{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_17278/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_17278","id":"gutenberg_17278","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17278","summary":null,"tags":["Arabs","Category: Gender & Sexuality Studies","Category: History - Other","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Women -- Syria"],"text":"Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Stacy Brown Thellend,\nand the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at\nhttps://www.pgdp.net (This file was made using scans of\npublic domain works from the University of Michigan Digital\nLibraries.)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE WOMEN\n\nOF\n\nTHE ARABS.\n\n\n_WITH A CHAPTER FOR CHILDREN._\n\n\nBY\n\n\nRev. HENRY HARRIS JESSUP, D.D.,\n\n_Seventeen years American Missionary in Syria._\n\n\nEDITED BY\nRev. C.S. ROBINSON, D.D., & Rev. ISAAC RILEY.\n\n\n\"The threshold weeps forty days when a girl is born.\"\n--_Mt. Lebanon Proverb._\n\n\nNEW YORK:\nDODD & MEAD, PUBLISHERS.\n\n\nEntered according to Act of Congress in the year 1873, by\nDODD & MEAD,\nin the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.\n\n\n\n\n_THIS BOOK_\n\nIS DEDICATED TO THE\n\nCHRISTIAN WOMEN OF AMERICA.\n\n\n\n\n                              Beirut, Syria, _July, 1873_.\n\n        _Owing to the impossibility of my attending personally to the\n    editing of this volume, I requested my old friends_, Rev. C.S.\n    Robinson, D.D., _and_ Rev. Isaac Riley, _of New York, to superintend\n    the work, and would gratefully acknowledge their kind and\n    disinterested aid, cheerfully proffered at no little sacrifice of\n    time._\n\n                                                  H.H. JESSUP.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nThe Orient is the birthplace of prophecy. Before the advent of our Lord,\nthe very air of the East was resounding with the \"unconscious prophecies\nof heathenism.\" Men were in expectation of great changes in the earth.\nWhen Mohammed arose, he not only claimed to be the deliverer of a\nmessage inspired of Allah, but to foretell the events of futurity. He\ndeclared that the approach of the latter day could be distinguished by\nunmistakable signs, among which were two of the most notable character.\n\nBefore the latter day, the _sun shall rise in the West_, and God will\nsend forth a cold odoriferous wind blowing from _Syria Damascena_, which\nshall _sweep away_ the souls of all the faithful, and _the Koran\nitself_. What the world of Islam takes in its literal sense, we may take\nin a deeper spiritual meaning. Is it not true, that far in the West, the\ngospel sun began to rise and shed its beams on Syria, many years ago,\nand that in our day that cold odoriferous wind of truth and life,\nfragrant with the love of Jesus and the love of man, is beginning to\nblow from Syria Damascena, over all the Eastern world! The church and\nthe school, the printing press and the translated Bible, the periodical\nand the ponderous volume, the testimony of living witnesses for the\ntruth, and of martyrs who have died in its defence, all combine to sweep\naway the systems of error, whether styled Christian, Moslem or Pagan.\n\nThe remarkable uprising of christian women in Christian lands to a new\ninterest in the welfare of woman in heathen and Mohammedan countries, is\none of the great events of the present century. This book is meant to be\na memorial of the early laborers in Syria, nearly all of whom have\npassed away. It is intended also as a record of the work done for women\nand girls of the Arab race; to show some of the great results which have\nbeen reached and to stimulate to new zeal and effort in their behalf.\n\nIn tracing the history of this work, it seemed necessary to describe the\ncondition of woman in Syria when the missionaries first arrived, and to\nexamine the different religious systems, which affect her position.\n\nIn preparing the chapter on the Pre-Islamic Arabs, I have found valuable\nmaterials in Chenery's Hariri, Sales and Rodwell's Koran, and Freytag's\nArabic Proverbs.\n\nFor the facts about the Druze religion, I have consulted Col.\nChurchill's Works, Mount Lebanon, and several Arabic manuscripts in the\nmission library in Beirut.\n\nRev. S. Lyde's interesting book called the \"Asian Mystery,\" has given me\nthe principal items with regard to the Nusairiyeh religion. This\nconfirms the statements of Suleiman Effendi, whose tract, revealing the\nsecrets of the Nusairiyeh faith, was printed years ago at the Mission\nPress in Beirut, and translated by that ripe Arabic Scholar Prof. E.\nSalisbury of New Haven. The bloody Nusairiyeh never forgave Suleiman for\nrevealing their mysteries; and having invited him to a feast in a\nvillage near Adana, 1871, brutally buried him alive in a dunghill!\n\nFor the historical statements of this volume, I am indebted to the files\nof the Missionary Herald, the Annual Reports of the Syria Mission, the\narchives of the mission in Beirut, the memoir of Mrs. Sarah L. Smith,\nand private letters from Mrs. Whiting, Mrs. De Forest, and various\nmissionary and native friends.\n\nInformation on the general work of the Syrian Mission may be found in\nDr. Anderson's \"Missions to the Oriental churches,\" Rev. Isaac Bird's\n\"Bible Work in Bible Lands,\" and the pamphlet sketches of Rev. T. Laurie\nand Rev. James S. Dennis.\n\nThe specimens of poetry from ancient Arabic poetesses, have been\ngathered from printed and manuscript volumes, and from the lips of the\npeople.\n\nSome accounts of child life in Syria and specimens of Oriental stories\nand nursery rhymes have been gathered into a \"Children's Chapter.\" They\nhave a value higher than that which is given by mere entertainment as\nthey exhibit many phases of Arab home life. The illustrations of the\nvolume consist of drawings from photographs by Bergheim of Jerusalem and\nBonfils of Beirut.\n\nThe pages of Arabic were electrotyped in Beirut by Mr. Samuel Hallock,\nthe skilful superintendent of the American Press.\n\nI send out this record of the work carried on in Syria with deep\ngratitude for all that the Lord has done, and with an ardent desire that\nit may be the means of bringing this great field more vividly before the\nminds of Christian people, of wakening warmer devotion to the missionary\ncause, and so of hastening the time when every Arab woman shall enjoy\nthe honor, and be worthy of the elevation which come with faith in Him\nwho was first foretold as the seed of the woman.\n\n                                        HENRY HARRIS JESSUP.\nBeirut, Syria, Nov. 28, 1872.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n                                                             PAGE\n_State of Women among the Arabs of the Jahiliyeh,\nor the \"Times of the Ignorance.\"_                               1\n\nCHAPTER II.\n_State of Women in the Mohammedan World._                       7\n\nCHAPTER III.\n_The Druze Religion and Druze Women._                          20\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n_Nusairiyeh._                                                  35\n\nCHAPTER V.\n_Chronicle of Women's Work from 1820 to 1872._                 45\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n_Mrs. Whiting's School._                                       57\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n_Dr. De Forest's Work in Beirut._                              73\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n_Re-opening of the School in Beirut._                          97\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n_Luciya Shekkur._                                             114\n\nCHAPTER X.\n_Raheel._                                                     120\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n_Hums._                                                       140\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n_Miriam the Aleppine._                                        151\n\nCHAPTER XIII.\n_Modern Syrian Views with regard to Female Education._        158\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\n_Bedawin Arabs._                                              180\n\nCHAPTER XV.\n_Woman between Barbarism and Civilization._                   191\n\nCHAPTER XVI.\n_Opinions of Protestant Syrians with regard to the\nWork of American Women in Syria._                             200\n\nCHAPTER XVII.\n_Other Labors for Women and Girls in this Field._             204\n\nCHAPTER XVIII.\n_The Amount of Biblical Instruction given in Mission\nSchools._                                                     215\n\nCHAPTER XIX.\n_The Children's Chapter._                                     233\n\n\n\n\nTHE\n\nWOMEN OF THE ARABS.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nSTATE OF WOMEN AMONG THE ARABS OF THE JAHILIYEH, OR THE \"TIMES OF THE\nIGNORANCE.\"\n\n\nIn that eloquent Sura of the Koran, called Ettekwir, (lxxxi.) it is\nsaid, \"When the _girl buried alive_ shall be asked for what sin she was\nslain.\" The passage no doubt refers to the cruel practice which still in\nMohammed's time lingered among the tribe of Temim, and which was\nafterwards eradicated by the influence of Islam. The origin of this\npractice has been ascribed to the superstitious rite of sacrificing\nchildren, common in remote times to all the Semites, and observed by the\nJews up to the age of the Captivity, as we learn from the denunciations\nof Jeremiah. But in later times daughters were buried alive as a matter\nof household economy, owing to the poverty of many of the tribes, and to\ntheir fear of dishonor, since women were often carried off by their\nenemies in forays, and made slaves and concubines to strangers.\n\nSo that at a wedding, the wish expressed in the gratulations to the\nnewly-married pair was, \"with concord and sons,\" or \"with concord and\npermanence; with sons and no daughters.\" This same salutation is\nuniversal in Syria now. The chief wish expressed by women to a bride is,\n\"may God give you an arees,\" _i.e._ a bridegroom son.\n\nIn the Koran, Sura xiv, Mohammed argues against the Arabs of Kinaneh,\nwho said that the angels were the daughters of God. \"They\n(blasphemously) attribute daughters to God; yet they _wish them not for\nthemselves_. When a female child is announced to one of them, his face\ngrows dark, and he is as though he would choke.\"\n\nThe older Arab Proverbs show that the burying alive of female children\nwas deemed praiseworthy.\n\n     \"To send women before to the other world, is a benefit.\"\n\n     \"The best son-in-law is the grave.\"\n\nThe Koran also says, that certain men when hearing of the birth of a\ndaughter hide themselves \"from the people because of the ill-tidings;\nshall he keep it with disgrace, or bury it in the dust.\" (Sura xvi.)\n\nIt is said that the only occasion on which Othman ever shed a tear, was\nwhen his little daughter, whom he was burying alive, wiped the dust of\nthe grave-earth from his beard!\n\nBefore the Seventh Century this practice seems to have been gradually\nabandoned, but was retained the longest in the tribe of Temim. Naman,\nking of Hira, carried off among his prisoners in a foray, the daughter\nof Kais, chief of Temim, who fell in love with one of her captors and\nrefused to return to her tribe, whereupon her father swore to bury alive\nall his future female children, which he did, to the number of ten.\n\nSubsequent to this, rich men would buy the lives of girls devoted to\ninhumation, and Sa Saah thus rescued many, in one case giving two milch\ncamels to buy the life of a new-born girl, and he was styled \"the\nReviver of the Maidens buried alive.\"\n\nThe following Arabic Proverbs having reference to women and girls _will\nillustrate_ the ancient Arab ideas with regard to their character and\nposition, better than volumes of historic discourse:\n\n     \"Obedience to women will have to be repented of.\"\n\n     \"A man can bear anything but the mention of his women.\"\n\n     \"The heart of woman is given to folly.\"\n\n     \"Leave not a girl nor a green pasture unguarded.\"\n\n     \"What has a girl to do with the councils of a nation?\"\n\n     \"If you would marry a beauty, pay her dowry.\"\n\n     \"Fear not to praise the man whose wives are true to him.\"\n\n     \"Woman fattens on what she hears.\" (flattery)\n\n     \"Women are the whips of Satan.\"\n\n     \"If you would marry a girl, inquire about the traits of her\n     mother.\"\n\n     \"Trust neither a king, a horse, nor a woman. For the king is\n     fastidious, the horse prone to run away, and the woman is\n     perfidious.\"\n\n     \"My father does the fighting, and my mother the talking about it.\"\n\n     \"Our mother forbids us to err and runs into error.\"\n\n     \"Alas for the people who are ruled by a woman!\"\n\nThe position of woman among the Arabs before the times of Mohammed can\nbe easily inferred from what has preceded. But there is another side to\nthe picture. Although despised and abused, woman often asserted her\ndignity and maintained her rights, not only by physical force, but by\nintellectual superiority as well. The poetesses of the Arabs are\nnumerous, and some of them hold a high rank. Their poetry was impromptu,\nimpassioned, and chiefly of the elegiac and erotic type. The faculty of\nimprovisation was cultivated even by the most barbarous tribes, and\nalthough such of their poetry as has been preserved is mostly a kind of\nrhymed prose, it often contains striking and beautiful thoughts. They\ncalled improvised poetry \"the daughter of the hour.\"\n\nThe queen of Arabic poetesses is El Khunsa, who flourished in the days\nof Mohammed. Elegies on her two warrior brothers Sakhr and Mu'awiyeh are\namong the gems of ancient Arabic poetry. She was not what would be\ncalled in modern times a refined or delicate lady, being regarded as\nproud and masculine in temper even by the Arabs of her own age. In the\neighth year of the Hegira, her son Abbas brought a thousand warriors to\njoin the forces of the Prophet. She came with him and recited her poetry\nto Mohammed. She lamented her brother for years. She sang of Sakhr:\n\n    \"His goodness is known by his brotherly face,\n    Thrice blessed such sign of a heavenly grace:\n    You would think from his aspect of meekness and shame,\n    That his anger was stirred at the thought of his fame.\n    Oh rare virtue and beautiful, natural trait,\n    Which never will change by the change of estate!\n    When clad in his armor and prepared for the fray,\n    The army rejoiceth and winneth the day!\"\n\nAgain, she lamented him as follows:\n\n    \"Each glorious rising sun brings Sakhr to my mind,\n    I think anew of him when sets the orb of day;\n    And had I not beheld the grief and sorrow blind\n    Of many mourning ones o'er brothers snatched away,\n    I should have slain myself, from deep and dark despair.\"\n\nThe poet Nabighah erected for her a red leather tent at the fair of\nOkaz, in token of honor, and in the contest of poetry gave her the\nhighest place above all but Maymun, saying to her, \"If I had not heard\nhim, I would say that thou didst surpass every one in poetry. I confess\nthat you surpass all women.\" To which she haughtily replied, \"Not the\nless do I surpass all men.\"\n\nThe following are among the famous lines of El Khunsa, which gave her\nthe title of princess of Arab poetesses. The translation I have made\nquite literal.\n\n    \"Ah time has its wonders; its changes amaze,\n    It leaves us the tail while the head it slays;\n    It leaves us the low while the highest decays;\n    It leaves the obscure, the despised, and the slave,\n    But of honored and loved ones, the true and the brave\n    It leaves us to mourn o'er the untimely grave.\n    The two new creations, the day and the night,\n    Though ceaselessly changing, are pure as the light:\n    But man changes to error, corruption and blight.\"\n\nThe most ancient Arab poetess, Zarifeh, is supposed to have lived as\nlong ago as the Second Century, in the time of the bursting of the\nfamous dyke of Mareb, which devastated the land of Saba. Another\npoetess, Rakash, sister of the king of Hira, was given in marriage, by\nthe king when intoxicated, to a man named Adi.\n\nAlas, in these days the Moslem Arabs do not wait until blinded by wine,\nto give their daughters in marriage to strangers. I once overheard two\nMoslem young men converging in a shop, one of whom was about to be\nmarried. His companion said to him, \"have you heard anything about the\nlooks of your betrothed?\" \"Not much,\" said he, \"only I am assured that\nshe is _white_.\"\n\nIn a book written by Mirai ibn Yusef el Hanbali, are the names of twenty\nArab women who improvised poetry. Among them are Leila, Leila el\nAkhyaliyeh, Lubna, Zeinab, Afra, Hind, May, Jenub, Hubaish, Zarifeh,\nJemileh, Remleh, Lotifeh, and others. Most of the verses ascribed to\nthem are erotic poetry of an amatory character, full of the most\nextravagant expressions of devotion of which language is capable, and\nyet the greater part of it hardly bearing translation. It reminds one\nstrikingly of Solomon's Song, full of passionate eloquence. And yet in\nthe poetry of El Khunsa and others, which is of an elegiac character,\nthere are passages full of sententious apothegms and proverbial wisdom.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nSTATE OF WOMEN IN THE MOHAMMADAN WORLD.\n\n\nOur knowledge of the position of women among the Mohammedans is derived\nfrom the Koran, Moslem tradition, and Moslem practice.\n\nI. In the first place, the Koran does not teach that women have no\nsouls. Not only was Mohammed too deeply indebted to his rich wife\nKhadijah, to venture such an assertion, but he actually teaches in the\nKoran the immortality and moral responsibility of women. One of his\nwives having complained to him that God often praised the men, but not\nthe women who had fled the country for the faith, he immediately\nproduced the following revelation:\n\n     \"I will not suffer the work of him among you who worketh to be\n     lost, whether he be male or female.\" (Sura iii.)\n\nIn Sura iv. it is said:\n\n     \"Whoso doeth good works, and is a true believer, whether male or\n     female, shall be admitted into Paradise.\"\n\nIn Sura xxxiii:\n\n    \"Truly, the Muslemen and the Muslimate, (fem.)\n    The believing men and the believing women,\n    The devout men and the devout women,\n    The men of truth and the women of truth,\n    The patient men and the patient women,\n    The humble men and the humble women,\n    The charitable men and the charitable women,\n    The fasting men and the fasting women,\n    The chaste men and the chaste women,\n    And the men and women who oft remember God;\n    For them hath God prepared\n    Forgiveness and a rich recompense.\"\n\nII. Thus Mohammedans cannot and do not deny that women have souls, but\ntheir brutal treatment of women has naturally led to this view. The\nCaliph Omar said that \"women are worthless creatures and soil men's\nreputations.\" In Sura iv. it is written:\n\n    \"Men are superior to women, on account of the qualities\n    With which God has gifted the one above the other,\n    And on account of the outlay they make, from their substance for them.\n    Virtuous women are obedient....\n    But chide those for whose refractoriness\n    Ye have cause to fear ... _and scourge them_.\"\n\nThe interpretation of this last injunction being left to the individual\nbeliever, it is carried out with terrible severity. The scourging and\nbeating of wives is one of the worst features of Moslem domestic life.\nIt is a degraded and degrading practice, and having the sanction of the\nKoran, will be indulged in without rebuke as long as Islamism as a\nsystem and a faith prevails in the world. Happily for the poor women,\nthe husbands do not generally beat them so as to imperil their lives, in\ncase their own relatives reside in the vicinity, lest the excruciating\nscreams of the suffering should reach the ears of her parents and bring\nthe husband into disgrace. But where there is no fear of interference or\nof discovery, the blows and kicks are applied in the most merciless and\nbarbarous manner. Women are killed in this way, and no outsider knows\nthe cause. One of my Moslem neighbors once beat one of his wives to\ndeath. I heard her screams day after day, and finally, one night, when\nall was still, I heard a dreadful shriek, and blow after blow falling\nupon her back and head. I could hear the brute cursing her as he beat\nher. The police would not interfere, and I could not enter the house.\nThe next day there was a funeral from that house, and she was carried\noff and buried in the most hasty and unfeeling manner. Sometimes it\nhappens that the woman is strong enough to defend herself, and conquers\na peace; but ordinarily when you hear a scream in the Moslem quarter of\nthe city and ask the reason, it will be said to you with an indifferent\nshrug of the shoulder, \"that is only some man beating his wife.\"\n\nThat thirty-eighth verse of Sura iv. is one of the many proofs that the\nKoran is not the book of God, because it violates the law of love.\n\"Husbands love your wives,\" is a precept of the Gospel and not of the\nKoran. Yet it is a sad fact that the nominal Christians of this dark\nland are not much better in this respect than their Moslem neighbors.\nThe Greeks, Maronites and Papal Greeks beat their wives on the slightest\nprovocation. In the more enlightened towns and cities this custom is\n\"going out of fashion,\" though still often resorted to in fits of\npassion. Sometimes the male relatives of the wife retaliate in case a\nhusband beats her. In the village of Schwire, in Lebanon, a man beat his\nwife in a brutal manner and she fled to the house of her brother. The\nbrother watched his opportunity; waylaid the offending husband, and\navenged his sister's injuries by giving him a severe flogging. In\nEastern Turkey, a missionary in one of the towns noticed that not one\nwoman attended church on Sunday. He expostulated with the Protestants,\nand urged them to persuade their wives to accompany them. The next\nSunday the women were all present, as meek and quiet as could be wished.\nThe missionary was delighted, and asked one of the men how they\npersuaded them to come? He replied, \"We all beat our wives soundly until\nthey consented to come!\" This wife-beating custom has evidently been\nborrowed by the Christian sects from their Moslem rulers and oppressors,\nand nothing but a pure Christianity can induce them to abandon it.\n\nIII. Some have supposed that there will be no place in the Moslem\nParadise for women, as their place will be taken by the seventy-two\nbright-eyed Houris or damsels of Paradise. Mohammed once said that when\nhe took a view of Paradise he saw the majority of its inhabitants to be\nthe poor, and when he looked down into hell, he saw the _greater part_\nof the wretches confined there to be _women_! Yet he positively promised\nhis followers that the very meanest in Paradise will have eighty\nthousand servants, seventy-two wives of the Houris, _besides the wives\nhe had in this world_. The promises of the Houris are almost exclusively\nto be found in Suras, written at a time when Mohammed had only a single\nwife of sixty years of age, and in all the ten years subsequent to the\nHegira, women are only twice mentioned as the reward of the faithful.\nAnd this, while in four Suras, the proper wives of the faithful are\nspoken of as accompanying their husbands into the gardens of bliss.\n\n    \"They and their wives on that day\n    Shall rest in shady groves.\" (Sura 36.)\n\n    \"Enter ye and your wives into Paradise delighted.\" (Sura 43.)\n\n    \"Gardens of Eden into which they shall enter\n    Together with the just of their fathers, and their wives.\" (Sura 13.)\n\nAn old woman once desired Mohammed to intercede with God that she might\nbe admitted to Paradise, and he told her that no old woman would enter\nthat place. She burst into loud weeping, when he explained himself by\nsaying that God would then make her young again.\n\nI was once a fellow-passenger in the Damascus diligence, with a\nMohammedan pilgrim going to Mecca by way of Beirut and Egypt, in company\nwith his wife. I asked him whether his wife would have any place in\nParadise when he received his quota of seventy-two Houris. \"Yes,\" said\nhe, looking towards his wife, whose veil prevented our seeing her,\nalthough she could see us, \"if she obeys me in all respects, and is a\nfaithful wife, and goes to Mecca, she will be made more beautiful than\nall the Houris of Paradise.\" Paradise is thus held up to the women as\nthe reward of obedience to their husbands, and this is about the sum and\nsubstance of what the majority of Moslem women know about religion.\n\nWomen are never admitted to pray with men in public, being obliged to\nperform their devotions at home, or if they visit the Mosques, it must\nbe at a time when the men are not there, for the Moslems are of opinion\nthat the presence of women inspires a different kind of devotion from\nthat which is desirable in a place set apart for the worship of God.\n\nThe Moslem idea of woman is vile and degraded. A Moslem absent from home\nnever addresses a letter to his wife, but to his son or brother, or some\nmale relative. It is considered a grievous insult to ask a Moslem about\nthe health of his wife. If obliged to allude to a woman in conversation,\nyou must use the word \"ajellak Allah,\" \"May God elevate you\" above the\ncontamination of this subject! You would be expected to use the same\nexpression in referring to a donkey, a dog, a shoe, a swine or anything\nvile. It is somewhat like the Irish expression, \"Saving your presence,\nsir,\" when alluding to an unpleasant subject.\n\nA Greek christian (?) in Tripoli came to an American Missionary\nphysician and said, \"there is a woman, 'ajell shanak Allah' here who is\nill. I beg your pardon for mentioning so vile a subject to your\nexcellency.\" Said the doctor, \"and who may it be?\" \"Ajellak, it is my\nwife!\"\n\nI remember once meeting the Mohammedan Mufti of Beirut in Dr. Van Dyck's\nstudy at the printing press. The Mufti's wife, (at least _one_ of them,)\nwas ill, and he wished medical advice, but could not insult the Doctor\nby alluding to a woman in his presence. So he commenced, after\ninnumerable salutations, repeating good-morning, and may your day be\nhappy, until he could decently proceed to business. \"Your excellency\nmust be aware that I have a sick man at my house. May God grant you\nhealth! Indeed, peace to your head. Inshullah, it is only a slight\nattack!\" \"He has pain in his back, headache, and he will not eat.\" \"Has\nhe any fever?\" \"A little.\" \"I will come and see _her_ this afternoon.\"\n\"May God increase your good. Good morning, sir!\"\n\nThe Mohammedan laws with regard to polygamy, inheritance and divorce,\nare a decided advance on the Pagan Arabs of \"the Ignorance.\"\n\nThe Pagan Arabs allowed any number of wives. The Koran allows _only\nfour_ to any believer, the prophet himself having peculiar privileges in\nthis respect. The modern practice of Mohammedans in taking a score or\nmore of wives is directly contrary to the Koran. The Pagan Arabs\nsuffered no woman to have any part of the husband's or father's\ninheritance, on the ground that none should inherit who could not go to\nwar, and the widows were disposed of as a part of their husband's\npossessions. The Koran says, (Sura iv.) \"Women ought to have a part of\nwhat their parents leave.\" A male shall have twice as much as a female.\nBut a man's parents, and also his brothers and sisters are to have equal\nshares, without reference to sex. \"God commandeth you to give the male\nthe portion of two females. If she be an only daughter, she shall have\nthe half. Your wives shall have a fourth part of what ye leave, if ye\nhave no issue.\"\n\nAmong the Pagan Arabs, divorce was a mere matter of caprice. The Koran\nsays, (Sura ii.) \"You may divorce your wives twice (and take them back\nagain). But if the husband divorce her a third time, it is not lawful\nfor him to take her again, until she shall have been actually married to\nanother husband, and then divorced by him.\" I have known cases where the\nhusband in a fit of passion has divorced his wife the third time, and,\nin order to get her back again, has _hired another man_ to marry her and\nthen divorce her. A rich Effendi had divorced his wife the third time,\nand wishing to re-marry her, hired a poor man to marry her for a\nconsideration of seven hundred piastres. He took the wife and the money,\nand the next day refused to give her up for less than five thousand\npiastres, which the Effendi was obliged to pay, as the woman had become\nthe lawful and wedded wife of the poor man.\n\nNo Mohammedan ever walks with his wife in the street, and in Moslem\ncities, very few if any of men of other sects are willing to be seen in\npublic in company with a woman. The women are closely veiled, and if a\nman and his wife have occasion to go anywhere together, he walks in\nadvance and she walks a long distance behind him. Nofel Effendi, one of\nthe most learned and intelligent Protestants in Syria, once gave me the\nexplanation of this aversion to walking in public with women, in a more\nsatisfactory manner than I had ever heard it before. Said he, \"You\nFranks can walk with your wives in public, because their faces are\nunveiled, and it is _known that they are your wives_, but our women are\nso closely veiled that if I should walk with my wife in the street, no\none would know whether I was walking with my own wife or another man's!\nYou cannot expect a respectable man to put himself into such an\nembarrassing position!\" No Moslem woman or girl would dare go into the\nstreet without a veil, for fear of personal chastisement from the\nhusband and father, and the Greek, Maronite and other nominal Christian\nwomen in Syria shrink from exposing their faces, through fear of insult\nfrom the Mohammedans.\n\nWhen European women, either residents or travellers, pass through the\nMoslem quarter of these cities of Syria and Palestine, with faces\nunveiled, they are made the theme of the most outrageous and insulting\ncomments by the Moslem populace. Well is it for the feelings of the most\nof these worthy Christian women, that they do not understand the Arabic\nlanguage. The Turkish governor of Tripoli was obliged to suppress the\ninsulting epithets of the Moslems towards European ladies when they\nfirst began to reside there, by the infliction of the bastinado.\n\nIn 1857, the Rev. Mr. Lyons in Tripoli, hired Sheikh Owad, a Moslem\nbigot, to teach him the Arabic grammar. He was a conceited boor; well\nversed in Arabic grammar, but more ignorant of geography, arithmetic and\ngood breeding than a child. One day Mrs. Lyons passed through the room\nwhere he was teaching Mr. L. and he turned his head away from her and\nspat towards her with a look of unutterable contempt. It was the last\ntime he did it, and he has now become so civilized that he can say good\nmorning to the wife of a missionary, and even consent to teach the\nsacred, pure and undefiled Arabic to a woman! I believe that he has not\nyet given his assent to the fact that the earth revolves on its axis,\nbut he has learned that there are women in the world who know more than\nSheikh Owad.\n\nIn ancient times Moslem women were occasionally taught to read the\nKoran, and among the wealthier and more aristocratic classes, married\nwomen are now sometimes taught to read, but the mass of the Moslem men\nare bitterly opposed to the instruction of women. When a man decides to\nhave his wife taught to read, the usual plan is to hire a blind\nMohammedan Sheikh, who knows the Koran by heart. He sits at one side of\nthe room, and she at the other, some elderly woman, either her mother or\nher mother-in-law, being present. The blind Sheikhs have remarkable\nmemories and sharp ears, and can detect the slightest error in\npronunciation or rendering, so they are employed in the most of the\nMoslem-schools. The mass of the Mohammedans are nervously afraid of\nentrusting the knowledge of reading and writing to their wives and\ndaughters, lest they abuse it by writing clandestine letters to improper\npersons. \"Teach a _girl_ to read and write!\" said a Mohammedan Mufti in\nTripoli to me, \"Why, she will _write letters_, sir,--yes, _actually\nwrite letters_! the thing is not to be thought of for a moment.\" I\nreplied, \"Effendum, you put your foot on the women's necks and then\nblame them for not rising. Educate your girls and train them to\nintelligence and virtue, and then their pens will write only what ought\nto be written. Train the hand to hold a pen, without training the mind\nto direct it, and only mischief can result.\" \"_Saheah, saheah_,\" \"very\ntrue, very true,\" said he, \"But how can this be done?\"\n\nIt has begun to be done in Syria. From the days of Mrs. Sarah L. Smith\nto the present time, Moslem girls have been taught to read and write and\nsew, and there are many now learning in the various American, British\nand Prussian schools. But it will be long before any true idea of the\ndignity of woman enters the debased minds of Arab Mohammedans. The\nsimple fact is that there is no moral purity or elevation among the men,\nand how can it be expected among the women. The Moslem idea of woman is\ninfinitely lower than the old Jewish idea. Woman in the time of Christ\nwas highly honored. Believing women followed Christ throughout Galilee\nand Judea, and although enemies stood watching with hateful gaze on\nevery side, not one word of insinuation was ever lisped against them. It\nis a most sadly impressive fact to one living in Syria at the present\nday, that the liberty and respect allowed to woman in the days of our\nSaviour would now be absolutely impossible. In purely Greek or Maronite\nor Armenian villages, the women enjoy far greater liberty than where\nthere is a Moslem element in the population. And it is worthy of remark\nand grateful recognition, that although Christianity in the East has\nsunk almost to a level, in outward morality, with the Islamic and\nsemi-Pagan sects, there is a striking difference between the lowest\nnominal Christian community and the highest Mohammedan, in the respect\npaid to woman. Ignorant and oppressed as the Greek and Maronite women\nmay be, you feel on entering their houses, that the degrading yoke of\nMoslem brutality is not on their necks. Their husbands may be coarse,\nignorant and brutal, beating their wives and despising their daughters,\nmourning at the birth of a daughter, and marrying her without her\nconsent, and yet there are lower depths of coarseness and brutality, of\ncruelty and bestiality, which are only found among Mohammedans. I once\nsuggested to a Tripoli Moslem, that he send his daughters to our Girls'\nSchool, then taught by Miss Sada Gregory, a native teacher trained in\nthe family of Mrs. Whiting, and he looked at me with an expression of\nmingled pity and contempt, saying, \"Educate a _girl_! You might as well\nattempt to educate _a cat_!\"\n\nNot two months since, I was conversing with several of the aristocratic\nMohammedans of Beirut, who were in attendance at the commencement of the\nBeirut Protestant Medical College. The subject of the education of girls\nwas introduced, and one of them said, \"we are beginning to have our\ngirls instructed in your Protestant schools, and would you believe it, I\nheard one of them read the other day, (probably his own daughter,) and\nshe actually asked a question about the construction of a noun preceded\nby a preposition! I never heard the like of it. The things do\ndistinguish and understand what they read, after all!\" The others\nreplied, \"_Mashallah! Mashallah!_\" \"The will of God be done!\"\n\nSome ten years ago, an influential Moslem Sheikh in Beirut, who was a\npersonal friend of Mr. Araman, the husband of Lulu, brought his daughter\nWahidy (only one) to the Seminary to be instructed, on condition that no\nman should ever see her face. As Mr. Araman himself was one of the\nteachers, and I was accustomed to make constant visits to the school,\nshe was obliged to wear a light veil, which she drew adroitly over her\nface whenever the door was opened. This went on for months and years,\nuntil at length in recitation she would draw the veil aside. Then she\nused to listen to public addresses in the school without her veil, and\nfinally, in June, 1867, she read a composition on the stage at the\nPublic Examination, on, \"The value of education to the women and girls\nof Syria,\" her father, Sheikh Said el Ghur, being present, with a number\nof his Moslem friends.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nTHE DRUZE RELIGION AND DRUZE WOMEN.\n\n\nThe great expounder and defender of the Druze religion is Hamze, the\n\"Universal Intelligence,\" the only Mediator between God and man, and the\nmedium of the creation of all things. This Hamze was a shrewd, able and\nunprincipled man. In his writings he not only defends the abominations\nof Hakem, but lays down the complete code of Druze doctrine and duty.\n\nIt is the belief of many, and said to be the orthodox view among the\nDruzes that their system as such is to last exactly 900 lunar years. The\ndate of the Druze era is 408 Hegira, or 1020 A.D. The present year,\n1872, corresponds to the year 1289 Anno Hegira, so that _in nineteen\nlunar years_ the system will begin to come to an end according to its\nown reckoning, and after 1000 years it will cease to exist. Others have\nfixed this present year as the year of the great cataclysm, but the\ninterpreters are so secret and reserved in their statements, that it is\nonly by casual remarks that we can arrive at any idea of their real\nbelief. Lying to infidels is such a meritorious act, that you cannot\ndepend on one word they say of themselves or their doctrines. Their\nsecret books, which were found in the civil wars of 1841 and 1845, have\nbeen translated and published by De Sacy, and we have a number of them\nin the original Arabic manuscripts in the Mission Library in Beirut.\nFrom a chapter in one of these, entitled \"Methak en Nissa,\" or the\n\"Engagements of Women,\" I have translated the following passages, to\nshow the religious position of women, as bearing upon my object in\ndescribing the condition of Syrian females.\n\n\"Believers are both male and female. By instruction women pass from\nignorance to knowledge, and become angels like the Five Ministers who\nbear the Throne: _i.e._, the Doctrine of the Unity. All male and female\nbelievers ought to be free from all impurity and disgrace and dishonor.\nBelieving women should shun lying (to the brethren) and infidelity and\nconcupiscence, and the appearance of evil, and show the excellency of\ntheir work above all Trinitarian women, avoiding all suspicion and taint\nwhich might bring ill upon their brethren, and avoiding giving attention\nto what is contrary to the Divine Unity.\n\n\"We have written this epistle to be read to all believing women who hold\nto the Unity of Hakem, who knows His Eternity and obey their husbands.\nBut let no Dai or Mazun read it to a woman until he is well assured of\nher faith and her religion, and she shall have made a written profession\nof her faith. He shall not read it to one woman alone, nor in a house\nwhere there is but one woman, even though he be worthy of all\nconfidence, lest suspicion be awakened and the tongue of slander be\nloosed. Let there be assembled together at least three women, and let\nthem sit behind a curtain or screen, so as not to be seen. Each woman\nmust be accompanied by her husband, or her father, or brother or son, if\nhe be a Unitarian. The Dai in reading must keep his eyes fixed on his\nbook, neither turning towards the place where the women are, nor casting\na glance towards it, nor listening to them. The woman, moreover, must\nnot speak a word during the reading, and whether she is affected by a\ntransport of joy, or moved by an impression of respect and fear, she\nmust carefully abstain from showing her feelings either by smiles or\ntears. For the smiles, the tears, and the words of a woman may excite\nman's passions. Let her give her whole attention to the reading, receive\nit in her heart, and apply all the faculties of her mind to understand\nits meaning, in order clearly to conceive the true signification of what\nshe is listening to. If she finds any passage obscure, let her ask the\nDai, (the preacher,) and he shall answer, if he can, and if not, promise\nto ask those who are more learned, and when he has obtained the solution\nhe must inform her, if she be deemed worthy.\n\n\"The highest duty of Unitarian women is to know our Moulah Hakem and the\nKaim Hamze. If they follow Him, let them know that He has released them\nentirely from the observance of the Seven Arbitrary Pillars of the Law\n(of Islam) which are (1) Prayer, (2) Fasting, (3) Pilgrimage, (4)\nAsserting, There is no God but God and Mohammed is the Prophet of God,\n(5) Giving tithes, (6) War on infidels, (7) Submission to authority. But\non the other hand, all believing women must perform the Seven Religious\nDuties: The First and greatest is Truth in your words: (_i.e._ to the\nbrethren and sisters); the Second is, To watch reciprocally over the\nsafety of the brethren; the Third is, to renounce wholly and entirely\nwhatever religion you may have previously professed; the Fourth is, To\nkeep yourselves apart, clear and distinct from all who are in error; the\nFifth is, To recognize the existence of the Unity of our Lord in all\nages, times and epochs; the Sixth is, To be satisfied with His will and\nHis works, whatever they may be; The Seventh is, To abandon and resign\nyourselves to all His orders whether in prosperity or adversity. You\nmust keep these Seven Commandments, and keep them strictly secret from\nall who are of a different religion. If the Druze women do all this and\nfulfil their duties, they are indeed among the good, and shall have\ntheir reward among the 159 Angels of the Presence and among the Prophets\nwho were Apostles, and be saved from the snare of the accursed Iblis\n(Diabolus). Praise then to our Lord Hakim, the praise of the thankful!\nHe is my hope and victory!\"\n\nWhat can you expect of the women, if the teachers are thus warped with\nhypocrisy and falsehood. They receive you politely. Dr. De Forest used\nto say, that there is not a boor in the Druze nation. But their very\npoliteness confounds you. The old Druze women are masters of a pious\nreligious phraseology. \"We are all sinners.\" \"The Lord's will be done.\"\n\"Praise to His name.\" \"He only can command.\" \"The Lord be merciful to\nus.\" \"He orders all things,\" and yet they will lie and deceive, and if\nnot of the initiated class, they will swear in the most fearful manner.