Nestorian parents used to consider the birth of a daughter a great calamity. When asked the number of their children, they would count up their sons, and make no mention of their daughters. The birth of a son was an occasion for great joy and giving of gifts. Neighbors hastened to congratulate the happy father, but days might elapse before the neighborhood knew of the birth of a daughter. It was deemed highly improper to inquire after the health of a wife, and the nearest approach to it was to ask after the house or household. Formerly a man never called his wife by name, but in speaking of her would say the mother of "so and so," giving the name of the child; or the daughter of "so and so," giving the name of her father; or simply that woman did this or that. Nor did the wife presume to call her husband's name, or to address him in the presence of his parents, who, it will be borne in mind, lived in the same apartment. They were married very young, often at the age of fourteen, and without any consultation of their own preference, either as to time or person. There was hardly a man among the Nestorians who did not beat his wife when the missionaries commenced their labors. The women expected to be beaten, and took it as a matter of course. When the men wished to talk together of anything important, they usually sent the women out of doors or to the stable, as unable to understand or unfit to be trusted. In some cases, says the author of "Woman and Her Saviour," this might be a necessary precaution; for the absence of true affection, and the frequency of domestic broils, rendered the wife an unsafe depositary of any important family affair.[A] [Footnote A: Woman and her Saviour, pp. 18 and 19.]