Page:Walter Matthew Gallichan - Women under Polygamy (1914).djvu/140

 In a novel, entitled "A Marriage in Burmah," Mrs. M. Chan Toon gives an avowed faithful account of the life of an English girl married to a Burmese husband. As husband and wife were of different race, and held very dissimilar views, the novel cannot be taken as a fair presentment of ordinary monogamous marriage in Burma. The hero is depicted as selfish and intemperate. Towards the end of the story, he deplores that he has not had a son by a native woman, and he suggests to his English wife that she should select a Burmese girl to bear him an heir. The wife indignantly refuses, and announces that she wishes to have a son by a man of her own race. At this proposal, the husband is equally affronted.

Marriage between the Burmese, whether within or without the harem, rarely ends in the tragic fashion described by Mrs. Chan Toon in her novel. It would be difficult to point to any country where married life is as peaceful and idyllic as in Burma.

The women are usually slight and small in frame, and very graceful. Their eyes are dark and lustrous. In their long black hair they wear flowers. They love dancing and music, and are fond of festive gatherings in the open air.