\nThe Okkal cannot swear, smoke or drink, but they tell a story of a\nvillage where the people were all Okkal, and things having reached a\nhigh pitch of excitement, they sent for a body of Jehal or the\nnon-initiated to come over and swear on the subject, that their pure\nminds might be relieved! When they talk in the most affectingly pious\nmanner, and really surpass you in religious sentiment, you hardly know\nwhat to do. Tell them God knows the heart. They reply, \"He alone is the\nAll-knowing, the Searcher of the hearts of men.\" You shrink from telling\nthem in plain language that they are hypocrites and liars. You _can_\ntell them of the _personal love_ of a personal Saviour, and this simple\nstory will affect and has affected the minds of some of them more than\nall logic and eloquent refutation of their foggy and mysterious\ndoctrinal system.\n\nThey respect us and treat us politely for political reasons. During the\nmassacres of 1860, I rode from Abeih to Beirut in the midst of burning\nvillages, and armed bodies of Druzes passed us shouting the war song \"Ma\nhala ya ma hala kotal en Nosara,\" \"How sweet, oh how sweet, to kill the\nChristians,\" and yet as they passed us they stopped and most politely\npaid their salams, saying, \"Naharkum Saieed,\" \"May your day be blessed,\"\n\"Allah yahtikum el afiyeh,\" \"God give you health!\"\n\nWhen a Druze Sheikh wishes to marry, he asks consent of the father\nwithout having seen the daughter. If the father consents, he informs\nher, and if she consents, the suitor sends his affianced presents of\nclothes and jewelry, which remain in her hands as a pledge of his\nfidelity. She is pictured to him as the paragon of beauty and\nexcellence, but he is never allowed to see her, speak to her, or write\nto her, should she know how to write. His mother or aunt may see her or\nbring reports, but he does not see her until the wedding contract is\nsigned and the bride is brought to his house.\n\nThe following is the marriage ceremony of the Druzes. It is read by the\nKadi or Sheikh, and in accordance to the Druze doctrine that they must\noutwardly conform to the religion of the governing power, it is a purely\nMohammedan ordinance.\n\n\"Praise to God, the original Creator of all things; the Gracious in all\nHis gifts and prohibitions; who has decreed and fixed the ordinance of\nmarriage; may Allah pray for (bless) our Prophet Mohammed, and his four\nsuccessors! Now after this, we say that marriage is one of the laws\ngiven by the prophets, and one of the statutes of the pious to guard\nagainst vice; a gift from the Lord of the earth and the heaven. Praise\nto Him who by it has brought the far ones near, and made the foreigner a\nrelative and friend! We are assembled here to attend to a matter\ndecreed and fated of Allah, and whose beginning, middle and end he has\nconnected with the most happy and auspicious circumstances. This matter\nis the blessed covenant of marriage. Inshullah, may it be completed and\nperfected, and praise to Allah, the Great Completer! Amen!\n\n\"In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. He is my portion\nand sufficiency. May Allah pray for his pure prophet!\"\n\nThis is the marriage contract between the person named A. son of ---- of\nthe village of ---- in the district of ---- in Lebanon, and his\nbetrothed named B. the daughter of ---- of the village of ---- she being\na maiden of full and marriageable age, with no legal obstacles to her\nmarriage. (May Allah protect her veil, and have mercy on her relatives\nand friends!)\n\nIn view of the mercies of Allah and his prophet Mohammed, they pay fifty\npiastres ($2.00) of full and lawful number, weight and measure, of the\nImperial mint of our Moulah the Sultan, (may the exalted and merciful\nOne give him the victory!) and of new white silver. The agent of the\nhusband is ---- and of the wife is ----.\n\nIt is the absolute and bounden duty of the husband to provide clothing\nfor the body of his wife and a crown for her head, and of the wife to\ngive him his due honor and rights and do his work, and Allah will be\nwith those who fear Him, and not suffer those who do well to lose their\nreward.\n\n                                        Signed Sheikh ---- (seal)\n                     --                          seal\n         Witnesses   --                          seal\n                     --                          seal\n\nA whole week is given up to festivity before her arrival, and the\nretinue of the bride mounted on fine horses escort her amid the firing\nof musketry, the _zilagheet_ shrieks of the women, and general\nrejoicing, to the bridegroom's house. Col. Churchill describes what\nfollows: \"The bride meantime, after having received the caresses and\ncongratulations of her near relatives, is conducted to a chamber apart\nand placed on a divan, with a large tray of sweetmeats and confectionery\nbefore her, after which all the females withdraw and she is left alone,\nwith a massive veil of muslin and gold thrown over her head and covering\nher face, breasts and shoulders down to the waist. What thoughts and\nsensations must crowd upon the maiden's mind in this solitude! not to be\ndisturbed but by him who will shortly come to receive in that room his\nfirst impressions of her charms and attractions! Presently she hears\nfootsteps at the door; it opens quietly; silently and unattended her\nlover approaches her, lifts the veil off her face, takes one glance,\nreplaces it and withdraws.\"\n\nHe then returns to the grand reception-room, takes his seat at the head\nof the divan amid the throng of Sheikhs and other invited guests. He\nmaintains an imperturbable silence, his mind being supposed to be\nabsorbed by one engrossing object. It may be delight. It may be bitter\ndisappointment. It is generally past midnight when the party breaks up\nand the family retires.\n\nA plurality of wives is absolutely forbidden. If a Druze wishes to\ndivorce his wife, he has merely to say, \"You had better go back to your\nfather,\" or she, the woman, wishes to leave her husband, she says, \"I\nwish to go back to my father,\" and if her husband says, \"Very well, go,\"\nthe divorce in either case holds good, and the separation is\nirrevocable. Both parties are free to re-marry. Childlessness is a\ncommon cause of divorce.\n\nThe birth of a son is the occasion of great rejoicing and presents to\nthe family. But the birth of a daughter is considered a misfortune, and\nof course not the slightest notice is taken of so inauspicious an event.\nThis holds true among all the sects and peoples of Syria, and nothing\nbut a Christian training and the inculcation of the pure principles of\ngospel morality can remove this deeply seated prejudice. The people say\nthe reason of their dislike of daughters is that while a son builds up\nthe house, and brings in a wife from without and _perpetuates the family\nname_, the daughter pulls down the house, loses her name, and is lost to\nthe family.\n\nThe wealthier and more aristocratic Druze sitts or ladies are taught to\nread by the Fakih or teacher, but the masses of the women are in brutish\nignorance. You enter a Druze house. The woman waits upon you and brings\ncoffee, but you see only _one eye_, the rest of the head and face being\nclosely veiled. In an aristocratic house, you would never be allowed to\nsee the lady, and if she goes abroad, it is only at night, and with\nattendants on every side to keep off the profane gaze of strangers. If a\nphysician is called to attend a sick Druze woman, he cannot see her\nface nor her tongue, unless she choose to thrust it through a hole in\nher veil. In many cases they suffer a woman to die sooner than have her\nface seen by a physician.\n\nThe Druzes marry but one wife at a time, and yet divorce is so common\nand so heartlessly practiced by the men, that the poor women live in\nconstant fear of being driven from their homes.\n\nIn Abeih, we were startled one evening by the cry \"Rouse ye men of self\nrespect! Come and help us!\" It was a dark, rainy night, and the earthen\nroof of a Druze house had fallen in, burying a young man, his wife and\nhis mother, under the mass of earth, stones and timber. They all escaped\ndeath, but were seriously injured, the poor young wife suffering the\nmost of all, having fallen with her left arm in a bed of burning coals,\nand having been compelled to lie there half an hour, so that when dug\nout, her hand was burned to a cinder! For several days the husband\nrefused to send for a doctor, but at length his wife Hala was sent to\nthe College Hospital (of the Prussian Knights of St. John) in Beirut\nwhere Dr. Post amputated the hand below the elbow.\n\nOne would naturally suppose that such a calamity, in which both so\nnarrowly escaped death, would bind husband and wife together in the\nstrongest bonds of affection and sympathy. But not so in this case. The\npoor young wife is now threatened with divorce, because she is no longer\nof any use to her husband, and her two little children are to be taken\nfrom her! She lies on her bed in the Hospital, the very picture of\nstoical resignation. Not a groan or complaint escapes her.\n\nShe said one day, \"Oh how glad I am that this happened, for it has taken\naway all my sins, and I shall never have to suffer again in this world\nor the next!\" This is the doctrine of the Druzes, and, cold and false as\nit is, she has made it her support and her stay.\n\nDr. Post and Mrs. Bliss have pointed her to the Lamb of God \"who bore\nour sins in His own body on the tree,\" and she seems interested to hear\nand learn more.\n\nHer younger sister is in the Beirut Seminary. May this poor sufferer\nfind peace where alone it can be found, in trusting in the Lord Jesus\nChrist, whose blood cleanseth from all sin!\n\nThe cruelty of her husband, sanctioned as it is by the religious code of\nthe Druzes, may be the means of opening her eyes to the falsity of that\nheartless Christless system, and lead her to the foot of the Cross!\n\nChristians, who read these lines, pray for Hala of Abeih!\n\n\nSITT ABLA.\n\nMore than twenty years ago in the little Druze village of Aitath, in\nLebanon, about seven miles from Beirut, lived a family of Druze Sheikhs\nof the tribe of Telhuk. This tribe was divided into the great Sheikhs\nand the little Sheikhs, and among the latter was the Sheikh Khottar. The\nproximity of this village to Beirut, its elevated position, cool air,\nand fine fountain of water, made it a favorite summer retreat for the\nmissionaries from the withering heats of the plain. Sheikh Khottar and\nhis wife the Sitt, having both died, their orphan son Selim and daughter\nAbla, called the Sitt (or lady) Abla, were placed under the care of\nother members of the family of Telhuk. The missionaries opened a school\nfor boys and Selim attended it. Dr. and Mrs. Van Dyck were living in\nAitath at the time, and the young Druze maiden Abla, who was betrothed\nto a Druze Sheikh, became greatly attached to Mrs. Van Dyck, and came\nalmost constantly to visit her. The light of a better faith and the\ntruth of a pure gospel gradually dawned upon her mind, until her love\nfor Mrs. Van Dyck grew into love for the Saviour of sinners. The Sheikh\nto whom she was betrothed was greatly enraged at her course in visiting\na Christian lady, and meeting her one day when returning to her home,\nattacked her in the most brutal manner, and gave her a severe beating.\nShe fled and took refuge in the house of Mrs. Van Dyck, who had taught\nher to read and given her a Bible. A short time after, several of her\ncousins seized her and scourged her most cruelly, and a violent\npersecution was excited against her and her brother Selim. She was in\ndaily and hourly expectation of being killed by her male relatives, as\nit had never been heard of in the Druze nation that a young girl should\ndare to become a Christian, and Mr. Whiting, missionary in Abeih, sent\nover a courageous Protestant youth named Saleh, who took the Sitt Abla\nby night over the rough mountain road to Abeih in safety. But even here\nshe was not safe. The Druzes of Lebanon at that time were at the height\nof their feudal power. Girls and women were killed among them without\nthe least notice on the part of the mountain government. Abla was like a\nprisoner in the missionary's house, not venturing to go outside the\ndoor, and in order to be at peace, she went down with her brother to\nBeirut, where she has since resided. Selim united with the Church, but\nwas afterwards suspended from communion for improper conduct, and joined\nhimself to the Jesuits, so that Abla has had to endure a two-fold\npersecution from her Druze relatives and her Jesuit brother. On her\nremoval to Beirut she was disinherited and deprived of her little\nportion of her father's estate, and her life has been a constant\nstruggle with persecution, poverty and want. Yet amid all, she has stood\nfirm as a rock, never swerving from the truth, or showing any\ndisposition to go back to her old friends. At times she has suffered\nfrom extreme privation, and the missionaries and native Protestants\nwould only hear of it through others who happened to meet her. Since\nuniting with the Church in 1849 she has lived a Christian life. In a\nrecent conversation she said, \"I count all things but loss for the\nexcellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, _for whom I have\nsuffered the loss of all things_ ... and I still continue, by the grace\nof Him Exalted, and by the merits of Jesus Christ my Saviour, awaiting\na happy death, and everlasting rest.\"\n\n\nKHOZMA.\n\nHer Christian experience is like that of Khozma Ata. She is the only\nfemale member of the Protestant church in Syria from among the Druzes,\nexcept Sitt Abla. She was born, in Beirut of the Druze family of Witwat,\nand when quite a child was taken by Dr. Beadle, then by Miss Tilden,\nliving at one time in Aleppo, then in Jerusalem, and finally settled in\nthe family of Dr. De Forest, where she continued until his departure for\nAmerica in 1854. For several years she has been an invalid, and is not\noften able to leave her house, even to go to church. Two of her little\ngirls are in the Female Seminary. In 1861 she taught a day school for\ngirls in Beirut, and assisted Dr. De Forest in his work in the Beirut\nSeminary. I called upon her a few days since, and she handed me a roll\nof Arabic manuscript, which she said she had been translating from the\nEnglish. It is a series of stories for children which she has prepared\nto be printed in our monthly journal for Syrian children. The name of\nthe journal is \"koukab es Subah,\" or \"Morning Star.\" She has been\nconfined to her bed a part of the summer, and when she gave me the\nmanuscript, she apologized for the handwriting, on the ground that she\nhad written the most of it sitting or lying on her bed. She has not\nforgotten the example and instructions of Dr. and Mrs. De Forest, and\nspeaks of them with enthusiastic interest. Her husband failed in\nbusiness some years ago, and she is in a constant struggle with want,\nbut her old friends and loving sisters, Raheel and Lulu, who are among\nher nearest neighbors, are unremitting in their kind attentions to her.\n\nWhat a difference between the faithful Christian nurture her little\nchildren are receiving at home, and the worse than no training received\nby the children of her Druze relatives at Ras Beirut, who are still\nunder the shadow of their old superstitions. She never curses her\nchildren nor invokes the wrath of God upon them. She is never beaten and\nspit upon and tortured and threatened with death by her husband. It is\nworth much to have rescued a Khozma and an Abla from the degradation of\nDruze superstition! These two good women, with Abdullah in Beirut, and\nHassan, Hassein, Asaad and Ali, in Lebanon, are among the living\nwitnesses to the preciousness of the love of Christ, who have come forth\nfrom the Druze community. They have been persecuted, and may be again,\nbut they stand firm in Christ. Not a few Druze girls are gathered in our\nschools in Beirut, Lebanon, and the vicinity of Hermon, as well as in\nother schools in Damascus, Hasbeiya and elsewhere, and some of their\nyoung men are receiving a Christian education.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nNUSAIRIYEH.\n\n\nTo the North of Mount Lebanon, and along the low range of mountains\nextending from Antioch to Tripoli, and from the Mediterranean on the\nWest to Hums on the East, live a strange, wild, blood-thirsty race\ncalled the Nusairiyeh numbering about 200,000 souls, and now for the\nfirst time in their history coming within the range of Missionary\neffort.\n\nThe Druzes admit women to the Akkal or initiated class, but not so the\nNusairiyeh. The great secret of the Sacrament is administered in a\nsecluded place, the women being shut up in a house, or kept away from\nthe mysteries. In these assemblies the Sheikh reads prayers, and then\nall join in cursing Abubekr, Omar, Othman, Sheikh et-Turkoman and the\nChristians and others. Then he gives a spoonful of wine, first to the\nSheikhs present, and then to all the rest. They then eat fruit, offer\nother prayers, and the assembly breaks up. The rites of initiation are\nfrightful in the extreme, attended by threats, imprecations and\nblasphemous oaths, declaring their lives forfeited if they expose the\nsecrets of the order.\n\nThey use given signs and questions, by which they salute each other, and\nascertain whether a stranger is one of them or not. In their books they\nemploy the double interlacing triangle or seal of Solomon. They call\neach other brethren, and enjoin love and truthfulness, but _only to the\nbrethren_. In this they are like the Druzes. So little do they regard\nall outside their own sect, that they _pray to God to take out of the\nhearts of all others than themselves, what little light of knowledge and\ncertainty they may possess_! The effect of this secret, exclusive, and\nselfish system is shown in the conduct of the Nusairiyeh in robbing and\nmurdering Moslems and Christians without compunction.\n\nAs it has been said, the Nusairiyeh women are entirely excluded from all\nparticipation in religious ceremonies and prayers, and from all\nreligious teaching. The reason given, is two-fold; the first being that\nwomen cannot be trusted to keep a secret, and the second because they\nare considered by the Nusairiyeh as something unclean. They believe that\nthe soul of a wicked man may pass at death into a brute, or he may be\npunished for his sins in this life by being born in a woman's form in\nthe next generation. And so, if a woman live in virtue and obedience,\nthere is hope of her again being born into the world _as a man_, and\nbecoming one of the illuminati and possessors of the secret. It is a\nlong time for the poor things to wait, but it is a convenient reward for\ntheir husbands to hold out before them.\n\nYet the women are so religiously inclined by nature that they will have\nsome object of worship, and while their husbands, fathers and sons are\ntalking and praying about the celestial hierarchies, and the\nunfathomable mysteries, the wives, mothers and daughters will throng the\n\"zeyarehs,\" or holy visiting shrines, on the hill tops, and among the\ngroves of green trees, to propitiate the favor of the reputed saints of\nancient days. These shrines are supposed to have miraculous powers, but\nFriday is the day when the prophets are more especially \"at home,\" to\nreceive visitors. On other days they may be \"on a journey,\" or asleep.\nWhenever a Nuisairiyeh woman is in sorrow or trouble or fear, she goes\nto the zeyareh and cries in a piteous tone, \"zeyareh, hear me!\"\n\nTheir women do not veil themselves, and consequently there is more of\nfreedom among them than among Moslems and Druzes, and in their great\nfestivals, men and women all dance together.\n\nWhen a young man sees a girl who pleases him, he bargains with her\nfather, agreeing to pay from twenty dollars to two hundred, according to\nthe dignity of her family; of which sum she receives but four dollars,\nunless her father should choose to give her a red bridal box and bedding\nfor her outfit. She rides in great state to the bridegroom's house amid\nthe firing of guns and shouts of the women, and on dismounting, the\nbridegroom gives her a present of from one to three dollars, called the\n\"dismounting money.\"\n\nDivorce needs only the will of the man, and polygamy is common. Lane\nsays in speaking of Egypt, \"The depraving effects of this freedom of\ndivorce upon both sexes, may be easily imagined. There are many men in\nthis country who, in the course of ten years, have married as many as\ntwenty, thirty or more wives; and women, not far advanced in age, who\nhave been wives to a dozen or more men successively.\"\n\nThe Nusairiyeh women smoke, swear, and use the most vile and unclean\nlanguage, and even go beyond the men in these respects. Swearing and\nlying are universal not only among the Nusairiyeh, but among the most of\nthe Syrian people. You never receive a direct reply from a Nusairy. He\nwill answer your question by asking another, in order, if possible, to\nascertain your object in asking it and to conceal the true state of the\ncase. Their Moslem and nominal Christian neighbors are not much better.\nThey all lie, and swear, and deceive. Mr. Lyde illustrates the ignorance\nof the Greek clergy in Latakiah by the following incident. A ploughman\nwho had learned something of the Bible, heard a Greek priest cursing the\nfather of a little child. He said, \"My father, is it right to curse?\"\n\"Oh,\" said he, \"it was only from my lips.\" \"But does not the psalmist\nsay, Keep the door of my lips?\" \"That,\" replied the priest, \"is only in\nthe English Bible.\"\n\nWalpole says of the Nusairiyeh women, \"when young, they are handsome,\noften fair, with light hair and jet-black eyes; or the rarer beauty of\nfair eyes and coal-black hair or eyebrows.\"\n\nWhen a fight takes place between the tribes, the women, like the women\nof the Druzes, enter into the spirit of it with demoniacal fury. During\nthe battle they bring jars of water, shout, sing, and encourage the\nmen, and at the close carry off the booty, such as pots, pans, chickens,\nquilts, wooden doors, trays, etc. In the Druze war of 1860, I saw the\nDruze women running with the men through Aitath, on their way to the\nscene of hostilities in the Metn. The Bedawin women likewise aid their\nhusbands in the commissariat of their nomad warfare.\n\nThe Rev. Mr. Lyde was the first to undertake direct missionary labors\namong the Nusairiyeh, and his work has been carried on by the Reformed\nPresbyterian Mission in Latakiah. The Rev. J. Beattie sends me the\nfollowing facts with regard to the work now going on among the women and\ngirls.\n\nThe first convert under the labors of Mr. Lyde was Hammud, of the\nvillage of Merj, a young man of fine mind and most lovely character, who\ngave promise of great usefulness. After he became a Christian, his\nmother, finding that no Nusairy girl would marry a Christian, determined\nto secure a young girl and have her educated for Hammud. So she paid\nfour Turkish pounds for a little Nusairy girl named Zahara or Venus,\nwhose widowed mother had removed to her village. This payment was in\naccordance with Nusairy customs, and constituted the girl's dowry. After\nthe betrothal in 1863, Hammud sent her to Latakiah, where she was taken\ninto the family of the late Dr. Dodds for instruction and training. She\ngladly received the truth, and Hammud labored earnestly for her\nenlightenment. Everything seemed bright and promising, until suddenly\nall their earthly hopes were dashed by the early death of Hammud in\nDecember, 1864. He died in the triumphs of the Christian faith, and from\nthat time she gave herself to the Lord. In August, 1865, she with\nseveral others was baptized and received into the communion of the\nChurch. At her own request, she was baptized as Miriam.\n\nIn 1866 she was married to Yusef Jedid, and lived with him in several of\nthe villages among the Nusairiyeh, where he was engaged in teaching. Her\nhusband at length removed to Bahluliyeh in 1870, and a wide door of\nusefulness was opened to them. Her little daughters Lulu and Helany were\nwith her, and there was every prospect that she would be able to do much\nfor Christ among her benighted sisters. But the same disease,\nconsumption, which prostrated Hammud, now laid her aside. It was\nprobably brought on by a careless exposure of her health while lying\ndown on the damp ground and falling asleep uncovered, as the natives of\nthe mountain villages are in the habit of doing. The missionaries from\nLatakiah constantly visited her, and Dr. Metheny gave her the benefit of\nhis medical skill, but all in vain. She loved to converse on heavenly\nthings, and hear the Scriptures and prayer. But when the missionaries\nreturned to the city, she was overwhelmed by the rebukes and merciless\nupbraidings of the fellaheen, who have no sympathy for the sick, the\ndisabled and the dying. Her ears were filled with the sound of cursing\nand bitterness, and no wonder that she entreated the missionaries not\nto leave her. She told Mr. Beattie that she did not fear to die, for her\ntrust was in Jesus Christ, but it was hard to be left among such coarse\nand unsympathizing people. At length she was brought into Latakiah,\nwhere she seemed to feel more at home. At times she passed through\nsevere spiritual conflicts, and said she was struggling with the\nadversary, who had tried to make her blaspheme. At one time she was in\ngreat excitement, but when the 34th Psalm was read she became entirely\ncomposed and calm, and in turn, began chanting the 23rd Psalm to the\nend. She sent for all of her friends and begged their forgiveness,\ncommended her children to the care of Miss Crawford, and asked Mr.\nBeattie to pray with her again. Her bodily sufferings now increased,\nwhen suddenly she called out, \"The Lord be glorified! To God give the\nglory!\" Soon after, she gently fell \"asleep in Jesus.\" Thus died the\nfirst woman, as far as we know, ever truly converted from among the\nPagan Nusairiyeh. Her conversion opened the way for that work of moral,\nreligious and intellectual elevation among the Nusairy females which has\nsince been carried on in Latakiah and vicinity.\n\nThe first Christian woman to undertake the direct task of educating and\nelevating the Nusairiyeh females was Miss Crawford. She commenced her\nwork in 1869. The Mission had found that the Boarding School for boys\nwas training a class of young men, who could not find, among the tens of\nthousands of families in their native mountains, a single girl fitted\nto be one's companion for life. The females were everywhere neglected,\nand Miss Crawford came to Syria just at the time of the greatest need.\nUnder the care and direction of the Mission, she commenced a Boarding\nSchool for girls in Latakiah in the fall of 1869. At first, but few\npupils could be persuaded to come. Only two attended during the first\nyear. Their names were Sada and Naiuf, the sister of Zahara. The next\nyear Sada left, and ten new ones entered the school: Marie, Howa,\nNaiseh, Shehla, Thaljeh, (snow,) Tumra, (fruit,) Ghazella, Husna,\nBureib'han, and Harba. They were all from twelve to fourteen in age, and\nremained through the winter, but at the beginning of wheat harvest,\ntheir friends forced them to return to their homes for the summer. They\nmade marked progress both in study and deportment, and before leaving\nfor their homes passed a creditable examination both in their studies\nand in needlework. The fact was thus established to the astonishment of\nthe citizens of Latakiah, that the Nusairiyeh girls were equal in\nintellect and skill in needlework to the brightest of the city girls. In\nthe autumn of 1871 it was feared that the Pagan parents of the girls\nwould prevent their return to the school, but, greatly to the\ngratification of the missionaries, all of the ten returned, bringing\nwith them nine others; Hamameh, (dove,) Henireh, Elmaza, (diamond,)\nDeebeh,(she-wolf,) Alexandra, Zeinab, Lulu, (pearl,) Howwa, (Eve,) and\nNaameh, (grace).\n\nDuring the year the pupils brought new joy to the hearts of their\nteachers. Not only were their numbers greatly increased, but the older\ngirls seemed all to be under the influence of deep religious impressions\non their return to the school. Although they had spent the summer among\nthe wild fellaheen and been compelled to listen to blasphemy, impurity\nand cursing on every side, they had been able by the aid of God's Spirit\nto discriminate between good and evil, and to contrast the lawless\nwickedness of the fellaheen with the holy precepts of the Bible. Finding\nthemselves unable to meet the requirements of God's pure and holy law,\nthey returned under serious distress of mind, asking what they should do\nto be saved? Such of them as could do so, had been in the habit of\nmeeting together during the summer for prayer, and of repeating the ten\ncommandments and other portions of Scripture with which they were\nfamiliar. They had been threatened and beaten by their friends on\naccount of their religious views, but they remained unmoved. The\nchild-like simple faith of some of them was remarkable. Marie was\npunished on one occasion by her father for attending the missionary\nservice at B'hamra on the Sabbath. He forbade her to eat for a whole\nday, and she prayed that God would give her bread. Soon after, on her\nway to the village fountain, she found part of a merkuk, loaf of bread,\nby the wayside, which she picked up and ate most gratefully, regarding\nit as a direct answer to her prayer. Another Ghuzaleh, was brutally\nbeaten because she would not swear and blaspheme, and all were\nthreatened and insulted because they would not work on Sunday.\n\nIn November, 1871, seven of these girls, on their own application, were\nreceived into the membership of the Church. It was an interesting sight\nto see that group of Nusairiyeh heathen girls standing to receive the\nordinance of Christian baptism. In the spring of 1872, another was added\nto the list. These little ones of Christ have all thus far shown\nthemselves faithful. They were sent back to their homes in the summer,\nand several, if not the most, of them may be forbidden to return again\nto the school. Some may say, why allow them to go home? The policy of\nencouraging children to run away from their parents and connect\nthemselves with foreign missionaries and missionary institutions, will\nlead the heathen to hate the very name of Christianity, and to charge it\nwith being a foe to all social and family order, and on the broad ground\nof missionary usefulness, the girls can do far more good in their own\nhomes than elsewhere.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nCHRONICLE OF WOMEN'S WORK FROM 1820 TO 1872.\n\n\nIt must not be inferred from what has been said on a preceding page with\nregard to the favorable position occupied by the women of the nominal\nChristian sects of Syria as compared with the Mohammedan women, that the\nfirst missionaries found the Greek and Maronite women and girls who\nspeak the Arabic language eager or even willing to receive instruction.\nFar from it. The effects of the Mohammedan domination of twelve hundred\nyears have been to degrade and depress all the sects and nationalities\nwho are subject to Islam. Not only were there not women and girls found\nto learn to read, but the great mass of the men of the Christian sects\ncould neither read nor write. Many of the prominent Arab merchants in\nBeirut to-day can neither read nor write. I say Arab merchants, and yet\nvery few of the Arabs of the Greek Church have more than a mere tinge of\nArab blood in their veins. To call them Syrians, would be to confound\nthem with the \"Syrian\" or \"Jacobite\" sect, who are found only in the\nvicinity of Hums, Hamath and Mardin. So with the Maronites. They are\nchiefly of a darker complexion than the Arab Greeks, and are supposed to\nhave had their origin in Mesopotamia. Yet all these sects and races\nspeak the common Arabic language, and hence it will be convenient to\ncall them Arabs, although I am aware, that while many of the modern\nSyrians glory in the name \"Oulad el Arab,\" many others regard it with\ndislike.\n\nThe Syrian Christianity, moreover, so often alluded to in the history of\nthe Syrian Mission, is the lowest type of the religion of the Greek and\nRoman churches. Saint-worship and picture-worship are universal. An\nignorant priesthood, and a superstitious people, no Bibles, and no\nreaders to read them, no schools and no teachers capable of conducting\nthem, prayers in unknown tongues, and a bitter feeling of party spirit\nin all the sects, universal belief in the efficacy of fasts and vows,\npilgrimages and offerings to the shrines of reputed saints, churches\nwithout a preached gospel, and prayers performed as a duty without the\nworship of the heart, universal Mariolatry, a Sabbath desecrated by\npriests and people alike, God's name everywhere profaned by men, women\nand children, and truthfulness of lip almost absolutely unknown; the\nwomen and girls degraded and oppressed and left to the tender mercies of\na corrupt clergy through the infamies of the confessional; all these\npractices and many others which space forbids us to mention, combined\nwith the social bondage entailed upon woman by the gross code of Islam,\nrendered the women of the nominal Christian sects of Syria almost as\nhopeless subjects of missionary labor as were their less favored Druze\nand Moslem sisters.\n\nIn order to present the leading facts in the history of Mission Work for\nSyrian women, I propose to give a brief review of the salient points, in\nthe order of time, as I have been able to glean them from the missionary\ndocuments within my reach.\n\nThe first Protestant missionary to Syria since the days of the Apostles,\nwas the Rev. Levi Parsons, who reached Jerusalem January 16, 1821, and\ndied in Alexandria February 10, 1822. In 1823, Rev. Pliny Fisk, and Dr.\nJonas King reached Jerusalem to take his place, and on the 10th of July\ncame to Beirut. Dr. King spent the summer in Deir el Kamr, and Mr. Fisk\nin a building now occupied by the Jesuit College in Aintura.\n\nOn the 16th of November, 1823, Messrs. Goodell and Bird reached Beirut,\nand on the 6th of December, 1824, they wrote as follows: \"Mr. King's\nArabic instructor laughs heartily that the ladies of our company are\nserved first at table. He said that if any person should come to his\nhouse and speak to his wife _first_, he should be offended. He said the\nEnglish ladies have some understanding, the Arab women have none. It is\nthe custom of this country that a woman must never be seen eating or\nwalking, or in company with her husband. When she walks abroad, she must\nwrap herself in a large white sheet, and look like a ghost, and at home\nshe must be treated more like a slave than a partner. Indeed, women are\nconsidered of so little consequence that to ask a man after the health\nof his wife, is a question which is said never to find a place in the\nsocial intercourse of this country.\"\n\nJan. 24, 1825, Dr. Goodell wrote, \"Some adult females come occasionally\nto be taught by Mrs. Bird or Mrs. Goodell, and although their attendance\nis very irregular, and their _disadvantages very great_, being _without\nArabic books_, and their friends deriding their efforts, yet they make\nsome improvement. One of them, who a fortnight ago did not know a single\nletter of the alphabet, can now read one verse in the Bible.\"\n\nJuly 1, 1825, Messrs. Goodell and Bird speak of the first girls taught\nto read in Syria in mission schools. \"Our school contains between eighty\nand ninety scholars, who are all boys _except two_. One is the teacher's\nwife, who is perhaps fifteen years of age, and the other a little girl\nabout ten.\" That teacher was Tannus el Haddad, who died a few years ago,\nvenerated and beloved by all sects and classes of the people, having\nbeen for many years deacon of the Beirut Church, and his wife, Im\nBeshara, still lives, with an interesting family.\n\nOn the 21st of Dec, 1825, Dr. King wrote as follows: \"I spent about a\nmonth in Tyre, and made some efforts to establish a school for Tyrian\nfemales, and was very near succeeding, when one of the principal priests\nrose up and said, 'It is by no means expedient to teach women to read\nthe word of God. It is better for them to remain in ignorance than to\nknow how to read and write. They are quite bad enough with what little\nthey now know. Teach them to read and write, and _there would be no\nliving with them_!'\" That Tyrian priest of fifty years ago, was a fair\nsample of his black-frocked brethren throughout Syria from that time to\nthis. There have been a few worthy exceptions, but the Syrian priesthood\nof all sects, taken as a class, are the avowed enemies of the education\nand elevation of their people. Some of the exceptions to this rule will\nbe mentioned in the subsequent pages of this volume.\n\nIn 1826, there were three hundred children in the Mission schools in the\nvicinity of Beirut.\n\nIn 1827, there were 600 pupils in 13 schools, of whom _one hundred and\ntwenty were girls_! In view of the political, social and religious\ncondition of Syria at that time, that statement is more remarkable than\nalmost any fact in the history of the Syrian Mission. It shows that Mrs.\nBird and Mrs. Goodell must have labored to good purpose in persuading\ntheir benighted Syrian sisters to send their daughters to school, and to\nthese two Christian women is due the credit of having commenced Woman's\nWork for Women in modern times in Syria. In that same year, the wives of\nBishop Dionysius Carabet and Gregory Wortabet were received to the\ncommunion of the Church in Beirut, being the first spiritual fruits of\nWomen's Work for Women in modern Syria.\n\nDuring 1828 and 1829 the Missionaries temporarily withdrew to Malta. In\n1833, Dr. Thomson and Dr. Dodge arrived in Beirut. The Mission now\nconsisted of Messrs. Bird, Whiting, Eli Smith, Drs. Thomson and Dodge.\nIn a letter written at that time by Messrs. Bird, Smith and Thomson, it\nis said, \"Of the females, none can either read or write, or the\nexceptions are so very few as not to deserve consideration. Female\neducation is not merely neglected, but discouraged and opposed.\" They\nalso stated, that \"the whole number of native children in the Mission\nSchools from the beginning had been 650; 500 before the interruption in\n1828, and 150 since.\" \"Female education as such is yet nearly untried.\"\n\nDuring that year Mrs. Thomson and Mrs. Dodge commenced a school for\ngirls in Beirut. Dr. Eli Smith speaks of this school as follows, in the\nMemoir of Mrs. S.L. Smith: \"A few girls were previously found in some of\nthe public schools supported by the Mission, and a few had lived in the\nMission families. But these ladies wished to bring them more directly\nunder missionary influence, and to confer upon them the benefit of a\nsystem of instruction adapted to females. A commencement was accordingly\nmade, by giving lessons to such little girls as could be irregularly\nassembled for an hour or two a day at the Mission-house; such an\ninformal beginning being not only all that the ladies had time to\nattempt, but being also considered desirable as less likely to excite\njealousy and opposition. For the project was entered upon with much\ntrembling and apprehension. Not merely indifference to female education\nhad to be encountered, but strong prejudice against it existing in the\npublic mind from time immemorial. The Oriental prejudice against\ninnovations from any quarter, and especially from foreigners, threatened\nresistance. The seclusion of females within their own immediate circle\nof relationship, originally Oriental, but strengthened by Mohammedan\ninfluence, stood in the way. And more than all, religious jealousy,\nlooking upon the missionaries as dangerous heretics, and their influence\nas contamination, seemed to give unequivocal warning that the attempt\nmight be fruitless. But the missionaries were not aware of the hold they\nhad gained upon the public confidence. The event proved in this, as in\nmany other missionary attempts, that strong faith is a better principle\nto act upon in the propagation of the gospel, than cautious calculation.\nEven down to the present time (1840) it is not known that a word of\nopposition has been uttered against the school which was then commenced.\n\n\"On the arrival of Mrs. S.L. Smith in Beirut in January, 1834, she found\nsome six or eight girls assembled every afternoon in Mrs. Thomson's room\nat the Mission house, receiving instruction in sewing and reading. One\nwas far enough advanced to aid in teaching, and the widow of Gregory\nWortabet occasionally assisted. On the removal of Mrs. Thomson and Mrs.\nDodge to Jerusalem, the entire charge of the school devolved upon Mrs.\nSmith, aided by Mrs. Wortabet. Especial attention was given to reading,\nsewing, knitting and good behavior. In November, 1835, Miss Rebecca\nWilliams arrived in Beirut as an assistant to Mrs. Smith. The school\nthen increased, and in the spring of 1836 an examination was held, at\nwhich the mothers of the children and some other female friends were\npresent. The scholars together amounted to upwards of forty; the room\nwas well-filled, \"presenting a scene that would have delighted the heart\nof many a friend of missions. Classes were examined in reading,\nspelling, geography, first lessons in arithmetic, Scripture questions,\nthe English language, and sacred music, and the whole was closed by a\nbrief address from Mrs. Dodge. The mothers then came forward of their\nown accord, and in a gratifying manner expressed their thanks to the\nladies for what they had done for their daughters.\" Of the pupils of\nthis school, the greater part were Arabs of the Greek Church; two were\nJewesses; and some were Druzes; and at times there were eight or ten\nMoslems.\n\nA Sabbath School, with five teachers and thirty pupils, was established\nat the same time, the majority of the scholars being girls. A native\nfemale prayer-meeting was also commenced at this time, conducted by\nthree missionary ladies and two native Protestant women. At times, as\nmany as twenty were present, and this first female prayer-meeting in\nSyria in modern times, was attended with manifest tokens of the Divine\nblessing.\n\nAs has been already stated, the seclusion of Oriental females renders\nit almost impossible for a male missionary to visit among them or hold\nreligious meetings exclusively for women. This must be done, if at all,\nby the missionary's wife or by Christian women devoted especially to\nthis work. It was true in 1834, and it is almost equally true in 1873.