TURKISH WIVES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9581, 29 June 1909, Page 2

TURKISH WIVES.

HOW THEY AMUSE THEMSELVES

Already the marrying of two or more wives is out of fashion in Turkey, says Mr E. Alexander Powell in the course of a very interesting article on "Prisoners of the Harem. "' in "Everybody's Magazine." "One reason for this is that the spread of Occidentalism has so imbued Turkish wives with Western ideas that many of them will not consent to the introduction of a rival, and without the first wife's consent no second alliance would be valid in the eyes of the law. "Besides, fortunes are among the most uncertain of possessions in a land where exile and banishment are almost as likely to happen ( as birth and death; and the most extravagant gift with which a Turk may present himself is a properly stocked harem. " Each one of the four wives permitted him must have a separate establishment. Each establishment must have its own slaves, cooks, horses and carriages. Each wife or odalisque must, * if she is to be in the height of fashion, have her piano, her French gowns and foreign tutors, for her children. " She must, moreover, be in a position to dispense a large and continuous hospitality, ever ready to return the Gargantuan feasts, the elaborate luncheon parties, and the al fresco fetes which form the dissipations of the smart Osmanli feminine world. "No one of these wives may be slighted. Each one has her legal rights, clearly and exactly defined by scriptural and accepted law. And, as no Turk can with safety withhold' from his wives these enforceable rights, he naturally thinks many times before burdening himself with several. • "The term harem (or haremlik, to use the Turkish word) means -imply a sacred enclosure; it is the sanctum sanctorum, the place safe from all intrusion, into which not even the master may enter if a pair of goloshes at the door of the reception room announces that his wife has guests. " The haremlik, then, is that division of a Turkish! house occupied by the women of the household, be they the mother, wife, sisters or daughters of the owner, together with their female servants and slaves. The selamlik, in contradistinction, is that part of the dwelling reserved to the men of the family and their male attendants. "Up to the age of twelve Turkish girls are as free and untrammelled as European children, and are allowed to play with them and attend their parties. But with her twelfth birthday comes the inevitable day which no Turkish girl of the upper classes can hope to evade. "On that day the girl becomes a woman; she adopts the tcharchaff and joins that silent sisterhood who are condemned to see the world darkly through a veil, without having lost any of their natural desire to participate in its gaieties. LAWS ABOUT DRESS. ' " The slavery of Turkish women consists not alone in bo3ily confinement, but in the thousand Hcsome .forms of restraint by which are pontrolled, though by all appe es free. "For instance, in the matter of dress, the tcharchaff and the thickness of the veil to be worn on the street are decreed by a firman of the Sultan himself. Neither fur nor any other kind of trimming may be used on street garments, and .defiant wearers would render themselves liable to arrest by the police. " Women may not walk or drive except in pairs and attended by slaves, and must be indoors by sunset unless a carriage ahd armed kavass" await them. "Theatres, concerts and all pubhc places of entertainment are prohihitedOn, the return home of the ladies of the house, the servant whose duty it is to go out with them gives the master a complete compterendu of every place to which they have been. Of course, as the slaves, move freely about their mistresses, listening to and watching all that goes on, they are admirably fitted for this sort of domestic espionage. HOW LETTERS ARE INSPECTED. " The women are not even allowed to lock the doors of their sleeping apartments, and have no hole or corner where they may retire from the prying eyes of their slaves. " And all the letters that come to the ladies of a Turkish household are handed first to the master, who himself distributes them, after having taken stock of any particular one that whets his curiosity. " To such absurd lengths is this policy of seclusion and supervision carried that the mistress of the house settles her accounts with the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker through a revolving cupboard at the kitchen door, behind which the lady sits with a muslin veil thrown over her face, lest, perchance, the purveyors of comestibles and combustibles catch even a momentary glimpse of her features.

The rights of Turkish women were clearly denned some twelve centuries before Christian Europe or America had seen fit to grant either divorce or suitable alimony to women. " From each of his wives a Mahommedan receives a dowry, on^-half of which is set aside. In case a husband repudiates his wife, this part of the dowTy is returned with her to Jier father's house. A Turk thinks twice, therefore, before going to the extreme of repudiation.

"Under the Moslem law the wife's free and uncontrolled possession of her property is minutely stipulated in the marriage contract, a suitable sum also being arranged for her maintenance in accordance with her husband's rank." ■