Rensselaer Republican, Volume 13, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 November 1880 — Turkish Wives. [ARTICLE]

Turkish Wives.

Finrt among the Turkish social topics b that of the harem. aUoWB a to hsv* four wives; and many partona bavw conaMuantly imA IHvWmB U« CflD BCM9 ID <XNDKO t MHI itisonhrthe vwyTrtvtoaa afford four. The middWasaTwtahwn onlv ooawifo apfoca; the woof tba fowaA eAan to remain ainde not having tba nvrr*M to support a consort tai tbe Mylo which the Mbatem law enjoins. Nothing caa bo more tmTurktah than the Uotawn taleaa of aococi "y®* 11 kH<Sn and parlor, and acting as booeeboid drudges for their husband. Tbe Turkish wife so not a slave; the chief foult to find with her is that she has too lofty a sense of her own dignity. An advocate of female rights would nave some diflculty in persuading her that her lot was pitiable; she has never envied the emandpetion of Christian women, whose free ways shock her; while she has noticed that they get much leas respect from tbe men of their frith than that which is invariably voochaafod to herself She veils her free with no more regret than aWestern lady unveil* her shoulders. Turkish women are not shut up. They go out when they please, attended by their odalika if rich, oar holding their children by the hand; and their magpie voices fill the basaan, for they are noisy talkers. Whenever they pass, men of all creeds stand aside dererentially. If a husband meets his wife in the street, be mak*w no sigh of recognition; if be perceives her haltinc before a draper’s stall and gacing significantly at sila dearer than he can afford, he must possess bis soul in resignation, mattering “Maahallah.” - This respect for women prevails also in the home circle, and it comes naturally to the Mussulman, who has been taught from his boyhood to behave courteously to the sorter sex. The Western conjugal expression about “wearing the breeches” has its Turkish counterpart in the phrase to “live under the slipper f and it is to be feared that not afew Turks know the taste of this implement of uxorial persuasion. A hamal (street porter) once came before a cadi to compuun that his Iwife trounced him too frequently. “See what mine does." answered the magistrate, opening his gown and showing some weals upon his-neck and shoulders. “Go thy way, my son, and thank Allah thou art luckier than L"