Under strict Moslem influence, motherhood has a place of honor; at least in theory. For Mohammedanism gives to the woman who bears children and trains them faithfully a rank in heaven with the martyrs. Unfortunately, however, the light esteem in which women are held in Moslem lands makes against woman's power, even in her noblest opportunity,--that of moulding the children into character that is noblest and best. Much work has been done by foreign philanthropists in an effort to raise the standard of home training among the Turks. Stanley Lane-Poole, in his _Studies in a Mosque_, a book not written from the viewpoint of the modern missionary, but that of a candid and diligent student of historic conditions, says: "It is quite certain that there is no hope for the Turks, so long as Turkish women remain what they are, and home training is the imitation of vice." This is surely a dark picture. But the time may yet come when the Turkish woman will assume a position more like that of her Western sisters and become an elevating influence in the land whose present territory includes much of the most renowned soil the sun ever shone upon, not only that which saw the birth of the religion of the Jew, the Christian, and the Mohammedan, but also much that is rich in classic and mediæval memories--the country of which Byron wrote: "The land of the cedar and pine, Where the flowers ever blossom, the beams ever shine; Where the light wings of Zephyr, oppressed with perfume, Wax faint in the gardens of Gul in her bloom. ....................................................... Where the virgins are soft as the roses they twine, And all save the spirit of man is divine." Yes, even the land of the Turk may see such ideals of womanhood realized as those which made the women of the ancient Hebrews and the early Christians--who lived upon what is now Turkish soil--to be honored throughout the ages. XI THE MOORISH WOMEN We are now to turn our attention to one of the most fascinating of all the women of the world--the Moorish woman. Her fascination does not lie altogether in her intrinsic charm, but in the atmosphere that romance has cast about her. And while there is, of course, a very close kinship between the Moorish women of Spain and Morocco and the women of the Orient, especially the Mohammedan women, yet, the lady of Moorish ancestry has a history and a life of her own which are well worthy of consideration.