Page:Islam, Turkey, and Armenia, and How They Happened.djvu/159

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TURKISH HAREM.
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be far from woman." "Do not walk with woman, else you will suffer calamity." "Woman is the satan of man." "May allah preserve you from the evil of woman." "Do not trust the friendship of woman." "Woman has no religion." "She leaves confusion among seven quarters." "She loads seven houses on a donkey and rides also upon it." "You woman-minded fool !"

They have numerous stories about the evils and tricks of women. They say, "Satan made a bet with a woman upon a pair of slippers to see which of them could cause greater confusion in the world; and they began the work among the families. After some time, satan being convinced of woman's superiority in devices, and fearing that she might one day harm even himself, he gave up, and putting the slippers on the end of a long pole, stretched it to the woman, being afraid to go near her."

6. Turkish Family Discipline. In order to understand the Turkish character, we must go to the foundation, the family discipline. They have no idea and no word for home. The mother has not her proper position in the family. Filial, fraternal and paternal love is not nobler among them than it is among the pigs—if the comparison is not injustice to the latter. The jealousy, slander, quarrelling and crimes among the children of different mothers are terrible beyond imagination. The defect of the Turkish family discipline does not consist simply of some neglects, but also positive inducements to corruption. As soon as the child is able to walk and talk, he is given to the