1950-10-07 — Page 12

They called it

THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH, -- SATURDAY, OCTOBER 7, - 1950.

women's freedom

OF A PORTRAIT

TURKISH FAMILY. Ir- fan Orga. (Gollancz, 16x) 303 pages.

URKEY has changed within one generation, perhaps more than any other country. To see those changes taking place in a middle-class Turkish family, in the lifetime of n boy born in Istanbul in 1908, is fascinating, even though this is a unive and particularly well not written book.

women's

MARGARET LARE reviews this week's NEW BOOKS

Oriental world which did noth- ing to help them?

on

IRFAN ORCA. born Istanbul; educated at Military College; aimed commitníon with Turkish Air Foter 1047; now tiving, in London,

VINDICATION

OF RUS- KIN, J. Howard White- house. (Allen and Unwin, 10s.) 64 pages.

E more I read about Rus- kin the sorrier I feel for

Emancipation was thrust them, whether they like to him. Fame has played him an not. They sold the few jewels that hat escaped the fire, went y trick, for now. Instead of to live in two sordid rooms, and caring about his work in edu Irfan's mother-only after nine years of marriage went to work in a factory.

proshute

20

ention, social reform and

Art.

verterity is chiefly interested in post-mortema oo his marriage.

Ruskin married the beautiful Faring the hardships of

her Enle Gray in 1848. For reasons new life with

unexpected which we can never know for Irfan Orga's mother was a

she abandoned the

certain (though Mr Quonnell in veiled Turkish lucly of the old courage,

vell, even though the

was his recent blography offered the type, married nl thirteen and

stoned in the streets asikellest theory) the marringe living in total reclusion, as be-

for ikla

of plece Life for the effrontery.

was never consummated. It be- filted her class.

Her sons were sent H little boy was centred in the

came, as one would expect, bit- to a charity school and the ter and unhappy. Six years quarters and in the mother and grandmother lived later the marriage was onnul

his grand- weekly visit with

Jed, htt Eme morried the mother to the hamman, the chiefly on quarrelling and cab-

bage soup.

painter Millais, with whom she luxurious public baths in which

had fallen in love. lovel to well-to-do women spend the day, being scrubbed by servants, lolling about In the steam, anointing themselves ols and eating with scented enormous meals.

It was a hard life, and often nukes painful reading. One is constantly amazed, as her chil. dren were, that A WOLTER Those meals! Turkish life in delteately and helplessly nor

tured could make such those days was obsessed with Icod, with perpetual meals of fant struggle for survival

Post-war Turkey, where hard- the most elaying and destructive

ships and the new regime show- fort. Every domestic occasin was celebrated with mountains e no mercy to the sort of life

eatables; the hnd always known.

In

Ruskin himself Inter became passionately tufafunted with an Irish girl, Rose La Touche, When she was only a child, and if was Elle Millais's bitter let- ter lo Mrs La Touche, warning her against Ruskin's "cruelty,"

eventually

which

their marriage.

prevented

Sir

Itallan Workers For EritainTM

Among recent arrivals in London aro 45 girls from Milan, Italy, who are

to work in British textile factories, Bere are some of them when they landed. (London Express Service)

FISH

WORTH

en-

VERY morning a quiet

bowler-hatted man

Buckingham Palace carrying a small leather

terg

bag full of fish food, Mr Charles Schiller is Curator

AN OUNCE

£100 AN

By RONALD

GARTH-DAVIS

himself, a kissing ah will kics his reflection in a mirror!

Not long ago, a British pedition

went to South America in quest of new speci- mens and returned with a ten- catch eglimated to be

Found

i

Defensive Value Of Pyrenees As High As Ever

By Haynes Thompson

ODERN warfare

between lic

Metricted tre fans Inaccessible seat in towerling,

the defensive valuo of the Pyrenees Mountains. Spain's historic line of de- fence to the north, sny military observern,

The scene of both north and Fouth-bound invasions through centuries of history, the tower-

tun between them. The tallest, to means of lateral communken- Maledeta, goes up 11,100 feet."

