EDITED BY MRS FRANCES HODGSON BURNETT. COPYRIGHT. Girl Life in Persia.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 426, 7 December 1889, Page 3

EDITED BY MRS FRANCES HODGSON BURNETT. COPYRIGHT. Girl Life in Persia.

Hek eyes are black as sloes— of course they are black, for blue eyes are consideied unlucky in' Persia : 'her skin is a rich' warm delicate brown that overlays the round, plump .features, tinged with a tint. of roso where, the- dimples are or should be ; -the silky hair is dark as thaplume of the raven that er.owns the head of. the little girl baby who was bora -but yesterday in that quiet dwelling at tjiefoobof Mount Elbojv. Tlip mal'ah, or priest, has already- been -to the house, and in the presence of her father has turned over the leaves of the Koran or Mahominedan Sciiptmec, and hit on the name of Fnthhnvh, the daughter of Mahomet the Prophet, so Fathimeh is to be the name of. the new-born babe. She is a Persian, and in Persia will she live, for it is only with the special permission of the Shah that a Persian woman can live out of her native .land. She is but a day old, but an amulet ha 3 been already hung on her neck containing a tiny scrap of paper on which is inscribed a passage of the Koran, intended to wnvd oi mischief from djirens or evil spirits. For the same reason if any of the neighbours look in to We the" little "stranger and express admiration of her beauty, the nur.»e 1 eque'sts them to spit in the baby's face lest the influence of the e\ il aye should lurk in what might be the praise of envy or jealousy. A tiny white cap of open efnbroideryafeo covers the infant's hair and Iver limb.* /are swathed tightly in swaddling bands. When,Fatbimeh ia five or six months old the bands Are gradually removed and her haiHs dyed with henna. The first application turns it to a bright orange red ; the second wash turns the hair to a rich blueblack. The finger and toe naila, the soles of the feet and the palms of her handi are also dj r ed yellow with henna. This is not done entirely for beauty, as Euiopeans often imagine, but rather to toughen theskin. This is especially necessary with the soles, as most women in Persia go barefooted in the house. When little Fathimeh is old enough to toddle about she has a present of red slippers embroidered with tinsel, but raiely weors them at play, for they are an encumbrance. When she is two urii/uree years old, however, f-he begins to wear a mantle, an article of dress that she will wear until her death whenever &he stops out of the house, whether to. sport in the garden, or play, .or walk in the street. This awkward dress &he wears attached to her_liead, and it readies to her feet." - While sho is a child it is worn loose, and.- ilio* -behind when s>he' runs ; but when she reaches the age of eleven the mantle is drawn over the face excepting o\er the e>e?, which are protected from the ga/e of any but her own family by a tiny lattice-work, exquisitely embroidered, of white silk. While still a child little Fathimeh sits in the gftte, and sometimes plays- with the boys of the neighbourhood, and thus, perhaps, forms a passing acquaintance with her future husband. r If her parents were peasants she would accompany them to the fields, and-aid in picking the iruifcor gleaning the, iiarvert. Hut as her parents are well-to-do- city folk of some means, she is soon taught that, her destiny is to be a.Jife'v. almost as.fec.lude J^s tha^t of a nunnery. - Her-jda^ aue .to, be pigsed within the seclus.ipn'Jof . the apjde.rdoiv or women's quainter of,*th6Tiouse, - where she. regies, whether it beliefc fatliei's or lier'hu&bamrß antljk roon. '■ -If Ehe former "by 'the tune j£athimeli is nine-years old, her days 1 are 'passed in apartments* wherqher only society is' that of her tnotlfer, sisters and brotliei?-, aiid the female slaves of-the .household. Occasionally other little girls^pay her a formal visit, and_they pass,a 4e*i<?us afternoon e»ting cucu^b.ej^- v a£d r c€yif.eetH)iiery fco a degree th^^*K>julai-speetiilj; • kill off most Americat^TßiuJUlrSjfr'-lii^^rsia, those who are unable %|o'be~aif suclCirr-egular diet die eariy ; th&. sjiu - vra|rs ; beepjae^ so hardened they are able to efff^ireTa ny thiug, This is a simple way pPzk&i&ing^ the necessity of heavy doctoi*j3 %^ fc which is porhaps an advantage in a;;co»ntry where, the, physicians are the most barefaced quacks. - If Fathimeh's father has, several wives, which it is greatly to be feaied is the case, and she-'also has l%er half brothers and sisters as playmates, and a merry time they bore of it. The anderoon is entirely separated from the rest of the establish, ment within an enclosure of its own, and his wife vviLh her family occupies a distinct portion of the anderoon. It is built ground' a square courtyard surrounded ify high walla so that no one may look into it, nor is any neighbouring house permitted to look into the anderoon court, whether from the roof or, from, windows. Nor are t'xere any windows in the anderoon itself that, face the street. Thus you hee that the $ anderoon and its courts are entirely aim I ? out frofia the world.* | However, these quarters are by no means as dreary as one might imagine ; for the l court is laid out with parterres' filled with an extraordinary profusion of flowers, chiefly roses, asters, pinks, lavender, oleander, and larigo'd^. It is densely shaded also with lindens, china trees, poplars, plane trees, and pomegranate trees, the latter a mo^t, exquisite addition to every garden, where it grows, with its bright green glossy leaves, its. lovely flamecoloured biossomi and Vicli red globes of fruit. Hidden in this wealth of foliage the bulbul'or nightingale warblea its enchanting strains', not' only during'the still watches of the moonlit night, bub often during the bash of a drowsy summer da\% J'n the cant re of the court there is a.n imiften^e tank into which the water often runs for hours with a grateful music, being afterwards drawn off to irrigate the garden. But ib is never empty, and around its brim fche children ploy, and the doves alight to strut and coo and the ducks float on the surface. Around the courtyard are arranged the various apartments of the andero'n^ rarely more than one storey, and having a flat roof ; they are protected from the sun's rays by broad verandahs, supported by graceful pillars, and another tank in the centre of the verandah. When visitors call, fountains in the middle of these tanks toss their silver spray, and give a delicious cooluess tq the air.

