought that in her voice there was
last

a sad note as she said the

then I

words; but

am

a very imaginative person, and

is

my
me.

imagination

apt to play tricks with

"I

am

going to stay," I said.

"The Va-

lide [the first wife]

asked

me

to wait for the

wedding, and also for the arrival of her son

and

his

young wife."
I

"Oh!

am

indeed very pleased.

all like

You

know, yavrounty we

you, and should

be very glad to have you be happy in the love

of a

good man."
I

"Aishe Hanoum,"

asked,

"are you

happy?"
She looked
io6
at

me

for

a minute or so while

-ilU
she inhaled and then exhaled the smoke of
her dainty cigarette.

''Would you
I nodded.
''I will tell

like to

know?"

you

all

about myself
forget that

but you
my
your com-

must not make

guest,
fort."

me
I

you are

and that

must look

after

She clapped her hands, and a young,

pretty slave

came

in to take orders.

I fancied

that the slave

had been

crying.

"You are not Aish^ Hanoum;

The
of the
all

the one I called for," said

''and what
in

is

more, you

must stop coming

tears

when

I call."

began
girl.

to trickle

down

the cheeks

young

was quite surprised. In

my

experience with Turkish

women,

never saw them stern with their slaves, and

this

young

girl

looked particularly miserable.

wife clapped her hands again,

The
and

official

this

time another slave

came

in.

" Bring us in

some sherbets and some cakes

and cold water."

The

slaves departed,

and

in a little while

107

^,UXpj>r>
the one

who had been

crying returned. Aish^

girl,

Hanoum

looked at the

who, elaborately

unconscious of the stern look, put her tray

down, brought near us two low

tables, inlaid

with mother-of-pearl, and disposed the eatables on them.

''Have I not told you not to wait on

me?"

The girl crossed her arms on her breast and

stood motionless. She was very pretty rather
;

tall,

with glorious copper-colored hair, and

luminous eyes.

''What

will the

young Hanoum here think

of your disobedience to me?'' the mistress

asked.

The
"I

girl

looked at
sure that

me
if

through her
the young
is

tears.

am

knew

of the sorrow that

eating

Hanoum my poor

heart, she

would take

my part/' she said, with

great pathos in her voice.

"I

am

inclined to think she would," said

her mistress, "for I

am

afraid the

young

Hanoum
io8

is

not very practical."

girl

In an instant the young

was prostrated

before me, kissing

feet,

my

hands, kissing

my
to

and imploring me

in the

name

of all the

flowers that

grow on great Allah's land

hear her and intercede with her mistress.

I took the child's

hand

into

mine and

tried

to comfort her ; then turning to her mistress

I begged to
*'I will tell

know

the cause of her grief.

you, though I

am afraid you are

mistress.
fiery.

the

wrong person."

At a bound the slave was by her

Her

greenish eyes were dark blue and

it is lost.

" If you present my case

the

Let
;

me have
for
it is

word

let

me show
is

her

my
me

heart

my my
**

heart she

to judge, not yours.

Be

just,

mistress, since

you give
it off.

this

chance."

Suppose we put

Suppose
this

Djimlah be the judge, and not

here.

Hanoum Hanoum
is

She does not know our ways very

She
is

much.

not of our

faith,

and she

young

in experience.

She has not yet a lord

to her heart," the mistress explained.

The

slave

drew
us.

herself

up and

fairly

towered above

Her

little

hands were
109

clasped tightly on her bosom. She threw her

head back and looked

at her mistress.
attitude.

There

was defiance

in her

whole

"You might just as well say that you want to cheat me out of the chance you offered to
give

me."

Aishe
us
first

Hanoum sighed and gave in.

we

" Serve

with something, for

slave poured out

are thirsty."
in the

The
tall

some sherbet
present
to

golden

goblets

Aish^

Hanoum from

the Palace

and ministered
on the
:

to our wants; then she took her place

floor, crosslegged,

and said

to her mistress

''You are not to speak, beauty, at

I have done."

all, till

"Very

well, foolish," said the mistress.

"Young Hanoum, my

story

is

not very

long, so I will not tire your kind ears with

my

miserable woes. I only want justice, and

may

Allah help you to help me. I was five years

old

when

was given

to

my

mistress here. I

have been

faithful, good, patient, obedient,

loving to her. I have never vexed her.

When

no

"

was fourteen years

give

old,

she wanted to free

me and

me

as a wife to a

man.
I

Why
to

should I be given to a
stay here?
I pleaded

man when

want

and pleaded, and she

two years more. The
I

said that I might stay

two years passed as a day, and

was again

to

be given as a wife. I pleaded and cried again,

and

my

mistress said that I might have two

years more.

Young Hanoum, have you

me, faded from

ever

watched the clouds on Allah's blue rug?

Those years granted

to

my

unhappy

eyes as quickly as they,

and

for

days

now

she will not speak to

me

because I will

not go. But I stay outside this door and wait

on her
it is

just the same.

She says that

this

time

to a very nice, young, wealthy

is

is

going to marry me. But what

It is

man she a man to

her face

me?
that

my

mistress I want;

it is

must gladden daily

is

my

miserable exist-

ence. It
die.

here by her that I want to live and

give

Oh! young Hanoum,

me

justice;*

and may the cypress

tree that

grows by the
the winds
!

grave of your dear ones defy

all

III

.MXsjJ=>
Thereupon the girl began to
her
for

cry;

and between
is

moans she continued:

'^This mistress

me what
is

to the trees are the leaves,

what

to the birds are the wings,

what

to the little
if

babies

a mother.
will sell

She says
to

do not

marry she

me

some one."

I can give here the words, but they cannot

show the pathos, the passion

in

that the girl put

them.

It

made my
Think

heart melt within me,

not from pity for the slave, but from envy for
the mistress.
creature
*'I

of

owning such a

faithful

have heard your side," I said; "and

better go,

now you would

and

I will talk

it

over with your mistress."

The

slave

came

to

me, kissed
left

my hand
do you

ever so tenderly,
''Aish^

and

the room.

Hanoum,"

I asked, ''why

want the

child to be married
is

and leave you,

since her happiness

with you?"
all

''You do not understand

stances, yavroum; that
is

the circum-

why you ask me^

You
112

see she

is

mine, and I can free her and

make a home
and she might

for her.

If I die

to-morrow,
freed,

what will become of her ? She might be

not.

In the

last case

she would

have to belong to some one

years before being freed.

else for

seven

Or

she might be

changing hands
is

all

the time. I love her; she

my

little girl,

for I

brought her up; and I

want

to see her

marry and have babies of her

own. She can see

me

all

she wishes

to.

But

what she wants

me. She
is

is

to feel that she belongs to

is

getting old. It

time for her to be

wife and mother.

figure
is

She
It

is

so beautiful; her
pity to

so perfect.

would be a

waste
*'

all

that beauty in life."

will

But she

be unhappy

if

she goes

away

from you."
^^No; she does not know.

A woman

is

never so happy as in the love she bears to her

little

ones and to the giver of them."

will

'^What

you do?" I asked.

*^Will

you

really sell her to

somebody else?"
was going
is

**No, indeed; but I

to

send her

away

for

a while. Only she

of such a pas-

113

sionate nature she might do violence to herself.

'*

I have to act with great discretion."

What manner
to ?

of

man

is

the one you

want

to

marry her

She probably does not fancy

him."
''I

have

tried

hard to have her see him

Ai'she

from the window," said

Hanoum

laughingly; ^^but every time I take her to the

window and bid her

She
will

look, she closes her eyes.

will

be very happy indeed, and

is

have

a slave of her own, but she

obstinate."

*'Why not
suggested.
*^I

let

her wait for a while?" I

am

afraid of losing this

good chance.
of age well

want

to see all of

them that are

provided for."
*'

Suppose," I said, '*that I decide that you

let

are to

the girl alone?"

little

She laughed her merry

laugh,

and
a

looked so beautiful that I wondered

how

woman

with such a wonderful beauty as hers

could be given to two

men and

still

remain

unloved by them.
114

" Yavroum, you would not really decide to

do anything so

foolish,

and destine such a

beautiful handiwork of Allah's to barren-

ness ? Besides, while she was telling her woes

to you, I

found a way out of the

difficulty.

am going
know

to ofiFer to let her live with

me

after

her marriage.
that I

At the end
right."

of a year she will

was

She clapped her hands. The

girl

came in.
(The
their

'Xome
mistresses.

here,

Kioutchouk-Gul."

slaves often are given fancy

names by

This one meant

Little Rose.)

The
little

slave

came and made

herself ever so

at the feet of her beloved mistress.

^*I

think Allah has shown

me

way out

of

our troubles." She took the girPs hands into

hers.
^'It is

not marriage you object to so

much

as leaving
girl

me?"
like to

The

nodded.

*^Then how would you

still

marry and

live

with

me? We
girl

both should have our

way."
In a second the

was

in the

arms of
IIS

jjla^j^Aishe

Hanoum,

calling her all sorts of en-

dearing names, in which the Oriental lan-

guage

is

so rich.

Thus
gave

the incident ended.

The

sight of the
in her slave

tremendous love she had inspired

me an idea of the beautiful Aishd Hanoum must have.

'^Aish^

character

Hanoum/'

I said

when we were
tell

left alone,

**you promised to

me all
tell

about

yourself.

Will you do so

now?"
you

*^Yes,

yavroum; but

will

me

all

about yourself and

yoiu* life in

America

after-

wards

''

I promised.
**I

was born

in

Roumely, where

my

father

was a nomadic

chief," she began. to those

The mere word Roumely

born in the East
is full

who

are

of suggestion of bal-

lads of valorous deeds

ings.

and supernatural doto

Aish^

Hanoum became
quite well the

my mind

more romantic
*^I

figure than before.

remember

way we

lived.

All

we

possessed was done up in bundles, for

ii6

we moved from one

stantly.

place to the other con-

At

night,

if it

was rainy or

cold, the

men would

pitch the tents;

and while the wo-

men and
erally

children slept inside, the

men would
eyes.
it

sleep outside,

one always on guard. But genunder Allah's own

we

all slept

Life was like a dream, and like a

dream

quickly vanished.

My

father died, leaving

my
for

mother alone

to care for six little

hungry

mouths.

We

left

the mountains

and walked
there

days to reach a town.

to I

When

my

mother took
support us.

doing

all

kinds of work to
All I

was only six years old.

is

remember

of that time

like another
it

dream,

only this time a bad one and

lasted longer,

though, as days and nights count, not as

many
life

as five hundred I think.

My

mother's

became a sad one, and there was no longer

sunshine and music.

We

lived in a little

house which to

me was
became

like
ill,

a wooden box,

and soon we
miserable.
I

all

and were very

his

do not think Allah meant

people to live in houses.

He made

the world

117

SO beautiful, that

we might

live in

it

and be

happy.
myself

To

this

minute I cannot accustom

one room. That
is

to live in

why

have

this big space."

In fact she had taken three rooms, sixteen

by twenty, and had them thrown

together,

slender columns supporting the ceiling.

was wondering what she would say

a few of

if

she saw

New

York's apartments, where even

not potent enough to pierce

Allah's sun

is

high walls and enter.

''One day, however,

my

mother came to

us with joy in her face and said to

children, your father

me

'
:

My
to

must be having

in his

favor the ear of the Prophet.

Here comes

us a miraculous help.
to

buy

six or seven little girl slaves.

sell

A rich Hanoum wishes I am

little girls,

going to
the

you three

and with

money go back

to the

mountains to bring

up your brothers as true Roumeliotes, not

like

mice in a

city.'

''We were very happy.

the time

I did not

know

at

what slavery was; but

my

mother

ii8

-iiio/^
explained
it,

and we were glad of the chance

given to us."
I
is

must explain here that slavery

in

Turkey

not what the word implies in Christendom.

slave in

A
to

Turkey

is

like

an adopted

child,

whom

is

given every advantage according

If

to her talents.

she

is

beautiful,
is

she

is

brought up like a young lady and

a wife to a noble and rich

given as
is

man

if

she

plain

and

clever, she

becomes a teacher;
clever, she learns to

if

she

is

plain

and not

do the

manual work, sewing

or domestic labor. Ac-

cording to the Koran, a slave must be freed

after seven years of servitude

and be given a
fifty

dowry

of

no

less

than two hundred and

dollars.

Slaves

always fare better than

if

they

stayed at home.

Generally they are drawn

from the people who have been slaves themselves, or

from orphans.

To

Turk who

is

poor, selling his children into slavery

means

giving

them advantages which he could not

possibly give

them

himself.

119

**Were you sorry to leave your mother?"

I asked.

^'How could
'*

be sorry," was her

to her

reply,

since I

was giving her back

moun-

tains

and her sunshine ?

My two little sisters

sometimes on
in

and myself journeyed

the backs of animals,

for days,

and sometimes

what

seemed

to

me

then wooden boxes on wheels.

^'In the house of

my new

mistress I re-

mained with

my

sisters for

seven years. She

was

lovely to us,

and although we did not

live out-of-doors all the time,

we

lived in a

large house, in a very large garden,

and by

the water. It was in Smyrna.

We had never

seen anything before except mountains and

trees.

When we came
After

to

Smyrna we were
commonest
all

afraid of everything, even of the

things.

we had

learned that

the

strange things would not hurt us,

we were make

taken out on the water in a small boat, and

after a time

we were

taught

how

to

it

go ourselves.
write,

We

also learned to read

and
to

and we were taught French, and

120

JMj^^^
paint and play the guitar, and to dance.

They

were not as

strict there as

they are in

my

household here.

When

was fourteen

I w^as

spoken of as a very beautiful person, and a

Hanoum who came to see me once said I was

only
fit

for the Sultan.

My beauty
me.

travelled

from Smyrna

to the Palace,

and some one

came out

to our house to see

to the Sultan

That

is

how

was given

on

his anniver-

sary."

" Were you sorry to be sent to the Palace

I asked.

"

She looked

at

me

as

if

had asked some-

thing that only people out of their minds

could ask.
''I

was so happy,"

said she, as

if

speaking

to herself, ^'that for nights I could not go to

sleep.

At

last the

day came when

was

to

see the great ruler of the greatest nation of

the living world."

She crossed her hands on

her lap with a far-away look on her face, as

if

gazing on her dead youth and

its

dreams.

As

looked

at

her

was wondering
121

JJJuoj^
whether she had ever had any happiness, and
unconsciously I found myself asking her,

^'Were you happy in the Palace?"

My question brought her back to the earth,

and she laughed her gay
patted
little

laugh,

and

my

hand.
little

'^You dear yavroum, you are such a

baby,

why should

I not

be happy?

To me

was given the honor

which was no
ther than
it

of being sent to the Calif, to

less

an honor

my new mo-

was

to me.''

^^Did you see the Sultan?'' I asked.

''

Y-e-s.

taken to

When I reached the Palace my rooms; and after a few

was

days,

when

was

sufficiently rested, they dressed

me

ever so beautifully for the Pattissah to

see me."

Again that far-away look came into her

pretty face, but she
^^It

went on with her

story.
all

was

in a large living-room,

we were

assembled such

beautiful

women and
I

so

many!

was by

the chair of the Sultana

in.

when
122

he,

our ruler, came

was presented

to him,

and he smiled kindly

hoped
I

at

me, and said

that he
ace.

should be happy in the Palhis order

was given by
and

many gems
very own,
the honor of

and

costly robes

slaves of

my

but Allah never meant for

me

wifehood

with

the

Master.

Kismet,

Ne

apeymy
'*0h! Aishe
stopped.

Hanoum!"
tell

I cried

when she

''Do

me more

of palace life."

''No, no, yavroum, you cannot

It is

know

that.

not spoken out of the Palace; but you

see the litde girl I

may

am

hoping some day

to send there."

I gasped.

"You
to

don't

mean

to say that

you are going

send somebody to the Pal-

ace?"

"Why, you dear

little

crest of the waves,

why should
I think
ful."
is

I not,

when

I find a little girl

who

going to be most gloriously beauti-

She clapped her hands and Kioutchouk-

Gul came

in

beaming with

smiles.

Her mis:

tress returned the smiles as she said

123

''Bring

me

in

Gul-Allen" (Rose of the

World).

A few minutes later a little girl was marched

in.

She was

tall

and

well shaped,

and carried

her head magnificently.

old,

She was four years

but looked seven. If she grows up to be

as beautiful as she looked then, she will

make

a stunner.

The

curious part

was

that she

looked like her mistress. Her eyes were that

almond shape, the

it,

color, as Rossetti expresses

like the sea

and the sky mixed

together,

only in theirs the landscape was mixed in too.

Every feature in her face seemed

nature's great care.

to

have been

The

color of her skin

was
as
cil,
''

clear white,

and you could see the veins

if

they were finely traced with a blue pen-

and her mouth was Cupid's bow.

Aish6

Hanoum,"

I begged,

when the child

left us, ''please

don't send her to the Palace.

his wife.

Suppose she never becomes

will

She

be happier with a young

man

for a hus-

band."
Ai'she

Hanoum

looked puzded at me.

124

JJJuijs>
**

Suppose you had a great

talent,

and your
it,

mother never gave you a chance with

would you think her

I

just

You

see,

yavroum,

am

giving you an example from your

own

standards to judge.

Tell me, would n't you

life?'^

blame her

all

your

I acquiesced.
*^It

would be the same with

my

little

Gul-

Allen."

"But suppose when she grows up she

refuses to go, like the other?''

'*0h, she will not; for she will be brought

up with
to

this idea in

mind. Her education

is

be very

careful.

Besides, in the heart of

every

Mussulman woman,

the highest honor

on

this side of the earth is to give

a son to the

Pattissah.

You have

to

be a Turkish

woman
see

to understand this.

And now you must

my
in a

palace robes and

my

gems."

Kioutchouk-Gul received her orders, and

few minutes she came
in,

carrying on her

head a bundle two

feet thick

and four

long,

and in

that space carefully folded were twenty

I2S

Jj3iBjs>
most gorgeous garments
!

Think

of the space

twenty of our stupid gowns would require

Kioutchouk-Gul opened the Persian shawl,

and

as she unfolded each

it

garment she pa-

raded

on her slim shoulders. In

my

child-

hood

was put

to sleep with Oriental tales,

where the princesses wore magnificent clothes

that only a fairy queen's wand could produce.

Those garments belonged

to that category.

Bright silks represented sky and stars worked

with silver and gold and fastened with precious stones.

There was one

of

dark red on
silver

which were embroidered with

thread

white chrysanthemums, and the heart of each

flower on the front border

was a topaz
and the

Think

of having all these clothes

jewelry to go with them because the Sultan

cast his eyes five minutes

that in the heart of every

No wonder Mussulman woman

on you.
is

the desire to go to the Palace

so great.

Though
where
is

it

is

religion that

prompts them,
is

the truly feminine heart that

in-

different to beautiful

garments?

126

_JUL2^J>
From
Ai'she

Hanoum
more
I

went

to

my room
it,

rather bewildered.
labyrinth: the

Orientalism was like a

I advanced in

the

more entangled

became. One

woman
new

after

another was confronting blem, a

me

with a

pro-

new phase

of life;

and

I felt stupid
It

and incapable
hurt
in

of understanding them.

my

vanity, too, to find

how

small I

was

comparison with them. I should have liked

really to sell myself to

them

for a year,

merely
to

to

be able

to live with

them continuously,

try to

understand a
interested

little

more

of their lives.
:

They
so

and charmed me they were

much worth

understanding. There was so

much
and

of the sublime in them,

which

is

lack-

ing in our European civilization. I

trivial

felt

petty

every time I found myself facing

one of those conditions which they understood so well.

