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Boston, May, 1853.

The camel crops the grass that waves
Above the fiery Mamelukes' graves;
And high above the lonely plain
The pyramid resumes its reign.

AN EASTERN FALKLAND.'

ONE of the most striking features of the Ottoman government, is the possibility which the lowest member of society has, under it, of attaining its highest dignities, be his color or profession what it may. Even slaves are emancipated to receive high and honorable offices, and the present brothers-in-law of the Sultan are examples of the kind.

The Sultan and his principal officers are attended by pages (called âgâs) of different grades, according to the rank of the employer. They are sometimes purchased and held as slaves, though more frequently they are young men of good families who are placed near the Effendis by their parents. They receive small, or no stated salaries, and trust to the gifts of visitors, presents from their master, and opportunities which he gives them of gain, for emolument. It is a high honor to be page to a Pacha, and one much sought after. He who obtains the situation is in a road to promotion; may learn much of the manner of rising in life; and though his pecuniary gains be at first small, the Pacha eventually provides for him; for if the individual has talents, or is faithful to his master's interests, the latter seldom fails finally to place him either in his own or some other branch of the public service.

If the master is gentle in mind and manners, the page, from the necessity of studying his disposition, generally assumes it himself. Pages are not numerous; and as they always accompany their Effendi on his visits to his compeers, they sometimes become known to them; and should their master be sent to a distant pachalik, where the page's services are not needed, or meet with a sudden reverse of fortune - such being of frequent occurrence under the Ottoman government-the page may readily find an employment near some of his master's friends. Thus they are wholly dependent upon his generosity of character for happiness; once found unfaithful, they are not only dismissed from his service, but by his influence may be prevented from obtaining any other. Some years ago, an extraordinary occurrence took place in Constantinople, which caused some talk at the time, as the parties were well known. By inquiry, the writer obtained the following information, which he has embodied in a biographical sketch, as if written by the unfortunate page whilst in prison; who, notwithstanding the care taken of his education, was full of high and exalted, though erroneous feeling; and his was

'A BRIGHT but troubled soul,

Where sensibility still wildly played,

Like lightning round the ruins it had made.'

The sketch ran thus:

'It was near the noble mosque of Sultan Ahmed, on a spot commanding

views of the Sea of Marmora on the one hand, and the Golden Horn and Bosphorus on the other, that I was born. The mosques of Sultan Ahmed and Saint Sophia reared their high domes and tapering minarets on either side of it; the 'Imperial Gate' was only hidden from it by the latter, whilst the towers of the palaces of our Sultans rose up almost beside our humble dwelling. Our house was like all the better ones of Stambool: two stories high, of frame, colored red, with a white facing, and surrounded by a small though well-cultivated garden. A high wall surrounded the premises, to prevent the gaze of our neighbors being directed towards the females at my father's harem during their occupancy of the garden, or at any other time when their veils might be laid aside. So lasting is the attachment we entertain for home, the scene of our earliest years, that though many have elapsed since I adopted another, and time and the many and diverse scenes through which I have passed would, it might be supposed, have effaced from, or at least weakened in my mind its affection for so humble a spot, I still cannot wander to it for a moment in thought, or gaze upon its now crumbling threshold, without melting into tears. The home which descends to us from father to son is more our country' than the domain which surrounds it; we may have no claim to the latter, whilst the former is indeed the 'place of our birth;' and when we lose it, the chain which bound us loses a link; the heart wanders in search of some new object, such being necessary to its happiness and if not found, its affections become blighted, and what might have been fair and beautiful in the character, too often assumes the darkest hue.

'If the want of a home places us so much at the mercy of the world, its changes, and its vicissitudes, how few also are the ties to life when we are deprived of 'our family!' Even when we have forfeited every claim to its regard, and are cast out upon the sea of life as a wrecked vessel on the ocean, it is still the kibleh towards which our hopes are directed. I now seek to concentrate my feelings within their most limited bounds, and to recall to my mind -now in the attitude of sorrow and repent-'my home,' and the characters of the much-loved members of my

ance

family.

'My father's name was Ahmed. I have heard him frequently speak of the Beys of Caramania as his ancestors; and there was in our family a curved sword, beautifully damaskined, bearing an Arabic inscription and motto, with the name of a Caramanian prince, said to have been given to my grandfather by one of the Sultans.

