The life of the students of these _madrassehs_ resembles that of monks in monasteries of the Eastern Church. They prepare their own modest food, clean their own rooms, make their own beds, and wash their own clothes. A new student not only does all this for himself, but he has also to do it for the fellow or tutor of the _madrasseh_ in whose room he is placed. Most of the students are very poor. They go every year during the _ramadan_--the month of fasting--to different provincial towns and villages to preach, to teach, and to do some writing for the illiterate villagers and provincials, and, after securing what fees, alms, and provisions they can get, they return to their respective madrassehs to resume their work. The _Softas_ played a conspicuous part in some of the revolutions, for if once they were roused and egged on by politicians, they would assemble in the courtyards of the great mosques, bearing yataghans and heavy clubs under their long cloaks, and numberless common people would follow them. The viziers who deposed the late Sultan Aziz had to get the support of the _Softas_. Midhat Pasha had to secure their assistance when he was urging the present Sultan to sanction the scheme for the new constitution. A certain Suavi Effendi, one of the founders of the young-Turkish movement, who had himself been a _Softa_, twenty-five years ago made an armed attack on the Sultan's palace; with him fought and fell many of the _Softas_. The Sultan, whose marvellous power and success in crushing everything which might endanger his despotic personal rule is undeniable, has paralysed the collective influence of the Softas, so that they can no longer be the political tools of any power that may arise to oppose him. During my residence in the _madrasseh_ my uncle used to give me as pocket-money twenty piastres (about 3s. 5d.) a month, and to the tutor of the _madrasseh_, in whose room I was a novice-disciple, eighty piastres, to cover the expenses of my maintenance. This was quite enough for a man who has to live as abstemiously and simply as a monk. Moreover, provisions in Constantinople are very cheap, a fact which is not known to European visitors, who are invariably cheated by the Levantine and Greek hotel-keepers and tradesmen. Secretly, however, I received further support from my affectionate mother, through an Armenian merchant who came from Angora. CHAPTER V. A NEW PROFESSION AND THE QUESTION OF CONSCRIPTION.