It is fortunate that the less enlightened members of the human family are unconscious of their comparative inferiority—and are ignorant of the bliss to which the more sublimated specimens of humanity are constantly aspiring, and even rendering themselves discontented with real life, as destiny has accorded it to them.

The actual condition of women in the East is not then so much to be lamented, as their ideal of happiness so essentially differs from that of other portions of the fair sex in Europe or America. As no other philosophy has yet crept into their minds, they dream not of “woman’s rights,” “free love” or “equality of the sexes,” and calmly content themselves with the rights of nature, and the relative position which has ever existed among their simple and patriarchal ancestors. The Osmanlis have not yet deviated from the form of family government which nature dictated to them.

The venerable father, who has guided his children through youth, and even counseled them in maturer years, is the monarch in the family circle—the Dei penates are no creations of myth—but are embodied in the one and sacred title of Pater familias.

Each son, as he succeeds to the paternal duties, is invested with the robes of veneration and respect. Thus the male branches of the household have a prior rank, which is unconsciously recognized by the women and younger members of the family. The laws even allow to the son double the share of inheritance that they do to the daughters, because of the heavy responsibilities which may devolve upon him in future by the death of the father.

There is not, therefore, the most distant suspicion in their composition that females are equal to males, or girls to boys. It is as if the members of the body should revolt, and the hands and feet proclaim themselves superior, or even equal, to the head.

The women of Turkey know very well, and gracefully submit to facts, which are stubborn things. They never think of denying that

There are countries where the condition of woman is indeed miserable, and where, also, they are unconscious of their own degradation, and willingly toil and drudge in the service of men; content with the slightest proofs of affection with which their lords may honor them—indeed, any concession to their woman nature is thankfully received.

To be bought and sold is a matter of course. In China, the purchased wife is suddenly transported into the family of a man, whose name even she has never heard. There she is the slave of the whole establishment. The husband may beat her with impunity, reduce her to a state of starvation, or hire her out, if he fancies to do so.

The Hindoo forces her to immolate herself on her husband’s funeral pile—after having spent a lifetime in his slavery and service.

Such barbarities are unknown in Turkey. For in no country in the world are mothers more respected, wives more tenderly cherished, and children more idolized. If, in the relative position of the sexes, men rank above women, it is because the man is considered as the vital principle, and the woman the material. Hence the man loves and cherishes the woman, who in return regards him with reverence and respect; and any deviation from these reciprocal affections, would be considered as the greatest breach of decorum.

There are certain acts of politeness which devolve altogether upon the lords of creation in the most exquisitely civilized regions of the world, which are however sometimes reluctantly performed—but, as usual, such matters are reversed in the East, where even the sun rises at a different hour. There the Efendi graciously receives a glass of water at the hands of his too happy Hanum; his pipe and his coffee are gracefully served by some fair Hebe of a wife or sister, who naturally considers herself as the helpmeet for her spouse, as did Eve, the first and fairest of woman kind.

The reluctance they feel to have their ladies appear in general society does not arise from any want of deference and respect on the part of the men, but rather from an intuitive desire to guard and protect them from public scandal.

As the Osmanlis enshrine the objects of their affection in the recesses of their own hearts, so they love to guard them from all contact of a selfish world. Indeed, Moore has beautifully expressed their feelings in the warblings of the Peri,

They feel so sensitive on this score, that they do not make their Harems a subject of conversation. Even the most distant allusion to this part of their establishment would consequently be, not only indelicate, but also an infringement of etiquette—so that the ordinary questions, such as “how are madam and the ladies,” or according to Irish vocabulary, “how’s yer wife and the gals,” would cause the lord of the house to redden with astonishment.

As a further proof of the respect a man is supposed to feel for his family, his enemy, when wishing to touch him to the quick, in cursing him, only utters maledictions against his wife, mother, or sister.

A man may be publicly executed, but a woman is sacked, entirely out of respect.

A Turkish lady is eminently queen of her own dominions, sometimes even a despot—and most independent on all occasions, both public and private.

It is not necessary for ladies to be attended by their husband or any other gentleman when they go out; public sentiment entirely protects them; for, if any one should accost them rudely, the commonest citizen would immediately turn avenger. When the ladies are attended by servants and eunuchs, they are only appendages of rank and distinction.

They seem, indeed, to be a privileged class. Wherever they appear the men must retire—and woe to the man who ventures upon a warfare of words with a Turkish woman; for her tongue has no bounds, and her slipper is a ready weapon of chastisement; and no man would dare to repel the attack.

The convenience of the slipper as a ready means of self-defence, seems to have been familiar in the days of the old classics, for, the Roman poet says:

And doubtless many of the rising generation can testify to its abuse, even in these days of modern improvement.

The very whims and caprices which seem indigenous to the fair sex, are tolerated as a matter of course with philosophic resignation, as they are instructed by the Koran, “If ye be kind towards women and fear to wrong them, God is well acquainted with what ye do.” They have a proverb also which supplants all reasoning on such occasions.

To salute a lady, or in any way accost her, in public would be an act of consummate rudeness; even a husband would pass by his wife and family with an air of affected indifference. Certainly such a neglect of the fair sex would be unpardonable in Europe and this country, but on the contrary, in the East, it only evinces the greatest deference and respect.

Nevertheless, the Mohammedans have been most maliciously reported by ignorant writers on the East, to hold that women have no souls; or if they have, that they will perish like those of brute beasts.

This assumption is founded upon the promise of the Prophet, that the faithful shall be provided with black-eyed Houris in Paradise.

If this excludes the Mussulman women from Paradise, we may reasonably place the Christian ladies in the same category, for they are assured in the Gospel that “there will be no marrying nor giving in marriage in Heaven.”

On the contrary, Houris are but an addition to the earthly wives of the Mussulmans, and the faithful are assured that “God promiseth unto the true believers, both men and women, gardens through which rivers flow, wherein they shall remain for ever,” and that “whoso doth good works, whether he be male or female, and is a true believer, shall be admitted into Paradise, and shall not in the least be unjustly dealt with.”