\nThe Arabs have a proverb, \"The tree is not cut down, but by a branch of\nitself;\" _i.e._ the axe handle is of wood. So none can reach the women\nof Syria but women. The Church of Rome understands this, and is sending\nFrench, Italian and Spanish nuns in multitudes to work upon the girls\nand women of Syria, and the women of the Syria Mission, married and\nunmarried, have done a noble work in the past in the elevation and\neducation of their Syrian sisters. And in this connection it should be\nobserved, that a _sine qua non_ of efficient usefulness among the women\nof Syria, is that the Christian women who labor for them should know the\nArabic language. Ignorance of the language is regarded by the people as\nindicating a want of sympathy with them, and is an almost insuperable\nbarrier to a true spiritual influence. The great work to be done for the\nwomen of the world in the future, is to be done in their own\nmother-tongue, and it would be well that all the Female Seminaries in\nforeign lands should be so thoroughly supplied with teachers, that those\nmost familiar with the native language could be free to devote a portion\nof their time to labors among the native women in their homes.\n\nIn 1834 and 1835 Mrs. Dodge conducted a school for Druze girls in\nAaleih, in Lebanon. This School in Aaleih, a village about 2300 feet\nabove the level of the sea, was once suddenly broken up. Not a girl\nappeared at the morning session. A rumor had spread through the village,\nthat the English fleet had come up Mount Lebanon from Beirut, and was\napproaching Aaleih to carry off all the girls to England! The panic\nhowever subsided, and the girls returned to school. In 1836 Mrs. Hebard\nand Mrs. Dodge carried on the work which Mrs. Smith had so much loved,\nand which was only temporarily interrupted by her death.\n\nIn 1837, Mrs. Whiting and Miss Tilden had an interesting school of\nMohammedan girls in Jerusalem, and Mrs. Whiting had several native girls\nin her own family.\n\nIn reply to certain inquiries contained in a note I addressed to Miss T.\nshe writes: \"I arrived in Beirut, June 16, 1835. Mr. and Mrs. Whiting in\nJerusalem were desirous that I should take a small school that Mrs.\nWhiting had gathered, of Mohammedan girls. She had in her family two\ngirls from Beirut, Salome, (Mrs. Prof. Wortabet,) and Hanne, (Mrs.\nReichardt.) There were in school from 12 to 20 or more scholars, all\nMoslems. Only one Christian girl could be persuaded to attend. I think\nthat the inducement they had to send their daughters was the instruction\ngiven in sewing and knitting, free of expense to them. Mrs. Whiting\ntaught the same scholars on the Sabbath. The Scripture used in their\ninstruction, both week days and on the Sabbath, was the Psalms. After a\nyear and a half I went to Beirut and assisted in the girl's school,\nwhich was somewhat larger and more promising. Miss Williams had become\nMrs. Hebard, and Miss Badger from Malta was teaching at the time. Mrs.\nSmith's boarding scholar Raheel, was with Mrs. Hebard. I suppose that\nfemale education in the family was commenced in Syria by Mr. Bird, who\ntaught the girl that married Demetrius. (Miss T. probably meant to say\nDr. Thomson, as Mariya, daughter of Yakob Agha, was first placed in his\nfamily by her father in 1834.) The girls taught in the different\nmissionaries' families were Raheel, Salome, Hanne, Khozma, Lulu, Kefa,\nand Susan Haddad. Schools were taught in the mountains, and instruction\ngiven to the women, and meetings held with them as the ladies had\nstrength and opportunity, at their different summer residences. The day\nscholars were taught in Arabic, and the boarding scholars in Arabic and\nEnglish. I taught them Colburn's Arithmetic. I taught also written\narithmetic, reading, etc., in the boys' school.\"\n\nIn 1841, war broke out between the Druzes and Maronites, and the nine\nschools of the Mission, including the Male Seminary of 31 pupils, the\nGirls' School of 25 pupils, and the Druze High School in Deir el Kamr,\nwere broken up.\n\nIn 1842, the schools were resumed. In twelve schools were 279 pupils, of\nwhom 52 were girls, and twelve young girls were living as boarders in\nmission families.\n\nIn 1843, there were thirteen schools with 438 pupils, and eleven young\ngirls in mission families.\n\nDuring the year 1844, 186 persons were publicly recognized as\nProtestants in Hasbeiya. Fifteen women attended a daily afternoon\nprayer-meeting, and expressed great surprise and delight at the thought\nthat religion was a thing in which _women_ had a share! A fiery\npersecution was commenced against the Protestants, who all fled to Abeih\nin Lebanon. On their return they were attacked and stoned in the\nstreets, and Deacon Fuaz was severely wounded.\n\nIn 1845, Lebanon was again desolated with civil war, the schools were\nsuspended, and the instruction of 182 girls and 424 boys interrupted for\na time.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nMRS. WHITING'S SCHOOL.\n\n\nIn 1846, Mrs. Whiting commenced a girls' day-school in her family at\nAbeih, and in Beirut there were four schools for boys and girls\ntogether, and one school for girls alone. In 18 Mission schools there\nwere 144 girls and 384 boys. This girls' school in Abeih in 1846 was\ntaught by Salome (Mrs. Wortabet) and Hanne, (Mrs. Reichardt,) the two\noldest girls in Mr. Whiting's family. It was impossible to begin the\nschool before August 1st, as the houses of the village which had been\nburned in the war of the preceding year had not been rebuilt, and\nsuitable accommodations could not readily be found. During the summer\nthere were twelve pupils, and in the fall twenty-five, from the Druze,\nMaronite, Greek Catholic and Greek sects, and the greatest freedom was\nused in giving instruction in the Bible and the Assembly's and Watts'\nCatechisms. A portion of every day was spent in giving especial\nreligious instruction, and on the Sabbath a part of the pupils were\ngathered into the Sabbath School. During the fall a room was erected on\nthe Mission premises for the girls' school, at an expense of 100\ndollars.\n\nThe following letter from Mrs. Whiting needs no introduction. It bears a\nmelancholy interest from the fact that the beloved writer died shortly\nafterwards, at Newark, N.J., May 18th, 1873.\n\n\"My first introduction to the women of Syria was by Mrs. Bird, mother of\nRev. Wm. Bird and Mrs. Van Lennep. She was then in the midst of her\nlittle family of four children. I daily found her in her nursery,\nsurrounded by native women who came to her in great numbers, often with\ntheir sick children. They were always received with the greatest\nkindness and ministered to. She might be seen giving a warm bath to a\nsick child, or waiting and watching the effect of other remedies.\nMothers from the neighboring villages of Lebanon were allowed to bring\ntheir sick children and remain for days in her house until relief was\nobtained. She was soon known throughout Beirut and these villages as the\nfriend of the suffering, and I have ever thought that by these Christian\nself-denying labors, she did much towards gaining the confidence of the\npeople. And who shall say that while good Father Bird was in his study\nlibrary among the 'Popes and Fathers,' preparing his controversial work\n'The Thirteen Letters,' this dear sister, by her efforts, was not making\na way to the hearts of these people for the reception of gospel truth,\nwhich has since been preached so successfully in the neighboring\nvillages of Lebanon?\n\n\"In the autumn of 1834, Mr. Whiting was removed to the Jerusalem\nstation. I found the women accessible and ready to visit me, and invite\nme to their houses, but unwilling to place their girls under my\ninstruction. All my efforts for some time were fruitless. Under date of\nAug. 22, I find this entry in Mr. Whiting's journal: \"During the past\nweek, three little Moslem girls have been placed under Mrs. Whiting's\ninstruction for the purpose of learning to read and sew. They seem much\npleased with their new employment, and their parents, who are\nrespectable Moslems, express great satisfaction in the prospect of their\nlearning. They say, in the Oriental style that the children are no\nlonger theirs, but ours, and that they shall remain with us and learn\neverything we think proper to teach them. This event excited much talk\nin the city, particularly among the Moslem mothers. The number of\nscholars, chiefly Moslem girls, increased to twenty-five and thirty.\"\n\nAt a later date, Jan., 1836, \"one of the girls in Mrs. Whiting's school,\ncame with a complaint against a Jew who had been attempting to frighten\nher away from the school by telling her and her uncle (her guardian)\nthat her teacher certainly had some evil design, and no doubt intended\nto select the finest of the girls, and send them away to the Pasha, and\nthat it was even written so in the books which she was teaching the\nchildren to read. Whether the Jew has been set up by others to tell the\npeople this absurd nonsense, I cannot say, but certainly it is a new\nthing for Jews to make any opposition, or to show any hostility to us.\nAnd this looks very much like the evil influence which has been\nattempted in another quarter.\"\n\n\"March 7. Yesterday Mrs. W. commenced a Sunday school for the pupils of\nher day school. They were much delighted. They began to learn the\nSermon on the Mount.\"\n\n\"Sept. 7. Had a visit from two Sheikhs of the Mosque of David. One of\nthem inquired particularly respecting Mrs. Whiting's school for Moslem\ngirls, and wished to know what she taught them to read. I showed him the\nlittle spelling-book which we use, with which he was much pleased and\nbegged me to lend it to him. I gave him one, with a copy of the Psalms,\nwhich he wished to compare with the Psalms of David as the Moslems have\nthem. He invited me strongly to come and visit him, and to bring Mrs.\nWhiting to see his family.\"\n\nThe school continued with little interruption until October 3d, when\nMiss Tilden arrived and had the charge of the school for nearly two\nyears. I left in feeble health, with Mr. Whiting, for the United States,\nwhere we spent more than one year. Miss Tilden during our absence was\nengaged in teaching in the boys' school in Beirut. On my return the\nMoslem school was not resumed, and soon after Mr. Whiting was again\ntransferred to the Abeih station.\n\nMy work in the family school began in October, 1835, when Salome Carabet\nand Hanne Wortabet were placed by their parents in our family school. We\nafterwards added to the number Melita Carabet, and the two orphan girls\nSada and Rufka Gregory. These two were brought to us in a very\nprovidential way. They were the children of Yakob Gregory, a respectable\nArmenian well known in Beirut.\n\nHe had two children, and when these were quite young, he left his wife,\nand nothing was heard of him afterwards. The mother died soon after and\nleft the children in the care of the American Mission and the Armenian\nBishop. The old grandmother, who was in Aleppo, on hearing of her death,\nsoon returned to Beirut to look after the children. She was allowed to\nvisit them in the Bishop's family, where they were cared for, and one\nday, in a stealthy way, she took Sada into the city, placed her in the\nhands of a Jew, on board of a native boat bound for Jaffa. I suppose\nSada was then about six years old. They set sail. The child cried\nbitterly on finding her grandmother was not on board as she had\npromised. There was on board the boat an Armenian, well acquainted with\nher father, who inquired of her the cause. On hearing her story he\nremonstrated, with the Jew, who said she had been placed in his hands by\nher grandmother to be sent to Jerusalem. On their arriving at Jaffa, the\naffair was made known to Mr. Murad, the American Consul. He sent for the\nJew, took the child from his hands, and dismissed him, and wrote to Mr.\nWhiting in Jerusalem an account of the affair, and was directed by him\nto send the child to us. Not long after, her grandmother came to\nJerusalem bringing Rufka. She tried to interest the Armenian Convent in\nher behalf. Here I find an extract from Mr. Whiting's journal, which\nwill give you all of interest on this point. \"After being out much of\nthe morning, I returned and found the grandmother of little Sada, who\nhad brought her little sister Rufka to leave her with us. She had a\nquarrel with the convent, and fled for refuge to us. We cannot but be\nthankful that both these little orphans are at length quietly placed\nunder our care and instruction.\"\n\nThe parents of three of the girls in our family, being Protestants,\nalways gave their sanction to our mode of instructing and training them.\nBishop Carabet likewise aided us in every way in his power, and ever\nseemed most grateful for what I was doing for his daughters. In his last\nsickness, when enfeebled by age, I often visited him. Once on going into\nhis room, he was seated as usual on his Turkish rug. One of the family\nrose to offer me a chair, I said, \"let me sit near you on your rug, that\nI may talk to you.\" With much emotion he replied, \"_Inshullah tukodee\njenb il Messiah fe melakoot is sema!_\" \"God grant that you may sit by\nthe side of Christ in the kingdom of Heaven!\"\n\nWe were from time to time encouraged by tokens of a work of God's Spirit\nin their hearts. Melita Carabet was the first to indulge a hope in\nChrist, and united with the Church in Abeih. Salome united in Beirut;\nHanne in Hasbeiya, where her brother, Rev. John Wortabet, was pastor.\nSada was received by Mr. Calhoun at Abeih, soon after Mr. Whiting's\ndeath, and Rufka in later years united with the United Presbyterian\nChurch in Alexandria, Egypt. I have ever thought these girls were under\ngreat obligations to the American Churches and the American Mission, who\nfor so many years supported and instructed them, and I have ever tried\nto impress upon them a sense of their obligation to impart to others of\ntheir countrywomen what they had received. I believe as early as 1836,\nthey began assisting me in the Moslem school for girls in Jerusalem, in\nwhich they continued to assist Miss Tilden until the school was given\nup.\n\nSoon after our removal to Abeih, October, 1844, we established a\nday-school for girls in the village on the Mission premises, of which\nSalome and Hanne had the entire charge under my superintendence. When\nthe Station at Mosul was established, Salome was appointed by the\nMission to assist Mrs. Williams in her work among the women, in which\nwork she continued until her marriage with Rev. John Wortabet. Melita\nwas afterwards appointed by the Mission to the Aleppo Station to assist\nMrs. Eddy and Mrs. Ford in the work, and so they were employed at\nvarious stations in the work of teaching, until I left the Mission. I\nhave kept up a continual correspondence with them, and have learned from\nothers to my joy, that they were doing the work for which I had trained\nthem.\"\n\nThe above deeply interesting letter from Mrs. Whiting is enough in\nitself to show what an amount of patient Christian labor was expended\nthrough a course of many years, in the education of the five young\nSyrian maidens who were entrusted in the providence of God to her care.\nI have been personally acquainted with four of them for seventeen years,\nand can testify, as can many others, of the good use they have made of\ntheir high opportunities. The amount of good they have accomplished as\nteachers, in Abeih, Jerusalem, Deir el Komr, Hasbeiya, Tripoli, Aleppo,\nMosul, Alexandria, Cairo, Melbourne, (Australia,) and in the Mission\nFemale Seminary and the Prussian Deaconesses' Institute in Beirut, will\nnever be known until all things are revealed. I have received letters\nfrom several of them, which I will give in their own language, as they\nare written in English. The first is from Salome, now the wife of the\nRev. Prof. John Wortabet, M.D., of the Syrian Protestant College in\nBeirut.\n\n\"I do not consider my history worth recording, and it is only out of\nconsideration of what is due to Mrs. Whiting for the labor she bestowed\nupon us, that I am induced to take up my pen to comply with your\nrequest. I was taken by Mrs. Whiting when only six years old, together\nwith Hannie Wortabet, who was five years old, to be brought up in her\nfamily, she having no children of her own. Owing partly to the nature of\nthe religious instruction we received, and partly to my own timid\nsensitive nature, I was, from time to time for many years, under deep\nspiritual terrors, without any saving result. When I was about sixteen,\na revival of religion took place, under whose influence I was also\nbrought. Mr. Calhoun was my spiritual adviser, and although my mind\ngroped in darkness, and bordered on despair for many weeks, I hope I was\nthen led to put my trust in Jesus, and if ever I am saved, my only hope\nnow is, and ever shall be, in the merits of Jesus' blood and His\npromises.\"\n\nThe next letter is from Melita Carabet, daughter of the Armenian Bishop\nDionysius Carabet, who became a Protestant in 1823. She writes as\nfollows:\n\n\"Nothing could give me more pleasure than to comply with your request,\nand thereby recall some of the happy days and incidents of my childhood\nand youth, spent under the roof of my godly teachers, Mr. and Mrs.\nWhiting. I ought to remember them as far back as at the baptismal font,\nfor I heard afterwards that they were both present on the occasion,\nwhich took place in Malta, where I was born. But as my memory does not\ncarry me back so far, I must date my recollections from the time I was\nfive years of age, when I came to live in their family. I can distinctly\nrecollect the first texts of Scripture and verses of hymns that dear\nMrs. Whiting taught my young lips to repeat, and my little prayer which\nI used to say at her knees on going to bed, I still repeat to this day,\n\"Now I lay me,\" etc. One incident which happened about a year later, was\nso deeply impressed on my memory, and had such an effect upon me at the\ntime, that I must mention it. It was this. Mrs. Whiting had given us\ngirls (we were five in number, my sister Salome, and Hannie, Dr.\nWortabet's sister, and Sada and Rufka Gregory) some raisins to pick over\npreparatory to making cake. I stole an opportunity after a while, to\nslip about a dozen of these raisins into my pocket. No one saw me do it\nbut from the moment I had done it, I began to feel very unhappy, and\nrepented the deed. My companions went out to play, but I could not join\nin their sports. My heart was too heavy. I sat mourning over my sin, and\ncould eat no supper, and had no rest until I had made a full confession\nto Mrs. Whiting at bed-time. She prayed and wept over me, and somehow I\nwas comforted and went to my little bed much happier.\n\n\"I remember nothing more until a much later period, when I was about the\nage of twelve. About this time, there was a great awakening among the\nyoung girls in some of the Mission families. Mr. Calhoun's prayers and\nadvice were very much solicited and sought, in guiding and praying with\nthe young inquirers. One Sunday as I was reading the little tract \"The\nBlacksmith's wife,\" (which I have kept to this day,) I felt a great\nweight and sense of sin. I trace my conversion to the reading of this\ntract. It was not long before I found peace. I have often since longed\nfor those days and hours of sweet communion with my Saviour. I joined\nthe Church a very short time after this, and at this early age was given\ncharge of a Bible class in Abeih.\n\n\"Now I must pass over a few more years, when I went to Hasbeiya, to\nspend a little time with my sister Salome, now wife of Dr. John\nWortabet, who was appointed pastor of the little Protestant Church\nthere. I spent one year of my life here, during which time I took charge\nof a little day school for girls in my sister's house. Dr. Wortabet's\nsister Hannie had opened this school some years before I came. I do not\nremember the number of pupils, but there were five little Moslem\nprincesses, grandchildren of the great Emir \"Saad-ed-Deen,\" who was\ncalled some years later to Constantinople to be punished for having\nspoken disrespectfully of Queen Victoria. These little princesses were\nregular attendants at the school, and learned to read in the New\nTestament, and studied Watts' Catechism with the rest of the Christian\nchildren. I had also charge of a Bible class for women, who used to meet\nonce a week in the Protestant Church. This was before the massacre of\n1860. The rest of my life has been spent in teaching in Beirut. Since\nthe massacres, I have been teaching the orphans in the Prussian School,\nwhere I at present reside. Indeed it has been my home ever since I\nundertook this work which I love dearly, and which I hope to continue so\nlong as the Lord sees fit, and gives me strength to work for Him.\"\n\nI am permitted to make the following extract from a letter written by\nMelita to Mrs. Whiting, in February, 1868. I give the exact language, as\nthe letter is written in English:\n\n                                         Prussian Institution, Beirut,\n                                                  _February 23, 1868_.\n\n     My Dear Mrs. Whiting--\n\n     It is so cold this morning that I can with difficulty hold my pen.\n     It has been a very cold and stormy month, and there seems no\n     prospect of fair weather yet. The snow on the mountains is as low\n     as the lowest hills, and I pity the poor creatures who must be\n     suffering in consequence. J. enjoys the weather very much; indeed\n     he seems so exhilarated and invigorated by it that one could almost\n     wish it to last on his account, but I must say that I wish it was\n     over, and the warm sunbeams shedding their genial rays again upon\n     the cold frozen earth.\n\n     Trouble and grief are such a common complaint at present that you\n     will not be surprised to hear me relate my share of them. I have\n     indeed had my full share, and you would say so too had you seen how\n     I was occupied during my holidays last summer, in taking care of my\n     ill and suffering brother. And aside from my fatigue, for I was\n     always on my feet until two or three hours after midnight, quite\n     alone with him--merely to witness such indescribable suffering as\n     he went through, was more than is generally allotted to human\n     beings on earth. He had been unwell for some time previous, and had\n     been advised by the Doctor to go up to the mountains, so Mr.\n     Calhoun kindly offered him a place in the Seminary, where he could\n     stop until his health was recruited, and in the meantime give a\n     couple of English lessons during the day to the boys in the\n     Seminary. He lodged with the Theological students in a little room\n     above the school, but he had not been up there more than a week,\n     when his whole body became suddenly covered with a burning eruption\n     that was always spreading and increasing in size. He could neither\n     lie nor sit in any possible position, and was racked with pains\n     that seemed at times well nigh driving him mad. I trembled for his\n     reason, and was so awed and terrified by the sight, that I was in\n     danger of losing mine as well. No one would come near him, and Mrs.\n     Calhoun had kindly asked me to come and spend the holidays with\n     them, so it fell to my lot to nurse and take care of him. I used to\n     go to him in the morning as soon as I got up, and sit (or stand) up\n     with him until two or three o'clock at night, dressing his sores;\n     running down only occasionally for my meals, and with my little\n     lantern coming down in the dead of night, all alone, to lay my\n     weary head and aching heart and limbs on my bed for a little rest.\n     But not to sleep, for whenever I closed my eyes, I had that eternal\n     picture and scene of suffering before me. I could find no one who\n     was willing for love or for money to help me or relieve me for one\n     night or day. The disease was so offensive as well as frightful,\n     that no one could stop in the room. One of the Prussian \"Sisters\"\n     who went up with me, kindly assisted me sometimes until she came\n     down. In this state did J. find me on his return from England. His\n     family was up in Aaleih, and he used to ride over occasionally to\n     see P. and prescribe some new medicine for him, but his skill was\n     baffled with this terrifying disease, and poor P. remained in this\n     agonizing state of suffering for five whole months without leaving\n     his bed. He was carried down on a litter to Beirut, where he has\n     been since. He took a little room by himself, and gives lessons in\n     English until something more prosperous turns up for him. Twenty\n     years' experience seemed to be added to my life in those three\n     months of anxiety I went through last summer; and what a picture of\n     suffering and grief was I, after this, myself. No wonder if I feel\n     entirely used up this winter, and feel it a great effort to live.\n\n     There is not the slightest prospect of my ever getting back my lost\n     property from that man--as he has long since left the country, and\n     is said to be a great scoundrel and a very dishonorable man. If he\n     were not, he would never have risked the earnings of a poor orphan\n     girl by asking for it on the eve of his bankruptcy. Had I my\n     property I might perhaps have given up teaching for a while, and\n     gone away for a little change and rest, but God has willed it\n     otherwise, no doubt for some wise purpose, and to some wise end,\n     although so difficult and incomprehensible at present. It is all\n     doubtless for the trial of my faith and trust in Him. Let me then\n     trust in Him! Yea, though He slay me, let me yet trust in Him! Has\n     He ever yet failed me? Has He not proved Himself in all ages to be\n     the Father and the God of the orphan and the widow? He must see\n     that I need these troubles and sorrows, or He would not send them,\n     for my Father's hand would never cause his child a needless tear. A\n     bruised reed He will not break, but will temper the storm to the\n     shorn lamb; I will then no longer be dejected and cast down, but\n     look upward and trust in my Heavenly Father, feeling sure that He\n     will make all right in the end.\n\n     My letter is so sad and melancholy that I cannot let it go without\n     something more cheerful, so I will add a line to brighten and cheer\n     it up a little. For life, with all the bitterness it contains, has\n     also much that is agreeable and affords much enjoyment; for there\n     is a wonderful elasticity in the human mind which enables it, when\n     sanctified by divine grace, to bear up under present ills. So with\n     all my griefs and ills, I have been able to enjoy myself too\n     sometimes this winter. I have lately attended two Concerts, one\n     here, given by the Prussian Sisters, for the benefit of the new\n     Orphanage, \"Talitha Kumi,\" at Jerusalem, lately erected by the\n     Prussian Sisters there--and one given by the \"Sisters of Charity,\"\n     for the benefit of the orphans and poor of this town. Daood Pasha\n     most generously gave up the large hall in his mansion for the\n     occasion, as well as honoring it by his attendance. The Concert in\n     our Institution was entirely musical, vocal and instrumental. All\n     the Missionaries came. We had nearly three hundred tickets sold at\n     five francs apiece, so that there was a nice little sum added to\n     the Orphan's Fund at Jerusalem.\n\n                    Ever your affectionate\n\n                                                  Melita.\n\nSaada Gregory was engaged in teaching at different times in Tripoli,\nAleppo, Hasbeiya and Egypt. Her school in Tripoli was eminently\nsuccessful, and her labors in Alexandria were characterized by great\nenergy and perseverance. She kept up a large school even when suffering\nfrom great bodily pain. She is now in the United States in enfeebled\nhealth.\n\n                                  American Mission House, Alexandria,\n                                                  _November 8, 1867_.\n\n     My Dear Mrs. Whiting,\n\n     I know you will be expecting a letter from me soon, partly in\n     answer to yours sent by Mrs. Van Dyck, and especially because it is\n     the day on which you expect all your children to remember you. I\n     never do forget this day, but this time there are special reasons\n     for my remembering it. Whenever the day has come around, I have\n     felt more forcibly than at others, how utterly alone I have been,\n     for since dear Mr. Whiting was taken away from us, it has seemed as\n     though we were made doubly orphans, but this time it has not been\n     so. I think I have been made to realize that I have a loving Father\n     in heaven who loves and watches over and cares for me more than\n     ever you or Mr. Whiting did. I do really feel now that God has\n     given me friends, so this day has not been so sad a one to me as it\n     usually is. Another source of thankfulness to-day is, that I have\n     been raised up from a bed of pain and suffering from which neither\n     I nor any of my friends thought I ever would rise. Weary days and\n     nights of pain, when it was torture to move and almost impossible\n     to lie still, and when it seemed at times that death would be only\n     a relief, and yet here I am still living to praise Him for many,\n     many mercies. Mr. Pinkerton waited on me day and night, often\n     depriving himself of sleep and rest in order to do it, and when\n     convalescence set in, and with the restlessness of a sick person, I\n     used to fancy I would be more comfortable up stairs, he used to\n     carry me up and down and gratify all my whims. For five weeks I was\n     in bed, and many more confined to my room and the house. But the\n     greatest reason for thankfulness is, that God has in His great\n     mercy brought me to a knowledge of Himself, and of my own lost\n     state as a guilty sinner. It was while lying those long weary days\n     on the bed that I was made to see that for ten long years I had\n     been deceiving myself. Instead of being a Christian and being\n     prepared to die, I was still in the gall of bitterness and the\n     bonds of iniquity, and if God had taken me away during that\n     sickness, it would have been with a lie in my right hand. Now when\n     I look back on those long years spent in sin and in self-deception,\n     I wonder at God's loving kindness and patience in sparing me still\n     to show forth in me His goodness and forbearance. Truly it is of\n     His mercies that I was not consumed. How often I taught others and\n     talked to them of the love of Christ, and yet I had not that love\n     myself. How many times I sat down to His table with his children,\n     and yet I had no portion nor lot in the matter. Sometimes when I\n     think how near destruction I was, with literally but a step between\n     me and death, eternal death, and yet God raised me up and brought\n     me to Christ and made me love Him, and how ever since He has been\n     watching over me giving me the measure of comfort and peace that I\n     enjoy and giving me the desire to know and love Him more, I wonder\n     at my own coldness, at the frequency with which I forget Him. How\n     strong sin still is over me, how prone I am to wander away from\n     Christ and to forget His love, to allow sin to come between me and\n     Him, and yet He still follows me with His love, still He brings me\n     back to Him, the good Shepherd. Oh! if I could live nearer Christ,\n     if I could realize and rejoice in His love. Now when I think how\n     near I may be to the eternal world, that at any moment a severe\n     attack of pain may come on which will carry me off, it is good to\n     know that my Saviour will be with me; that He is mine and I am His.\n     It is not easy to look death calmly in the face and know that my\n     days are numbered, yet can I not participate in the promise that He\n     Himself will come and take me to be with Him where He is. I would\n     like to be allowed to live longer and be permitted to bring souls\n     to Christ, but I feel assured that He will do what is best, and\n     that He will not call me away as long as He has any work for me to\n     do here I have a feeling that this will be my last letter to you,\n     and I now take the opportunity of thanking you for all you have\n     done for me, for all the care you bestowed on me, the prayers you\n     have offered for me, and the kind thoughtfulness you still manifest\n     for my welfare. It would be a comfort to me if I could see and talk\n     with you once more, but I fear that will never be in this world,\n     but shall we not meet in our Saviour's presence, purified,\n     justified and sanctified through His blood? With truest love and\n     gratitude\n\n                    I remain yours,\n\n                                                  Saada.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nDR. DE FOREST'S WORK IN BEIRUT.\n\n\nIn 1847, Dr. and Mrs. De Forest commenced their work of female\neducation, receiving two young women into their family. In 13 Mission\nschools there were 163 girls and 462 boys. During the year 1847, six\nschools were in operation in connection with the Beirut Station. One in\nthe Mesaitebe with 32 pupils, of whom 10 were girls. This school was\npromising and 15 of the pupils could read in the Bible. Another was in\nthe Ashrafiyeh, with 50 pupils, of whom 12 were girls. Nineteen in this\nschool could read in the Bible. Another was on the Mission premises with\nseventy pupils. Another school, south of the Mission premises, had 60\npupils, of whom 15 were girls. In addition to these was the Female\nSchool with thirty girls, taught by Raheel.\n\nIn 1848, on the organization of the first Evangelical Church, nineteen\nmembers were received, of whom four were women. Dr. De Forest had seven\nnative girls in his family, and there were fifty-five girls in other\nschools.\n\nIn 1849, Mrs. Thomson and Mrs. De Forest visited Hasbeiya to labor among\nthe women, by whom they were received with great cordiality. The girls'\nschool of that time was regularly maintained and well attended. Dr. De\nForest had thirteen native girls boarders in his family in Beirut, and\nMr. Whiting had five.\n\nIn the Annual Report of the Beirut Station for 1850, it is stated that\n\"a more prayerful spirit prevails among the brethren and sisters. One\npleasing evidence of this is the recent establishment of a weekly female\nprayer-meeting, which is attended by all the female members of the\nChurch. Yet it is somewhat remarkable that in our little Church there is\nso small a proportion of females. Unhappily, only one of our native\nbrethren is blessed with a pious wife. Some of them are surrounded with\nrelatives and friends whose influence is such as to hinder rather than\nhelp them in their Christian course, and in the religious training of\ntheir children.\"\n\nThis difficulty still exists in all parts of the Protestant community,\nnot only in Syria, but throughout the Turkish Empire, and probably\nthroughout the missionary world. The young men of the Protestant\nChurches at the present time endeavor to avoid this source of trial and\nembarrassment by marrying only within the Protestant community, and the\nrapid growth of female education in these days gives promise that the\ntime is near when the mothers in Syria will be in no respect behind the\nfathers in either virtue or intelligence. The Beirut Church now numbers\n107 members, of whom 57 are men and 50 are women.\n\nIn 1851, Miss Anna L. Whittlesey arrived in Beirut as an assistant to\nDr. and Mrs. De Forest, and died in a year less one day after her\narrival, beloved and lamented by all. In July of that year five of the\nwomen in Hasbeiya united with the Church.\n\nIn 1852 and 1853 the Female Seminary in Beirut reached a high degree of\nprosperity, and the girls' schools in different parts of the land were\nwell attended. Miss Cheney arrived from America to supply Miss\nWhittlesey's place.\n\nIn 1854, Dr. De Forest was obliged from failing health, to relinquish\nhis work and return to the United States. A nobler man never lived. As a\nphysician he was widely known and universally beloved, and as a teacher\nand preacher he exerted a lasting influence. The good wrought by that\nsaintly man in Syria will never be fully known in this world. The lovely\nChristian families in Syria, whose mothers were trained by him and his\nwife, will be his monuments for generations to come. It is a common\nremark in Syria, that the great majority of all Dr. De Forest's pupils\nhave turned out well.\n\nI have not been able to find the official reports with regard to the\nFemale Seminary of Dr. De Forest in Beirut for the years 1847, 1848, and\n1849, but from the Reports made by Dr. De Forest himself for the years\n1850, 1852 and 1853, I make the following extracts:\n\nIn 1850, the Doctor writes: \"The Seminary now has seventeen pupils\nincluding two, Khozma and Lulu, who act as teachers. The older class\nhave continued to study the Sacred Scriptures as a daily lesson, and\nhave nearly finished the Old Testament. They have studied a brief\nCompend of History in Arabic, and have continued Arithmetic and English.\nCompositions have been required of them weekly in Arabic until last\nautumn, when they began to write alternately in English and Arabic. A\nbrief course of Astronomy was commenced, illustrated by Mattison's maps,\ngiven by Fisher Howe, Esq., of Brooklyn, N.Y.\n\n\"Recently the pupils have been invited to spend every second Sabbath\nevening with the other members of the family in conversation respecting\nsome missionary field which has been designated previously. The large\nmissionary map is hung in the sitting-room, and all are asked in turn to\ngive some fact respecting the field in question. Even the youngest, who\nhave not yet learned to read with facility in their own language,\nfurnish their mite of information.\n\n\"The instruction in this school has been given by Dr. and Mrs. De\nForest, aided by Mrs. De Forest's parents and the two elder pupils who\nhave rendered such efficient aid heretofore. The pupils of all the\nclasses have made good progress in their various studies, and their\ndeportment has been satisfactory. They are gaining mental discipline and\nintellectual furniture, and have acquired much evangelical knowledge.\nDeep seriousness has been observed on the part of some of the elder\npupils at different times, and they give marked and earnest attention to\nthe preached word.\n\n\"In our labors for the reconstruction of society here, we feel more and\nmore the absolute need of a sanctified and enlightened female influence;\nsuch an influence as is felt so extensively in America, and whose\nbeneficent action is seen in the proper training of children, and in the\nexpulsion of a thousand superstitions from the land. Christian schools\nseem the most evident means of securing such an end. Commerce and\nintercourse with foreigners, and many other causes are co-operating with\nmissionary effort to enlighten the _men_ of Beirut and its vicinity, but\nthe women, far more isolated than in America, are scarcely affected by\nany of these causes, and they hinder materially the moral elevation of\nthe other sex. Often the man who seems full of intelligence and\nenterprise and mental enlargement when abroad, is found when at home to\nbe a mere superstitious child; the prophecy that his mother taught him\nbeing still the religion of his home, and the heathenish maxims and\nnarrow prejudices into which he was early indoctrinated still ruling the\nhouse. The inquirer after truth is seduced back to error by the many\nsnares of unsanctified and ignorant companionship, and the convert who\ndid run well is hindered by the benighted stubbornness to which he is\nunequally yoked.\n\n\"While exerting this deleterious influence over their husbands and\nchildren, the females of the land have but little opportunity for\npersonal improvement, and are not very promising subjects of missionary\nlabor. His faith must be strong who can labor with hope for the\nconversion of women, with whom the customs of society prohibit freedom\nof intercourse, and who have not learning enough to read a book, or\nvocabulary enough to understand a sermon, or mental discipline enough to\nfollow continuous discourse.\"\n\nIn the Report for 1852, Dr. De Forest writes: \"At the date of our last\nAnnual Report, Miss Whittlesey was in good health, was rapidly acquiring\nthe Arabic, and was zealously pressing on in her chosen work, with\nwell-trained intellect, steady purpose and lively hope. But God soon\ncalled her away, and she departed in \"hope of eternal life which God\nthat cannot lie promised before the world began.\" The Female Boarding\nSchool has suffered much from the loss of its Principal, but the same\ncourse of study has been pursued as before, though necessarily with less\nefficiency. One of the assistant pupils, (Lulu,) who has been relied\nupon for much of the teaching, and superintendence of the scholars, was\nmarried last autumn to the senior tutor of the Abeih Seminary. The\nnumber of pupils now in the school is fifteen. The communication of\nBiblical and religious knowledge has been a main object of this school.\nAll the pupils, as a daily lesson, study the Assembly's Shorter\nCatechism, first in Arabic with proof-texts, and afterwards in English\nwith Baker's Explanatory Questions and Scripture proofs, and they are\ntaught a brief Historical Catechism of the Old and New Testaments. The\nfirst of proper school hours every day is occupied with the Scriptures\nby all the school. The Epistles to the Hebrews and the Romans formed\nthe subject of these lessons until the autumn, when Mr. Calhoun's\nrevised edition of the \"Companion to the Bible\" was adopted as a\ntext-book, and the Old Testament has been studied in connection with\nthat work. The pupils all attend the service at the Mission Chapel, and\nhave lessons appropriate to the Sabbath in the intervals of worship.\n\n\"The evening family worship is in Arabic, and is a familiar Bible Class.\nAll the pupils are present, and not unfrequently some of their relatives\nand other strangers. In addition to this religious instruction, the\nseveral classes have studied the Arabic and English languages, some of\nthem writing in both, geography and history, arithmetic mental and\nhigher, astronomy, and some of the simple works on natural philosophy\nand physiology. Compositions have been required in Arabic and English.\nThe lessons in drawing, commenced by Miss Whittlesey, have been\ncontinued under the instruction of Mrs. Smith, and plain and fancy\nneedle-work have been taught as heretofore.