Thursday 13: Popular Toys Through Time

By Vicki Gaia

Toys... sure, they are more sophisticated then when I was a child--more technical--but they serve the same purpose. Toys let's us take a break from reality--to play--to let the creative side take over.

The first toys were probably sticks and stones, but board games have been discovered over 4,000 years ago. Here's a list of popular toys through-out time as listed on the History Channel website:

1. Stone marbles - played by Egyptians, 3,000 B.C.
2. Kites - appeared in China, 1,000 B.C.
3. Iron Skates - used in Scandinavia, 200 A.D.
4. Roller skates - invented by Joseph Merlin, 1759
5. Dolls - mass marketed by an American doll maker, 1840
6. The Mansion of Happiness (designed by Anne Abbot) was the first board game sold in the United States, 1843
7. B.B. Gun - made for children and descendant of the cap gun invented after the Civil War, 1886
8. Parcheesi - westernized version of the Indian game introduced in England under the name Ludo, 1896
9. Teddy Bear - in America, toy bears were renamed Teddy Bears after President Theodore Roosevelt, 1902
10. Crayola Crayons - first introduced in 1903
11. Monopoly - created during the Great Depression, the 'get rich quick' theme caught fire, 1935
12. Silly Putty - introduced at the International Toy Fair in New York, 195013. Barbie Doll - again introduced at the International Toy Fair in 1959, Barbie was named after the inventor's daughter. Barbie became one of the nation's icons of the post war years.

The Barbie posted is the exact model of my first Barbie doll, down to the black and white swimsuit! BTW, my latest toy purchased is Nintendo's Wii. So you see, I'm still playing with toys.

Happy Reading,
Vicki Gaia

Families & Children: Lady Mary Hervey

By Erastes

"As well-bred as if not married at all"
~ Lady Mary Wortley Montagu on the Hervey marriage

Sweet, pretty Mary Lepell was one of Princess Caroline's "Virgin Band," as her Maids of Honour were known. The royal chaplain had complained to the princess that her maids were causing distractions during his sermons. When attempts to discipline them failed high panels were erected around their pew to prevent them making eyes at the gentlemen of the court.

Bishop Burnet perceived that the beautiful dames
Who flocked to the chapel of hilly St James'
On their lovers alone did their kind looks bestow;
And smiled not on him while he bellowed below.
~ Lord Peterborough

Lady Mary Lepell (known as Molly) won acclaim at court for her beauty and amiable character. She was unusually well educated for a woman of her day, and developed intellectual interests which she shared with correspondents and friends.

She met with the infamous bisexual Lord John Hervey at court and was very soon his companion.

Lady Molly was one of the most popular of the Virgin Band and was celebrated in verse by great men of the day such as John Gay, Alexander Pope and Voltaire. In 1720, Gay wrote of the couple, "Now Hervey, fair of Face, I mark full well, / With thee, Youth's youngest Daughter, sweet Lepell!"

However, unbeknownst to Gay, the couple had actually been married in secret for six months. Despite the later scandals of homosexual behaviour by Lord Hervey, it can be assumed because the match was secret, and both parties were relatively impoverished, that it was a love match. The proof that Lord Hervey was not simply a homosexual followed shortly afterwards as Lady Molly bore him four children in swift succession.

However Hervey appears to have bored of his wife and sought amusements in London and Bath, and it was there, in 1727, that he met the man who was to shape the larger part of his life, Stephen Fox, universally known as Ste. Lady Molly knew both Stephen and his brother Henry but her opinion of Stephen was not high. He was a country mouse rather than a town one and as she wrote to Henry Fox, "Ste is such a country gentleman that unless one could be metamorphosed into a bird of hare he will have nothing to say to one."

She was, literally, abandoned--ordered by Hervey to remain in Ickworth, Suffolk, whilst he and Ste socialised from London to Bath, but this did not seem to dampen her love for her husband as her outpourings of letters seemed to prove. However, she could not help but sound a little bitter, adding in one, "yet I think I should in his case rather have desired, than forbid, one I loved to be with me."