It is true that in are,

Europe and

America there

and have been, women But

is

who

sacrifice their lives for big causes.

it

as a rule

is

a cause to which glory

at-

tached, or else

some tremendous thing they

127

half understand,

and

to

which they give

its

themselves blindly because of

that sentimentahty which
is

appeal to

so colossal in

European women. With these Turkish wo-

men

the sacrifices
life,

came

in the small things

of daily

things for which they received

no thanks,

for

which

their

names did not

their self-

become immortal. And through

abnegation they were reaching heights un-

known

to us of the western world.

I do not

mean

to say that our

women do
life.

not sacrifice
it

themselves in every-day
is

They do; but

not with the sublimity of soul with which

these supposed soulless

women

do.

VI

HOULME HANOUM, THE DISCONTENTED

While
was
I

was

visiting

Selim Pasha's house-

hold, Djimlah's youngest half-sister,

there, too.

Houlm^,

She had been brought up by

grandfather far

her maternal

away from

Constantinople, somewhere in Asia Minor,

and
visit.

had never seen her

She was very friendly

until the present

to

me from a diswho dared

ques-

tance, like a timid wood-goddess,

not approach.
at

Now and then she would smile

full of

me, and her large eyes seemed

tioning.

She did not look modern, and did

like ordinary

not

move

women.

I always

thought of her as Antigone.

One

evening, unexpectedly, she

like a vestal,

came

to

my

room, looking

and carrying
if

a basket

full of flower-petals.

She asked

she

might give

me my

flower-bath.

This was a
129

.ZJJLo/^
great honor to a mortal like me, for her

grandmother had been a

I anticipated that

sister of the Sultan.

now,

at last, she

would

talk

to

me; but she gave me

my bath

almost with-

out a word.

Then, when she asked permis-

sion to spend the night wfth me,

slaves

and

after the

had made her bed

at the foot of mine,

I again expected

some conversation from her

crept into her
little

again young

Houlm^
arms

bed,

stretched her

out,

palms upward, and

prayed that Allah, the only true God, should

guard the living and help the dead, and

quietly laid herself

down

to sleep.
I lay in bed,

For more than an hour

sleep

and

would not come.

girl

wondered whether
asleep,

the
to

young Turkish

was

and

fell

thinking about her.

My

thoughts on

Houlme were
nightingale.
I

interrupted pleasantly

by a
all

have heard nightingales

over Europe, but they do not sing as they

do

in the East.
all

The

reason perhaps

is

be-

cause

over the world they are mere birds,

while in the East they are the mythical Bul-

130

-iiW^
Buls, the souls starved for love.
It is be-

lieved that once a Bul-Bul loved a rose,

and

the rose aroused by the song

woke trembling
rose, as all roses

on her stem.
at the time
ginal.

It

was a white

were

white,

innocent,

and

vir-

It listened to the song,

and something
the Bul-Bul

in its rose heart stirred.

Then

came

ever so near the trembling rose

and

whispered words which the rose could not

help hearing.

"Ben
and

severim sana Gul-GuU^

little

At those words
rose blushed,

of love the

heart of the

in that instant

pink roses

were created. The Bul-Bul came nearer and

nearer,

and though Allah, when he created

the world,

meant that the rose alone should

earthly love,
it

never

know

opened

its

petals

and the Bul-Bul

morning the rose

stole its virginity.

In the
red,

in

its

shame turned

giving birth to red roses;

and although ever

comes nightly
to

since then the nightingale

ask of the divine love, the rose refuses; for

Allah never meant rose

and bird

to mate.

Thus, although the rose trembles at the

131

.JJULo,^i>
voice of the nightingale,
closed.
its

petals

remain

That night the memory

of this story
it

was

particularly dear to me, because

brought
In order

back

to

me my

childhood dreams.

to enjoy better the nightingale I sat up.

little

The

platform on which

my

bed was made

creaked, and

Houlme

spoke.

*'Are you awake, too,

''I

young Hanoum?"
to sleep," I said.
either.

have been unable

*'I

have not been asleep

There

is

no

sleep to-night for mortals."

She got out of bed, went

brought out two white
*^

to a closet,

and

silk

burnooses.
''

Come, young Hanoum," she said.

Come,

let

us no longer stay in our beds."

I threw over

my shoulders

the soft garment.

Houlm6 put

hers on.

She took
little

my

hand,

and we went out on the

It

balcony.

was one

of those wonderful Oriental

is

nights,
icating,

when

the beauty of nature

intox-

maddening. The sky was indigo-

blue without the shadow of a cloud; the stars

132

were

brilliantly lighting

the

hills

and the
travel-

garden, and a half-grown

ling fast

moon was
was

toward the Bosphorus.

all

Except for
still.

the singing of the nightingale

*'That

is

why we cannot
^'

sleep."

It

was
love

Houlme

speaking.

There

is

too

much

on the earth

to-night;

and we being

of the

earth cry for our own.

My

poor heart has

is

travelled over endless seas

and

with him

now, and
It

my young

life is

crying for him."

that

was a strange
girl

night,

and

Mahom-

etan

standing next to

me

in her glori-

ous beauty, and talking a language mysteri-

ous as the East, captivated

my imagination.

As

I looked at her, at her large black eyes

and arched eyebrows, her ivory complexion

and her

lovely mouth, I felt that she could

do things

that an ordinary

woman

could not.

And
it

the night

had loosened her tongue, as

had the
^^I

nightingale's.

sometimes think," she went on, ^^that

for

it is

wrong

women

to think

and

to

know

much, for they kill nature with

their thoughts.

Men,

great men, never think

;

when
life.

it

comes
It is as

to love
it

they only love and taste

life

should be, as Allah meant

and love

to

be.

What

has our poor woman's mind to do

If
it

with the workings of the universe?

were not

for

my

foolish

thinking, I should
like the

not be craving love

now
in

Bul-Bul."

Turkish
different

women

some ways are very

races.
col-

from the women of other

They may be more educated than our

lege girls, they

may speak

four or five lan-

guages, and read the masterpieces of each of

these languages, but they remain children of
nature, as

we do

not.

If

you spend a day

with them and they love you, you will

their hearts

know

and minds as they

false

truly are.

There
them.

is

no

shame

or prudery about

They speak
midsummer

as they think
felt

and

feel.

Houlme apparently
lovely

very

much

that

night,

and her heart was

breaking for something I could not well

make out. She drew me to her and

''Glorious one, do you
sufifer

kissed me.

as I

do?"

134

**

I don't know how

you

suffer/' I answered.
*'

She clasped her hands to her bosom.

I suffer as
It is crying
if

Oh
fire.

my

poor heart were on

out for that other heart which,

foolishness,

but for

my

would be near

me

now."
I did not care to ask anything for fear of

stopping her half-confession.

^'Houlme," I said instead,

beautiful.

'*

you are very

to

would give anything

you are."

be as

beautiful as
^^

Why

should you like to have

my

beauty,

beloved

Hanoum?

You

said
is

you did not

wish to be married; beauty

only good to a

woman

to give to the

man

she loves; you

ought not to have any, and Allah ought to

have made you black."

I shuddered.

On

a night like

this,

every-

thing seemed possible, and I looked around

for the

wicked ev-sahib who might change

my
me

color.

''Foreign

Hanoum,"
about the

said

Houlmd,

"tell

little

women

of England.

135

.ZJULo^hC.
Are they so beautiful that they can make

men

forget their

vows

to other

women?''

'^Some of them are very handsome/' I

answered,
''but

not

as

beautiful

as

you

women

of the East.

only kind of

To my mind you are the women that could make men

and Mahomet knew what
his laws."

forget their vows,

he was about when he made

*'

You

are not right about our Prophet, befor

loved
to

Hanoum,

he never meant
;

women
say

be kept apart from

men but what you

gladdens

my
to

poor heart

or are you speakmy sorrow

you, Houlme, ex-

ing thus because you have divined

and wish
''I

comfort

me?"

know nothing about

what
little

cept

you have told

me

to-night."
I

''Oh!

glorious
feel

Hanoum,
as
I

sometimes

should like to
lands
feel,

you women of other

it

though

know

to

be wicked

to

wish to be different from

Allah

what the great

made me. But

brought up as a
"

am sorry I have been woman of the West."

I
I said. "

But you are not,"

You are

less of

136

jM^
the West than any Mussulman girl I have met. What makes you think that you are like us ? "
*'

Because, young
foreigners.

Hanoum,
do

was brought

up by

I speak English, French,

and German as
guage, and I

well as I

my own

lan-

know more
of our

of your literatures

than I

know

own.

The

thoughts of

your great writers have

in

made a

great change

my

poor Eastern thoughts.

I

You
of the

see,

young Hanoum,

was brought up by

my manew

ternal grandfather,

who

is

Turk

school, which believes that

women

ought to

be educated

to

be the companions of men.

with

He
to

brought

me up

my

cousin Murat,
as I

whom I was betrothed as soon born. He is only four years older

till

was

than my-

self,

but I shared his studies and his games

I reached

womanhood and had

was then
fourteen.
I did not see

to take

tcharchaf.

Of course

from that moment

as I

my
my

cousin,

was

living in the

haremlik and he in the

respect-

selamlik.

When

was eighteen

able grandfather called

me

to

him and

said

137

that the time

of

had come

for

me

to

be the wife

Murat Bey. As
is

I said before,

my

grand-

father

of the

new

school

and does not be-

lieve in forcing

marriage upon women.

I

He

asked

me if I were ready ?
tell

was ready

not
from

to marry,
'^

but to ask a favor.

you, young

must

Hanoum,

that

the day I took myself to the haremlik to be a

woman and
From them
and
I

not a child, I gave

my

limited

mind to the studies of your great writers.

I

understood that there was a

greater love than the love based

on

affection,

wanted

to

make

sure that

Murat
Murat

pre-

ferred

me

to other

women.

I asked, therefore,

my

learned grandfather to send

for

three years out in the world, in the different

capitals of Europe, in
If at the

some diplomatic

post.

end of the three years Murat loved

me

still,

and thought me worthy

to

be his

wife, I

would marry him.

He

has been for

a year in Vienna, then for a year in Paris,

and now he

is

in

England.

As was

my

wish then, Murat never writes

138

me but he

sends

me

books and presents

all

the time.

Since he has gone I take one daily paper

from

Paris, Vienna, Berlin,

and London. I

also take several

monthly

periodicals, so that

my mind may
he comes back

be ready
to

for

my

cousin

when

me.

From what
a

I read in

your papers, I do not like your world, and

I

am
I

glad

that I

am

Mahometan
it is

girl.

But
for

know

also this, that

to think."

wrong, wrong

women
is

*'It

a dangerous experiment," I said,

women to think, but to do what you have done. You sent the man you love away
'*not for

before he really

knew
I

you.

If

he had seen
all

you as a woman,

doubt whether

the

beauties of Europe could

make him
it

forget
fair to

you.

On

the other hand,

is

hardly

expect a youth to
teen.

remember a

child of four-

Why

don't you write to each other, in

order that at least he

'^

may know your mind ? "

to

Because

do not wish him

be reminded

of

me

except by his

own

heart."

^^Houlme," I

said,

''are

you not rather

139

"

romantic ?

What

in the

name

of all flowers

made you do such

idiotic things ?

*'You don't understand

me

very much,
think

young Hanoum; that

romantic.

is

why you

me
and

The day

before I took tcharchaf,

to his father's grave to

Murat Bey took me

there he promised

me

remain

faithful to

me all his He vowed

me

life after

he became

my husband.
He
gave

that I shall remain his only wife,

unless Allah did not send us boys.

then a dagger with a poisoned blade and

asked

me

to stab his

heart

if

he ever was

untrue to
older,
it

me

after

our marriage. As I grew

life,

and read much about

to

knew

that

was unfair

Murat Bey

to tie

him down
gave him a
"

to such a great promise, unless I

chance

to

see the world and

many women.''
sent abroad
letter
?

" Does he

know why he was

him my

''Oh, yes! I wrote

him a long
thoughts.

and
he

explained to

At

first

did not like the idea, for he said he

that he loved
to

knew

me and wanted
last

to

be married

me, but at

he consented."

140

" Suppose that he

falls in

love with another

woman and
''I shall

" marries her, what will you do ?

use the dagger for

my own heart,"
herself for

she said simply.

To
idea
!

think that she would

kill

an

For Murat could be no more than an

idea to her, she never really having

known

him

as a

man.

I looked at her

and wondered
of doing

what things she might be capable

when

she should love a real man.

I asked,
*^

"Houlme,"

suppose your cousin

after

came back and you married him, and

a few years of marriage he wanted another

wife, as so

many good Moslems

do; would

you use your dagger?"

Her

beautiful black eyes were wonderful

on that glorious Oriental night; they looked

like big stars,

and

as they

met mine

had no

need of an answer.

At that moment a
passed,

light breeze

from the sea

and

in the stillness of the night

we

heard the moving of the leaves and flowers.

*^They are

awakening,"

said

Houlme.
141

Jjlpj^
"The
nightingale has reached their hearts.

You can

hear the rose tremble on

its

stem.''

With the Eastern legend behind the notes

I could fancy the Bul-Bul implore the

awak-

ening rose for a love that was never to be

granted.

Houlme was
her eyes.

listening with all her heart in

One would
The song

say in watching her

that she understood every syllable the lover

bird sang.

of the nightingale rose

to a transcendent pathos

and then abruptly

stopped. '*Poor
little

feathered lover," the young

Turkish
nied a

girl

murmured, ''you have been delove which

little

would make your

shall hear

singing immortal,

and we

you no

more."

Houlmd
belief that

Tr\a,de

allusion to

the

Oriental
this

on some such night as

its

the

nightingale's song, at

tenderest,

most pas-

sionate note, does reach the heart of the rose,

and
dies.

that

if

then the rose

little

still

denies him, he
it is

As

the

body

is

never found,

142

believed that the other, silent nightingales

make
the

his grave at the foot of the rose-bush.

this

Whether

thought brought graves to

I don't

mind

of

my companion

know,

but of a sudden she was on her feet and an-

nounced

to

me that she was going to the little

made up;

cemetery to pray. There was no use arguing

with her, as I saw her mind was

and

in

a few minutes, like two white phanin the garden,

toms,
filled

we were

where Houlmd
she opened

her arms with roses.

little,

Then
open

gate, ever so

made

in the thick wall,

fields.

and we were out

in the

She

walked along majestically, without the slightest misgiving of her misconduct,

and

in

short while

we were

in the little cemetery.

Once

there, she
it

walked

directly to

one grave,

covered
it

with her flowers, threw herself on

and prayed.

To

me, crouching under the

cemetery wall and imagining each tombstone

either

a phantom

or,

worse
us,
it

yet,

human
if

form advancing toward

prayed an
eternity.

seemed as

she

At last she got up, turned

143

her tear-stained face to me, and asked

give a prayer for an

me

to

unhappy woman.
I asked her
if

On

our

way home
it

she

knew
our-

whose grave
selves again

was.

Not

till

we found

on our balcony did she speak.

is

^^That grave, dear blossom,

Chakendd

Hanoum's," she

said.

^'Who was Chakende Hanoum?''

I asked.

Houlme looked
no one has
story?"

at

me

incredulously.

'^You have been here so

told

many days and

you Chakende Hanoum's

''No one," I answered, ''and I

for I

am

glad,

would rather that you

you love her grave
light sea-breeze

tell

me

her story

since

so."

The

became more audato our bal-

cious every

moment, and brought

cony the perfumes of the thousands of flowers

growing beneath
us, as

Houlme began.
the daughter of

"Chakende Hanoum was

Nazim Pasha.

She was

educated in the

Western fashion. She was as beautiful as an

houri and as good as Allah's

own

heart.

She

144

was given

as a wife to
courtier.

Djamal Pasha, a young

and dashing
in love with

They were very much

and only

each other, and he promised her

first

that she should remain his

wife.

Their marital

life

was blessed with two boys

beautiful

and one

girl.

Chakende grew more

as happiness

became her

daily portion.

**One day, when she was returning with

her retinue from a
visit

she had

made

in

Stamboul, on the bridge of Galata and in a

closed carriage, she

saw her husband

in

com-

pany with a foreign woman.

That night

when he came home, she questioned him,

and he only answered that the lady was a
eigner.
for-

Chakende Hanoum understood

that

her husband did not wish to be asked any

more

questions.

Early in the morning, how-

ever, she sent for her brother,

and from him

she learned what was generally known.

^^

She took a few of her slaves and went

country place. She stayed there for

to her

several days, giving the situation her whole

thought; then she

came back

to her husband.

145

.JMju^
She told him that she knew the
truth, that she

had thought the matter

to give

over,

and had decided

him back

his word, as to her remain-

ing his only wife.

foreign lady. It

Thus he could marry

that

the

was then

Djamal Pasha

turned her from Allah.

He

laughed at her,

and

said that Mademoiselle

theatrical

Roboul

of the

French

company was

the kind of a

woman

that

men

loved but did not marry.

said nothing, but that

Chakend^ Hanoum

very same day went into her garden and

plucked roses from a laurel

tree.

You know,

young Hanoum, what you can do with those

roses
?

"

shiver ran

down my back

as I nodded.

*'A few nights later,

when Djamal Pasha

Chakende Hanoum

was about

to

retire,

prepared his sherbet for him.

Her hand did

not tremble, though her face was white as

she handed
it

to him.

It

did not last long;

Djamal Pasha died from an unexplained

malady; but Chakende

Hanoum

kept on
little

plucking laurel roses daily.

After a

146

JJJUL
while they put her in her
years ago."
little

grave, too, five

We

sat silent for a while.

The moon had

travelled fast

and was now near the water,

bridging the Bosphorus with her moonglade.

The

garden, the

hills,

and the water changed

with the changing slant of the rays, and be-

came more wondrously enchanting

and enthralled me with the
East

still,

though that had not seemed possible before,

fascination of the

the
me
is

East whose language and ways

of dealing with right

alien to

and wrong had been

for six years. for

women to think wrong, at least, for us women of the It was Houlm^ Hanoum who spoke
"It

wrong

it

is

East."
again.

*'They educate us and

as you

let

us learn to think
think, but the
different.

women

of the
is

West
be so

course of our lives they

let let

to

Since

us share your studies they ought to

lives,

us lead your

and

if

this

cannot be

done, then they ought not to

let

us study and

know

other ways but our own. If

Chakend6
147

Hanoum

were an Eastern

woman

in

her

thoughts as she was in her heart, she would

have been with us now a happy woman, making her motherless children happy, too."

''Houlme," I

said, ''for
is

some

of you,

Oc

cidental education

like strong
It

wine

to un-

accustomed people.
heads.
tainly

simply goes to your

Look
is

at Djimlah,

your

sister;

she cer-

as educated as

you

are,

but she could

or

never behave the

way you

Chakende

Hanoum

did.

''True,''

Houlme

assented.

"My

sister is

educated as far as speaking European lan-

guages goes, but she has never been touched

by Occidental thought. To
is

her, her

husband

her lord, the giver of her children.

to those

and

who

think as I do, a

To me, man must

is

be more.

