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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 9, 1908)
" 'THE V OREGON SUNDAY ' JOURNAL, .PORTLAND, SUNDAY, RaSUING. FEBRUARY V 1903 T3 if Boors Ourkirh -Hwm? i 5$ ' i: f . i 1 1 I '"". y CULTIVAT- NG f f mi of i, , .1., iter own me k woman of ur- key ts rapidly emancipat i n g herself after . . centuries of galling S e rv I- tude to the lord and master of her little world. No longer ;Mshe be tie meek selling creature , cflhe past; she has begun to wage a war " for her rights the inalienable rights of all women and she ts gaming her point. , : For centuries, for instance, she-has y concealed her beauty with the hideous yash '; ' mak, a covering over her face, with only two slits for the eyes. She is now putting " the yashmak away, and not even with v mothballsf Instead of the bloomers and sashes, she is donning gowns made after Parisian fashions. Instead of tending to canary birds and cats and nursing dolls in her harem, she , has oegun to read the latest foreign lit erature; instead of prattling childish gossip about some of the numerous other inmates of her husband's house, she. hies herself to " 4 teacher of languages. She is learning to " paint and to play the piano. . . Truly, she is the New W oman of igo8. N' 'OT without alarm have the conserv ative people of this steel-riveted, conservative and backward country viewed the steady evolution of wo- v man during the past fifteen years. . ,', Slowly and quietly the change of thought, 1 ; ' the change in the status of woman was taking ' place, and unknown to men, the spirit of inde 'pendence in the little bosom of the gazelle-eyed ' wife or daughter was growing. Within the past year or so the , Turkish ; woman has raised her head, drawn aside the ' humiliating yashmak and begun to express her opinion in determined tones to her husband, ' father .and brother. With feelings akin to. horror, the orthodox Moslems have viewed the growing epirit of independence in the feminine heart, and not long ago the Sheikh-ul-Islam, head of the Mo hammedan priesthood, issued orders to all the priests to discourage the adoption of western customs and ideas by the women in every pos- ; ...:" 7T v2U YZ11.a3 sible way by public exhortations and, corporal punishment, if necessary. 1 -' ' : ' ' '- "", Opposed to the emancipation of the women ' are all of the .'old .Turks' a party which in-. v eludes the state, functionaries and the rigid church pfeople. According to "Professor Hinneberg, a noted German traveler, who has contributed an arti cle to a Berlin: magazine on women's life in- ; Turkey, no phase of pubUc Hf e in the Ottoman Empire has been so affected by western'' ileas as the 'culture : and status of women. - - Were- a person who had visited Turkey fif teen, years ago T to v visit the 'capital of the sultan this year be would .be amazed , by . the changes in the - feminine dress. And woman's drees, say sociologists -and s.i"okemakers both of wbom are pretty nearly right ;is an index "to. woman's mental attitude. . .' ' y-mmmnKmmmmMMmumuimm II I yi MMMMMMMMBMMMMMMMMMMBMaMMiaMMaMBMB Life in a Turkish home, under the old con- ditions, was not the ploasautcst sort of exist- ence to young and ardent woman. It was confined and narrow; a woman was always undcr (hft doflMt espionflge 6he waa unable to see any-men, other than those of the immediate family", and her female 'companions were selected for her. Nowadays many 01 tn0 women ot .the harems are not only allowed to receive their frijda at will, but go out walk- ing and shopping in the company of f ernaJe relatives, or friends. . inysicians, who V were formerly "ft focnTS Set homes, are now freely consulted. The women select their own pas- 1 1 1 .v.,t ---- 0. times, and what is most significant is the growing, desire to read foreign lit-- '' ' erature. A There is little oppertii nity iu Turkey for female education, and only the daughters of , very rich, men enjoy, the privi lege of learning from European professors. Through the agencies of the missionary schools, however; many Turkish women have got ideas . yof modern civilization and western thought, J and these ideas are no sooner implanted than (they spread remarkably. , Escaping from the harem of her husband, Prince; Samy, the Princess Sheref Hilmy Guir idy Zade, . a daughter of the late Hilmy Pasha - and a niece of -the sultan, made her way to : Paris several years ago, where she met the Kus siajn. Frince, Urusoff.; After obtaining a divorce she was' married to him in London. The action ' of the princess at that' time was unprecedented, and created great consternation in Cons tan ti- " ' There had been escapes from the harem be-? A jfll'J 1 :.' r s i . SS .