Even when Hervey went abroad with his amarato, she played the dutiful wife and wrote to Ste, rather than to Hervey himself asking for news of his ill-health. If she resented Ste’s affections with her husband she was sensible enough not to speak openly of it. This loyalty paid off, as upon Hervey's return to England they were temporarily reunited, and nine months later, her fifth child was born.

This was the pattern of her life, and some have said, that her willingness to be so estranged from Hervey bored him more. Hervey's relationship with Fox continued until 1742, after which Hervey retired to Ickworth and his wife to die.

After her husband's death in 1743, Molly moved to a beautiful little house off St. James' Park where she entertained some of the great names of day, such as Chesterfield, Horace Walpole and Thomas Carlyle.

She remained good friends with Stephen Fox until she died in 1768.

Families & Children: Child Labor Laws

By Jacquie Rogers

The happy-go-lucky childhood spent playing kickball and complaining about piano lessons is a modern phenomenon for all but the wealthy. Lower class children have always worked, and worked hard, especially in agrarian societies. But the Industrial Age brought machinery that could do the work of a dozen full-grown men, and a boy could run it. And so began the era of child labor and unspeakable cruelty.

Whether chimney sweeps, mudlarkers, miners, or mill house scavengers, these jobs were dangerous, oftentimes very treacherous, and required long, long hours.

In 1938, 26 boys and girls ages six to 17 died in the Huskar Pit disaster in Yorkshire. The picture on the right shows a child pushing a cart through a small shaft in a deep rock mine.

Mill house scavengers brought much controversy to early nineteenth century Britain. Frances Trollope wrote:

A little girl about seven years old, whose job as scavenger, was to collect incessantly from the factory floor, the flying fragments of cotton that might impede the work...while the hissing machinery passed over her, and when this is skillfully done, and the head, body, and the outstretched limbs carefully glued to the floor, the steady moving, but threatening mass, may pass and repass over the dizzy head and trembling body without touching it. But accidents frequently occur; and many are the flaxen locks, rudely torn from infant heads, in the process.

Charles Dickens publicized the plight of the children in Oliver Twist, as did several charitable societies and churches. By the 1880s, the U.K. and most of Europe had child labor laws in place, but the United States lagged way behind. "Children were often preferred, because factory owners viewed them as more manageable, cheaper, and less likely to strike."

According to Scholastic.com:

By 1810, about 2,000,000 school-age children were working 50- to 70-hour weeks. Most of them came from poor families. When parents could not support their children, they sometimes turned them over to a mill or factory owner. One glass factory in Massachusetts was fenced with barbed wire "to keep the young imps inside.

The "young imps" were boys under 12 who carried loads of hot glass all night for a wage of 40 cents to $1.10 per night.

After several abortive attempts, the United States enacted the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938, a full one hundred years after England passed its first child labor laws.

In our modern era of enlightenment, children are still used and abused unfairly. The International Labor Organization estimates that worldwide, 211 million children are engaged in unlawful, dangerous, or forced labor--mostly in mining, agriculture, industry, pyrotechnics, domestic, or in the sex trade.

Jacquie



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Families & Children: Complicated Personal Lives of Vikings

By Michelle Styles

Vikings had complex and complicated personal lives. This fact becomes immediately obvious if you read any of the Icelandic sagas. The sagas like the Laxdoela saga or Njals saga show bitter feuds and families torn with strife. They both examines the conflict that exists within individuals due to bounds of blood, loyalty and family. Divorce appears to have been common. In Njals, one of the women divorces her husband at crucial time because he dared make a disparaging remark about her hair. Adultery, particularly on the woman's part, was harshly punished.

But what of the children from a divorce? And how does that affect the inheritance laws? Could a woman inherit a man's property if they were divorced? What happens if she is a widow? Did a woman in Viking times have any power?