He must
all.

be

to his wife

what she

to him, all in

Is not this

what the Occi-

dental love is?

I did not use to think this

way

till

I read

your books.

I wish I

had

never, never known. I do not like to hurt the

feelings of

my

venerable grandfather, for I

148

am

the only child of his only daughter, as

is

Murat

the only child of his only son,

and I

know

that he did

by

me what he thought best.

ideas he has

Sometimes, however, I should like him to

know

that with his

new

made me

miserable by allowing

me

to acquire thoughts

not in accordance with our

mode

of living."

*^Houlme,

if

your cousin came back, and

you became

his wife

and had any daughters,

how would you

*^

bring them

up?"

I have thought of this very

much

indeed,"
it

was her answer, ^^and

over with

I should like to talk

Murat when he becomes my hus-

band. I do not think Turkish parents have

any right

to

experiment with their children.

I should not like to give to

my

daughters this

burden

of unrest. I should like to bring

them

up

as true

Osmanli women."

*'Then you disapprove of the modern sys-

tem

of education that
to

is

creeping into the

to see

harems ? Were you

be free

men and
disap-

choose your husbands, would you

still

prove?"
149

.D}jijs>
**Yes.
It

took you

many

generations to
of

come

to

where you

are.

Back

you there
led your

are hundreds of grandmothers

life

who

and worked
it is

for

what you have to-day.

With us

dififerent:

we

shall

be the

first

grandmothers of the new thought, and we

ought to have
through our
it

come

to

us slowly and

own

efiforts.

Mussulman women,

with the help of Mahomet, ought to work out

their

own

salvation,

and borrow nothing from

with different

the West.
traditions

We are a race apart,

and
associations."

"Is

this the

thought of the educated wo-

men

of the

harems to-day?" I asked.

Houlm^^s face saddened as she said:

**No, young

Hanoum,

am

alone in this

thought as far as I can

say that

make

out.

The

others

we must immediately be
liberty to

given free-

dom and
selves.

do as we

like

with ourwith mis-

Indeed, they look upon

if

me

trust as
''

were a

traitor."

Have they any

to

definite plans of

what they

want
ISO

do?"

jJXsj^
'^I

doubt whether you would

call

them
to

definite plans,

but I should like very

much

have you come with

me

to our next meeting,

which
of

will

be

in

two days. There are

forty

them now and

I think that they will

do

more harm than good,

it

as they are going about

in a very irrational

way. Their motto

is,

'Down

with the Old Ideas.' Naturally they

refuse to obey their parents

bands.''

and

their hus-

*'How old are

they,

on the average?"
all is

**The youngest of them

the oldest forty.

seventeen and

They

are

all

unmarried,
left their

with the exception of five

who have

husbands."

''You are not

in

sympathy with
to it?"

their

move-

ment though you belong

"No, young Hanoum,

it is

for I

am

afraid that

more romanticism

that guides

them than
call

thought for our beloved country. I

them

to myself, 'Les Romanesques des Harems,'

though they
Michel.'"

call

themselves 'Les Louises

151

^^yx^jj^
"Goodness
gracious!"
I

exclaimed,

"Louise Michel was an anarchist!''

" So are they," said Houlme;
I tell

"and because

them

that through anarchy

we can do
be glad to

nothing, they will not hear me."

I told her that I should certainly

go with her to the meeting of the reformers,

and she promised

to take

me

soon.

We did not go
balcony,
light

inside the house that night-

Bringing some pillows and rugs out on the

we

slept there until the

in.

morning

drove us

VII

SUFFRAGETTES OF THE HAREM

Asleep, I gradually became conscious of a

low murmuring song, and opened

my

eyes to

meet those of

my

little

slave Kondje.
to you,

*'May the day be a happy one

glorious

Hanoum," she
late?" I asked.

said

when

her eyes

met mine.
^^Is
it

*'The magnificent sun has been at his

pleasure-giving task for
mistress's sister gave

some time now.

orders not to
let

My
the

me

daylight

make you heavy

with sleep; for you

are going out with her before the heat begins.

That
back

is

why

have been coaxing your

spirit

to

your body with

my
it

song."

'^Did you have to coax

long?" I asked,

smiling at the Oriental superstition against

awakening any one suddenly.

They

believe

153

that the soul leaves the

body during

sleep,

and wanders
^^

in other lands.

Yes, young

Hanoum.
here,

It

must have gone

far

away from

and where the flowers

blossom

their prettiest; for a pleasant smile

lips.

was on your

Now

your body and

is

spirit

are together again, and here

your coffee

while I go to
I looked at
six.

make ready your bath."

my

watch. It was a quarter to

In harems one goes to bed early and

wakes up early again.

Perhaps

this

is

the

secret of the beauty of the Eastern

women.

As

was sipping was

my

coffee, I

remembered

that to-day I

to go with

Houlme Hanoum

to the meeting of

advanced Turkish women.

My
east in

coffee finished,

and

my

bath and

my

toilet, I

went

to the

window

to look at the

its

morning

glory.

heavy rain had

fallen in the night,

and the beflowered na-

ture that

met

my

eyes was a very clean and

fresh one. It looked like a

Turkish

Hanoum
And
this

coming from her morning bath.

loveliness alone

was

left

from the rain: the

154

thirsty earth

had drunk every drop

of the

water.

As

I looked through the latticed

first

window,
gay Bos-

my eyes roamed
dwellings along

down

to the

phorus plashing at the

its

feet of the fairylike

banks; then to the co-

quettish hills bathed in the

morning glow.

From

the farther view

my

glance

came back

to our garden, to

be surprised by the sight of

two young Turks walking about among the

flowers, in that portion allotted to the

men.

Then

remembered

that Selim

Pasha had

brought a number of guests with him the

night before.

As

was looking

at the

two

Turks

my

surprise

became

delight

on recog-

nizing in one of

them a

friend of

my

child-

hood, of
I

whom I clapped my
in.

had been very fond.

hands, and Kondje

came

running

''Please go

down and

see

if

the Valid^
if

Hanoum is up yet,"
her
if

I said; ''and

she

is,

ask

she could receive me."

tell

In a few minutes the slave returned to

155

me

that the Vah'de

was about

to partake of
it

her morning meal, and would consider

an

honor

if

would

join her.
to her.
^^

I rushed

down

Good-morning

to

you, Valide

Hanoum,"

I cried,

and plunged
visit,

at once into the reason for

my
^'

without

those flattering and ceremonious approaches

that

would have been

I

fitting.

You need not

grant me what

am going to ask of you, but I

much
you,
to grant it."
first

should like you very

*'

Good-morning

to

rose of

young rosebush," she answered, un vexed by

my

lack of politeness.

''And I shall grant

it

you what you wish, provided that

under

comes
shall

my jurisdiction.
who
is

If

it

does not

we

have to apply to our just master, Selim

Pasha,
again back

among

us."

I pointed out of the

window

at the

young
to

men walking
and speak

in the garden.

''I

want

go

to them," I said.

''What?" She threw back her

lovely

head

and laughed her

fresh,

happy laugh.
al-

"You
156

dear, dear

yavroum! You are

ready tired of us women-folk, and want to go

and

talk with the

men."
''1

^^Not a bit," I protested.

give

would gladly
for yours,
fel-

up

the society of ten

;

men

Valide

Hanoum
was a

but one of those young

lows

is

Halil Bey, with

child.

whom

I used to play

when

Do, please, say that I

may go and
to him.

speak to him!"
little

^'Nay, nay,

pearl,

you must not speak

He

is

to

be married in two weeks,

and
way.
after

I cannot allow
I

any temptation

in his

might change

my
of

mind, however,

we have partaken
awry."

some nourishment.

You know, yavroum,

the world
all

a hungry person sees

As she spoke

the slaves were bringing in

freshly picked fruit

from the orchard, on

brass trays on their heads.

small slave also

carried a basket charmingly arranged with

vine leaves and grapes from the house vine-

yards

and

nowhere on earth do grapes

taste as

good as those of Constantinople.

All the different fruits

were arranged on
157

their

own

leaves

on low tables
ate

inlaid with

mother-of-pearl,

and we

them without the

use of knives.

Then one

slave brought in a

graceful brass basin, while another presented

the soap and poured out water for us from a

slender brass water-jug.

third
to

handed us
dry
our
in

embroidered

Turkish

towels

hands on. Meanwhile, an old slave came

with a brazier, sat

down

in the

middle of the
while the two

room, and cooked the

coffee,

young

slaves passed the delicious beverage

to us with toast

and cakes. This was

all

our

breakfast.

At

its

close the Valide turned to

:

the old slave and asked

''Nadji,

this

what do you suppose

to

young

Hanoum
The
good

wants

do?"

old slave looked at

me

with her kind,

motherly eyes.
taste.

''The young

Hanoum
to

has

suppose she wants

of us.

marry
Indeed

one of our

men and be one

Allah, the great

and only God, be

my

wit-

ness, but since she has

prettier

been with us she looks

and

healthier.''

158

The
yet

Valide and I shrieked with laughter.

*'No, Nadji, the young

Hanoum

has not

come
to

to such a grave resolution.

She

wants

go and talk with those two young

men walking in the garden." The slave left her embers, walked
window, and looked
critically at the

to the

two men.
lips,

*^Mashallah!" she cried, smacking her

*^but they are

two worthy young specimens.

to stay

The young Hanoum will want

us more than ever."

among

"Nadji, would you then

"It
is

let

her go?"

not for

me
be

to decide,

but for you,

honored head of a most honored household."

*'But would
talk to
it

right, Nadji, to let her

go

them?"

Nadji looked
to ascertain

me

straight in the eyes as

if

whether I were worthy.

"She

talks to

men when
the

she

is

at

home,

my

beloved mistress."
smiled
Valide,

"Yes,"

"she does.

But you know, Nadji, the young

Hanoum
who
159

particularly wishes to talk to Halil Bey,

is

to

be married

in

two weeks' time. "

full of mischief.

The

Valide's smile

was

Nadji examined
matter,
filled
is

me

again.

^^It

does not

my
his,

Valide.

Halil Bey's

mind

is

with the thought of one woman,

who

to

be

and

whom

he has not seen.

His fancy

is

clothing

her with wondrous

beauty, and no real person can do any harm.

Allah

is

wise as wxll as great."

Her gray

head was bowed low at Allah's name.

am glad you approve, Nadji; for this young Hanoum here so pleases my fancy that I am likely to spoil her." She turned to me:
*'I

*'Run along, yavroum, only be sure

to

put

on your wooden sandals,

for there

might be
I

some

chill left in

the earth after the rain.

of the honor

will notify the

young men

you

are about to bestow

upon them."
was by the
if

few minutes

later I

side of

the astonished Halil Bey, who,

he ever

thought of me, thought of

of America.

me

as in the wilds

In his gladness at seeing

me

again he picked

me

up, kissed

me on

both

i6o

cheeks,

and

set

me down on
bride to be.

the bench, to

pour into
of his

my

ears the

wonders of the beauty

unknown

*'But suppose," I suggested to him,

his

when
when

enthusiasm at length gave

me an

oppor-

tunity to put in an objection, ^'suppose

you
tiful

raise the veil, instead of seeing a beau-

young

girl

with a slim figure, as you

picture her to yourself,

you meet a

fat,

ugly

woman, what

will

you do?"

He
know

laughed at the idea. '^But I have seen

is

her in the street and she

slim.
tells

she

is

pretty

my heart

And I me so."

Lovers seem to be the same everywhere,

even though they are Turkish lovers, sup-

posed by us to be devoid of romantic raptures;

and though

I stayed

some time with

Halil Bey,
girl

we
to

talked of nothing except the

who was

become

his first

and

as he
me and
But the
i6i

vowed

his only wife.

When
its

I returned to the house several of

inmates shook their fingers at

'^I

sang in chorus,

saw you!"

"

.JJUL^A^
Valide put a protecting
for

arm around me, and

effect
it

looking around the duce impressively gave me

'*

would pro-

this invitation

Yavroum, Selim Pasha wishes

to

me to

beg

of

you

do him the honor

to dine to-night

with him and his guests."

It

was

my

turn to shake

my

fingers at

the Turkish

women,

as I challenged them:

''Those

who do

not admit that they would

give anything to be in
let

my wooden
!

sandals,

them

raise their

hands

Not a hand was

raised,

though they might

have debated the point further, had not

Houlme run

her

arm through mine and

in-

terrupted with: ''Young

Hanoum,
travel

the sun

does not favor those

after
start.

who
his

many hours
Let us
us,

he has started

journey.

We

have a long way before

will

and

the day I

know
I

prove interesting."
to find a

In

my room

was surprised

new
this

tchitcharf of silver-gray silk.

"What

is

for?" I asked Houlme.

"You
162

cannot go to the meeting unless

.jjULo/>
you have
this color on.
It is the

emblem

of

dawn, the dawn we are about

Turkish women's
life."

to bring to the

A few minutes later Houlme and I,

pany with an old
with us, and an old eunuch,

in

com-

slave inside the carriage

who was

the

shadow of Houlme,

sitting

on the box by the

coachman, were driving

to

Hanoum Zeybah's
when we reached
Inside

house, where the meeting was to be held.

It

was

half-past ten o'clock

there,

and we were the

last to arrive.

the door stood two gray phantoms, to

whom

we gave

the password, ^'Twilight."

In a large hall stood the rest of the gray

symbols of dawn,

all

so closely veiled as to

be unrecognizable.

Without a sound they

saluted us in the Turkish fashion;

and then
It

we were

all

conducted to a large room.

was very mysterious and

conspirator-like.
tightly

The

nine windows of the

room were

shuttered, that
light

no ray

of unromantic sunof a

should
epoch.

fall

upon the forerunners

all

new

We

sat crosslegged

and mo163

tionless

on a bare

settee

which ran around

two

sides of the

room. Over our heads hung

silk,

a banner of sky-blue
silver

embroidered in

with ''Freedom for

Women !^^
black,

Beneath

that

hung another

of
the

bearing the
in fiery-

words ''Down with

red.

Old Ideas T^

There were no
floor

chairs.

The

beautiful

oak

was

partially covered with Eastern

fat cushions in the

rugs,

and on some

middle

of the

room

sat our hostess, the originator

and president

of the society.

President Zeybah clapped her hands three

times and announced that the meeting was

about to begin.
for

It

did begin, and continued

more than an hour.

a manuscript with

The president produced

gilt

edges from a European satchel at her

side,
*'

and read her contribution

fellow
-

to the club.

Women,

sufferers,

and

fellowto

workers," she read ^^we

dig a
little

come here to-day

farther into the thick wall which

the tyranny of

man

has built about us.

to

By

nature

woman was meant

be the

ruler.

164

By

her intuition, her sympathy, her unselfher maternal instinct,

ishness,

she

is

the

greatest of the earth.

One

thing alone brute

!

nature gave to

man

strength

Through
rise

that he has subjugated

woman. Let us

and break our bonds!

Let us stand up en

masse and defy the brute who

nates us!

now domiwe must

well.

We

are the givers of

life;

be the rulers and lawmakers as

with

Down

man!"
this strain,

In

and

in a

deep voice befitting

a ruler and a lawmaker, the president read

from her gilt-edged paper, and ended up

with the proposition that six members of the
club should be chosen by lot to
selves, as
kill

them-

a protest against the existing order

of things.

The

proposition,

which was made

in all seriousness, provided, however,

with

a naivete that might have imperilled the

gravity of a meeting of

American women,

that the president of the club should be ex-

empt from
ing.

participation

in

the lot-draw-

165

_iJUL2>i>
This plan for making tyrant

man
more

sit

up

and take notice was received with a murmur

from the veiled
listeners, rather

of ap-

proval than of disapproval.

The

question,

however, was not discussed further at the

moment, and the president

lady to read her paper.

called

on another

The

first

speaker having proved that wogreat

men were
recognition

and were only kept from

force of

by the brute

man, the

second one went ahead to prove that

were capable of doing as

in certain
cases,

women good work as men

George Sand,

by

citing

George

Eliot,

and

others.

third

one

as-

serted that

women were mere

and
called

playthings in

the hands of men,

on them

to

rouse themselves and show that they were

capable of being something better.

I
ing.

was
I

utterly disgusted at the

whole meetin

might just as well have been

silly

one

of those

clubs

in

New York

where

women
i66

congregate to read their immature

compositions. There were totally lacking the

JJJisJJ=>
sincerity, the spontaneity,

and the frankness

which usually characterize Turkish women.

When
and
of

the meeting adjourned,

we passed
dominion

into several dressing-rooms,

where the veiled

secret conspirators against the

all

man

kept luncheon gowns.

When

the

assemblage came together again, the majority

of

them were corseted and

all

in Paris frocks,

and

were quite unveiled, the mystery of

the meeting having been mere pretense and

affectation.

These forty-odd women, rang-

ing in age from seventeen to forty, were

drawn from the

tocracy.

flower of the Turkish arisin a large

Luncheon was served

room overlooking

the Golden Horn.

tables,

We

were seated at four round

and during

the meal the great cause was forgotten, and

they were again spontaneous Turkish wo-

men.
After luncheon

we passed

into the reclin-

ing room, where Eastern dances

and music

were given

for our pleasure.

was happy

to notice that as

we

lay about

on the couches,
167

the Parisian-gowned ladies were distinctly

less

comfortable than the rest of us.

After

the music

was

over, the

heavy conversation
hostess,

was

started again

by our

who was
She was

never happy for long unless she considered

that she

was shining
thirty,

intellectually.

not yet

but had found time already

to divorce

two husbands.
like to

^^What I

most about American wo-

men," she said

me and

to her disciples, ''is

the courage they have in discarding their

husbands.

Why

should a

woman
?

continue

to live with a

man whom

she finds to be not

"

her intellectual companion

fine,

Her pose was

and mur-

as she uttered these words,

murs of appreciation arose

''Few

among her hearers.

in-

men

are

women's companions

tellectually,"

I said,

having listened to as

much
only

as I

could without replying

"The

men who

are the companions of intelare half-baked poets, sopho-

lectual

women

mores, and degenerates.

Normal men,

nice

men,
i68

intelligent

men, never talk the tomfool-

ery

women want

to talk about.

They
sit

are

too busy with things worth while to

down

and ponder over the gyrations

In
fact,

of their souls.

they don't have to worry over their

all.

souls at

They

are strong and healthy,

and

live their useful lives

without taking time

to store their heads with all the nonsense

women
them

do."
forty

Those

women

breathed heavily.

To

I represented

freedom and
I

intellect-

ual advancement,

and here

was smashing

their ideals unmercifully.

I pretended not

to notice the efifect of

my

words, and con-

tinued
**If

real

you expect

men

of

any nationality
souls,

to

sit

down and

talk to

you about your

you

will find

them disappointing.

As

for

American women, they are as

you as a dog from a
bird.

different

from

Whatever they do

cannot affect you. They are a different stock

altogether.

Will you

tell

me what you

are

working

for specifically?"

''Freedom to chose our husbands, and

169

-JjUU>i>
freedom to go about with
the president answered.

men

as

we

like,"

''We want

to

go about the world unchap-

eroned and free

if

to travel all over the

world

we

choose," another answered.

last

The

speaker was a

girl

barely eight-

een years old, and beautiful with a beauty

the East alone can produce.
openly.
I

laughed

"My

dear child," I said, ''you could not

all

go alone for half a day without having

sorts of things

happening
just

to you."

