The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-12-18
FILTRATION IN PERSIA.
seclusion of the women-Divorces
Easily Obtained.

with the Persian one cannot discuss
his womenfolk. To ask a Persian about
his wife is a grave breach of etiquette.
The most o a do is to ask about
the mother of his SON. If he has
only daughters he does not mention
them; they are a misfortune to be suf-
fered in silence.
While the remain separate as
at present there can be little real adj
The nan does not see his wife
until after marriage the
woman still lives the secluded, stupefy-
ing life of the harem. "She grows up
like a wild flower; nothing which Euro
peans generally keep out of their chill
dren's sight is concealed from her; she
is left to the dictates of her instincts,
which, as she sees very little society
but that of servants and slaves, are not
very elevating. Her religion is drowned
In the lowest superstitions, and as she
is seldom taught to read and write the
only means she has of learning is from
tales which would hardly lave any
meaning for US because they are so
stupid"
She is kept secluded that she may re-
main faithful, and the inevitable result
is that intrigue forms half the life Of
Persia. M. de Lorey relates an adj
venture that he had with a ~well-guard-
ed lady of high rank in a jewelers.
shop. He attracted her attention. she
lowered her veil, he gazed-one hazards
the guess-adoringly, she dropped her
jasmine, he picked it up. The next
day they met again in the same shop.
We could have wished for the conclu-
rt1,a If t61t e+1~xr H,,t Aha o,4t1- -.
talizes us by breaking off in the middle.
If 1t had no conclusion-the sad state
of too many love affairs-we could al
most have forgiven him had he lone
what a Persian assuredly would have
done and invented the rest.
1t will come as a surprise to many
that divorce is as easy in the unchang-
ing East as in the strenuous West.
1T depends entirely IN the will Of the
husband. who under the pretext that his
wife is bad tempered, barren, extrava-
giant, excessively lean. invalid or blind
a repudiate her. Adultery does not
enter this category, because death set
ties that. The only drawback for the
husband is that he must pay the dowry
If the action is his. For this reason
husbands are to be found who in order
to avoid this nuisance ill-treat and
beat their wives till they themselves
move for div~orce-since in that case
there is no necessity to pay anything"
In another way Persia reminds one
dimly of the West, for there are such
things as difficulties with servants,
even in Teheran, The author dismissed
one of his servants who, as he had been
a tailor, was incompetent to do any
thing but sew on buttons. The man
protested: what will become of me
now that 1 have been eating your salt
for such a long time and am driven out
into the streets" He was reminded
that he had only been employed for a
fortnight; he answered that he felt it
had been for years. He was told that
he was no good; but his volubility only
increased. "How can l be no good
after having stayed with you? Can
you forget what Sa'di said: "A piece of
clay having fallen into the Hannah
from my beloved's hand into mine, |
said to 1t, Art thou musk or ambergris
that I am drunk with thy perfume,
which catches at the hearth 1t an
swered: I was but a worthless piece
of clay, but l was in the, company of
the rose for a moment. This compan-
ionship transformed me, or else l
should still be the same piece of clay
that / was"
One can pity the state of an English
mistress confronted with such an argn-
ment. The author kept his servant an
other week and he remarks disconso-
lately that in hat time he discovered
that if the tailor was a poet he was
also a thief.--London Globe.