\n\n\"To those who have watched the growth of intellect, and in some\ninstances, we hope, the growth of grace in these few pupils, and in the\nother female boarding scholars in some of the mission families, who have\nseen the pleasing contrast afforded by Syrian females when adorned after\nthe Apostolic recommendation by good works and a \"meek and quiet\nspirit,\" with those who cover empty heads with pearls and enrobe untidy\npersons in costly array,--who have rejoiced to see one and another\nfamily altar set up, where both heads of the family and the hearts of\nboth unite in acknowledging God,--this branch of our labors need offer\nno further arguments to justify its efficient prosecution.\n\n\"The library of the Seminary consists of 220 school books, and 148\nvolumes of miscellaneous books, chiefly for the young. The school has 6\nlarge fine maps, and 5 of Mr. Bidwell's Missionary maps, and 16 of\nMattison's astronomical maps. These maps were the gifts of Mrs. Dr.\nBurgess and of Fisher Howe, Esq. The school has a pair of globes, one\nSeason's machine, one orrery, a pair of gasometers, a spirit-lamp and\nretort stand, a centre of gravity apparatus, a capillary attraction\napparatus, a galvanic trough, a circular battery, an electromagnet, a\nhorse shoe magnet, a revolving magnet, a wire coil and hemispheric\nhelices, and an electric shocking machine.\"\n\nThe report of the Female Seminary for 1853 is written in the handwriting\nof Mrs. De Forest, owing to the increasing infirmity of Dr. De Forest's\nhealth, and this report has a sad interest from its being the last one\never dictated by Dr. De Forest.\n\n\"A small day-school for girls has been taught by one of the pupils in\nMrs. Whiting's family during the winter, and it is contemplated to\ncontinue the school hereafter in the Girl's School house on the Mission\npremises, under the instruction of a graduate of the Female Seminary.\nThe demand for such instruction for girls is steadily increasing.\n\n\"The teaching force of the Seminary was increased last spring by the\narrival of Miss Cheney, who entered at once upon the duties of her\nposition, devoting a portion of her time to the acquisition of Arabic,\nand a part to the instruction of some classes in English. Still, on\naccount of the repeated illnesses of Dr. De Forest, it was not deemed\nadvisable to receive a new class last autumn. The only girls admitted\nduring the year were one of Mrs. Whiting's pupils who was transferred to\nthe Seminary for one year, one of the class who graduated two years\nsince, and who desired to return for another year, and Sara, the\ndaughter of Mr. Butrus Bistany. These three were received into existing\nclasses, while it was not deemed advisable under the circumstances to\nmake up another class composed of new pupils.\n\n\"The course of instruction, Biblical and other, has been much the same\nas that hitherto pursued. Miss Cheney commenced \"Watts on the Mind,\"\nwith some of the older pupils, in English. All the pupils have had\nfamiliar lessons on Church History in Arabic, and some of them have\nbegun an abridged work on Moral Philosophy. Much effort has been\nbestowed upon the cultivation of a taste for the reading of profitable\nbooks, and a number of the girls have read the whole of \"D'Aubigne's\nHistory of the Reformation,\" and other history with Mrs. De Forest in\nthe evening class, the atlas being always open before them. Mrs. Smith\nhas given some instruction in the rudiments of drawing to a part of the\npupils, and Mrs. Bird and Mrs. Calhoun have given lessons in vocal\nmusic, for which some of the pupils have considerable taste.\n\n\"After completing the 'Companion to the Bible' in Arabic, the whole\nschool were engaged daily in a Harmony of the Gospels, and other\nBiblical and religious instruction has been continued as heretofore. We\nhave ever kept in mind the necessity of not denationalizing these Arab\nchildren, and we believe that this desired result has been attained. The\nlong vacation of six weeks in the spring, and the same in the autumn,\nthe commencement of all instruction in Arabic, and the preponderance of\nArabic study in the school, have contributed to this result. The older\npupils have attained to a considerable knowledge of English, giving them\naccess to books suitable for girls to read, and yet Arabic is the\nlanguage of the school, and the pupils are Syrians still in dress and\nmanners. The advantages of the school are more and more appreciated in\nthe city, and the adjacent mountains. Many were exceedingly earnest in\noffering their daughters last autumn, both Protestant and other, and\nsome when repulsed at the Seminary, besought the mission families to\nreceive their children.\"\n\nDuring the next year, the school was placed in the family of Mr. and\nMrs. Wilson, under the charge of Miss Cheney. A class of eight\ngraduated, and the pupils contributed to benevolent objects of the\nfruits of their industry, over 1200 piastres, or about fifty dollars.\n\nIn a report on Education, prepared by the Syria Mission in 1855, it was\nstated, that \"without entering into details in regard to the course of\nstudy pursued, we are happy to say that the results of Dr. De Forest's\nSeminary were very gratifying, and proved, if proof were needed, that\nthere is the same capacity in the native female mind of the country that\nthere is in the male, and that under proper instruction, and by the\nblessing of God, there will be brought forward a class of intelligent,\npious and efficient female helpers in the great work of evangelizing\nthis community.\"\n\nThe hope implied in the above sentence with regard to the raising up of\n\"a class of intelligent, pious and efficient female helpers,\" has been\nabundantly realized. The list of Dr. De Forest's pupils is to a great\nextent the list of the leading female teachers and helpers in all the\nvarious departments of evangelic work in Syria.\n\nNot having access to the records of the Seminary as they have been lost,\nI have obtained from several of the former pupils a list of the members\nof the various classes from 1848 to 1852. The whole number of pupils\nduring that period was twenty-three. Of these two died in faith, giving\ngood evidence of piety. Of the twenty-one who survive, twelve are\nmembers of the Evangelical Church, and nine are now or were recently\nengaged in _teaching_, although nearly twenty years have elapsed since\nthey graduated. Twenty-one are at the head of families, esteemed and\nhonored in the communities where they reside. The names of the whole\nclass are as follows:\n\n    Ferha Jimmal, now Kowwar of Nazareth.\n    Sara Haddad, now Myers of Beirut.\n    Sada Sabunjy, now Barakat of Beirut.\n    Sada Haleby, of Beirut.\n    Miriam Tabet, now Tabet of Beirut.\n    Khushfeh Mejdelany, now Musully of Beirut.\n    Khurma Mejdelany, now Ashy of Hasbeiya.\n    Mirta Tabet, now Suleeby of B'hamdun.\n    Feifun Maluf, of Aramoon.\n    Katrin Roza, of Kefr Shima.\n    Mirta Suleeby, now Trabulsy of Beirut.\n    Sara Suleeby, of Beirut.\n    Esteer Nasif, now Aieed of Suk el Ghurb.\n    Hada Suleeby, now Shidoody of Beirut.\n    Helloon Zazuah, now Zuraiuk of Beirut.\n    Khushfeh Towileh, now Mutr of Beirut.\n    Fetneh Suleeby, now Shibly of Suk el Ghurb.\n    Akabir Barakat, now Ghubrin of Beirut.\n    Hamdeh Barakat, now Bu Rehan of Hasbeiya.\n    Eliza Hashem, now Khuri of Beirut.\n    Rufka Haddad, (deceased).\n    Sara Bistany, (deceased).\n    Durra Schemail, of Kefr Shima.\n\nTwo of the most successful of those engaged in teaching, are now\nconnected with the British Syrian Schools. They are Sada Barakat and\nSada el Haleby. The former has written me a letter in English in regard\nto her own history and religious experience, which I take the liberty\nto transcribe here verbatim in her own language. She was one of the\n_least_ religious of all the pupils in the school, when she was first\nreceived but the work of conviction and conversion was a thorough one,\nand she has been enabled by the grace of God to offer constant and most\nefficient testimony to the reality of Christian experience, in the\nresponsible position she has been called upon to fill in the late Mrs.\nThompson's institution.\n\n                                            Suk el Ghurb, Mt. Lebanon,\n                                                  _September 3, 1872_.\n\n     Dear Sir--I am thankful to say, in reply to your inquiry,\n     that I was not persecuted when I became a Protestant, like my other\n     native sisters were when they became Protestants, because I was\n     very young. I was about four years old when my father died, and a\n     year after, my mother married a Protestant man. I came to live with\n     my mother in her new home, with my two brothers. It was very hard\n     to lose a dear loving father who loved his children so much as my\n     mother tells me he did. But the Lord does everything right, because\n     if the Lord had not taken my father away from us I should not have\n     known the true religion. I lived in my step-father's house till I\n     was twelve years old. I was then placed in Dr. De Forest's school,\n     in the year 1848. I stayed there four years. I was not clever at my\n     studies, and especially the English language was very difficult for\n     me. Even until now I remember a lesson in English which was so hard\n     for me that I was punished twice for it, and I could not learn it.\n     Now it will make me laugh to think of these few words, which I\n     could not translate into Arabic: \"The hen is in the yard.\" My mind\n     was more at play than at learning. I was very clever at housework,\n     and at dressing dolls, and was always the leader in all games. From\n     that you can see that I was not a very good girl at school. After\n     the two first years I began to think how nice it would be to become\n     a real Christian like my dear teacher Dr. De Forest. Then I used to\n     pray, and read, especially the \"Pilgrim's Progress,\" and my mind\n     was so busy at it that I used sometimes to leave my lesson and go\n     and sit alone in my room. Nobody knew what was the matter with me,\n     but Dr. De Forest used to ask me why I did not go to school? I\n     told him that I was very troubled, and he told me to pray to God\n     very earnestly to give me a new heart. I did pray, but I did not\n     have an answer then. Three or four times during my school time I\n     began to wish to become a Christian. I prayed and was very\n     troubled. I wept and would not play, and as I got no immediate\n     answer, I left off reading and sometimes praying entirely.\n     Everybody noticed that I did not much care to read, and especially\n     a religious book. I felt that my heart had grown harder than before\n     I had wished to become a Christian. The greatest trial was that I\n     had no faith, and for that reason I used not to believe in prayer,\n     but still I longed to become a real Christian. I left school in the\n     year 1852, and went to live at home with my mother. I was taken\n     ill, and when I was ill I was very much afraid of death, for I felt\n     that God was very angry with me.\n\n     Till about two years after I left school, I had no religion at all.\n     One evening a young man from Abeih came to our house. His name is\n     Giurgius el Haddad, who is now Mr. Calhoun's cook. After a little\n     while he began to talk about religion, and to read the book,\n     \"Little Henry and his Bearer.\" I felt very much ashamed that others\n     who did not have the opportunity to learn about religion had\n     religion, and I, who had learned so much, had none. That was the\n     blessed evening on which I began to inquire earnestly about my\n     salvation. I was three months praying and found no answer to my\n     prayers. Christian friends tried to lead me to Christ, but I could\n     not take hold of Him, till He Himself appeared to my soul in all\n     His beauty and excellency. Before I found peace Dr. Eli Smith and\n     Mr. Whiting wanted me to teach a day school for them. That was\n     about three years after I left off learning. \"Oh,\" thought I, \"how\n     can I teach others about Christ when I do not know Him myself?\"\n     However I began the school by opening and closing it with prayer,\n     without any faith at all. So I began by reading from the first of\n     Matthew, till I came to the 16th chapter. When I came to that\n     chapter I read as usual, with blinded eyes; but when I came to the\n     (13th) thirteen verse, and from there to the seventeenth, where it\n     says, \"Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath\n     not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven,\" I\n     felt that this had been said to me, and were these words sounded\n     from heaven I would not have felt happier. How true it is that no\n     flesh could reveal unto me what God had revealed, because many\n     Christian friends tried to make me believe, but I could not, I\n     felt as if everything had become new and beautiful, because my\n     Heavenly Father had made them all. I was sometimes with faith and\n     sometimes doubting, and by these changes my faith was strengthened.\n     After a short time, I asked Mr. Whiting to let me join the Church.\n     He asked me if I saw any change in myself, and I said, \"One thing I\n     know, that I used to dislike Christian people, and now they are my\n     best friends.\" After a short time I was permitted to join the\n     Church. Then I left off teaching the day school, and was asked to\n     teach in a Boarding school with Miss Cheney, in the same Seminary\n     where I was brought up. We taught in that school only six months.\n     Miss Cheney married, and I was engaged to be married. While I was\n     engaged, I went to Mr. Bird's school for girls in Deir el Kamr, and\n     taught there for more than a year. I was married by Mr. Bird in his\n     own house to M. Yusef Barakat, and then we went to Hasbeiya. I\n     stayed there seven months and then went to Beirut, and thence to\n     Damascus with my husband, because he had to teach there. I had\n     nothing to do there but to look after my house, my little boy, and\n     my husband.\n\n     After some time, the massacre broke out in Damascus, (July 9,\n     1860,) so we came back as refugees to Beirut. Soon after my husband\n     was taken ill and then died. In that same year 1860, dear Mrs.\n     Bowen Thompson came to Beirut. She felt for the widows and orphans,\n     being herself a widow. She asked me if I would come and teach a\n     school for the widows and orphans, which I accepted thankfully. We\n     opened the school with five children and seven women, and the work,\n     by God's help has prospered, so that now, instead of one school,\n     there are twenty-two schools. Until now I continue teaching in the\n     Institution, and had I known that nearly all my life would be spent\n     in teaching, I should have tried to gain more when I was a child. I\n     can forget father and mother, but can never forget those who taught\n     me, especially about religion. Although some of them are dead, yet\n     still they live by their Christian example, which they have left\n     behind. My whole life will be full of gratitude to those dear\n     Christian friends, and I pray that God himself may reward them a\n     hundred fold.\n\n                    Yours respectfully,\n\n                                                  Sada Barakat.\n\nIn the year 1851 the Missionary Sewing Society of the Beirut Female\nSeminary heard of the interesting state of things in Aintab, and that\nthe women there were anxious to learn to read. The missionaries in\nAintab hired an old man to go around from house to house to teach the\nwomen to read in their homes, but the women were so eager to learn that\nthe old man was unable to meet the demand. So children were employed to\nassist. The plan worked admirably, and in 1851, eighty women received\ninstruction and became able to read God's Word. The Arab girls in Mrs.\nDe Forest's school were called together, and it was proposed that they\nsew and embroider and send the proceeds of their work to pay the little\ngirl teachers in Aintab. There were present, Ferha, (joy,) Sara, Saada\nSabunjy, Miriam, Khushfeh, Khurma, Mirta, (Martha) Feifun, Katrina,\nHada, Sada el Haleby, Esteer, Helloon, Fetny, Akabir, Hamdy, and Liza.\nThe needles were briskly plied, and in due time, two hundred and fifty\npiastres were collected and forwarded to Aintab. Mrs. Schneider wrote\nback thanking the \"dear Arab girls.\" The habits of benevolence thus\nacquired have continued with the most of these girls until now. The\ngreater part of them are now church-members and the heads of families.\n\nThe following letter written by Mrs. De Forest in Feb. 1852, gives some\naccount of Lulu Araman.\n\n                                        Beirut, Syria, _February, 1852_.\n\n     My Dear young friends in Thetford:\n\n     The quilt you sent came safely, and I thank you much for all the\n     care and trouble you have taken to make and quilt it for me. I at\n     first thought of keeping it for myself, but then it occurred to me\n     that perhaps it might please you better and interest you more if I\n     gave it to Lulu, one of my girls, who is to be married some time\n     this year to Mr. Michaiel Araman, one of the teachers in the Abeih\n     Seminary. You will thus have the pleasure of feeling that you have\n     in one sense done something for the school, as she is an assistant\n     pupil, or pupil teacher. She has been with me now for about eight\n     years, and seems almost like my own daughter. Perhaps you will be\n     interested in knowing something of her.\n\n     She was born in a pleasant valley, Wady Shehrur, near Beirut,\n     celebrated for its fine oranges, and indeed for almost all kind of\n     fine fruits. She lost both her parents early in life. Her brothers\n     (contrary to the usual custom here where girls are not much\n     regarded or cared for) were very kind to her, and as she was a\n     delicate child, they took great care of her, and often used to make\n     vows to some saint in her behalf. At one time, when she was very\n     ill, they vowed to Mar Giurgis (for they are members of the Greek\n     Church, and St. George is one of the favorite saints of the Greeks,\n     and indeed of all the Christian sects here, and they still show the\n     spot where he is said to have killed the dragon) that if she\n     recovered, she should carry to one of his shrines two wax candles\n     as tall as herself and of a prescribed weight. While she was still\n     feeble they provided the candles, and as she was too weak to walk,\n     they carried her and the candles also, to the holy place and\n     presented them.\n\n     When she was eight years old, they were persuaded by an\n     acquaintance to place her in one of the Mission families. Here she\n     was instructed in her own language, and especially in the Holy\n     Scriptures. She was allowed, however, to keep her feasts and fasts,\n     and to attend her own church, until she became convinced that these\n     things would not save her and she wished to give them up. One feast\n     day the lady with whom she lived gave her some sewing and told her\n     to seat herself and do her task. She refused, saying it was a feast\n     day, and it was unlawful work. A little while after she asked\n     permission to go and visit her brother's family; but the lady told\n     her, \"No, if it is unlawful to work, it is unlawful to visit. I\n     have no objection to your keeping your feast days, but if you do\n     you must keep them as holy time.\" So she gave her a portion of\n     Scripture to learn, and she was kept very quiet all day, as though\n     it was the Sabbath, and without the day being made agreeable to her\n     like the Sabbath by going to Church and Sabbath School. She did\n     not at all like keeping a feast in this manner, which is very\n     different from the manner in which such a day or even the Sabbath,\n     is kept in this land, and was ever after ready to work when told to\n     do so. When her brothers saw that she was beginning to give up\n     their vain ceremonies, they became anxious to get her away, lest\n     she should become a Protestant; and at one time, when she went home\n     to attend the wedding of one of her relatives, they refused to\n     allow her to return, and it was only through the good management of\n     the native friend who was sent for her, and her own determination\n     to come, that she was permitted to come back.\n\n     We hope that she became truly pious six years ago, in 1846, as her\n     life evinces that she is striving to live according to the precepts\n     of the gospel. She has never dared to go home again, although it\n     has been a great trial for her to stay away, because she knew that\n     she should be obliged to remain there, and to conform to the\n     idolatrous rites of the Greek Church. She has assisted us in the\n     School for nearly five years, besides teaching a day school at\n     various times, before the Boarding School was commenced, and we\n     shall feel very sorry to part with her. Still we hope that she will\n     yet be useful to her countrywomen, and furnish them an example of a\n     happy Christian home, of which there are so few at present in this\n     country.\n\n     Our school has now nineteen pupils, most of whom are promising.\n     Some we hope are true Christians. The girls opened their box the\n     other day, and found that they had a little more than last year\n     from their earnings. Some friends added a little, and they have now\n     forty dollars. One half they send to China, and the other half give\n     to the Church here.\n\nThe hope expressed by Mrs. De Forest in 1852, with regard to the future\nusefulness of Lulu, has not been disappointed. Her family is a model\nChristian family, the home of piety and affection, the centre of a pure\nand hallowed influence. Her eldest daughter Katie, named from Mrs. De\nForest, is now a teacher in the Beirut Female Seminary in which her\nfather has been the principal instructor in the Bible and in the higher\nArabic branches for ten years. For years this institution was carried\non in Lulu's house, and she was the Matron while Rufka was the\nPreceptress, and its very existence is owing to the patient and faithful\nlabors of those two Christian Syrian women. If any one who reads these\nlines should doubt the utility of labors for the girls and women of the\nArab race, let him visit first the squalid, disorderly, cheerless and\nChristless homes of the mass of the Arab villagers of Syria, and then\nenter the cheerful, tidy, well ordered home of Mr. and Mrs. Araman, when\nthe family are at morning prayers, listen to the voice of prayer and\npraise and the reading of God's word. Instead of the father sitting\ngloomily alone at his morning meal, and the mother and children waiting\ntill their lord is through and then eating by themselves in the usual\nArab way, he would see the whole family seated together in a Christian,\nhomelike manner, the Divine blessing asked, and the meal conducted with\npropriety and decorum. After breakfast the father and Katie go to the\nSeminary to give their morning lessons, Henry (named for Dr. De Forest)\nsets out for the College, in which he is a Sophomore, and the younger\nchildren go to their various schools. Lulu's place at church is rarely\nvacant, and since that \"relic of barbarism\" the _curtain_ which\nseparated the men from the women has been removed from the building, the\nwhole family, father, mother, and children sit together and join in the\nworship of God. Her brother and relatives from \"Wady\" are on the most\naffectionate terms with her, and her elder sister is in the domestic\ndepartment of the Beirut Female Seminary.\n\nThis change is very largely due to the efforts of Mrs. De Forest, whose\nname with that of her sainted husband is embalmed in the memory of the\nChristian families of Syria, and will be held in everlasting\nremembrance. The _second generation_ of Christian teachers is now\ngrowing up in Syria. Three of Mrs. De Forest's pupils have daughters now\nengaged in teaching. Khushfeh, Lulu, and Sada el Haleby; and Miriam\nTabet has a daughter married to Mr. S. Hallock, of the American Press in\nBeirut.\n\n\nFRUITS OF DR. DE FOREST'S GIRL'S SCHOOL.\n\nIn the autumn of 1852, there was a school of thirty girls in B'hamdun, a\nvillage high up in Mt. Lebanon. Fifteen months before the teacher was\nthe only female in the village who could read, and she had been taught\nby the native girls in Dr. De Forest's school. Quite a number of the\ngirls of the village had there learned to read, and they all came to the\nschool clean and neatly dressed. They committed to memory verses of\nScripture, and it was surprising to see how correctly they recited them\nat the Sabbath School. At meeting they were quiet and attentive like the\nbest behaved children in Christian lands. It would be difficult to sum\nup the results of that little school for girls twenty years ago in\nB'hamdun. That village is full of gospel light. A Protestant church\nedifice is in process of erection, a native pastor, Rev. Sulleba\nJerawan, preaches to the people, and the mass of the people have at\nleast an intellectual acquaintance with the truth.\n\nThe picturesque village of B'hamdun, where Dr. De Forest's school is\nestablished, is on the side of a lofty mountain. It is nearly 4000 feet\nabove the level of the Mediterranean Sea. The village is compact as a\nlittle city, the streets narrow, rocky and crooked, the houses\nflat-roofed, and the floors of mud. One of the Protestants, the father\nof Miriam Tabet, has built a fine large house with glass windows and\npaved floors, which is one of the best houses in that part of Lebanon.\nThe village is surrounded by vineyards, and the grapes are regarded as\nthe finest in Mt. Lebanon. The people say that they never have to dig\nfor the foundation of a house, but only to sweep off the dust with a\nbroom. There is not a shade tree in the village. One day Dr. De Forest\nasked, \"Why don't you plant a tree?\" \"We shall not live till it has\ngrown,\" was the reply. \"But your children will,\" said the Doctor. \"Let\nthem plant it then,\" was the satisfactory answer.\n\nMy first visit to B'hamdun was made in February, 1856, a few days after\nmy first arrival in Syria. On Sabbath morning I attended the Sabbath\nSchool with Mr. Benton, at that time a missionary of the A.B.C.F.M. One\nlittle girl named Katrina Subra, then nine years of age, repeated the\nArabic Hymn \"Kumu wa Rettelu,\" \"Awake and sing the song of Moses and the\nLamb.\" She was a bright-eyed child of fair complexion and of unusual\nintelligence. At that time there was no children's hymn book in Arabic,\nand I asked Mr. B. to promise the children that when I had learned the\nArabic, I would translate a collection of children's hymns into Arabic,\nwhich promise was fulfilled first in the printing of the \"Douzan el\nKethar,\" \"The tuning of the Harp,\" in 1861. Katrina was the daughter of\nElias Subra, one of the wealthiest men in the village, who had just then\nbecome a Protestant. She had been interested in the truth for some time,\nand though at the time only eight years old, was accustomed during the\npreceding summer to tell the Arab children that she was a Protestant,\nthough they answered her with insults and cursing. At first she could\nnot bear to be abused, and answered them in language more forcible than\nproper, but by the time of my visit she had become softened and subdued\nin her manner, and was never heard to speak an unkind word to any one.\nShe undertook, even at that age, to teach the Greek servant girl in the\nfamily how to read. One day the old Greek Priest met her in the street\nand asked her why she did not go to confession as the other Greek\nchildren do. She replied that she could go to Christ and confess. The\npriest then said that her father and the rest of the Protestants go to\nthe missionary and write out their sins on papers which he puts into rat\nholes in the wall! Katrina knew this to be a foolish falsehood and told\nthe priest so. He then asked her how the Protestants confess. She\nreplied that they confess as the Lord Jesus tells them to, quoting to\nhim the language of Scripture, (Matt. 6:6.) \"But thou when thou\nprayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut the door, pray\nto thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father who seeth in secret\nshall reward thee openly.\" The priest was confounded by the ready\ntruthful answer of the child, and turned away.\n\nThree years later Katrina was a member of the Mission Female Seminary in\nSuk el Ghurb, a village three hours distant from Beirut, under the\ninstruction of Miss Temple and Miss Johnson, and continued there until\nthe Seminary was broken up by the massacres of May and June, 1860. I\nremember well the day when that procession of girls and teachers rode\nand walked down from Suk el Ghurb to Beirut. All Southern Lebanon was in\na blaze. Twenty-five villages were burning. Druze and Maronite were in\ndeadly strife. Baabda and Hadeth which we passed on our way to Beirut,\nwere a smoking ruin. Armed bodies of Druzes passed and saluted us, but\nno one offered to insult one of the girls by word or gesture. Dr. and\nMrs. Bliss gave us lunch at their home in the Suk as we came from Abeih,\nand then followed a few days later to Beirut. Miss Temple tried to\nre-open the school in Beirut, but the constant tide of refugees coming\nin from the mountains, and the daily rumors of an attack by Druzes and\nMoslems on Beirut, threw the city into a panic, and it was found\nimpossible to carry on the work of instruction. The girls were sent to\ntheir parents where this was practicable, and the Seminary as such\nceased for a time to exist. Katrina, was married in 1864 to M. Ghurzuzy,\na Protestant merchant of Beirut, who is now secular agent or Wakil of\nthe Syrian Protestant College. In 1866, she united with the Evangelical\nChurch in Beirut. She has had repeated attacks of illness, in which she\nhas manifested the most entire submission to the Divine will, and a calm\nand sweet trust in her Lord and Saviour. Her home is a Christian home,\nand her children are being trained in \"the nurture and admonition of the\nLord.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nRE-OPENING OF THE SCHOOL IN BEIRUT.\n\n\nIn 1856 Miss Cheney re-opened the Female Seminary with eight pupils, in\nBeirut, and in the 34 schools of the Mission there were 1068 pupils, of\nwhom 266 were girls.\n\nIn 1857, there were 277 girls in the various schools.\n\nIn 1858, Miss Temple and Miss Johnson arrived from America, and the\nFemale Seminary was opened in Suk el Ghurb in the family of Rev. Dr.\nBliss. Miss Johnson and Miss Cheney having returned to the United\nStates, Miss Mason came to aid Miss Temple in February, 1860. The girl's\nschool in Beirut under the care of Rufka Gregory, had about 60 pupils.\nThe civil war in Lebanon, followed by the massacres in Jezzin, Deir el\nKomr, Hasbeiya, Rasheiya and Damascus, beginning in May, and continuing\nuntil the middle of July, broke up all our schools and seminaries, and\nfilled the land with sorrow and desolation.\n\nMiss Temple and Miss Mason remained for a season in Beirut, studying the\nArabic language, and in 1862 Miss Temple having returned to the U.S.A.,\nMiss Mason opened a Boarding School for girls in Sidon.\n\nIt was decided that none but Protestant girls should be received into\nthis school, that no English should be taught, and that the style of\neating, sleeping and dress should be conformed as much as possible to\nthe standard of native customs in the country villages, in order that\nthe girls might the more readily return to their homes as teachers,\nwithout acquiring European tastes and habits. Miss Mason carried on this\nschool until 1865, when she returned to the U.S.A., and it was decided\nif possible to carry it on with native instructors under the supervision\nof Mrs. Eddy.\n\nIn the winter of 1867 it was under the kind charge of Mrs. Watson of\nShemlan and her adopted daughter, Miss Handumeh Watson, and is now\nconducted by two English young ladies, Miss Jacombs and Miss Stanton,\nwho are supported by the London \"Society for the Promotion of Female\nEducation in the East.\" On the removal of the girls' Boarding School to\nSidon, it was evident that the Female Seminary must be re-opened in\nBeirut. Owing to the depressed state of Missionary finances in America,\narising from the civil war, it was deemed advisable to reorganize the\nBeirut Seminary on a new basis, with only native teachers. The\nProvidence of God had prepared teachers admirably fitted for this work,\nwho undertook it with cheerful hope and patient industry. It was decided\nto make a paying Boarding School of a higher order than any existing\ninstitution in Syria, and to resume instruction in the English language,\ngiving lessons also in French and Music to those who were willing to\npay for these branches.\n\nMr. Michaiel Araman, for many years a teacher in the Abeih Seminary with\nMr. Calhoun, and for some time a native preacher in Beirut, was\nappointed instructor in the Biblical History and the Higher Arabic\nbranches; his wife Lulu, the Matron, and Miss Rufka Gregory, the\nPreceptress. Rufka was an orphan, as already stated, and was trained\nwith her sister Sada in the family of Mr. and Mrs. Whiting for many\nyears. As a teacher and a disciplinarian she had not an equal among the\nwomen of Syria, and under the joint management of this corps of\nteachers, aided by competent assistants in the various branches, the\nSeminary rose in public esteem, until it became one of the most\nattractive and prosperous institutions in Syria.\n\nIn March, 1862, Rufka's day school of seventy girls held a public\nexamination in the Chapel. The girls were examined in Arabic reading,\ngeography, grammar, catechism, arithmetic, Scripture lessons and\nEnglish, with an exhibition of specimens of their needle work. In the\nfall it was commenced as a Boarding School, with two paying pupils and\nfour charity pupils. The funds for commencing the boarding department\nwere furnished by Mr. Alexander Van Rensselaer, Mrs. Henry Farnum, Col.\nFrazer, H.B.M. Commissioner to Syria, and others. The Seminary not being\nunder the direction of the Mission as such, nor in connection with the\nAmerican Board, was placed under the care of a local Board of Managers,\nconsisting of Dr. Thomson, Dr. Van Dyck, Consul J.A. Johnson, and Rev.\nH.H. Jessup. Dr. Thomson was indefatigable in his efforts to place it on\na firm and permanent foundation, as a purely Native Protestant\ninstitution, and the fact that such a school could be carried on for a\nyear without a single foreign instructor, was one of the most\nencouraging features in the history of the Syria Mission. It was the\nfirst purely native Female Seminary in Western Asia, and we hope it will\nnot be the last.\n\nIt will continue to be the aim of the Mission, and of the present able\nfaculty of the institution, to train up Native teachers qualified to\ncarry on the work in the future.\n\nAt the same time in the fall of 1862, a school for Damascene girls was\nopened in an upper room of my house, under the care of one of Dr. De\nForest's pupils, Sada el Haleby, who carried it on successfully with\nseventy girls until August, 1864, when, on my departure for the U.S.A.\nthe school was taken up by the late Mrs. Bowen Thompson, whose Society\nhas maintained it until this day.\n\nIn 1863, the number of paying boarders in the Seminary had increased to\ntwenty, and in 1866 the pupils numbered eighty, and the income from\nnative paying pupils was about fifteen hundred dollars in gold!\n\nThe Annual Examination was held in the latter part of June, in the\nMission Chapel, and continued three days, thronged by a multitude of\ninterested spectators. The Turkish official Arabic Journal of Beirut,\nthe \"Hadikat el Akhbar,\" published a lengthy report of the Examination,\npronouncing it the most satisfactory examination of girls that ever took\nplace in Syria. An English clergyman who was present refused to believe\nthat they were Syrian girls, insisting that they must be English. The\ngirls recited in Bible History, giving all the important dates from Adam\nto Christ, with an account of the rites, sacrifices and prophecies which\nrefer to Christ, giving also the names of all the patriarchs, judges,\nkings and prophets in their order. Twenty-two different classes were\nexamined, and many of the girls read original compositions.\n\nOn the Sabbath, July 1st, two of the assistant teachers, Asin Haddad and\nSara Sarkis were received to the communion of the Beirut Church. They\ntraced their religious awakening to the dying testimony of Sara Bistany,\nwhich is described in a subsequent chapter. Several of the younger\npupils were much interested in the subject of religion at the time, and\none little girl about seven years old said to her teacher, \"I gave the\nLord my heart, and He took it.\" Asin died in Latakiah in 1869,\ntriumphing in Christ. The women of the neighborhood came to the house of\nher brother to hear her joyous expressions of trust in Jesus, and her\nassurance that she should soon be with Him in glory. She was the second\ndaughter of that young bride of fifteen years of age, who learned to\nread in 1825, in the school taught by her own husband, Tannus el\nHaddad.\n\nIn 1867, the health of Rufka having become seriously impaired, she\nremoved to Egypt, where after a period of rest, she opened on her own\naccount a school for girls in Cairo, which she maintained with her\nwonted energy, until her marriage with the Rev. Mr. Muir, a Scotch\nclergyman, whom she accompanied to Melbourne, Australia, in 1869. Since\nthe death of her husband she has returned to her favorite employment of\nteaching, with marked success, among the British population of\nMelbourne.\n\nWhile in Cairo, she passed through a deep and agonizing religious\nexperience, which she described in the following letter to Mrs. Whiting,\nand the result of which was a new life in Christ.\n\n     Cairo, Egypt, _July 9, 1868_.\n\n     \"I think I shall always remember my stay in Cairo with much\n     pleasure, but the greatest advantage of this year is the\n     opportunity I had of stopping to think of the interests of a never\n     dying soul, of a neglected Saviour, an offended God. Yes, I have\n     reflected, struggled, oh, how hard, and thanks to an ever merciful\n     God, I trust I have been led by the Holy Spirit to see and feel my\n     great sin, and casting myself at the feet of Jesus, stayed there\n     with my sinful heart till a loving Saviour just came and took it\n     up. Oh, how grieved was His tender heart when He saw how defiled it\n     was with sin and wickedness, but He said, fear not, my blood will\n     cleanse it and make it pure; then how He pleaded my case before His\n     Father, setting forth His boundless love and infinite righteousness\n     as a reason why He wished to be accepted. Yes, dear Mrs. Whiting, I\n     hope I can now say, Thy God is my God, and the blessed Saviour you\n     have loved so long is now very precious to me. The past winter has\n     been a solemn time with me. Many hard struggles have I had, much\n     fear that I might have forever grieved God's Holy Spirit, and for\n     a long time it all seemed so dark, there seemed no hope for me who\n     had been so long living away from the Saviour, but in great fear\n     and despair I just rushed and cast myself at His feet, and asked\n     Him to let me perish there if I must perish; there was nothing else\n     for me to do, and I felt such happiness in just leaving myself in\n     His care. How wonderful is His love! But what a life of constant\n     prayer and watching is that of a Christian! in the first place to\n     aim at close walking with God, leaving Him to order our steps for\n     us, and trusting Him so to order our way as to best enable us to\n     walk closely with Him. It has been a most comforting thought when I\n     find it difficult to live right and feel my utter weakness, that\n     Jesus is each day saying to His Father for me, \"I pray not she\n     should be taken out of the world, but that she should be _kept from\n     the evil_,\" and to live up to our privileges and to walk worthy of\n     our high calling.\n\n     My precious teacher, I know you will rejoice and thank God with me\n     for His great goodness to me in bringing me to the feet of Jesus.\n     Oh, how precious He is to my poor soul! He is Heaven. How He\n     blesses me every moment! His boundless love to _me_ who am most\n     unworthy of the least of His mercies. If ever any one had reason to\n     boast of the loving kindness of the Lord, it surely must be myself.\n     In His great mercy I have had the privilege of openly confessing my\n     faith in Him, and publicly professing my determination to be the\n     Lord's at the last communion in the Church here in May. I put it\n     off till then hoping to do it in Beirut in the Church dear Mr.\n     Whiting had preached in for so many years, and among the girls I\n     had taught, and all the young friends there, but as that was not\n     allowed me, I joined the Church here.\"\n\nHer devoted friend and loving assistant teacher Luciyah, was deeply\naffected by what she learned from Rufka of her new spiritual life, and\nshe too turned her thoughts to divine things, and soon after the arrival\nof Miss Everett and Miss Carruth in 1868, to take charge of the\nSeminary, she came out openly on the Lord's side, and in the midst of a\nfire of domestic persecution, publicly professed her faith in Jesus as\nher only Saviour.\n\nMiss Carruth, after staying just long enough in the Seminary to win the\nhearts of teachers and pupils, was obliged to return to her native land,\nwhere she is still an efficient laborer in the New England Woman's\nBoards of Missions.\n\nThe year following the departure of Rufka to Egypt was a critical time\nin the history of the Seminary. Lulu continued in charge of the domestic\ndepartment, and Mr. Araman managed the business of the school, while\nMrs. Salt (a sister of Melita and Salome) aided in several of the\nclasses. But the institution owed its great success during that year, if\nnot its very existence, to the untiring energy and efficient services of\nMrs. Dr. Bliss and Miss Emilia Thomson, daughter of the Rev. Dr.\nThomson. They each gave several hours every day to instruction in the\nEnglish language, the Scriptures and music, and the high standard of\nexcellence already attained in the Seminary was maintained if not\nsurpassed.