"But
torted.

that

is

what

I want," she relife,

"I

am

tired of

my humdrum

when such
in

delicious things as one reads of

books might be happening to me."

This

girl in

her youth and simplicity was

really revealing the cause of their

malady.

They were

all

fed on French novels.

"Even American women, when

they are

young, do not go about with men unchap-

eroned as you think," I said, "nor do they

travel alone with

men,

at

any

age.

Of course

170

there are American

women who
good

are com-

pelled to go about alone a

deal,

because

they are earning their

own

living;

but they

only do this because they have

to.

As

to

what Zeybah Hanoum

vorcing their
afraid she
is

said about their di-

husbands frequently,

am

looking at American civilization

side.

from the seamy

there are

do not deny that

American women who have parted

with decency, and

whom

one divorce more

or less does not affect; but the really nice

American women have as much horror

divorce as any well-bred European

of

woman."
^^I

Zeybah Hanoum here interrupted me.

beg your pardon, but
I

have read in the

American papers that a woman may divorce

her husband in the morning,

and marry
no other

again in the afternoon.

Also, that

reason for divorce

is

required than that she

does not wish to continue to live with him.

It is called 'incompatibility of temper.'

believe"

here the learned lady threw back

171

her head, and turned to the rest of her audi-

ence

^'

that a nation that has such laws has

for those

them not

who have

parted with
in order to

decency, but for the nice

women,

help them to rid themselves of undesirable

husbands.
that a

I hear that the courts proclaim

woman may

not only get rid of her

husband, but that the husband shall continue

to support her.

Can you

tell

me

after that

that
I

America does not uphold divorce?"

was rather staggered by her argument,

although I knew that fundamentally she was

mistaken.

^^What you say

mitted;
^^but

is

true, in

a way," I adnice

the fact remains that

American women do
criminate divorcing."
''

not believe in indis-

Oh,

well, there are

always backward woI

men

in every country.

was

told

by an

American

lady, once, that not to

be divorced
till

nowadays was the exception. And wait

the

women have
grant

the

power

to vote.

That

is

the one thing the

to

American men are afraid

that

women, because they know

172

.^OU/^
then

women

will

make laws

to suit

them-

selves."
I did not ask

Zeybah

Hanoum how much

farther

women

could go, with the ballot, than

she thought they already had gone, in the

home

of the free.

was very sorry

for the

women who were under

them inexperienced,
of the subject.
^^

her influence, beall

cause most of them were young and

so I took

of

up another

side

Let's leave American

women

alone then,

since ism,

you

will only believe the yellow journal-

and come

to

your

own

affairs.

really think that

by having

six

Do you women kill

lesson."

themselves you will accomplish anything?"

*'

At any rate, we shall teach men a

^^And that is?"

"That we

are capable of going to any

lengths to get what

we want. Woman

is

power to-day!"

"But do you think you can bring about

what you want by
are a great
violent

methods? There
be-

many among your men who

173

lieve that their

women
So

should be free to choose

husbands, and to educate themselves

far

as they like.

you have been given

music and
art.

privileges in studying

Little

by

little

other things will come. But

remem-

ber, that to

one

woman who

thinks as you do

there are a

hundred who

don't.''

'^They are blind, and we wish to open their

eyes.
It is

our duty

in the

name

of hu-

manity.

We

owe

this to the Progress of the

World," Zeybah announced

*^

oratorically.

Since you have descended to Duty," I

said with

some

heat,

^^I

suppose you are

capable of anything cruel and unkind."

At

this point a lady

visitor, like

me

who was an

instructress in a girls' seminary,

though she was the daughter of a rich man,

quietly put in: '^Zeybah

Hanoum,

I should
it

like to hear the lady tell us

how

she thinks

would be wise

to proceed.

She knows our

have, and our

ways, what privileges

shortcomings."

we now

*'Yes, yes," several voices cried.

174

*^

Since you do not like your system,

it

al-

though

seems to
it is

me

admirable on the

whole,

only right that you should be

to.

allowed to live your lives as you want

Only you must go about

it

in a sensible

way,

and take

into consideration the others

it.

who

are involved in

For example, I should

think that you ought to tear

down
!

that ban'

ner of

'

Down

with the Old Ideas

*

and put

up

another, reading:

Respect for the Old

!

Ideas,

Freedom

to the

New

'

Then, instead

of closeting yourselves together

like imitation

and behaving

French Anarchists, you ought

in the open.

to
all

have your meetings

Since you

wear your

veils,

you can

invite the

men
more

who

are sympathetic to your movement, to

it.

take an interest in

Little

by

little,

men

will

come,

and

also

more women.

Really, your troubles are not so serious as

those of

European women, because under

the laws of the

privileges

Koran women have many

in other countries.

unheard of

The

Mussulman system

is

very

socialistic.

What
175

^01*^^
you want
is

to

be
it,

free to

mingle with men.

it,

Since you want

you had better have

overrating
the

though you

are

privilege.

There

is

a great deal of poetry and a great

deal of

charm
it,

in

your system; but

like
it.

if

you

don't like

you don't
;

You

will all

be mothers some day bring up your sons

the

in

new

thought, and thus gradually you will

bring about the change."

^^But you are spoiling our society," the
president cried.

''What

is

the object of

it if

not to push things along fast?"

*'I

do not agree with you," the quiet lady

''

said.

I believe in

what the foreign Hanoum

has just said.

rational
''

We ought to go about this in a

manner."
I

Do

understand that you do not approve

the president asked,

of our association?"
bristling up.

''Not in the least; but I do not believe in

the bloody demonstration you proposed."

Thereupon arose a discussion which

the whole afternoon.

lasted

The

president

was

176

vehemently
six of the

in favor of her plan for

kill

having
of

members

themselves.

Most

the

others,

however,

encouraged by

the

moral support they received from

me and

from the quiet

lady, finally admitted that

they did not wish to die. Yet that they would

unhesitatingly have committed suicide,

had

the club decided on the plan, and had the lot

fallen to them, I

have not the

of

slightest doubt,

knowing the nature

I do.

Turkish

women
I

as

Just as the meeting

was breaking up

was

much surprised to have Houlme come me and ask me if I should like to meet the young woman whom Halil Bey was to marry
very
to in

two weeks.

had had no inkling

that she

was

at the meeting, or

even that she held adI

vanced views. Naturally

to

was most anxious

know

her,

and as

it

happened that we were

going a good part of the

way home

in the

same

direction, she invited

me

to drive with to the

her in her

brougham

until

we came

parting of the ways.

She was a very pretty

177

brunette, with large violet eyes,

lovely, kissable

and such a
pri-

mouth but

what a

cieuse
*^I

suppose you are very busy over your

I said to her.
interests

coming marriage,"

**My marriage

me

very

little,

mademoiselle,'' she replied coldly.

I think of
it

**In fact,
It is

as

little

as possible.

not a

love-match, you know, but an arranged affair."

''

But your future husband

is

young, handfeel

some, and a well-educated nobleman. I

certain that

you

will find in

him your
''So

ideal."

''Indeed!" she snapped.

that
to
all

you think

man

has to have, to be acceptable

is

a young woman,

youth, good looks, and

education?"

"What

else?"

"A

beautiful

mind," she

said,

as

pom-

pously as Zeybah

spoken.

Hanoum herself might have "I wish my husband to understand

Kant and Schopenhauer and
I wish
all

the world of

the great thinkers.

him

to treat

me

178

^yu
as
if I,

too,

had a mind capable

of soaring
life.

above the sordid conditions of our daily

Do

you think, when

am

married, that I

am

likely to find in Halil

Bey a man me on these subjects? No! he will tell me that I am beautiful, and that he loves me. As if
to speak to
his paltry love

mattered in
it

this great

world."
to him,

"I should think

and
^^

would matter

to you."

Excuse me, mademoiselle, but are you

not taking rather a commonplace view of

happiness?"
*'

Perhaps I am. But I might learn to apif

preciate a high-minded one

it

were ex-

plained to me."

"I should

like a

husband who would

forget

his petty personality,

and me as

well;

who
is

would

realize that the greatest love of all

intellectual

companionship.

The

other kind

of love

is

good enough

for the inferior class of

people,

whose only participation

in the great

world
race."

is

their part in the perpetuation of the

179

''How do you know

that your future hus-

band
as

is

not animated by the same noble ideas

I asked,

you are?"

though I had no such

hope myself.
''Quite impossible!

Our men

are incapalife,

ble of appreciating such high ideals of

since they allow their

women

so

little free-

dom."

By

the time I parted from Halil Bey's

fiancee I
if

was

so filled

up with high

ideals that

Houlm^ Hanoum had

same
Bey!"

talked any

more

in

the

line I should have gone mad. " Poor

Halil

I kept thinking to myself. I

Once home

had

to rush to

my room

to

get ready to dine with the

men. The Valide

followed me.
" Yavrouniy

what
I

will

you wear to-night?"

"Dear me!
of that.
I

have not had time to think

have not a dinner gown with me.

I suppose a little white

lawn

will

have to

do."

"I have thought

several

all

about

it,

and

have

gowns

for

you

to choose from.

As

i8o

JJ1^JJ=>
soon as your bath has been given to you,

come

to me.''

In her apartment I found a bevy of

all

women
all
fell

anxious to help in

my

attiring.

Of

the

beautiful clothes displayed the choice

on

a lovely brocade which the Valide had worn

in years

gone by. With the help of the wives

and

several of their slaves,

and with jewelry

enough

to start a goldsmith's shop, I

was

made ready

for the extraordinary occasion.

When
if

they were through with

for sale,

me I

looked as

were

and said

so.

*^I

do hope, yavroum,^^ the Valide said

''that

piously,

you

will

find

your master

there."
^^

Allah bayouk!^^ murmured several wo-

men, with bowed heads.

The

Valide conducted

me

to the

mabeyn,

or dividing line between the haremlik

selamlik,

and

where Selim Pasha himself was

waiting for me, arrayed in his uniform.

rest of the guests

The

were

in

European

clothes,

and

after the introductions

were over,

I told

i8i

them
to

that a few of

them

at least
for

would have

approach the Valide

my

hand, otherall

wise she might fear that she had not done

in her

power

to

make me charming.
interesting one; ininteresting

The dinner was a very

deed, I believe
it

was the most

one

I have ever been to. of

Contrary to the opinion

most people who do not know them, the

attractive

Turks are very

frank, chivalrous,
to

men.
all,

They

are

and above

considerate

women. They

also possess a keen sense of

their

humor, and enjoy a joke even at

expense.

own

They

are good talkers, and pretty

well informed.

Though

it

was

after eleven o'clock

all

when

returned to the haremlik,

slaves were sitting

the ladies

and

up

to see

me

return from

the remarkable adventure of dining with a

dozen men.
'*Well,

yavroum?^^ the Valide

said.

''Oh! I think some of them

for

will

ask you

my

hand.

Don't you worry, Valide."

She was beaming with happiness.

182

"And
Pasha
if

Valide," I said, after a

little

more

talk, ''not to

trouble you again, I asked Selim

to Halil

might speak

Bey again

to-

morrow morning'

in the garden,

and he gave
engagement

me

permission.
is

And

since

my

with him

at half-past eight, I think I will

wish you good-night."

The
there,

next morning, though I was on time

I

in the garden,

found Halil Bey already

to hear all

and very impatient

about

his fiancee.

''Tell

me," he cried

out, as

soon as we had

shaken hands, "is she beautiful?"

"Very," I answered; "but,
she
is

my

poor boy,

crazy over

Kant and Schopenhauer."

"Who
quick,

are they?" he bellowed, thunder

in his voice

and
I will

fire in his eyes.

"Tell

me

and

draw every drop

of blood

from

their veins."

"I have no doubt that

in a fist-to-fist en-

counter you would have the best of them, but

they are both dead and gone, and only their

miserable books are

left to fight

against."

183

^'Oh!" he laughed, ^Ms that

I can take care of that."
It

all?

I think

was

my

turn to laugh. ''Halil Bey, you

have read Xyrano de Bergerac'?"

He
'^

nodded.
Christian answered

You remember what

when Cyrano was

par tous

trying to coach him: *Et

les diables, je saurais

toujours la

prendre entre mes bras.^

however.
listen to
till

It did

not work

Now,
me!

if

you want

to

be happy,

Devote your time from now

your marriage-day to those two writers.

as

Memorize

much

of

them as you

can.

When

your bride comes home, and you raise

her veil and see her face, be a Spartan.

Don't make love

she
is

to her; don't tell her that

beautiful.

Just talk Kant, recite Scho-

penhauer, and give her every kind of tomfoolery about your soul that
of,

you can think

provided
all

it

sounds highfaluting enough.

Buy

the works of Maeterlinck

till

and make

her read them to you

Tell her that she
is

she

is

ready to drop.

to

remain

for

you the

ideal

184

.D^jsj^
companion, the complement of your
soul,

and any other

your head. She
has
all

silly

thing that comes into

will help

you along;

for she

that at the tip of her tongue.

is

Before
it

a month

over, she will

be sick of

and

crazy for you.

love to her as
Halil

Then

fire

ahead and make

much

as you

want

to."

Bey looked anything but

enthusiastic

over the course I had

so I
I

mapped

out for him;

had

to repeat
his

most of the conversation

had had with

**I

unknown

lady-love.
''I

am

going to Russia soon,'' I ended.

in

shall

be back

about
tell

six

weeks.
all

Come
it."

to

my

hotel then

and

me

about

To
had
from
I

leave Selim Pasha's household for a

minute: other events more important to

quite driven Halil

me

Bey and

his fiancee

my mind before I returned from Russia.

getting ready to sail for

was

America when

Halil
'*

Bey came

to see

me.

Hallo,

Boy!"

said.

'^How

is

the

pr^cieuse?^^

i8s

"She

is

dead!" he answered simply.

^^Halil!

I stared at him.
killed

you have not

her?"
I,

"Not

but Kant and the other fellow did.

;

And now
see

hurry up
wife.

want you
is

to

come and

my

little

She

waiting for you."

In

less

than an hour our carriage brought

us to Halil Bey's residence, where a very

charming hostess was waiting.

her arms around

She threw

my

neck and kissed me.

"Mademoiselle, I think you are a happiness-giver."

"And
"It
is

don't you think that his love

little

and

your love matter a

in this

world?"

the only thing that does matter,"

she answered, while her violet eyes were

looking, not at

me

but at Halil Bey.

But

to return to the Suffragettes.

The most
that they

noticeable thing about

them was

were attracted only by the worst features of

our Western civilization.
ion at that time
It

was

my

opin-

although recent

political

i86

events do not seem to have borne

that

me

out

Turkey would be

better off without any

influx of

European thought.
the

That

Turks gain nothing from the

missionaries
belief.

we send them
begin with,

is

still

my

firm

To

we send them men

who

are ignorant of the history of Turkey,

as of the nature of the Turk,

men who
been
in

are

narrow and bigoted.

aries,

Two

of these mission-

who had

for three years

Asia

Minor, came home in the same steamer with

me.

They were
was

of different sects,

and were

not on speaking terms with each other.

I

talking with one of them,

and found

that he hated the

Turks

as heartily as the

Master whose gospel he had gone out to

teach

commanded

us to love one another.

for

There was nothing too bad

him

to say

about their morals and their

asked him
if

religion.

he understood Turkish.
I find their lan-

'^No, indeed, I do not.

guage very much

like the people."

How did he manage to talk with the Turks ?

187

*^I

had an

interpreter, of

an Armenian who

was a convert
placently.
^'

mine," he explained com-

What was he before you converted him ? "

I asked, amused.

The man was

too small to

be angry with.
*^He was an Armenian, naturally," he an-

swered sharply.
''I

thought Armenians were Christians,"

I ventured.

*'0h,

well,

their

Christianity

does not

amount
real
*^

to

much.

We have to teach them the

I
in-

meaning

of the Saviour's words."

Brotherly love and tolerance?"

thinking
of

quired,

the other

missionary

aboard.
presently

I received

no reply

to this,

and

asked:

''Did you get to

know
there

many Turks?"
''No.
to

They avoided
I

us as

if

we went

do them harm.

knew some fishermen

hope that the example

and vendors.

I only

of our cleanly lives will help

for

some

of

them;
will

we can never preach

to

them: they

i88

not come to hear

us.

I shall write a

book on

Turkey

as soon as I

am

rested.''

He was a fair class of men who

and
uplift her.

average specimen of the

go to Turkey to educate

With few exceptions these

missionaries are even ignorant of the fact

that

Turkey

is

a country with a great past,

and with a

literature of its

own comparable

to that of Greece.

The most discouraging thing about Turkey

is

that, while the old-fashioned

Turk

is

man on whose
as soon as a

integrity

you may depend,

Turk becomes Europeanized

qualities,

he loses

his

own good

without obas the

taining those of the

West

exactly
is

American Indian
ferent

does.
his

He

so vitally difis

from

us,

and

mind

so naif

and

unspoiled, that the result of contact with our

sophisticated thought
is

very harmful.

I to

agree with

Houlme

that

Turkey ought

work out her own

I

salvation.

When

she does,

do not believe that she

state,

will

be found be-

hind any Christian

on account of the
189

.ilUL>
cardinal virtues which the Turkish race possesses.

Her rehgion has

That
it

as sublime thoughts

as ours.

has kept the race practically

for

abstainers

from drink
its

nearly

twenty

centuries testifies to

strength.

In

my
is

enthusiasm for Turkey I do not

wish to be understood as implying that Tur-

key

perfect, or that all her

customs are

beyond reproach, or that the Turks do not

need
are
**

elevating."

On

the contrary, there

to

many things about them which

and which
qualities.

me are

hateful,
their

I cannot reconcile with

good

One

incident which I

witnessed in Selim Pasha's household, just

before I
left
it,

makes me shudder even now

to think of
it.

when

happen

It

concerned

the pasha's eldest son and his wife, for whose

arrival I

had been

invited to

remain a few

days longer.

VIII

THE LOVE OF NOR-SEMBAH AND HAKIF BEY

On
and
the day of their arrival

we

rose earlier

than usual to help decorate the house. Roses

lilacs in great quantities

were sent

in

by

numerous households

of the vicinity.

The

old family brocades were thrown over the

chairs.

Silk rugs

were gracing the balusBig

branches of

trades

and bannisters.

leaves decorated the walls of the vestibule,

while pots of gay flowers placed on either

side of the staircase
festive

added

to the generally
all

appearance of the house. Also,

of the household,

the

members
to the

from the Valide

were dressed

most

insignificant slave,

in gala costume.

Immediately after the midday meal, and

in

spite of the heat, while Selim Pasha's other

two wives and

I,

with their slaves, were drink191

ing cooling drinks, dressed in the thinnest of

garments, the Valide and Djimlah and several of their slaves took their seats in the large

springless carriage,
soft cushions,

made comfortable
to

with

and went

meet the expected

members

of the family.
later

few hours

the young wife

was

brought to the house, not in the springless

wagon, nor yet

chair.

in a

brougham, but
felt at this

in a

sedan

The

surprise I

was

greatly

increased by the sight of the young

man

whom I rightly took to be her husband,

ing in the heat

walk-

by the

side of her chair, bareif

headed, his fez in his hand, almost as

he

were following the dead.

the young wife the household
I

had known that

festive air of

was

ill,

but the

had deceived me, even though

putting on their

knew the Turkish custom of

gayest attire at the death of their dear ones.

