Life in a Harem

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19626, 21 October 1933, Page 10

Life in a Harem

The opening of a new university in Constantinople is the most sensational reform of Kemal Pasha since he tore the veil from Turkish women a decade ago. The whole of Western culture Is welcomed —its science, economics, and sociology, its history, and its literature. Women will study at the new university alongside men, for the Ghazi has always been in favour of their higher education, and this will complete their emancipation. Up till now education in the New Turkey was so wretchedly inadequate that I was tempted to wonder if all their boasted reforms were not skindeep—whether, once their Ghazi gone, the Turk would not sink back into his

old indolence, says a writer in the Manchester Guardian. I often went into the harems as interpreter for a woman doctor, and though I had heard a good deal about the “romance” of the seraglios and the beauty of Turkish women, what I felt was repulsion. It was uncanny to see women, the same flesh and blood as oneself, even the same colour, kept in that sort of idle imbecility, like half-wild bea>ts in cages. Sometimes they were laughing and chattering like cockatoos, sometimes they were shy and furtive, but often heavy and languorous with the unnatural look of sick animals. A great many of them were in fact consumptive and diseased. When I commented on the restrictions imposed on Turkish women as compared with the freedom enjoyed by our own. my Turkish messenger and guardian remarked, “That is different; Englishwomen are half men. You don't know ours. We can't trust ours out of our sight, and we can't trust each other, not where women are con-

EMANCIPATION OF TURKISH WOMEN

one can’t see over, domed roofs one couldn't climb on to. When I came first I thought there were no houses in your town only mosques. Is that all to keep your women safe?” “Of course," he answered.

Undoubtedly the peasant women of Old Turkey, who did agricultural work side by side with their men, were of a more vigorous type than those I saw, but in Macedonia, where the Turks

were once the ruling race, one sees nothing of them. When the land was liberated in 1912 the Turks were not turned out of their estates, but they found it impossible to get them worked They could not dig themselves of course that would be dishonouring moreover they lacked the cheap labour that every Balkan peasant has in wife and daughters, and the Christians were no longer their serfs and bondsmen. They sold their estates for a song and crowded into towns like Uskub and Monastir. It is the will of Allah that the glory has passed from the Csmanli race. They prefer to live where the muezzin still calls to prayer, where women arc kept safe behind veils and locked doors, and where there is no pressure on them to learn new things or think new thoughts. Their bearing is dignified and decorous, their manner courteous and grave. They are part of the paralysis that was over the whole Turkish no rid for close on four centuries or empire. Who can tell how much of this paralysis was due to the harem? Something of the animal outlook of the mother transmitted itself to the son, something of the indolence induced by her life, her contentment with ignorance, her lack of ambition. The emancipation of women will even

not advisable to resort to the olive oil for longer than this, if you can possibly help it, for the film of oil will keep the beneficial rays from entry into your system. “The head and back of the neck are particularly vulnerable spots, so you should wear a loose-fitting, wide-brim-med linen hat, preferably of white on the outside and green on the inside pulled well down over the nape of the neck.” BATHING COSTUMES. Colour and still more colour seems to be the keynote of beach clothes. In so vivid a background of blue and green and white one cannot afford to be dressed in drab hues that look dirty beside the clear, clean colours of Nature’s making. So “bright and clear and vivid” is the rule, with only three exceptions, states a correspondent. White is the first important exception to this rule, and very important it is, for some of the most attractive costumes for the coming season are in white or cream wool, and look very attractive when they are worn by someone who has achieved a really good “tan.” Black is the next exception, and there are few who will deny that a perfectly fitting black costume on a perfect figure takes a lot of beating And the third exception is navy blue always a good seaside colour, because, although it is dark, it seems to fit in with an echo the blue of the sea and the sky. Among the new costumes that have been unpacked are many of “two-way-stretch” fabric. They are closely woven, and in some mysterious fashion elastic has been introduced between the strands of wool. They fit the figure perfectly, and have the additional advantage of providing more support than the ordinary woollen costume.

Beach wraps will be very much In the minority this season, for they have been almost completely supplanted by beach pyjamas. And not the most prudish person could take exception to most of them, for with their long lull trousers and little coats they are more like attractive Irocks than “mannish” pyjamas. Some of the most attractive of these suits are in one piece with the bodice in contrasting colour to the trousers. Many of them are in stockingette, which hangs well and does not crease easily. Among the two-piece beach suits are some with charming little jersey blouses. One has a white blouse with short sleeves and a high polo collar, and the trousers that go with it are navy blue, beautifully cut, and of ribbed silk stockingette. This particular suit has a most nautical and seamanlike air. Shirts in colours that contrast with the trousers look attractive, too. One bright yellow shirt in cellular material has royal trousers, and another pale blue shirt is matched by navy trousers. VARIETY IN SUMMER TAILOR-MADES. Hopsack and cotton corduroy are used by the tailors In beige and grey, relieved by blouses and hats of red or green. Another novel mixture In fabrics Is the skirt and ooatee of printed crepe or cotton, worn with a blouse of organdie or pique. A dark navy and white printed crepe has a top of string macrame. with hat made of the same Victorian fabric that so closely resembles coarse lace. Some of the new light summer woollen nrs woven with a horizontal stripe, which often is in a darker tone, and are