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106 SOCIETY IN ALGIERS.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Second Abticxe. Al Attempts Geria As Aga...
Algeria , tlie depraved state of the society which follows the fashion in all thing's is not to be wondered at . In the time of General Randon
there was much agreeable dissipation for those who liked on a small scale the life of the Court at Paris ; but since Algeria has been
deprived of a governor , there is nothing resembling a centre of society in Algiers .
Of course , in all colonies there is a scarcity of -women , and this leads to certain evils , the least of which is , that often the wives of
men hig \ h in office , and men of superior acquirements and character , are women of very inferior rank , and often not of the best
character . We remember the wife of a judge of the Courts in Algiers being condemned to one year ' s imprisonment for writing
anonymous letters of the worst description to numbers of people in Algiersto her friendsto the friends of her husband , to the wife
, , of the Governor , and to people of all descriptions . She produced an extraordinary amount of doubtdistrustand evil feeling in the
, , town , scarcely any one of any standing but received letters , telling him or her of some evil done towards them behind their backs , or
accusing them , of some baseness . This lady went into the best society of Algiersand often visited at houses and talked over these
letters , and then , , on leaving her friends , dropped letters to them or against them into the post . She actually employed her own
daughter ( a beautiful young girl of seventeen years old ) to write them . At last it was found out , and both were condemned to
prison , * the daughter escaped with three months . Finally , the extravagance in dress of the Algerian ladies is quite
proverbial , and many of the most outrageous fashions of the French empire have been introduced by the wives of the powerful generals
of the African army , who , as might be expected , are ladies of considerable influence at the Court of the Emperor .
The general ignorance of Algerian society , as compared with that of France or Englandis very striking . Few books are to be seen
, in the shops at Algiers , and the libraries are very poorly supplied with current literature . A French lady assured us that many men
never read anything but the daily papers and their account-books , and their wives nothing but their mass-books . The education which
the young ladies and young men receive is much the same as in France ; but as soon as they leave their schools and colleges they
are exposed to the bad influences of Algerian society , and certainly do not form a very promising mass of young people to mould the
destinies of their new country .
B . 31 . 1 ) .
106 Society In Algiers.
106 SOCIETY IN ALGIERS .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Oct. 1, 1860, page 106, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01101860/page/34/
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