| OCR Text |
Show HAREMS OUT OF DATE IN TURKEY placing polygamy a simple repudli tlon by the husband of hla wife, pr vlded be la well enough off to pay th nekyah or marriage settlement, whlc he Is legally bound to hand over t her. The woman of the poorest rlasse can go out alone. Custom doe no oblige her to wear her veil dowr Should her husband. In a fit of angei wish to divorce ber, he must first c all produce the Nekyah, the dowrj In ready money, not an easy matte for a poor man. The real danger to domestic happ neae in the great mass of Turkls homes Is the growing tendency of d vorce, and a divorce wholly favorabl to the man as against the woman. The payment of the modest nekys arranged at the time of hla man-lag Is a simple sffalr. and It la aeldor enough to keep the divorced wlf fo the rest of ber days. Khe Is forced t take refuge with her psrents or t find shelter with some of her friend I Only th Sultan Adheres to th Old I 8tyl Orlsntsl Institution Mod-, Mod-, ' rn Turk Rssorts to Dlvorc. The domestic arrangements of the , sultan are entirely different from I thoae of hla subjects. Most Turks ' have one wife; the sultan baa no recognized aultana. Turks of high rank marry Into their own class; the sultan forms unions with women of slave origin. The ordinary man may not look upon an unveiled woman except ex-cept she be bla relation or servant; the sultan baa the light to talk with any woman In the land face to face. Turka of poaltlon model their bouse- 1 holds more or less on the European plsn; the sultan's household la orleo- ,tal. j. That doe not mean that In th 1m-peiial 1m-peiial palace you would find women alpplng aherbet or amoklng narghllehs or clad in baggy trousers. On the contrary, you would find them smoking smok-ing nothing more oriental than a cigarette. Bitting on a Kuropeao chair and. yes, wearing corsets! But the code of morale Is entirely different, ssys the New York Sun. Th Imp Hsl harem is founded on the old court system of the Pntlne emperors and hss an etiquette and law of Ita own. The first fact one must graap la that the wivea or favoiitea of the eultan" have no Importance Im-portance at all. They are nobodlea. The daughter of a Clreasolsa peasant may be honored by the sultsn's favor and even bear htm a child, but yet be dlatlngulahed by no other title than the commonplace "Kadla Effen-dl" Effen-dl" Only the mother of the eldest son receive th royal designation of i- -aultan." her whole title being "Kba-i. "Kba-i. rekl ultan. e Her dignity only results front her i- being the mother of a possible heir Ui the throae; that ta. In the avent y that th sultaa ha bo brthra, for a th brother have tha light of prece- i dence as the elder male deacendanta And the royal favorite of the moment will have transitory Importance on account of the Influence which ahe may exercise over the sultan. Royal prlncessea are considered Inferior In-ferior to the mother of the sultan, who la the real queen of the little world of the barem. has sbsolute authority, a large staff of officials and the supreme su-preme title of "Valid sultsn " Thus It hsppens thst a woman of alave birth may. If ahe be the mother of an heir to the throne, eventually become the highest woman of the land. Every royal prlncesa has her dalra. or separate apartmenta. elavea. aer-vanta aer-vanta and so on, the management of the household being given over to her kslfas. or Isdles In waiting that Is to say. Turkish women of good birth who have remained unmarried. Royal princesses rsrely take a bus-bsnd bus-bsnd of their own rsnk They are generally married by the sultan to the aona of men of wealth and position, posi-tion, such as psshss. officers of state, high civil officials and the like, a policy which Is founded on a very practical reason, nsrnely. that the arrangement ar-rangement makes the exlstenee of a herldltary arlstocrscy Impossible One of the paradoxes In Turkey is that the poorer a Turkish woman is the greater ber freedom. The rich woman canont move a step unaccompanied. unaccom-panied. She sees Constantinople only from th windows of her closed brougham or through a veil thick enough to act as a mssk. She may dreaa aa exquUltetly aa a mannequin In a Parle dreeamaker' showroom, but she must not display so much as an Inch of embroidery In public When her busbsnd wants to tske a aecond wife, or grow tired of her and wishes to divorce her. he hss both th opportunity and the meana If he ts a rich maa. It Is not chic among Turks of any education to take a second wife; bat divorce to re- |
