Turkish Life in Town and Country. B'y Lucy M. J.
Garnett. (G. Newnes. 35. 6d. net.)—We are not in a position to criticise in detail this author's statements ; we can only say that we feel a certain distrust in the general conclusions. For the state of public affairs she has little favourable to say ; with the private life of the people it is otherwise. Here is an example, and it is of a crucial kind. "The lot of the slave-girl in Turkey is in many respects preferable to that of the majority of domestic servants in the West" (the italics are ours). Was there ever anything more monstrous ? A chattel, the absolute property of master or mistress, better off than a free woman ! It is just what the Anti- Abolitionists of old days used to say, contrasting the well-fed, well-kept negress of a Virginian household with the half-starved drudge in some ill-conditioned English lodging-house. But it is no good preaching to heretics of this kind. There is much that is well worth reading in the book.
Previous page
