em where the tradition
or custom of the clan is against polygamy and divorce, and the women in
those homes are loyal to their husbands' interests, ready to work hard
and deny themselves for the home which they know is guaranteed to them
and their children. We are very apt to think that having known nothing
better and having nothing else to hope for, they must be contented and
reconciled to their lot. This reminds one of the answer of the old
fishwife, when one remonstrated with her on the habit of skinning eels
alive, "Oh, they don't mind it; they are used to it." This is far from
being the case, and it is especially true of those who, by travel or
contact with Christians, have had their eyes opened to the fact, that
in other countries their sisters enjoy advantages of education, and are
objects of respect denied to themselves; that Christian women are
trusted with freedom, and as a rule prove worthy of it.

Yet the fact remains: these women and girls cannot be educated and
emancipated, without bringing to bear on the social fabric influences
which would result in its disintegration and destruction, with nothing
better to replace it. Galling as are the curtain and the veil, they
cannot be dispensed with, for fear of worse evils. Ignorance and
seclusion are better than education and liberty without moral restraint.

While polygamy and divorce exist, and there is no standard of purity
equally applicable to both sexes, more freedom than woman now possesses
cannot with safety be granted her. I fail to see any remedy, but in the
doctrine and practice of Christianity. The fact known to be true of a
school in Syria, points out the solution of the problem. Of the pupils
of a Protestant school, conducted there, for many years, and largely
attended by Moslem girls, it is stated a case has never been known where
a pupil who had passed through their hands had been divorced or obliged
to accept a second wife in her home.

These women have learned lessons of duty, of personal responsibility to
God, of self-respect, self-control, kindness, and love, that cause the
hearts of their husbands safely to trust in them. Can we say as much
for any other system of education or religion?

Certainly Mohammedanism, with its twin evils of polygamy and divorce,
has not only failed to elevate woman, but has everywhere resulted in her
degradation. More pitiful than the more obvious wrongs inflicted by this
system, is the effect produced upon chara