“ yes, very much; but I do not like to tread on the tender and sweet flowers.”
“ Never mind, dear Sultana; Your treading will not harm them; they are street flowers.”
“The whole place looks like a garden,” said I admiringly. “ You have arranged every plant so skilfully”.
“ Your
“ They would think it useless to give so much attention to horticulture, while they have so many other things to do.”
“ They could not find a better excuse”, said she with smile.
I became very curious to know where the men were. I met more than a hundred women while walking there, but not a single man.
“Where are the men?” I asked her.
“In their proper places, where they ought to be.”
“Pray let me Know what you mean by their proper places.”
“O, I see my mistake, you cannot know our customs, as you were never here before. We shut our men indoors.”
“ Just as we are kept in the zenana?”
“Exactly so.”
“How funny,” I burst into a laugh. Sister Sara laughed too.
“But dear Sultana, how unfair it is to shut in the harmless women and let loose the men.”
“Why? It is not safe for us to come out of the zenana, as we are naturally weak.”
“Yes, it is not safe so long as there are men about the streets, nor is it so when a wild animal enters a marketplace.”
“Of course not.”
“ Suppose, some lunatics escape from the asylum and begin to do all sorts of mischief to men, horses and other creatures, in that case what will your countrymen do?”
“ They will try to capture them and put them back into their asylum.”
“Thank you! And you do not think it wise to keep sane people inside an asylum and let lose the insane?”
“Of course not!” said I laughing lightly.
“As a matter of fact, in your country this very thin is done! Men, who do or at least are capable of doing no end of mischief, are let loose and the innocent women shut up in the zenana! How can you trust those untrained men out of doors?”
“ We have no hand or voice in the management of our social affairs. In
“Why do you allow yourselves to be shut up?”
“Because it cannot be helped as they are stronger than women”
“A lion is stronger than a man, but it does not enable him to dominate the human race. Your have neglected the duty you owe to yourselves and you have lost your natural rights by shutting your eyes to your own interests.”