In the midst of the conflicting testimony of reputable witnesses, it is evident that the parents of tribute boys did not all feel alike. The grief at parting was often a heart-breaking thing to witness;[113] the mother whose son was taken by force to an unknown life among enemies of all that she had been taught to hold dear would hardly have suffered more at the death of her son. At the same time, she might hope to see him one day in the possession of great wealth and power. It is not to be supposed that youth taken at from twelve to twenty years of age would ever forget their parents; and, if they lived and prospered, they would sometimes seek them out, as did Ibrahim, even though they might not try his unfortunate experiment of bringing them up to the capital.[114] Fathers would appreciate the opportunities which arose before their sons much more than would the mothers. Both would be more or less reluctant to let them go, according as their Christian religious convictions were deep or shallow. Parents who wished to keep their sons would sometimes marry them in tender years, since married boys were ineligible; those who had means bought exemption for their sons from the recruiting officers, who thus reaped great rewards.[115] On the contrary, many parents were glad to have their sons chosen, knowing that they would thus escape from grinding poverty,[116] receive a first-rate training suited to their abilities, and enter upon the possibility of a great career. Some parents, in fact, came to regard the process as a privilege rather than a burden;[117] and they had reason to do so, since Turkish parents envied them the opportunity, and sometimes tried to evade the regulations by paying Christians to take their Moslem sons, and declare them as Christian children, so that they might be enrolled as the sultan’s slaves.[118] Apart, then, from political theory and religious prepossession, the levying of tribute children was by no means a mere evil to the parents.