Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-04-02
AMONG THE MOSLEMS.
A COUNTRY WHERE WOMEN ARE TREATED AS BEASTS OF BURDEN.

TREATED AS BEASTS OF BURDEN. Maids and Matrons Foil in the Fields.
 l.aziness and Filth a Characteristic of the
 People-Girls Married When Only 10
 Years Old.
 other in reference to the women of his own country, begins his remarks with "Ajellak Allah" Literally the words mean, May God elevate you," and in connection with the mention of females is construed as a wish that the nearer may be put above contamination by the subject under discussion. The Moslems have proverb that runs this way:
 A man can bear anything but the men, tion of his women.
 This expresses in the shortest but the most forcible way the prevailing opinion among the male Arabs of the opposite sex. Through Egypt and Palestine women are regarded on much the plane as dogs and donkevs. The birth of son is an occasion of rejoicing, but when a daughter comes into family, one of their writers says, the threshold weeps forty days whenever girl is born" The more information there is gathered of the actual condition of the females among the Arabic people, the more pa- thetic their condition appears. Week in and week out the maidens and matrons toll in the fields and mills. They are slaves to be beaten and abused at will. The children as a class are bright, intel igent and capable of being educated as well as the young of any foreign country. But the people are all generally poor and shiftless, and the little ones SO ragged and dirty, until they seem to lose all hope or self respect.
 THEY NEVER PLANT TREES. 1ndescribable kaziness controls every | body, and the tisthiness of many is in keeping. The footpaths through Syria are bordered usually by cactus and pome- l granate trees, and beneath the shade the people sit with their knees up to their chins, laying the days away. The women do the work. Frequently long | processions of women are seen staggering under burdens of brush~ wood, but nc man ever thinks of offering a helping hand. Generation after generation goes on with no advance. The prevailing sentiment is we'll illustrated by the utter ance of one of their philosophers, who said they did not plant trees as they would not live till they were grown, and if their children wanted trees they could 1 plant them.
 | There are many stories of the over, | whelming extent to which deceit and kindred vices prevail among Mohamme. dans. In Beyroot they say 'there are twenty-four inches of hypocrisy in the world, with twenty-thr of them spread over Syria" There is a nursery tale o1 Satan's coming on earth with seven bags of lies to distribute, but falling asleeI they were all accidentally opened ir Syria. Profanity is much used. They do not swear ill English, but their words mean swear just the same. Allah" is God; "Yullah" means o God; "Inshul lah" means If God will; "Wullah" and ''Bismillah," in the name of God, anC these words both men and women throw into their talk with bewildering rapidity It is related by a missionary that whe1 trying to persuade shiekh not to swear the latter earnestly replied, "Wullah, will not" GRANDMOTHERS AT TWENTY.
 Greediness for gain is predominant passion among adult Arabs, and is i'm pressed upon the children from theil first hour of understanding. Back sheesh" is the cry and leading hope Women and children are beaten with view of exciting pity among foreigners and through sympathy reaching thei purse. Every man is naturally despot and one of the most sordid, cold ant calculating faces to be seen in any country is that of an Oriental phari see with his philactery on his fore head. One of the notable things is thu unvarying way in which things go on century after century. There has beer little change in many of the custom since Bible times. In the sacred bool Isaiah has verse giving the water car riers cry, as follows: ''Ho, every on that thirsteth, come ye to the waters" The water carrier of today goes aroun' with the same cry, the same skin ba and the metal saucers that he claps to gether in time with his call, as whel Isaiah was written. A thing repulsiv to Americans is the early age at whicl girls are married and the domestic ar engagements. Girls are married befor they are 10 years old, and are ofte1 grandmothers before they are 20. learned doctor of Damascus married hi wife when she was Il years of age. was his claim that by marrying so youn, girl he could train her as she should be Girls are taken from the English school at years of age to prepare for approach ing union with some man as old as thei fathers.
 The missionaries have been laborin, to effect reformation, and, although it i up hill work the latest accounts tell o progress in the right direction. In som families women are coming to be looke' !; upon more in the light of humans thai beasts of the field, and occasional courte sies after the example set by residen { Europeans are extended them.-St. Loui Globe-Democrat.