Women of the lower classes too had a hard life. In addition to such unfavorable conditions there existed among the aristocrats a strict adherence to ancient manners and customs. Accordingly the life of the whole nation became rigid and ossified. Foreigners, who came in close contact with Chinese aristocrats, speak of their women with greater pity than of the females of the poor, describing them as dull and boring creatures, with no higher interests than dress and gossip. As in Japan the rules of Confucius were likewise in force, the position of woman in “the Land of the Rising Sun” likewise was an inferior one. Obedience was her lifelong duty. As a girl she owed obedience to her father, as a wife to her husband, and as a widow to her oldest son. And in the “Onna Deigaku,” the classic manual for the education of women, she was advised to be constantly aware of the bar between the two sexes. [Illustration: AN ENTERTAINMENT AMONG THE GEISHAS OF JAPAN. ] [Illustration: AN EGYPTIAN QUEEN AND HER ATTENDANTS. ] WOMAN AMONG THE EGYPTIANS. Of the many nations that occupy the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, the =Egyptians= are the oldest. To them one of the foremost scholars, George Ebers, paid the following compliment: “If it is true that the culture of a nation may be judged by the more or less favorable position, held by its women, then the culture of ancient Egypt surpassed that of all other nations of Antiquity.” Indeed, when we study the innumerable inscriptions, paintings and sculptures of Egyptian tombs, and investigate the many well preserved papyrus rolls, we find this praise fully justified. Not only did the Egyptians generally confine themselves to one wife, but they also extended to her more and greater privileges, than she had in any other country. Woman was honored as the source of life, as the mother of all being. Therefore contracts, carefully set up, protected her in her rights and secured her the title Neb-t-em pa, “the mistress of the house.” As such she had, if the authority of Diodorus can be credited, absolute control over all domestic affairs and no objection was made to her commands whatsoever they might be. It is also significant, that where biographical notes appear, on tombs, statues and sarcophagi, the name of the deceased mother is frequently given, while the name of the father is not mentioned. So it reads for instance: “Ani, born by Ptah-sit,” “Seti, brought to life by Ata.” The spirit of true affection and real family life likewise found expression in many poetical names given by sorrowful widowers to their departed wives. There is an inscription, in which a husband praises his lost mate as “the palm of loveliness and charm”; another one extols his spouse as “a faithful lady of the house, who was devoted to her husband in true fondness.”