Yet on the countenance

of this fezless

youth

there could be no dissimulation of his sorrow.

Though we were
the young wife,

all

quite anxious to see

whose beauty was renowned,

192

.liXsjS:'
we had
to

be content with the announcement

that she

would see some of us on the morrow.

I

That evening, when

went

into Djimlah's

apartment, I found her nursing the young

baby
her
little

of

Nor-Sembah Hanoum, and heard

these words:

murmuring

"You

poor

fading blossom, you dear bedraggled

lamb, they even forget you, do they ? I will

be mother

to you, little

blossom of Allah."
till

I sat quietly waiting

the slave should

after
it

come

to take

away the baby,

should

be fed, knowing the superstition Turkish wo-

men have about

being distracted

when they

are performing this duty of motherhood.

''Djimlah," I asked,

when she was

at lib-

erty to talk to me, *^why

were you nursing

ill

that

baby?

Is the

mother very

indeed?"

"111!" Djimlah cried; "she

is

is

dying.

He

killing her."

"Who
surprise
tell

is

killing

her?"

I asked.

Djimlah's big blue eyes looked at

me

in

and wonder.

"Did not

the Validd

you?"
193

"No."
''Then I must
tell

you everything from the

beginning so that you

right.

may understand
is

it

Hakif Bey

that

the Valide's son

visiting the

met Nor-Sembah when she was

Valide,
ther's.

who

is

a distant relative of her motime, although she

At that

was

four-

teen and had already taken Icharchaf, which

made her a woman,

like that

she was so

frail

and

child-

one was apt to regard her as not

Besides, Hakif

grown up.

Bey had always

to

been absolutely indifferent

women, and
if

no one thought any harm could happen

he

came

into his mother's apartments, as he

in the habit of doing.

had

always been

He was

devoted to the Valide, and his greatest pleasure was to spend an hour reading to her or
talking with her.

In these meetings he met

fell

Nor-Sembah and

so violently in love with

her that the Valide had to keep the child day

and night by her

side, for fear of his stealing

her and making her his own.

difficult

It

was a very
also

task,

since

Nor-Sembah was

194

in love with

Hakif and quite hard

to

man-

age."

''But

why didn't

they marry?" I asked.

''Was Hakif too young?"

"No, indeed; he was

jection

seventeen.

The

ob-

was Nor-Sembah's

delicate health.

She had inherited weak

ily,

lungs from her fam-

and her mother and the Valide did not

it

think

wise to

let

her marry so young.

They

managed to send Hakif away to Asia Minor

in

an important

position,

clever

and very

Hakif very learned, and promised

for
is

him

that at the end of a year he could have

I think

his bride.

what kept him quiet

for

the year

was not so much

all

that his position

demanded

his

attention,

though

he

acquitted himself brilliantly and the Sultan

praised

him very much,

as

the feverish

preparations he
his bride.

made

to

have a home for

He had

a lovely mansion built,

with a bath-house as pretty as that of his

mother's.

He

not only furnished the house,

but sent to Circassia and bought beautiful

195

.JJJiPys>
slaves

and dancing

girls.

Being the

first

son,

Selim Pasha gave him a handsome allowance, besides

what he made as governor. So

fervently did he

work

that at the

end of the

year everything was ready.

Meanwhile the
all

Valid^ and Nor-Sembah's mother did

they

could to

make

the girl strong.

But she was

always the same, and the doctor said that, in

addition to her
illness,

the child

was

lovesick;

so when, at the end of the year, Hakif

was

here claiming her, they married them.

ought to have seen him when he arrived.

You He

was

like

a hungry wolf.

They could hardly

keep him out of the haremlik.

^*

Many months

passed after they married

and went

to Asia Minor, but not a

finally

word was

heard from them; and

Selim Pasha

himself went there to find out what was hap-

pening.

When

he came back, he said

though he does not give his

that
*

opinions often
You

the children were loving each other too

to think of Allah or parents.'
it

much
196

know, yavroum,

is

not right that mortals

should love so

fiercely.

Evil spirits get jeal-

ous and cast the

lah,

evil eye.''

Thus

said

Djim-

educated in Western

literature, yet in her

*'If

heart as Eastern as any.

he had loved

her less she might have found strength in his

love,

instead of death.

When word came

blessed with Allah's
to

that

Nor-Sembah was
and was about
cries in

greetings

be a mother, there

were tears and

two households; for

the doctor had said that a child would

mean

death to the
father was

frail

mother.

Nor-Sembah's

wild, because she

was

his only

daughter, and he loved her as one loves the

blood of one's veins.

He

stormed and raged

and
right

insisted that

Nor-Sembah be brought
But that was impossible,
;

back

to him.

since

Nor-Sembah could not be moved and

would Hakif

besides, for nothing in the world

allow any one to be near her. Zafar Pasha

that
child

is

her father

took the doctors that

for and went

Hakif had sent to Constantinople

with them to Asia, and insisted that after the

was born she should be brought

here.

197

'*

Young people
years'

are crazy!" Djimlah, of

experience,

twenty-four

interrupted

her story to exclaim with scornful emphasis.

'^Do you know that both Nor-Sembah and

Hakif grudge every minute they give

one except each other?
look at her child.

to

any

She does not even

say that the

One would

glorious sun rises and sets in Hakif Bey."

"

But would

it

not have been better for the

girl to

have stayed at home, since she had

I asked.

good medical treatment?"

''

It

might,

if

they could have been trusted,"

Djimlah answered; ^^but they were brought

here because they are going to be separated."

^'What?"

I almost screamed.

^'Yes," Dijmlah said quietly, ''they are

going to separate them, and I

am
it

going to
with

take care of the child and nurse

little

my

one."

''To separate them simply because they

love each other," I repeated, horrified;
it is

"why,

inhuman."
first

For the
198

time during

my

sojourn in the

harems

had

to face Oriental barbarism.

almost hated them, and the laws that gave to

parents such power over their children.
'^

It

may seem inhuman to

you, but

it is

the

only

human

thing to do, under the circum-

stances," Djimlah

went on, unruffled.

^^

When

man

does not

know how

to love his wife,

then the parents have to come in and teach

him.

Anyway, Nor-Sembah was born

a
lily,

to

be

fairy,

not a wife.

She

is

a woman's

breath, not a real

woman.

Allah, one spring

day, must have

made

a beautiful dream, and

out of that vision must have

;

come Nor-Semfor the earth.

bah but she was never created

She
is

so wonderful that you

want
her,

to

pray

before her.

Wait

till

you see

you who

worship beauty, and

who

think that Aishe

Hanoum and
separation?"

I are beautiful."
will

"But, Djimlah, dear,

he consent to the

''He will have

to.

They

are going to

make

him marry a widow

slave of about thirty-five.

Word

has been sent out already to the vari199

JJ1pjJ=>
ous harems, and by to-morrow pretty slaves
will

be coming
it

in."
kill

''But

might

Nor-Sembah

to

have
is

him take another

wife, since she, too,

so

much

in love with

him."

"No,

indeed, because she

knows

that

it is

only a temporary marriage.

At the end

of a

year Hakif will be separated from the slave,

giving her a stipulated

sum

of

money, and

then he will again be given back his wife

stronger by that time,
let

is

us hope.

That

why
five,

they give

him a woman

of about thirtyto

so that there will be

no children

make

the marriage binding."

''And
of

will

he consent to

this

most Oriental

arrangements?" I could not help asking.

"He
to

will

have
is

to,"

was the

decisive reply.
either

" Everything

arranged.

He will

have

do

this,

or his marriage will be annulled.

The
I

old people have seen to everything."

was

so

much

disgusted

that

I could

hardly keep from telling Djimlah what I

thought of the whole arrangement.

200

"Don't be a sentimental

fool, little blos-

som," she adjured me. " What the old people

want

to

do

is

to save her

and him,

if

they can.

Besides, he

must learn

to love his wife for her

not

for himself alone, as

he

is

doing now."
distressing

That night
nightmares.

had the most

Now I

dreamed

that I

was Norand

Sembah, and again that I was the

sometimes I was both in one.

slave,

I never welI

comed

the daylight with

more pleasure than

At the same

did the next morning.

felt for

time, I

the

first

time in

my relations
to

with the

Turks
I

that I

was glad not

be one of them.
about

was very impatient

I

to see the girl

whose happiness
After I had had

was so much concerned.

Kondj^
Valid^

"Is
asked.

my bath and breakfast, me in a semi-whisper that the invited me to go to her sitting-room. Hanoum Nor-Sembah there?" I
told
to her

Kondje put her brownish hands

breast

and exclaimed: "Oh! honored Hawill love her

!

noum, how you

you, who, like

20I

"

,ZJUU>i>
us,

love beautiful people so much."

if

She

opened her eyes wide, as

to accentuate

what

she was going to say next, and extended her

hands upwards as she did when

''

in prayer.

She

is

a white jasmine
!

She

is

the morning
!

dew on the roses She

Kondje was
of
really so

is

Allah's

own prayer

moved

at the thought

Nor-Sembah's beauty that she was trem-

bling.

went down

to the

garden and carefully

chose the prettiest rose I could find, and

with

my

little

offering

went

into the sitting-

room.

The
sented

Valide rose from her seat near the

to greet

girl

and came over

me.

First she pre-

me

to the girPs mother, then to the

girl herself,

lying

on her couch, and then to

sitting

Hakif Bey, who was

by the

side of his

wife, holding her hand.

went

to the couch, took

one of the young

it,

woman's hands, and

rose.

kissed

giving her

my

She smiled

at

me, without saying a

word. I took a seat near her, and do what I

202

could,
her.

it

was impossible

for

me not to

stare at

Djimlah had said the

to

truth, the child

seemed

be of divine

origin.

Her beauty

was quite unearthly.

could become

I could see

how one
though

mad

for love of her,

she was not really a

woman

even now, being

undeveloped, like a child. Standing up she

would probably have been

taller

than the

average, but lying on her couch she looked so

fairy-like, so frail!

Her

skin

was so

trans-

parent that her veins showed in fine blue

lines.

Her eyes were very

jet

large

and almond-

shaped, and shaded by

black lashes. Her

nose and mouth were of pure Greek modelling

indeed, there was not one flaw

in her

to

be

found

appearance. She was dressed in

a soft brocade of cream color, embroidered in

pale blue flowers.

Though
there
her.

knew

that

she was quite

ill

was nothing

of the sick person about

at the

Her gown was cut low

neck

in

V-form, displaying her delicate throat, which

was

like the

stem of a flower, as the Valid6

203

JJXpjJ:^
put
it.

Her wavy, blue-black

hair, in

two

long braids, lay on her breast.

The longer
ized that

looked at her the more I realreally

what

made

her so beautiful
ex-

was neither her wonderful skin nor the

quisite modelling of her face,
like candor,

but a flower-

and an indescribable purity that

personality.

emanated from her whole

It

has always been a mystery to

me that the

Turks,
as

who can produce such

types of purity

we can

hardly conceive of in our Western

civilization,

should be supposed by us to be

voluptuous and sensual. Quite often, in looking at certain children of the Latin

and Anglo-

Saxon

races, I find myself

wondering what

kind of love could have given them birth, so

animal-like are they in expression

and dechild

portment.
it

With the ordinary Turkish

is

quite different.

Often on meeting a
little girls,

group of them, and especially of

I have stopped and watched them with pleasure,

because they looked so pure, so simple,

all

above

so childlike.

204

-ZUfi.;^
One day when
happened
flected

was wondering on

this

subject, I asked the Valide, with

to be,

whom

whether the children

re-

the fathers or the mothers more.

is

''A child
ther,''

neither

its

father nor

its

mo-

she

answered me.

'Xhildren are

either the products of the highest type of love

a divine conception almost or of an

tellectual love

in-

almost as high; or
or,

else

they

are mere animal creations,

results of evil

lower

yet, the

and voluptuous

desires."

tion of
it all

The Latin races will talk of the sexual relamen and women in a way to take from
sanctity, all poetry, all

romance.

The The

Anglo-Saxons seldom touch on the subject,

for
it is

something not to be mentioned.

high-minded Oriental, differing from both,

will

speak of

it

freely, either

with reverence,

as one does of religion, or with poetic feeling, as one does of the coming of the spring or

the babbling of the brook. It

is

to

him

either

big and overwhelming, as one's faith toward

one's God, or lighter, but very exquisite.

205

.JJULg,^>
The
Valide, that day, while

we

sat

amid

the pine trees, spoke about

human
if

love with

a mysticism and reverence as

she were in

the presence of the great Allah in

believed so fervently.

whom

she

Whether her

ideas were

taken from some Eastern book or belief of

which I had never heard, or whether they

were her own, I do not know.

"When

two human beings come together,

yavroum, some motive brings them together.

Generally the motive
every other thing in
highest of
all is
is

love; but love, like

life,

has

its

degrees.

The

the unconscious offering of

one's heart, not to the

individual, but to the

man or the woman as an man or woman as the

earthly incarnation of the deity of love. This

is

the highest love, and the children that

spring from that love must be perfect. This

must have been the way we were

first

created,

and the mortal

sin

which our ancestors comforgot this

mitted, I believe,

was when they

conception of love and degraded what was

once a divine conception into a mere physical

206

relation.

However, I believe that we

still

retain the divine spark within us,

it

and that

may be

rekindled,

and that the children

born from such a perfect love are our perfect

human

beings.

Such a birth must have had

all

our prophet, and your prophet, and

the

prophets that have lived in the history of the

world.

'*But the majority of people marry from

motives other than the highest love. If these motives be social or mercenary, the children

born from such unions are the indifferent hu-

man beings one sees. There are motives even

baser,

and from these we have the moral and

physical cripples. Perhaps this thought

may

have been

in the

minds

of the ancient

Greeks

when they condemned

children to death.

the physically crippled

cripples they

The moral

could not know

till

they grew up."

This conversation with the Validd came

back

to

me

as I

was looking

in speechless

admiration at the exquisite beauty of Nor-

Sembah. From

my revery the sick girl's voice

207

awakened me.

It

was the voice one might

have expected from such a perfect creature.

*^The Valide
will
tells
little

me

that

if

I ask you,

you

read

me

of the

French poetry."

From under
of Victor

her pillow she drew a volume

''Feuilles

Hugo's

d'Automne," and
I

thus, thanks to

French poetry,

saw a

little

more
While

of the girl than I otherwise should. I

was reading

to her, the
It

young husmight have

band
been

sat

watching his wife.

my

imagination, but I had the feeling

that the intensity of his gaze tired her, that

had he gone out she would have rested

better.

The
bah

next day I went to read to Nor-Sem-

again, as I

had promised. In the

were the two

sitting-

room, on

this day, there

fathers,

in addition to the

two mothers and the young

husband. I started to leave the room, when

I

saw them

all there,

but the Valide and the

to stay,

young wife asked me

and though,

afterwards, I would have given a good deal

not to have been there,

it

was

my

fate to

be

208

present at the only disagreeable scene I wit-

nessed during

my

stay

among
to

the harems,

and one which seemed

me

quite at vari-

ance with their great ideas of love.

A buxom,

good-looking slave came into the

room, magnificently dressed, and offered us

some sweets from a

With the exception

tray she

was

carrying.
all

of

Hakif Bey we

took

some, and Nor-Sembah raised her head a

little

and followed with her eyes the moveslave.

ments of the

Hakif Bey not only did

not take any sweets, but while the slave was

in the

room kept

his eyes fixed

on the garden.

Nor

did he turn his head once, while slave

after slave
texts.

came into

the
all

room on various prehad come and gone,

At

last,

when

like dress

models in a Parisian shop, Selim

to his son

Pasha came up
in his
'^

and taking

his chin

hand looked
like,

into his eyes.

As you

my son,

as

you

like,"

he said.

^^

If

you do not choose

for yourself,

we shall be
like,

compelled to choose for you. As you

say again.''

209

Hakif Bey's face was dark with resentment.

^'

Why do you expect me to want another wife,

is filled

when my heart
but

with one only ? I shall

to
:

do what you want

let

me

I shall go

away

another

me at least go alone. Why must I have woman?" "Because her womanly sympathy may
the year of waiting easier for you," the

make
older
is

man

said, very kindly indeed.

''There

no need,

my

boy, for your ever seeing her.

is

But the human heart

sympathy.

weak and craves

for

We want to provide against that."

to reply angrily.

Hakif Bey was about

One

could see that from his face, and from the

way he drew
hand.

his

head away from

his father's

But here Nor-Sembah

interfered.

With a quick movement she

his shoulder

laid her

head on
in

and took one

of his

hands

hers, while with the other she grasped the

older man's robe.

''Father," she implored, "let

little

Norher

Sembah choose

for her lord. It will

make

so very happy to find

him a good woman who

2IO

will

be near him while she

is

getting stronger.
it,

I will take

some days about

it is

and

I will

make
will

sure that
it,

a good
little

woman

but I
man
to a

do

father; trust

Nor-Sembah!"

wShe

smiled so sweetly and so bravely that

older

knew her cause was won. The

and
left

kissed her

the room.

That afternoon
shrine where she

went with the Valide

to pray.

was going

With us

was only one other

After the prayer

slave besides the eunuch.

to

was over we went

little

brook

to

have our luncheon, while the horses

After luncheon the slave lay

were

resting.

down under a

big tree and went to sleep, and

little

the eunuch drew off a

way, yet keeping

us under his protecting eye.

I took off our shoes
feet in the brook,

The

Valide and

and stockings and put our and then took our work
to sew.

from our bags and began

Turkish

Thus do

the

women

often

sit

for hours at a time.

*^What do you think of

my

boy, Hakif

Bey?" she
stitches

asked, after she had taken a few

on her embroidery.
211

"I think he

is

a splendid fellow," I an-

swered sincerely.
^'Does he look to you as
his earthly sorrow like a
**

if

he could stand

man?" Do you mean the cruel separation you are

him?"
little

all
**

preparing for

I asked, hotly.

There! there!

one, don't get excited.

We

are doing our best."

''Suppose," I cried, indignantly, "suppose

the girl dies while he
is

away

what then?"
down
in her lap,
die, little

The

Valid^ laid her work

clasped her hands together, and said, ever so

quietly:

''Nor-Sembah

is

going to

one; the great doctor said so two days ago."

I

was choking. "You mean

this,

to say that,

knowing

you are trying

wife,

to send
let

him

away with another

and not

them be

together during her last hours?"

''Though the great doctor said she was

going to
ing her.
die,

we

still

cling to the

hope of sav-

Sometimes even great doctors can

is

be mistaken. There
family,

gusel vereni

in the

and hers developed three years ago.

212

She was so happy when she

that for a time the disease

first

married
to

seemed

be

checked.
to her

But

the gusel vereni

came back

worse than before."

is

Gusel vereni

a disease that I have only

It is

heard of among the Turks.

akin to our

consumption, except that the patient loses

nothing of her looks, and quite often seems to

grow more beautiful as the end approaches,

whence the name, which means

decline."

^^

beautiful

Notwithstanding the Valide's reasoning, I

still

pleaded with her.

it

^'Do not send him

kill

away, Valide;
^^But

might
to

him, too."

we want

send him away to save

dies,

him.
kill

If

he stays here and she

If

he

will

himself.

he goes away, she might get

well ;

and

if

she does not,

we

will

not

tell

him
him,

for a year.

