an Arabic proverb says that "The modest woman's walk lasts from morning till evening," which has been thus explained, "The modest woman rarely goes out, or meets any one, and, when she does get the opportunity to go out, she is as delighted with the various sights as if she were a stranger, and she spends a long time in looking at them, and in chatting with those of her intimate friends whom she meets, so that the length of her absence from the house has become proverbial."

Lastly, due consideration for the frailty of woman is extensively enjoined in proverbial lore, a Tamil adage telling us that "though you see a woman sin with your own eyes, cover it over with earth," for, it adds, "if she says, I am a woman, even the devil will have compassion on her;" and hence a person is sternly warned "not to dare to stand on the earth when passing unjust remarks on a woman." A German proverb says, "Frailty, thy name is woman," which is to the same effect as the Eastern aphorism, "Women, like flowers, are of tender fabric, and should be softly handled;" which coincides with the Indian maxim, "Do not strike, even with a flower, a woman guilty of a hundred crimes," and with the Hindustani proverb, "It is not right to lift one's hand to a woman."

At the same time, our forefathers were strongly of opinion that a certain amount of correction was good for women, an opinion to which we have referred in our chapter on "Woman's Goodness," where we have given some of the proverbial wisdom on the subject. Among Oriental proverbs too much leniency is deprecated, it being said that "the petted boy becomes a gambler, and the petted girl a wanton," which is similar to the Marathi maxim, "By the mother's petting the child becomes an idiot;" and to our own proverbs "A child may have too much of his mother's blessing," and "Mothers' darlings make but milk-sop heroes;" for, says Ray, "Mothers are oftentimes too tender and fond of their children, who are ruined and spoiled by their indulgence." In Hindustani lore we find the same idea expressed, a familiar adage maintaining that, "Melons require the sun, and mangoes want the sun; women need a strong hand, and children want love." The reason for this would seem to be that a woman does not always know what is best for
her, hence the Welsh adage:--

And hence, as the Italians say, "Women, apes, and nuts require strong hands." There is an African proverb which says that "a man is not obeyed by his wife in his own house," which, we are told, implies that she does not consider him her husband "unless he beat her, thwack"--a mode of treatment which, it is needless to say, would not be endured by the wives of the West.