Istanbul imperial residence

Still the women would not abandon the

contest, and, as a supreme effort, sent a long telegram to the Palace, invoking

the sovereign’s aid and protection. In reply, they were invited to send a

deputation to the Police Court connected with the imperial residence. The pasha

of the Court was a veteran official who, though he could not read, and knew to

write only his own name, had reached his responsible position by force of

character and the possession of common sense.

He expounded the law to the women before

him, informed them that he intended to enforce it, and gave them a tremendous

scolding for the manner in which they and their sisters had behaved; seasoning

justice, however, with mercy, to the extent of presenting them a small sum of

money wherewith to meet the expense of their visit to him and of their

telegram.

The young imam of the village was also

summoned, and made to understand that, unless his mother’s influence was

employed to keep the peace, he should lose his place. Accordingly, the war

stopped, but there were threats that the two persons most concerned with the

erection of the wall would be stoned to death. The threats were so serious that

even a brave Croat, in the service of the proprietors of the enclosed ground,

advised the superintendent of the works to avoid a road which would expose him

to assault. “I am an old man,” replied the latter, a Briton, “it will not

matter much if I am stoned to death.”

Be killed by women

But answered the Croat, “will it not be a

shame to be killed

by women?” It was an ungallant remark to make, in view of the

spirit displayed by the women, yet a characteristic expression of that poor

estimate of womanhood against which the weaker sex has still to contend in the

East the estimate which led Abimelech, long ago, when at the point of death by

a blow from a woman’s hand, to beseech his armor-bearer to kill him, lest men

should say “a woman slew him.”

A pleasure resort near the upper end of the

Golden Horn much in favor in the spring, when every Friday afternoon crowds of

Turkish ladies with their children flock there for recreation by the

water-side.

But the world moves, and Turkish women move

with it. The last generation has witnessed remarkable changes in their habits

both in the capital and in other great cities of the Empire. For one thing,

there has been a striking change in the matter of dress.