Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1885-11-27
Life A Egyptian Harems.
Described By Rose Eytinge II the New Yorl

Life IN Egypt1an Harems.
Described By Rose Eytinge II the New York
You ask if there is any home-life in
Egypt, that old, old land Of science, 1e-
gend and superstition, Of sensuous col
oring, of semi barb barrie splendor, of Isis
and Osiris, Of Cleopatra the n1agnifi-
cent, and the mysterious pyramids is
there any home-life there? No, GER
tainly not, as we understand it. OF
course, the people there must eat, drink
and sleep in obedience to the inexor-
able laws. of our common humanity,
butthere can be no domestic life where
there is no women at the head Of the
household. and the Egyptian. women
are mere utilities. There is no middle
lass, SO that they are divided into the
,wo classes extremes of high and low.
The high life is that OF the hareem,
s they call it, and not haren, and is
luch better known throughout Eu-
rope than that of the slower-class
Egyptian women. During my resi-
lence in Cairo I was frequently adj
mitted to the hareem upon the invi-
tation Of the mother of the Viceroy OF
Egypt, 1smail Pascha, father of the
present pasha. 1small was the Vice
roy, or second in distinction to the
Sultan, OF Egypt The pasha was so
afraid of being poisoned that his
mother cooked all he ate, and for that
purpose she accompanied him where
ever he went.
Poisoning is the favorite method in
that country Of getting rid of an OBJ
noxious person. It is much more
speedy and infinitely less expensive
than a state trial. With the excep-
ton of the V1ceroy's mother I never
knew a woman Of high position to
know anything at all OF the culinary
art. l used often to spend whole
day in the harem and never saw
any OF the women doing anything
useful. They are seldom taught to
read or write. Conversation is gener-
ally carried on with a foreigner in
French through the aid of an intcrpre-
ter. Isoon picked up Arabic enough
to converse with them without aid.
They live i'll great splendor and total
idleness. They have no pictures in
their palaces and possess no foreign
or native literature. They never sew
OF even embroider, and their only rec
reation consists in seeing girls dance
and in listening to some barbaric
music, or to stories told them by an
old woman in true Arabian Nights
style. The Egyptian women are fully
developed at the age Of l3 and old at
80. y Their forms are usually most ex-
quisite until fat-that bane of both
men and women in high life---destroys
the delicate beauty OF their outline.
The upper portion Of their faces, eyes,
brows and forehead are wondrously
lovely, but the lower part below the
nose, is ugly, badly formed and
heavy, ...- as a. rule fortunately
for them, !, they are. enabled to,
conceal these. detects BY the veil
they, wear, So far from being dis
contented with their lot, the women
of Egypt have the utmost pity for
! their civilized sisters, especially in
matters of the heart. They say our
| husbands can care nothing for us, or
they would not allow other men to
look upon, our faces and think that
civilized women possess no modesty
to go unveiled. To amuse them, T
told them once of the great surplus Of
female population in the New England
States--largely naiden-and of the
struggles so many of our girls there
and elsewhere are obliged to undergo
IN order to earn, their own living.
They laughingly quoted proverb an
swering to ours Of hall loaf being
| better than no bread at all, and de-
clared that; the fractional possessions
of q husband was better than nc hus-
band at all. They were much sur
prised, even indignant, that we should
| call ourselves civilized and yet make
laws compelling a rich man to have
but one wife, when he might MAINTAIN
fifty or more, and so husbands and
support for g our Woodworking single
women would be provided., F@S
j AS the men do the. cooking and the
main part Of the sewing in Egypt
it is easy to see why there is no en-
ployment forwoman. Except in rare
cases, their intelligence does not ex-
coed that of an American child 10 or
II years of age. Therefore, the men,
although themselves not :. much supe-
rior, still have hardly any respect for
them, and, as there / is little 1of the.
sentiment Of love among them, they
seem to look upon, their women only
as indispensable adjuncts of the con-
tinuance of the race.
Let me describe A. dinner, in the
harem when q guest is present. Their
tables are always circular and about
q foot and hall in length. They sit
like dolls around them on cushions.
The old, inactive and fat, once down,
have to be pulled up. They serve but
one dish at a time. and that is large
circular salver of silver, brass or some
times gold. They have no forks,
i knives or spoons, but. each dip two
fingers of the right hand into the dish
and takes ont q bit, the meat having
been cut into small pieces in the
kitchen. 49,: %.... E..s :g +.
:. # they wish to particularly distin-
guish a visitor they select q dainty
piece and place it in her mouth. It
would be an insult to betray any feel
ing but delight at such mark of IA
vor. A great dish for a feast, and one
which few Christian women have ever
tasted, is that 81 d lamb roasted
whole. After the manner of nest of
Chinese boxes, each smaller than the
other, the lamb is stuffed with a whole.
turkey, the turkey withsa chicken, the
chicken with a pigeon, the pigeon with
, a quail, the quail with a becafca, the
smallest bird known except the hum
/ ming bird. It resembles our reedbird
in taste and makes Just over q mouth
fll. The lamb is roasted over a. slow