\n\nTheir perfect familiarity with the Arabic language gave them a great\nadvantage in the management and instruction of the pupils, and their\nefforts on behalf of the Institution, in maintaining it in full and\nsuccessful operation during the year previous to the arrival of Miss\nEverett and Miss Carruth, deserve grateful recognition.\n\nIn the winter of 1870 and 1871 Miss Sophia Loring, and Miss Ellen\nJackson arrived from America as colleagues of Miss Everett, and under\ntheir efficient management aided by Mr. Araman, Luciyah and other native\nteachers, the Seminary is enjoying a high degree of prosperity.\n\nIn March, 1864, the Mission had issued an appeal for funds to erect a\npermanent home for this Seminary, and in 1866 the present commodious and\nsubstantial edifice was erected, a lasting monument of the liberality of\nChristian men and women in America and England.\n\nIts cost was about eleven thousand dollars, and the raising of this sum\nwas largely due to the liberality and personal services of Mr. Wm. A.\nBooth, of New York, who also kindly acted as treasurer of the building\nfund. The lumber used in its construction was brought from the state of\nMaine. The doors and windows were made under the direction of Dr. Hamlin\nof Constantinople, in Lowell, Mass., the tiles came from Marseilles, the\nstone from the sandstone quarries of Ras Beirut, the stone pavement\npartly from Italy and partly from Mt. Lebanon, and the eighty iron\nbedsteads from Birmingham, England. The cistern, which holds about\n20,000 gallons, was built at the expense of a Massachusetts lady, and\nthe portico by a lady of New York. The melodeon was given by ladies in\nGeorgetown, D.C., and the organ is the gift of a benevolent lady in\nNewport, R.I.\n\nTime would fail me to recount the generous offerings of Christian men\nand women who have aided in the support of this school during the ten\nyears of its history. Receiving no pecuniary aid from the American\nBoard, the entire responsibility of its support fell upon a few members\nof the Syria Mission. Travellers who passed through the Holy Land,\nsometimes assumed the support of charity pupils, or interested their\nSabbath Schools in raising scholarships, on their return home, and a few\nnoble friends in the United States have sent on their gifts from time to\ntime unsolicited, to defray the general expenses of the Institution. Its\nsupport has been to some of us a work of _faith_, as well as a labor of\nlove. Not unfrequently has the end of the month come upon us, without\none piastre in the treasury for paying the teachers' salaries or buying\nbread for the children, when suddenly, in some unknown and unexpected\nway, funds would be received, sufficient for all our wants. About two\nyears since the funds were entirely exhausted. More than a hundred\ndollars would be owing to the teachers and servants on the following\nday. The accounts were examined, and all possible means of relief\nproposed, but without avail. At length one of the members of the\nExecutive Committee asked leave to look over the accounts. He did so,\nand said he could not find any mention of a sum of about thirty\nNapoleons, which he was sure he had paid into the treasury several\nmonths before, as a donation from Mr. Booth of New York, whose son had\ndied in Beirut. The money had _not_ been paid into the school treasury.\nThe vouchers were all produced, and there was left no resort but prayer.\nThere was earnest supplication that night that the Lord would relieve\nus from our embarrassment, and provide for the necessities of the\nschool. The next morning the good brother, above mentioned, recalled to\nmind his having given that money to Dr. Van Dyck in the Mission Library\nfor the School. Dr. Van Dyck was consulted, and at once replied,\n\"Certainly I received the money. It is securely locked up in the safe\nwhere it has been for months awaiting orders.\" The safe was opened, and\nthe money found to be almost to a piastre the amount needed for\nobligations of the School.\n\nSince the transfer of the Syria Mission to the board of Missions of the\nPresbyterian Church, the pecuniary status of the Seminary has been\nsomewhat modified. The Women's Boards of Missions of New York and\nPhiladelphia have assumed the responsibility of raising scholarships for\nits support among the Auxiliary Societies and Sabbath Schools; the\nsalaries of the teachers are provided for by individuals and churches,\nand several of the old friends of the school retain their interest in\nit, while the danger of a deficit is guarded against, by the guarantees\nof the good Christian women who are doing so grand and noble a work in\nthis age for the world's evangelization. The annual cost of supporting a\npupil now is about sixty dollars gold. The number of paying pupils is\nincreasing, and the prospect for the future is encouraging.\n\nIn the year 1864, a letter was received from certain Christian women in\nAmerica, addressed to the girls of the School, and some of the older\ngirls prepared a reply in Arabic, a translation of which was sent to\nAmerica. It was as follows:\n\n\"From the girls of the Beirut School in Syria, to the sisters beloved in\nthe Lord Jesus, in a land very far away. We have been honored in reading\nthe lines which reached us from you, O sisters, distant in body but near\nin spirit, and we have given glory to God the Creator of all, who has\ncaused in your hearts true love to us, and spiritual sympathies which\nhave prompted you, dear sisters in the Lord, to write to us. Yes, it is\nthe Lord Jesus who has brought about between us and between you (Arabic\nidiom) a spiritual intercourse, without the intercourse of bodily\npresence. For we have never in our lives seen you, nor your country, nor\nhave we spoken to you face to face, and so you likewise have not seen\nus. Had neither of us the Word of God, the Holy and Only Book which is\nfrom one Father and a God unchangeable, to tell us that we have one\nnature, and have all fallen into one transgression, and are saved in one\nway, which is the Lord Jesus, we could not, as we now can, call you in\none union, our sisters. The Lord Jesus calls those who love Him His\nbrethren, and since He is the only bond and link, are we not His\nsisters, and thus sisters to each other? Truly, O dear sisters, we are\nthirsting to see you, and we all unite in offering prayers and praises\nto God, through His Son Immanuel, the possessor of the glorious Name,\npraying that we may see you; but we cannot in this world, for we are in\nthe East, and you are in the West, far, very far. But, O dear friends,\nas we hope for the resurrection from the dead, so after our period in\nthis world is ended, we shall meet by the blessing of God in those\nbright courts which are illumined by the light of the Saviour, which\nneed not sun nor moon to give them light,--that holy place which is\nfilled with throngs of angels who never cease to offer glory to God.\nThere we may meet and unite with all the saved in praising the Saviour.\nThere we may meet our friends who have passed on before us \"as waiting\nthey watch us approaching the shore,\" as we sing in the hymn. There\naround the throne of the glorious Saviour, there in the heavenly\nJerusalem, our songs will not be mingled with tears and grief, for the\nLord Jesus Himself will wipe away all tears from our eyes. There will\nnot enter sin nor its likeness into our hearts sanctified by the Holy\nSpirit. There this body which shall rise incorruptible, will not return\nto the state in which it was in this world. In those courts we shall be\nhappy always, and the reason is that we shall always be with the Great\nShepherd, as it is said in the Book of Revelation, 'He shall shepherd\nthem and lead them to fountains of living waters and wipe all tears from\ntheir eyes.' Our sisters, were it not for the Holy Bible which the Lord\nhas given to His people, we should have no comfort to console us with\nregard to our friends whom we have lost by means of death. We beg you to\nhelp us by offering prayers to the living and true God that He will make\nus faithful even unto death,--that He will bless us while on the sea of\nthis life, until we reach the shore of peace without fear or trouble,\nthat we may be ready to stand before the seat of the Lord Jesus the\nJudge of all, clothed in the robes of His perfect righteousness, which\nhe wove for us on the Cross, and is now ready to give to those who ask\nHim. Let us then all ask of God that this our only treasure may be\nplaced where no thief can break in and steal, and no moth shall corrupt.\nAnd may the Lord preserve you!\n\nWe love to sing this hymn,\n\n    'Holy Bible, Book Divine,\n    Precious treasure, thou art mine!'\n\nand we entreat you that when you sing it, you will let it be a\nremembrancer from us to you.\"\n\nIn March, 1865, a little girl was brought to the school under somewhat\npeculiar circumstances. Years ago, in the days of Mr. Whiting, a\nMaronite monk named Nejm, became enlightened, left the monastery and was\nmarried to a Maronite woman named Zarifeh, by Mr. Whiting. For years the\npoor man passed through the fires of persecution and trial. Even his\nwife, in her ignorance, though not openly opposing him, trembled with\nfear every time he read the Scriptures aloud. At the time mentioned\nabove, their little daughter Resha was about five years of age. The\nPapal Maronite Bishop of Beirut made a visit to Nejm's village, Baabda,\nto dispense indulgences, in accordance with the Pope's Encyclical\nletter. Nejm was called upon to pay his portion of the sum assessed upon\nthe people, but having been a Protestant fifteen years, he refused to\npay it. At the instigation of the priests, his wife was then taken from\nhim, and his little Resha, his only child, was carried off by one of the\npriests to Beirut, and thrust inside the gates of the convent of the\nFrench Sisters of Charity. The poor father came to me, well-nigh\nbroken-hearted, pleading for assistance. I laid the case before His\nExcellency Daud Pasha, Governor of Lebanon, who was then in Beirut, and\ndrew up a petition to the Pasha of Beirut also, on the subject. Nejm\nwent about weeping and wringing his hands, and my feelings became deeply\nenlisted in his behalf. Three weeks afterwards, after a series of\npetitions and visits to the Pasha of Beirut, the girl Resha was removed\nfrom the convent and taken by Nejm's enemies to a house near Nahr\nBeirut, about two miles distant, and just over the border line of the\nMountain Pashalic. I then addressed another letter to Daud Pasha, and he\npromptly ordered her to be restored to her father. The manner in which\nNejm, the father, finally secured the child was not a little amusing. He\nhad been searching for his child for several weeks, waiting and\nwatching, until his patience was about exhausted, when he heard that\nResha was again in the hands of the priests in Baabda. The mother\nfollowed the child, and the priests threatened to kill her, if she\ninformed her husband where the girl was secreted. Daud Pasha was then at\nhis winter palace in Baabda, and Nejm took my letter to him. While\nawaiting a reply at the door, some one informed him that his daughter\nwas at the fountain. Without waiting further for official aid, he ran to\nthe fountain, took up his daughter, put her on his back, and ran for\nBeirut, a distance of about four miles, where he brought her to my\nhouse, and placed her in my room, with loud ejaculations of thanks to\nGod. \"Neshkar Allah; El mejd lismoo.\" Thanks to God! Glory to His name!\nThe mother soon followed, and the girl was sent as a day scholar to the\nSeminary. They are now living in Baabda. The mother, Zarify, united with\nthe Evangelical Church of Beirut, July 21, 1872, giving the best\nevidence of a true spiritual experience. The little girl is anxious to\nteach, and it was proposed to employ her as an assistant in the girls'\nschool in Baabda, but the tyrannical oppressions of the priesthood upon\nthe family who had offered their house for the school, and the refusal\nof the Pasha of Lebanon to grant protection to the persecuted, have\nobliged the brethren there to postpone their request for a school for\nthe present.\n\nAlas for the poor women of Syria! Even when they seek to obtain the\nconsolations of the Gospel by learning to read the Word of life, they\nare surrounded by priests and Sheikhs who watch their chance to destroy\nthe \"Bread of Life!\" In March, 1865, a Maronite woman called at the\nPress to buy a book of poems, to teach her boy to read. \"Why not buy a\nTestament?\" asked the bookseller. \"I did buy an Engeel Mushekkel,\" (a\nvoweled Testament.) \"Be careful of it then,\" said Khalil, \"for the\nedition is exhausted, and you cannot get another for months.\" \"It is too\nlate to be careful now, for the book _has been burned_.\" \"Burned? by\nwhom?\" \"By the Jesuits, who gathered a large pile and burned them.\" God\ngrant that as Tyndale's English New Testament, first printed in 1527 was\nonly spread the more widely for the attempts of the Papal Bishop of\nLondon to burn it, so the Arabic Bible may receive a new impulse from\nthe similarly inspired efforts of the Bishop's successors!\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\nLUCIYA SHEKKUR.\n\n\nThe work done for Christ and for Syrian girls in the families of\nMissionaries in Syria, may well compare with that done in the\nestablished institutions of learning. Mrs. Whiting was not alone in the\nwork of training native Arab girls in her own home. The same work had\nbeen done by other Missionaries before her, and has been carried on with\nno little success by Mrs. Bird, Mrs. Calhoun and others, up to the\npresent time.\n\nIt is an interesting sight to see the Thursday afternoon Women's meeting\nin the house of Mrs. Calhoun in Abeih, and to know that a large part of\nthat company of bright, intelligent and tidily dressed young native\nwomen, who listen so intently to the Bible lesson, and join so heartily\nin singing the sweet songs of Zion, were trained up either in her own\nfamily, or under her own especial influence. By means of her own example\nin the training of her children, she has taught the women of Abeih, and\nthrough them multitudes of women in other villages, the true Christian\nmodes of family government and discipline, and introduced to their\nnotice and practice many of those little conveniences and habits in the\ntraining of children, whose influence will be felt for many\ngenerations.\n\nWhen Mr. and Mrs. Bird removed to Deir el Komr in 1855, they not only\nopened a large school for the education of girls, with Sada Haleby, one\nof Dr. De Forest's pupils, as teacher, but received into their own\nfamily three young girls, named Luciya, Sikkar and Zihry, all of whom\nentered upon spheres of usefulness. Zihry became a teacher, in Deir el\nKomr, and has continued to teach until the present time. She was at one\ntime connected with the Beirut Female Seminary, and is now teaching in\nthe Institution of Mrs. Shrimpton, under the auspices of the British\nSyrian Schools.\n\nLuciya taught in Deir el Komr until the school was overwhelmed in the\nfires and blood of the Massacre year, 1860.\n\nIn 1862 she taught in the Sidon School, and afterwards married the Rev.\nSulleba Jerwan, the first native pastor in Hums. In that great city, and\namid the growing interest of the young Protestant community, she found a\nwide and attractive field of labor. She was a young woman of great\ngentleness and delicacy of nature, and of strong religious feeling, and\nentered upon the work of laboring among the women and girls of Hums,\nwith exemplary zeal and discretion. She became greatly beloved, and her\nGodly example and gentle spirit will never be forgotten.\n\nBut at length her labors were abruptly cut short. Consumption, a disease\nlittle known in Syria, but which afterwards cut down her brother and\nonly sister Sikkar, fastened upon her, and she was obliged, in great\nsuffering, to leave the raw and windy climate of Hums, for the milder\nair of Beirut. Her two brothers being in the employ of Miss Whately in\nCairo, she went, on their invitation, to Egypt, where after a painful\nillness, she fell asleep in Jesus. Amid all her sufferings, she\nmaintained that same gentle and lovely temper of mind, which made her so\ngreatly beloved by all who knew her.\n\nShe has rested from her labors, and her works do follow her. Not long\nafter her sister Sikkar, who had also been trained in Mrs. Bird's\nfamily, died in her native village Ain Zehalteh.\n\nHer last end also, was peace, and although no concourse of Druze Sheikhs\ncame barefoot over the snow to her funeral, as they did on the death of\nthe Sitt Selma, in the same village, no doubt a concourse of higher and\nholier beings attended her spirit to glory.\n\nWhen Luciya was in Beirut before her departure to Egypt, I used to see\nher frequently, and I shall never forget the calm composure with which\nshe spoke of her anticipated release from the pains and sufferings of\nlife. Christ was her portion, and she lived in communion with him,\ncertain that ere long she should depart and be with him forever.\n\nThe poor Moslem women in the houses adjoining her room used to come in,\nand with half-veiled faces look upon her calm and patient face with\nwonder. Would that they too might find her Saviour precious to them, in\ntheir hours of sickness, suffering and death!\n\nTruly, there is no religion but that of Jesus Christ, that can soften\nthe pillow of suffering, and take away the sting and dread of death.\n\nOne of the most serious difficulties in the way of the higher female\neducation in Syria, is the early age at which girls are married. One\nyoung girl attended the Beirut Seminary for two years, from eight to\nten, and the teachers were becoming interested in her progress, when\nsuddenly her parents took her out of the school, and gave her to a man\nin marriage. After the festivities of the marriage week were over at her\nhusband's house, she went home to visit her mother, _taking her dolls\nwith her_ to amuse herself!\n\nThe Arabic journal \"the Jenneh\" of Beirut, contained a letter in June,\n1872, from its Damascus correspondent, praising the fecundity of Syria,\nand stating that a young woman who was married at nine and a half,\nbecame a grandmother at twenty! Such instances are not uncommon in\nDamascus and Hums, where the chief and almost the only concern of\nparents is to marry off their daughters as early as nature will allow,\nwithout education, experience or any other qualification for the\nresponsible duties of married life. When the above mentioned letter from\nDamascus was published, Dr. Van Dyck took occasion to write an article\nin the \"Neshra,\" the Missionary Weekly, of which he is the editor,\nexposing the folly and criminality of such early marriages, and\ndemonstrating their disastrous effects on society at large.\n\nSince the establishment of schools and seminaries of a high grade for\ngirls, this tendency is being decidedly checked in the vicinity of\nBeirut, and girls are not given up as incorrigibly old, even if they\nreach the age of seventeen.\n\nDr. Meshakah of Damascus, who has long been distinguished for his\nlearned and eloquent works on the Papacy, is a venerable white-bearded\npatriarch and his wife looks as if she were his daughter. I once asked\nhim how old she was when married, and he said _eleven_. I asked him why\nhe married her so young? He said that in his day, young girls received\nno training at home, and young men who wished properly trained wives,\nhad to marry them young, so as to educate them to suit themselves!\n\nEducation is rapidly obviating that necessity, and young men are more\nthan willing that girls to whom they are betrothed, should complete\ntheir education, lest they be eclipsed by others who remain longer at\nschool. I once called on a wealthy native merchant in Beirut, who\nremarked that \"the Europeans have a thing in their country which we have\nnot. They call it ed-oo-cashion, and I am anxious to have it introduced\ninto Syria.\" This \"ed-oo-cashion\" is already settling many a question in\nSyria which nothing else could settle, and the natives are also learning\nthat something more than mere book-knowledge is needed, to elevate and\nrefine the family. One of the most direct results of female education\nthus far in Syria has been the abolition from certain classes of\nsociety of some of those superstitious fears which harass and torment\nthe ignorant masses.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\nRAHEEL.\n\n\nNo sketch of Woman's Work for Syrian women would be complete which did\nnot give some account of the life and labors of that pioneer in work for\nSyrian women, Mrs. Sarah L.H. Smith, wife of Dr. Eli Smith. She reached\nBeirut, January 28, 1834, full of high and holy resolves to devote her\nlife to the benefit of her Syrian sisters. From the first to the very\nlast of her life in Syria, this was the one great object of her toils\nand prayers. As soon as April 2, she writes, \"Our school continues to\nprosper, and I love the children exceedingly. Do pray that God will\nbless this incipient step to enlighten the women of this country. You\ncannot conceive of their deplorable ignorance. I feel it more and more\nevery day. Their energies are expended in outward adorning of plaiting\nthe hair and gold and pearls and costly array, literally so. I close\nwith one request, _that you will pray for a revival of religion in\nBeirut_.\" Again she writes, June 30, 1834, \"I feel somewhat thoughtful,\nthis afternoon, in consequence of having heard of the ready consent of\nthe friends of a little girl, that I should take her as I proposed, and\neducate her. I am anxious to do it, and yet my experience and\nobservation in reference to such a course, and my knowledge of the\nsinful heart of a child, lead me to think I am undertaking a great\nthing. I feel, too, that my example and my instruction will control her\neternal destiny.\" This girl was Raheel Ata. Again, August 16: \"It is a\ngreat favor that so many of the men and boys can read. Alas, our poor\nsisters! the curse rests emphatically upon them. Among the Druze\nprincesses, some, perhaps the majority, furnish an exception and can\nread. Their sect is favorable to learning. Not so with the Maronites. I\nhave one scholar from these last, but when I have asked the others who\nhave been here if they wished to read, they have replied most absolutely\nin the negative, saying that it was for boys, and not for them. I have\nheard several women acknowledge that they knew no more than the\ndonkeys.\"\n\nAugust 23. A Maronite priest compelled two little girls to leave her\nschool, but the Greek priest sent \"his own daughter, a pretty,\nrosy-cheeked girl\" to be taught by Mrs. Smith. On the 22d of September,\n1834, she wrote from B'hamdun, a village five hours from Beirut, on\nLebanon, \"Could the females of Syria be educated and regenerated, the\nwhole face of the country would change; even, as I said to an Arab a few\ndays since, to the appearance of the houses and the roads. One of our\nlittle girls, whom I taught before going to the mountains, came to see\nme a day or two since, and talked incessantly about her love for the\nschool, and the errors of the people here, saying that they 'cared not\nfor Jesus Christ, but only for the Virgin Mary.'\"\n\nOctober 8. She says, \"A servant woman of Mrs. Whiting, who has now\nlived long enough with her to love her and appreciate her principles,\nabout a year and a half since remarked to some of the Arabs, that the\npeople with whom she lived did 'not lie, nor steal, nor quarrel, nor do\nany such things; but poor creatures,' said she, 'they have no\nreligion.'\"\n\nOn the 22d of October, she wrote again, \"Yesterday I went up to Mr.\nBird's to consult about the plan of a _school-house now commenced for\nfemales_. I can hardly believe that such a project is actually in\nprogress, and I hail it as the dawn of a happy change in Syria. Two\nhundred dollars have been subscribed by friends in this vicinity, and I\ntold Mr. B. that if necessary he might expend fifty more upon the\nbuilding, as our Sabbath School in Norwich had pledged one hundred a\nyear for female education in Syria.\"\n\nThe principal contributor to this fund was Mrs. Alexander Tod, formerly\nMiss Gliddon, daughter of the U.S. Consul in Alexandria.\n\nThe building stood near where the present Church in Beirut stands, and\nwas removed, and the stones used in the extension of the old Chapel. In\nthe year 1866 Mr. Tod revisited Beirut and contributed L100 towards the\nerection of the new Female Seminary, saying that as Mrs. Tod aided in\nthe first Female Seminary building in Beirut, he wished to aid in the\nsecond. The school-house was a plain structure, and was afterwards used\nas a boy's school, and the artist who photographed the designs printed\nin this volume received his education there under the instruction of the\nlate Shahin Sarkis, husband of Azizy.\n\nIn the latter part of October, 1834, Mrs. Smith writes, \"Yesterday I\ncommenced the female school with four scholars, which were increased to\nten to-day, and the number will probably continue to augment as before\nfrom week to week. As I walked home about sunset this evening, I\nthought, 'Can it be that I am a schoolmistress, and the only one in all\nSyria?' and I tripped along with a quick step amid Egyptians, Turks and\nArabs, Moslems and Jews, to my quiet and pleasant home.\"\n\nNovember 9. \"I sometimes indulge the thought that God has sent me to the\nfemales of Syria--to the little girls, of whom I have a favorite\nschool--for their good.\"\n\nJanuary 5, 1835. \"On Friday I distributed rewards to twenty-three little\ngirls belonging to my school, which, as they are all poor, consisted of\nclothing. Our Sabbath School also increases. Eighteen were present last\nSabbath.\"\n\nOn the 11th of January Dr. Thomson wrote, \"Mrs. Smith's female school\nprospers wonderfully, but it is the altar of her own health; and I fear\nthat in the flame that goeth up toward heaven from off that altar, she\nwill soon ascend as did Manoah's angel. We can hardly spare her; she is\nour only hope for a female school in Beirut at present.\"\n\nThe state of society in Syria at that time is well pictured in the\nfollowing language, used by Mrs. Smith in a letter dated February 12,\n1835: \"Excepting the three or four native converts, we know not one\npious religious teacher, one judicious parent, one family circle\nregulated by the fear of God; no, _not even one_!\"\n\n\"I wish I had strength to do more, but my school and my studies draw\nupon my energies continually.\" Even at that early day Moslem girls came\nto be taught by Mrs. Smith. She writes June 2, \"A few days since, one of\nmy little Moslem scholars, whose father was once an extensive merchant\nhere, came and invited me to make a call upon her mother. I took Raheel\nand accompanied her to their house which is in our neighborhood. I found\nit a charming spot and very neatly kept. Hospitality is regarded here as\na religious act, I think, and a reputation for it is greatly prized.\"\n\nIn July she wrote of what has not ceased to be a trial to all\nmissionaries in Beirut for the past forty years, the necessity of\nremoving to the mountains during the hot summer months. The climate of\nthe plain is debilitating to foreigners, and missionary families are\nobliged to spend three months of the hot season in the Lebanon villages.\n\"My school interests me more and more every day, and I do not love to\nthink of suspending it even for a few weeks during the hot season. Day\nbefore yesterday a wealthy Jewish lady came with her two daughters to\nthe school, and begged me to take the youngest as a scholar.\"\n\nJuly 19. \"At our Sabbath School to-day were _twenty-eight_ scholars,\ntwenty-one girls and seven boys.\"\n\nJuly 31. \"To-day I closed my school for the month of August by the\ndistribution of rewards to _thirty little girls_. The American and\nEnglish Consuls and a few Arab friends were present, and expressed much\npleasure at the sight of so many young natives in their clean dress. A\nfew of the more educated scholars read a little in the New Testament.\"\n\nAugust 8. \"On Saturday I closed my school for the month of August. It\nwas increasing every day in numbers and I would gladly have continued\nit. Last Sabbath we had at the Sabbath School forty-six scholars, a\n_fourth of whom were Moslems_.\"\n\nSeptember 29. \"Yesterday I commenced my school again with twenty\nscholars; which, for the first day, was a good number. Mrs. Whiting has\nten little Moslem girls in Jerusalem, and the promise of more.\"\n\nDecember 14. \"On Saturday, our native female prayer-meeting consisted of\ntwenty, besides two children. Fourteen were Arabs, more than were ever\npresent before. We met in the girls' school room, where we intend in\nfuture to assemble. We sung part of a psalm, as we have begun to teach\nmusic in our school. We find the children quite as capable of forming\nmusical sounds as those in our own country; but alas, _we have no psalms\nor hymns adapted to their capacities_. The Arabic cannot be simplified\nlike the English, without doing violence to Arab taste; at least such\nis the opinion now. What changes may be wrought in the language, we\ncannot tell. Of this obstacle in the instruction of the young here, you\nhave not perhaps thought. It is a painful thought to us, that\n_children's literature_, if I may so term it, is _incompatible with the\ngenius of this language_: of course, infant school lessons must be\nbereft of many of their attractions.\"\n\nIt may be interesting to know whether present missionary experience\ndiffers from that of Mrs. Smith and her husband in 1835, with regard to\nchildren's literature in the Arabic language.\n\nIn 1858, Mr. Ford prepared, with the aid of Mr. Bistany, (the husband of\n\"Raheel,\" Mrs. Smith's adopted child,) a series of children's Scripture\nTracts in simple and yet perfectly correct Arabic, so that the youngest\nchild can understand them. In 1862, we printed the first Children's\nHymn-book, partly at the expense of the girls in Rufka's school. We have\nnow in Arabic about eighty children's hymns, and a large number of\ntracts and story books designed for children. We also publish an\nIllustrated Children's Monthly, called the \"Koukab es Subah,\" \"The\nMorning Star,\" and the children read it with the greatest eagerness.\n\nThe Koran, which is the standard of classic Arabic, cannot be changed,\nand hence can never be a book for children. It cannot be a family book,\nor a women's book. It cannot attract the minds of the young, with that\ncharm which hangs around the exquisitely simple and beautiful narratives\nof the Old and New Testament. It is a gem of Arabic poetry, but like a\ngem, crystalline and unchanging. It has taken a mighty hold upon the\nEastern world, because of its Oriental style and its eloquent assertion\nof the Divine Unity. It is reverenced, but not loved, and will stand\nwhere it is while the world moves on. Every reform in government,\ntoleration and material improvement in the Turkish Empire, Persia and\nEgypt, is made in spite of the Koran and contrary to its spirit. The\nprinting of the Koran is unlawful, but it is being printed. All pictures\nof living objects are unlawful, but the Sultan is photographed, Abd el\nKader is photographed, the \"Sheikh ul Islam\" is photographed. European\nshoes are unlawful because sewed with a swine's bristle, but Moslem\nMuftis strut about the streets in French gaiters, and the women of their\nharems tottle about in the most absurd of Parisian high-heeled slippers.\n\nThe Arabic Bible translated by Drs. Eli Smith and Cornelius Van Dyck, is\nvoweled with the grammatical accuracy and beauty of the Koran with the\naid of a learned Mohammedan Mufti, and yet has all the elegant\nsimplicity of the original and is intelligible to every Arab, old and\nyoung, who is capable of reading at all. The stories of Joseph, Moses,\nand David, of Esther, Daniel and Jonah are as well adapted to the\ncomprehension of children in the Arabic as in the English.\n\nNot a few of the hymns in the Children's Hymn book are original, written\nby M. Ibrahim Sarkis, husband of Miriam of Aleppo, and M. Asaad\nShidoody, husband of Hada. This Hymn book was published in 1862, with\nPlates presented by Dr. Robinson's Sabbath School of the First\nPresbyterian Church, Brooklyn.\n\nThis digression seemed necessary, in order to show the great progress\nthat has been made since 1836, in preparing a religious literature. It\nis no longer true as in Mrs. Smith's day, \"that we have no psalms or\nhymns adapted to the capacities of children.\" Nor is it longer true that\n\"_children's literature is incompatible with the genius of the Arabic\nlanguage_.\"\n\nIn a letter addressed to the young women in the \"Female Academy at\nNorwich,\" February, 1836, Mrs. Smith gives a vivid description of the\n\"average woman\" of Syria in her time, and the description holds true of\nnine-tenths of the women at the present day. There are now native\nChristian homes, not the least attractive of which is the home of her\nown little protege Raheel, but the great mass continue as they were\nforty years ago. She says, \"My dear friends, will you send your thoughts\nto this, which is not a heathen, but an unevangelized country. I will\nnot invite you to look at our little female school of twenty or thirty,\nbecause these form but a drop among the thousands and thousands of youth\nthroughout Syria; although I might draw a contrast even from this not a\nlittle in your favor. But we will speak of the young Syrian females at\nlarge, moving in one unbroken line to the land of darkness and sorrow.\nAmong them you will find many a fine form and beautiful face; but alas!\nthe perfect workmanship of their Creator is rendered tame and insipid,\nfor want of that mental and moral culture which gives a peculiar charm\nto the human countenance. It is impossible for me to bring the females\nof this country before you in so vivid a manner that you can form a\ncorrect idea of them. But select from among your acquaintances a lady\nwho is excessively weak, vain and trifling; who has no relish for any\nintellectual or moral improvement; whose conversation is altogether\nconfined to dress, parties, balls, admiration, marriage; whose temper\nand faults have never been corrected by her parents, but who is\nfollowing, unchecked, all the propensities of a fallen, corrupt nature.\nPerhaps you will not be able to find any such, though I have\noccasionally met with them in America. If you succeed, however, in\nbringing a person of this character to your mind, then place the\nthousands of girls, and the women, too, of this land, once the land of\npatriarchs, prophets and apostles, in her class.\" \"These weak-minded\nSyrian females are not attentive to personal cleanliness; neither have\nthey a neat and tasteful style of dress. Their apparel is precisely such\nas the Apostle recommended that Christian females should avoid; while\nthe ornament of a meek and quiet spirit is thrown wholly out of the\naccount. They have no books, and no means of moral or intellectual\nimprovement. It is considered a disgrace for a female to know how to\nread and write, and a serious obstacle to her marriage, which is the\nprincipal object of the parent's heart. This abhorrence of learning in\nfemales, exists most strongly in the higher classes. Nearly every pupil\nin our school is very indigent. Of God's word they understand nothing,\nfor a girl is taken to church perhaps but once a year, where nothing is\nseen among the women but talking and trifling; of course she attaches no\nsolemnity to the worship of God. No sweet domestic circle of father,\nbrother, mother and sister, all capable of promoting mutual cheerfulness\nand improvement, greets her in her own house. I do not mean to imply\nthat there exists no family affection among them, for this tie is often\nvery strong; but it has no foundation in respect, and is not employed to\npromote elevation of character. The men sit and smoke their pipes in one\napartment, while in another the women cluster upon the floor, and with\nloud and vociferous voices gossip with their neighbors. The very\nlanguage of the females is of a lower order than that of the men, which\nrenders it almost impossible for them to comprehend spiritual and\nabstract subjects, when first presented to their minds. I know not how\noften, when I have attempted to converse with them, they have\nacknowledged that they did not understand me, or have interrupted me by\nalluding to some mode or article of dress, or something quite as\nfoolish.\" \"Thus you see, my young friends, how unhappy is the condition\nof the females of Syria, and how many laborers are wanted to cultivate\nthis wide field. On the great day of final account, the young females of\nSyria, of India, of every inhabited portion of the globe, who are upon\nthe stage of life with you, will rise up, either to call you blessed,\nor to enhance your condemnation.\" \"God is furnishing American females\ntheir high privileges, with the intention of calling them forth into the\nwide fields of ignorance and error, which the world exhibits. I look\nover my country and think of the hundreds and thousands of young ladies,\nintelligent, amiable and capable, who are assembled in schools and\nacademies there; and then turn my eye to Jerusalem, Hebron, Nazareth,\nSychar, Damascus, Tyre, Sidon, Jaffa, and to the numerous villages of\nMount Lebanon, and think, 'Why this inequality of condition and\nprivileges? Why can there not be stationed at every one of those morally\ndesolate places, at least one missionary family, and one single female\nas a teacher? Does not Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, require it of\nHis youthful friends in America, that from love to Him, gratitude for\ntheir own distinguished mercies, compassion for perishing souls, and the\nexpectation of perfect rest and happiness in heaven, they should spread\nthemselves over the wide world, and feed the sheep and the lambs\nscattered without a shepherd upon the mountains?' Yes, He requires it,\nand angels will yet behold it; but shall we not see it in our day?\"\n\nGreat changes have come over Syria since the above words were written.\nNot less than twelve high schools for girls have been established since\nthen in Syria and Palestine, and not far from forty common schools,\nexclusively for girls, under the auspices of the different Missionary\nSocieties.\n\nIn February, 1836, Mrs. Smith also undertook the work of _systematic\nvisiting among the mothers of her pupils_. She says, \"Perhaps it will be\na very long time before we shall see any fruit. Indeed those who enter\ninto our labors may gather it in our stead; yet I am anxious that we\nshould persevere until we die, though no apparent effect be produced.\"\n\nIn April, 1836, she wrote, \"My mind is much upon a female boarding\nschool; and if I can get the promise of ten girls, we shall, God\nwilling, remove the press from our house, and commence one in the fall.\"\n\nIn May she commenced a new term of her day school with twenty-six\nscholars. She says, \"The wife of a persecuted Druze is very anxious to\nlearn to read, and she comes to our house every day to get instruction\nfrom Raheel.\" She also says, \"We feel the want of books exceedingly. The\nlittle girl whom I took more than a year since, and who advances\nsteadily in intelligence and knowledge, has no book but the Bible to\nread, not one.\" Then again, \"Should our press get into successful\noperation, I despair in doing anything in the way of infant schools,\nbecause the Arabic language cannot be simplified, at least under\nexisting prejudices. If every hymn and little story must be dressed up\nin the august habiliments of the Koran, what child of three and six\nyears old will be wiser and better for them! How complete is the\ndominion of the Great Adversary over this people! All the links of the\nchain must be separated, one by one. And what a long, I had almost\nsaid, tedious process! But I forget that to each one will be assigned a\nfew only of these links. We are doing a little, perhaps, in this work;\nif faithful, we shall rest in heaven, and others will come and take our\nplaces and our work.\"\n\nOn the eleventh of June, Mrs. Smith's health had become so impaired from\nthe dampness of the floor and walls of her school building, that her\nphysician advised a sea voyage for her. After suffering shipwreck on the\ncoast of Asia Minor, and enduring great hardships, she reached Smyrna,\nwhere she died on the 30th of September, in the triumphs of the Gospel.\nHer Memoir is a book worthy of being read by every Christian woman\nengaged in the Master's service.\n\nIn a letter written from Smyrna, July 28, she says, \"I had set my heart\nmuch upon taking Raheel with me. Parents, however, in Syria, have an\nespecial aversion to parting with their children for foreign countries.\nOne of my last acts therefore was to make a formal committal of her into\nthe hands of my kind friend Miss Williams. I had become so strongly\nattached to the little girl, and felt myself so much rewarded for all my\nefforts with her, that the circumstances of this separation were perhaps\nmore trying than any associated with our departure.\"\n\nMrs. Smith had from the first a desire to take a little Arab girl to be\nbrought up in her family, and at length selected Raheel, one of the most\npromising scholars in her school, when about eight years of age, and\nwith the consent of her parents adopted her. In her care, attentions\nand affections, she took almost the rank of a daughter. She was trained\nto habits of industry, truth and studiousness, and although Mrs. S. had\nbeen but nine months in the country when she adopted her, she commenced\npraying with her in Arabic from the very first.\n\nDr. Eli Smith says, \"In a word, the expectations Mrs. Smith had formed\nin taking her, were fully answered; and she was often heard to say, that\nshe had every day been amply repaid for the pains bestowed upon her. It\nwill not be wondered at, that her affections became entwined very\nclosely around so promising a pupil, and that the attachment assumed\nmuch of the character of parental kindness. Mrs. Smith's sharpest trial,\nperhaps, at her departure from Beirut, arose from leaving her behind.\"\n\nAfter the departure of Mrs. Smith, her fellow-laborer, Miss Williams,\nafterwards Mrs. Hebard, took charge of Raheel, who remained with her\nfive years. She then lived successively with Mrs. Lanneau and Mrs.\nBeadle, and lastly with Dr. and Mrs. De Forest.