146 
A CRUSADE IN THE EAST. 
passing events ; and now, after years of wandering in almost 
every clime, I turn from the sad contemplation of their social 
condition with a grateful heart to our own free and happy 
country; where, amid all the turmoils of political strife, all 
the asperities of opinion upon matters of local import, all the 
differences of position that arise from the natural differences 
of our organization, there is a purity of sentiment in social 
life that has never obtained in any other country. It is re¬ 
freshing, after inhaling the polluted atmosphere of the prin¬ 
cipal cities of Europe, to look back upon our own happy 
homes and firesides, and draw health, and vigor, and inspira¬ 
tion from a contemplation of the exalted condition of woman 
in America—subject to no restraints but the dictates of vir¬ 
tue, free in the exercise of all the rights that are claimed by 
the best and purest of the sex; respected because they com¬ 
mand respect; beloved because they are womanly ; admired 
because they are too modest to demand admiration. It is not 
of the giddy and the thoughtless, who parade their jeweled 
charms in the arena of fashion; not of the brawlers in pub¬ 
lic, who seek to overturn the whole fabric of society; not of 
them that are given to unseemly display, either of thought or 
person, that I would speak; but of the chaste keepers of 
home; of the gentle and the sympathizing, who rejoice with 
them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep ; these 
are the women of America, who, unknown to fame, are es¬ 
teemed the highest; who, unadorned, are adorned the most. 
During my rambles about Constantinople and the suburbs, 
my attention was frequently attracted by the strange and di¬ 
lapidated appearance of the Mohammedan burial-grounds. 
Much of the beautiful effect of the view from the Bosphorus 
arises from the groves of tall green cypress that mingle their 
foliage with the mosques and minarets, and stand out in bold 
relief on every hill-side. Wherever they cover any consider¬ 
able extent of ground, it is to afford shade and protection to 
a public cemetery. The largest, perhaps, of all the Moham¬ 
medan burial-grounds is that near Scutari, on the Asiatic 
side, which extends over a distance of three miles along the 
road. It is beautifully shaded by a thick forest of cypress, 