It is something that fascinated me when I started writing Viking Warrior, Unwilling Wife. And the short answer is yes, a woman could inherit property from her divorced husband through their mutual child--if the child was acknowledged by the father.

Women brought a dowry and received a morning gift at the start of a formal marriage. If they divorced, they were allowed to take the dowry and the morning gift with them, but any child from the marriage belonged to the father. However, if the man died, and his child inherited and then died, the mother of that child stood to inherit.

Even if they were still married, spouses did not inherit directly from each other but had a claim on the estate. So the woman would have to inherit through her child, but her second husband would not necessarily have full claim on the estate. Sometimes through marrying successive times, women actually became very wealthy indeed. The largest find of Viking goods hails from the Osburg ship grave, the grave of a early Viking queen.

The Hillersjo Stone from Sweden tells of one complicated inheritance or how Geirlaug inherited quite a bit of wealth and was able to put a stone presumably to explain everything and why she had the farm--

Geirmund married Geirlaug when she was girl. Then they had a son before he drowned and the son died later. The she married Gudrik. Then they had children, but only one girl survived. She was called Inga. She was married to Ragnfast of Snottsta, who also died, and then the son later. The mother inherited from her son. Then she [Inga] was married to Eirik. She died there, and there Geirlaug inherited from her daughter Inga.

I found it fascinating that things could get so complicated, so quickly. It helped the Vikings seem far more real to me. Oh, and I really recommend the Laxdoela saga, a wonderful tale of revenge and powerful women.

My Lord Raven Winner!

We have a winner for Jan Scarbrough's My Lord Raven giveaway: cheryl castings! Contact Jan to give her your address. The book must be claimed by next Sunday or another winner will be drawn. Please stop back later to let us know what you thought of her book! Congratulations!

Guest Blogger: Michelle Moran

This week we welcome historical fiction writer Michelle Moran, whose debut novel Nefertiti was release in hardcover last year from Crown. It will be released as a trade paperback on May 27.

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Beautiful Nefertiti and her sister, Mutnodjmet, have been raised far from the court of their aunt, the Queen of Egypt. But when the Pharaoh of Egypt dies, their father's power play makes Nefertiti wife to the new and impetuous king. It is hoped she will temper King Amunhotep's desire to overturn Egypt's religion, but the ambitious Nefertiti encourages Amunhotep's outrageous plans instead, winning the adoration of the people while making powerful enemies at court. Younger yet more prudent, Mutnodjmet is her sister's sole confidant, and only she knows to what lengths Nefertiti will go for a child to replace the son of Amunhotep's first wife.

As King Amunhotep's commands become more extravagant, he and Nefertiti ostracize the army, clergy, and Egypt's most powerful allies. Then, when Mutnodjmet begins a dangerous affair with a general, she sees how tenuous her situation is at her own sister’s court.

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Perhaps we can begin with where your inspiration came from to write about ancient Egypt.

My inspiration to write on the Egyptian queen Nefertiti happened while I was on an archaeological dig in Israel. During my sophomore year in college, I found myself sitting in Anthropology 101, and when the professor mentioned that she was looking for volunteers who would like to join a dig in Israel, I was one of the first students to sign up. When I got to Israel, however, all of my archaeological dreams were dashed (probably because they centered around Indiana Jones). There were no fedora wearing men, no cities carved into rock, and certainly no Ark of the Covenant. I was very disappointed. Not only would a fedora have seemed out of place, but I couldn't even use the tiny brushes I had packed.

Apparently, archaeology is more about digging big ditches with pickaxes rather than dusting off artifacts. And it had never occurred to me until then that in order to get to those artifacts, one had to dig deep into the earth. Volunteering on an archaeological dig was hot, it was sweaty, it was incredibly dirty, and when I look back on the experience through the rose-tinged glasses of time, I think, Wow, was it fantastic! Especially when our team discovered an Egyptian scarab that proved the ancient Israelites had once traded with the Egyptians. Looking at that scarab in the dirt, I began to wonder who had owned it, and what had possessed them to undertake the long journey from their homeland to the fledgling country of Israel.

