It is very rare now that any musical instrument, other than a species of drum or a tambourine, is ever seen in the hands of an Arab lady. These instruments are used largely by the ladies of the wealthy households and are beaten by the fingers.
In many households the mothers bestow much care in teaching their daughters to acquire a fine gait and elegant carriage, as well as various little details of deportment, to render them attractive and pleasing in the eyes of others.
Those of you who were so fortunate as to visit the World's Fair at Chicago doubtless remember the representation of the streets of Cairo. Not the least among its many unique features was the facsimile of a wedding procession.
Very slowly such a procession wends its way, headed by the quaint musicians, who, with lutes, tambourines, flutes, clarionets, and the peculiar drum of the Arabs, make the air hideous with their so-called music.
The married women, following behind, look like bats, arrayed as they are in long black silk wrappers. Behind them, wrapped in white veils, come the young friends of the bride, and at last the bride herself, so carefully enveloped in a red cashmere shawl that not a feature can be seen, and but the barest outline of her figure. Her only ornament is a costly gold coronet.
She is accompanied by two relatives, who with much dignity walk on each side of her. A canopy of bright red material, supported on four poles, waves over her, and richly embroidered scarfs hang from it or flutter in the breeze. More musicians bring up the rear.
From time to time the procession halts in order to afford what is considered a rich treat for eye and ear to the people who dwell upon the streets through which the procession passes.
It is the custom of the Arab women to go heavily veiled, in order that their features may be hidden from mankind. When the young bridegroom receives his bride from her family, it is his privilege to lift her veil as he utters the words, "In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful!" For the first time, usually, he now beholds the face of the bride, who, with eyes modestly downcast, stands before him.
The life of a young wife is not an enviable one, for she but leaves the seclusion of her father's home for the still closer seclusion of her husband's, where, surrounded by her women slaves, she passes the time in a monotonous routine.
The slaves of an Arab household are, many of them, fairly educated and possess some little knowledge of sewing. In the wealthy households many of the slaves have been taught to sing and to dance, or have been trained to repeat lyric poetry for the entertainment and amusement of their owners.