The Cairo Bulletin

FLIRTING IN PERSIA.
WITH THE PERSIAN YOU MUST
NOT DISCUSS HIS WOMENFOLK.
The Most You Can Do Is to Ask
About the "Mother of His Son"
If He Has Only Daughters He
Will Not Mention Them.

With the Persian one cannot discuss
his womenfolk. To ask a Persian
about his wife is a grave breach
of etiquette. The most you can 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 suffered in silence.

While the sexes remain separated
as at present there can be but little
real advance. The man does not see
his wife after the marriage ceremony:
the woman still lives the secluded
stupefying life of the harem. "She
grows up like a wild flower; nothing
which Europeans generally keep out
of their children'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 have any
meaning for us because they are so
stupid.

She is kept secluded that she may
remain faithful, and the inevitable
result is that, intrigue forms half the
life of Persia. M. de Lorey relates
an adventure he had with a well
guarded lady of high rank in a jeweler's
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 conclusion of that
story, but the author tantalizes us
by breaking off in the middle. If it
had no conclusion—the sad state of
too many love affairs—we would have
almost have forgiven him, says the
London Globe, had he done what a
Persian surely would have done and
invented the rest.

It will come as a surprise to many
that divorce is as easy in the unchanging
East as it is in the strenuous
West. It depends entirely on
the will of the husband, who, under
the pretext that his wife is bad tempered,
barren, extravagant, excessively
lean, invalid or blind, can repudiate
her. The only drawback for the
husband is that he must pay the dowry
if the action is his. For this reason
husbands are found who in order
to avoid this nuisance ill-treat
and beat their wives till they themselves
move for divorce 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 anything but sew on buttons.
The man protested: "What will become
of me now that I 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 I be no good after
having stayed with you? Can
you forget what Sa'di said: 'A piece
of clay having fallen in the Hammam
from my beloved's hand into mine,
I said to it, Art thou musk or ambergris
that I am drunk with thy perfume,
which catches at the heart?
It answered: 'I was but a worthless
piece of clay, but I was in the company
of the rose for a moment.'"