The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1878-02-23
Women Of the East.

women OF the East.
HEBREW women, for instance, were
simply merchandise, bought, as Rachel
and Joseph, and handled to suit the
safety and pleasure of their owners, as
Rebecca and Sarah in Egypt and Gerar.
Yet Alfalfa, daughter of Omri, sat on
the throne six years; and alexandria,
Hebrew woman, reigned over them.
Semiramis, woman in Assyrian slav-
cry, became a Queen and made her
name great by the building of Babylon
in a single year.
Though the Turks had power of life
and death over their wives, and if they
rebellsd under the terrible tortures and
punishments of their lot the very mex
pensive power of divorce by simply an
swering when they asked permission to
90 out: GO" without adding: but
come back again. yet in 1880 the great
est actual power in Turkey was Sultana
Valydeh.
Persian women of the lower classes
are servile slaves, supporting masters
of unlimited power who do absolutely
nothing themselves, and the upper
classes rarely leave the harem from the
cradle to the grave. Yet CasSandana,
wife of Cyrus, "ruled Cyrus and Persia
as she would" and ruled so well that
at her death the nation incurred twenty
days. "Mourned for a woman!'
The worst effect of Mohammedanism
has been its degrading of women, but
the wife of 1.-The Prophet Kadijah
was the first to embrace his religion,
and, as he afterward said: 1.-The great
est, best and most powerful of all who
accepted it."
Brahmin women never see the face
of man, except those of their husbands,
nor any walls but those of their own
harem, and while their husbands are
away are hardly allowed the necessa'
ries of life. Yet the world is indebted
to Mherul Nisa for the first of its beau
tiful cashmere shawls, and the exist
ence of that exquisite perfume altar
properly spelt atyr-of roses. Her
name was stamped upon the coin of
India, and the title given her of Moor
Jehan, "Light of the World"
All the cotton and silk used in Bur-
nah is the work of her women, and
those exquisite fabrics and delicate de-
signs displayed at the Centennial might
well have been placed in the women S
pavilion, for they were all the work of
gehtlewomen of Burmah, for which
| they probably received blows that they
had not worked faster. and for their
endurance and perseverance cheered
by the proverb: woman has many
lives and bears much killing"
Siamese women fight beside their
husbands, and often in front of them,
who at home are beaten like beasts at
all manner of drudgeries. They, how
ever, have the uncommon privilege of
refusing an offered husband if they
choose, and take their revenge in adj
vance by refusing anyone who comes
without a number of human skulls he
has taken in battle.
Chinese women are, perhaps, of all
the most secluded in the upper classes.
The bride is not seen by the bridegroom
till, in close palanquin, she is brought
to his door, where in full dress, with
the key of the palanquin, that has been
sent him in advance, he awaits her.
He has the one alternative of refusing
her, if she displeases him, at the cost
of double the amount paid for her She
is the slave complete, except that he
cannot sell her until he has gained a di-
vorce, and is subject to such notices as
"First dressed and last undressed all the
year round" and the like, and, in some
parts of China, to divorce that con-
sists in simply breaking "chopsticksn
before witnesses. Many writer's, how
ever, ascribe the first spinning to the
wife of the Emperor Yao, and the dis
covery of the use of the silk-worm was
the work of the wife of Hoang III. Silk
worms, until lately, were cared for en-
tirely by women, called Tsam-Mow.
In Liberia, where the marriage cere-
mony consists of the brides taking off
the bridegroom's shoes as sign of sub
lection, and being laid at his feet with
the expression: Wolf, take thy lamb, +"
the physicians and sorcerers feared and
obeyed by men are chiefly women.
In Java, before Mohammedanism
found the island, women were consid-
cred equal with men, and in Celebes,
where there is an elective government,
the throne was oftener held by women
than men.
Notwithstanding the general degra-
dation of the sex, energetic, powerful
women have made their power felt in
Egypt. The wife of Mohammed Ali
was made Judge by the people, who
rarely appealed to the Pasha, and when
they did received the reply: "By my
two eyes! if she requires it, it must be
done, though it be through fire, water
and stone"
Dido, sister of Pygmalion, King of
Tyre, was founder of Carthage. Mr.
Park, the great American traveller, pays
this tribute to the women of Africa:
SIN all my travels, never addressed
language of politeness to dark-skinned
woman without receiving a polite re-
ply; and, if hungry, thirsty, wet or
sick, never failed to receive assistance
from them. "-HarPord Post.
HENRY HICKEY, the Boston boy who
killed his nlav-fnl1ou bod rooJ Al, =,