The Omaha Sunday -Bee. Magazine. Pag
Copyright 191 by Amerieaa-Examraer. Great Britain High ta Reserved.
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bow Female Suffrage Works Out Among the Tuaregs, Where Men Go
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WOMAN suffrage to only Just
beginning to make real
headway In enlightened
America. In darkest Africa, bow
tier, t Is an old story.
Down In Ghat, on the border ot
tha Saraba and not very far from
" Tripoli, there It a large tribe ot
. natives, known as tbe Tuaregs, woo
' - for centuries bar spelled woman
.with a big W and man wlti. tha
v smallest kind of an m.
' Very-little- was known ot these
Taoregs until tbe recent publication
of liana Vischei-a book entitled
"Across tbe 8araha." Vlecher la
. one of tbe few explorers who bare
traversed Tripoli and tbe Sarah to
Borau. v
- ; "Bullied and worried by -bit wo
, men folk," lays Vlicber, "tbe Tua
reg haa no liberty at all. AU the.
goods, tents, camels and clothes are
- the woman's property. The stick be
carries and tbe great wooden box
Into which he puts what his wife
suffers him to have are all the man
possesses and all be retains' if for
some reason his wife chooses to di
vorce him,
"When a man goes out after sun
set be is usually followed by a negro
: . servant, sent by bis wife to dog bis
steps, and woo to him if bo forgets
himself or comes home too late.
He will find tbe door shut and must .
count himself lucky If be is not put
, onto the street altogether.
"One would think that It would
,. take a bravo man to marry 'at all
, under these conditions. It does.
'To obtain tha heavy sum which ho
' has to pay to the bride, be has to
took tor other means than his usual
, work ot rearing camels or carry log
goods for the Arab trainer. Ills only
nope ot obtaining the necessary
wealth Is to take part In one ot tha
, . annual rhcizias or raids ot his tribe.
" Tbe ladles decide when tbe right
' moment has arrived for one ot these
raids and then the men sally forth
against some luckless caravan or to
the rich highlands of Tlbestt Aad '
If the maa would win his bride, be
must bring homo tbe goods'.", .
Having (bus displayed bis pbysii'
cat nrovees,-he Is considered oligi-
-hie' to take np the more onerous
duties of simple housekeeping. Un-
Veiled, Everything Belongs to the Wife,
A Husband Can't Stay Out at Night,
and Every Man Has to Do Just
as Some . Woman :Tells Him
der the lawa ot the Tuaregs, tbe
man must obey tbe woman In every
respect.. Descent Is traced through
the mother.
Tha women show their proud
. faces to all tbe world, but the man
goes about veiled. In tbe presence '
of a woman ot noble birth, indeed, .
men cover their faces and heads al
together. , The woman give the chll-
dren what little Instruction they re
- celvo and train them naturally to
respect their mothers rather than
their fathers. "
Physically the mea - are mora
powerful than the women but so
cially and politically they are the
. "weaker sex."
It Is tbo men who do the cooking
and mind the children, while tbo
woman adorn themselves In their
characteristic raiment This dress .
consists ot a sort ot smock, dyed
with indigo and embroidered down
the front. Over this they wear a
long piece bt blue cotton cloth along
round tie body In all sorts' of fash
Ions and tucked In close under the
arms. , ,
Over their beads and their greasy
,balr, falling In many small tresses
on both sides ot tha face and slimy
with rancid camel butter, they wear,
like a mantilla a square piece ot
k woolen ' cloth died a bright red.
With their large, silver earrings,
heavy bangles and anklets, shrill,
but not unpleasant voices, henna
dyed bands, coal-black eyes and
shining whits teeth, their whole ap
pearance expresses a gay defiance
of the melancholy deserf which iur-
rounds them.
Tbe men are fortunate It they can
obtain a loin-cloth and a vol. Thera
"Is, no doUlng-op" for them. Their
personal appearance doean't count
at all Indeed, their donwsiio duties
are so arduous that when the day's .
work is over they have little Inclina
tion for anything but sleep.
In addition to their household
duties, however, die men are ex- 1
pected to Increase the family store '
by rearingcameis or doing odd Jobs
for Arabian traders. , '
Tbs chief ot the Tuaregs Is a wo
man. She Is selected by the women,
the men having nothing to say about
it at alL The women make the laws
and natural? enough they don't ex-'
actly favor the men. Thus, a wo
man cap divorce a husband for tha .
slightest cause but the man has no
remedy at all for tbs marital In-
fidelity of his spouse. ' "
. The property ot the Tuaregs de
scends to the daughters. Upon the
death ot a woman her widower re
ceives nothing If there Is a surviv
ing daughter, but if there la no
daughter the widower divides the
property with the male children.
