A TALK ABOUT PERSIA AND ITS WOMEN 



863 



sometimes handed over to men old 

 enough to be their fathers or even grand- 

 fathers ; there is also much marriage 

 among cousins in order to keep the prop- 

 erty of a family together. 



Once married, the young wife's strong- 

 est wish is to become the mother of a 

 son, for she knows that her husband's 

 affection, and, in fact, her entire position, 

 depends on this. If no son is born to a 

 man he will take to himself a second 

 wife, or perhaps divorce the first, and it 

 may easily be imagined what jealousy 

 and heart-burning are roused if there are 

 rival wives in the same establishment. 



In any case a wife cannot be a real 

 companion to her husband. It is not 

 etiquette for him to be seen with her in 

 public ; he may not salute her should he 

 recognize her in the street ; her secluded 

 life prevents her from knowing what is 

 going on in the world, and she is not 

 acquainted with any of his friends, nor 

 can he meet any of hers. Consequentlv 

 he spends his days apart from her and 

 usually eats with his men friends, the 

 women of the household finishing what 

 he may leave. 



A woman's great consolation lies in 

 her children, there being much filial piety 

 in Persia, though the son's love for his 

 mother has apparently no influence on 

 his behavior toward his wife. 



TERRORS OF THE HEREAFTER 



When a woman becomes old her 

 thoughts turn often to the other world, 

 and she makes up her mind to go on a 

 pilgrimage. The Prophet,, it is related, 

 when permitted a glance into hell, found 

 that the great majority of the victims 

 writhing in torment were women. As 

 lions with 7,000 teeth and vipers with 

 7,000 fangs mingle with fiends, all work- 

 ing away with a will to torture the luck- 

 less inmates of the infernal regions, most 

 women would count no effort too great 

 to escape from such a doom. Only by a 

 life of unremitting virtue can they attain 

 to a paradise into which apparently any 

 man may enter with comparative ease. 



A woman knows, however, that a pil- 

 grimage to Mecca, Kerbela, or Meshed 



will save her from the terrible Moham- 

 medan hell, and she cajoles what money 

 she can from her husband, sells her 

 jewels, and starts off with a party of 

 friends and servants. Meshed, being in 

 her own country, is probably the goal of 

 her journey, and what a journey it is for 

 a woman well advanced in years and un- 

 accustomed to exertion ! If she cannot 

 afford the swaying taklit-i-ravan, or lit- 

 ter, she must sit cramped up in a kajaveh, 

 or pannier, strapped on one side of a 

 mule, or else ride astride on a rough 

 pack-saddle. However hot may be the 

 weather, she must keep her face covered 

 up and her figure shrouded in the all- 

 enveloping black cloak. 



At sunset she will arrive at some cara- 

 vanserai ; her servant will sweep out a 

 recess for her, will hang a carpet before 

 the opening, and spread out her resais, 

 or cotton quilts, and all night long she 

 will hear the noise of mules and the talk 

 of the muleteers, and will probably be 

 troubled by the insect life which is very 

 active in these rest-houses. 



Day after day her mule jolts her over 

 great plains destitute of a single tree and 

 with only veitch or camel thorn sprinkled 

 on the gravelly soil. She will cross the 

 ranges b}^ passes that lead into other 

 plains, the replica of those which she has 

 traversed ; her food will probably be in- 

 sufficient, and she will be forced to drink 

 water often brackish and sometimes abso- 

 lutely foul, for she has no filter with 

 which to purify it. 



At last, coming to the crest of a hill, 

 she sees the glint of a gilded dome and 

 knows that the goal of her journey, the 

 sacred shrine of the Imam Reza, is not 

 far off, and that from henceforth she will 

 bear the proud title of Meshedi. She 

 and all the other pilgrims dismount and 

 prostrate themselves in adoration, and 

 before sunset the party is entering 

 Meshed by a gateway badly in need of 

 repair and our lady's servant has got 

 quarters for his mistress in a house as 

 near the shrine as may be. 



The next day she will betake herself 

 to the shrine, where she will be met by 

 a band of Seyids (descendants of the 



