Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1903 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER III. THE HAREM AND WOMEN IN THE EAST. True meaning of the word harem--Eastern houses divided into two parts--Male members of the family only allowed to enter the female quarter--Seclusion of women stricter among the well-to-do--Seclusion not wholly due to religion of Islam--Life in the harem-- Occupations of its inmates--Misrepresentation of the system in England--Royal harems--Custom doomed to disappear--Circassian women--Reasons for their popularity as wives--How a woman gets engaged-- Some marriage customs--Marriage a more civil proceeding than religious--The bridegroom--His too friendly friends--Shopping in the harems--Female pedlars--Some of them Europeans--A considerable trade. There are many people in England whose ideas on the subject of the harem are but a confused misconception, based on what they may have heard about Eastern polygamy. In this chapter, that I may correct these mistaken conceptions, I will give some more exact information on the subject of the harem and its inmates, as well as on the position of women in Turkey in general. Although the word harem is known and used by the people of Western Europe, the true meaning of the term is understood by but few persons in this country. As a matter of fact, many subjects concerning the East are much misunderstood in the West, just as there are certain manners and customs of Western Europe that cause prejudice in the Eastern mind. When an Englishman uses the word harem, he means thereby the numerous wives whom a man in our part of the East is supposed to shut up in his house. He, moreover, believes that every man in the Mohammedan East may marry as many women as he pleases. This idea is not only mistaken, but grotesque. There are thousands of men who would consider...