On my flight back to America I stopped in Berlin, and with a new found appreciation for Egyptology, I visited the museum where Nefertiti's limestone bust was being housed. The graceful curve of Nefertiti's neck, her arched brows, and the faintest hint of a smile were captivating to me. Who was this woman with her self-possessed gaze and stunning features? I wanted to know more about Nefertiti's story, but when I began the research into her life, it proved incredibly difficult. She'd been a woman who'd inspired powerful emotions when she lived over three thousand years ago, and those who had despised her had attempted to erase her name from history. Yet even in the face of such ancient vengeance, some clues remained.

As a young girl Nefertiti had married a Pharaoh who was determined to erase the gods of Egypt and replace them with a sun-god he called Aten. It seemed that Nefertiti's family allowed her to marry this impetuous king in the hopes that she would tame his wild ambitions. What happened instead, however, was that Nefertiti joined him in building his own capital of Amarna where they ruled together as god and goddess. But the alluring Nefertiti had a sister who seemed to keep her grounded, and in an image of her found in Amarna, the sister is standing off to one side, her arms down while everyone else is enthusiastically praising the royal couple. From this image, and a wealth of other evidence, I tried to recreate the epic life of an Egyptian queen whose husband was to become known as the Heretic King.

NEFERTITI was released in July, and the paperback version will be coming out May 28th, to be followed just a month later by Nefertiti's sequel THE HERETIC QUEEN. Please tell our readers about Nefertiti and her sister, Mutnodjmet, and perhaps give us some insight into their story.

NEFERTITI is a novel of Egypt's most notorious queen. She had beauty and wealth to outmatch Cleopatra, and her enemies were so infuriated by her power that they tried to erase her from history, demolishing her temples and destroying her images. When I discovered her story in Berlin, I wanted to know how Nefertiti became a queen that inspired such vengeance. What had she done to make her husband want to leave his former queen and anoint her Pharaoh?

I decided to tell the novel from perspective of Nefertiti's younger sister, Mutny, because Nefertiti would not have been a trustworthy narrator. Nefertiti was incredibly ambitious, and probably would not have had trouble lying or flattering her way to power. The historical Mutny, by contrast, didn't seem to possess Nefertiti's ambition, and so I felt that she made a much more credible narrator. With two such startlingly different sisters, however, there was bound to be conflict, and from that conflict comes what I hope is an epic Egyptian tale.

What is the creative process for you behind writing an historical novel?

I begin by purchasing what feels like every book ever written on the subject I'm interested in. Sometimes that means our mail carrier will be delivering sixty books to my house in one week. It takes me several months to go through them, and when I feel like I have a pretty strong outline of my subject's life, I make a storyboard and begin to look for holes. Whatever holes I find, I try to patch with an event that wouldn't seem too far-fetched. If I run into trouble with a setting or a scene, I have friends in the archaeological world who can advise me on whether or not something I want to include is realistic.

Which means that all of the major events and characters in NEFERTITI are based on fact. Even the description of Nefertiti's palace and the images she had painted beneath her throne are historically accurate. Archaeologists today are extremely lucky that so much of Nefertiti's life is well preserved. But it wasn't always this way. After Nefertiti's reign, her enemies tried to destroy her memory by demolishing her city. The historical character of Horemheb, in particular, wanted to be sure that nothing of hers remained, so he broke her images down piece by piece and used them to fill the columns of his own buildings. Fast forward three thousand years, however, and as Horemheb's columns began to deteriorate, all that was left were the perfectly preserved (although broken) images of Nefertiti and her life. The irony!

But although most of this novel is based in fact, some liberties were taken with personalities, names and minor historical events. For instance, no one can be certain how Mutnodjmet felt about her sister's vision of an Egypt without the Amun Priests, but in an image of her found in Amarna she is standing off to one side, her arms down while everyone else is enthusiastically embracing the new god Aten. In a period where art attempted to portray reality for the first time, I found this significant. And while Nefertiti did have six daughters with Akhenaten, she never, so far as we know, produced twins.

