was alone at some distance from her family. She was not afraid of the
strangers, but greeted them with the self-possession of a queen. The
decision whether she should go or stay, was left wholly with herself,
and her nurse and servants accompanied her. With grace and modesty she
relieved the embarrassment of the situation by getting down from the
altitude of the camel when Isaac came to meet her, and by enshrouding
herself in a veil she very tactfully gave him an opportunity to do his
courting in his own proper person, if he should be pleased to do so
after hearing the servant's report.

It has been the judgment of masculine commentators that the veil was a
sign of woman's subject condition, but even this may be disputed now
that women are looking into history for themselves. The fashion of
veiling a prospective bride was common to many nations, but to none
where there were brutal ceremonies. The custom was sometimes carried to
the extent, as in some parts of Turkey, of keeping the woman wholly
covered for eight days previous to marriage, sometimes, as among the
Russians, by not only veiling the bride, but putting a curtain between
her and the groom at the bridal feast. In all cases the veil seems to
have been worn to protect a woman from premature or unwelcome
intrusion, and not to indicate her humiliated position. The veil is
rather a reflection upon the habits and thoughts of men than a badge of
inferiority for women.

How serenely beautiful and chaste appear the marriage customs of the
Bible as compared with some that are wholly of man's invention. The
Kamchatkan had to find his future wife alone and then fight with her
and her female friends until every particle of clothing had been
stripped from her and then the ceremony was complete. This may be
called the other extreme from the veil. Something akin to this appears