“Yet it seems to me that self-abuse in excess must be injurious to health, for it must weaken and enervate.”

“Certainly, because excess in everything is prejudicial and pernicious; but all such excess is the result of our severe prohibition.  If girls are not interfered with in the matter of self-abuse, I do not see why boys should be.”

“Because girls are very far from running the same risk; they do not lose a great deal in the action of self-abuse, and what they lose does not come from the same source whence flows the germinal liquid in men.”

“I do not know, but we have some physicians who say that chlorosis in girls is the result of that pleasure indulged in to excess.”

After many such conversations, in which he seemed to consider me as endowed with reason and talent, even when I was not of his opinion, Yusuf Ali surprised me greatly one day by the following proposition: 

“I have two sons and a daughter.  I no longer think of my sons, because they have received their share of my fortune.  As far as my daughter is concerned she will, after my death, inherit all my possessions, and I am, besides, in a position while I am alive to promote the fortune of the man who may marry her.  Five years ago I took a young wife, but she has not given me any progeny, and I know to a certainty that no offspring will bless our union.  My daughter, whose name is Zelmi, is now fifteen; she is handsome, her eyes are black and lovely like her mother’s, her hair is of the colour of the raven’s wing, her complexion is animated alabaster; she is tall, well made, and of a sweet disposition; I have given her an education which would make her worthy of our master, the Sultan.  She speaks Greek and Italian fluently, she sings delightfully, and accompanies herself on the harp; she can draw and embroider, and is always contented and cheerful.  No living man can boast of having seen her features, and she loves me so dearly that my will is hers.  My daughter is a treasure, and I offer her to you if you will consent to go for one year to Adrianople to reside with a relative of mine, who will teach you our religion, our language, and our manners.  You will return at the end of one year, and as soon as you have become a Mussulman my daughter shall be your wife.  You will find a house ready furnished, slaves of your own, and an income which will enable you to live in comfort.  I have no more to say at present.  I do not wish you to answer me either to-day, or to-morrow, or on any fixed day.  You will give me your decision whenever you feel yourself called upon by your genius to give it, and you need not give me any answer unless you accept my offer, for, should you refuse it, it is not necessary that the subject should be again mentioned.  I do not ask you to give full consideration to my proposal, for now that I have thrown the seed in your soul it must fructify.  Without hurry, without delay, without anxiety, you can but obey the decrees of God and follow the immutable decision of fate.  Such as I know you, I believe that you only require the possession of Zelmi to be completely happy, and that you will become one of the pillars of the Ottoman Empire.”