822
THE WEST SHORE.
you become a victim yourself, which will not be ficial wreaths, with the tinsel strings and long
tt all unlikely if you allow it in your presence, ribbons, are handed to the priest. These he
rernemUr that OM Somnus holds the kst anti- places upon the heads before him and passes
dote for all s uch jtoisonous infections. through a ceremony which lasts an hour. Af-
ter this religious rite is over, the bride, still
It in a little thing to cultivate a pleasing de- blinded, is placed astride the keg of wine pro
me anor, yet is one of the keys which unlock vided for the occasion, and there she must sit
thejortals to the highways of usefulness. It until the contents of the keg are emptied, which
may be the person of long standing success can usually takes the day. She is then led to her
afford to 1 gruff and repliant, but such is not room by the bridesmaids and undressed and
the case with the aspirant. He must attract her eyes unsealed, when she is left to herself
and win, must inspire delight in that which he No eating or drinking must she indulge in dur
would promote, through whatever means he ing the day. The bridegroom passes through
uses. If a shaker, he must be pleasing in no such ordeal. If the bride should faint or be
voice, gesture and bearing; if a writer, he must overcome with fatigue, it is considered a very
attract through graceful, sprightly sentences bad omen ; either she will not live long or she
and Mourning periods. This element is stronger will have poor health. It would seem to Amer
in woman than in man. In her it is as the gar- ican maidens that such a ceremony would not
dener's flower, which has ken cultivated into Ixs the most desirable ; but, perhaps, it is taint
doubling its splendor. From the time her in- ed with as much of the romantic as'their poor
fant hps first lisp language, until, as grand- servile lives ever experience. For so oppressed
parent, she teaches children's children, much of are the Bulgarian people by the Turks that
her life, all along, is an effort to please to make they seldom laugh, and their conversation is
not only her own ,,erson and manners attrac- ever low and guarded, for fear of the unwel
tive but cveryth.ng ak.it her, as well. Her come presence of the Turk, who, with his fam
par or is more entertaining if it allure the eye; ily and retinue, is stationed in their midst
lor the same reason, her sitting room is more
restful, and her dining room more healthful. So
active, in practical ways, is this clement in wo- 7 0man' certainly every philanthropic
man's nature, that she naturally looks for the voman' 19 mtrested in the noble purpose of
same faculty in others. Failing to find it, she th.e 1Un',ita Kamabai a high caste Hindoo
usually turns away to whore it may be found. wllow' who ia givin8 her life to the bettering of
Then Id the aspirant of success, where woman woman'8 condition in her native land. She
must give the laurels, cultivate his knightly , len in America since 188G, working with
mcin ; let him acquire of pleasing attributes all . avowed PurPoe of founding a college for
that his advantages jrnnit: and would he in- high ca8,e IIimlo witows, whose only crime,
fluence woman in any serial direction, let him a".Bhe tells us in her remarkable book, "The
do it by panting its boautics, whether moral ,Ilgh Caste IIindo Woman," is, that they
intellectual or material. ' were ever born at all, and who are all their
lives cursed in the eyes of their kinsfolk, be-
Marriagoin Iaria, though it is usually a 'ZrIlT
very happy event for loth bride and groom is held tn Z theiVnfa and they are
mUWj a very U.lious and wearisome on t t ul '? -T f ta
the bride. The wedding trousncau is invarial lv " hme8' 8 lmk tel,s of
onehome-woven w.len gown a a ", I f T wUch 8uidde andehame
M.owy artific ial flowers, with tin! Jtrin,, nd ,7 n 7 BUrce8 of deliveranc' thor
ribkns, the length of' which dZ -'f'-education is, in the belief of the
magnifier mu of the wedding, l'rvvious to her 7 mean8 whlch can raise thcfie
marriage day, the maiden wears patched and Z'H Cndition' The 1undita
l)riii
WJ In . cUU of golJ, !, .,, Ul, bri,' " t text book,, to be mcd in
I. M lonrl b, fro , J ' . U b1, firm!, believe, .he i. di-
r w coiaoimn. ine money