WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY
whom I have conversed. There are still Occidental visitors who speak of unfortunate women in Turkey, pent up in the harems, and living degraded lives as the mere instruments of sensual men.
Sir Edwin Pears, in the work to which I have referred, is not so prejudiced an investigator as some of my compatriots. He admits that there are admirable traits in the Turkish people, and he testifies to their love of children. But this author's impressions are very different from those of Mrs. Garnett, who lived so long in Turkey, and has studied the inhabitants of town and country with much zeal and intelligence.
Sir Edwin Pears finds an absence of family life, whereas other strangers in the land seem to discern domestic affection and tender conjugal love in almost every home.
In the East husbands and wives do not walk arm-in-arm in the streets. Frequently, as in India, the man walks in advance of the woman. This is, however, no sign of an open assertion of male superiority. It has a very different origin. In the old times, the husband strode in front of the wife, to hold back the branches of the forest and to make a track for her. He was like a military vanguard, ready for encounters with enemies, and not the leader of a weak and submissive spouse, who was not worthy to walk at his side.
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