The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1876-01-20
Domestic Slaves In Egypt

Field labor is usually done by hired Ia.
borers; but all the service of native fami.
lies as well as of most of the Leyantinea
Tor Europeans who are settled and natural.
lied in the East is carried on entirely Nv
slaves, who, with few exceptions, are ali
Of negro races from the interior of Africa.
In this last respect Eastern slavery differs
from the slavery Of Scriptural times, as
we have no reason to think slaves were
negroes chiefly or even frequently in those
days, at least among the Israelites, Hagar
was an Egyptian, and we hear of some
who were captlves taken in war from the
various tribes around them. MANY we're
born in the household and looked Oh more
as members Of the family than desp,sed
or ill-used. OF such was the trusted
Eliezer, who was to have been heir to
Abraham had God not given him son,
1t seems strange inc eed that such sys
tenn, even modified, as it undoubtedly
was, by patriarchal habits of life, should
have been SO distinctly permitted as it
was in the law of Moses; but we may re-
member that so was divorce permitted,
d" 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 Hebrew race, so stringent
that in fact Hebrew, unless by his own
wish, could not be a slave for more than
SIX years, which amounted to nothing
more than what we call being "bound'
for term. The hired servants, of whom
we so 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 workers sometimes,
but 1t is rather exceptional. The open
slave marts which existed few years ago
are no longer to 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 so
by applying in the proper quarter: Every
native house has at least one (if above the
very poor), and rich families have from
ten to twenty, while the great harems
count by hundreds. Those / allude to at
present are almost entirely negroes; the
white slaves brought from Georgia and
Circassia are only to be found in
the families of Pashas, and do
nestle service is not the purpose for
which they have been cruelty stolen from
their mountain homes, or sold with yet
baser cruelty by unnatural psrents-they
are to be secondary sort of wives for the
great, and to lead life of luxurious idle
ness, waited upon by swarns Of black
slaves who perform all the mental work of
the establishment. AS far as l can learn,
the blacks are never sold by their parents,
but taken by force from their villages by
the "jellals,'' or their agents, under
whom they suffer untold misery till pur.
chased by householders in Cairo, or
shipped off to Persia or Turkey. In gen.
eral they are not ill-treatcd here, especial
ly since law has been made humanely
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 lam
guagc and utterly ignorant, cannot under
stand this, and some are children who are
nearly powerless; still, on the whole, it
has kept down the tyranny OF owners, and
will do SO more as they get to understand
it better. The Oriental habit of shutting
up women in the house so much makes It
more difficult for slave girl to escape
than for boy or man; still they do man.
age it, and | have several times had slaves
come to my house to ask me to get an at
testation from the British Consulate to
free them from cruel mistress Still,
even with this loophole Of escape, it is a
wretched system, for the poor victim who
has been torn from home and friends as a
child has lost. past recall, all 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) The pilfer-
ing and love OF eating, etc, are inveterate
among the greater part OF them. Il have
known some tine exceptions, but they are
rare.) Their domestic affect ions have no
natural vent, they have no home and 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-
istcnce is so unhealthy for them. The me-
gro boys, if promising, are often sent to
schools and made great deal of by their
but the girls 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 flat roofs where they 90 to
dry linen or to amuse themselves while
the mistress sleeps. sunday at Home.