Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1876-01-20
Domestic Slaves In Egypt.

Field Labor js nsualIy done r. hired Ia
borers: but III tlie service Of live nmi-
lies a. veil = Of smostFof The Ievantines
! FOR Europeans whoere scttIed and natural
| lied in the East is carried on entirely by
slaves, who. with few exceptions. are all
of negro races from the interior of Africa.
| In fliis last respect Eastern slavery differs
l FROM the slavery of Scripturaf times. as
| we have no reason to think slaves were
negroes chiefly or even frequently in those
days. 1t least among the Israelites- Hagar
was an Egvyiian. and we hearof some
who were captives taken in war from the
various tribes around them. Many were
born in the household and locked on more
as members of the family than despised
or ilIused. OF such was the trusted
Eliezer, who was 10 have. been heir to
Abraham had God not given. him son.
II seems strange ipoeed that such, sysr,
tenn, even modified, as il undoubtedly
was, by patriarchal habits of life, should
have been So distinctly permitted as IL
was In the law Of Moses; but we may re-
member that SO was divorce permitted,
t"for the hardness OF their hearts, as our
blessed Lord Himself said. no doubt be-
cause In both cases still worse. evils would
have arisen from the prohibition In the
barbarous state of things then prevailing
in the world. Without being approved
these things were tolerated under certain
restrictions =, and these were, as regarded
slaves Of the Hebrsw race, SO stringent
that in fact a Hebrew, unless by his own
wish, could not be a slave for more than
SIX years, which amounted to nothing
more .han what we call being bound"
for term The hired servants, Of whom
we 50 often read in Scripture, seem to
have been chiefly outdoor laborers. As
Is the case now In the East, the negroes
are found among field. work ers sometimes,
but II is rather exceptional. The open
slave marts which existed few years ago
are no longer, 70 be found in Cairo or Al
exandria but as many slaves find their
| way to these cities as formerly, and who
ever wants TO purchase can always do 50
by applying in the proper quarter. Every
native house mas at least one If above the
very poor, and rich families have from
ten to twenty, while the great harems
count by hundreds Those l allude To at
present are almost entirely negroes the
white slaves brought from Georgia and
Circassia are only to I've found in
the families of Pashas, and do
mcstic service Is not the purpose for
Which they have been cruelty stolen from
their mountain homes, or sold with yet
baser cruelty by unnatural Fparents--they
are to be a secondary sort Of wives for the
great. and to lead lite Of luxurious idle
ness, waited upon by swarms Of black
slaves who perform all the menial work Of
the establishment. As far as / can learn,
the blacks are never sold by their parents,
hut taken by force from their villages by
the ''jellals," or their agents, under
whom they suffer untold misery till pur-
chased by householdcrs in Cairo, or
shipped off to Persia or Turkey. In gen.
.eral they are not ill-reatcd here, especial
ly since a law has been made humancly
allowing them to apply to the Police
Court in case of cruel usage. The men
or boys are then taken into the army, and
the girls sent to the Government schools
or to factories OF course there are many
who, being new to the country and Ian
guage and utterly ignorant, cannot under
stand this, and some are children who are
nearly powerless; still, on the whole, ii
has Kept down the tyranny OF owners, and
1t better The Oriental habit Of shutting
up women in the house so much makes ii
more difficult for slave girl to escape
than for 10y or man still they do man
age IL, and have several times had slaves
come TO my house to ask me 70 get an at
testation from the British Consulate to
| free them from cruel mistress. Still,
even with this loopholeAof escape, it's a
wretched system, Tor the poor victim who
| has been torn from home and friends AS q
child has lost. past recall, al that made
| life most dear, and Is thrown back, as it
were, on the worst part of human nature,
the mere animal part (Which seems partic
ularly strong in negro races. TIE pilfer-
ing and love OF eating, etc, are inveterate
among the greater part OF them. Il have
known some fine exceptions, but they are
rare.) Their domestic affect ions have no
natural vent, they have no home ana fam
! lily of their own, and instead OF the out
door life for which they are physically best
fitted they are cooped up in houses in
narrow, damp streets and numbers die in
the prime OF life because this mode of ex-
istence is so unhealthy for them. The nc.
/ gro boys, IL promising, are often sent to
schools and made great deal of by their
masters, but the grs and women learn
only how to cook and do housework, and
as much mischief as they, Can pick up
through gossiping with neighboring
slaves from the HAT roofs where they 90 TO
dry linen or to amuse themselves while
the mistress sleeps. Sunday at Home.