Is there a particular person or era you've always wanted to write about, but for some reason you just haven't yet?

Yes! I've always had a fascination with France in 1300s. I have no idea why. I recently read The Last Duel by Eric Jager. It's a nonfiction book and when I was finished with it my desire to write on fourteenth century France was stronger than ever. But France doesn't fit into my current theme of ancient civilizations. Maybe in a few years, when I've worked my way down history's timeline!

What era in history intrigues you most?

The Italian Renaissance and medieval England. The writing that came out of both of those periods is so rich that it's a joy to research.

With your foray into historical novels, have you ever considered writing a contemporary? How about a paranormal?

Actually, no. When I discovered historical fiction as a genre, I knew that it was my calling. The closest I've ever come to a contemporary novel was a book I wrote about Mata Hari. It was never published, and truthfully, my real interests are further back in history.

Which authors have inspired you in your own writing?

Some of the books that I can return to again and again are Barbara Michael's Wings of the Falcon, Margaret Mitchell's phenomenal Gone With the Wind and Alexandra Ripley's sequel to that, Scarlett.

Do you have any advice for aspiring authors?

Learn as much as you can about the business of writing. Because we writers feel an emotional connection to our stories, we tend to feel that publishing is also emotional. If I'm nice, they'll publish me. If I send them chocolate with my query letter, they'll see what a good person I am. But publishing isn't personal and most of the time it's not emotional either. It's about numbers and sales and--at the end of the day--money. So learn everything there is to know about the business before you send off your material, especially once your material is accepted for publication. That's when business savvy matters most, and knowing important publishing terms like galleys, remainders and co-op is extremely important when trying to figure out how you can best help your book along in the publication process. Learn everything, but above all, keep writing!

What would you say is the most rewarding thing about writing?

Seeing the book in stores! That's a thrill that never wears off.

You have traveled the world extensively. Please tell about some of your favorite places. Is there anywhere you would still like see?

My favorite places in the world are all in France. Italy comes a close second, followed by the north of England and southern Africa. I would still like to see the Galapagos Islands. I've never been there, and I'm rather fond of tortoises.

The sequel to NEFERTITI is THE HERETIC QUEEN. Can you give us a sneak peek at this book?

Yes! It will be in bookstores July 2008 and will probably be titled THE HERETIC QUEEN, as you mentioned. It follows the destiny of Mutny's daughter, Nefertari, and traces her transformation from a wild palace child to the strikingly beautiful and intelligent queen of Ramesses II.

Is there anything more you would like to share with us?

If readers have questions about the history behind the book, they can go here. I add new questions as they come in, so readers can feel free to email me anytime! And thank you, Carrie, for having me here.

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Leave a comment or question for Michelle and be entered into a drawing for a copy of NEFERTITI. It's an excellent book, everyone, so make sure enter for your chance! We'll draw a winner one week from today. Thanks again for being with us, Michelle!

Weekly Announcements - 17 May 08

Bonnie Vanak received a great Booklist review for The Scorpion and the Seducer, which called her writing "splendidly sensual and delightfully different."

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Jennifer Mueller received a "Top Pick" review from Romance Readers at Heart for "Havana Holiday" and a B Review from Dear Author for "Egyptian Days" and "Egyptian Nights." Jayne of Dear Author writes:

One thing I know is that I'll always get something new and different when I begin one of your stories. I realize I mention the unusual settings you utilize in almost every review but I appreciate it so darn much that it just has to be said.

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Join us Sunday when Michelle Moran will be discussing her gorgeous novel NEFERTITI and giving away a free copy!

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We'll also draw the winner of a copy of Jan Scarbrough's My Lord Raven. Leave a comment for your shot at winning.

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Have a good weekend. If you have an announcement to make for next week, email Carrie. See you next week...

