Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1909-07-26
ROAD TO MANDALAY
III-THE INCIDENT BURMESE
By Frederic j. HaSkin

Women as the owners of shops in the
! bazaars of Rangoon, Mandalay, Moul-
mein and smaller cities are the rule
rather than the exception. The social
fabric is held together by the willing
ness of the women to supply the fami-
I ly with food and ratment 1T Is there
fore said of the Burman that he does
not marry for money, but for pro-
WIDER He is even less given to saving
than to shaving. His womankind have
keen instinct for holding to what
comes their way, and find the life of
the bazaars not unattractive, as each
is a favorite place of gossip and CON
siderable feature of social life. Behind
tiny booth, embroidering and chat
tering by turns, and almost always
smoking a white cheroot nearly foot
! long, the Burma girl In her teens" is
| as much out in society and in the
matrimonial market" as an American
girl who has formally entered the lists
of the unchosen at reception or ball
| to which all of the desirable young
men of the town are invited.
In Burma there is little meddlng with
marriage arrangements by the parents
of the contracting parties, AS rule
the mating of the young is the result
| of courtships similar in essentials to
| those of the western countries, but diff
fering in details. There Is no visiting
at the girls home, no sitting out upon
vineclad yerandas or walking in the
rusk or moonlight The young man
may converse with a girl in the ba-
zaars. If he and she are urbanites, or
| in the fields, II they are ruralists. He
may come, later, to the windows of
! her home, and, under the chaperonage
of an unseen but ever present member
of her family, give her sweetmeats or
verses paying tribute to her especial
| type of real or imagined loneliness. He
may receive verses in return, but the
parlor sofa and the red shaded piano
lamp are unknown to him. The poetry
written by Romeo and Juliet In Burma
is often crudely done, but always deli
cate In sentiment
! Marriage rites vary In the different
tribes, but divorce offers easy escape
| from CALLING letters in all Of them. One
Burma girl is a wife when she has
eaten rice from dish with her sweet
heart Another is married when she
and the young man have said so in the
presence of members of their families,
and a third when a bit of string has
been tied about her finger with the
sanction of her parents. But each be-
come a Divorce upon public complaint
of i'll treatment and proclamation of
separation.
AS If in recognition of her worth
| from an economic point of view, as
well as from reasons of chivalry, the
Burman has protected the rights OF
woman in a manner strange to the
east. Widows, for example, are exempt
from taxation. In all provinces the
| women go unveiled in public, and In
one the men are secluded before mar
rage, while the maidens are free. Here
| tribal custom has resulted In the estab-
lishment of a building in each village
in which young bachelors are confined
till they are rescued by marriage. As
| there is rather a scarcity OF women in
this part of the country, bachelor
may languish in confinement until he
Is decrepit.
Both men and women In Burma wear
skirts of flaming silk. 1t is sometimes
difficult for a stranger to determine the
sex of a slender young person, VINO
might be a damsel or a slightly built
| boy. The difference in the manner of
hitching the skirt about the hips is not
noticed until one becomes better ac-
duainted with the Burmese. The wom-
| en- OF lower Burma wear their skirts so
that the leg Is exposed to the knee with
| every step, but the astonishme1t OF
| Europeans at what they consider i'm
modesty has caused the ladies of RAN
COON and other partly Europeanized
| cities to close this sheath skirt to It's
full length.
There Is a story that the Burmese
| skirt originated from the cleverness or
n queen in ancient Burma, who. noting
a falling off in marriages, ascrlbed the
| condition to the unattractlVe costuihtnS
Of the girls. After a conference with
| several wise men, she proclaimed as
the national costume brilliantly colored
skirts of this peculiar pattern. The re-
suits were so satisfactory that the bril-
| liancv of Burmese apparel has never
been subdued, and has even extended
| to the men. - .,,,
Lower Burma is now rapidly tillin ing
with aliens, and with some 25,000,OOO
acres of good land not under cultiva-
ton the country as a whole invites a
larger population. The question that
naturally arises is what will become OF
the easy-going Burmese when their
country becomes densely populated; IL
Is agreed that If they do not lose their
Nan it will be because Of the cleverness
Of their women. The men of the future
1,1,st he more industrious than their
ancestors or less well to do.
! ror,orrow-The Road to Mandalay. "
| The OIL Fields of Burma.