'I will dwell a moment on the subject of my father. It was impossible for me to differ with him in opinion, so confident was I in his judgment, and so much did I respect him; his deliberations were not unalterable, but so lofty and chaste, and so noble, that I feared and loved him at the same time; his instructions were given in a manner so mild, and his corrections for the errors and foibles of my young and hasty mind so gentle, so free from passion, that I would insensibly linger in presence, and never leave it without pressing his parental hand to my lips. Had I but trod in his footsteps, and not wandered from the precepts which he inculcated, nor grieved away the influence which he possessed over my mind, I had never sinned so deeply against the laws of my Prophet. Like those of the sacred volume, when the precepts of

his

our parents, from renewed rejection, lose their power on the mind, the structure of our morality is shaken to its basis: mine, alas! was wholly removed, and in one fearful moment crumbled to the ground.

- ---

My mother possessed a character equally admirable with that of my father. Her precepts were the earliest which I received, and made the strongest and most lasting impressions, and now are recalled with the saddest associations. There are some ideas too lofty for even matured minds; there are many to the youthful and inexperienced. In my early youth, hers were too great for my intellect, and it was only in after-years that I could appreciate their value. Unlike most mothers in the East, she did not look upon her children as mere ties to bind her husband's affection to her; for how often has her own comfort and pleasure been sacrificed to gratify my boyish whims though her sense of propriety never; and in such acts as these, she showed the affection which she entertained for her offspring. Were I to mention all her goodness of heart, or occurrences evincing the correctness of her judgment, they would never end; and yet I remember a thousand acts of petty ingratitude on my part towards her, and her as frequent forgiveness. How often, in moments of distress, does the remembrance of a mother's love come gushing up fresh in the mind of her son, whilst that of a father is forgotten. Regret for past error is more powerful than contemplated future atonement, and also more lasting. We weep over the past with an anguish which a prospect of the future can never produce.

I have a sister, and I had a brother. The first is older than myself, and our brother was the youngest of the family. Her name is Ayesha, from one of the wives of our revered Prophet.

'From having been my constant companion, I am more acquainted with her disposition than with that of any other member of the family. Though her junior, yet, from being a female, she ever looked up to me with respect and deference. At an early age we were sent to school together while young, she acquired an attachment for poetry; whilst I, insensibly, one for metaphysics. Our books were dogmatical, containing many of the mysteries of our holy religion, and I fear that on these my mind was permitted too much to repose; and thus, from being limited to one object or subject of contemplation, it became weakened. What is more spacious and comprehensive than the mind; what more incomprehensible? It requires scope, though guidance, to its wanderings; for they are too frequently in darkness. My sister commanded the range of hers, and when it ran among hills and meadows, directed it to where the former had no dangerous precipices, and the latter were strewed with flowers. There are some qualities which, notwithstanding all the changes of life, remain untarnished; a strain superior to the common poetry of life, which exalts the mind above the vicissitudes to which life is subject. There are feelings unfit for every-day service, yet their familiar attendance should be courted, so that in moments of need they may not be separated from you. They come up sometimes like the unaccountable gushing of a fountain, throwing a retrospective glance over the past, and serving as a 'mirror of the mind.'

'My sister profited by these, and erected upon her natural disposition a structure of mind which became peculiarly her own. At the same

time, she remarked the tendency of mine to erroneous determinations, and counselled me to watch over and guard it, lest it should take one which would be irremediable. Such is youth, that I heeded not her words; for I could not conceive their full import, nor understand the components of my own mind. There is a trait in every character like the spark within the flint, latent until brought forth by some peculiar inconstance or contact. It is seldom known to the possessor, yet generally proves to be the ruling passion of his existence. It was mine to be impetuous; to feel no restraint; to imagine that nothing which is grand and lofty could be wrong; and in this, with the mirror now before my eyes, I perceive my fatal delusion.

'Our brother was named Hussein; he died whilst I was still very young; yet I still remember his chubby form, full ruddy face, blue eyes, fair hair, and infantile affection. He is now among the blessed and happy, whilst the sunshine of my joys is dimmed for ever, and HEAVEN seems to scowl darkly upon me. When he for whom my brother was named was cruelly struck by one of the soldiers of Shamar upon the mouth, previous to being murdered in the desire to exterminate the family of the Calif Ali, an old man exclaimed, 'Alas! alas! how often have I seen the lips of the blessed Prophet pressed upon those which you now contemn!' How often have I pressed those lips of my poor little brother to mine, which have long since crumbled to dust in the grave!

