Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 May 1891 — THE SULTAN IS A GYMNAST. [ARTICLE]

THE SULTAN IS A GYMNAST.

He Diets, Behaves Himself, and Tries t« Become a Man of the World Generally. The Sultan of Turkey lives thinks prettv much after the fashion of other high European sovereigns. He rises very early and takes a cold bath, something unknown to Turkish Sultans before his day. At half-past nine o’clock he enters his study and sits down between two mountains of paper; one, all Turkish newspapers and translations from foreign newspapers; the other, documents of state. By hia side sits his secretary, Sureya Pasha, with whose aid he goes through all the dailies and clippings and reports. Every state paper is read carefully by the Sultan himself, who boasts that he has never affixed his name to a document that he had not first read through. After having disposed of both batches of paper, the Sultan lunches, plainly without wine. When the Sultan is alone the table service is china; when guests are present it is gold. After luncheon the Sultan usually drives or takes gymnastic exercise. Upon his return from his recreation he again retires to his study and works till all the tasks of the day have been performed.

The home life of the Sultan is strangely different from the prevalent ideas of it. According to Vambery, the Hungarian traveller, who has recently returned to his home from a long visit at the Turkish court, the harem has ceased to have any significance for the life of the Turkish sovereign, who lives with and loves his one chosen wife as would any other European sovereign. His affection for this chosen wife is so strong that during her recent illness he ate and slept little and was by 'her side almost all his leisure time. His daughter, Naime Sultana, has been educated in all European accomplishments, and is a pianist of rare talents and remarkable execution. As an Islamite the Sultan, of course, allows that female slaves are presented to him, but he does not take them into his family in any way, in fact, never sees their faces. Abdul Himid 11. is a believing Moslem, Vambery says, yet never forgets that he rules over Greeks and Armenians as well as over Mohammedans. Not only the clergy of his own creed, but also the Greek and Armenian patriarchs, are frequently recipients of his presents. The Sultan is far from being an orthodox Mohammedan, for he encourages the fine arts, and has founded a museum containing statues, to look at which, according to the Koran, is a deadly sin, and has laid the basis of the education of Turkish women, for which, too, his creed finds no indorsement. Besides the business of live politics, plans for the introduction of a constitution in his empire occupy much of the Sultan’s attention. He feels an obligation to do this for his people, yet fears they are not ripe for it. “In Europe the ground was prepared for constitutions by centuries of liberal government,” he said to Vambery. “Now you come to ask me to transplant this Western growth to the stony soil of Asiatic life. Let me first remove the thistles and stones, let me turn and water the soil, for we have no rain here, and then I will transplant the Western product as you wish. Believe me, no one would be better pleased than I with the success of the experiment.” Such is the Sultan, says Vambery, painted without prejudice.