ine. When such
satires as this can appear, and the edition of the paper runs up into
the thousands, people are beginning to think.

XVIII

DARKNESS AND DAYBREAK IN PERSIA

PART II

There is indeed another side to the question, and all honor to the
Moslem men whose eyes are open to see the wrongs of women, whose hearts
pity, and who venture into the thorny and dangerous path of reform! Many
more, no doubt, feel all these things, but what can they do? They are so
bound in the net of custom and prejudice, that it is next to impossible
to remedy, in any degree, the existing evils; while by attempting it,
they run the risk of making things worse, and so shrug their shoulders,
and feel there is nothing to do but to submit.

One husband, sincerely attached to his wife, said to me, "How glad I
should be to see her free as you are! It is no pleasure to me to have
her shrouded in a black wrap, and shut up behind a curtain; it is the
dream of my life to take her to Europe, and have her travel with me, as
a companion and a friend. But in this country I dare not deviate in the
least from our customs; she is so pretty, if other men saw her I should
be killed for her sake." This man was studying English, and the teacher
being a man, the lady sat behind a screen, listening to the lessons,
and learning faster than the gentleman. Though he had three other wives,
this one (though being childless) had complete possession of his heart.
They gave a supper to our lady physician and myself, he doing us the
honor to wait on the table, a thing which, had not my own eyes seen it,
I could not have believed possible in Persia. It was sufficiently
surprising to have him sit at the same table and eat with us, but how
much more so, that with each course he should rise, change our plate,
and serve the food which the cook brought to the door of the room. He
had never appeared so honorable in our eyes, as when, thus laying aside
the pride of rank and station, he was "among us as one that served."

[Illustration: MAT-MAKERS (PERSIA)]

[Illustration: INDOOR DRESS (NORTHERN PERSIA)]

When one first comes to a Moslem country, a sentiment of profound pity
for the women predominates; but as it is evident that half the
population cannot be kept in an unnatural and degraded condition,
without entailing disastrous consequences on the other half, one begins
to feel equal sympathy for the men, who suffer under the disadvantage of
having no true fa