We
a

will take his child to

and he may learn

care for
life
it

to love

it,

and

for its sake

little."

''But
sisted.

is

so cruel for her," I

still

per-

213

'^No, no, yavroum, she does not suffer.

She

is

earnestly looking for a good

for

woman.
is

She never thinks

going to
die.
it;

an instant that she

will

If the

end comes, she

not

even know

for

it

comes very beautifully

and
is

quietly,

almost always

when

the patient

asleep.

All her family died like this.

She

has been very happy since her marriage, and

all

her

life

has been a sweet-scented spring."

When

the day

came

for

me

to leave the

harem, I was sorry. I wanted to stay and see

the outcome of that
little

tragedy.

I only

knew Nor-Sembah
wondered
if

slightly,

but sometimes I

she had not assumed the task

of finding a wife for her

husband only
it

in

order to gain time; or whether

idea that
little

was with the

by

little

he would get accusfor

tomed
self.

to the thought
rate,

and choose one

him-

At any

when

I left the household

later, the

to go to Russia, a

week or ten days

question was not yet settled, although she had

seen a

number

of slaves

and had had short

talks with them.

214

-jUJL>c>
My journey to Russia was very absorbing.
I

saw many strange scenes and met many

in-

teresting people; yet the

Turkish lovers were

constantly in

my

mind. Neither did I forget

them on

my

return to Constantinople in the

off to

rush of getting

America.
it

I wrote a

note to the Valide, and sent

by a messenger,

who was

to wait for

an answer. The answer

the third wife of
that both the

came from Aish^ Hanoum,

Selim Pasha,

who

told

me

Valide and Djimlah were in the Stamboul

home, where

I could

go to see them.

I broke a day's engagement,

and

set out for

Stamboul.

When
in.

reached the house, the

Valide's eunuch opened the door for

me and

ushered

me

found the Validd in her

room, but what a difference there was in her

countenance
that the girl

As soon as
was dead.

saw her

knew
arms

I threw
cry.
!

my

around her and began to

''

Don't don't,
!

my child
Maybe

Don't go against

Allah's wishes.

they are happier

than

we know. Kismet!"
2IS

jjlsj^
^'They!" I
^^

cried.

Sit

down

there,

and

I will tell you."

In a

voice which

was dry from

pain,

and absothe end of

lutely colorless, the Valide told

me

the lovers.
^^

She only lived two weeks

after

you went

away. Allah took her to him very gently, and

Hakif was

at her side.

He was

very quiet

and

dutiful.

He

went about the place

and

chose a grave for her.

sea

She was fond of the

and the pine

trees,

and he bought a piece

of land with pines overlooking the Bosphorus.

There they put her

quietly

to sleep,
it

and Hakif came

rained hard and Hakif, in the

home. That night

there

was a summer storm.

middle of that stormy dark night, and while

every one was in his

own room, perhaps

grave at the foot

thought of the lonely

little

of the pine trees overlooking the Bosphorus.

Perhaps her

spirit

came

for

him and

called

him

to her.
to sit

He saddled his horse himself, and

with his wife in her

went
''

new home.

Early in the morning the gardener found

216

.jjULo>r>
the horse, without rider, outside his door.

We
sea.

hunted for Hakif everywhere.

Then
by the

his father

and

went

to the little grave

There, lying on her grave, was Hakif,

quite, quite dead."

''He killed himself?" I whispered.

''No! no! yavroum.
after

The

doctor said that

rain,

he was drenched by the

fell

he prob-

ably

asleep on the grave,

I

and a

chill killed

him

but

know.

Allah, in his

supreme

clemency, took him to his heart, and gave him

back
ills.

his bride,

now cured from

all

earthly

And now by

the foot of the pines, overis

is

looking the Bosphorus, there

solitary little grave; for there

no longer a
another that

keeps

it

company."

This was the end of the two

love

lovers,

whose

was the cause

of their death.

Often I

find myself

dreaming of them, when heaven's

low,

lamp burns
roams
Is she

and when the imagination

into the

realm of the world beyond.

an houri now? and has he become

217

^I}\bj>
pure as the
first

man whom God

is

created?

and are they walking together

of Eden,
if

in the

Garden

that

now above?

It is unfor-

tunate that some one will always

light the lamp,

come

in to

when one's thoughts have gone

farther

and farther away, until almost one has

reached the river over which the soul alone

may

go.

But

in the

dusk the

lights

must be

lighted,

and the wandering thoughts are

di-

brought back from the boundary which

vides this world from that which
is

to

come.

The

litde

boat with Charon waiting in the

stern resolves itself into a morris chair;

and
soul

the angel
of

who was ready

to divest

my

my body

emerges from the gloom as a

bookcase, while the angePs flaming coppercolored hair

liantly
is

only the back of some brilof all the

bound book. And

musings

there only remains the thought that

I shall cross the river

some day

which the lovers have

I shall

crossed,

and that then

meet again

my

beautiful

Nor-Sembah, and know the

fate of the lovers.

IX

A DAY'S ENTERTAINMENT IN THE

HAREM
The
next to the last day of

my

visit to

Hanoum was to be devoted to a bath-party in my honor. This had been promised me before Nor-Sembah arrived,
Djimlah

and the Valide would not give

after she

it

up even

saw how

really

ill

her daughter-in-

law was.

The

Orientals have a sense of

hospitality far greater than ours.

No

sorrow

or trouble of their

own must

interfere with

the discharge of their duties as hosts.

And

although

we all

felt

the approach of the great

at the predes-

unavoidable one,

who comes

tined time to take our dear ones to a better

world,

still

they never considered relinquish-

ing the party they

It

had promised
afifair,

to give

me.
in-

was

to

be an all-day

and the

mates of several of the harems in the vicinity

219

had been
tive

invited.

That morning the

flute

plain-

sound of the Albanian

woke me up

very early.

From

the platform on which

my

bed was made

I could see the

shepherd in
hill,

his quaint clothes his flock.

It

mounting the

behind

was so

early that the light

was

grayish,

and the

hills half lost in

a violet haze.

So quiet was the world that the prat ! prat 1

prat! of the sheep's feet, advancing to the

tune of the
I left

flute,

was quite audible.

my platform and went to the window. How different life seemed to me through this
latticed

window from what

it

had seemed
!

only a short time before in

I

New York

As

watched the day creeping across the Bos-

phorus from Asia, I thought of the course

of

my

life

during the past six years. I had

worked with the Americans, studied with

them, and learned to think their ways.

And
if

after six years of hurrying, of striving as

life

counted only by the amount of work

done, of knowledge acquired, I was back

again in the calm leisure of Turkey, where

220

-JJUU>C>
eternity reigned,
to stay,

and no one hurried.

he who

Not

for I fear that

tastes of

American bustle can never again

without
it.

live for

long
I

Yet

as I stood at
to

my window

was happy

happy
to

have nothing to
for

do

happy merely
living.

live

the pleasure of

Everything around
contentment.

me breathed peace and Among the Orientals I am

West can

always overwhelmed by a curious feeling of

resigned happiness, such as the

hardly conceive

of.

was talking about the

Turks,

lately,

with

some very
it

intelligent
I fully

American men, and

was only then

realized the impossibility for the Occidental

mind, and especially for the active and

less

rest-

American mind,

to

comprehend the

Turkish temperament.
*^You cannot convince me," said one of

my American
ture
is

interlocutors, ^^that

human nait is

different in

Turkey from what

in

America."

But

that

is

exactly

what

is,

in a

measure,
221

the fact.
tals

And

to

be able to judge the Orienme, to be born among them,

a time, and to breathe the
fills

one has,

like

to live their life for

air of

contentment that
is

their

homes.

Nowhere
Deity
they
felt
tell

the idea of the greatness of the

as

among

the Orientals.
is
is

When
you

you that God

great,

and that

God
that

alone knows what

it.

good

for you,

believe

We, on the other hand,

believe

it is

for us to

choose our course, to take

with us
is

the initiative.
jutor:

God

only a coad-

''God helps those who help them-

selves," as our proverb teaches us

from

in-

fancy.

breeze shook the graceful

mimosa

trees

beneath

my

window.

The

soft,

penetrating

perfume
rose,

of that essentially Oriental flower

to

and brought

my mind

the

remem-

brance of

my

first

meeting with Djimlah,

It

before either of us was in her teens.

was

on the Bay

of the Bairam.

had gone with

on Turkish

my

father to

pay a

series of calls

dignitaries.

In one place we were received in

222

an immense garden, where we were refreshed

with sherbet and given
to take
little

baskets of sweets

home with

us.

My father and our host

discussion;
ofif

became engaged
and
I,

in a political

feeling myself unobserved, trotted

exploring.
of

Presently I
trees.

came upon a grove

mimosa

wanted some of the flowI could

ers.

They were

just out of reach.

tree,

have climbed the

but I had been told

that I should have to be careful of

if

my frock,
me
in

Papa were

to take

me with

him. As I stood

there, longing,

little girl

spoke to

Turkish
*'

like to

Would you

have some of those

flowers?"

"Yes, but I cannot reach them.

Can
I.

you?"

I asked.

She was

taller

than

"I cannot reach them

tinized me,
child,

either."

She scru-

and added: *'You are a Frank

aren't you?"

drew myself up,

my

blood boiling.

One
we

has to be born in Constantinople to understand what the word means to us.

By

it

223

designate the mongrels

who

are neither of

the Greek nor Turkish faith, and

whom

one

of our poets characterized as the bastards of

the Orient.
*'

am no Frank,"
is

I cried.

''

am a

Greek,

which

a greater race than yours."

In Turkey we learn early to defend our

nationality.

Perhaps that

is

the reason

why

the good Greek stock comes from there.

In a friendly tone the

*'It is nice to

little girl

responded

be a Greek, and not a Frank.

is

But your race

is

not so great as mine. This

my
I

country, not yours."

eight years old, but I

was only

had been

brought up on the wonders of Greece, and

knew
'21.

all

the glorious deeds of the heroes of

little girl.
I,

I glared at the
taller

She was a
but I was

Turk,

and stronger than

not afraid of her.

''You have only had

this

country a few
''It

hundred years,"
before
it

I shouted.

was mine

was

yours.

My

forefathers ruled

here

when yours were

savages.

Constanti-

224

nople

is

mine, by rights, not yours

and

what

is

more I can

lick

you."

I took a step towards her, full of militant

design.

She shook her head.

father's garden;

^^This

is

my

grandit

you are under our roof:

would not be

polite to fight you."

Oriental

children learn the holiness of hospitality as

early as
glories.

Greek children learn of

''

their past

saw you come

this

in with

your father,
too,

and when you came

to

way, I came,

make

friends.
all

You can have some

it,"

mi-

mosa
''I
*'

you

like."

cannot reach

I said,

still

sullen.

You can climb up on my back and

get it."

She leaned over against the trunk. I scrambled up on her back, and picked
flowers.
*^

many of

the

I offered her a few.

You may keep them all,"

was

she said; ''they

are yours."
I

relenting, but not very rapidly.

should have liked to be friends, had she not

reminded me that her race had defeated mine.

225

We, from the still enslaved parts of old Greece,

are born with that sore spot in our hearts.

When

it is

touched

it

hurts.

'^I will give

you

my

basket/' she went on,

^^It

holding out her

little

hand.

came from
in
it

our Patissah's palace.

lovely."
I took her

The candy

is

hand, and soberly

we walked

about the garden together.

''My name

is

Djimlah," she volunteered

presently, ''and yours?''

I told her.

"I hke you very much," she went on.

"And you?" Before we

father

reached the place where

my
for-

was

still

deep in

politics,

we had

gotten the differences with

ship

which our friend-

had begun.

She climbed up on her

grandfather's knees, and begged

him

to per-

suade

my

father to let

me

stay with her for

a few days.

The

old pasha

was an

influential

man:

my

father

was a Turkish

subject.

I stayed.

226

.jAs^pThat
same
night Djimlah and I slept in the
bed, on the floor of her grandIt
little

mother's room.
to a harem.
her,

was

my

first

introduction

After that I often stayed with

to

and came

know

other Turkish

girls,

and

visited other

Turkish harems. Notwith-

standing our different nationality and faith,

Djimlah and

became

fast friends.

Neither

time nor separation

other.

made

us forget each

While I was

lost

in

my

reminiscences,

shepherd and sheep had disappeared over

the purple hills;

and gradually

became

aware that other sounds were replacing the

melody

of the flute that

had passed beyond

door there was the

my
soft

hearing. Outside

my

padding of bare
as
if

feet,

now

approaching,

now receding,
I clapped

in

suppressed excitement.
into

my hands, and Kondje rushed

is

the room.

''What

happening, child?'' I asked.

lips,

Kondjd smacked her

profoundly.

and salaamed

''They are preparing for the

227

bath-party,

glorious

Hanoum, which
you

they

are to give to-day in your honor."

Another
will let

salaam.

^^Houri of Paradise,

if

me dress you now, and bring you your coffee, you may be ready to see the guests arrive,''
she said in coaxing tones.
^'Kondje,

my

dear, I

am

Just as anxious

to see their arrival as

you

are, so

make haste."
Kondj^
a leaf in a

While

was drinking

my

coffee,

again whirled into

hurricane,

my
:

room,

like

and

cried

my
I

''Most glorious one!

heart's

own

little

one
I.]

[She was at least six years younger than

Light of

my

pupils!

have just seen a

speck of dust over the

hilltops.

That can

only be the arriving guests."

She flashed before

my

eyes a yellow silk

It will

gown. ''See! I brought

this for you.

make your beauty

bloom

look as tender as

the

of a ripe peach."

Without more ceremony Kondj^ started

dressing me.

When

was ready, she

in-

spected

me

critically

and decided

that with

228

some red beads around my

throat

and hair

I should be as attractive as a beautiful pome-

granate

disregarding the
I

fact that a

mo-

ment before

was

to

be a peach.
in a

She rushed
minute with

from the room and returned

the desired ornaments.
^'

Where did you

find them,

Kondj^?"

asked.

She made a face at me, gave

on each cheek, and ordered

me two kisses me to keep still.

flower, won't

Only one thing troubled

her.
little

"Baby
you
let

mine, Allah's

me

put a
lids,

little

black on your eyelittle

brows and

and throw a

gold dust

on your hair ?

Ah

but you would be won-

derfully beautiful then."

"Kondje, you may do anything

like with

else

you
any

me; but you are not

to put

black about

my

eyes."

She rushed over and gave

ing hug.

me an

implorthat

''Dear one, don't you

know

Allah wants people to look their prettiest?

You know

that at the entrance to Paradise

229

husbands are asked

have kept
their

first

of all whether they

wives provided with the

proper number of black pencils for their

eyebrows!"
''As I have not a

husband

to

be bothered

about

it

at the gate of Paradise, I think that

I will get along without them," I parried.

''But you
the bath."

may dye my
fell

finger-nails red, after

Kondje
toes,
till

to the floor,

grabbed her bare

forth,

and rocked back and

laughing
"

the tears flowed from her eyes.

Oh

do love the way you say things," she gasped.

"You
when
color

said I might
really

chop your
I

fingers off,

you meant that

might put

on them."
failed in

Having

the

matter of putting

black about

my

eyes,

Kondje

when

her

amusement over

my

Turkish was exhausted

contented
my me from
for
hair,

herself with the golden

powder

and then stood

off

and studied
if

every point of view, to see

she

had not overlooked some

230

hidden charm,

which might be brought

out. I

do not know

how
At

long she would have kept this up, had

not the sound of music come to our ears.

this

she bounced into the air like a rubber

I

ball,

and before

knew what was about

to

happen, she picked

me up and
if

threw

me on

her back like a sack of meal, and ran through

the halls with
thing.

me

as

She deposited

my weight were nome on the little indoor

floor,

balcony of the vestibule, dropped to the

and panted

at her leisure.

"Kondje!'' I remonstrated, ''you must

not treat

me

as

if

were a baby."

She rose up

till

her fiery black eyes were

on a

level

with mine. ''You are a great deal

more

of a
I

baby than

am!"

she declared,
besides,

"though

am not yet

sixteen,

and

you have

n't a

husband."

"Neither have you," I snubbed back.

Her

face took on a droll expression.

She

batted her eyes mischievously, and brought

her mouth close to

my

ear.

"I

am

going to

have one when the leaves

fall,''

she whispered. 231

^'Whoishe, Kondje?"
''You dined with Selim Pasha
I nodded.

yes?"
man
there,

''You saw a big handsome

standing by the door, seeing that everything

was
I

right

yes?"
beautiful

nodded again.

"Most

hey?"

She smacked

her lips and half closed her eyes.

"I think he
" I shall be

is,

Kondje."

his.

He

has even seen

I

my

face

and touched
little

my

hand.
hill,

am

to live in the

cottage

on the

so as not to be far

from

my

mistress."

Before Kondje's confidences had come to

an end, the other members

of our household,

dressed in gala costume and preceded by the

Valide,

came down

the stairs and filled one

their children

side of the hall.

The wives with

and the

were

in the first row,

slaves behind.

Two

dancing-girls, holding baskets full of

flowers,

on their bare shoulders, stood by

the door,

and

several African

eunuch boys

232

JJis^^
were near them with brass trays
the petals of roses.
filled

with

As
petals

the guests entered the hall the flower-

were thrown over them.

One by one
on the

the new-comers ranged themselves

opposite side of the hall.

place, the salutations began.

floor
fully,

When all were in Down to the

Then

went

all

the heads, to be raised grace-

and

to

go down twice more.

music burst
ferent

forth,

and the

ladies of the dif-

harems embraced one another. Their

off,

wraps were taken

and they were con-

ducted to the sitting-room to drink coffee.

There

was presented
is

to them.

'^Here
*'

our

little

one," said the Valide.

She

is

leaving us to-morrow to flutter farther

on her way. She has not yet found her golden

cage."
little

She put her hand on

is

my

head.

*'

My
a

one, there

no happiness except
is

in

prison where the jailer

life-giver."

the lover

and the

The

guests applauded these words,

I

and

some came over and kissed me.

was espe233

cially attracted

by a certain woman, whose

type I had never met in flesh and blood before.

To
was
I

say that she looked like a Rossetti

painting would be doing her scant justice,

yet
it

of the Blessed
her.

Damosel

I thought

when

saw

I crossed the

room and went

to her.

" You

speak French?" I asked.

She took

my hand

in

both of hers, leaned

several times

forward and kissed

eyes.

me

on the

**So I do,
talk

little

one."

Our

was

trivial,

but the

woman
to

be-

came more and more

interesting
:

me.

Abruptly she said at length

''You
will

or

come and spend a day

two

with me."

"I

am sorry,

but I can't," I answered. "I

am

going to Russia in a few days, and have

things that I

must attend

to."

She put her arm around

mind, you must come to
least.

my waist. "Never
me
for

a night, at

came here to-day

it.

especially to ar-

range about

had heard so much about

234

you,

and

am

in trouble

and need your

help."

The

entreaty in her voice,

and the hint

in

her words carried

away my imagination,

and regardless

of all duties I found myself

pledged to go to her on the following night.

bevy of

slaves, attired in the lightest of

diaphanous garments, now entered the room,

and salaaming with forehead

nounced:
ready, so
'*If
is

to floor anis

the

honorable company

the bath-house."

