WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY
Does not every ardent woman yearn for a great passion? Polygamy does not expel the polyandrous instinct from a woman's breast. A psychic craving for a true heart-mate may dominate an inmate of the harem. She demands a love that she cannot secure under polygamy. Often, no doubt, her restlessness and spirit of rebellion springs from lack of occupation for the mind.
A measure of liberty is accorded to the women of the Egyptian harems. Once a year they may leave the Abode of Bliss for a few weeks, and, under a certain amount of supervision, mingle with the world. They are, of course bound to wear the veil, and to observe the ordinary conventions governing the conduct of their sex in public places.[1] Freed for a spell, and filled with a spirit of adventure, the girl walks the fashionable promenades of Cairo.
In the cosmopolitan throng, ever going and coming in the glaring thoroughfares, the beauty from the harem paces, observed for her grace and the irresistible challenge of her deep eyes. It is not difficult to find an excuse for a sudden uplifting of the veil. A mosquito may have stung her cheek; a fly may tickle her nose. At the instant when the veil is swiftly raised,
- ↑ A friend just returned from Egypt informs me that the upper class women now wear transparent veils, and that some have discarded them entirely.
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