She may, indeed, in the
comparatively laxer license of some lands be seen flitting along the
streets or driving in her carriage; but even so it is like one belonging
to another world, veiled, shrouded, and cut off from intercourse with
those around her. Free only in the retirement of her own secluded
apartments, she is altogether shut out from her legitimate sphere in the
duties and enjoyments of life. But the blight on the sex itself from
this unnatural regulation, sad as it is, must be regarded as a minor
evil. The mischief extends beyond her. The tone and framework of society
as it came from the Maker's hands are altered, damaged, and
deteriorated. From the veil there flows this double injury. The bright,
refining, softening influence of woman is withdrawn from the outer
world, and social life, wanting the gracious influences of the female
sex, becomes, as we see throughout Moslem lands, forced, hard,
unnatural, and morose. Moreover, the Mohammedan nations, for all
purposes of common elevation and for all efforts of philanthropy and
liberty, are (as they live in public and beyond the inner recesses of
their homes) but a truncated and imperfect exhibition of humanity. They
are wanting in one of its constituent parts, the better half, the
humanizing and the softening element.
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