'I remember my little brother's decease. It was in the first opening of spring that he departed. The almond-trees on the Bosphorus were just putting forth their buds; the meadows of Kiatkhanek and Geuk-Soo were strewed with green leaves and fragrant flowers; the joyous and cheering sun was shedding vernal beams upon the face of nature; and the little birds were tuning their soft voices in the green vales, when my young and sweet and tender brother was hurried to his untimely grave. The ever-green cypress now mourns over his quiet tomb, in the great cemetery of Scutari, where repose millions of our race; wild flowers spring up round his silent abode; odors, as if breathed from Eden, scent its sod; and if a bright sun pierce through the lofty boughs which surround it, it is only to entice little warblers to continue their melancholy dirge over his dear dust. How bitter it is to have to die in one's youth - to be snatched away just as the spring season of the mind has begun to bud! But I must forsake such reminiscences. Memory, avaunt!

'I have mentioned each member of our family separately, and will now continue to speak of myself and them as a family. At the age of sixteen, I left my father's dwelling to serve in the household of the Z. E. who, as usual, promised to take care of my fortunes, allow me opportunities of pecuniary interest, and to promote me as occasion should offer. A few days after my admission, I was considered a member of his family; and, perhaps in consequence of my youth, was permitted without restraint to visit the more sacred parts of his konak. There is a fatality attending a single moment of a man's life, developing what is good or bad in his character, and the former is of more frequent occurrence than the latter. Yet so unchangeable is man's character, that it is supposed to be traced at his birth on the brow. In consequence of this, it is of common occurrence to infirm minds, that a simple and apparently moment

ary change of feeling should lead them down to ruin. The fatality of a moment governs the happiness of the future of too many the miseryyet who can govern it? She for whom I am now a fettered assassin, trembling on the brink of existence, was seen but once, to enthral all my affections, and occupy and lead my mind as if some ethereal being. I knew that even to entertain an attachment other than of respectful devotion to her service, was a fault which merited the severest chastisement of my master; but in the commencement, the strength of my passion drove away every feeling of rectitude, and afterwards, when she was persecuted by him on account of my fatal passion for her, a sense of honor on my part sincere, because it aspired not to the commendation of the world, but to that of her heart alone increased my love.

'I would here state that my master, the Z. E., had long been in office, and was esteemed by our Sultan for his talents and energy. On the workings of the former I have often deeply reflected, yet now fear without having ever understood them. You have doubtless heard of him as one worthy of every respect and affection, so little are the true and private characters of official men known to the public, which is interested only in their public acts. As a distinguished favor, my father obtained permission to place me near him; and from this moment commenced the most eventful part of my life. Under his protection I gave scope to the ideal dreams of worldly happiness which I had already loved to cherish; those youthful reveries unchastened by a knowledge of the world, and which, from the lasting impressions they make upon the mind, are of such importance, and therefore need careful guidance. They then afforded me the greatest pleasure, but so treacherous have they proven, that now they are the source of all my sorrows.

'I will now speak of my master, with an endeavor to delineate his character such as it has appeared to me. Perhaps my observations may have been erroneous, and when I point out what to my mind seemed errors, to yours they may appear only as the workings of a lofty and unbending spirit.

'He had formerly been in the military service of the Sultan, and acquired some celebrity in campaigns against Russia. I know but little of his early life, and nothing of his parentage farther than that the latter was of the middle class; and therefore, from owing nothing to it, he was a self-made man. He was early promoted to a superior grade, and knew but little of the heart-burnings of a subordinate. His personal bravery none ever doubted, and his talents had been severally drawn forth by the charges confided to him by the Sultan. With regard to his personal appearance, a smile generally played upon his countenance; and except a shade which occasionally came over it when a prey to passion, it remained unchangeable. He was thought deep and calculating, yet his simplicity often entrapped others in the snare which their ingenuity had set for him. His smile was deceptive, and often concealed the harsh feelings and intentions which lurked beneath it. Yet he was not a hypocrite, for he loved whatever was open, frank, and candid, and it was only when urged, as he thought, by necessity, that he would descend to dissimulation. His passions often led him to commit the most degrading excesses, and yet he never seemed to reflect and reform after a

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