The Mineral argus., 1884-10-23
GLIAIPSES OF HAREM LIFE.
How Women Is Loved and Pettsd In Phar-
o Land.

book on Egypt, upon life in a harem.
One can naturally see that from the
peculiar manner in which marriages
are made in Egypt, there is little do
mestic life of the sort we understand.
"The ladies constituting the families
of the late Khedive, Ishmail Pasha,
and of his numerous o m are in many
respects an exception to a general rule
in their accomplishments, education
and 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 hw of the prophet that they
should be held prisoners under a 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 hat the beautiful
young daughter of Khedive, who was
accustomed until Is 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 un-
fortunate fate. Marrying soon after
seclusion, she lived but a 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 a 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 beautify themselves. When young
they are well made; their extremities
are fine and their hands are soft, white
and supple, and they might be
hkened 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 us 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 comeliness. The
houses, many of them, are elegant and
so constructed as to completely conceal
the hidden glances of the fair who are
doomed to eternal isolation when with
out a veil, as no woman can be seer
lawfully by any other Inan than her
husband. She is forbidden the homage
that all nature demands. Controlled
by a powerful hand and bound irrevo-
cably by custom, she is compelled not
only to kiss the hand of her tyrant but
to hug the chain which manacle q 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 a 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 a great favor to permit woman's
enjoyment of a 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. witherino nm
der a Jealous, despot whom the law
arms with complete power, and whose
cruel suspicion is endured in slavish ST.
lence. Such is the rule of custom,
which alone regulates society among
Mahometans, if their intercourse be-
tween the sexes there can be dignifed
with SO exalted a term. The women
leave their homes, or aver enjoy
the beauties of nature, as do the men,
who possess great love for rare exotics
and beautiful flowers. They are en-
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 a portion of the human family,
there should be an impossible barrier
drawn between the two exes, when
every manly inspiration dictates a gen.