History of the Parsis : including their manners, customs, religion and present position : with coloured and other illustrations : in two volumes

128 HISTORY OF THE PARSTS. (CHAP, III.

tions towards her lord and master. Hence Parsi familes generally lead a peaceful and happy life. The Parsi wife takes an active part in all domestic concerns untrammelled by the heavy shackles which usage and caste have imposed on Hindu and Mahomedan women. ‘The Parsi ladies also employ themselves in making dresses for their children and themselves, which is a subject of unceasing interest to them as it is to women all over the world. Of late years they have taken to embroidery and every other lind of lady’s work, in which they have not only made considerable progress but attained great proficiency. The females of the poorer classes are mostly engaged in the kitchen and in sewing either for domestic use or for other persons on payment. It must not be supposed, however, that ladies of the better classes do not attend to their more strictly household duties connected with the internal administration of the home.

A Parsi lady, when she rises in the morning, takes a bath, attends to her children, gives orders to the servants for the provision of the requisite meals for the day, and then attends to the wants of her husband, who by this time is either praying or reading his morning newspapers, in accordance with whatever may be his habit. After her husband has gone to his work and the children to their schools, she attends to her household duties, and engages in needlework with her daughters and daughters-in-law. At mid-