Discipline was severe,[223] but was kept within bounds. A page could be beaten on the soles of his feet with no more than ten strokes, and not more than once on any one day.[224] The boys, organized in groups of ten, were watched carefully by eunuchs, both day and night.[225] Absolute obedience, modest behavior and decorum, and good manners were taught with great insistency.[226] The two sections, or _odalar_, at the palace seem to have been of equal rank,[227] while the schools in Pera and Adrianople ranked lower.[228] Select boys who had finished their studies were promoted through the different chambers of the personal service of the sultan to the Inner Chamber,[229] where twelve or fifteen of the thirty-nine held titular offices.[230] On reaching the age of twenty-five every page was sent out from the school.[231] Those from the Inner Chamber passed at once to places in the Noble Guard (_Muteferrika_), or to governorships of towns.[232] Ibrahim passed almost directly to the place of grand vizier;[233] but he was the first to break the regular order of promotion, and in after times much evil was held to date from the precedent.[234] The majority passed into the regular cavalry, or _Spahis_ of the Porte.[235] Those who left the school were honored by a ceremony of farewell. The sultan personally commended each one, and gave him encouragement for good conduct in his new position. He presented each with an embroidered coat and one of his most beautiful horses, and often a gift in money. The young man, with all the presents he had received during his stay, was escorted to the great gate, where he mounted his horse triumphantly, and departed from the palace forever.[236] THE HAREM Probably because of the tendency of the human mind to construct along parallel lines, the imperial harem partook of the characteristics of the schools of pages. There were two _odalar_, or rooms, for the recruits of the harem, in which they were taught housework, sewing and embroidery, manners and deportment.[237] They were organized in groups of ten, each group under a matron. Those with a taste for music and dancing learned those accomplishments, those who were studious learned to read and write. All were carefully instructed in the system of Islam. Like the pages, nearly all of them passed out of the palace at the age of twenty-five, being given in marriage to _Spahis_ of the Porte or to other officials.[238] Thus the harem might be considered a training-school of slave-wives for the sultan himself and for the most highly honored of his _kullar_. THE AJEM-OGHLANS