The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1908-05-09


as the wearer glides along, is designed
| to cover her tracks, SO that susceptible
men who may pass along the same road
NAV not see the footprints in the sand
and become infatuated with the woman
who made them. This notion of the
Orient may sound trifle foolish, but
We cannot be too severe with the Egyp-
tians in this belief when we recall the
fact that only last summer some New
York ministers recommended, and al
most commanded, that women VINO at
tended service wear hats because the
beauty of their hair distracted the at
tention OF the masculine worshlppers
from the sermon.
Egyptian women driving form another
curious sight for foreign eyes. There
are no seats in the typical Egyptian
conveyance The women, sitting on the
floor Of the odd little two-wheeled wag-
on, range themselves on either side.
with their backs to the street. Occa-
sionally a party may be seen seated
so that they face the front Of the wag-
on, but the former method is quite gen.
orally preferred. No well-bred man In
Egypt stares at woman, but. on the
contrary, he turns his eyes in the Oppo-
site direction. Respectable women OF
even the lower or middle class are new
er seen out after shutdown unless they
are compelled to go out by some press
ing necessity. 1t is in the native baz-
aars during the early afternoon that
the tourist has the best opportunity OF
studying types Of Oriental femininlty.
The native shops are all open to the
streets, and the floor, about two feet In
height, is used by the customers as
bench. The merchant also sits upon
the floor, and so arranged is his stock
of goods that he can reach about and
hand down almost the entire store to
the floor without rising to an upright
position. In the pursuit OF new wells.
or burkas, l saw two native women
climb up on the floor Of one OF these
shops. where they squatted down cross
legged and made themselves comfort
able for a couple OF hours inspection
Of the merchants stock of veils After
having made the round of all the ba-
zaars in the same street, and also sew
eral others, we retraced our steps, and
were somewhat surprised to find the
women still deep in the inspection OF
burkas, while they chatted happily and
slipped the Turkish coffee which the
merchant had sent out to get for them.
Many of the bazaars of Cairo serve
dainty little cups of delicious black COL
fee to customers, either native or Eu-
ropean, who have given some evidence
that they intend to purchase. Egyptian
women that one sees on the streets are
particularly fond of pretty shoes. and
many of them wear French-heeled
slippers of bright red. purple, or blue.
Often their bare feet are thrust into
these slippers, and their ankles are dec
GRATED with variety of bracelets. This
gayety of dress seems to be confined to
the shoes, however, for it is seldom
that one will see a woman wearing
any color except brown. Their dresses
are of black shiny silk or of black stun
like nuns yelling, which folds round
them in clouds regardless of fit-a fash
ion which was just as popular hve
thousand years ago as it is now. Some
of the Turkish street dresses look ex-
actly like bundle Of goods with
string tied around. Many Egyptian
women. regardless of class, stain
their hands and feet with henna. Some
dye only the finger tips, others the
palms Of the hands, and still others
trace patterns like lace work, which
when applied to the hands and arms,
resemble lace mitts. The preparation
of henna in Cairo has all the import
ance of the preparation of cold cream
in this country. The leaves Of the hen
ma are powdered and mixed into paste
with water. This paste is bound on
to the parts to be decorated and band
ages are applied, the process of beau
tifying requiring day or more for its
successful completion.
Another characteristic Of the Egyp-
tian women is their upright carriage
and gait, owing to the heavy burdens
which they or their ancestors have car
ried upon their heads. This, like all
good things, is sometimes overdone,
and as consequence OF too heavy
burdens the spine seems to bend the
wrong way, and the women are 50 ex-
.tremely upright that they appear to
bend backward, presenting a pouter-
pigeon effect. But this is seen only
occasionally. All Egyptian women
smoke. The lower classes use the ma
tural leaf, which Is broken up and roll
ed into cigarettes. The richer ones
smoke perfumed cigarettes or the mar
gileh or water pipe. In the better
class homes these pipes are ornament