Thursday Thirteen: Families in the Old West

By Penny Ash

Here's a Thursday Thirteen about children and families in the Old West, which were not so much different from today.

1. Women, and men, married early, sometimes as early as 12 or 13.
2. Children were born in cabins or out on the trail with little or no medical help unless the family lived in a city.
3. Children spent their time doing chores or playing.
4. There was school for the kids who lived in a town that had one, or had a mother who could teach them.
5. Women cooked and cleaned, did the mending and raised the kids while their husbands worked in the fields or the store or their chosen profession.
6. Families staved off attacks from natives in the area, diseases, and attacks from outlaws and other criminals.
7. Some women were abused and sought a divorce as a remedy, something that in most places took an act of the state or territorial government. If they could be convinced.
8. Some women became entrepreneurs, traveling to the gold fields and setting up restaurants, wash houses, and rooming houses.
9. Children sometimes had to raise themselves and take care of invalid parents or siblings.
10. Some families moved into Indian Territory and did things like my great great-grandfather who traveled through the territory as a medicine man.
11. Some women turned to crime and became outlaws themselves, they set up brothels, robbed banks, and rustled cattle.
12. Boys, and some of their sisters, learned to hunt and fish as well as work in the fields. Girls, and their brothers, learned to cook and clean, make soap and grow a garden.
13. And of course girls and boys grew up to be women and men who met and fell in love and got married and started all over with their own children.

Families & Children: Edinburgh's Museum of Childhood

By Sandra Schwab

When you're walking down the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, it's easy to pass by the Museum of Childhood without ever noticing it: It's a rather nondescript house, not much different from all the other houses next to it. The golden sign depicting children in old-fashioned clothes might catch your eye, though, and make you curious enough to take a peek inside what seems to be a tiny shop. Right, but the letters above the door say "Museum of Childhood", so you venture beyond the shop into a room full of display cases with old, old toys.

There's a snake whose body is made of postage stamps that have been threaded on a piece of string at some time in the 1890s. And right next to it is the Moss Man, a Russian doll made from wood and dried moss. He doesn't have any eyes, but his nose is carved out of wood, and it's prominent enough to lend him stern Viking features. Sure enough, Mr. Moss Man swings his tiny sword in a rather threatening manner. Despite his antics, the Flemish teething doll of 1865 smiles serenely on. A human tooth is pinned to its body and was supposed to absorb the pain suffered by the teething child.

Just when you're about to lean forward to take a closer look, a booming noise starts in the far corner of the room, making you almost jump out of your skin. Soon the sounds of a small orchestra -- piano, drums, cymbals, and what not -- reverberate in the room. And it's loud. Very loud. The source? An orchestra nickelodeon. Insert 50p to play tune:


And there, at the back of the room, another surprise awaits you: There's a door that leads to a staircase. A huge staircase. And that's when you start to realise that this is no itty-bitty tiny museum. It extends beyond the building on the Royal Mile, and contains five large galleries crammed full of childhood treasures from the past and the present: there are doll houses, toy theatres, toy trains, toy zoos, indoor games, outdoor games, soft toys (complete with "button in the ear" Steiff animals), and dolls of all materials and sizes. Dolls made of china, of wood, of wax, or of bones, one made from a clay pipe; another made from shoe. There's a Shirley Temple doll, a Dr. Doolittle doll, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Rapunzel and the witch, costume dolls, soldier and sailor dolls and even a 3-in-1 doll consisting of Little Red Riding Hood, her grannie, and the wolf.

(Up here, in the third gallery, you can still hear that orchestra nickelodeon--as I've told you: It's really loud!)

The Museum of Childhood is a truly fascinating place and was once described as the noisiest museum in the world (well, yes, thanks to the aforementioned nickelodeon, no doubt! *g*). It was conceived by a local town councillor in the 1950s and was the first museum of its kind. Apart from the permanent exhibitions, it also hosts special events and temporary exhibitions, so there's always something new to discover.

