The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-05-20
AT A WEDDING IN CAIRO.
APPEARANCE OF THE BRIDES A
RUDE SHOCK TO AMERICAN
WOMEN.

lore tne OtEGnbhSs
Cairo Letter in New York Sun.
Thursday was marrying day in Cairo,
and our dragoman put US, two American
women, into a carriage and we were
whrled off through the narrow, winding
streets to a Mohammedan wedding. Our
invitation was not exactly a personal
matter, for we had never set eyes on
either of the brides-it was double we'd
ding-until that evening. But their hus-
bands-tc-he had never seen them, either,
so from that point Of view we had just
as good a right to be present as the bride
grooms had.
Before we went to last nights wedding
we were rather skeptical about these mar
riages taking place without the man ever
seeing the face of the girl he is 20 marry
But all doubts on this subject were dis
PEELED. If the bridegrooms had ever had
a chance to look at the brides as pre-
liminary 10 matrimony there wouldn't
have been any wedding. Or else there
would have been other brides. Perhaps,
we ought NOT 10 say this. After all, the
brides compared favorably enough with
the hundred and forty mine other women
who assisted at the ceremony. 1t was
rude, rude shock TO our notions of the
ianguorous, Oriental beauties shut up In
the harems of Egypt. They may be lam
guorous-<hough We spell that kind of Ian
guor 'Iaziness' but there seems 20 be
shortage in the beauty supply az present.
People often say that Oriental beauty is
of rather full-blown variety. All that
we have seen has been so full-blown that
~ baan b1nUyD clear of sight
The contracting parties pooled their
efforts last night, and the result was
show which was worth every cent of the
$3.50 1t cost us. This sum was expended
for incidental expenses. There was 81 for
dragoman, 81 for the carriage, $l.50 for
the bouquets and 81 for a nebulous per-
son who had secured our invitation az
the instigation of the dragoman. After
we had seen the brides we were pretty
sure that the bridegrooms would wish
they had their money back, but we didn't
begrudge a cent of ours.
Our invitation, which might have been
a death warrant for all we could make
out of 1t, was printed in Arabic on law
ender card. AT the tcp was crown and
an ermine robe bearing the crescent and
stars of Egypt. Our dragoman told US that
the bridegrooms belonged TO the royal
family. This was not so improbable as 1t
might appear. Ismail Pasha, who was
Khedive about twenty or thirty years ago,
was a man who took all the perquisites
that came his way, and was especially
tenec Gus of his privilege of having
new wife every week or oftener. Ismail
had a thriving family of ITO children OF
his own while the other members of the
royal come ton doubtless did their share
toward keeping the family from dying
out. The consequence is that the royal
family Families good deal.
7 Y we wedding.
j should be more correct II 1 said that We
went to some OF it. There are as many
"dongs'' in connection with a Mohamme
dan wedding as there are attendant on
swell Anne lean marriage. Only, in Mo
hamm eoan circles they bunch the excite
ment into about twelve hours of glorious
goines on. The first that we saw of our
wedding was at about ESQ o'clock in the
afternoon when we met the bridal pro-
cession in the street. There was brass
band at the head and there were half
dozen closed cabs Some Of these were de-
cided.y close. Wooden shutters with few
perforations to admit air were pulled up
at the wind ews. Others were minus the
wooden shutters and were full of a mass
of yelled women and gaudily dressed chill
dren. The brides carriage was not only
closed but was covered with lot of hang
ings which completely hid the greater
part of the body of it. man walked at
each door of each carriage, apparently
as a guard These bridal professions en-
liven the streets for while and finally
conduct the bride to the house of her hus-
hand.
1t was about o'clock when our car
rage, after following the windings of
labyrinth of lanes, shut in by the houses
of old residents-for 1t was a good old
quarter OF the csty--fnally turned into one
little street, no wider than an alley and
faf oil nj oh nd
head Il was crossed by strings of bright
red and white pennants, alternating with
large lanterns of red and green. The
street widened into sort of court at
he entrance to the house and here were
musicians sellers of sweetmeats, natives
IN turbans and flowing robes and, around
the entrance, q group of men belonging
TO the families of the brides and the
bridegrooms. These men wore Europeon
dress, except for the fez, which remains
the one distinguishing mark of the native
and which is almost never abandoned.
A wide, arched passage led into court
m the center Of the house. This had been
temporarily rooted over with gay red
awnings and bright flags; enormous crys-
tal chandeliers bearing candles hung from
cross beams and between them were shiny
balls a bout a foot in diameter, like overfed
Christmas tree ornaments. On a raised
platform In the center of the court We're
naive musicians Win ZltnefS ana manuo-
Inns Of the same overfed type as the hang
Ing ornaments. These musicians play
queer melodies, which form a running
accompaniment TO the stories told, or half
sung. by one OF them. A brass band oc-
cupied another side Of the court and the
rest OF the place swarmed with men ami
boys In all sorts of costumes. Some of
them wore European dress with the red
fez: others the flowing robes and white
turban OF the Arab and others still the
immense embroidered trousers of the
Turk. Servants carried about trays fun
OF tiny caps of Turkish coffee; others
carried dishes of sweetmeats. Around the
court. at the hight OF the second story,
rah 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 CT women around in
this case. We were led 40 narrow, tor
tuous and not over-clean stairway and
turned over to some half-grown girls who
led us to the bedlam above. The stairs
were of stone. with the commonest kind
OF an iron railing, and the walls were
dirty. At the top we fell into the hands