Tho chief meal of the day is in the evening, after the sunset prayer has been an- | nounced from the lofty minarets. FathiI meh's father then withdraws from tho duties of the day and peeks the seclusion of the anderoon with his family. Dinner is served to him on the floor. It is brought in on a large disk of whitened copper, and consists chiefly of soups, highly-soasoned ragouts, rice, sweets and tea. The lord of the nvinsion eats alone. His wife looks on, while, seatod on his knees and heels, lie leans over the dishes and carries the food to his mouth with a bit of the thin bread of the country, hollowed between his fingers like a spoon. If ho is in a pleasant mood, he calls Fathimeh to his side and puts a choice titbit in her mouth, saying ' Eat, my lamb, it is good for thy health, God willing !' After he hao dined, his wife or a handmaiden brings him a basin, a ewer of rosescented water, and a towel, and laves his hands Ilislordshipthen arises andreclines on a divan in the corner by the window, and his kalian or watci'pipe is brought to him. While he thus takes his ease Fathimeh and hey mothe.r in turn take their meal and then pioceedto regain the hus band anS'Tather, and perhaps smoke with him.' J A\\ smoke iu'Persia,from the youngest to tfoc* oldest/ -** • i Wh« i bedtime armes the process of reti^isrig -to the land of Nod is simplicity itself. A -pile of bedding in the corner of the sleeping room is unrolled on therugscovering tho floor ; there are no sheets but only counterpanes?, and in wintei heavy quilt?. Divesting herself of her outer clothing. Fath'meh folds and places' them in tho niches in the wall called tachtehes which scrvothe purpose of ctoret and table" in most Persian houses. • Fathimeh is awake early by the summons to rise for morning prayers which sounds' soon aftev dawn O\er the city and country, or sho maybe aroused still eail.er by the horn of theh'ih-hahm bashee or bath-master nnnouncing that the public baths aro ready. I Those who do not have private steam baths »b home go to tha public "baths. The. men go at all hours from dawn nutil noon. Tho' women resort to them in the .nftornoon. No Chri&tian is e\er ■ permitted to enter- those baths, which aro carefully preserved for the faithful. , Going to the public bath U one of Fathimeh's greatest diversions from the earliest childhood.' At least 'once a week -her mother -takes her there. They make- an afternootrof it. Fathimeh has her fingers freshly dyed with hernia, and liar hair, which has grown long, is plaited into innumerable/small biakle, which are expected to last' without'recombing until her ne\t visit to the bath.- These days at the bath are an education to the little girl now rapidly approaching,,, \vdmaqhood With the exception of a few lesions with the needle or on the guitai or in tho making of pie«erves,the little maiden has had no other education except what she trains from hearina older peop'e of her own sex converse. And thus, when she is at the bath and hears the women talking while embroidering or smoking after the ablutions are over, she learns much from their conversation of life in the outside woild of Persia, and &he will need all the information she can acquire, for if she ever learn 3 to read and write, which is not likely, it must bo after she is married. That marriage is her inevitable destiny she learns as soon as the can talk' There are no old makls in that country. When she is eleven or twelve years old the question of iinding her. a- husband in earnestly discussed. "The matter is settled between the patents of the bride and groom, tho most difficult point to arrange, being the amount of the dowry to be paid with the bride. If this is the first marriage of the prospective hu&band then healso is youn#, not over sj.\tc.en ;or seventeen, The p>auias;e is ,with £rea£ pomp and the festivities -.inst.- several days, after britljP i3,~kfken toCher, nejiy home at the head "6f" a long 'procession crowding- the narrow stieets, matching to the'lound of hnins, pipes -and ke^tlo-diums. Andiliere we lease tlie little bvixJe, hoping sherwiH have at least her sharp of \v;eilded • Wi;W , , . • , S. G. W. Benjamin,. Late U.S. .Minister to i/ersia.