But in the other streets there are a
few, such as sweetmeat shops and coffee shops, where the old Turks go to
drink thick black coffee, and smoke, and hear the news; and (if they
wish it) to be shaved."
"I thought Turks wore long beards?"
"The lower-class Turks, and the country ones, and those who like to
follow the old fashions, wear beards, but they have their heads shaved,
and wear the turban. Most modern Turks, Government officials, and so
forth, shave off their beards and whiskers, and wear short hair and a
moustache, with the fez, or cloth cap. The old-fashioned dress is much
the handsomest, I think, and I am sorry it is dying out."
"The poor women-Turks aren't allowed to go out, are they, Cousin
Peregrine?"
"Oh yes, they are, but they have to be veiled, and so bundled up that
you can not only not tell one woman from another, but they hardly look
like women at all--more like unsteady balloons, or inflated sacks of
different colours. They wear yellow leather boots, and no stockings.
Over the boots they wear large slippers, in which they shuffle along
with a gait very little less awkward than the toddle of a cramp-footed
lady in China. If they are ungraceful on foot, matters are not much
better when they ride.
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