The strange thing about It all Is
that the men hare not yet become
uneasy under the yoke. They have,
not yet made any attempt to secure
"equal rights" with their women but
seemingly are quite reconciled with
their lot
This is particularly surprising In
view of tbe fact that in their veins
flows the blood of Berber ancestry,
and in their language Is preserved
tfie purest speech ot that tongue, for.
the ancestors ot these tribes were
'.probably the moat liberty-loving of
that Independent race. Indeed,
theic presence In the Great Desert Is
probably due to tbe fact that rather
than bo -subjugated, they retreated
to the vast arid plain. . -
Considering, too, that the lives ot
the Tuaregs are spent mostly on the
march, often without food and shel
ter, under conditions where the phy-
Group of Tuareg Men Veiled Like Women, aad Beside Them an Unveiled Tuareg Bridegroom.
t fT i T ,v. V--'--'a
YXl j P 7T':..-J..:.Jn. y--C: J
-A Tuareg Woman. Note the Uncovered Face and Self-Reliant
Expression. v . t
steal superiority of the males might
bo supposed to give them corres- '
ponding privileges, tbo domination'
of their women is the more surpris
ing. It bas been suggested that the
Tuareg customs are really the best
arrivals' wo have of what Is called
"the matriarchate." TUs was a
period when women actually ruled
all tbo world, and the men were
used only as hunters. This time
was ages ago, but there are traces
of It still la many governments.
Tha matriarchate grew out of the
Man didn't have to bother about It
Ho waa too taken up with the mas-
cultne pleasures of hunting, fishing
and fighting. Knowledge Is power,
and by means ot it the women ot
the matriarchate kept tha mea la
subjection.' She was tbe priestess
of the first rude religions. Her
knowledge was handed' down to her
daughters, who kept op the rough
governmentalystem.
There came a time, however, when ,
men chafed at their position. There
was probably a real war between
the women and the men. The latter
aw"
He Has U Vaa fCa face Bafasw the To Wm His ride He Haa to Raid a
! . Weaaaav , . , . . . Canvaav. . . .
Waasi Ha Saaraa Ht Ha Has to
Give He Ail His CooJs.
All She Lata Hlaa Kan b a Stick
aad a Boa to Pat Ma Clothes law
He Has to Mind the Baby aad Cook
the Feed.
How. to Make the Sun Show the Beating of Your Heart
stow aUto ta Cat Tkrnwk raow
. i i . .i . .I . i d
' ' i-"c'- ir '
tow awl t riS . Wak Saa Sst.
T . J
OME time between the boors ot
tea and three of a sonny day
' take a sheet ofTieavy "wrap
ping paper, a few pins and your
penknife to a room having a south
window. Draw down all the abades
at all tbo windows except one sunny
window to make the room as dark
aa potsibla.
Draw the shade half down at tha
sunny window and pin the paper to
the shade to close the lower half ot
tbo window. Cat out all the light
yoo can and then, with your pen
knife, cut a round hole in the mid
dle ot the paper about one inch In
diameter. Through tbe bole a dusky
bar of aanlight will fall on the
floor. . Bring a table up to tbe bar
ot light so that a spot ot light wUl
rest oa tha table. Then get a hand
wash bowl, fill it half full of water
and place It oa tbe table just where
the spot ot light wfil fall oa tbe
water at tbe middle of the bowl.
' At once a dancing spot ot white
.light will appear on the wall or
celling. It oa the wall, move the
table and bowl about till the spot ot
light rests on the white ceiling.
Thea Invite me folks to the show.
As tbey come la and take seats
where they caa elf ceo tbe spot or
light, tbey laugh at the frantic Jump
ing dsnce of tbe white star over
head, and wonder what will happen
next The lecturer asks sH to sit
perfectly still and slowly tbe spot
quiets down, though it trembles
slightly . with occasional nervous
' Jumps. Then Mr. or Ulss Lecturer
says that we all think the solid
earth stands perfectly still, and the
bouse stands perfectly still also.
Anybody caa believe that till we"
magnify the motions ot the appar
' ently solid ground by tbs aM ot this
Motion Magnifier.
The next minute the spot Jumps
Into a highland fling, aad tbe learn
ed lecturer pulls up tbe shade at
one ot the windows and looks out
Maybe it Is a coal cart passing by.
It shook the ground and the house.
