The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-04-08
4 WEDDING IN CAIRO.
.,pytHiNCE or THE brides A
.yny AUUCk 70 MERICIS WOMEN.
..,. 10 II. n shortage In tho Behuty Sup
nly at Present Unfortunate Rridsarooms
A., Not Allowed to See Their Pros
..,,Iy, wives before tho Ceremony.

Ace Not Moved tO see Ihetr PrOH-
,,r,iyr wives Before tho Ceremony.
cana March 10 Yesterday being Thurs
IA, vas marrying lay In Cairo, and last night
!, J,,c,man put ~, two American women, into
..,,,,,e md we were whifl-d OF through the
80 AIMING streets to n Mohammedan wed
a., orr Invitation was not exactly = personal
-, tr we had never got o. ~ on either Of the
49, il was double Wedding until last even.
n. Bu, their husbands TO be had never seen
hen rl'her. 50 from that roint Of view We had
,,s, "a good a RICH, TO he present as the bride
rro1ms IA!
pc;o,s y. went g. last nights wedding We
.s,e rather s%ccnticAl about these marriages taking
,,co without, the nan ever seeing the face 81 the
.i,l be Is 10 marry. But all doubts on this sub
"a, ver. d,sr-llel. II the bridegrooms had ever
a.. chance TO look at tho brides a. a preliminary
a. rs,rimonv there wouldn't have been any we'd
I,ro Or else there would have been other brides
PERHAPS, Va ouch: not to say this. After all,
,bs br!es compared favorably enough with the
Hundred AMI forty nine other women who assisted
q, the ceremony. II was n rude, rude shock TO
AZ, notions II the languorous, Oriental BEAUTIES
.bu, M In the harems of Egypt They may he
hnruorous though We spell that kind oflanguor,
-.,iress' but there seems 10 be a shortage In
Ar. he,,lty supply at present. People often say
ma, Oriental beauty is Of q rather full blown
,,rie,y All that we have seen has been so full
blown that it has been blown clear out Of sight
The contracting parties pooled their Efforts
lac, night. and the result was a show which was
worth every cent Of the 81 so II cost us This
sum was expended for incidental eA penses. There
u,s 81 for the dragoman, 81 for the carriage,
ii 50 for the bouquets and 81 Tor q nebulous person
who had secured our invitation at the instigation
n, the dragoman. After we had seen the brides
No ware pretty sure that the bridegrooms would
wish they had their money back, but We didn't
h~egrudge a cent of ours
our invitation, which might have been a death
warrant for all We could make out OF II, was printed
IN Arabic On a lavender card Al the top WAS a
crown and an erminc robe bearing the crescent
and stars Of Egypt our dragoman told us that
the brilegrooms belonged to the royal family.
This was not So improbable as il might appear
Ismail paSha, who was khedive about twenty
or thirty wears ago, was a man who took all tho
psrquisitcs that came his way, and was especially
tenacious # his nrivilege Of having a new wife
every week ot pftener lsmail had a thriving
family Of 10 children II his ovn, while the other
members Of the royal connection doubtless did
Their share toward keeping the family from dying
out The CONSEQUENCE ~ that the royal family
FAMILIES a gool deal
say that Wa went 10 the wedding, but | should
be more correct If | said that we went 10 some Of
It There are as many "doinSs" in connection
With a M0hammedan wedding az there are at
tendant on n swell American marriage Only,
IN MohammedAn CircleS they bunch the excite
mrnt into about twelve hours Of glorious goings
IN The first that We saw Of our wedding was
At about , 10 o'clock IN the afternoon when we
met the brital procession IN the street There
was u brass hAni at the head and there werc half
a dozen closed cabs, Some Of these were de-
cidedly closet. Wooden shutters with a few
prf9rations to admit air were pulled up at the
windows. Others were minus thr wooden SHUT
tars and were full Of q mass Of Nelled women and
gaudiIy dressed children, The brides carriage
was not only closed bat was covered with a lot
part Of the body of IT. \ man walked at each
door Of each carriage, apparently ~ a guard.
