The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1874-12-02

care forestalls the Lovelace liberties which
the advanced thought of men of rank ant
high born danes in certain Christian com
munities allow. Men of the lower classes
are slow to avail themselves of the liberty
of the Koran of having more than one wife
Cases of infidelity, however, are exceedingly
rare, and slaughter is equally so
two virtues which instance themselves daily
in our most refined society Amongst the
very poor--and most are such-the wife
does, indeed, bear her full share of toll and
hardship, but her labor is not more severe
nor her relative condition more menial than
that of the peasant women of Austria and
of Germany. Heaven knows their degrada-
tion is deep--their serVitude hard enough,
but it is the bondage of ignorance and pow
erty, not of their husbands. Amongst the
wealthy there can be no mention Of hard Ia
Dor or menial sergitude. for the wives of the
rich man are shut up as close in his idle
harem as geese are cooped in Paris to be
fattened for an E pcure, Slaves attend them
constantly, they have but one thing to do,
and that is to do nothing. Foster d by The
refnements of Eastern luxury, here natures
the full blown flower of Oriental Incidence.
These women are bat the creatures of their
gods pleasure, the types of his voluptuOus
daliance. But, whilst exempt from the
bondage of physical toll, they are the victims
of an intellectual and moral slavery a thou.
sand fold more debasing. The peasant wo-
man-if she shares her husbands poverty
shares also his love, his sympathy, his care.
She enjoys the natural freedom of life and
is open to the benign influences of nature
unhampered, as well as to the evil. The
struggle for life gives it-no matter how
hard--a certain zest. Possibility, hope,
effort may render her existence endurable.
To the woman in the harem there is neither
stimulus to thought, necessity for effort, nor
chance of purity. With intellect starved,
soul defled, and every womanly instinct out
ragged, she yields to the lethargic mood best
becoming her state, and to the petty passions
which find play within the four walls of a
harem. With every high aspiration, or i'm
pulse to noble living stifed in the hot atmos-
phere of lust, to become slothful, dawdling,
gay-bedizened voluptuary is her fate, though
not the worst that could befal her. This
Mohamedan polygamy has produced the ef
feminacy of body and spirit which to-day
characterizeS the Turks. Lascivious pleas
ures and their prurient desire overthrow Ba-
bylon, enervated Greece and corrupted Rome
They will destroy any people under the sum-
Men may legalze illicit pleasures by social
and even foist them upon the |
ordinancesof religion; but such is the adap- |
tation and dependence of human organism
and Gods moral government, that violation
of the laws of either entails the penalty o
both The Turks who have retained their |
manhood, courage and vigor, are the poor
and hardy tillers of the soil in the interior
of Turkey. Each has but one wife. Neces-
sity makes them virtuous. If there is pre-
ference for monogamy amongst them, it is
because they have discovered the superior
happiness of this State.
When stranger enters the house or tent
of an Arab, all the females of the family
instantly. They may continue in
the discharge of domestic duties; but scru-
pulously concealed from the strangers eye
A male person must receive and wait upon
the visitor. The women are probably peep
ing at you all the while through hole or a
crack; yet they venture as little as possible
to crafty curiosity. HANS GRAF.
Jerusalem, Nay, 1874.