speaking of her would say, "the mother of so and so," giving the
name of her child; or, "the daughter of so and so," giving the name
of her father; or, simply "that woman" did this or that. Nor did the
wife presume to call her husband's name, or to address him in the
presence of his parents, who, it will be borne in mind, lived in the
same apartment. They were married very young, often at the age of
fourteen, and without any consultation of their own preference,
either as to time or person.

There was hardly a man among the Nestorians who did not beat his
wife. The women expected to be beaten, and took it as a matter of
course. As the wife lived with the husband's father, it was not
uncommon for him to beat both son and daughter-in-law. When the men
wished to talk together of any thing important, they usually sent
the women out of doors or to the stable, as unable to understand, or
unfit to be trusted. In some cases, this might be a necessary
precaution; for the absence of true affection; and the frequency of
domestic broils, rendered the wife an unsafe depositary of any
important family affair. The same causes often led the wife to
appropriate to her own foolish gratification any money of her
husband she could lay hands on, regardless of family necessities.
Women whose tastes led them to load themselves with beads, silver,
baser metal, and rude trinkets, would not be likely to expend money
very judiciously.

In 1835, the only Nestorian woman that knew how to read was Heleneh,
the sister of Mar Shimon; and when others were asked if they would
not like to learn, with a significant shrug they would reply, "I am
a woman." They had themselves no more desire to learn than the men
had to have them taught. Indeed, the very idea of a woman reading