THE MOHAMMEDAN MOTHER. 
171 
the severity of maternal grief had subsided into a 
quiet uncomplaining melancholy. So sudden a change 
from sprightliness to gloom was not at all welcome 
to the mercurial Mohammedan, who could not bear to 
associate himself with anything which bore the per- 
petual aspect of sadness. Seeing that his favourite 
continued a prey to despondency, he soon ceased to 
regard her with his usual tenderness, and she was in 
a short time supplanted by a new object of devotion. 
Having once abandoned her, coldness was succeeded 
by neglect, and he ended by turning her adrift on 
the wide world, without a home to shelter her, or a 
friend to whom she could repair for protection in her 
state of wretched and cruel bereavement. 