From a military point of view, however, the Pyrenees are weak in two places--the Atlantic and Mediterranean

flanks.

Both have been drazilijonal invasion routes for south and nori- ing, rugged mountains are ns bound armies. much an obstacle today was to the Romans, they bo- -lieve.

Through the narrow corridor, anly 10 miles wide between the

They add that nothing so far foot of the Pycne and the obscrvel in the fighting in Mediterranean. Hannibal cross- Korea indicates the contrary. ed lato Spain in 218 B.C.

the

1 718 A.D. With the outbreak of the

Saraccns, Korean war, however, and with then musters of Spain. Invaded. it renewed fear

over the same of a Soviet France sweep through Western Europe, until they Spain's defences in the Charles Martel

Pyrenees are (etting fresh alten. tlon from military planners,

were

route stopped by

The Atlantic side la similarly weak, but it also ha been a

Many observers Believe the traditional route for invaders. mountains are the only obstacio

in Western

Europe capable of

halting. even femporarily,

Iussian sweep west.

SECRET GUARDED

USED BY NAPOLEON

n

CX-

Just what Spolu has in the Pyreneen Is a closely guarded se- evel. However, a

the look at mountains alone indicates, the barrier

ofter they

against Invasion from the north,

of rich and Fickly weddings were orgies of syrups

The whole story is trace and of the Tropical Aquarium but today British-breed tropical worth £10,000. Amming them war The struggle, however, extort- mysterious and Achiral One is not mur- end sweets.

Ey the Willum James's book, The Orat Buckingham Palace, and price. prised to learn that Turkish cd a terrible

lies rarely felt well enough time her sons were old enough der of Release, and Mr Peter tends the inch-long tropical to do more than sit about in to go through military

school. Quennell's more recent blogra- fish, some of them Amazon enclosed garden hanglug their and the eldest, Irfan, was train phy, present a Ruskin slightly rarities worth up to £100

brain abnormal and distasteful, with a pilot, her swimming heads over pieces of ing to be

under the pressure whom embroidery.

Have way

งา

woman.

however of suffering and anxiety, and much in love, could have been

dragged from she was

her happy.

值得

family to end her days, in asylum.

to £200 each.

fish

sh are national

mckoned among

dollar earners. Barnet breeder who began with sight Ash casting him 75. bred £3.000 worth from this original outlay.

the a

Od

A

thousands of inch-long guppies Every year Britain despatches

to North America by sir at up

little fellow with name the Hyphessobrycon- Innses--so light that you can- not feel him at all He ranks

with 10:0 perhaps

highly transparent glusadish, who have to be very closely watched be seen.

to

imde,

com-

Leaf fishes that can give remarkable imitation of a dead Mr Whitehouse's new book is leaf anti hatchel fishes, so thin as

The transparent fish a brave attempt to turn

invisible, are the to be almost

the royal favourites.

to £4 a pair. Buyers invariably however, has nothing in One learns with relief (since tables on these disaffected blo-among which

get a bargain. By the time the men with the "invisible Brazi- more grapliers by showing Ruskin in With a special powdered sound common Turkish asylums

rolfish" family an a more reverent light, as blame food containing 14 Ingredients, par arrive, there is a that nightmarish than

fish suckers and of several dozen, for the less and misunderstood. There plus earthworms and tubifex

fairground he died in 1940, shortly before is certainly truth on both sides, worns, the fish feast royally.

breed very quickly.

Nineties. Irfan was sent le England, in

of

but a

as with Byron's relations charge of a group

young with Augusta officers drafted

Leigh, we Turkish

never know the whole truth for pecial training in the RAF.

certain,

To the Orga family the 1934

disasters war brought

been have must enough in Turkey at that time. The father was

iheir killed, house burned down in the great fre of Istanbul, and the young mother and demineering grand- left alone with mother were

children, a few three young pleces of salvaged furniture. and not a penny in the world.