- ' -V' . -Sf- as V. A 1 IS-- I. ' " : v. m if V-.-ift fore, but. this action of a woman of JS?Hiigh rank created a precedent ' which stirid iht hearts of the Turks with alarm. Tbfeii appre " hension was well founded, for some time later the beautiful ' Saila 1 Omarunyi, daughter of a wealthy banker of Constantinople, escaped from the harem of her husband, an influential -official,, and also went to Paris. She .was followed by several other women. 'The women of Turkey," declared the Prin cess Sheref Hilmy on her arrival in Paris, "are beginning to, resent the close seclusion in which they are kept. .A daughter is brought up with the view of marrying and obeying the husband ' selected for her if he is as ugly and repulsive as the monsters, of the Bosporus. "Her hope of heaven, her religion teaches her, depends ..upon her submission to her husband. Until we knew better' we were contented. But European books got into the harems and homes. We. learned of the freedom which women enjoy in other countries.' We learned that woman in Europe and America was not the slave of man; .. that. she could select the man whom, she 'wished Six ViA4A UK. . , r i - J 'JL Wi, - xSv- 3 1 v. to - W to love instead of marryine a polvsra-. mous monster. . . "Then our hearts longed for free- : - r doin, we talked togetlier of freedom, ' and we resolved that we should be free. Withm the last few years several, foreign women have made their way into the harems and the stories they .told of the life in foreign lands whetted our curiosit( and stirred nd increased our un rest.: ; ;: ": - f ; '":4; t " I "I loved my, husband, but the intrigues among the other women ; of ; ; the household '. disgusted me," she declared. "Many of the' women are not" satisfied to share "the affection; of the. husband with many others. It; is -becoming, customary for the wealthy parents - to secora European teachers for the daughters. '"From them the wo men of Turkey got the first ideas of western Me.- - . . -; " '. - j "Then 'we learned French and English, Und. 1 books written in these languages ' drifted into growing feeling among Turkish women 'that the bomes. I have read de Maupassant, Bourget they should be supreme in the affections of the . -and Zola. Our husbands do not see what we husbanda desire in the heart of every woman '. read and they -do not know what a revolution "has raised the standard of home life. ? . : .7 it rJM: for such books will make in our manner of thought Then, too, we got fashion journals. I remem ber that several of the women in the harem of the Prince Samy demanded French costumes, lie finally ordered them, but prohibited them from wearing the dresses outside the harem." Within the past year, however, travelers say, the change in the street costume of the women is striking. Many women wear dresses which are a sort of combination of the picturesque native co?tume and the European garments. A significant indication of the change of po sition of the Turkish woman and her adoption of western customs is the use of the sewing machine in the Turkish home. During one year a single New York firm sold 60,000 machines in the land of the Sultan. American fabrics are also imported in large quantities. A number of young women, daughters of some of the most prominent men of Constan tinople, have become famed for their painting and proficiency at music ,Zeineb llanum, daughter of Nouri Bey, the first secretary of the Ottoman State Department, b,as written a volume of poetry. Scores of women, the wives of prominent men, no longer wear the yashmak. Chief among those who conduct a harem is the Commander of the Faithful, the sultan, who supports about 300 women. Even thia despotic and inhuman ruler has contributed to the emancipation of the women of his nation, for his harem is run quite respectably. During the reign of the Sultan Mejid indescribable . y..v. 5v-. mmmmmimmm nmwmtmm lliiiiiiiif 1? ;V-;; , m m rrr?. . ' orgies , were carried on in. the harem. Abdul : Aziz, however, when he ascended the throne un dertook to reform the harem and insisted on its being conducted in a strictly proper manner. v Most -of the women in the harem are recruited from themost beautiful women of the Circas-' sian. race. Before they are introduced to the royal master the - women selected undergo a course of training for a year ot two. They are taught; all the arts of feminine coquetry,4 the various graceful dances and all the likes and dislikes of Abdul Hamid. .- Many r are presented by -the sultan to friends. A woman presented by the sultan io; one of ,hh friends-in marriage is greatly honored, and ': maintains -the i first place in her home, i The i n 4