\n\nWhen in the family of Dr. De Forest, she became engaged to be married to\nMr. Butrus Bistany, a learned native of the Protestant Church, who was\nemployed by the Mission as a teacher. Her mother and friends were\nopposed to the engagement, as they wished to marry her to a man of their\nown selection. On Carnival evening, February 20, in the year 1843, her\nmother invited her to come and spend the feast with the family. She\nhesitated, but finally consented to go with Dr. De Forest and call upon\nher family friends and return before night. After sitting several hours,\nthe Doctor arose to go and she prepared to follow him. Her mother\nprotested, saying that they would not allow her to return to her home\nwith the missionary. Finding that the mother and brother-in-law were\npreparing to resist her departure by violence, Dr. De Forest retired,\nsending a native friend to stay in the house until his return. He\nrepaired to the Pasha and laid the case before him. The Pasha declared\nher free to choose her own home, as she was legally of age, and sent a\njanizary with Dr. De Forest to examine the case and insure her liberty\nof action. On entering the house, the janizary called for Raheel and\nasked her whether she wished to go home or stay with her mother? She\nreplied, \"I wish to go home to Mrs. De Forest.\" The janizary then wrote\ndown her request, and told her to go. She arose to go, but could not\nfind her shoes. There was some delay, when her brother-in-law seized her\narm and attempted to drag her to an inner room. The Pasha's officer\nseized the other arm and the poor girl was in danger of having her\nshoulders dislocated. At length the officer prevailed and she escaped.\nHer mother and the women who had assembled from the neighborhood, then\nset up a terrific shriek, like a funeral wail, \"She's lost! she's dead!\nwo is me!\" It was all pre-arranged. The brother-in-law had been around\nto the square to a rendezvous of soldiers, and told them that an attempt\nwould be made to abduct his sister by force, and if they heard a shriek\nfrom the women, to hasten to his house. The rabble of soldiers wanted no\nbetter pastime than such a melee among the infidels, and promised to\ncome. When they heard the noise they started on a run. Raheel, having\nsuspected something of the kind, induced Dr. De Forest to take another\nroad, and as they turned the corner to enter the mission premises, they\nsaw the rabble running in hot haste towards her mother's house, only to\nfind that the bird had flown.\n\nIn the following summer she was married to Mr. Bistany, who was for\neight years assistant of Dr. Eli Smith in the work of Bible translation,\nand for twenty years Dragoman of the American Consulate. He is now\nPrincipal of a private Boarding School for boys, called the \"Medriset el\nWutaniyet\" or \"Native School,\" which has about 150 pupils of all sects.\nHe and his son Selim Effendi are the editors and proprietors also of\nthree Arabic journals; the _Jenan_, a Monthly Literary Magazine,\nillustrated by wood-cuts made by a native artist, and having a\ncirculation of about 1500; the _Jenneh_, a semi-weekly newspaper\npublished Tuesday and Friday; and the _Jeneineh_, published Monday,\nWednesday, Thursday and Saturday. There is not a more industrious man in\nSyria than Mr. Bistany, and he is doing a great work in the\nenlightenment of his countrymen.\n\nRaheel's home is one of affection, decorum, and Christian refinement,\nand she has fulfilled the highest hopes and prayers of her devoted\nfoster mother, in discharging the duties of mother, neighbor, church\nmember, and friend. May every missionary woman be rewarded in seeing\nsuch fruits of her labors!\n\nIn January, 1866, Sarah, one of Raheel's daughters, named after Mrs.\nSarah L. Smith, was attacked by typhoid pneumonia. From the first she\nwas deeply impressed on the subject of religion, and in deep concern\nabout her soul. She sent for me, and I found her in a very hopeful state\nof mind. Day after day I called and conversed and prayed with her, and\nher views of her need of Christ were most clear and comforting, and she\nwished her testimony to His love to be known among all her young\ncompanions. Her friends from the school gathered at her request to see\nher, and she urged them to come to Christ, and several who have since\nunited with the Church traced their first awakening to her words on her\ndeath-bed.\n\nOne day Sarah said to me, \"How thankful I am for this sickness! It has\nbeen the voice of God to my soul! I have given myself to Jesus forever!\nI have been a great sinner, and I have been thinking about my sins, and\nmy need of a Saviour, and I am resolved to live for Him hereafter.\" On\nher father's coming into the room, she said in English, \"Papa, I am so\nhappy that the Lord sent this sickness upon me. You cannot tell how I\nthank him for it.\"\n\nAfter a season spent in prayer, I urged her, on leaving, to cast herself\nentirely on the Saviour of sinners, before another hour should pass. The\nnext day as I entered the room, she said, \"I am at peace now. I _did_\ncast myself on Jesus and He received me. I know His blood has washed my\nsins away.\" She had expressed some fear that she might not be able to\nlive a consistent Christian life should she recover, \"but,\" said she, \"I\ncould trust in Christ to sustain me.\" After a few words of counsel and\nprayer, and reading a portion of Scripture, she exclaimed, \"It is all\none now, whether I die or live. I am ready to go or stay. The Lord knows\nbest.\"\n\nAt the last interview between her and her father, she expressed her\ndetermination to make the Bible henceforth her study and guide, and\nrequested him to read the 14th chapter of John, which seemed to give her\ngreat comfort. Soon after that she ceased to recognize her friends, and\non Monday night, January 5, she gently fell asleep. I was summoned to\nthe house at 2 A.M. by a young man who said, \"She is much\nworse, hasten.\" On reaching the house I met Rufka, teacher of the\nSeminary, who exclaimed, \"She is gone, she is gone.\" Entering the mukod\nroom, I found all the family assembled. There were no shrieks and\nscreams and loud wailings, as is the universal custom in this land. All\nwere seated, and the father, Abu Selim, was reading that chapter which\nSarah had asked him to read. I then led the family in prayer, and all\nwere much comforted. She had lived a blameless life, beloved by all who\nknew her, and had been a faithful and exemplary daughter and sister, but\nher only trust at the last was in her Saviour. She saw in her past life\nonly sin, and hoped for salvation in the blood of Christ alone. The\nfuneral was attended by a great concourse of people of all sects, and\nthe Protestant chapel was crowded.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n\nHUMS.\n\n\nThe city of Hums, the ancient Emessa, is situated about one mile east of\nthe river Orontes, and about half way between Aleppo and Damascus. It is\nin the midst of a vast and fertile plain, extending to Palmyra on the\neast, and to the Orontes on the west. With the exception of a few\nmud-built villages along the east and near the city, there is no settled\npopulation between Hums and Palmyra. The wild roving Bedawin sweep the\nvast plains in every direction, and only a few years ago, the great\ngates of Hums were frequently closed at midday to prevent the incursion\nof these rough robbers of the desert. On the west of the city are\nbeautiful gardens and orchards of cherry, walnut, apricot, plum, apple,\npeach, olive, pomegranate, fig and pear trees, and rich vineyards cover\nthe fields on the south. It is a clean and compact town of about 25,000\ninhabitants, of whom 7000 are Greek Christians, 3000 Jacobites, and the\nrest Mohammedans. The houses are built of sun-dried bricks and black\nbasaltic rock, and the streets are beautifully paved with small square\nblocks of the same rock, giving it a neat and clean appearance. There\nare few windows on the street; the houses are one story high, with\ndiminutive doors, not more than four feet high; and the low dull walls\nstretching along the streets, give the city a dismal and monotonous\nappearance. The reason of building the doors so _low_, is to prevent the\nquartering of Turkish government horsemen on their families, as well as\nto prevent the Bedawin Arabs from plundering them. On the southwest\ncorner of the city stands an ancient castle in ruins, built on an\nartificial mound of earth of colossal size, which was once faced with\nsquare blocks of black trap rock, but this facing has been all stripped\noff to build the modern city.\n\nThe people are simple and country-like in dress and manners, and the\nmost of them have a cow-yard within the courts of their houses, thus\ncombining the pastoral with the citizen life. The majority of the Greeks\nare silk-weavers and shoemakers, weaving girdles, scarfs and robes for\ndifferent parts of Syria and Egypt, and supplying the Bedawin and the\nNusairy villagers with coarse red-leather boots and shoes.\n\nHums early became the seat of a Christian Church, and in the reign of\nDiocletian, its bishop, Silvanus, suffered martyrdom. In 636\nA.D., it was captured by the Saracens, (or \"Sherakiyeen,\"\n\"Easterns,\" as the Arab Moslems were called,) and although occupied for\na time by the Crusaders, it has continued a Moslem city, under\nMohammedan rule. The Greek population have been oppressed and ground to\nthe very dust by their Moslem neighbors and rulers, and their women have\nbeen driven for protection into a seclusion and degradation similar to\nthat of the Moslem hareems.\n\nThe Rev. D.M. Wilson, a missionary of the A.B.C.F.M., took up his\nresidence in Hums in October 1855, and remained until obliged to leave\nby the civil war which raged in the country in 1860. Mr. and Mrs. Aiken\nwent to Hums in April, 1856, but Mrs. Aiken died June 20, after having\ngiven promise of rare usefulness among the women of Syria.\n\nAfter Mr. Wilson left Hums, a faithful native helper, Sulleba Jerwan,\nwas sent to preach in Hums. His wife, Luciya Shekkoor, had been trained\nin the family of Rev. W. Bird in Deir el Komr, and was a devoted and\nexcellent laborer on behalf of the women of Hums. In October, 1862, one\nof the more enlightened men among the Greeks was taken ill, and sent for\nPastor Sulleba to come and make him a religious visit. He went, and\nfound quite a company of relatives and friends present. The sick man\nasked him to read from the Word of God, and among the passages selected,\nwas that containing the Ten Commandments. While he was reading the\n_Second_ Commandment, the _wife_ of the sick man exclaimed, \"Is that the\nWord of God? If it is, read it again.\" He did so, when she arose and\ntore down a wooden painted picture of a saint, which had been hung at\nthe head of the bed, declaring that henceforth there should be no idol\nworship in that house. Then taking a knife, she scraped the paint from\nthe picture, and took it to the kitchen to serve as the cover to a\nsaucepan! This was done with the approbation of all present. The case\nwas the more remarkable, as it was one of the first cases in Syria in\nwhich a woman has taken such a decided stand against picture-worship and\nsaint-worship, in advance of the rest of the family.\n\nIn the year 1863, before the ordination of Pastor Sulleba, there being\nno Protestant properly qualified to perform the marriage ceremony in\nHums, I went to that city to marry two of the Protestant young men. It\nwas the first time a Protestant marriage had ever taken place in Hums,\nand great interest was felt in the ceremony. It is the custom among the\nother sects to _pronounce_ the bride and groom husband and wife, neither\ngiving an opportunity to spectators to object, nor asking the girl if\nshe is willing to marry the man. The girl is oftentimes not consulted,\nbut simply told she is to marry such a man. If it pleases her, well and\ngood. If not, there is no remedy. The Greek Church gives no liberty in\nthis respect, although the priest takes it for granted that the friends\nhave satisfied both bride and groom with regard to the desirableness of\nthe match. If they are not satisfied, the form of the ceremony gives\nneither of them the right of refusal.\n\nThe two young men, Ibrahim and Yunis, called upon me soon after my\narrival, to make arrangements for the marriage. I read them the form of\nthe marriage ceremony and they expressed their approval, but said it\nwould be necessary to give the brides very careful instructions as to\nhow and when to answer, lest they say yes when they should say _no_, and\n_no_ when they wished to say _yes_! I asked them to accompany me to the\nhouses of the girls, that I might give them the necessary directions.\nThey at once protested that this would not be allowed. They had never\ncalled at the brides' houses when the girls were present, and it would\nbe a grievous breach of decorum for them to go even with me. So certain\nof the male relatives of the girls were sent for to accompany me, and I\nwent to their houses. On entering the house of the first one, it was\nonly after long and elaborate argument and diplomatic management, that\nwe could induce the bride to come in from the other room and meet me. At\nlength she came, with her face partially veiled, and attended by several\nmarried women, her relatives.\n\nThey soon began to ply me with questions. \"Do you have the communion\nbefore the ceremony?\" \"No.\" \"Do you use the \"Ikleel\" or crown, in the\nservice?\" \"No, we sometimes use the ring.\" Said one, \"I hear that you\nask the girl if she is willing to take this man to be her husband.\"\n\"Certainly we do.\" \"Well, if that rule had been followed in my day, I\nknow of _one_ woman who would have said _no_; but they do not give us\nGreek women the chance.\"\n\nI then explained to them that the bride must stand beside the\nbridegroom, and when I asked her if she knew of any lawful reason why\nshe should _not_ marry this man, Ibrahim, she should say _No_,--and when\nI asked her if she took him to be her lawful and wedded husband, she\nmust answer _Yes_. Some of the women were under great apprehension that\nshe might answer No in the wrong place; so I repeated it over and over\nagain until the girl was sure she should not make a mistake. The woman\nabove alluded to now said, \"I would have said No in the _right_ place,\nif I had been allowed to do it!\" I then went to the house of the other\nbride and gave her similar instructions. The surprise of the women who\ncame in from the neighborhood, that the girl should have the right to\nsay yes or no, was most amusing and suggestive. That one thing seemed to\ngive them new ideas of the dignity and honor of woman under the Gospel.\nMarriage in the East is so generally a matter of bargain and sale, or of\nparental convenience and profit, or of absolute compulsion, that young\nwomen have little idea of exercising their own taste or judgment in the\nchoice of a husband.\n\nThis was new doctrine for the city of Heliogabalus, and, as was to be\nexpected, the news soon spread through the town that the next evening a\nmarriage ceremony was to be performed by the Protestant minister, in\nwhich the bride was to have the privilege of refusing the man if she\nwished. And, what was even more outrageous to Hums ideas of propriety,\nit was rumored that the brides were to walk home from the Church _in\ncompany with their husbands_! This was too much, and certain of the\nyoung Humsites, who feared the effect of conferring such unheard-of\nrights and privileges on women, leagued together to mob the brides and\ngrooms if such a course were attempted. We heard of the threat and made\nample preparations to protect Protestant women's rights.\n\nThe evening came, and with it such a crowd of men, women and children,\nas had never assembled in that house before. The houses of Hums are\nbuilt around a square area into which all the rooms open, and the open\nspace or court of the mission-house was very large. Before the brides\narrived, the entire court, the church and the schoolroom, were packed\nwith a noisy and almost riotous throng. Men, women and children were\nlaughing and talking, shouting and screaming to one another, and\ndiscussing the extraordinary innovation on Hums customs about to be\nenacted. Soon the brides arrived, accompanied by a veiled and sheeted\ncrowd of women, all carrying candles and singing as they entered the\nhouse. We took them into the study of the native preacher Sulleba, and\nafter a reasonable delay, we forced a way for them through the crowd\ninto the large square room, then used as a church. My brother and myself\nfinally succeeded in placing them in a proper position in front of the\npulpit, and then we waited until Asaad and Michaiel and Yusef and Nasif\nhad enforced a tolerable stillness. It should be said that silence and\ngood order are almost unknown in the Oriental churches. Men are walking\nabout and talking, and even laughing, while the priests are \"performing\"\nthe service, and they are much impressed by the quiet and decorum of\nProtestant worship.\n\nThe two brides were closely veiled so that I could not distinguish the\none from the other. Ibrahim was slender and tall, at least six feet\nthree, and Yunis was short and corpulent. So likewise, one of the brides\nwas very tall, and the other even shorter than Yunis. As we could not\nsee the brides' faces, we arranged them according to symmetry and\napparent propriety, placing the tall bride by the tall groom, and the\ntwo short ones together. After the introductory prayer, I proceeded to\ndeliver a somewhat full and practical address on the nature of marriage,\nand the duties and relations of husband and wife, as is our custom in\nSyria, not only for the instruction of the newly married pair, but for\nthe good of the community. No Methodist exhorter ever evoked more hearty\nresponses, than did this address, from the Hums populace. \"That is\ntrue.\" \"That is news in _this_ city.\" \"Praise to God.\" _Mashallah!_ A\nwoman exclaimed on hearing of the duties of husband to wife, \"Praise to\nGod, women are something after all!\" I then turned to the two pairs, and\ncommenced asking Ibrahim the usual question, \"Do you\" (etc., etc.,) when\na woman screamed out, \"Stop, stop, Khowadji, you have got the wrong\nbride by that man. He is to marry the short girl!\" Then followed an\nexplosion of laughter, and during the confusion we adjusted the matter\nsatisfactorily. A Moslem Effendi who was present remarked after\nlistening to the service throughout, \"that is the most sensible way of\ngetting married that I ever heard of.\"\n\nAfter the ceremony, we sent the newly married pairs to the study to\nawait the dispersion of the multitude, before going into the street. But\nhuman curiosity was too great. None would leave until they saw the\nextraordinary sight of a bride and groom walking home together. So we\nprepared our lanterns and huge canes, and taking several of the native\nbrethren, my brother and myself walked home first with Ibrahim and wife,\nand then with Yunis and his wife. We walked on either side of them, and\nthe riotous rabble, seeing that they could not reach the bride and\ngroom, without first demolishing two tall Khowadjis with heavy canes,\ncontented themselves with coarse jokes and contemptuous laughter.\n\nThis was nine years ago, and on a recent visit to Hums, the two brides\nand their husbands met me at the door of the church on Sunday, to show\nme their children. Since that time numerous Protestant weddings have\ntaken place in Hums, and a new order of things is beginning to dawn upon\nthat people.\n\nThe present native pastor, the Rev. Yusef Bedr, was installed in June,\n1872. His wife Leila, is a graduate of the Beirut Female Seminary, and\nhas been for several years a teacher. Her father died in January, 1871,\nin the hospital of the Beirut College, and her widowed mother, Im\nMishrik, has gone to labor in Hums as a Bible Woman. When her father was\ndying, I went to see him. Noticing his emaciated appearance, I said,\n\"Are you very ill, Abu Mishrik?\" \"No my friend, _I_ am not ill. My body\nis ill; and wasting away but _I_ am well. I am happy. I cannot describe\nmy joy. I have no desire to return to health again. If you would fill my\nhands with bags of gold, and send me back to Abeih in perfect health, to\nmeet my family again, I would not accept the offer, in the place of what\nI _know_ is before me. I am going to see Christ! I see Him now. I know\nHe has borne my sins, and I have nothing now to fear. It would comfort\nme to see some of my friends again, and especially Mr. Calhoun, whom I\nlove; but what are my friends compared with Christ, whom I am going so\nsoon to see?\" After prayer, I bade him good bye, and a few hours after,\nhe passed peacefully away.\n\nThe teacher of the Girls' School in Hums, is Belinda, also a former\npupil of the Beirut Seminary. Her brother-in-law, Ishoc, is the faithful\ncolporteur, who has labored so earnestly for many years in the work of\nthe Gospel in Syria. His grandfather was a highway robber, who was\narrested by the Pasha, after having committed more than twenty murders.\nWhen led out to the gallows, the Pasha offered him office as district\ngovernor, if he would turn Moslem. The old murderer refused, saying that\nhe had not much religion, but he would not give up the Greek Church! So\nhe was hung, and the Greeks regarded him as a martyr to the faith!\nIshoc's father was as bad as the grandfather, and trained Ishoc to the\nsociety of dancing girls and strolling minstrels. When Ishoc became a\nProtestant, the father took down his sword to cut off his head, but his\nmother interceded and saved his life. Afterwards his father one day\nasked him if it was possible that a murderer, son of a murderer, could\nbe saved. He read the gospel to him, prayed with him, and at length the\nwicked father was melted to contrition and tears. He died a true\nChristian, and the widowed mother is now living with Ishoc in Beirut.\nBelinda has a good school, and the wealthiest families of the Greeks\nhave placed their daughters under her care.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n\nMIRIAM THE ALEPPINE.\n\n\nThe city of Aleppo was occupied as a Station of the Syria Mission for\nmany years, until finally in 1855 it was left to the Turkish-speaking\nmissionaries of the Central Turkey Mission. It is one of the most\ndifficult fields of labor in Turkey, but has not been unfruitful of\ngenuine instances of saving faith in Christ. Among them is the case of\nMiriam Nahass, (or Mary Coppersmith,) now Miriam Sarkees of Beirut.\n\nFrom a letter published in the Youth's Dayspring at the time, I have\ngathered the following facts:\n\nIn 1853 and 1854 the Missionaries in Aleppo, Messrs. Ford and Eddy,\nopened a small private school for girls, the teacher of which was Miriam\nNahass. When the Missionaries first came to Aleppo, her father professed\nto be a Protestant, and on this account suffered not a little\npersecution from the Greek Catholic priests. At times he was on the\npoint of starvation, as the people were forbidden to buy of him or sell\nto him. One day he brought his little daughter Miriam to the\nmissionaries, and asked them to take her and instruct her in all that is\ngood, which they gladly undertook, and her gentle pleasant ways soon won\ntheir love.\n\nHer mother was a superstitious woman, who hated the missionaries, and\ncould not bear to have her daughter stay with them. She used for a long\ntime to come almost daily to their house and bitterly complain against\nthem and against her husband for robbing her of her daughter. She would\nrave at times in the wildest passion, and sometimes she would weep as if\nbroken-hearted; not because she loved her child so much, but because she\ndid not like to have her neighbors say to her, \"Ah! You have let your\nchild become a Protestant!\"\n\nIt may well be supposed that this was very annoying to the missionary\nwho had her in special charge, and so it was; but he found some profit\nin it. He was just then learning to speak the language, and this woman\nby her daily talk, taught him a kind of Arabic, and a use of it, not to\nbe obtained from grammars and dictionaries. He traced much of his ready\ncommand of the language to having been compelled to listen so often to\nthe wearisome harangues of Miriam's mother. Sometimes the father would\nbe overcome by the mother's entreaties and would take away the girl, but\nafter awhile he would bring her back again, to the great joy of those\nwho feared they had lost her altogether. This state of things continued\ntwo or three years, while Miriam's mind was daily improving and her\ncharacter unfolding, and hopes were often entertained that the Spirit of\nGod was carrying on a work of grace in her soul.\n\nOne day her father came to the missionary, and asked him to loan him\nseveral thousand piastres (a thousand piastres is $40,) with which he\nmight set up business. This was of course refused, when he went away\ngreatly enraged. He soon returned and took away his daughter, saying\nthat Protestantism did not pay what it cost. It had cost him the loss of\nproperty and reputation; it had cost him the peace of his household and\nthe presence of his little girl, and it did not bring in to him in\nreturn even the loan of a few piastres, and he would try it no longer.\nPrayer continued to be offered without ceasing for Miriam, thus taken\nback to an irreligious home; and though the missionaries heard of her\nreturn and her father's return to the corrupt Greek Catholic Church, and\nof the exultation of the mother over the attainment of her wishes, yet\nthey did not cease to hope that God would one day bring her back and\nmake her a lamb of His fold.\n\nAn Arab young woman, Melita, trained in the family of Mrs. Whiting in\nBeirut, was sent to Aleppo about this time to open a girls' school\nthere. The Greek Catholic priests then thought to establish a similar\nschool of their own sect to prevent their children from attending that\nof the Protestants. They secured Miriam as their teacher. As she went\nfrom her home to the school and back again, she used sometimes to run\ninto the missionary's house by stealth, and assure him that her heart\nwas still with him, and her faith unchanged. The school continued a few\nweeks, but the priests having failed to pay anything towards its\nsupport, her father would let her teach no more. Perhaps two years\npassed thus, with but little being seen of Miriam, but she was not\nforgotten at the throne of grace.\n\nThe teacher from Beirut having returned to her home, it was proposed to\nMiriam's father that she should teach in the Protestant school. Quite\nunexpectedly he consented, with the understanding that she was to spend\nevery evening at home. At first, little was said to her on the subject\nof religion; soon she sought religious conversation herself, and brought\nquestions and different passages of Scripture to be explained. After\nabout a month, having previously conversed with the missionary about her\nduty, when her father came for her at night, she told him that she did\nnot want to go home with him, but to stay where she was. She ought to\nobey God rather than her parents. They had made her act the part of a\nhypocrite long enough; to pretend to be a Catholic when she was a\nProtestant at heart, and they knew that she was. Her father promised\nthat everything should be according to her wishes, and then she returned\nwith him.\n\nTwo or three days passed away and nothing was seen or heard of Miriam. A\nservant was then sent to her father's house to inquire if she was sick,\nand he was rudely thrust away from the door. The missionary felt\nconstrained to interfere, that Miriam might at least have the\nopportunity of declaring openly her preference. According to the laws of\nthe Turkish government, the father had no right to keep her at her age,\nagainst her will, and it was necessary that she have an opportunity to\nchoose with whom she wished to live. The matter was represented to the\nAmerican Consul, who requested the father to appear before him with his\ndaughter. When the officer came to his house, he found that the father\nhad locked the door and gone away with the key. From an upper window,\nhowever, Miriam saw him and told him that she was shut up there a\nprisoner, not knowing what might be done with her, and she begged for\nassistance. She had prepared a little note for the missionary, telling\nof her attachment to Christ's cause, and closing with the last two\nverses of the eighth chapter of Romans, \"For I am persuaded, that\nneither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor\nthings present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other\ncreature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in\nChrist Jesus our Lord.\" The janizary proposed to her to try if she could\nnot get out upon the roof of the next house, and descend through it to\nthe street, which she successfully accomplished, and was soon joyfully\non her way to a place of protection in the Consulate.\n\nMiriam, after staying three days at the Consul's house, returned to that\nof the missionary. Her parents tried every means to induce her to\nreturn. They promised and threatened and wept, but though greatly moved\nat times in her feelings, she remained firm to her purpose. They tried\nto induce her to go home for a single night only, but she knew them too\nwell to trust herself in their hands. Her mother had artfully arranged\nto meet her at the house of a friend; but her brother came, a little\nbefore the time, to warn her that a plan was laid to meet her at this\nhouse with a company of priests who were all ready to marry her forcibly\nto a man whom she knew nothing about, as is often done in this country.\nMiriam thus gave up father and mother, brothers and sisters, for the\nsake of Christ and his gospel.\n\nIn the year 1855 Mr. Ford removed to Beirut, and Miriam accompanied him.\nShe made a public profession of her faith in Christ in 1856, and was\nmarried in 1858 to Mr. Ibrahim Sarkees, foreman and principal proof\nreader of the American Mission Press. Her father has since removed to\nBeirut, and all of the family have become entirely reconciled to her\nbeing a Protestant. Her brother Habibs is a frequent attendant on Divine\nservice, and regards himself as a Protestant.\n\nMiriam is now deeply interested in Christian work, and the weekly\nmeetings of the Native Women's Missionary Society are held at her house.\nThe Protestant women agree either to attend this Sewing Society, or pay\na piastre a week in case of their absence.\n\nI close this chapter with the mention of Werdeh, [Rose,] daughter of the\ncelebrated Arabic poet Nasif el Yazijy, who aided Dr. Eli Smith in the\ntranslation of the Bible into Arabic. She is now a member of the\nEvangelical Church in Beirut. She herself has written several poems of\nrare merit; one an elegy upon the death of Dr. Smith; another expressing\ngrateful thanks to Dr. Van Dyck for attending her sick brother. Only\nthis can be introduced here, a poem lamenting the death of Sarah\nHuntington Bistany, daughter of Raheel, who died in January, 1866.\nSarah's father and her own father, Sheikh Nasif, had been for years on\nthe most intimate terms, and the daughters were like sisters. The\naccount of Sarah's death will be found in another part of this volume.\n\n    Oh sad separation! Have you left among mortals,\n    An eye without tears, hot and burning with sorrow?\n    Have you left on this earth a heart without anguish,\n    Or a soul unharrowed with grief and emotion?\n    Thou hast plucked off a flower from our beautiful garden,\n    Which shall shine like the stars in the gardens celestial.\n    Wo is me! I have lost a fair branch of the willow\n    Broken ruthlessly off. And what heart is _not_ broken?\n        Thou hast gone, but from me thou wilt never be absent.\n        Thy person will live to my sight and my hearing.\n    Tears of blood will be shed by fair maids thy companions,\n    Thy grave will be watered by tears thickly falling.\n    Thou wert the fair jewel of Syrian maidens,\n    Far purer and fairer than pearls of the ocean.\n    Where now is thy knowledge of language and science?\n    This sad separation has left to us nothing.\n        Ah, wo to the heart of fond father and mother,\n        No sleep,--naught but anguish and watching in sorrow\n        Thou art clad in white robes in the gardens of glory.\n        We are clad in the black robe of sorrow and mourning\n    Oh grave, yield thy honors to our pure lovely maiden,\n    Who now to thy gloomy abode is descending!\n        Our Sarah departed, with no word of farewell,\n        Will she ever return with a fond word of greeting?\n    Oh deep sleep of death, that knows no awaking!\n    Oh absence that knows no thought of returning!\n        If she never comes back to us here in our sorrow,\n        We shall go to her soon. 'Twill be but to-morrow\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII.\n\nMODERN SYRIAN VIEWS WITH REGARD TO FEMALE EDUCATION.\n\n\nIn the year 1847, a Literary Society was formed in Beirut, through the\ninfluence of Drs. Thomson, Eli Smith, Van Dyck, De Forest and Mr.\nWhiting, which continued in operation for about six years, and numbered\namong its members the leading men of all the various native communities.\nImportant papers were read on various scientific and social subjects.\nThe missionaries had been laboring for years to create an enlightened\npublic sentiment on the subject of female education, contending against\nsocial prejudices, profound ignorance, ecclesiastical tyranny and\nselfish opposition, and at length the fruit of their labors began to\nappear. In the following articles may be seen something of the views of\nthe better class of Syrians. The first was read before the Beirut\nLiterary Society, Dec. 14, 1849, by Mr. Butrus Bistany, who, as stated\nabove, married Raheel, and is now the head of a flourishing Academy in\nBeirut, and editor of three Arabic journals. I have translated only the\nsalient points of this long and able paper:--\n\nWe have already spoken of woman in barbarous lands. The Syrian women,\nalthough better off in some respects than the women of barbarous\nnations, are still in the deepest need of education and elevation,\nsince they stand in a position midway between the barbarous and the\ncivilized. How few of the hundreds of thousands of women in Syria know\nhow to read! How few are the schools ever established here for teaching\nwomen! Any one who denies the degradation and ignorance of Syrian women,\nwould deny the existence of the noonday sun. Do not men shun even an\nallusion to women, and if obliged to speak of them, do they not\naccompany the remark with \"a jellak Allah,\" as if they were speaking of\na brute beast, or some filthy object? Are they not treated among us very\nmuch as among the barbarians? To what do they pay the most attention? Is\nit not to ornament and dress, and refining about styles of tatooing with\nthe \"henna\" and \"kohl?\" What do they know about the training of\nchildren, domestic economy and neatness of person, and the care of the\nsick? How many abominable superstitions do they follow, although\nforbidden by their own religions? Are not the journals and diaries of\ntravellers full of descriptions of the state of our women? Does not\nevery one, familiar with the state of society and the family among us,\nknow all these things, and mourn over them, and demand a reform? Would\nthat I might awaken among the women the desire to learn, that thus they\nmight be worthy of higher honor and esteem!\n\n\"Woman should be instructed in _religion_. This is one of her highest\nrights and privileges and her bounden duty.\n\n\"She should be taught in her own vernacular tongue, so as to be able to\nexpress herself correctly, and use pure language. Woman should learn to\n_write_.\n\n\"She should be taught to _read_. How is it possible for woman to\nremember all her duties, religious and secular, through mere oral\ninstruction? But a written book, is a teacher always with her, and in\nevery place and circumstance. It addresses her without a voice, rebukes\nher without fear or shame, answers without sullenness and complaint. She\nconsults it when she wishes, without anxiety and embarrassment, and\nbanishes it if not faithful or satisfactory, or even burns it without\ncrime!\n\n\"Why forbid woman the use of the only means she can have of sending her\nviews and feelings where the voice cannot reach? _Now_ when a woman\nwishes to write a letter, she must go, closely veiled to the street, and\nhire a professional scribe to write for her, a letter which she cannot\nread, and which may utterly misrepresent her!\n\n\"Woman should also have instruction in the _training of children_. The\nright training of children is not a natural instinct. It is an art, and\na lost art among us. It must be learned from the experience and\nobservation of those who have lived before us; and where do we now find\nthe woman who knows how to give proper care to the bodies and souls of\nher children?\"\n\nMr. Bistany then speaks of the importance of teaching woman domestic\neconomy, sewing, cooking, and the care of the sick, as well as\ngeography, arithmetic, and history, giving as reasons for the foregoing\nremarks, that the education of woman will benefit herself, her husband,\nher children and her country.\n\n\"How can she be an intelligent wife, a kind companion, a wise\ncounsellor, a faithful spouse, aiding her husband, lightening his\nsufferings, training his children, and caring for his home, without\neducation? Without education, her taste is corrupt. She will seek only\noutward ornament, and dress, and painting, as if unsatisfied with her\nCreator's work; becoming a mere doll to be gazed at, or a trap to catch\nthe men. She will believe in countless superstitions, such as the Evil\nEye, the howling of dogs, the crying of foxes, etc., which are too well\nknown to need mention here. He who would examine this subject, should\nconsult that huge unwritten book, that famous volume called \"Ketab en\nNissa,\" the \"Book of the Women,\" a work which has no existence among\ncivilized women; or ask the old wives who have read it, and taught it in\ntheir schools of superstition.\n\n\"Let him who would know the evils of neglecting to educate woman, look\nat the ignorant, untaught woman in her language and dress, her conduct\nat home and abroad; her notions, thoughts, and caprices on religion and\nthe world; her morals, inclinations and tastes; her house, her husband,\nher children and acquaintances, when she rejoices or mourns, when sick\nor well; and he will agree with us that an uneducated woman is a great\nevil in the world, not to say the greatest evil possible to be imagined.\n\n\"In the reformation of a nation, then, the first step in the ladder is\nthe education of the women from their childhood. And those who neglect\nthe women and girls, and expect the elevation of the people by the mere\ntraining of men and boys, are like one walking with one foot on the\nearth, and the other in the clouds! They fail in accomplishing their\npurpose and are barely able, by the utmost energy, to repair that which\nwoman has corrupted and destroyed. They build a wall, and woman tears\ndown a castle. They elevate boys one degree, and women depress them many\ndegrees.\n\n\"Perhaps I have now said enough on a subject never before written upon\nby any of our ancestors of the sons of the Arabs. My object has been to\nprove the importance of the education of woman, based on the maxim,\nthat, 'she who rocks the cradle with her right hand, moves the world\nwith her arm.'\"\n\nThe next article I have translated from Mr. Bistany's Semi-monthly\nMagazine, called the \"Jenan,\" for July, 1870. It was written by an Arab\n_woman_ of Aleppo, the Sitt Mariana Merrash. She writes with great power\nand eloquence in the Arabic; and her brother, Francis Effendi, is one of\nthe most powerful writers of modern Syria. The paper of the Sitt Mariana\nis long, and the introduction is most ornate and flowery. She writes on\nthe condition of woman among the Arabs, and refutes an ancient Arab\nslander against women that they are cowardly and avaricious, because\nthey will not fight, and carefully hoard the household stores. She then\nproceeds:--\n\n\"Wo to us Syrian women, if we do not know enough to distinguish and seek\nafter those qualities which will elevate and refine our minds, and give\nbreadth to our thoughts, and enable us to take a proper position in\nsociety! We ought to attract sensible persons to us by the charm of our\ncultivation and refinement, not by the mere phantom of beauty and\npersonal ornament. Into what gulfs of stupidity have we plunged! Do we\nnot know that the reign of beauty is short, and not enough of itself to\nbe worthy of regard? And even supposing that it were enough of itself,\nin the public estimation, to make us attractive and desirable, do we not\nknow assuredly that after beauty has faded, we should fall at once into\na panic of anxiety and grief, since none would then look at us save with\nthe eye of contempt and ridicule, to say nothing of the vain attempts at\nproducing artificial beauty which certain foolish women make, as if they\nwere deaf to the insults and abuse heaped upon them? Shall we settle\ndown in indolence, and never once think of what is our highest advantage\nand our chiefest good? Shall we forever run after gay attire and\nornament? Let us arise and run the race of mental culture and literary\nadornment, and not listen for a moment to those who insult us by denying\nthe appropriateness of learning to women, and the capacity of women for\nlearning!\n\n\"Were we not made of the same clay as men? Even if we are of weaker\ntexture, we have the same susceptibility which they have to receive\nimpressions from what is taught to us. If it is good, we receive good as\nreadily as they; and if evil, then evil. Of what use is a crown of gold\non the brow of ignorance, and what loveliness is there in a jewelled\nstar on the neck of coarseness and brutality, or in a diamond necklace\nover a heart of stupidity and ignorance? The great poet Mutanebbi has\ngiven us an apothegm of great power on this very subject. He says:\n\n    'Fukr el jehul bela okl ila adab,\n     Fukr el hamar bela ras ila resen,'\n\n     'A senseless fool's need of instruction is like a headless donkey's\n     need of a halter.'\n\n\"Let us then gird ourselves with wisdom and understanding, and robe\nourselves with true politeness and meekness, and be crowned with the\nflowers of the 'jenan' (gardens) of knowledge (a pun on the name of the\nmagazine) now opened to us. Let us pluck the fruits of wisdom, lifting\nup our heads in gratulation and true pride, and remain no longer in that\ncowardice and avarice which were imputed to the women of the Arabs\nbefore us!