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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



censorship, and their voices are being 

 heard in regard to the affairs of the na- 

 tion. There are three new reviews 

 already published in Constantinople for 

 women, and in other parts of the Turk- 

 ish Empire papers for women alone are 

 being published. A graduate of the 

 American College for Girls living in Sa- 

 lonica haj sent to Boston for a copy of 

 a well-known American woman's maga- 

 zine as an aid in publishing one of these 

 papers. Women's clubs have been 

 formed in Constantinople and in other 

 cities, and the one thing that women all 

 over Turkey are asking for is education. 

 The schools for girls was one of the first 

 subjects to be presented to the Depart- 

 ment of Public Instruction under the 

 new regime, in the many new journals 

 which the freedom of the press has called 

 forth. 



There is a picturesque woman's col- 

 lege in Turkey which has been quietly 

 working for the last thirty years to pave 

 the way for the present strong move- 

 ment among the women of the East in 

 behalf of higher education. This is the 

 American College for Girls at Constanti- 

 nople, an institution which is gradually 

 taking rank among the leading women's 

 colleges in the world. As a result of the 

 greater freedom of the new regime, the 

 college has secured a large and valuable 

 site on the European shore of the Bos- 

 phorus, an old manor park which was 

 laid out during the luxurious days of the 

 past and has now changed hands for the 

 first time in a century. The college is 

 now in Scutari, on the Asiatic shore of 

 the Bosphorus, but it will be removed to 

 the new site as soon as the buildings can 

 be erected. The list of students has al- 

 ways contained some Mohammedan 

 names, although the parents may have 

 sacrificed greatly in order to defy the 

 laws and send their daughters to a for- 

 eign college. 



The college has furnished one grad- 

 uate who is a leader in Constantinople 

 at this critical time. Halideh Salih has 

 been called once and again the first 

 woman in popularity and influence in the 

 Turkish Empire. Her father was Sec- 



retary in the Department of the Treasury 

 in the palace of the Sultan, and no small 

 sacrifice was required to enable his 

 daughter to obtain the degree of Bach- 

 elor of Arts in a foreign college. She 

 is the only Mohammedan woman in the 

 Turkish Empire who holds this degree. 

 The freedom of the new constitution has 

 brought with it a wide recognition of her 

 ability. She is writing for all the papers 

 in Constantinople with much success and 

 vigor ; she is president of one of the new 

 women's clubs and a member of all ; she 

 is a member of two men's clubs, a league 

 for public safety, and a press club, and 

 she has been asked by the Department of 

 Public Instruction to outline the course 

 of study necessary for the reorganization 

 of schools for girls throughout the em- 

 pire. Articles on this subject have al- 

 ready been published by her in the Turk- 

 ish press. She has also prepared a 

 translation of Julius Caesar, a play that 

 the censorship excluded in the past, but 

 which has been spoken of as the first 

 play which will probably be given in the 

 new Turkish theater soon to be opened in 

 Constantinople. She is also writing for 

 foreign papers, and the first money she 

 earned in this way was used toward 

 founding a scholarship for Turkish girls 

 in her alma mater. 



Thus the preparation which Turkish 

 women have had in secret for public life 

 will enable them to take advantage of 

 the new opportunities with great celer- 

 ity; of this there are already numerous 

 illustrations. A letter recently appeared 

 in the Echo, the unofficial organ of the 

 Committee of Union and Progress, beg- 

 ging for medical training for women, in 

 response to which the leading Turkish 

 surgeon in Constantinople has agreed to 

 take women into his hospital for train- 

 ing. 



The Imperial Museum of Turkey, 

 under Hamdi Bey, the celebrated Turk- 

 ish archeologist, has made great prog- 

 ress during the last quarter of a century, 

 and an art school of comparative excel- 

 lence has been open to men for some 

 time in Constantinople. The women 

 have now asked for a similar school, and 



