The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-05-04
WOMEN BOUGHT AND SOLD
HOW THE MOsLEMs OF SYRIA OBJ
AIN SLAVE AND WIVES.
Price Regulated Largely by Beauty
Cjrcassian Girls in Demand-Fe-
males Forced to LABOR.
w. Z. Curtis's Damascus Letter in Chicago
Record-Herald.

W. E. Curtis's Damascus Letter in Chicago
Record-Herald.
The women Of D~amascus-that is, the
Moslem women-are more closely yelled
than those of -Constantinople and other
Eastern cities because the people here are
more tenacious in the observance of the
ancient customs Of their race and the re-
Q~uirements of their religion. The wells are
thicker also, and cover the entire face.
Some of them are figured so that the con-
cealment is even more complete. Greeks,
Jews and Armenians do not wear wells, and
some of them are very handsome, particu-
larly the Jewish women. Their eyes, COM
plexion and hair are superb. The types of
Oriental loneliness remind you of Solomon's
Songs. A great many women go about the
streets wrapped in white sheets. This was
formerly a badge of the Jews, but is now
universal among the poor people. No wom-
en- are employed about the hotels or res
taurants. All the domestic work is done
by men. In the shops and manufactures
of Damascus thousands of women and girls
are employed, but they are exclusively
Greeks and Jews. No Moslem would per-
NIT his wife, daughter or sister to appear in
a shop or any other place where men are
employed.
You frequently find women doing the
hardest kim Of manual labor, as in Bo-
hernia and Hungary. They carry the hod,
they dig bitches, they haul carts, and are
employed IN the most mental labor. In Da-
mascus factories. where brass work, pot
terry, inla1d furniture, embroiderieS and
other characteristic merchandise OF the
country is produced, women artists work
side by side with men, producing similar
results, but receiving only half as much
wages. Such is the rule the world over.
No matter whether a woman works in Chi
cago or Damascus, in Fall River or Con-
-, - -zAa- - - Gnnfn In Tnnn
or Bolivia, she is never paid more than
half as much as men receive for the same
kline of work and the same degree OF skill.
The injustice is universal.
The children employed in the Damascus
factories, hammering brass, carving wood,
making the inlaid furniture and other
things intended for export, show a remark
able degree of skill. You see little boys and
girls seven or eight years old, who ought
10 be in the kindergartens or the primary
departments, with engraving tools IN their
hands instead OF primers, and showing a
skill and accuracy that is marvellous. Little
girls sit at monstrous looms making rugs
and weaving silk of the richest texture
without patterns and with a speed and
skill that is almost miraculous. And the
wages they receive are only a small per-
centage of what a bootblack or a newsboy
would pick up on the streets of Chicago any
day; sums insufficient to provide them
proper food and clothing; only a few cop
pers valued perhaps at 6, s or 10 cents in our
money.
GIRLS MARRY YOUNG.
Girls are usually married in their
twelfth or thirteenth year, sometimes when
they are only ten years old. The Damascene
in search for a bride employs the services
of an intermediary. either a relative or a
professional, who does the business for him
either for love or for a fee, which is reg
ulated by the amount of the dowry. There
are women, generally midwives and nurses,
who make a business of arranging mar
riages. In high Moslem circles a groom
never sees his bride until the wedding day.
Among the lower classes, however, inter-
course is common. Among the Jews and
Greeks and other members of Christian
sects families intermingle with more or
less freedom, but marriages are arranged
civil rather than religious.
Women are bought and sold. If a girl Is
very attractive her beauty gives her a value
as a bride that is not possessed by a widow,
or a spinster Of advanced years, or a
maiden without personal charms. There
fore a father who has a handsome daughter
expects to be paid a high price for her. as
If she were a slave, while if he IS so I'M
fortunate as TO have an ugly one he is eX-
pected TO provide a sufficient dowry TO in
duce some enterprising or avariciOuS per-
sen 10 take her off his hands. When every
thing is arranged the atfianced groom pays
the purchase money to a trustee. In case
of a dOwry the rule is the same. The money,
whichever way ii happens, is always set
tied upon the wife. If she has been pur-
chased it becomes a trust fund which she
inherits upon the death of her father or
when she reaches a certain age. If 1t is a
dowry il passes into the control of her hus-
band, who may enjoy the interest it may
pay Or any revenue that may be derived
from the investment like any other part
OF the family income, but in case Of his
death or divorce the principal belongs to
the wife.
The contract being completed and signed,
the wedding takes place with more or less
ceremony. according 70 the wealth and So
cial position of the contracting parties. Be
fore the ceremony, however, the bride is
bathed by the bridesmaids and other at
tendants and her body Is anointed with
and perfumes. She Is then en-
veloped in wraps until her figure and face
are entirely concealed, and conducted by a
procession of friends and relatives to the
home of her future husband, who, with his
father, mother and relatives, receive her at
is then performed, the wedding feast is
eaten, and at its close the blushing bride Is
put to bed by her attendants.
PASHAS STILL BUY SLAVES.
The sale of women slaves is almost obso-
nople, Damascus or in some Of the larger
cities a beautiful girl from the interior is
offered for a high price to the pashas end
other rich connoisseurs in female beauty.
In the interior OF the country the custom OF
filing the harems by purchases Of attrac-
tive women still exists, but is growing
rarer as the influence OF modern civilization
extends eastward and generates Turkish
communities. The farther one goes from
the railways and printing offices the more
common are the ancient practices. In Da-