\"\n\nThe next article I shall translate, is a paper on the Training of\nChildren in the East, by an Arab woman of Alexandria, Egypt, the Sitt\nWustina Mesirra, wife of Selim Effendi el Hamawy. It was printed in the\n\"Jenan\" for Jan., 1871. After a long and eloquent poetical introduction,\nthis lady says:--\n\n\"Let us put off the robes of sloth and inertness, and put on the dress\nof zeal and earnestness. We belong to the nineteenth century, which\nexceeds all the ages of mankind in light and knowledge. Why shall we not\nshow to men the need of giving us the highest education, that we may at\nthe least contribute to _their_ happiness and advantage, and rightly\ntrain our children and babes, not to say that we may pluck the fruits of\nscience, and the best knowledge for ourselves? Let them say to us, you\nare weak and lacking in knowledge. I reply, by perseverance and\npatience, we shall attain our object.\n\n\"Inasmuch as every one who reaches mature years, must pass by the road\nof childhood and youth, everything pertaining to the period of childhood\nbecomes interesting and important, and I beg permission to say a word on\nthe training of children.\n\n\"When it pleased God to give us our first child, I determined to train\nit according to the old approved modes which I had learned from my\nfamily relatives and fellow-countrywomen. So I took the baby boy soon\nafter his birth, and put him in a narrow cradle provided with a tin tube\nrunning down through a perforation in the little bed, binding and tying\nhim down, and wrapping and girding him about from his shoulders to his\nheels, so that he was stiff and unmovable, excepting his head, which\nrolled and wriggled about from right to left, with the rocking of the\ncradle, this rocking being deemed necessary for the purpose of inducing\nsleep and silence in the child. My lord and husband protested against\nthis treatment, proving to me the evil effects of this wrapping and\nrocking, by many and weighty reasons, and even said that it would injure\nthe little ones for life, even if they survived the outrageous abuse\nthey were subjected to. I was astonished, and said, how can this be? We\nwere all trained and treated in this manner, and yet lived and grew up\nin the best possible style. All our countrymen have been brought up in\nthis way, and none of them that I know of have ever been injured in the\nway you suggest. He gave it up, and allowed me to go on in the old way,\nuntil something happened which suddenly checked the babe in his progress\nin health and happiness. He began to throw up his milk after nursing,\nand to grow ill, giving signs of brain disease, and then my lord said,\nyou must now give up these customs and take my counsel. So, on the spur\nof the moment, I accepted his advice and gave up the cradle. I unrolled\nthe bindings and wrappings and gave up myself to putting things in due\norder. I clothed my child with garments adapted to his age and\ncircumstances, and to the time and place, and regulated the times of his\neating and play by day, and kept him awake as much as might be, so that\nhe and his parents could sleep at night. I soon saw a wonderful change\nin his health and vigor, though I experienced no little trouble from my\nefforts to wean him from the rocking of the cradle to which he was\naccustomed. My favorable experience in this matter, led me to use my\ninfluence to induce the daughters of my race, and my own family\nrelatives, to give up practices which are alike profitless, laborious\nand injurious to health. My husband also aided me in getting books on\nthe training of children, and I studied the true system of training,\nlearning much of what is profitable to the mothers and fathers of my\ncountry in preserving the health of their children in mind and body. The\nbinding and wrapping of babes in the cradle prevents their free and\nnatural movements, and the natural growth of the body, and injures their\nhealth.\"\n\nThe next paper is from the pen of Khalil Effendi, editor of the Turkish\nofficial journal of Beirut. It appeared in the columns of the \"Hadikat\nel Akhbar\" of January, 1867. It represents the leading views of a large\nclass of the more enlightened Syrians with regard to education, and by\nway of preface to the Effendi's remarks, I will make a brief historical\nstatement.\n\nThe Arab race were in ancient times celebrated for their schools of\nlearning, and although the arts and sciences taught in the great\nUniversity under the Khalifs of Baghdad, were chiefly drawn from Greece,\nyet in poetry, logic and law the old Arab writers long held a proud\npreeminence. But since the foundation of the present Ottoman Empire, the\nArabs have been under a foreign yoke, subject to every form of\noppression and wrong, and for generations hardly a poet worth the name\nhas appeared excepting Sheikh Nasif el Yazijy. Schools have been\ndiscouraged, and learning, which migrated with the Arabs into Spain, has\nnever returned to its Eastern home. There are in every Moslem town and\ncity common schools, for every Moslem boy must be taught to read the\nKoran; but with the exception of the Egyptian school of the Jamea el\nAzhar in Cairo, there had not been up to 1867 for years even a high\nschool under native auspices, in the Arabic-speaking world. But what the\nTurks have discouraged and the Arab Moslems have failed to do, is now\nbeing done among the nominal Christian sects, and chiefly by foreign\neducators. During the past thirty years a great work in educating the\nArab race in Syria has been done by the American Missionaries. Their\nSeminary in Abeih, on Mount Lebanon, has trained multitudes of young\nmen, who are now scattered all over Syria and the East, and are making\ntheir influence felt. Other schools have sprung up, and the result is,\nthat the young men and women of Syria are now talking about the \"Asur el\nJedid,\" or \"New Age of Syria,\" by which they mean an age of education\nand light and advancement. The Arabic journal, above referred to, is\nowned by the Turkish government, or rather subsidized by it, and its\neditor is a talented young Greek of considerable poetic ability. It is\nnot often that he ventures to speak out boldly on such a theme as\neducation, but the pressure from the people upon the Governor-General\nwas so great at the time, that he gave permission to the editor to utter\nhis mind. I translate what he wrote, quite literally.\n\n\"There can be no doubt that the strength of every people and the source\nof their happiness, rest upon the diffusion of knowledge among them.\nScience has been in every age the foundation of wealth and national\nprogress, and since science and the arts are the forerunners of popular\ncivilization, and the good of the masses and their elevation in the\nscale of intellectual and physical growth, therefore primary education\nis the necessary preparation for all scientific progress. And in view of\nthis, the providence of our most exalted government has been turned to\nthe accomplishment of what has been done successfully in other lands, in\nthe multiplication of schools and colleges. And none can be ignorant of\nthe great progress of science and education, under His August Imperial\nExcellency the Sultan, in Syria, where schools and printing presses have\nmultiplied, especially in the city of Beirut and its vicinity. For in\nBeirut and Mount Lebanon, there are nearly two thousand male pupils,\nlarge and small, in Boarding Schools, learning the Arabic branches and\nforeign languages, and especially the French language, which is more\nwidely spread than any other. The most noted of these schools are the\nFrench Lazarist School at Ain Tura in Lebanon, the American Seminary in\nAbeih, the Jesuit School at Ghuzir, and the Greek School at Suk el\nGhurb, the most of the pupils being from the cities of Syria. Then there\nare in Beirut the Greek School, the school of the Greek Catholic\nPatriarch, the Native National College of Mr. Betrus el Bistany, and\nthere are also nearly a thousand _girls_ in the French Lazarist School,\nthe Prussian Protestant Deaconesses, the American Female Seminary and\nMrs. Thompson's British Syrian School, and other female schools. And\nhere we must mention that all of these schools, (excepting the Druze\nSeminary,) are in the hands of _Christians_, and the Mohammedans of\nBeirut have not a single school other than a common school, although in\nDamascus and Tripoli they have High Schools which are most successful,\nand many of their children in Beirut, are learning in Christian schools,\na fact which we take as a proof of their anxiety to attain useful\nknowledge, although they have not as yet done aught to found schools of\ntheir own. And though the placing of their children in Christian schools\nis a proof of the love and fellowship between these two sects in this\nglorious Imperial Age, we cannot but say that it would be far more\nbefitting to the honor and dignity of the Mussulmen to open schools for\ntheir own children as the other sects are doing. And lately the Imperial\nGovernor of Syria has been urging them to this step, and they are now\nplanning the opening of such a school, which will be a means of great\nbenefit and glory to Islam.\"\n\nThe editor then states that the great want of Syria is a school where a\nhigh _practical_ education can be given, and says:--\n\n\"We now publish the glad tidings to the sons of Syria that such a\nCollege has just been opened in Syria, in the city of Beirut, by the\nliberality of good men in America and England, and called the \"Syria\nProtestant College.\" It is to accommodate eventually one thousand\npupils, will have a large library and scientific apparatus, including a\ntelescope for viewing the stars, besides cabinets of Natural History,\nBotany, Geology and Mineralogy. It will teach all Science and Art, Law\nand Medicine, and we doubt not will meet the great want of our native\nland.\"\n\nFive years have passed since the above was written. Since that time the\nnumber of pupils in the various schools in Beirut has trebled, and new\neducational edifices of stately proportions are being built or are\nalready finished, in every part of the city. It may be safely said that\nthe finest structures in Beirut are those built for educational\npurposes. The Latins have the Sisters of Charity building of immense\nproportions, the Jesuit establishment, the Maronite schools, and the\nFrench Sisters of Nazareth Seminary, which is to be one of the most\ncommanding edifices of the East. The Greeks have their large High\nSchool, and the Papal-Greeks, or Greek-Catholics their lofty College.\nThe Moslems have built with funds drawn from the treasury of the\nmunicipality, a magnificent building for their Reshidiyeh, while the\nProtestants have the imposing edifices occupied by the American Female\nSeminary, the British Syrian Schools, the Prussian Deaconesses\nInstitute, and most extensive and impressive of all, the new edifices of\nthe Syrian Protestant College at Ras Beirut.\n\nAs another illustration of public sentiment in Syria with regard to\nevangelical work, I will translate another paragraph from this official\nnewspaper:\n\n\"We have been writing of the progress of the Press in Syria, and of\nArabic literature in Europe, but we have another fact to mention which\nwill no doubt fill the sons of our country with astonishment. You know\nwell the efforts which were put forth some time since in the printing of\nthe Old and New Testaments in various editions in the Arabic language,\nin the Press of the American Mission in Beirut. This work is under the\ndirection of the distinguished scholar Dr. Van Dyck, who labored\nassiduously in the completion of the translation of the Bible from the\nHebrew and Greek languages, which was commenced by the compassionated of\nGod, Dr. Eli Smith. They had printed from time to time large editions of\nthis Bible with great labor and expense, and sold them out, and then\nwere obliged to set up the types again for a new edition. But Dr. Van\nDyck thought it best, in order to find relief from the vast expenditure\nof time and money necessary to reset the types, to prepare for every\npage of the Bible a plate of copper, on whose face the letters should be\nengraved. He therefore proceeded to New York, and undertook in\nco-operation, with certain men skilled in the electrotyping art, to make\nplates exactly corresponding to the pages of the Holy Book, and he has\nsent to us a specimen page taken from the first plate of the vowelled\nTestament, and on comparison with the page printed here, we find it an\nexact copy of the Beirut edition which is printed in the same type with\nour journal. We regard it as far clearer and better than the sheets\nprinted from movable types, and we congratulate Dr. Van Dyck, and wish\nhim all success in this enterprise.\"\n\nSuch statements as these derive their value from the fact that they\nappear in the official paper of a Mohammedan government, and are a\ntestimony to the value of the Word of God.\n\nThe next article is a literal translation of an address delivered in\nJune, 1867, at the Annual Examination of the Beirut Female Seminary.\nThis Seminary was the first school in Syria for girls, which was\nestablished on the paying principle, and in the year 1867 its income\nfrom Syrian girls who paid their own board and tuition was about fifteen\nhundred dollars in gold. It commenced with six pupils, and now has fifty\nboarders. A crowded assembly attended the examination in the year above\nmentioned, and at its close, several native gentlemen made addresses in\nArabic. The most remarkable address was made by a Greek Priest, Ghubrin\nJebara, the Archimandrite and agent of the Patriarch. When it is\nremembered that in the days of Bird, Goodell and Fisk, the Greek clergy\nwere among the most bitter enemies of the missionaries, it will be seen\nthat this address indicates a great change in Syria. Turning to the\ngreat congregation of three or four hundred people who were assembled in\nthe American Chapel, Greeks, Maronites, Mohammedans, Catholics and\nProtestants, he said:\n\n\"You know my friends, into what a sad state our land and people had\nfallen, morally, socially and intellectually. We had no schools, no\nbooks, no means of instruction, when God in His Providence awakened the\nzeal of good men far across two seas in distant America, of which many\nof us had never heard, to leave home and friends and country to spend\ntheir lives among us, yes even among such as I am. In the name of my\ncountrymen in Syria, I would this day thank these men, and those who\nsent them. They have given us the Arabic Bible, numerous good books,\nfounded schools and seminaries, and trained our children and youth. But\nfor the American Missionaries the Word of God would have well nigh died\nout of the Arabic language. But now through the labors of the lamented\nEli Smith and Dr. Van Dyck, they have given us a translation so pure, so\nexact, so clear and so classical as to be acceptable to all classes and\nall sects. But for their labors, education would still be where it was\ncenturies ago, and our children would still have continued to grow up\nlike wild beasts. Is there any one among us so bigoted, so ungrateful,\nas not to appreciate these benevolent labors; so blind as not to see\ntheir fruits? True, other European Missionaries have come here from\nFrance and Italy, and we will not deny their good intentions. But what\nhave they brought us? And what have they taught? A little French. They\ntell us how far Lyons is from Paris, and where Napoleon first lived,\nand then they forbid the Word of God, and scatter broadcast the writings\nof the accursed infidel Voltaire. But these Americans have come\nthousands of miles, from a land than which there is no happier on earth,\nto dwell among such as we are, yes, I repeat it, such as I am, to\ntranslate God's word, to give us schools and good books, and a goodly\nexample, and I thank them for it. I thank them and all who are laboring\nfor us. I would thank Mr. Mikhaiel Araman, the Principal of this Female\nSeminary, who is a son of our land, and Miss Rufka Gregory, the\nPreceptress, who is a daughter of our own people, for the wonderful\nprogress we have witnessed during these three days among the daughters\nof our own city and country, in the best kind of knowledge. Allah grant\nprosperity to this Seminary, and all its teachers and pupils, peace and\nhappiness to all here present to-day and long life to our Sultan Abdul\nAziz.\"\n\nAs my object in giving these extracts from Arab writers and orators of\nthe present day, is to give some idea of the change going on in Syrian\npublic sentiment with regard to education, the dignity of woman, and the\nabolition of superstitious social usages, I cannot do better than to\ntranslate from the official journal of Daud Pasha, late governor of Mt.\nLebanon, an article on the customs of the Lebanon population. This paper\nwas styled \"Le Liban,\" and printed both in Arabic and French in July,\n1867. It gives us a glimpse of the civilizing and Christianizing\ninfluences which are at work in Syria.\n\n\"In Mount Lebanon there exist certain customs, which had their origin\nin kindly feeling and sympathy, but have now passed beyond the limits of\npropriety, and lost their original meaning. For example, when one falls\nsick, his relatives and friends at once begin to pour in upon him. The\nwhole population of the town will come crowding into the house, each one\nspeaking to the sick a word of comfort and encouragement, and then\nsitting down in the sick room. The poor invalid must respond to all\nthese salutations, and even be expected to rise in bed and bow to his\nloving friends. Then the whole company must speak a word to the family,\nto the wife and children, assuring them that the disease is but slight,\nand the sick man will speedily recover. Then they crowd into the sick\nroom (and _such_ a crowd it is!) and the family and servants are kept\nrunning to supply them with cigars and narghilehs, by means of which\nthey fill the room with a dense and suffocating smoke. Meantime, they\ntalk all at once and in a loud voice, and the air soon becomes impure\nand suffocating, and all these things as a matter of course injure the\nsick man, and he becomes worse. Then the childish doctors of the town\nare summoned, and in they come with grave faces, and a great show of\nwisdom, and each one begins to recount the names of all the medicines he\nhas heard of, and describes their effects in working miraculous cures.\nThen they enter into ignorant disputes on learned subjects, and talk of\nthe art of medicine of which they know nothing save what they have\nlearned by hearsay. One will insist that this medicine is the best,\nbecause his father used it with great benefit just before he died, and\nanother will urge the claims of another medicine, of a directly opposite\ncharacter, and opinions will clash, and all in the presence of the sick\nman, who thus becomes agitated and alarmed. He takes first one medicine\nand then its opposite, and then he summons other doctors and consults\nhis relatives. Then all the old women of the neighborhood take him in\nhand and set at naught all that the doctors have advised, give him\nmedicines of whose properties they are wholly ignorant, and thus they\nhasten the final departure of their friend on his long last journey. And\nif he should die, the whole population of the town assembles at once at\nthe house and the relatives, friends, and people from other villages\ncome thronging in. They fill the house with their screams and wails of\nmourning. They recount the virtues of the departed with groans and\nshrieks, and lamentations in measured stanzas. This all resembles the\ncustoms of the old Greeks and Romans who hired male and female mourners\nto do their weeping for them. After this, they proceed at once to bear\nthe corpse to the grave, without one thought as to proving whether there\nbe yet life remaining or not, not leaving it even twelve hours, and\nnever twenty-four hours. It is well known that this custom is most\nbrutal and perilous, for they may suppose a living man to be dead, and\nbury him alive, as has, no doubt, often been done. Immediately after the\nburial, the crowd return to the house of the deceased, where a sumptuous\ntable awaits them, and all the relatives, friends, and strangers eat\ntheir fill. After eight days, the wailing, assembling, crowding, and\neating are repeated, for the consolation of the distracted relatives.\nAnd these crowds and turbulent proceedings occur, not simply at Syrian\nfunerals, but also at marriages and births, in case the child born is a\n_boy_, for the Syrians are fond of exhibiting their joy and sorrow. But\nit should be remembered, that just as in civilized lands, all these\ndemonstrations of joy and sorrow are tempered by moderation and wisdom,\nand subdued by silent acquiescence in the Divine will, so in uncivilized\nlands, they are the occasion for giving the loose rein to passion and\ntumult and violent emotion. How much in conformity with true faith in\nGod, and religious principle, is the quiet, well-ordered and moderate\ncourse of procedure among civilized nations!\n\n\"So in former times, the man was everywhere the absolute tyrant of the\nfamily. The wife was the slave, never to be seen by others. And if, in\nconversation, it became necessary to mention her name, it would be by\nsaying this was done by my wife 'ajellak Allah.' But now, there is a\nchange, and woman is no longer so generally regarded as worthy of\ncontempt and abuse, and the progress being made in the emancipation and\nelevation of woman, is one of the noblest and best proofs of the real\nprogress of Lebanon in the paths of morality and civilization.\"\n\nThis is the language of the official paper of the Lebanon government.\nYet how difficult to root out superstitious and injurious customs by\nofficial utterances! At the very time that article was written, these\ncustoms continued in full force. A woman in Abeih, whose husband died in\n1866, refused to allow her house or her clothes to be washed for more\nthan a whole year afterward, just as though untidiness and personal\nuncleanliness would honor her deceased husband!\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\n\nBEDAWIN ARABS.\n\n\nThere is one class of the Arab race, of which little or nothing has been\nsaid in the preceding pages, for the simple reason that there is little\nto be said of missionary work or progress among them. We refer to the\nBedawin Arabs. The true sons of Ishmael, boasting of their descent from\nhim, living a wild, free and independent life, rough, untutored and\nwarlike, plundering, robbing and murdering one another as a business;\nroaming over the vast plains which extend from Aleppo to Baghdad, and\nfrom Baghdad to Central Arabia, and bordering the outskirts of the more\nsettled parts of Syria and Palestine; ignorant of reading and writing,\nand yet transacting extensive business in wool and live-stock with the\nborder towns and cities; nominally Mohammedans, and yet disobeying every\nprecept of Moslem faith and practice; subjects of the Ottoman Sultan,\nand yet living in perpetual rebellion or coaxed by heavy bribes into\nnominal submission; suffering untold hardships from their life of\nconstant exposure to winter storms and summer heats; without proper\nfood, clothing or shelter, and utterly destitute of medical aid and\nrelief, and yet despising the refinements of civilized life, and\nregarding with contempt the man who will sleep under a roof; they\nconstitute a most ancient, attractive class of men, interesting to every\nlover of his race, and especially to the Missionary of the Cross.\n\nEuropean missionaries can do little among them. To say nothing of the\nrough, nomadic, unsettled and perilous life they lead, any European\nwould find himself so much an object of curiosity and suspicion among\nthem, and the peculiar Bedawin pronunciation of the Arabic so different\nfrom the correct pronunciation, that he would be constantly embarrassed.\nNative missionaries, on the other hand, can go among them freely, and if\nprovided with a supply of vaccine virus and simple medicines, can have\nthe most unrestrained access to them. During the last ten years, several\nnative colporteurs have been sent among the Bedawin, and lately the\nNative Missionary Society in Beirut has sent out one of its teachers as\na missionary to the Arabs. There is little use in taking books among\nthem, as very few can make use of them. Mr. Arthington of Leeds,\nEngland, has been making earnest efforts to induce the Bedawin to send\ntheir children to schools in the towns, or allow schools to be opened\namong their own camps. We have tried every means to induce their leading\nSheikhs to send their sons and daughters to Beirut for instruction, but\nthe Arabs all dread sending their children to any point within the\njurisdiction of the Turks, lest they be suddenly seized by the Turks as\nhostages for the good behavior of their parents. The latter course,\n_i.e._, sending teachers to live among them, to migrate with them and\nteach their children as it were \"on the wing,\" seems to be the one most\npracticable, as soon as teachers can be trained. Until the Turkish\ngovernment shall compel the Bedawin to settle down in villages and till\nthe soil, there can be little done in the way of instructing them. And\nwhen that step is taken, it is quite doubtful whether the Moslem\ngovernment will not send its Khoteebs or religious teachers, and compel\nthem all to embrace the religion of Islam. If that should be done,\nChristian teachers will have but little opportunity of opening schools\namong them.\n\nOne of the leading tribes of the Bedawin is the Anazy, who are more\nnumerous, powerful and wealthy than any other Kobileh of the Arabs.\nTheir principal Sheikh on the Damascus border is Mohammed ed Dukhy, the\nwarlike and successful leader of ten thousand Arab horsemen, of the\nWeled Ali. He is now an officer of the Turkish government, with a salary\nof ten thousand dollars a year, employed to protect the great Haj or\nPilgrim Caravan, which goes annually from Damascus to Mecca. He\nfurnishes camels for the Haj, and a powerful escort of horsemen, and is\nunder bonds to keep the Arabs quiet.\n\nIn February, 1871, he came to Beirut on business, and was the guest of a\nMaronite merchant, who brought him at our invitation to visit the Female\nSeminary, the College and the Printing Press. After looking through the\nSeminary, examining the various departments, and inquiring into the\ncourse of study he turned to the pupils and said, \"Our Bedawin girls\nwould learn as much in six months as you learn in two years.\" I told him\nwe should like to see the experiment tried, and that if he would send on\na dozen Bedawin girls, we would see that they had every opportunity for\nimprovement. He said, \"Allah only knows the future. Who knows but it may\nyet come to pass?\" The Sheikh himself can neither read nor write, but\nhis wife, the Sitt Harba, or Lady Spear, who came from the vicinity of\nHamath, can read and write well, and she is said to be the only\nBedawiyeh woman who can write a letter. With this in view we prepared an\nelegant copy of the Arabic Bible, enclosed in a waterproof case made by\nthe girls of the Seminary, and presented it to him at the Press. He\nexpressed great interest in it, and asked what the book contained. We\nexplained the contents, and he remarked, \"I will have the Sitt Harba\nread to me of Ibrahim, Khalil Allah, (the Friend of God), and Ismaeel,\nthe father of the Arabs, and Neby (prophet) Moosa, and Soleiman the\nking, and Aieesa, (Jesus,) the son of Mary.\" The electrotype apparatus\ndeeply interested him, but when Mr. Hallock showed him the steam\ncylinder press, rolling off the sheets with so great rapidity and\nexactness, he stood back and remarked in the most deliberate manner,\n\"the man who made that press can conquer anything but death!\" It seemed\nsome satisfaction to him that in the matter of _death_ the Bedawin was\non a level with the European.\n\nFrom the Press, the Sheikh went to the Church, and after gazing around\non the pure white walls, remarked, \"There is the Book, but I see no\npictures nor images. You worship only God here!\" He was anxious to see\nthe _Tower Clock_, and although he had lost one arm, and the other was\nnearly paralyzed by a musket shot in a recent fight in the desert, he\ninsisted on climbing up the long ladders to see the clock whose striking\nhe had heard at the other end of the city, and he gazed long and\nadmiringly at this beautiful piece of mechanism. On leaving us, he\nrenewedly thanked us for _The Book_, and the next day he left by\ndiligence coach for Damascus.\n\nIn the summer we sent, at Mr. Arthington's expense, a young man from the\nBeirut Medical College, named Ali, as missionary to itinerate among the\nBedawin, with special instructions to persuade the Arabs if possible to\nsend their children to school. He remained a month or two among them, by\nday and by night, sleeping by night outside the tents with his horse's\nhalter tied to his arms to prevent its being stolen, and spending the\nevenings reading to the assembled crowd from the New Testament. He was\npresent as a spectator at a fight between Mohammed's men and the Ruella\nArabs east of the Sea of Galilee, in which the Ruella were defeated, but\nMohammed's son Faur was wounded, and Ali attended him. The Sitt Harba\ntold Ali that a papist named Shwiry, in Damascus, had taken the Arabic\nBible from them! So Ali gave them another. This Bible-hating spirit of\nthe Papacy is the same the world over. How contemptible the spirit of a\nman _professing_ the name of Christian, and yet willing to rob the only\nwoman among the Bedawin who can read, of the word of everlasting life!\nThe whole family of the Sheikh were interested in reading an illustrated\nbook for children of folio size, styled \"Lilies of the Field,\" which we\nprinted in Beirut last year. When Ali set out on this journey, I gave\nhim a letter to the Sheikh, reminding him of his visit to Beirut, and\nurging again upon him the sending of his children to school. The Sheikh\nsent me the following reply, written by his wife, the Sitt Harba, and\nsealed with his own signet ring. I value the letter highly as being\nwritten by the only Bedawin woman able to write:\n\n     To his excellency the most honored and esteemed, our revered\n     Khowadja Henry Jessup, may his continuance be prolonged! Amen.\n\n     After offering you the pearls of salutation, and the ornaments of\n     pure odoriferous greeting, we would beg to inform you that your\n     epistle reached us in the hand of Ali Effendi, and we perused it\n     rejoicing in the information it contained about your health and\n     prosperity. You remind us of the importance of sending our sons and\n     daughters to be educated in your schools. Ali Effendi has urged us\n     very strongly to this course; and has spent several weeks with us\n     among the Arabs. He has read to the children from The Book, and\n     tried to interest them in learning to read. He has also gone from\n     tent to tent among our Bedawin, talking with them and urging upon\n     them this great subject. He constantly read to them that which\n     engaged their attention, and we aided him in urging it upon them.\n     Inshullah (God grant) that there may soon be a school among the\n     Arabs themselves. We Bedawin do not understand the language nor the\n     ways of Europeans, and we should like to have one like Ali Effendi,\n     who knows our way of talking and living, come to teach us and our\n     children. We would also inform you that the book with pictures,\n     which you sent to the Sitt Harba, has reached her, and she has\n     read it with great pleasure, and asks of God to increase your good.\n     She sends salams to you and to the Sitt, and all your family.\n\n                    And may you live forever! Salam\n\n                                                  MOHAMMED DUKHY.\n\n     29 Jemady Akhar\n     1289 of the Hegira\n\n     \"Postscript.--There has been a battle between us and the Ruella\n     tribe, and the Ruellas ate a defeat, Ali Effendi was present and\n     will give you the particulars.\"\n\nAt the date of this writing, Ali has been again to Mohammed's camp,\ntaking books and medicines, and has done his utmost to prepare the way\nfor opening schools among the Bedawin in their own camps. Ali has\nbrought another letter from Sitt Harba, in which she gives her views\nwith regard to the education of the Bedawin. I sent several written\nquestions to her in Arabic, to which she cheerfully gave replies. The\nfollowing is the substance of her answers:\n\nI. The Bedawin Arabs ought to learn to read and write, in order to learn\nreligion, to increase in understanding, and to become acquainted with\nthe Koran. They profess to be Moslems, but in reality have no religion.\n\nII. The reason why so few of the Bedawin know how to read, is because it\nis out of their line of business. They prefer fighting, plundering, and\nfeeding flocks and herds. Reading and books are strange and unknown to\nthem.\n\nIII. If they wished to learn to read, the true time and place would be\nin the winter, when they migrate to the East in the Jowf, where they\nare quiet and uninterrupted by government tax-gatherers.\n\nIV. I learned to read in the vicinity of Hums. My father brought for my\ninstruction a Khoteeb or Moslem teacher, who taught me reading. His name\nwas Sheikh Abdullah. The Sheikh Mohammed taught me writing.\n\nV. The Bedawin esteem a boy better than a girl, because the boy may rise\nto honor, but the girl has nothing to expect from her husband, and his\nparents and relatives, but cursing and abuse.\n\nVI. A man may marry four wives. If one of them ceases bearing children,\nand she be of his family, he makes a covenant of fraternity with her,\nand he supports her in his own camp, but she is regarded simply as a\nsister. If she be of another family, he sends her home, and pays her\nwhat her friends demand.\n\nVII. The girls and women have no more religion than the boys and men.\nThey never pray nor fast, nor make the pilgrimage to Mecca. But the old\nwomen repeat certain prayers, and visit the ziyaras, mazars, and welys,\nand other holy places.\n\nVIII. If teachers would come among us, who can live as we do, and dwell\nin our camps, and travel with us to the desert, they could teach the\ngreat part of our children to read, especially if they understood the\nart of medicine.\n\nAli spent several weeks among them, sleeping in the camp, and attending\nupon their sick. The camp was on the mountains east of the Sea of\nGalilee. Fevers prevailed through the entire district from Tiberias to\nDamascus, and Ali devoted himself faithfully to the care of the sick.\nThe Sheikh himself was ill with fever and ague, as were several members\nof his family. One day Ali prepared an effervescing draught for him, and\nwhen the acid and the alkali united, and the mixture effervesced, the\nBedawin seated in the great tent screamed and ran from the tent as if\nthe Ruellas were down upon them! What, said they, is this? He pours\nwater into water, and out come fire and smoke! The Sheikh himself was\nafraid to drink it, so Ali took it himself, and finally, after\nexplaining the principle of the chemical process, he induced both the\nSheikh and the Sit Harba to drink the draught. On leaving the\nencampment, the Sheikh gave Ali a guard, and three Turkish pounds (about\n$14,) to pay for his medicines and medical services, saying, that as his\nBedawin were growing poor since they were forbidden to make raids on\nother tribes, they could not pay for his services, and he would pay for\nall. He offered to give him a goat skin bottle of semin (Arab butter)\nand several sheep, but Ali was unable to carry either, and declined the\noffer. Ali brought a specimen of Bedawin bread. It is black, coarse, and\nmixed with ashes and sand. The Bedawin pound their wheat, and knead the\ncoarse gritty flour without sifting, and bake it on the heated earthen\novens.\n\nThe Bedawin swarm with vermin. Their garments, their persons, their\ntents and their mats are literally alive with the third plague of Egypt,\n_lice_! Ali soon found himself completely overrun with them, and was\nalmost driven wild. The Sitt Harba urged him to try the Bedawin remedy\nfor cleansing his head. On inquiring what it was, he declared he would\nrather have the disease than the remedy! After his return to his village\nin Lebanon, he spent several days in ablutions and purifications before\nventuring to bring me his report. The Sitt Harba gave him a collection\nof the nursery rhymes which she and the Bedawin women sing to their\nlittle brown babies, and some of them will be found in the \"Children's\nChapter\" of this volume. The Sheikh Mohammed, who can neither read nor\nwrite, repeated to Ali the following Kosideh or Song, which he composed\nin Arabic poetry, after his victory over Feisal, of the Ruella tribe, in\n1866. The Ruellas had previously driven Mohammed's tribe from one of the\nfinest pasture regions in Howian, and Ed Dukhy regained it after a\ndesperate struggle.\n\n    Oh fair and beautiful plain, oh rich green Bedawin pasture.\n    We had left you, too often stained, with the blood of violent\n        battle;\n    Ah, dark disastrous day, when brother abandoned his brother,\n    Though riding the fleetest of mares, and safe from pursuit of the\n        foeman,\n    He never once turned to inquire, though we tasted the cup of\n        destruction.\n    Oh fair and beautiful plain, we yesterday fought and regained thee!\n    I praise and honor His name, who only the victory giveth!\n    O, Feisal, we've meted to you your deserts in royal measure;\n    With our spears so burning and sharp, we cut off the necks of your\n        Arabs,\n    O, Shepherd of Obaid, you fled deserting your pastures,\n    Biting your finger in pain and regret for your sad disasters--\n    Savage hyena, come forth, from your lair in the land of Jedaileh,\n    Howl to your fellow-beasts, in the distant land of Butina;\n    Come and eat your fill of the dead in the Plain of Fada,\n    O, fair and beautiful plain, you belong to the tribe of the victor;\n    But Feisal is racked with pain, when he hears the battle story,\n    Our right-handed spearmen have palsied his arm is its strength and\n        power;\n    A blow fell hard on his breast, from the hand of our Anazy warriors;\n    Come now, ye who wish for peace, we are ready in honor to meet you!\n    _Our_ wrongs are all avenged, and our arms are weary of battle.\n\nThe Arabic original of these lines breathes the true spirit of poetry,\nand shows that the old poetic fire still burns in the desert. Feisal now\nlives in the region adjacent to Mohammed Dukhy, and they leave a space\nof several miles between their camps to prevent trespass, and the danger\nof re-opening the old blood-feud.\n\nI would commend the Arabs of the Desert to the prayerful remembrance of\nthe Women of America. How the gospel is to reach them, is one of the\ngreat problems of our day. Their women are sunken to the lowest depths\nof physical and moral degradation. The extent of their religion is in\nbeing able to swear Mohammedan oaths. \"Their mouths are full of cursing\nand bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and\nmisery are in their ways, and the _way of peace_ have they not known.\"\nAlthough their hand is against every man, and every man's hand against\nthem, let them feel that there is one class of men who love them and\ncare for them with a disinterested love, and who seek their everlasting\nwelfare!\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV.\n\n\"WOMAN BETWEEN BARBARISM AND CIVILIZATION.\"\n\n\nThis is the title of an Arabic article in the \"Jenan\" for Sept. 1, 1872,\nwritten by Frances Effendi Merrash, brother of the Sitt Mariana, whose\npaper we have translated on a preceding page. It is evident that the\nEffendi writes from the atmosphere of Aleppo. The more \"polite\" society\nof that city is largely made up of that mongrel population, half French\nand half Arab, which is styled \"Levantine\" and too often combines the\nvices of both, with the virtues of neither. It will be seen that the\nable author is combatting the worst form of French flippant\ncivilization, which has already found its way into many of the towns and\ncities of the Orient. He says:--\n\n\"Inasmuch as woman constitutes a large portion of human kind, and an\nessential element in society, as well as the leading member of the race\nin respect to its perpetuation, it becomes necessary both to consider\nand speak of her character and position although there are not wanting\nthose who are coarse enough and rude enough to declare woman a worthless\npart of the creation.\n\n\"Woman possesses a nature remarkably impressible and susceptible to\ninfluence, owing to the delicacy of her organization and the\npeculiarities of her structure. Her proper culture therefore calls for\nthe greatest possible skill and care to protect her from those\ncorrupting influences to which she is by nature especially susceptible.\nWe should therefore neither leave her locked in the fetters of the\nancient barbarism and rudeness, nor leave her free to the uncontrollable\nliberty of this modern civilization, for both these extremes bring her\ninto one common evil estate and both have one effect upon her.\n\n\"Have you not observed how the customs of ancient rude barbarism\ncorrupted the manners of woman and obliterated all those virtues and\nexcellencies for which she is especially designed by nature? It was\ndeemed most opprobrious for woman to learn to read and write, to say\nnothing of other arts. It was thought indispensable to bind upon her\nmouth the fetters of profound silence so that none ever heard her voice\nbut her own coarse husband, and the walls of the enclosure in which she\nwas kept imprisoned. She had no liberty of thought or action. Every\nwoman's thoughts were limited by the thoughts of her husband, and her\ncharacter was cast in the mould of his, whether that were good or bad.\nAnd in addition to this, she always suffered from whatever of rudeness\nthere might be in her rough companion, who availed himself of his\nsuperior brute physical strength as a weapon to overcome her moral\npower. He scourged and cursed and despised her in every possible way,\nwhen she was innocent of crime or error. As a result of this course,\nher own self respect, and the feeling that she was abused and insulted\nby her companion or partner, led her oftentimes to cast off all shame\nand modesty, whenever a suitable opportunity presented itself. This grew\nout of the fact that she no longer regarded herself as the companion of\nher husband and the sharer of all his natural and moral rights, his joys\nand sorrows, but she rather imagined herself his captive and bond slave.