On married life in Turkey, a writer in the Daily News says: — "Having obtained a wife, it is worth while to inquire how a Turk treats her. lam not aware that she has much to complain of generally from the personal ill-treatment of her husband. I should think, as a rule, (hat the Turk ia a fair husband. The Turk, in ordinary life is not unkind or cruel. The wife's misfortunes arise from her position. As husband and wife see littta of each other, they are not specially given to quarrelling. But she is a woman, possibly purchased outright in the slave market, for it is a pure illusion to suppose that the slave trade in Turkey has beeu abolished, and being a woman she bears about her on every hand the marks of degradation. It is her duty to i wait on her husband, if he is poor, at meals. Her accommodation in the house is inferior to his. In all things she is his slave. If the wife is the daughter of a wealthy man, her lot is not a hard one. As the law regards marriage merely as a partnership she keeps her own property, and the husband has to be on his good behaviour to obtain a share of it. If she is of poor origin she can hardly be said to have any rights. On two or three occasions it has been my lot to travel in the steamers oi the Austrian Lloyd's when we have had a harem on board. In each case the husband was in the saloon with the rest of us, and living and sleeping in a comfortable cabin. The. poor women were penned up as deck passeDgers, living on wretched food which they had brought with them. Only a few weeks ago I travelled in a steamer carrying a harem .where there were probably twenty women, wives and slaves, who were shivering under canvas which was quite insufficient to keep out the pelting rain. I know that it is a thing almost unknown for a harem to have cabins taken for it. The husband takes care of himself, has, perhaps, as I remember seeing, unlimited champagne, and leaves his women huddled together on deck to take care of themselves. I do not think it fair to charge the; Turk with cruelty for thus treating his women. An Englishman does not always take a first-class cabin for his servants, and the Turk, with no more ill-will, or intension of harshness, than an Englishman who sends his servant jtbird-ulass, will take the cheapest method of transport for his women." The AHemeine Zeitung of January 26, contains a letter from Bagdad, the chief town of Mesopotamia, giving an account of the extraordinary excitement prevailing in that part of Asiatic Turkey, at the prospect of war against "the infidel." It runs as follows: " Througout the whole of Mesopotamia an iudiscribable enthusiasm prevails for war. The Mahometan population of this part of the Ottoman Empire has little knowledge of the political question, or of the crisis which has overtaken the empire. Nevertheless the officials have succeeded in stirring up the popular fanaticism to an extent that will yield the greatest possible results in case of war. The masses, who are ignorant in the highe3t degree, do not know what Servia, Montenegro, and Sclavs are. They have only been made to understand that the infidel has declared war against Islam, and that sooner or later the Caliph will call them to the defence of the faith. That was enough to rouse them. The last official call to arms which has been made has found everywhere a warm reception. The mobilised battalions of iidiffa show that instead of the 750 men which are required to make a battalion, a strength of from 1200 to 1500 men has been forthcoming. We are aware that the Government Mesopotamia have always experienced the greatest difficulties in finding recruits. The conscripts deserted generally in masses and took refuge in the desert, where they lived a (nomad life, and were tafe from military control. But now these desertions have absolutely ceased. The officers are astonished at the change, and at the zeal with which all rush to military service. The question is one of a holy war, and that is enough. This desire for war has taken hold everywhere of the nomad tribes, who have sent their sheiks to Bagdad in order to come to an understanding with the GovernorGeneral about the contingent wanted from them. The tribe of the Tzuff, which numbers 3000 tents, and lived in the deserts- for years in Persia, have returned for the holy war. The following extract from a London paper will interest, perhaps, if u does not; please, admirers of Moody and Sankey'a hymns : — "There are symp-
toma of a reaction against the sentimental style of hymns made fashionable by Meßsrs Moody and Sankey. Mr B. Clarke this week read a capital paper at a meeting of Sunday-school teachers, comprising many South London representatives, at the Lecture-hall of the Sunday>achoo\ Uuion, in the course of which he trenchantly attacked the classing of such hymns as 'Hold the Forf,' * Safe in the arms of Jesus,' &c. as devotional hymns. In the course of his address he touched upon the necessity of making the words children sing convey the right meaning to their minds; and in i'lustration told a capital story of a boy who had been in the habit of singing the words ' A consecrated cross I'd bear,' under the impression that it was a ' consecrated crosseyed bear,' and did so for many years, until his further acquaintance with natural history taught him better, This is only one absurd instance of what is done more or less at religious services every Sunday. The remark made by Mr Clarke, by the way, came like a bombshell upon the minds of many of the audieuce, who evidently bad been accustomed to sing ' Sankey's hymns ' very much after the style of the boy alluded to. However, this is not the first time that the absurdity of some of them has been pointed out; for I remember a dissenting minister a few months ago characterising them as ' flabby/ an epithet not altogether undeserved in a few instances." Has it ever occurred to our readers that it is easier to take the milk away from the cream than to skim the cream off (he milk ? The former process insures a better result in quantity of unkroken cream, ia facility of handling, and Baving time. To tako the milk from the cream requires the pans to be made smaller at the bottom, with a piece of zinc pipe, an inch or two long, soldered on of euoh a diameter that a common sized cork would fit into it. The pans may rest on frames, or on small stands, elevated from the floor a sufficient height to admit of skim milk cans underneath. This process is simple, effective, and worthy of a trial.-r- American Cultivator. An American contemporary gives the following account of a method adopted by a Mexican officer for training wild horses:—" He took a cord, about the siza of a common bed-cord, pat it into the mouth of a horse like| a bit and tied it tightly on the animal's head passing his left ear under the string, not painfully tight, but tight enough to keep the ear down and the cord in its place. This done, be patted the horse gently on the side of tha head, and commanded him to follow ; and instantly the horse obeyed, perfectly subdued, and as gentle and obedient as a well-trained dog, Buffering his legs to be lifted with impunity, acting in all respects like an old stager. That. sirapla string thus tied made jhini at once docile and obedient as any one could desire." The gentleman who adopts this simple moans of subduing a very dangerous propensity, intimated that it is praotieed in Mexico and South America in the management of wild horses. The Lyttlton Times says that the presentment made by the Grand Jury at the recent sittings of the Supreme Court at Christcburch opens up a wide field for speculation. The Judge, in his charge, called the Grand Jury's attention to the prevalence of certain crimes. He regretted the prevalence, he thought it might be lessened if certain classes in the community were more careful whom they trusted, and he requested some expression of opinion irom the Jury as to the causes of the particular crimes in question*, and the manner of their prevention. That body replied that, with ihe Judge, it veiy much regretted to see these crimes so numerous. It could not suggest any remedy, except that people ought to be more careful whom they trusted. It hoped that his Honor's advica to that effect would be more generally followed. These conclusions were embodied in the presentment of the Grand Jury. The Judge gravely thanked them for their valuable document, promised to forward a copy of it Jo the Governor, and hoped the public would accept their useful caution. Wo wouder whether this is a solemn farce. Ab we read the presentment, a suspicion arises that the Grand Jury, while declining (omttko any suggestion, have contented themselves with simply echoing the Judge's remarks by way oi showiog him that the matter concerns thorn not. As we think over the Judge's reply, the praise he bestows on
the Jury seams to have a delicate flavor of irony. Our mind leans to the suspicion that the Judge ia satirising the very impotent results of the Jury'a labors. The result certainly does not look very wonderful. It amounts wholly to a caution, and the public, in this matter of receiving cheques, from unknown persons, has received oautiona, general and particular, without number.
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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 99, 28 April 1877, Page 4
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1,641Untitled Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 99, 28 April 1877, Page 4
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