ARAB WOMEN

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 95, 16 January 1919, Page 2

ARAB WOMEN

DULL LIVES. In the Koran Mahomet lays down tho. rule that.is especially associated with the domestic' lhV of the Arabs. "Marry what seems good to you of women, by twos, or threes, or fours, or what your riglTt hand possesses. If yo still fear that.ye shall.not act equitably .then marry one only." This somewhat i imprecise advice has given rise to much comment, and the subieot is complicated by the fact that Mahomet himself had elovon lawful wives, and that ho permitted mutah or temporary alliances—almost the greatest blot upon his moral code. But, in practice, the difficulties ' siurgested'' by tins large permission", are almost nonexistent. .-Except the very rich, the Arab is, us s rule, .flibnogamous.' He is compelled to provide a seoarnte establishment for ench wife, and ■ tlie law imposes strict impartiality in his of them under the'severest penalties in the next'world But, the real reason that keeps him from giving more than one woman the leo;al position of a wifo is the ppndemomum that ,is sooner or later as inevitable in his life as it would bo in an Englishman's ■ . AltlioHßli • marriage is "held .by Mahometans to lie divinely commantVd for every man. the Founder was not himsolf disposed to regard ".women ■as the cause of much happiness. 'Up to the iifo of 53. he had ronfpritwl himself with the 'elderly and fai'lh'fiilKh'aflijnli, and'doubtless mrant it when ho mvite: "I have not left ntir calamity more detrimental to mankind than w'b'mon. . In.his later years he.found in Avoslia. his,most.perfect' companion, and then tender, sensiblo nurse of his last illness, and.'.his oninion of the other.sex seems to hnve •wulerirmin somo clmngp. At least it stands to his credit thnt by his laws he secured for it important rights of prouei-lv. nnd envn.-it'a firmnr position ns a wife tlmn Arab women had enjoyed before. But then) was "to be.no doubt as to the subjection of, tlin woman, to the mail

His _ Worship the Mayor thanks the iollowing subscribers who . forwarded donations to the Influenza Epidemic Belief l<mid:—"Jfather..of a Family," « 1; t; !°° re ' £2 ' "Small Giver," *1; a.,:. 10s.-;- Katie Robinson, 5s

Italy makes excellent- use of her waste paper. It is inadu into α-chenn and portablo fuel for the soldiers. Boys and girls go. about tho cities collecting all tho discarded newspapers they can find. Thcso aro -brought to establishments where tho; sheets aro converted by machinery into little .tight rollsabout..:an inch in diameter, and two inches long, which are packed into small hags.and dispatched to the army. This compressed paper fuel is most convenient whenever an 'individual soldier wishes to-warm up a mugful ofsoup.or coffee. .:.. ...