And what was my favourite object in the Museum of Childhood? An old doll house which was started when the child was six years old. Over the years things were added to it, until it held over 3000 accessories and had both electric light and running water (!!!). But what I found most touching about it was the story of its inhabitants:

The Mistress of the House is Mrs Brett, who has three husbands. The first one suddenly disappeared. When he reappeared he had already been displaced and thus was made gardener (later died of broken heart). After having lost both legs in an accident, husband No. 2 became chauffeur. Now Mrs Brett lives happily with husband No. 3.

Families & Children: At Home in the Harem

By Lisa Yarde

To step into an Islamic home in the Middle Ages was to enter an exotic but familiar world. Family life revolved around the sanctuary of the women. Known to the West as harem, the term referred to the inner sanctum of a house and its mainly female occupants. It was unlawful for men who had no close blood ties to the residents to enter and when the men were absent from the household, women, their families and female friends could venture where they pleased. Orientalism of the 18th and 19th centuries imagined that harems were nothing more than brothels where sensuous young women awaited the pleasure of their master. Most of the occupants found comfort and security behind the walls of their sanctuary, but some suffered a dull and restricted existence.

Harems varied in size dependent on social stature. One of the largest and most opulent was the harem of Topkapi Palace, home to the female relations and servants of the Ottoman Sultans. Begun by Sultan Mehmed II, the Topkapi complex comprised among four main courtyards and several smaller buildings. At the height of its construction, Topkapi's harem boasted three hundred rooms, including the residence of the ruler's mother, the Sultan Valide. Her apartments featured a dining room, bedchamber, reception and prayer rooms, featuring colorful glazed tiles and porcelain. Marble baths, gold lattice work and honeycombed glass ceilings completed the splendor of the harem.

Upper and middle class harems featured their own luxuries. Sofas arranged around three walls of a reception room in the harem, were covered with silk cushions. Mattresses and rugs from Persia adorned the wooden or tiled floors. Costly fabrics, such as embroidered satin and silk became decorative window and wall curtains. Carved wood, porcelain tiles and terracotta ornamentation were used to beautify the house. Copper braziers and perforated incense burners provided warmth and gave a sweet-smelling odor to any harem. Even practical items such as cosmetic containers, and ewer and basin sets were fashioned in brass or glazed pottery.

Within the harem, the women ruled. But without the status that motherhood conferred, a woman's position could not be assured. Motherhood has been a badge of honor in Islamic society and from its earliest days, tradition held that, "Paradise is at the mother's feet." In particular, the mothers of sons were esteemed. Death in childbirth and other complications were always possible. The midwife, a respected and valued member of Islamic communities, facilitated a safe delivery and maintained the health of the mother. When children were born, the Muslim call to prayer and confession of the faith were whispered in their ears. Feasting always followed the birth of a son. The new mother could not leave the harem for forty days afterward, but in most societies, her female friends traditionally visited her on the seventh day after the birth. Rich women could afford the services of a wet nurse. In Saudi Arabia today, it remains a custom that the children of women suckled by the same wet nurse are considered "milk brothers and sisters," allowed to interact without many of the societal restrictions.

Children remained with their mothers in the sanctuary of the harem; at the age of seven, boys were more likely to be drawn into their father's social sphere. Boys were circumcised by at least the age of five. Most harems were staffed by nursemaids and slaves, who served an important role in rearing and tending to children. The boys and girls played a variety of games and had toys; part of the modern celebrations at the end of the Ramadan fast is the presentation of gifts to children. There were dolls for girls, at least from the eleventh century onward, and hobby-horses for boys.

With the onset of puberty, girls had greater restrictions placed on them. They typically began to wear veils at eight or nine. Gold coins, which were given to them at birth, decorated the cloth. Their interactions with males were limited to their fathers and brothers. Sometimes they were also permitted to talk to the sons of other close blood relatives, but a potential husband could be found among first cousins. The girls learned the household arts from their mothers, until they married and perpetuated the circle of harem life.