The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1881-02-10


done, into the family parlor. This room
was more elaborate than the other.
Besides the usual rugs and divans, there
was here a piece of furniture very high
ly priced because of its rareness as well
AZ its intrinsic value. This was an iron
bedstead, covered, to the intense and
unconcealed admiration of the natives,
with mosquito-net. We sat on the
divan and cigarettes were offered to us.
and, as many of the women were
smoking narghiles, it seemed unneces-
sary for any one who wished to accept
to ask If tobacco were not disagreeable
to the ladies. Some of the rose water
that had not been poured down our
necks was then brought in large glass
es, OF which we were expected to drink
not more than a third, SO one of our
party born in Syria said. Sweatmeats
of various sorts. including fig paste, for
which Syria is famous, were next hand
ed around, and afterward thick Turk
ish coffee in the smallest of cups. too
small almost to stand alone, which we
placed in pretty holders of tilagreed
silver, and drank the coffee with much
more satisfaction than we had the rose
water.
Between these various refreshments I
had time to get from one of the men,
bers of our party some interesting bits of
information about the bride and BRIDE
groom. As they happened to be
cousins, they were not obliged to take
each other without the slightest ac-
quaintance, or without having had even
a glimpse of each others faces, as not
unfrequently occurs in the East. They
really liked each other, so it was gen.
orally believed, though it was an open
secret that the bride at first had cared a
great deal more for the bridegroom's s
younger and handsomer brother than
for the bridegroom himself. That little
difficulty having been easily gotten out
of the way, and the older brother hav-
ing agreed to pay about two hundred
dollars for the brides outfit, always
purchased by the bridegroom here, the
betrothal was announced. The cere-
monies which we were then enjoying so
thoroughly were anticipatory of the
wedding itself, which was to take place
the following day.
Here the thread of our conversation
was broken by great clapping of
hands all around the room, and young
girl of about twelve stood up and began
a series of easy graceful motions, some
thing like skating and something like
walking, which the Syrians call dane
ing. When this was over, we went in
again to make our adieus to the bride,
still perched high up on her scaffold,
and then, as custom demanded, we fol-
bridegroom's house to tell him of the
marvellous beauty of the bride. and
what q happy man he ought to think
u 20 hox- rol,
We thought that at least he had good
reason to congratulate himself, as al
most every man in Syria has several
times day on not having been born a
woman. He was a little nervous, as
becomes a man of feeling on such an
occasion, but by contrast with the
specially comfortable, curled up on a
broad divan and surrounded by host
of his friends, smoking narghiles and
drinking homemade brandy. Our call
WAS merely formal, and we cut it as
short as possible, but all intimate ac-
quaintances stayed the whole night
through, consuming the bridegroom 8
spirituous wealth. but without being
greatly affected by it the next day, as
far as we could see.
At about eleven o'clock the following
morning the women in white went again
to the brides house to conduct her to
the church, where the matrimonial knot
was to be tied in the elaborate style of
the Greek ritual. She was meek and
tractable and did not turn back, as
brides often do at such a moment,
throwing the procession into great con-
fusion, and causing the advance guard
70 fha, DrI 90