Istanbul (Turkey) -- Description and travel; Istanbul (Turkey) -- Social life and customs
at this reception, as there was informal dancing and as soon as the
music started the ice was broken and the usual relaxation set in. We
danced a little and we watched the crowd which was the most interesting
agglomeration of official people one could see anywhere. Even the Greek
Mission was present, but its members had the good taste to disappear
soon after the dancing had started. Prominent diplomats of all nations
and dashing officers in resplendent uniforms were talking and joking
with each other as if the war had never taken place, or if peace had
really been established. But the most stunning figure of all and
the one which attracted the most attention, was unquestionably that
of a young Arab prince, cousin of Emir Feigal, King of Mesopotamia,
and direct descendant of the Prophet Mahomed. The prince, or more
correctly the “shereef,” as his real title is, was clad in a flowing
robe of silk and had the Arab headgear, a white silk cover tightly
bound on the head by a band of gold threads and loosely floating on
the shoulders. We were talking with some American friends, a dear
old lady of the Middle West and her husband who is a teacher at the
American Robert College, when the Shereef recognized me and came to
speak to us. Naturally, I introduced him to my wife and our friends,
and as he spoke English most fluently, as he looked most romantic in
his robe, and his blond beard gave a Christ-like expression to his
aristocratic features, our friends were visibly very much impressed
by him. When he left us the lady of the Middle West, all a-flutter,
asked me who he was--and could not conceal her terrible disappointment
when I informed her he was a “Shereef”! The dear old lady confused the
title with the functions of a sheriff charged with the keeping of the
peace in English-speaking countries, and her disappointment as well
as the ignorance of her husband, who did not correct her, amused us
so that we did not explain, and to this day I imagine that they both
are firmly convinced that sheriffs in Turkey wear too gorgeous and too
impracticable uniforms.
Towards midnight the doors of the dining-room were opened and every one
went down stairs to have cold supper. The crowd was such that despite
the rather chilly weather of the season many wandered in the gardens.
It is here that I was for the first time introduced to His Highness
Izzet Pasha, Minister of Foreign Affairs, who was later to show me
many marks of friendship. He of course knew my father and my family
and immediately put my wife and myself at our ease by stating that he
wanted to be considered by us as an “Oncle.” This is a mark of extreme
courtesy in Turkey and we were, and have been ever since, duly grateful
to Izzet Pasha for this and for his subsequent real friendship. Be it
said in parentheses that Izzet Pasha is one of the ablest statesmen of
Europe, broadminded, most progressive and democratic.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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