Next the lecturer asks a boy la
the audience to come to tbe table
and roll up tha left sleeve to make
bis wrists quite bare, and then to
rest bis wrist on the edge ot the
bowl while sitting at the table. This
must he done carefully so tbe spot
where we caa feel the beating ot
the pulse shall press on the edge
of the bowl.
Every one In the room sits per
fectly sllll and presently the tremb
- ling spot of light begins to wig-wag
as the swinging of a pendulum or
tbe beating of your heart Tha boy
lifts bis wrist from tbe edge of
the bowl and tbe regular beating ot
the spot stops and, as everybody
laughs, it wiggles about as crazy as
ever. ' 1 '
Let a girl try the Motion Magnl-
fler, and all can see that her pulse
may be different from that ot the
boy.
The Motion Magnifier caa be de
veloped into one ot the most amus
ing and Instructive of home-made
scientific toys. One can even msp
out earthquake shocks with It, and
It will respond, to the faintest of
vibrations movements the most
sensitive persons cannot feel. Keep
your paper and pins soon you will
find In this section a description ot
some other interesting things you
can do with your Motion Magnifier.
Wbaa He Com Out at Night a Slave
Brings Him Back.
great fact of maternity. At that
time there was no marriage as we
understand It Vrhe Identity ot a
father made little difference. The
mother brought up the children. Bhs
bad to learn the seasons, because
such knowledge was necessary for
the success ot her gardening. She
grew to know the medicinal proper
ties of herbs and Barks by the ne
cessity of curing her children when
they were sick. She probably In
vented the first rude agricultural
implements.. In her In tact was all
the useful knowledge of the time.
She Caa Divorce Hua Any Tiase She
Wants To.
won, and so for ages women occu
pied approximately tbe same post-
tlon as now.
The suffrage movement la a bit ot
poetie justice and an effort at par
tial return to power. The Tuaregs
probably have had handed down to
them In better shape tbaa any other
tribe tbe traditions and customs ot
"tbe matriarchate."
Why the men oftbls particular"
family of mankind didn't win out in
tbe great war of the women and
mea they have no tradition to ex
V
Ho iv Ne tv York. Protects the Ears of Its School Children
MUCH benefit is expectea to iouow tne re
cant establishment of quiet xones in the
irtihnrbood of New Tork school
houses. In these sones only the lightest traffic is
allowed, hawkers are forbidden to make any un
due noise in their efforts to dispose of their
wares and street organs are absolutely barred.
This salutary condition of affairs was brought
about by the passage ot aa ordinance by the
Board of Aldermen through the persistent efforts
of Mrs. Isaac L. Rice, the founder of tbe .Society
for the Suppression of Unnecessary Noises.
It waa Mrs. Rice who started the movement
some years ago to establish quiet sones ia the
vicinity of hospitals. The value of the sug
gestion was at once recognised, and a number ot
municipalities throughout tbe country at once
passed ordinances prohibiting unaeoessary noise
ia hospital streets. . "J
While talking to children In the public schools
regarding the value of quiet to the sick snd point
ing out to them that It waa their duty to be as
quiet as possible while walking through hospital
streets, Mrs. Rice was struck with the fact that
the children themselves were victims ot the same,
nuisance. -
"I was astonished," she said, "to discover the
amount of preventable noise which penetrated
the class rooms snd the foulness ot the air with
in them, this being due to the fact that in most
cases, the windows were tightly closed.
"The children seemed dull and apathetic, a
fact which, under tbe circumstances, was not at
all surprising, and the teachers complained bit
terly ot the aoise which compelled them to keep
the windows closed. . - - .
' There can be no doubt ot the lmporUsce ot
protecting the young from the injurious effect
-: r '.
of outside noise, which, by rendering concentra
tion difficult, increases the mental effort re
quired for school tasks, and by preveating free
ventilation menaces the physical well-being ot
tbe child. This Is a matter so grave and so far
reaching in Its consequences thatjta utter neglect
Is little short ot incredible." ,
Mrs. Rice, with her usual vigor, at once set
about to remedy these conditions. She had aa
ordinance framed designating certain quiet sones
In the vicinity of the public schools, snd su.
ceeded in having the Board of Aldermea pass It
New Tork bas already recognized the wisdom
of tbe plan proposed by Mrs. Rice and haa put It
Into execution. Twenty-flve State Board, of
Health and seventy-five dry school soperin
tendents have already endorsed tbe plan, and
there to little doubt that New Tort's examp!.
.win soon be followed t .-ughout the country.
