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

130 HISTORY OF THE PARSTS. [CHAP, III.

his children’s education, the mother now actively participates in all his cares and anxieties on the subject. She is even willing to stint herself in her household expenses to secure additional facilities for their tuition. Private tutors are now a common institution in Parsi families for both boys and girls.

Parsi women are not wanting in kindly offices towards their neighbours. On occasions of rejoicing they are the first to entertain, however slender may be their means. They are equally willing to be entertained in return. In distress and affliction too they always render mutual assistance. If a neighbour falls ill, the ladies of the next house are constantly with the family of the patient to afford all the help and consolation in their power. This commendable practice of being useful to one’s neighbour has passed into a proverb, ‘Our neighbours are like our fathers and mothers.”

In former years Parsi ladies of the upper and middle classes had, like the Mahomedans and Hindus, an objection to appear in public. They never joined the company of the men, nor did they venture to drive out in open carriages even by themselves. On occasions of public illumination or at fairs they would go out in closed carriages with venetians drawn, and peep through them like so many birds imprisoned in cages. This prejudice has now almost entirely worn away. Parsi ladies of all classes may be seen in public