True Desert Romance English Girl Marries Sheik

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 59, Issue 16, 29 October 1938, Page 4

True Desert Romance English Girl Marries Sheik

POR a Christian woman to marry ar Arab sheik has always been regardec as rather a hazardous affair. Yet, it has been possible for an English girl to marry an Arab leader, anc make a success of it. Still living in c palace by the sea near Tangier is a woman who married the Grand Shareei of the holy city of Wazzan, a rich and powerful ruler, a descendant of the Prophet himself. She is one woman who found true romance in the East. How many non-Mohammedan girls have been dazzled by thoughts of a life in the desert with a handsome young Arab, galloping by his side across the desert? Rudolph Valentino was responsible for a time for reviving the idea; his countless' admirers liked him best in sheik roles. And now, as the cycle completes itself, Valentino himself is revived. The screening of his old successes abroad has made a small fortune for some of the promoters. - > But the average girl is also acquainted with the heroine of the famous “Thousand and One Nights,” and she reflects that the Arabian outlook on life and love does not altogether correspond . with the European version. She reads of a certain ruler who was accustomed to kill his wives .on the morning after the consummation of the nuptials. She also remembers a certain clever princess called Shahrazad who spent the marriage night in telling a story which in the morning reached a point so interesting that the king spared her. The following night he asked for the sequel. Nothing loath, the clever Shahrazad (who fully realised that her life depended upon her gifts ,-.s a raconteuse), managed to keep her lord’s mind so interested in her stories that one thousand nights elapsed before he realised it. By that time Shahrazad had a son. Then she told her husband of the device employed. By that time he so loved her and admired her intelligence that he spared her life. In all, 200 stories were told; several occupied many nights. But even the experience of the Princess Shahrazad did not deter Emily Keene, who visited Morocco in 1873 with an English family. Emily was employed as a governess. At that time she was 22 years old, fair-haired, and fresh-complexioned—-just the very type for a dashing young sheik to admire.

Emily came of good county stock in Surrey. Her father was then governor of a-country -gaol in England. Naturally, when he heard of the romance between his daughter and liadj Abdeslam ben Alarbi, Grand Shareef of the holy city of Wazzan, and a descendant of Mohammed, he was horrified. Little did he then know that his own grandson would in turn rule as Grand Shareef, one of the most important leaders in all Morocco! However, at first the fair-headed Emily was by no means certain that she desired to spend the rest of her life in Morocco. But the sheik would not take no for an answer. Again and again he begged the English girl to be his wife. He was no wild, tent-dwelling shei; of the desert, immersed in the superstitions of his ancient race, hating the foreigner and everything that pertained to him. He was a rich young Moor, handsome, athletic—indeed, so powerful that even the Sultan himself took counsel with him. It is said to this day that the Sultans of Morocco cannot be chosen without the consent of this distinguished family. But the most serious obstacle to such

» a marriage was not essentially a relil gious one. Rather to her surprise the Englishwoman discovered that the Koran ■ the unions of believers and l non-believers. It was not so much the t religious observances o the young sheik • that kept them apart. Emily Keene ! learned, to her sorrow, that her lover . was already married—not once, ’ut three times. Thereupon she insisted that before she became-his wife he must put his three wives away. Divorce is not such a difficult matter after all, among Mohammedans. The sheik soon fulfilled 'he condition, and he promised that, henceforth, he would be monogamous. Up to that point it was simple. But then came the battle with Emily Keene’s parents. They would not hear of such a match. Imagine any gently-reared girl giving up the comforts of civilisation for an existence among the wild, untutored tribes of the Moroccan interior! Emily was implored upon to give up her lover. But at last, completely baffled, her parents returned to England., From then on they regarded their child as lost to them. “Yes, I would go through it again!” said this white-headed, gentle-voiced old lady of 87, who noyv lives in a palace near the sea at Tangier. She has not forgotten how she horrified her parents, shocked the British colony, all those years ago. “Yes, it was worth while,” she remarked. The sheik’s English wife soon learned the ways and customs of his people. She accompanied him on expeditions in the far parts of the wild south. Those were the days when her husband, as the special emissary of the Sultan himself, was sent to pacify troublesome •tribes. “That was romance. So was the work I was able to do to help the suffering people of Morocco in those days.” For many years she struggled against superstition. When Emily joined the tribe of her husband, the Grand Shareef, smallpox and other diseases devastated the whole country. Yet the natives feared vaccination as a kind of witchcraft. They refused to permit the European doctors to come near them. By sheer persistence she was able at last to introduce vaccination (with a consequent lowering of the death-rate), not only at Wazzan, but at Fez and at Tetuan as well. Many thousands of people have since had cause to bless the name of Emily Keene. To her was given the eternal gratitude of the people of Morocco and their Sultan. To-day she is a softly-spoken little woman, one who, naturally enough, lives much in the past. Though she has seen many changes she has never had cause to regret the decision that changed her life.

Buttonholes. “Double” buttonholes of flowers is a fashion. Whether you are wearing a posy of artificial flowers or real blooms “the thing”is to have them in each lapel of your tailored jacket. There are now lapel clips to hold flowers. They are made in unexpected designs such as horses’ heads, dogs and palm trees, Windows. No need to polish them after cleaning if they are wiped, over with a chamois leather that has been wrung out from a quart of water that contains four tablespoons of methylated spirit.