The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1873-08-20

there is no public rivalry in dress
or equipage between females
There are no wheel. carriages to
faunt fine feathers about; no. tai.
lors and milliners' bills to pay. i
IA Persian likes to dress his wives
gayly, he only does so for his own
satisfaction; and they remain, new
ertheless, shut up, or are supposed
TO remain shut up, in the auderoom
or woman's department, far from
the eye of enterprising men. Asa
matter Of fact, however, the
PERSIAN LADIES ARE TERRIBLE CAD.
ABOUTs.
and in this respect they present! q
remarkable contrast to the Turkish
women. Even at Conatatiaople,
where there isso large an influx o1
foreigners, a love affair between 9
Frank and q. Turkish. woman ii
almost, if not quite impossible and
whenever it does happen by some
extraordinary chance, (sueh as an
abuse of confidence on the part o1
a Frankish physician, who may
have been admitted into the harem,,
it is nearly always followed by
murder. The Persian ladies, how.
ever, have no scruples at. all in
their dealings with foreigners, and
no sooner has a smart young at.
tache or Indian officer arrived al
Teheran than he is pursuedsby let.
tiers thrust into his hands in the
streets, and declaring in the
choicest language that he iisa pearl,
a pomegranate, a rose, star, and
that a lady who is dying for him
would be glad ola shawl worth
fifty tomans, and burns to have a
private interview with him. Some
of the Shah wives playthese tricks
for shawls are among the current
coins of Persia, and the merchants
buy them back at a fixed price,
scarcely differing more from the
first cost than o French orAustrian
bank note after it has passed
through the hands Of a money
changer. The puetical love letter
therefore merely means that the
sender, is in immediate want of
about five and and twenty pounds,
and is ready to come to any terms
for it. Now,.if the young attache
or Indian, being moved by too
much youth and reading, or by
divers romantic fancies, is disposed
to fall violently in love with a lady
whom he has never seen, upon the
strength of an epistle which has
been penned by her m.eerza, "a SER
want kept for literary purposes,)
this is commonly what happens:
The first time he goes out he will
meet an old wowan who will sign to
him to follow her into some un-
trequented part of'the town, and
presently the lady whois bent upon
his conquest will pass by, rapidly
uncover her face and disappear.
After that he will be able to recog-
nize her, and when he comes home
in the evening from his coustitu-
tional ride, he will probably find
crouching somewhere about bis
stables a bundle of rags containing
a female voice, which whines pit
eously for aims. His servants, who
knuw very~well what is going on,
will tell. h,n mysteriously that this
is poor beggar woman, and she
will follow him into his house, cry
ing aloud for charity. Once inside
however, a singular change takes
place in her appearance. She
throws off her rags as suddenly as
coLUMB1NE IN THE TRANSFORMATION
of a pantomine, and stands before
him confessed as the lady of the
letter. who wants a shawl of def
mite value. She is usually a queer
customer, and opens proceedings
by laying her hands on every arti-
Gle OF portable property within
reach, intending to carry it off with
her. She is little better than a
young savage in wide satin trous-
ers and nearly unclothed to the
waist. She is painted all over.
Her eyebrows are artifcially black
ened into the size and shape of
half moons as big as the rims of a
dollar and half an inch wide. More
blacking; has been forced under her
eyeballs. Her eye is dyed either
the color of ink or a bright red.
Her hands, feet, fuger nails and
toe nails are stained a deep brown
by tenna. Her lips are painted
scarlet, and she probably wears
some glass beads and sham jewelry
She can sing a little, and usually
does 80 very oddly with her eyes
shut. She can chatter a great deal
hut she has no manners, no accom-
plishments. At home she. passes