What could those velled and sheltered wonten de, "thrown on their own rescurces in a harsh

most)

for

can

Three times a week, too, water fleas are taken into Bue kingham Palace as a meats of exercise. Giving the fish both food

And

In spite of its shorteornings arealdent of the fukin Society,

*J. HOWARD WHITEHOUSE and the author is, remember, warden of Bembridge School; has 'writing In English, not in his been appointed executor in dent

own language-this in

In- with Ruskin's docks and documents.

Times were when Britain nud often tel

moving (World Copyright Reserved-London Was strictly on the Importing book,

itle of the tropical fish trude,

Express Service).

the

that

packed reenhorns into sideshows in the

fich

a

Among other stars of

Experts tell you that troplet fish world are fantalied values are built up by distance. Slamiese On one occasion, Charles Schil- pugnacious goldfish. fighting fish, which kill cach ler arranged the passage of other on sight and their very supply of sticklebacks to reversel-the affectionate kiss Australia. When they

reached ing sh. Fun to watch, they Melbourne, the humble stickle- spend their lives in an oscula backsworth a penny or two tory date, kissing each other in England-fetched 195. for hours at a time. Left to each!

Stretching almost entirely across the Spanish - French border, the Pyrences cover 34,373 square miles of ground, two-thirds of which Ule in Spain,

Napoleon's generals tred Roncesvalles

on the Atlantic side, to join the Baille of Sorauren in 1813.

an

both

Should Russia attempt Invasion of Spain today, many observers believe sc might

buth Napoleon and: follow Hannibal and attempt Banks simultaneously.

How long

a such

double thrust could be held by Spain, no one seems willing to predict,

Most observers are agreed, however, that without outside As the crow ie they are support or

up-to-date 270 miles

long, but actually armaments, Spain's best efforts rover 375 inilow between the in repelling a Russian attack Atlantic Ocean and the Mediter. would amount at the niest, to

only a delaying action. ranean Sea,

more

After a recept inspection of They vary in width from 39 Spain's defences in the Pyrences miles between Pamplona, Spain, by American military attaches and St Jean de Luz, France, to In Madrid, the Splash Anny B1 m wide in the region of was reported Lo

have Andorra,

strengthened several passen with reinforcements from Zaragoza.

With 30 miles of the Mediterranean, they rise to 0.137 All are believed well covered fect, From there to the peak by network of hidden de. of Anke, 54 miles from the At- fences which do not meet the Gd.lantic, there is no pass under eye on a casual drive through

5,249 'fect.

the area.

VIGNETTES OF LIFE

WHICH ONE OF THESE WOULD I LIKE BESTS*

ORE

WAY LIBRARIANS .EVENTUALLY HAVE HERVOUS BREAKDOWNS.

I DON'T SEE

WHY I SHOULD HAVE TO PAY...

THE BOOK WAS AVFUL

SANT REALABIN

THE NAME OF IT.

BUT ITS ABOUT TWO

MEN AND A GIRL

T TURCZA

#1 QUIT! IT AIN'T

BAD ENOUGH TO 'DISH OUT TH' BOOKS -THEY EXPECT YA TO READ 'EM, TOO!

PHOQEY

#

BU

Lending Lib: ary

KEMP

STARRETT

AND A ONE CENT

TAX

#1 WON'T

PAY IT? 1

HATE TAXES.A

YOU CAN KEEP THE BOOK/A

"OH, GOSH, NO! THESE AREN'T FOR ME?

I WOULDN'T BE CAUGHT DEAD READING A BOOK./"

AFTER SHE'S USED UP FORTY MINUTES OF YOUR TIME SELECTING THE

BOOK:

YOU GOT ANY BOOKS 'BOUT BUGS?"

SAARET

THE PLACE IS FULL OF SURPRICES

COPA, 1953 17 GRIRAAL FEATURES

CORP, TM-WORLD RIGHTS, RESERVED.

"AND WHAT'S THIS

ONE ABOUT? -AND THIS ONE

́WOULD YOU PUT

OUR

MY HAT ON....

CREED

•SERVICE

I MEAN ON

AL. PLEASE

SOME OF THE CUSTOMERS EXPÈCT YOU TO KEMORIZE THE WHOLE DARU LIBRARY.