The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1900-03-10
WOMEN til PERSIA
Uees red 81 tae weaker Sex Un-
dar Mahammedanism.

SAD 1isss Ted 81 tao weaker Sex Un-
asf Mohammedanism
Life Is sad in Persia, especially shs
Woman's life. The law Of islam az
lows each man to have four wi res,
and as many concubines and S ave
girls as his hand can hold His wives,
also, he may divorce at Will. Our
word sbosh" is the Turkish wonl by
which a Moslem divorces his wife. 1t
doesn't count if he says it only once or
twice, but if said the third time, the
woman must go, and there is no re-
course. Down along the Caspian the
men often marry their wives in the
spring, so as to have the benefit Of
their labor in the rice fields, and d.
vorce them in the fall so as to escape
supporting them during the winter.
At Meshed, where the pilgrims come,
is a large population Of temporary
wives who are married to the pilgrims,
far from home and families, for as
long a time as the pilgrims remain az
the shrine-a day, or month. The
Mohammedan priests draw up the
contracts for these temporary alli-
ances. Lord Curzon, who has been
there, says Meshed, though the hottest
city in Persia, is the wickedest in
Asia. There are no words for wife
and home in Persian. There are no
homes and few wives. Tt is curious to
hear a handsome woman say: Il have
told my husband he marries another
wife l shall poison him, and / intend
to do it.' Or to ask a woman about
her home life, and get the answer;
Love my husband? Oh, yes, love
him. l love him as much as a sieve
holds water"
In the cities the Moslem women
and all but about 10000 or SC. Of the
100000 women of the land are Mos
lems-never appear in public save
dressed in black and heavily yelled,
tbe eyes looking out through a small
meshed space Of the veil. Custom,
ivar Of men, and not modesty. impose
Gais dress. The poorer women or the
women in the villages wear no yeilA
or throw the wells back and leave
their faces uncovered, unless now and
then in a e~oquettish way they draw
g fold Of the dress across the mouth
The Jewish women often dress fer
the street as the Moslem women do.
The Armenian, HISTORIAN and Fire
worshipper city women give some
ghatIess heedto concealment, and the
village women are quite free. All Of
these in the country, and the city
ladies in their houses, dtess in bright
coIors, red and green and Mellow; and
the village streets and highways get
their little brightness from them, OF
from the equally gay dress IF the men,
The Jewish girls are adotned also
with trinkets aud jewelry, Especially
with the little silver cases contain
ing portions Of the Old Testament
law. The Fire Worshippers, or
Guebres, are but few in Persia now,
though it is the land of their origin;
but their women can be picked out
at once in Teheran, or in the few cities
where they are found, by their dress.
Outside Of Teheran is the Tower Of
Silence, where, believing neither in
cremation nor in burial, the Fire
Worshippers ezposeth he'll dead. From
the hillside it looks out in solemn
stiffness over the broad, dead plain,
even as the dead of this dying people
look up in solemn stiffness from their
CHASTITY burial place to the unanswer-
ing sky.-Robert E. Speer, in Frank
Leslie's Monthly.