A TURKISH HOME.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4893, 27 November 1876, Page 3

A TURKISH HOME.

(From the Coriihill Magazine)

I would now give a sketch of one of the comparatively few Turkish houses in which a home can be said to 1 exist. The family consisted of the effendi, his one wife, his aged mother, three or four daughters, and as'many sons. There is a perfect entente cordials between the members of the household. .The father and mother consult each other on all matters concerning their children’s welfare, as to whom they inay or may not visit, how often they may have a treat away from home, and so on. I find they lean decidedly to uninterrupted home influence as far as may be. The daughters are bright, cheerful, happy girls, and seem to acquiesce most good-humoredly, and without a shade of regret, in the home rules made for them by their parents. They take great pride in helping intelligently in household matters. They spin fine gauze fabrics, choosing their own colours and making their own striped patterns; they embroider open-work flowers in satinstitch in coloured silks on handkerchiefs and waistbands, and make a quantity. of the fashionable and pretty Armenian trimming called oiyah, which resembles strings of tiny flowers, all made with a single needle ; they also ornament with minute discs of gold or plated metal those long dinner-towels (soffrd Hi) which the soffradjee, or head waitress carries over her left arm when she appears within the apartment thus mutely to announce that it is time to wash hands before partaking of the meal which is waiting. The effendi’s daughters do not disdain to do plain needlework. ; Besides other occupations they learn to read and write Turkish and French, and paint flowers and landscapes in water-colors. This last is a great innovation on Turkish habits, as any representation of natural objects is usually held by Mussulmans to be a breach of the Second Commandment, and is the reason why the fine arts are almost wholly neglected amongst them. I cannot speak positively of all the requirement of these young Turkish ladies, but I believe they have a knowledge of the poetry of their own country, ’ and they have, no doubt, like most ladies of their rank, cultivated their musical taste to some degree, so that they can play the Ood ’Kanoon, and Tar (the lute, dulcimer, and tambourine), the instruments to be found in most houses where there is any pretension to cultivation. I must not forget to say that these young ladies are very clever confectioners, and are never ashamed to say that they made this or that dish of sweets. Ilelwd, a dish which resembles, when it is properly made, semiopaque spun glass in short, broken pieces, and is very luscious to the taste, is one of their favorite offerings to strangers; maha-, labee, a sort of stiff ground-rice pudding) delicately flavored, and served cold, in another. But, indeed, their ingenuity and willingness it would seem impossible to tire out when employed in the duties of hospitality. Tbe family I have here described is not unique in its characteristics or mode of life. It may be taken as the true type of what a Turkish family, living in simplicity and according to the rules of their religion, really is. They are certainly more .cultivated than others of their their class; but I have it ,on their own authority that there are many families on the banks of tbe Bosphorus and Stamboul of their own standing, and reckoned amongst their friends, who follow the same simple pursuits in their every day life, and are as free from intrigue or moral taint as we could wish them to he.