River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1884-08-28
GLIhPSES OF HiREM LIFE.
How Women is Loved ana Pettsd in Phar.
aohtE Land

4 DGOuAl0k III hAACh
are made in Egypt, there is little do
mestic life of the sort we understand.
1.-THE ladies constituting the families
of the late Khediye, Ishmail Pasha,
and of his numerous sons are in many
respects a.n exception to general rule
in their accomplishments, education
and manners. While they have, in
many respects, European customs and
habits, yet these are modified by re-
straints Of seclusion; and they share
with their sisters of all classes the
odious law of the prophet that they
should be held prisoners under rigid
surveillance of guardians especially
prepared for the unholy office.
Statements are made that serious
Misunderstanding often occur among
them in consequence of this oppression.
| There is no doubt that the beautiful
young daughter of Khedive, who was
accustomed until ID years of age to Wis
| it the opera without a veil, rebelled
when the time came for incarceration,
and that she lamented in tears her UNI
fortunate fate. Marrying soon after
| seclusion, she lived but few months.
| Universally the Moslem women know
| nothing about life being simple pieces
of furniture in their homes. With no
education, they are strangers; decked
| out with fine dresses and jewelry, they
are sensuously content.
"They amuse themselves in crunch
| ing melon seeds, eating candy, smoking
cigarettes and showing their fine jewell
ry and fine toilets to their friends. Liv-
ing life of ease and Incidence they are
never supposed to soil their hands with
| labor or rack their brains with thought
When they toll there sole occupation is
| to beauhsy themselves. When young
they are well made; their extremities
are fine and their hands are soft, white
and supple, and they might be
likened to the budding flower which
opens at the first rays of the
morning sun. Their compilations are
white and their cheeks tinged with
rose: their eyes are sometimes blue,
| but that is exceptional; they are gener-
ally black MS jet, and when fully open
| are of almond form and full of sensibil-
ity and delicate sweetness. They never
conceal them and gallent men often
confess that they have few to admire
even this much of their loneliness. The
houses, many of them, are elegant and
| so constructed as to completely conceal
| the hidden chances of the fair who are
| doomed to eternal isolation when with
| out veil, as no woman can be seen
| lawfully by any other man than her
| husband. She is forbidden the homage
that all nature demands. Controlled
| by a powerful hand and bound irreyo-
cably by custom, she is compelled not
only to kiss the hand of her tyrant but
to hug the chain which manacles her.
"This despotism is the more extra
ordinary ON the part of the men, mas
much as they pretend to feel delight in
beautiful objects of nature; they will
watch the play of birds for hours, and
think it crime to disturb or deprive
them of the free air they breathe. Yet
they incarcerate the loveliest and most
beautiful of all the creators works, and
think it great favor to permit woman's
enjoyment of Towering shrub in some
hidden recess.
"In tearing aside the impenetrable
curtain of the harem, it is only to see
its inmates, like the flower which the
heated Khamsin touches, whitening I'M
der a jealous, despot whom the law
arms with complete power, and whose
cruel suspicion is endured in slavish 81
lence. Such is the rule of custom,
which alone regulates society among
III L..
tween the sexes there can be dignified |
with so exalted term. The women
rarely leave their homes, or even enjoy !
the beauties of nature, as do the men,
who possess great love for rare exotics
and beautiful flowers. They are en-
ployed in preserving their compilations,
the delicate tint of which is never blem- |
ished by the light of the sun, and en-
HANGING their beauty by every means
that long-studied art can effect, only to
please one whose delight is assured
when he knows that his prisoner is safe /
ly confined. 1t seems incredible TO |
men used to our western civilization
that in the nineteenth century, among
so large portion of the human family, |
there should be an impossible barrier
drawn between the two sexes, when
every manly inspiration dictates gen
erous sympathy for the delicate and
graceful woman whose instincts prompt
her to trust in man as the natural pro-
tector of her sex. Here she finds in
him, on the contrary, violator of
great law of nature, who assumes the
right not only to shackle her mind, but
also to confine her person by law of
his own operation.
$50 binding is the law that no man
shall see the face of woman not his
property, that in case of a violation OF
its sanctity it looks with favor on the
action of the injured husband should he
solace his jealousy with the life of the
intruder. 1t is not even permitted to
recognize woman outside of the harem.
In spite of strenuous precautions and
the difficulties which environ them Mos
lem women eluding the greatest watch
fulness. are fond of coquetting, like their
Western sisters. Though entirely I'M
cultivated, they have delicate and pretty |
wavs, and show, as if by accident, their
beautiful dresses and jewelry in opening
the black silk habaran which envelopes
them when on the street No women
excel them in the language of the eyes,
which, with them, are always large and
wide open.
"Society among the inmates of the
haren means simply smoking cigarettes
and pipes and the most trivial amuse-
ments. Instead of the sparkling con-
versation and pleasant music with which
the sexes reciprocally entertain each
other among Western people, horrible
screenings, the monotonous noise of
drums and the clang of tambourines |
are here the solace of women in her |
hours of ease The boosted luxury Of |
the palace offers in its isolation |
no attraction to refined nature.
This life makes people prematurely |
old; man of 80 is wrinkled and super |
anuated, and woman of 30 has passed |
her meridian No one works unless |
compelled to it, as tranquility of mind |
and person best pleases the Oriental
taste. They ignore the passage Of time,
which never disturbs them with the cry |
Of bukrah (to-morrow) vet people write |
to the facinations of Eastern life. 1t
NAV be climate, with its sunny sky and |
1uickeninc air of the desert, or possibly |
the stagnation of existence which de- |
hides them. 1t cannot be the effort Of |
thinking or Of feeling that awakens |
pleasing impressions, for there is moth
ing here that does not clash with every |
sentiment, habit and custom of intel |
lectual life.