And

to the
to
it.

sound of music they accompanied us

It

was a coquettish

little

building, fairy-

like in its

arrangement, and was a monu-

ment
wife.

to the love of Selim

Pasha

for his first

was
it

told that he

had seen
that only

to every

detail of

himself,

and

when

it

was completely
his bride to
it
it.

finished

had he conducted
separate building,

Though a

was connected with the main house by a

glass corridor, heavily curtained.

We

en-

tered a large marble hall, with a big fireplace,

wherein the coffee was always made.

The
23s

walls of the hall were

composed

of small

pieces of marble, of different colors, in various

patterns, so that at first sight they looked

as

if

covered with pale Oriental rugs.

The
and
of

hall

was three

stories high, to the roof,

the ceiling

was decorated with a row

dancing cupids.

Ten marble

steps,

running

the whole width of the room, led raised landing,

up

to a
into

whence windows looked

this

the

garden.

From

landing,

slender

marble columns supported a balcony, from

which the dressing-rooms opened,

second
ings,
floor.

on the

Rich rugs, and brocade hangceilings,

and mirrors on doors and

made

the bath-house stunning. In the dress-

ing-rooms the colors were reds and browns,

giving a curiously autumnal effect.

When we went
little

to

our dressing-rooms
of me,

my
and

Kondje took possession

after

making me ready

for the bath,

threw

over
soft
silk

my

shoulders a lovely pestemalj a big

white towel with yellow stripes of thick

running through

it.

236

" This, most honored

greatness,

Hanoum,

is

for

your

from the Valide, honored and bewife of Selim Pasha, the Magnifiof the party,"

loved
cent.

first

As you are the guest

'^all

she explained,
presents,"

the ladies will give you

She took down

braids,

my

hair,
it

braided

it

in

two

and arranged
it

on top of

my

head,

fastening

tightly

ink head-kerchief

of pale

yellow

silk,

the edge of which

was trimmed

with silver thread.

"This, honored

Hanoum," Kondje
for

an-

nounced again, "is

your greatness, from

the second wife of Selim Pasha, the

Mag-

nanimous."

She took from a

little

box a chain with

it

two coral pendants, and placed

around
is

my

forehead.

"This, honored Hanoum,

It

for your greatness.

comes from Aishe

Selim Pasha, the

Hanoum,

third wife of

Wonderful."

She stepped back a few steps

;

to survey
lips

me, her head on one side smacked her

237

with satisfaction,

and salaamed.

''Now,
I,

honored Hanoum, you

the

may

proceed, and

humble one,
I

will follow."

As

came out

of

my room

several other

pestimal-covered

ladies,

barefooted
theirs,
if

and

barearmed, emerged from

and we

salaamed most profoundly, as

attired in the

most formal manner, before we went downstairs.

There, Djimlah
it,

as Kondje would greeted

to

have put
Pasha,

fourth beloved wife of Selim

the

Generous

me and
They

presented

me

with a pair of takouns.

were of carved oak, and the leather straps

which fastened them

my

feet

had

my

monogram on them

in silver.

The heads
gave

of the other households also

me

various trinkets,

mostly charms
of

against the evil eye;

slaves

and amid the singing

we went

into the bathing-room.

The
was

sight that greeted us

when

the door

opened was beautiful

in the extreme.

The

marble rooms were decorated from

ceiling with laurel,

floor to
settees,

and the marble

238

in the
color,

middle of the rooms, were masses of

being covered with flowers, in pots.

We
slaves,

passed in through a

human

lane of

who

relieved us of our pestemals;

and

thus, chaussees, coiffees,

mats pas hahilUes,

all

we entered,
ness;

leaving outside

self-conscious-

and soon the splashing

of the water,

the singing of the slaves,

all

and the laughter

of

filled

the huge resounding rooms with

the gayest of noise.

Each lady was

and

in the

hands of her

slave,

my
with

little

Kondje was

droller than ever.

In her flowery Oriental language she invested

me

all

the beauties of the world.

in

The
While

Venus

of

Milo was nothing

is

comparison

with me, whose size

she was bathing

that of a Jap.

me

she kept on repeating,

lest

^'Mashallah!
or ev-sahib,

mashallah!"
seeing

some djinn
might be

my
evil

beauty,

tempted to cast an

eye on me.

The temperature of
yet

these

rooms was

170,

we

stayed in them for hours, oblivious of

the heat. After an hour, the flowers withered,

239

and were removed; the

and
light refreshments

settees

were washed,
in.

brought

Near the

end of our stay a regular cold luncheon was

served,

and

may

say here that the cold

dishes prepared for

^^haman" are worthy

of poetry for their description.

We

sat

on

the settees as
side
:

we

ate,

with a slave on each

one to pass us the new dishes, the other

to take

away

those

we were through

with.

Luncheon
over us and

over, our pestemals

were thrown

we passed

out of the hot rooms

into the cooling-rooms, where, as

we

lay

on

the couches, the slaves covered us with heavy

burnouses.
here.

A new pleasure

was awaiting us
re-

While we had been bathing, the

clining-room had been decorated with leaves

and

flowers, in the

form of numerous arches.

Under
pillows,

these

we

lay
in

on snowy sheets and

silk coverlets,

wrapped

our

while

our hair was taken

rose-petals,

down and rubbed with

soft,

before being tied up in

absorbent towels. Next came the dyeing of

eyebrows, and lashes black, and of finger-

240

nails crimson;

and, last of

all,

the flower-

bath.

The heavy hangings were now lowered

over the windows,
till

the light

was dim, and

then to the sound of a low, murmuring song

we

fell

asleep

and rested

till

late in the after-

noon.
dressed,

Immensely refreshed we woke up,

and went out on a

hill to

watch the

setting sun.

The Turks

are not sun-wor-

shippers, but to miss a sunset with

them

is

almost as great a misdemeanor as to omit

praying

when

the muezzin calls the faithful

to prayer

from the top of the minaret.

That

night, after dinner,

we had our

third

pleasant surprise
to us the

when

the Valide presented

world-famed

story-teller,

Massaljhe-

Hiran.

She salaamed

to us with as

much
in

dignity as does Paderewski before he takes

his seat at the piano.

She was dressed

dark red

silk,

embroidered with green leaves.

of her

Her

hair

was braided, arranged on top

head, and surrounded with a green silk headkerchief,

on which patterns were worked

in

241

garnets.

Her

face, long, thin,

and

sallow,

was very

pale, accentuating a pair of large

black eyes, which were

yet

made
Her

to look larger
lips

by black

pencilling.

were dyed

brick-red.

pair of earrings, so long as to

touch her shoulders, gave a barbaric aspect

to her Eastern face.
fleecy material

Her

sleeves
loose,

were of

and quite

her arms

being covered with ancient bracelets.

Her

hands, interesting-looking rather than pretty,

were

literally

covered with rings,

presents,

mostly, from the powerful of the land.

She took her place

floor,

in the

middle of the

removed a pair
from her
feet,

of embroidered red

slippers

and

sat

down

cross-

legged on a cushion. All the ladies and slaves

sat

around her

in the

form

of a semicircle.

few among those present had heard her

before, but

most

of us

knew her only by

that small

reputation.

In the

attitude of

audience there was a worshipfulness that

strongly affected me. I felt that I

was

in the

presence of genius.

242

" Good-evening, honorable company," she

said,

touching the floor with her fingers, and

then kissing them to us.

thing of the
hardt's, only

Her voice had someSarah Bernlower key.

same
it

quality as

was on a

much

She began her story with a description of

a stormy night.
Presently the

woman
I

next

me

shivered,

and unconsciously

drew a

scarf

around me, before I realized with a

smile that

we were

in a

warm
it

room.

The

story she told

was her own;

was on the
da Rimini,

same theme
or Tristan
cessories,

as that of Francesca

and

Isolde, but with Oriental acdifferent ending.

It related

and a

the fate of a
princess,

young and beautiful Persian

who, while on her way to become

fell in

the bride of a king,

tier

love with the cour-

who had come

to take her to her lord.

Princess Yamina, on discovering that the

man who was

of the king

conveying her to be the bride

of her spirit,
it,

had become master

had her

tent put up,

retired into

and

placed around her couch twelve of her young

243

maidens, making thus of chastity and purity

an insurmountable

barrier.

She lay

there,

praying to Allah for strength, and taking only

enough nourishment
in her frail body.

to

keep the breath of

day,
it

life

When, once a

was

necessary for her to receive the King's envoy,

she sat erect, fortified by her maidenly pride,

while Love's tyrannical hand was tearing
at her bleeding heart.

In two days she was

her
journey.
re-

strong

enough

to

continue

When

she arrived at the castle

and was

ceived by the King, an elderly benevolent

man, she prostrated

told

herself before

him and

him

the truth.

*''Kill

me,

my

master,'

she

moaned,
you

'since I

was not capable

of bringing to

intact the heart of your future wife.

Pierce

with cold

steel the

body that

is
it

not worthy

of your love, but do not touch

even as you
polluted

might that of a slave;

for

it

is

by

thoughts of love for another.'

'^

She lay there waiting to be

slain.

A side-

door opened without noise, and the young

244

courtier entered

he

who had
of

stolen the

heart

and the thoughts

the

prostrate

princess.

He advanced

into the

middle of
his

the

room and stood

there with

arms

crossed on

his noble breast.

The
She

princess
to her

raised her head,

feet,

saw him, and rose

trembling.

no

longer

was the

woman, now,

protecting her heart's lord."

The

narrator paused and glared at us.

for the

She was

moment

the

woman
of the

ani-

mated by more than the

preservation

instinct

of self-

by the savagery
man
she loved.

woman
voice,
felt

defending the

Her

when
if

she spoke, sounded thick: I

in a thunder-storm.

as

were

^^^Do not strike him,

nocent!
It is I

my master,

he

is in-

who must pay

It is

the price

no

I the guilty one.

not his fault that Allah

made him

so beautiful

and noble

that

woman
cried.

could help loving him. Kill

me

'

she

'Give

me

the most cruel death, but

spare him!'''

Massaljhe-Hiranwas kneeling on one knee.

245

She begged and implored, and we saw the

princess herself passionately trying to save

the

life

of her lover.
it

In the end
courtier
pily.

turned out that the young

all

was the King, and

ended hapto

Such was the nervous pitch

which

Massaljh^-Hiran had wound us up, however,

that

many were
I

sobbing when she

ended,

and

suddenly became conscious

that the tears were trickling

down my own

cheeks.

Moreover,

my

muscles had become

so rigid, in the intensity with which I had

followed her story, that they actually pained

me when

they

became

relaxed.

Only on one
feeling,

other occasion have I

had the same

and that was when Henry

pierre, faced the ghosts.

Irving, as Robes-

However, the Orientals seldom allow one

set of artificially

produced emotions to domi-

nate them, and after the story- telling was at

an end, dancing-girls glided

into the room,

and, to the sound of gay music, completed

the day's entertainment.

246

JJIpjJ^
Thus ended my
visit

to

Selim Pasha's

my experiences with Turkish women. In my last visit

hospitable household, though not
I
it,

was

to hear a story,

and

to play a part in

which I know must seem almost incredible

to those

who do

not understand Turkey.

Djimlah, Houlme, and Aishe Hanoums,

with a retinue of slaves, came
shore of the Bosphorus, where
lady's
little

down

to the

my unknown
to see

caique

was awaiting me,

to

me
*^

off.

was sorry

leave

them,

and

said so.

Why

not stay with us," suggested Djim*'

lah hopefully;

marry one

of our

men, and

know happiness?"
I

shook

my

head.

Why

I might not, I did

not know; except that, although the Greeks

may
side

love

and respect the Turks, may

live

by

side with them, there

must always

exist that antipathy of the

blood to remind

us that they are our conquerors, and that

sometime we must drive them from our

land in order that the priests

may

finish the

247

jMjijs>
holy litourghia,^ and

our

statues

may no

longer be cold in exile.

Yet
with a

bade

my

Turkish friends farewell

I

full

heart and silent tears.

jumped
his

into the waiting catque, the catksti, in

silky bembazar, pulled at his oars,

and we

were gone.

X
A FLIGHT FROM THE HAREM
As
the

boatmen rowed me

swiftly

from

one bank of the Bosphorus

then along to the
Sera'i

to the other,

and

Bournou, I gazed at
itself

the illuminated city which displayed

before

my

dazzled eyes.

It

happened that

Constantinople was making herself beautiful that

summer

night, to celebrate the an-

niversary of her ruler, the

the Faithful.

Commander

of

Near and

far the slender minarets

were
oil

covered with microscopic, many-colored

lamps, in various designs, the half-moon being the favorite.

The

balconies of the houses

of the wealthy were playing the

same

tune,

on a lower key, as the

tall

minarets, while the

river in the
city

banks of the most beautiful

were masses of
the harbor
lights.

world
alive;

The

was

was

filled

with ships adorned with

249

.JjUL2/x>
strings of lanterns

from mast

to

mast; and

the horizon

was ablaze with

fireworks.

One
in

would say that even the sky partook

festivities
:

of the

its

deep indigo was picked out

golden

stars,

while a silvery

moon was

gazing

coquettishly at the thousands of half

that strove to reproduce her grace.

moons

Arrived at the house of

my

Rossetti lady,

a slave took charge of me; and

when

was

bathed and perfumed, and dressed

Oriental clothes, I was
vices.
left

in soft,

to

my own

de-

I crouched

on the low divan by

my

window and peeped through

the splendors outside.

the lattice at

The door
light

of

my room

creaked,

and

as the
it

from the

hall

shone in I saw that

entered.

was

my
'^

hostess

who had

Os-geldi ! Os-geldi " she called out.

Her

two outstretched hands got hold of mine, and

she drew

me

to her

bosom. ''My

little

blos-

som, what are you doing here in the dark?

Are you helping Allah

your romances?"

to

weave garlands

for

250

'^I

was looking

at the

beauty outside."

^^Nay,

my

little

jasmine, from the tone of

your voice I know that you were in dreamland.

Some time dreams

will in

be made true;
your
life."

and may they come true

There was a pathos

in her voice that I

had

not detected at our previous interview.

setti's

Ros-

poem came back

to

me, and I said

:

aloud, gazing at her beauty

"Her body bore her neck

as the tree's stem

Bears the top branch; and as the branch sustains

The
That

flower of the year's pride, her high neck bore

face

made wonderful with

night

and

day.'*

''Why do you say those lines?"

asked.

my hostess

''Because you

make me

think of them."

"Do

you mean that

I look like Rossetti's

paintings?"

"I rather think you look

like his

poems:

you are the embodiment of them."

"And am
first

I this to

you?"
me.

"Yes, you are

this to

Ever since I
to you.

saw you

have been drawn

By
251

rights I ought to

be somewhere
It

else to-night,

but I

am

with you.

was
into

of

you I was
room.

thinking

when you came

I

my

Do

you know,

do not even know your name.

for to

That does not matter, though,

are

me you
near

my

Rossetti lady."

The Turkish woman sat on the divan,

me, her fingers playing with

my

loose hair.

''You are a sweet-scented

she said irrelevantly.

little
is

bride,"

''Where

the bride-

groom,

little

one?"

"Your
groom, I
less."

slave just gave

me

a heliotrope

bath," I explained;

"and

as for the bride-

am

afraid his grandsire died heir-

" Yavrounty you are a very dear person,

and

hope some day you

will

know

the joy

of being a wife."

She was

silent for

a long
I
tell

time,

and then asked, suddenly: "Shall

you why

I insisted so strongly at the bath-

party that you should

come

to see

"Then
252

it

was

n't

because you liked

little

me?" me?"
the

"Yes, indeed, dear

flower of

.JJUL,^>
pomegranate
yours I
that
tree.

The minute my
to us Oriental

eyes
I

met

knew

that I liked you,

and

knew

you belonged
is

women.

That
to ask

why
to

I asked you to come. I wanted

you

do something
trust to

for
;

me, something
if

which I can only

to

few and
first

come

you with

my

troubles the

minute of

your being under

not want you to

my

roof,

it is

because I do

feel

that after you have

will

broken bread with

me you
if

be obliged
I will

to

do what you would not wish

to.

tell

you everything, and

when you have heard

me you
the
little

wish to go away and forget me,

boat you came in
is

waiting for

you."

My
^'

pulse quickened.

What

could she be

going to ask

me

to

do?
''

Yavrounty^^ she went on,

before I

tell

you anything, do you know where

ing of

this dwell-

mine is?"

''No, you asked

me

to

meet the boatman

in

so late that I scarcely

know

which part of

the country

it

is."

253

_i^,^i>
"I
for

am very
own

glad.

want you not

to

know,

your

sake."
to

Every word she spoke seemed

the

add

to

romance

of the situation.

was

to learn
felt

the story of
that
it

my Rossetti
Bits of

poem, and I

sure

could be nothing less than a wonderall

ful love story.

the Oriental tales

knew came thronging

to

my

mind.

was

afraid to utter a word, lest I should break the

spell

and she should withhold her confidence

from me. In

my

sojourn

among

the Turkish
to

women
across

had always been expecting

come

some wonderful, out-of-the-common

their lives,

romance; but

when seen near

Now,

at

hand, were generally as uneventful as the

most conventional Western

length, I felt that I

life.

at

was

to learn of

one that

would come up

to

my

expectations.

"I was once a very

beautiful

woman," my

hostess began in the simple, un-self-conscious

manner

of the East.
cried.

"Mashallah! are you not now?" I

*^I

would give

my

soul to look like you."

254

She smiled.
*^

Yes, I

know

am
I

good-looking
is

still;

but

woman

nearing thirty

not the same as at

I

twenty; and

when

was twenty

was very

beautiful indeed. I

was born and brought

up

in Asia

Minor, where

my

father

was a
a

governor.

My

maternal grandmother,

woman of advanced ideas,

to educate

sent a French lady

me, when I was only three; and

fifteen,

when

was

and

my

mother died, I

was brought
to

to Constantinople

and married

my

husband,

who

is

ten years older than I

to us,

am.

Three children were born

and

my life
it

ought to have been very happy.

if

And

would have been

French

my

head had not been

full of

stories.

I read all the time,

and
to

it

made me

feel that I, too,

had the

right

be a heroine.
^^One day, when I was twenty years
old,

was going from

little

my home

to

Foundokli in

my
I

caique.

It

was a hot afternoon and

my feredje thrown back a little, and only had my veil around my face, not over
had
it.

255

_iJULo^j>
In mid-stream

we met

another catque in

which was a young

foreigner.

When

he saw

me, he cried something aloud in his own

tongue, and from his look I

knew

that

it

was

me he spoke. over my face and

of

So I drew

my

veil close

brought the feredje around

me.
ever,

This did not discourage the man, how-

and he ordered
It

his caique to follow

did,

mine.

was a very dangerous thing he

and had

my

eunuchs been with

trouble.

me

there

would surely have been

**He followed us to where we were going,

and then went away, apparently thinking

that that

was

my

home.

Two

days later I

had partly forgotten the

incident, though I

did think a good deal of the

looks,

man and his good

to

when

his boat

happened

meet mine

again.

He

exclaimed, this time in French:

^At last I have found her!'

''I

don't need to go into particulars, but

the
into

man

did everything in his power to come

life.

my

My

husband was away

at the

time,

and

was

alone,

and

lovesick, perhaps.

