a dish containing almonds, raisins, figs, dates, and a couple of
eggs, in the presence of a gathering of married women, one of whom
assisted in the winding, two small boys adjusted the sash with all due
state, after which a procession was formed round the house, and the
actual wedding was over. Thus commenced a year's imprisonment for
the bride, as it was not till she was herself a mother that she was
permitted to revisit her old home.

X

THE BAIRNS

"Every monkey is a gazelle to its mother."

_Moorish Proverb._

If there is one point in the character of the Moor which commends
itself above others to the mind of the European it is his love for his
children. But when it is observed that in too many cases this love
is unequally divided, and that the father prefers his sons to his
daughters, our admiration is apt to wane. Though by no means an
invariable rule, this is the most common outcome of the pride felt in
being the father of a son who may be a credit to the house, and
the feeling that a daughter who has to be provided for is an added
responsibility.

All is well when the two tiny children play together on the floor, and
quarrel on equal terms, but it is another thing when little Hamed goes
daily to school, and as soon as he has learned to read is brought home
in triumph on a gaily dressed horse, heading a procession of shouting
schoolfellows, while his pretty sister Fatimah is fast developing into
a maid-of-all-work whom nobody thinks of noticing. And the distinction
widens when Hamed rides in the "powder-play," or is trusted to keep
shop by himself, while Fatimah is closely veiled and kept a prisoner
indoors, body and mind unexercised, distinguishable by colour and
dress alone from Habibah, the ebony slave-girl, who was sold like a
calf from her mother's side. Yes, indeed, far different paths lie
before the two play-mates, but while they are treated alike, let us
take a peep at them in their innocent sweetness.

Their mother, Ayeshah, went out as usual one morning to glean in the
fields, and in the evening returned with two bundles upon her back;
the upper one was to replace crowing Hamed in his primitive cradle: it
was Fatimah. Next day, as Ayeshah set off to work again, she left her
son kicking up his heels on a pile of blankets, howling till he should
become acquainted with his new surroundings, and a little skinny mite
lay peacefully sleeping where he had hitherto lived. No mechanical
ba