These bridal PROFESSIONS enliNcn me streets Tor
while and finally conduct the bride 10 the house
Of her husband
II was about 8 o'clock when our carriage, after
following tn winnings Of n labyrinth, OF lanes,
shut In by the houses of old rrSiuents totlt was
4 good old quarter Of the city finally turned
into one little street, no wider than an alley and
fairly alive. with light and color Overhead II
yannants, alternating viii lJtgo lanterns Of
rel and green. The street wllen"d into a sort
Of court at the entrance 10 the house and here
were musicians, sellers Of sweetmeats, natives
IN turhans and flowing robes and, around the
entrance, a group Of men belonging to the families
OF the brides and the brldegtoomS. These men
wore European dress, except for The FEY, which
remains the one distinguishing mark Of the native
and which Is almost never. abandoned
\ "rle, arched passage led into a court in the
Contre of the house This had been temporarily
rupfed over with gay red awnings and bright
flags normou crystal chandeliers bearing
canlles hung from cross beams ana between
them were shiny balls about d foot IN diameter,
Ike pEgrfPn tlrlStnlNS tree ornaments TN n
raised platform in the centre Of the court were
native musicians with zithers and nandolins
Of the sam overfed type MS the hanging orna-
ments. These musicians play queer melodies,
which form n running. accom- niment u the
stories told, or half sung, by one OF them A brass
banl occupied another side o! the court and the
res, ot III" place swarmed with men and boys
In all sorts Of costumes. Some " them wore
European dress with the red fez, others the flow
Ing robes and white turban OF the Arab and others
still the immense embroidered trousers Of the
Turk Servants carried about trays full Of tiny
cups of Turkish coffee. others carried dishes Of
sveHtmeats. Around the court, at the height
Of the second story, ran n balcony whose side
next the court was entirely formed OF the fine,
carved screen shutters which always mean that
there Is a woman around.
There were plenty Of women around In this
case. We were led Ia a narrow, tortuous and not
over clean stairway and turned over 10 some half
grown girls ,wholed us 10 the h@llam above. The
stairs were oi stone, with the commonest Kind
~ an iron raNlng, and the walls were dirty, AZ
the top We fell into the hands Of two groups Of
women composed. apparently oi the friends OF
the respective brides Never have we been more
In demand. Each group was determined TO se-
cure lis for its own camp, the brides not being
together. hut each in her own apartment The
house, in iaCt, was the residence Of three brothers,
each 81 whom had perhaps Ave or six rooms.
While the women were labbering at. the tops
Of their voices and We with our big, bobbing bou.
quets were being drawn backward and forward
as the tide Of triumph changed from one side
10 the other, some Syrian young women who
spok" French appeared. and at once few TO our
IeScne. mich bride did We want TO see2 We
intlmated that we would see both but We were
not particular about the order, so long as We and
!ur poor but necessary raimcnt remained whole.
eating and the other was dressing so We were
conducted into one Of the salons 10 wait When
We saw the brides we were quite ready 10 believe
,hat they had been eating and dressing for n
Solid week.
The par.ur into which We now made nm i'm
pfesiyc entry led by the hand and followed
by a dozen Clamoring women looked like an
immense circus chariot in which the .Amalga.
mated Si,'erhood Of the Fat Women Of the World
was having n party. Perfectly enormous gilt
Chairs and sofas upholstered In bright red bro
eadr were set solidly around the walls. They
certainly looked like . circus chariot In sections
As iur the women but | want 10 reserve my
description for the brides who were like all the
iis>I only more 80. However, they were all like
me %luri.itlre gigantic and gorgeous and IN
communicative 50 far as We were concerned,
lhough that was Just as much our fault as II
was theirs. But We tricd to mile In all the known
ahd NE unknown languages, whereas most 81
we large, Ianruid ladies Of The chariot simply
retained the wide eyed, docilc look Of a COW.
sudden" Ills all changed, We. had been
tlb T'acc1 next 10 shinin. lights in the Amnlga-
nouquC's BY the melting warmth Of our smiles,
wren the chariot became tie sCenc Of indescrlba-
he Confusion. \ red fcL appeared In the door
WY Even the toyine minds Of our new ac-