256

The foreign man managed

At
first

to

send

me letters.
and

I resented his writing to me,

would hardly read them; but he was very young and handsome, and he wrote
letters as

they write in books,

me such and my head

of
it

became

so turned

by the romance
he

that

some months
I left

after the time

first

met me,

my husband, my home, and my babies,

him.'*

and went with

My
first

Rossetti lady

had been

telling

me

her

story in such a quiet, restrained voice that at

even this climax did not seem startling.

^^Have I told you that he was an English-

man, and what they

try?

call

a lord in his coun-

He

took

me

to Scotland,

and there

married me.
a dream.
ticed

The

first

three years went like

He

did not keep

windows, but he kept

me behind latme under closer

watch than I had ever been before, and

guarded

me

as
I

if

he could never be sure of

in society

me; though

was constantly
of that

and

saw a great deal

world which had

I don't

always been such a mystery to me.

257

know whether

I loved

him during
is

those three

years or not. All I can say

like a picture-book

that

my life was
He was
me.
I

whose leaves were turned

very

fast.

He

took

me

to his mother.

an only son, and she was very kind

do not think that besides
his

to

mother any one

took

knew
court,

that I

was Turkish.
I

He

me

to his

and

meet

his queen;

and we went

from one place

to another all over Europe.

liberal,

He was very rich and

we went
I

and everywhere
own, but
I

had a house

of

my

was

always a prisoner.
^^It

was

in the south of

France that

my

baby was born.

To

think that Allah could

bless such a union with his

most wonderful
hands
to her

gift!" she cried, clasping her heart. "It

was a

little girl,

and Edgar named

her Hope, because he said she was the hope

that I at last belonged to

him

entirely.

''When they put the baby

into

my

arms I
It

knew why Allah had

like the
veil

sent her to me.

was
a

breaking of a spell, the lifting of

from

my

clouded vision, and I saw

my

258

past

life,
if

my

husband, and

my

babies loom

up

as

from another world.

From

that

minute

had no peace

of mind.

Whether

asleep or

awake

there

was only one thought

with
all

me my
:

husband. I began to remember

things he

the

little

had done and

said to

me, and gradually I began to worship him.

I

wanted him as

I never

knew

before that one

human
the

being could want another.

And

all

that time I

was

loved, almost devoured,

by

man who had

I

taken

me away from my
it.

home.

I could not bear

began
to

to plan

and plan how

people and

might go back
country.
I

my own

my own
girl,

^^When, as a

had read about Euroto

pean

life it

had seemed

me

so attractive,
to taste
it,

so wonderful.
it

But when
bitter.

came

was empty and

friends,

European women

have no

as

we understand them.
and
to

They have no
God.

leisure hours to think

dream, and to come to know themselves and

their

They do not even have time

to

take care of their children; and nurses, with

259

whom
world

they would not for anything in the

associate

themselves, are

intrusted
chil-

with the sacred duty of forming their

dren's minds. Indeed there
in
is

nothing sacred

European woman's

life,

at

least,

yavroum,^^ she modified her statement, '^not

in the lives of the

women

have seen.

Do
that

you know,

little

bride of the river,

though Edgar had kept

lots of

me
I

so close to him,

men had
tell

told

business to

me.

me Oh

things they

had no
it all.

was

sick of

Not once

in all those dreary years

had

met
it,'

with people
'If
it is

who

said, *If Allah wishes

the will of Allah.'

But

I prayed

and

prayed to

my

great Allah to let

my own
^'

people.

And he

me return to heard my prayer.

of

We were in Scotland,
to go,

and an uncle

Ed-

gar's died, leaving

him an estate and money.

Edgar had

and could not take

ill

me

with

him because
poured
it

was

As soon

as he

went

out of the house I took pen and paper and

to

my whole heart out with it, and sent my husband. I implored him to take

260

me

back, even

if

he now had other wives to

;

give

me

just a little corner,

from which I

could watch him and be near him.

*^I

sent the letter,

and waited.
at the

How

slow

the days were,

and

end of each there

full of his

came a

letter

from Edgar

wild

love for me, which sickened

;

my

heart.

Two

weeks had gone by Edgar was

to

come back

soon now, and no reply had reached me.

^'

One

evening as I was sitting in

my room,
tall,

the tears trickling

down on my

breast, the

footman came
gentleman,

to tell

me

that a

dark

who

refused to give his name,

I ran downstairs,

wished to see me.

and

there in the hall stood

my

husband.

''He took

me

into his arms, tears

and

all,

and an hour

later I

escaped with him, and

Before I
left

came back

to

my

home.

Scot-

land I wrote a
that
I

letter to

Edgar, telling him

that

was going home

my husband had come for me, and to my people.

it,

'^Yavroum, can you believe

but

my

husband

still

loved me, and

my

place in his

261

heart was

still

empty and waiting

he understood.

for

me.

He
was
to

forgave

all; for

**A

month had not gone by when Edgar

Constantinople.

in

He came

straight

my husband and
him.

accused him of stealing

It

me away from

was a very danger-

ous thing to do, and any other

man

than

my
and
Ali

husband would have had him

thrown into the Bosphorus.

killed

But Ahmet

ordered the carriage and told Edgar to come

with him and see

me

in

my

Stamboul home.

There he brought him

and
''

into the sitting-room

left

him with me

alone.

for

When Edgar saw me he held out his arms me; but the sight of him filled me only
I

with loathing.
^*

can never forget him, never. Yavroum,

life

whatever your

may

be,

be careful with

men.

If

you hurt one

his sad eyes,
life.

of them,

and he turns

on you
through

they will follow you

will forget

Sometimes when you

and be happy playing with your baby, that baby

262
will look at

you as the man

did,

and

JJlfiJ^
there will be

no joy

for you.

If

you ever be-

long to one man, even though you

that there
is

may

think

no great love

in his heart for you,

stay
**I

by him, and do no wrong.

was
I

full of bitterness

that day for

Eda

gar.

accused him of having done

me

very great wrong, though, in truth, the wrong

was mine.

When
girPs

I told

him

that I did not

it

love him, that I never

had loved him, that

that took

was a

silly

whim

me
if

to him,

I think

he would have killed

in.

me

my

hus-

band had not stepped

furiously

Then he turned
killed

on Ahmet, and would have

him, I know, had not

Ahmet been

too quick

and too strong

cloth,

for him.

He had

a white

wet with some chemical,

this over

in his

hand,

and forced

Edgar's face; and after

floor,

a terrible struggle he threw him to the

and

there he presently lay as

said he

if

dead, though

Ahmet

was only unconscious. Then

rriy

instead of killing him,

husband had him

put on a ship that was going away.

**I

did not hear of

him again

until

two
263

years later,

when Ahmet
and that

told

me

that

Edgar

had been

killed,

his child

was under
I

my

husband's care.
to

And now, yavroum,

to help

come

where I must ask you

is

me.

Edgar's mother

having search
;

made

every-

where

for the child

even the Sultan has been

I to

approached by the English ambassador.

want you, yavroum, when you go back

America, to write a
that
letter to

her and

tell

her

Hope

is

happy and

well;

and

that, con-

sidering that she has Turkish blood in her,

we

are bringing her

up

as a noble

Osmanli

woman
child,

should be brought up.

Should the
to

however,

when she grows

in

be a
will

woman, seem unhappy

Turkey, we

send her back to her in England. But I must

teach her now, while she
is little,

something

of the greatness of Allah.

is

Here, yavroum,

the address to which to write."

Mechanically I took the piece of paper

with the address on
setti
it,

and stared

at

my Rosmade

lady as she finished her story and

her request.

264

JjXfi/>^
She was looking at
*'

me

imploringly.

You

will,

yavrounij will you not?

For

if

the old duchess

makes much

fuss, I

am afraid
killing

I shall lose the child."

''Are you afraid of your

husband

it?" I asked.

The

horror in her face showed

me

that

we

had got beyond the bounds

of possibility.

''Oh, no! only she might have to be sent

into Asia

Minor, to

my

husband's mother,

and then

I should not

have the chance to

to give her
it."

watch over her myself, and

to

back

England,

if

she should desire

"Hanoum, why
I asked. " She
is

don't you send her

now ?"

English through her father,

and she
has."

is

the only child that grandmother

My

Rossetti lady's face

was again nearly

as horror-stricken as before.

" Give the child to be brought

that godless set of people.
!

up among
!

No no

I could

not do

it!
it.

Besides,

my

pasha would never

little girl is

hear of

He says

that the

partly

265

jMsj^
I,

and that he could never give any part

infidels."

of

me, no matter how small, to the

''

Do you want me to

write under

my name

or yours?" I asked.
''Neither, yavroum.

Just any name, and

no address.

I shall give

you a

little

minia-

ture of the child,

and

Several pictures.
tell

Send

them

to the

grandmother, and

her that

once a year pictures and news of the child

shall

be sent

to her,

and that

little

Hope

is

well
''

and happy."

How

can I say

that, since I

have not seen

the child?" I protested, rather feebly.

''You
I

shall see her

to-morrow."
I
I

was not happy

in the situation.

had had

had

my fill

of romance, to

be sure but
;

been dragged into playing a part in

did not particularly approve
of,

it

that I

although I

knew

the futility of trying to play any other

I

part than that assigned to me.

of

looked out

my

latticed

window upon

the Bosphorus,

and

as I looked the mystery of the East again

stole over

my

senses.

turned

my

eyes to

266

.JjULo>>
the

woman, slim and graceful, and

two men

of a beauty

that I could well believe had inspired the love

it

had

in

of alien races,
fell

and

my

Western prejudices
^'Dear

from me.

Hanoum,"

I said, ''I will

do what

you ask

me

to do/'

Then emboldened by
to

the favor I

was going

do

for her, I asked,

as perhaps only in that dark

room

of another

world

I could

have asked

''
:

Do you love your

you did ? ''

husband

as

much

as you thought

She leaned over and took

*^Dear
little
is,

my

hand.

blossom,

you don't know

what love

do you ?

I love

my husband

million times

more than

I ever did before,

though the past can never be undone, and

whenever

I feel

my

husband's eyes upon

me

I shudder at the thought that he

bly be thinking of that other

may possiman. A woman

can never belong

to

two men

never!

woman

is

a flower, and cannot be touched

polluted.

by two persons without being

The

past always comes between, yavroum; but

out of that sorrow I can be a good mother,

267

a good wife,

now when

the storm

no longer

blows, though the trees have fallen, and the

wreckage

is all

around me."

She leaned forward on the divan, held her

palms upward, and prayed

*'

to her

God

for-

Allah, take care of the living,

and

give the dead!"

It

seemed

all in

keeping with the night and

ever like the

the

woman, looking more than

of a

embodiment

poem, a greater poem now She was the East

its

than Rossetti ever wrote.

itself:

the mysterious East, with

strange

ideas of love,

and death, and

of religion.

After one of those silences that

seem a nat-

ural part of an Oriental conversation,

my

Rossetti lady

drew me

to her

and kissed me,

saying
**

wave, you have helped

Little crest of the

to give peace to
to
life.

one who has brought storm

May

the doing of this for

me be

rewarded with a fund of happiness from

which you may draw daily."

her feet as she spoke.

She rose to
let

*'Come,

us go

268

down where you can meet my

children/'

lord

and

my

They were

in the dining-room,

and had

apparently been awaiting us; for along the

wall stood a

row

of motionless slaves,

one

hand, in military
sides,

style, straight

down

at their

the other supporting the dishes that

their heads.
is

were on
*^This

my

husband,'' said
into that of

my

hostess,

putting

my hand

Ahmet Pasha.

*^Our American friend."

'^We are happy

to

have you among

us,

young Hanoum; and

this anniversary of

our

great Pattishah will be doubly celebrated

by us
cerity.

hereafter,''

he

said, with simple sin-

Ahmet Pasha was

wonder that

a Saracen evidently, not

a Turk, and as I looked at him I did not

my

Rossetti lady
to

had

left
:

the

Englishman and come back

him

I only

wondered that she had ever

left

him. In his

splendid uniform and his decorations he was

an almost

ideal hero.

was surprised

at his

269

taking dinner with us, but heard later that he

always ate with his wife except when there

were Turkish

women

present.

The

children were very pretty and healthy

looking,

and most devoted

to their mother.
to the

After the meal was over

we were taken

Sultan's palace, where a midnight banquet

was served
grandees.

to a

thousand pashas and foreign

sat with the

We women

women

of the palace in the gardens, watching the

fireworks,

and refreshed with sweets and

sherbets every five or ten minutes.

Home again, and my Rossetti lady took me to her room and showed me the necklace
of red rubies her

husband had given her that

day, as

is

customary on public anniversaries,

of

and the neglect

which would have been

equivalent to a notice of impending divorce.

Next she opened her jewelry box and asked

me

to choose

from

it

anything that took

my

fancy,
thing.

since she wished to give

me somejewels,

While we were examining the

to let

and when she had begun

270

down

her

hair,

Ahmet Pasha
in

sent

word

to ask

if

he

might come

and

join our conversation.

The Turks
when

quite often turn night into day

the fancy takes them.

We

did that

night; thus not going to

o'clock.

bed

until after five

As we

sat there

on the divan,

my

Rossetti

lady had her hair loose on her shoulders,

except for a ribbon holding
face.
it

back from her

a strand of
it

Ahmet Pasha gathered

and turned
to

in his fingers,
'^

me.

Did you ever

see anything

more

exquisite

in

your life?" he asked.

I

had

to

admit that
it.

had never seen any-

thing to equal

**Nor

is

there a

woman more

charming/'

he

said, his

Turkish politeness not permitting

him

to declare in the presence of another

that she

was the most charming

of

all.

My Rossetti lady took his hand and kissed

it

in silence;

and

I thought I saw, together

with love, the gratitude of a

woman who

has

sinned and has been forgiven.

271

In the forenoon of the next day the Turkish

lady

came

to the house.
child.

With her were her

I recognized

slaves

and a
it

At once
be.
lap,

whose child
I took her

must

on

my

and spoke

to her in

English.
''Little girlie,

what

is

your

name?"

The
little

child looked at her mother, put her

finger in her

mouth, and whispered

little

''I

am

mother's

Hope. But they

call

me

Salih^

Hanoum now."
like things

''Do you

here?" I asked.

"Yes; and soon

;

am
to

coming back

to live

with mother" and with the words she scrambled

down and ran

my

Rossetti lady.

This day was the

of the household of

last

time I ever saw any

Ahmet Pasha. In a few

six

days I went to Russia, and some

later returned to

weeks

Constantinople to take the

steamer for Naples, where I was to meet

the boat for America.
of those semi-freight

The
afifairs

steamer was one

that carry

more

cargo than passengers, and spent a day or

272

two each
Naples.

at

some

eight ports before reaching

On

the quay, as I

was embarking

at Constantinople, a

young Englishman had

a

been introduced

to

me by

member

of the
first-

Greek Legation.
class passengers

We two were
who made

the only

the whole trip

to Naples,
,

and naturally we became well

acquainted by the time

we reached

Sicily.

The night that the boat stopped at Palermo

we were
sitting

on deck.

It

was a warm Oc-

tober night, brilliant with starlight, a night

whose witchery plays the mischief with the

tongues of people.

My

Englishman

lost the

reserve that he might have kept under a

northern sky, and began to

tell

me why

he

had come
*^It

to

Turkey.
said, ^'and

was a wild-goose chase," he

you
I never

I
to

tell

wish again to have

friends.

much
but

do with your Turkish

was hunt-

ing for a child, the child of

I

my

cousin;

might as well have been trying to kidnap

the Sultan."

And

interlarded with

^'

don't

you know's" and

^^fahncy's," he told

me

273

the story which two months before, again on

a wonderful southern night, gloriously

minated, a Turkish

illu-

woman had

told to me.
it,"

^'You see Edgar could not stand

concluded.

he

''Two years

after she left

him

he blew his brains out.

No

one knew the

woman was
now
go
myself.

Turkish, except his mother, and

I

met her once, and

tell

you

she was the kind of a

woman

man would
Edgar's

mad

over.

Immediately

after

death the child was stolen, and

almost prostrated by
it.

my aunt was
why
I

That

is

have

been hunting through Turkey

for her."
is

''What makes you think that the child

in

Turkey?"
"

I asked,

making my voice

as

steady as I could.

Oh, the husband sent a

letter

from Paris,

saying that he had taken the child to bring

up

in the truth faith;

but you see

we

don't

know where
key

they are.

We

don't even

know

that they live in Constantinople,

is

and Tura hunt like

beastly big

when you go on
I

mine.

All the same,

have an idea that had

274

I stayed

much

longer in the capital I should

too,

have disappeared,

and no one would

again, although I

ever have heard of

me

had the help

of the

Embassy."

My

eyes were fixed on the lights of Pa-

lermo, and on

Monte

Pelegrino beyond, and

I did not speak.

Perhaps

my

English friend

thought I was not as

much

interested in his
If

account as I might have been.

only

he had

known how

interested I

was

I thought of the addressed envelope

down

in

my

trunk,

and of the miniature and the But

this

photographs of an English child.

was not mine

to

tell,

nor would

it

have helped

him

if

I had.
lights of

The

Palermo twinkled cheerily

at

us across the water; but behind them

Monte
if

Pelegrino seemed to loom sardonically, as

it

were amused at the tiny struggles of the

at
its

insects

feet,

who

called

themselves

men.

CAMBRIDGE

MASSACHUSETTS
.

THE BREAKING
By

IN

OF

YACHTSMAN^S WIFE
MARY HEATON VORSE
humor and
will
is

" Clever

Sparkling
!

Full of quaint

crisp

description

Altogether a book which

is
*

not disap-

point the reader. It

different,*

merit in

a book/* Brooklyn Eagle,

and that

one great

" It will puzzle holiday

book than
to those

this.

makers to find a better vacation Those who go up and down the Sound
it

in yachts will find

especially pleasing

it

will

appeal
;

who are fond of human nature studies may be recommended even more decidedly to the serious

than to the young and frivolous a tonic to depression N, V. Times, and an antidote to gloom/'

"Charming, with
love thread, and

its salt,
its

sea-slangy flavor,

its

double

pleasant chapters dealing with

Long Island Sound, the Mediterranean, Massachusetts Chicago Record-Herald, Bay and Venetian lagoons.**

Illustrated

by Reginald Birch. i2mo, ^1.50

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HUMAN BULLETS
By
"
'

TADAYOSHI SAKURAI

literary

is the most remarkable book, in a Bullets and psychological way, brought out through the war clash of Russia and Japan. It is the revelation at once of the soul of a soldier and the moving spirit of a
'

Human

people."

JVew York World,

*' The book as a whole is a singular and strikingly valuable work, not only by reason of its vivid descriptions of the stern side of war, but for its revelation of Japanese ideals Brooklyn Eagle, of patriotism and military duty."

"

The

story

is

told simply, but with such a touch of realism

.
. .

that his word-pictures are distinctly picturesque.

The

author has shown rare literary skill, and the translator and editor have not permitted the narrative to lose anything
of technical value."
**

Transcript^ Boston.
.

It is

an illuminating exposition of the Japanese mind,

in

in

war and
picture

peace.

The book

furnishes a striking
its

of

humane

aspects."

what war actually is, even under Bookman^ N. Y.

most

With frontispiece

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by the author i2mo, $1.25 net. Postpaid $1.37

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