SCHOOL
"MAMMA, mamma, I am so glad it has come at last!" said little Osman,
early one bright spring morning.
"Yes, yes, my darling," answered his mother. "It is a good time; I am
glad, too."
What made Osman wake up sooner than usual this morning? What caused his
eyes to look so bright? Why was the nurse taking such pains with his
hair and dress?
He was going to school for the first time in his life. His sixth
birthday had come and gone, and his father had said:
"It is time for my little boy to do something besides play. He must
learn to read our good books, and understand the use of numbers."
The important day was set and the teacher was told about the new pupil.
Word was also sent to the priest.
Osman's father spent some time in choosing a pony on which his boy
should first ride to school. At last he decided on one of an iron-gray
colour and very handsome.
"What beautiful trappings!" exclaimed Osman, when the pony arrived at
the door. "Oh, you dear, kind father to get them!"
Any boy would be pleased to ride on a pony decked out in such a gay
manner.
The pony had no sooner arrived than the whole school appeared at the
door. The children were dressed in their best clothes to do honour to
the new pupil.
The priest took his place in front of the young company. They instantly
bent low while he made a short prayer. After this, Osman was lifted to
the back of the pony, the other children formed in double line, and the
procession started out for the school.
But it did not move quietly. Hymn after hymn was sung by the little ones
in strong, clear voices as they went along.
The grown-ups whom they passed smiled and said to themselves, "A child
is on his way to school for the first time. It is a glad day. May he
grow wise and be happy."
What an odd-looking schoolroom it was that Osman soon entered; neither
seats nor desks could be seen. Three divans, as the big, soft Turkish
couches are called, stood along the wall. The children squatted
cross-legged on these, side by side.
After they had taken their places, the teacher sat down in front of his
little class and began to hear their lessons.
Each child had by this time opened his book and begun to recite. Not
one of them at a time. Oh, no, indeed! They spoke together in high,
sharp voices. How could the schoolmaster understand what they said?
He did not seem to have any trouble, however, and kept the children
busy. They read from the Koran, which is the sacred book of their
people, they recited numbers, and they wrote.
You remember they had no desks. The poor little things had to hold their
copy-books in their laps, and it was tiresome work. Their pens were made
of reeds, and sponges took the place of ink-wells.
Before the children were dismissed, the master told them a story which
interested Osman very much.
[Illustration: OSMAN AND HIS MOTHER.]
"I will repeat it to my mother," he said to himself. "The story teaches
us not to seem surprised, no matter what may happen. My father has
spoken of this very thing. It is not polite to be astonished. That is
what he has often said."
As the little boy rode homeward, he saw a man sitting cross-legged at
the street corner. Two veiled women stood in front of him. They were
eagerly watching the man as he wrote. From time to time he stopped as
one of the women told him something more she wished him to put into the
letter.
"He is a street scribe," thought Osman. "They will pay him for that
letter. They do not know how to write. That is why they get him to do
it. How quickly he makes the letters, and how easily he holds his pen. I
hope it won't be long before I can write as well as he does."
Such a scribe is often seen in the streets of Constantinople, the city
where Osman lives. There are many people there who can neither read nor
write. Fine ladies are not ashamed to stop at a scribe's little stand
and ask him to write letters for them, as these people were doing.
Osman's school was only a short distance from home, and he was soon at
his own gate. The moment he arrived, the door was opened by an old black
slave, who had been watching for the darling of the house.
"I'd like to stop and tell you what I've been doing this morning, but I
can't now," said Osman. "I must tell mother first."
The little boy ran up the stairs to his mother's rooms. In another
moment he was seated on a divan beside her and talking faster than one
often hears among the quiet people of his country.
Lunch was soon brought, and, you may be sure, the little boy was ready
for it. There was a dish of pilaf, of course. It was made of nicely
cooked rice and butter, and was delicious. Then there was a juicy melon,
and fresh figs, besides cakes sweetened with honey, candy, and many
other nice things.
Osman's mother is as fond of sweet things as her little boy, and she is
ready to eat them at any time. The lunch was served at an odd little
table. Indeed, it could hardly be called a table,--it was a small, low
stand, about eight inches above the floor. The dishes were brought in
one at a time, and placed on the stand.
Osman and his mother ate the pilaf with their fingers, from the same
dish. But they did not hurry. The grains of rice were picked up so
daintily with their finger-tips, they were hardly soiled by the touch of
the food.
"We will wash now," Osman's mother said, as the lunch was finished. A
queer basin was at once brought by a servant, and held in front of the
lady. In the middle of the basin was a little stand holding a cake of
soap, while underneath was a sort of well. This was to receive the
water as it left the basin. As Osman's mother held out her hands, one
servant slowly poured the water over them, while another held an
embroidered towel ready for her use.
It was Osman's turn next. No matter how much he wished to hurry out to
play, he must not rise from his cushion till his hands were bathed.
"Wash before eating and afterward," is a law of the Koran. Osman thinks
it would be as wicked to break this rule as to tell a wrong story, or
take anything belonging to another.
As soon as the hand-washing was over, the little boy started for the
courtyard to watch his tame pigeons and play with his friend Selim.
Osman's house is divided into two parts. His father's rooms are
down-stairs. A separate door leads into them from the street. No woman
ever enters these rooms. Even the servants who take care of them are
men. The boy's father receives his gentlemen friends in this part of the
house. It is here that he talks over business with his visitors.
Sometimes he holds dinner-parties in these rooms, but they are only for
men. He even has a separate courtyard and garden. Osman may come here if
he likes, but the real home of the family is up-stairs in his mother's
rooms.
This part of the house is very beautiful. Rich curtains hang in the
doorways. Soft and heavy rugs are placed here and there on the floors.
Divans with soft cushions stretch along the sides of the walls, under
the latticed windows.
Yes, every window is covered with lattice-work, so that no one passing
along the street below can see the faces of the persons within these
upper rooms.
This is the fashion of the country. Poor women of Turkey! They seem to
us almost like prisoners, but they have been brought up to think of
their life as the most natural and best in the world. They may go
outdoors whenever they like, so long as a veil is worn over the face.
But no man, unless he is a very near relative, must enter the part of
the house where the women and children have their home.