\nShe thus sank to the position of a slave-woman who is never allowed\npeace or rest, and cares nothing for the training of her children or the\nordering of her house, since she looks upon herself as a stranger in a\nhome not her own, and we all know how difficult it is for a slave to\nperform the duties of the free!\n\n\"On the other hand, have you not observed how the influence of modern\ncivilization is corrupting the nature of woman and making havoc with her\nmorals?\n\n\"There is nothing strange in this, for her delicate nature, when it had\nescaped from the chains and imprisonment of the mildest barbarism, into\nthe open free arena of civilization, lost its reckoning, and wandered\nhither and thither in bewilderment according to its own unrestrained\npassions. Woman thus became like a feather, 'Borne on the tempest\nwherever it blows, and driven about where no one knows.'\n\n\"Now since evil images and objects are far more numerous in this world\nthan those which are good, it becomes evident that the influence of evil\nupon the mind of woman is stronger and more abiding than the influence\nof the good, owing to this intense delicacy of texture in her mental\nconstitution. Let us suppose that one man and one woman were placed in a\nposition where they should only see evil deeds, or only good deeds: the\nwoman would leave that place either vastly worse than the man, or vastly\nbetter. Now the moral misconduct of woman is far more detrimental to the\npropagation of the race, than is the misconduct of man. It is therefore\nbetter for the woman not to go to the extremes of the modern\ncivilization, whose evils are equal to, yes, and far surpass, its\nbenefits. Have you not noticed that the leaders of modern civilization\nin our age, have imitated, if not surpassed, all the excesses of riot,\nand lust and rapine, ever practiced under the barbarism of the ages of\nantiquity? Do not the women of this age go lower in shamelessness than\nthe women of ancient times? Here we see them veiling their faces with\nthe flimsy gauze of artifice, and befouling the pure waters of life with\nthe turbulent stream of their own vanity. They pollute the purity of\nreal beauty by the foul arts of beautifying, and cry out in loud rude\nvoices in every assembly and gathering. They strut about in\nvain-glorious conceit, and flaunt their gaudy apparel in indecent\nboldness. They claim what does not belong to them and meddle with what\ndoes not concern them. They do not blush to cloud the precious jewel of\nmodesty with the selfish airs of passion. Nothing is said which they do\nnot hear, nothing occurs which they do not see. They become bold,\nunblushing and unwomanly.\n\n\"Such being the state of things, there can be no doubt that an excess of\nthis kind of civilization for woman amounts to about the same thing as\nthe excess of her rude barbarism in ancient times. The two extremes\nmeet. The dividing line between them then, that is, the middle course,\nis the proper one for woman to take. To this middle course there must be\nsome natural and legitimate guide. This guide is a sound education, and\non this subject we propose at some future time to write, inasmuch as the\neducation of woman is one of the most important of subjects. Woman is\nthe one fountain from which is derived the life of man in its earliest\nperiods. She is the source of all training, and the root of character.\nHave you not heard that she who rocks the cradle, moves the world?\"\n\nIt is evident that the author of this paper has not been so happy as to\nsee the noblest type of a sanctified Christian civilization, such as can\nbe seen in the Christian homes of America and England, or even in the\ntruly Christian homes of Syria. Let us hope that the day is not far\ndistant, when even in Aleppo, a pure Christianity shall have taken the\nplace of that semi-barbaric system styled the papacy, which enthralls\nthe intellects and hearts of so many of the _nominal_ Christians of the\nOrient, and when the enslaved inmates of the Moslem hareems shall be set\nfree, not to indulge in the license of a Parisian libertinism, but with\nthat liberty wherewith Christ makes His people free!\n\n\nTHE VALUE SET ON WOMAN'S LIFE IN SYRIA.\n\nThe free license allowed to men by the Koran in the beating of their\nwives, has led the entire population of the East to set a low estimate\nupon the life of woman. Until recently in Syria women were poisoned,\nthrown down wells, beaten to death, or cast into the sea, and the\ngovernment made no inquisition into the matter. According to Mohammedan\nlaw, a prosecution for murder must always be commenced by the friends of\nthe victim, and if they do not enter complaint, or furnish witnesses,\nthe murderer is not even arrested. And if he be convicted of the crime,\nhe is released on paying to the relatives of the victim the price of\nblood, which is fixed at 13,000 piastres, or $520! A man may well \"count\nthe cost\" before committing murder. This constant compounding of\npunishment has degraded the popular views of the value of human life, so\nthat formerly the murder of a woman was never punished. In March, 1856,\na Druze girl near B'hamdun married a man of her own choice, instead of\nmarrying the man assigned to her by her family. She was waylaid by her\nown brother and the rejected suitor, murdered and thrown into a well.\n\nAbout a year after the massacres of 1860, while the European\nCommissioners were still in Syria, and Lebanon was beginning to attain\nsomething of its wonted quiet, several Turkish soldiers made an assault\nupon a young Maronite girl from the village of Ain Kesur, who was\ncarrying a jar of water to the workmen on the Deir el Komr road. Mr.\nCalhoun was requested by the Relief Committee in Beirut to devote the\ncharity funds distributed in this part of Lebanon, to giving employment\nto the needy in road-building. This girl was employed to supply the men\nwith water. The brutal soldiers attempted to gag her with a\nhandkerchief, in order to accomplish their design, but she was too\nstrong for them. The struggle was long and violent, but she finally\neffected her escape, leaving on the road the fragments of the broken\njar, her shoes and shreds of calico which they had torn from her\nclothing. Just at that moment Giurgius el Haddad, Mr. Calhoun's cook,\ncame up, and seeing the broken jar and the clothing, guessed what had\nhappened, and after finding the girl, and hearing her story, started in\npursuit of the soldiers to Ainab, whither they had gone, and where a\nTurkish officer was stationed. He stated the case to the officer, and\nreceived in reply a blow on his arm from a heavy cane. The case was\nreported to the Turkish Colonel in Abeih, who summoned all parties and\nordered each of the soldiers to be beaten with forty lashes on the bare\nback. But word had reached Col. Frazier, the British Commissioner, and\nhe came at once to Abeih in company with Omar Pasha, with order from\nEvad, Pasha, to examine the case _de novo_. The result was that two of\nthe soldiers were condemned by military law to be shot, and were shot at\nsunset June 5th, in front of the old palace just below Mr. Calhoun's\nhouse. The event produced a profound impression, and Druzes and Moslems\nbegan to feel that a woman's life and honor were after all of some\nvalue.\n\nIn April, 1862, when Daud Pasha was governor of Mt. Lebanon, a Druze,\nnamed Hassan, murdered a Druze girl of his own village, supposing that\nDaud Pasha would not interfere with the time-honored custom of killing\ngirls! Much to his surprise, however, he was arrested, convicted and\nhung, and the poor women of all sects in the mountain began to feel that\nafter all they had an equal right to life with the other sex.\n\nIn most parts of Syria to-day, the murder of women and girls is an act\nso insignificant as hardly to deserve notice. Mt. Lebanon and vicinity\nconstitute an exception perhaps, but woman's right to life is one of\nthose rights which have not yet been fully guaranteed in the Turkish\nEmpire.\n\nIn October, 1862, the Arabic official newspaper in Beirut, contained a\nletter from Hums which illustrates this fact. A fanatical wretch from\nHamath, one of the infamous Moslem saints, set up the claim that he had\nreceived the power to cast out devils by divine inspiration. He found\ncredulous followers among the more ignorant, and went to Hums to\npractice his diabolical trade. A poor woman had lost her reason through\nexcessive grief at the death of her son. The husband and others of her\nrelatives went to consult the new prophet. He refused to go and see her,\nstating that he would not condescend to go to the devils, but the\ndevils must come to him. The poor woman was accordingly brought to him,\nand left to await the opportune moment, when he could cast out the\ndevils, which he declared to be raving within her. After a few days, her\nfather called to inquire about her, and found her growing constantly\nworse. The Hamathite told him that he must bring a gallon of liquid\npitch, to be used as a medicine, and the next day the devils would leave\nher. The pitch was brought, and after the father had gone, the lying\nprophet tied a cord around her feet, and drew her up to the ceiling, and\nwhile she was thus suspended, thrust a red hot iron rod into one of her\neyes, and cauterized her body almost from head to foot! He then placed\nthe pitch on the floor under her head, and set it on fire until the body\nwas \"burned to charcoal!\" The next day the friends called, expecting to\nfind her restored to her right mind, when the wretch pointed them to the\nblackened cinder. They exclaimed with horror and asked him the reason of\nthis bloody crime? He replied that on applying the test of burning\npitch, one of the devils had gone out of her, tearing out her right eye,\nand when he forbade the rest from destroying the other eye, they fell\nupon her and killed her! The body was buried, but the government took\nnot the slightest notice of the fact. The official journal in Beirut\nsimply warned the public against patronizing such a bloody impostor!\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI.\n\nOPINIONS OF PROTESTANT SYRIANS WITH REGARD TO THE WORK OF AMERICAN WOMEN\nIN SYRIA.\n\n\nThe following letters have been addressed to me by prominent native\nSyrian gentlemen, whose wives have been trained in the American Mission\nSeminaries and families. They all write in English, and I give their own\nlanguage.\n\nMr. Butrus el Bistany, the husband of Raheel, writes me as follows:--\n\n\n     Beirut, Oct. 23, 1872.\n\n     \"It would be superfluous to speak of the efforts of American\n     Missionary ladies in training the females of Syria, and the good\n     done by them.\n\n     \"The sainted Sarah L. Smith, who was one of the first among them,\n     established the first Female School in Beirut.\n\n     \"Mrs. Whiting, also, who had no children of her own, trained five\n     girls in her family, all of whom are still living.\n\n     \"Mrs. De Forest had a very interesting female school in her family,\n     and the girls educated in that school are of the best of those\n     educated by American ladies in Syria.\n\n     \"The obstacles in those times were very great, and the people\n     believed that education is injurious to females. But these ladies\n     obtained a few girls to educate gratuitously, and thus made a good\n     impression on the minds of the people, and wrought a change in\n     public opinion, so that year by year the people began to appreciate\n     female education. And as we are now building on the foundation laid\n     by those good ladies and reaping the fruit of their labors, we\n     should pray to be imbued with the same spirit, and try as much as\n     we can to follow their example, and carry on the work with the same\n     spirit, zeal and wisdom as they did.\"\n\nMr. Naame Tabet, the husband of Miriam, who was educated by Dr. and Mrs.\nDe Forest, writes as follows:--\n\n\n     Beirut, Oct. 21, 1872.\n\n     \"It affords me unfeigned gratification that you give me an\n     opportunity of recording my impressions in regard to the advantages\n     of female education in this country under the guidance of the light\n     of the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour, such as is exemplified by\n     the American Mission, whose labors in diffusing and disseminating\n     the Scriptures are so conspicuously manifest.\n\n     \"That example chiefly has had the effect, in this neighborhood, to\n     stir up gigantic efforts to fill the want of female education. The\n     same feeling is extending itself throughout Syria, so that future\n     prospects for the promotion of pure Christian knowledge and true\n     civilization are brilliant and ought surely to encourage the\n     benevolent in persevering in their action.\"\n\nThe Rev. John Wortabet, M.D., Professor of Anatomy in the Syrian\nProtestant College, and husband of Salome, writes as follows:--\n\n     Beirut, Oct. 20, 1872.\n\n     \"Though I was very young when Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Whiting, and Mrs. De\n     Forest began their labors in the cause of Female Education in\n     Syria, I can distinctly recollect that they were the first to\n     initiate that movement which has grown to so vast an extent at the\n     present time. To them belongs the honor of having been the\n     determined and brave pioneers in the important work of raising\n     woman from her degraded position, brought on by ignorance and\n     Mohammedan influence, to one of considerable respect, in a social,\n     intellectual and moral point of view. I do not mean that they\n     achieved then this great and worthy object, but they were first to\n     begin the work, which is still going on, and destined apparently to\n     grow much farther. And it is but just that their names and primary\n     labors be embalmed in the memories of the past.\n\n     \"Aside from the intrinsic good which they accomplished, and the\n     direct fruits of their labors, and you are as well acquainted with\n     them as I am--they gave the first and best _teachers_ for the\n     schools which have sprung up so abundantly since their time. Of the\n     importance of giving well-trained female teachers for female\n     schools, in the peculiar social system of the East, nothing need be\n     said.\n\n     \"I believe, however, that the main value of these earlier labors\n     was the _impulse_ which they gave to the course of Female Education\n     in Syria. Prejudices and barriers, which had become hoary by the\n     lapse of time, have been completely broken down, at least among the\n     Christian Churches of the East.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII.\n\nOTHER LABORS FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS IN THIS FIELD.\n\n\nThe following statements have been chiefly made out from documents\nfurnished to me by those in charge of the various Institutions. I give\nthem in order according to the date of their establishment.\n\n\nTHE IRISH AND AMERICAN UNITED PRESBYTERIAN MISSION IN DAMASCUS.\n\nI have not received official statistics with regard to the work of this\nMission in behalf of women, but they have maintained schools for girls\nand personal labors for the women through a long series of years. Mrs.\nCrawford, who is thoroughly familiar with the Arabic language, has\nlabored in a quiet and persevering manner among the women of Damascus\nand Tebrud, and the fruits of these labors will be seen in years to\ncome. Miss Dales, now Mrs. Dr. Lansing, of Cairo, conducted a school for\nJewish girls in Damascus some fifteen years ago, which was well\nattended.\n\nMrs. E. Watson, an English lady of great energy and zeal in the cause of\nfemale education, after years of labor in North and South America,\nGreece and Asia Minor, came to Syria in 1858, and commenced a girls'\nschool in her own hired house. She afterwards removed to Shemlan, in\nMount Lebanon, where she erected a building at her own expense for a\ngirls' boarding school, and afterwards gave it to the Society for the\nPromotion of Female Education in the East. She has since, with untiring\nenergy, erected another building for a Seminary for Druze and Christian\ngirls, the former Institution continuing as it has been for many years\nunder the efficient management of Miss Hicks, assisted by Miss Dobbie.\nShe has also recently erected a neat and substantial church edifice in\nShemlan.\n\nIn Miss Hicks' absence, Mrs. Watson has addressed me the following\nletter:\n\n     Shemlan, August 28, 1872.\n\n     \"Our first school for native girls was commenced in Beirut in 1858.\n     The teachers have been Miss Hicks, Miss Hiscock, Mrs. Walker, Miss\n     Dillon, Miss Jacombs, (now in Sidon,) Miss Stainton, (now in\n     Sidon,) and Miss Dobbie. No native female teachers have been\n     employed except pupils of the school under Miss Hicks' care.\n     Masters Riskullah in Beirut, and Murad, Reshid and Daud, in\n     Shemlan, have been connected with the school as teachers of the\n     higher Arabic branches.\n\n     \"The whole number of boarders under our care up to the present\n     time, is above one hundred. The only teachers in my second boarding\n     school are, my adopted daughter Handumeh, and Zarifeh Twiney, a\n     pupil of the Prussian Deaconesses. Seventeen or eighteen of our\n     pupils have been, or are now teachers, and ten are married.\n\n     \"The school directed by Miss Hicks was given over to the Ladies'\n     Society in England, some six or seven years ago, and has been\n     supported by them since. The new school in the upper house is under\n     no society and is not regularly aided by any. There are from\n     twenty-six to twenty-eight boarders under the care of my daughter,\n     Miss Watson, I aiding as I can. Several girls have been supported\n     for the last two years by friends in America and England. We have\n     had ten Druze girls in our school in the upper house. Miss Hicks\n     has had three or four, and a number in her day school. We had also\n     a number in our day school at Aitath, four of whom are married to\n     Druze Sheikhs.\"\n\nMr. Elias Suleeby, aided by friends in Scotland, has for a considerable\nperiod conducted common schools in a part of Mount Lebanon and the\nBukaa, and now the enterprise has been adopted by the Free Church of\nScotland, who have sent the Rev. Mr. Rae to be their Superintendent.\n\nTheir schools are chiefly for boys, though in all the village schools it\nis usual for a few of the smaller girls to attend the boys' school. In\nSuk el Ghurb, however, they have a boarding school containing some\ntwenty-five girls.\n\n\nTHE PRUSSIAN DEACONESSES INSTITUTE IN BEIRUT\n\nThe Orphan House, Boarding School and Hospital with which the Prussian\nDeaconesses are connected, were established in 1860. The two former are\nsupported by the Kaiserswerth Institution in Germany, and the latter by\nthe Knights of St. John.\n\nIn the Orphan House are one hundred and thirty orphan girls, all native\nSyrians, who are clothed, fed and instructed for four or five years, and\noften transformed from wild, untutored semi-barbarians to tidy, well\nbehaved and useful young women. They have ordinarily about fifty\napplicants waiting for a vacancy in order to enter.\n\nThe Boarding School is for the education of the children of European\nresidents, Germans, French, Italians, Greeks, Maltese, English, Scotch,\nIrish, Hungarians, Dutch, Swiss, Danish, Americans and others. The\nmedium of instruction is the French language.\n\nSince the Orphan School began, many of the girls have married, thirty\nhave become teachers, and about twenty of them are living as servants in\nfamilies.\n\nIn August of the year 1861, the Deaconesses had received about 110\norphans. The children entering are received for three years, and the\nsurviving parent or guardian is required to sign a bond, agreeing to\nleave the child for that period, or if the child is withdrawn before\nthat time, to pay to the Deaconesses all that has been expended upon\nher.\n\nIn the summer of 1861, several of the parents came and tried to remove\ntheir children, though they had no means of supporting them, but the\ncontract stood in the way, and they had no money to pay. The Jesuits\nthen came forward and furnished the parents with French gold in\nNapoleons, and withdrew in one day fifty orphan girls from the\ninstitution, sending them, not to an institution of their own, but\nturning them back upon their wretched parents and friends to be trained\nin poverty and ignorance. A few days later, thirty more of the girls\nwere removed in the same way, leaving only thirty. The parents had a\nlegal right to remove the children on the payment of the money, but what\nshall be said of the cruelty of the Jesuits who turned back these\nwretched children to the destitution and misery of a Syrian orphan? The\nJesuits are the same everywhere, unscrupulous and intriguing, counting\nall means as right, which promote their own end.\n\n\nTHE BRITISH SYRIAN SCHOOLS.\n\nThese Schools, so numerous and widely extended, have grown up since the\nmassacre year 1860. I remember well the first arrival of Mrs. Bowen\nThompson in Beirut, and her persevering energy in forming her little\nschool for the widows and orphans of Hasbeiya, Deir el Komr and\nDamascus.\n\nFrom that little beginning in 1860, the school increased the following\nyear, until finally other branch schools were organized in Beirut and\nLebanon, and then in Damascus and Tyre, until now, the following\nschedule, furnished to me by the officers of the Institution, will show\nto what proportions the enterprise has grown. The Memoir of Mrs.\nThompson, entitled \"The Daughters of Syria,\" gives so full a history of\nthese schools, that I need only refer the reader to that volume for all\nthe information desired. Since the lamented death of Mrs. Thompson, the\ndirection of the schools has been entrusted to her sister, Mrs. Mentor\nMott. The Central Training School in Beirut was under the care of Mrs.\nShrimpton, who labored with great earnestness and wisdom in that\nimportant institution until the spring of 1873, when she resigned her\nposition and became connected with the work of Female education under\nthe American mission in Syria. She was aided by English and native\nteachers. The schools in Zahleh, Damascus, Hasbeiya and Tyre are under\nthe care of English and Scotch ladies, who have certainly evinced the\nmost admirable courage and resolution in entering, in several of these\nplaces, upon outpost duty, without European society, and isolated for\nmonths together from persons speaking their own language. I believe that\nsuch instances as these have demonstrated anew the fact that where woman\nis to be reached, woman can go, and Christian women from Christian\nlands, even if beyond the age generally fixed as the best adapted to the\neasy acquisition of a foreign language, may yet do a great work in\nmaintaining centres of influence at the outposts, and superintending the\nlabors of native teachers. These young native teachers trained in\nShemlan, Sidon, Suk el Ghurb and Beirut, cannot go to distant places as\nteachers, and _ought not to go_, without a home and proper protection\nprovided for them. Such protection _is given_ by a European or American\nwoman, who has the independence and the resolution to go where no\nmissionary family resides, and carry on the work of female education.\nEven at the risk of offending the modesty of the persons concerned, I\ncannot refrain from putting on record my admiration of the course of\nMiss Wilson in Zahleh, Miss Gibbon in Hasbeiya, and Miss Williams in\nTyre, in making homes for themselves, and carrying on their work far\nfrom European society and intercourse.\n\nThe British Syrian Schools are doing a good work in promoting Bible\neducation. Many of the native teachers, male and female, have been\ntrained in our Mission Seminaries, and not a few of them are members of\nour evangelical churches. It has always been my aim, from the time when\nMrs. Bowen Thompson first landed in Syria to the present time, to do all\nin my power to \"help those women which labored with me in the gospel.\"\n\nWe are engaged in a common work, surrounded by thousands of needy\nperishing souls, Mohammedan, Pagan and Nominal Christian. The work is\npressing, and the Lord's husbandmen ought to work together, forgetting\nand ignoring all diversities of nationality, denomination and social\ncustoms. There should be no such word as American, English, Scotch or\nGerman, attached to any enterprise that belongs to the common Master.\nThe common foe is united in opposition. Let us be united in every\npracticable way. Let our name be _Christian_, our work one of united\nsympathy, prayer and cooeperation, and let not Christ be divided in His\nmembers. I write these words in connection with the subject of the\nBritish Syrian Schools, because I can speak from experience of the\nvalue of such cooeperation in the past. As Acting Pastor of the Native\nEvangelical Church in Beirut, to the communion of which I have received\nso many young teachers and pupils from the various Seminaries and\nschools, I feel the great importance of this hearty cooeperation and\nunity of action among those who are at the head of the various\nProtestant Educational Institutions in Syria.\n\nThe Emissaries of Rome are laboring with sleepless vigilance to win\nSyria to the Papacy. Sisters of Charity, Sisters of Nazareth, Jesuits,\nLazarists, Capuchins, Dominicans, and Franciscans, monks, nuns and papal\nlegates, are swarming throughout the land. Though notoriously jealous of\neach other's progress, they are always united in their common opposition\nto the Evangelical faith, and an open Bible. We have thus not only the\nold colossal fortresses of Syrian error to demolish, but the new\nstructures of Jesuitical craft to overturn, before Syria comes to\nChrist.\n\nIt has been stated on a preceding page that in 1835, the American wife\nof an English merchant, Mrs. Alexander Tod, gave a large part of the\nfunds to build the first school-house for girls ever built in Syria.\nThat substantial union has been happily reproduced in the cordial\ncooeperation of the Anglo-American and German communities in Beirut, both\nin the Church, public charities and educational institutions, up to the\npresent time.\n\nLet us all live in Christ, work for Christ, keep our eye fixed on\nChrist, and we shall be with Christ, and Christ with us!\n\n\n_BRITISH SYRIAN SCHOOLS_, 1872.\n\nBEIRUT.\n\nNo.  Established.              Name.               Scholars.  Teachers.\n\n 1       1860           Training Institution,          92         16\n 2       1863           Musaitebeh,                    85          3\n 3       1868           Blind School, men & boys,      16          2\n 4       1868           Blind girls' School,           11          1\n 5       1860           Boys' School,                  85          5\n 6       1861           East Coombe,                  120          4\n 7       1860           Elementary,                    30          2\n 8       1872           Es-Saifeh,                    100          4\n 9       1860           Infant School,                125          3\n10       1860           Moslem,                        50          4\n11       1860           Night School,                ----          5\n12       1863           Olive Branch,                  85          4\n\nDAMASCUS.\n\n13       1867           St. Paul's,                   170          6\n14       1869           Blind School,                  15          1\n15       1870           Medan,                         80          2\n16       1867           Night School,                  30          1\n\nLEBANON.\n\n17       1863          _Ashrafiyeh_,                   53          3\n18       1868          _Ain Zehalteh_,                 50          2\n19       1869          _Aramoon_,                      40          2\n20       1863          _Hasbeiya_,                    160          3\n21       1867          _Mokhtara_,                   ----       ----\n22       1868          _Zahleh_,                       75          4\n\nTYRE.\n\n23       1869           Girls' School,                 50          2\n                                                     ----       ----\n          Totals,                                    1522         79\n          Bible Women,                                  7\n\nMISS TAYLOR'S SCHOOL FOR MOSLEM GIRLS.\n\nThis worthy Christian lady from Scotland is doing a quiet yet most\neffective work in Beirut, with which few are acquainted, yet it is\ncarried on in faith from year to year, and the fruits will no doubt\nappear one day, in a vast reformation in the order, morality and general\nimprovement of the Moslem families of Beirut.\n\nEver since the days of Mrs. Sarah L. Smith, and Mrs. Dr. Dodge, Moslem\ngirls have been more or less in attendance upon the schools of the Syria\nMission, but the purely Moslem schools of Miss Taylor and of the British\nSyrian Schools are making a special effort to extend education into\nevery Moslem household.\n\nThis school was opened in February, 1868, for the poorest of the poor.\nIt received the name of \"The Original Ragged school for Moslem Girls.\"\nNo one is considered as enrolled, who has not been at least three weeks\nin regular attendance. The number already received has reached very near\nfive hundred, all Mohammedans, except five Jewish and fifteen Druze\ngirls. Native teachers are also employed, and the pupils are taught\nreading, writing, geography, and arithmetic. The principal lesson-book\nis the Bible. The early history of this institution is replete with\ninterest; but it has attracted little public notice hitherto. It has\nalways been a prudential question whether it would not be wiser to\nproceed with its work in a quiet unobtrusive way, so as not to awake\nfanatical opposition. But steady and appreciative friends have stood by\nit from the beginning, and those who know the school best have commended\nit most earnestly.\n\n\nCHURCH OF SCOTLAND SCHOOL FOR JEWISH GIRLS IN BEIRUT.\n\nThis school has been in operation since 1865. Although established\noriginally for Jewish girls alone, of whom it frequently had fifty in\nregular attendance, it has also had under instruction, Greek and Moslem\ngirls.\n\nThree European teachers and two native teachers have been connected with\nit, under the supervision of the Rev. James Robertson, Pastor of the\nAnglo-American congregation in Beirut.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIII.\n\nTHE AMOUNT OF BIBLICAL INSTRUCTION GIVEN IN MISSION SCHOOLS.\n\n\nThere has been great difference of opinion with regard to the proper\nposition of Education in the Foreign Missionary work. While some have\ngiven it the first rank as a missionary agency, others have kept it in\nthe background as being a non-missionary work, and hence to be left to\nthe natives themselves to conduct, after their evangelization by the\nsimple and pure preaching of the gospel. The Syria Mission have been\nled, by the experience of long and laborious years of labor in this\npeculiar field, to regard education as one of the most important\nauxiliaries in bringing the Gospel in contact with the people. Society\nand sects are so organized and constituted, that while the people of a\ngiven village would not receive a missionary as simply a preacher of the\nGospel, they will gladly accept a school from his hands, and welcome him\non every visit to the school as a benefactor. They will not only receive\nthe daily lessons and instructions of the school-teacher in religious\nthings, but even ask the missionary to preach to them the Word of life.\nSchools in Syria are entering wedges for Gospel truth.\n\nOur schools are of two classes, the High schools or Seminaries for\nyoung men and young women, and the common schools for children of both\nsexes. In the former, Biblical instruction is the great thing, the chief\ndesign of the High schools being to train the young to a correct and\nthorough acquaintance with Divine truth. The course of Bible instruction\nconducted by Mr. Calhoun in Abeih Seminary, is, I doubt not, more\nthorough and constant, than in any College or High School in the United\nStates. While the sciences are taught systematically, the Bible is made\nthe principal text-book, and several hours each day are given to its\nstudy. In our common schools, likewise, Bible reading and instruction\nhold a prominent place. Owing to the paucity of books in the Arabic\nlanguage proper to be used as reading books, a reading book was prepared\nby the Mission, consisting almost exclusively of extracts from the\nScriptures. In addition to this book, the Psalms of David and the New\nTestament are used as regular reading books in all the schools. There\nare daily exercises in reading the Bible and reciting the Catechism. It\nwill be observed from what I have stated, that the amount of spiritual\nknowledge acquired by the children, in the very process of learning to\nread, is not small. Being obliged to commit to memory texts, paragraphs,\nand whole chapters, from year to year, their minds become stored with\nthe precious words of the Sacred Book. Very much depends upon the\nteacher. When we can obtain pious, praying teachers, the Scripture\nlessons can be given with much more profit and success, and it is our\naim to employ only pious teachers where we can get them. And the example\nof the teacher receives a new auxiliary, as it were, in impressing these\nlessons on the mind, where the pupils can attend a preaching service on\nthe Sabbath. Sometimes a pressing call comes from a village, where it\nseems important for strategic reasons, to respond at once. A pious\nteacher cannot be found, and we send a young man of well-known moral\ncharacter. But only necessity would oblige us to do this, and a change\nfor the better is always made as soon as practicable.\n\nBible schools are a mighty means of usefulness. I think nothing strikes\na new missionary with more grateful surprise on entering the Syrian\nMission-field, than to witness the great prominence given to Biblical\ninstruction, from the humblest village school of little Arab boys and\ngirls, to the highest Seminaries. The examinations in the Scriptures\npassed by the young men in Abeih, and the girls in the Beirut and Sidon\nSeminaries, would do credit to the young people in any American\ncommunity. Bible schools are not merely useful as an entering wedge to\ngive the missionary a position and an influence among the people; they\nare intrinsically useful in introducing a vast amount of useful Bible\nknowledge into the minds of the children, and through them to their\nparents. In countries where the people as a mass are ignorant of\nreading, they are an absolute necessity, and in any community they are a\nblessing. Had all Mission Schools been conducted on the same thorough\nBiblical basis as those in Syria, there would have been less objection\nto schools as a part of the missionary work.\n\n\nTHE SPHERE AND MODES OF WOMAN'S WORK IN FOREIGN LANDS.\n\nIn this age, when Christian women in many lands are engaging in the\nForeign Mission work with so much zeal, it is important to know who\nshould enter personally upon this work, and what are the modes and\ndepartments of labor in which they can engage when on the ground.\n\nNo woman should go to the Foreign field who has not sound health,\nthorough education, and a reasonable prospect of being able to learn a\nforeign language. The languages of different nations differ as to\ncomparative ease of acquisition, but it is well for any one who has the\n_Arabic_ language to learn, to begin as early in life as practicable. It\nshould be borne in mind that the work in foreign lands is a self-denying\nwork, and I know of no persons who are called to undergo greater\nself-denial than unmarried women engaged in religious work abroad. They\nare doing a noble work, a necessary work, and a work of lasting\nusefulness. Deprived in many instances of the social enjoyments and\nprotection of a _home_, they _make_ a home in their schools, and throw\nthemselves into a peculiar sympathy with their pupils, and the families\nwith which they are brought into contact. Where several are associated\ntogether, as they always should be, the institution in which they live\nbecomes a model of the Christian order, sympathy and mutual help, which\nis characteristic of the home in Christian lands. Christian women,\nmarried and unmarried, can reach a class in every Arabic community from\nwhich men are sedulously excluded. They should enter upon the foreign\nwork as a life-work, devote themselves first of all to the mastery of\nthe language of the people, open their eyes to all that is pleasant and\nattractive among the natives, and close them to all that is unlovable\nand repulsive, resolved to love the people, and what pertains to them,\nfor Christ's sake who died for them, and to identify themselves with the\npeople in every practicable way. Persons who are incapable of loving or\nadmiring anything that is not American or English had better remain in\nAmerica or England; and on the other hand, there is no surer passport to\nthe affections of any people, than the disposition to overlook their\nfaults, and to treat them as our brethren and sisters for whom a common\nSaviour died. Let no missionary of either sex who goes to a foreign\nland, think that there is nothing to be learned from Syrians or Hindoos,\nChinese or Japanese. The good is not all confined to any land or people.\n\nAmong the departments of woman's work in foreign lands are the\nfollowing:--\n\nI. Teaching in established institutions, Female Seminaries, Orphan\nHouses and High Schools.\n\nII. Acting as Nurses in Hospitals, as is done by the Prussian\nProtestant Deaconesses of Kaiserswerth, who are scattered over the East\nand doing a work of peculiar value.\n\nIII. Visiting from house to house, for the express purpose of holding\nreligious conversation with the people _in their own language_. This can\nonly be done in Syria by one versed in the Arabic, and able to speak\n_without an interpreter_.\n\nIgnorance of the language of the people, is a barrier which no skill of\nan interpreter can break down, and every woman who would labor with\nacceptance and success among the women of Syria, must be able to speak\nto them familiarly in their own mother tongue. Interpreters may be\nhonest and conscientious, but not one person in a thousand can translate\naccurately from one language to another without previous preparation.\nAnd besides, interpreters are not always reliable. There is still\nliving, in the city of Tripoli, an old man named Abdullah Yanni, who\nacted as interpreter for a Jewish Missionary some forty years ago. He\ntells many a story of the extraordinary shape which that unsuspecting\nmissionary's discourses assumed in passing through his lips. One day\nthey went through the principal street to preach to the Moslems. A great\ncrowd assembled, and Abdullah trembled, for in those days of darkness\nMoslems oppressed and insulted Christians with perfect impunity. Said\nthe missionary, \"Tell the Moslems that unless they all repent and\nbelieve in Christ, they will perish forever.\" Abdullah translated, and\nthe Moslems gave loud and earnest expression to their delight. They\ndeclared, \"That is so, that is so, welcome to the Khowadja!\" Abdullah\nhad told them that \"the Khowadja says, that he loves you very much, and\nthe Engliz and the Moslems are 'sowa sowa,' _i.e._ together as one.\"\n\nAbdullah soon found it necessary to tell his confiding friend and\nemployer, that it would not do to preach in that bold manner, for if he\nshould translate it literally, the Moslems would kill both of them on\nthe spot. The missionary replied, \"Let them kill us then.\" Abdullah\nsaid, \"it may do very well for you, but I am not prepared to die, and\nwould prefer to wait.\" The very first requisite for usefulness in a\nforeign land is the language. It might be well, as previously intimated\nin this volume, that in each of the Female Seminaries, the number of the\nteachers should be large enough to allow the most experienced in the\nlanguage to give themselves for a portion of each week to these friendly\nreligious visits. The Arab race are eminently a sociable, visiting\npeople, and a foreign lady is always welcome among the women of every\ngrade of society, from the highest to the lowest.\n\nIV. Holding special Women's Meetings of the Female Church members from\nweek to week in the homes of the different families. The neighboring\nwomen will come in, and the native women, who would never take part in a\nwomen's prayer-meeting, in the presence of a missionary, will gladly do\nit with the example and encouragement of one of their own sex. Such\nmeetings have been conducted in Hums and Tripoli, in Beirut, Abeih,\nDeir el Komr and Sidon, and in Suk el Ghurb, B'hamdun, Hasbeiya, and\nDeir Mimas for many years. Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Isaac Bird, Mrs. Thomson,\nMrs. Van Dyck, Mrs. Whiting, Mrs. Goodell, Mrs. Dr. Dodge, Miss\nWilliams, Miss Tilden, Mrs. De Forest, Mrs. Calhoun, Mrs. Wilson, Mrs.\nFord, Mrs. Foot, Mrs. Eddy, and Mrs. W. Bird, Mrs. Lyons and Mrs.\nCheney, Mrs. Bliss, Miss Temple, Miss Mason, Mrs. S. Jessup are among\nthe American Christian women who have labored or are still laboring for\nthe welfare of their sisters in Syria, and younger laborers more\nrecently entered into the work, are preparing to prosecute the work with\ngreater energy than ever. There are other names connected with Woman's\nWork in Syria as prosecuted by the American Mission, but the list is too\nlong to be enumerated in full. Many of them have rested from their\nlabors, and their works do follow them.\n\n\nTHE BEIRUT FEMALE SEMINARY.\n\nThe last Annual Report of the Board of Missions of the Presbyterian\nChurch of the United States, speaks of these two Female Seminaries as\nfollows:\n\n\"The Beirut Seminary is conducted by Miss Everett, Miss Jackson and Miss\nLoring, containing forty boarding and sixty day scholars, where the\nobject is to give an education suited to the wants of the higher classes\nof the people, to gain a control over the minds of those females who\nwill be most influential in forming society and moulding opinion. This\nhold the Papal Sisters of Charity have striven earnestly to gain, and\nits vantage ground was not to be abandoned to them. The institution is\nrising in public esteem and confidence, as the number and the class of\npupils in attendance testify. The Seminary is close to the Sanctuary,\nnot less in sympathy than in position, and its whole influence is given\nto make its pupils followers of Christ.\"\n\nIn addition to this brief notice, it should be said that there are in\nthe Beirut Seminary thirty charity boarders, who are selected chiefly\nfrom Protestant, Greek and Druze families, to be trained for teachers of\na high order in the various girls' schools in the land. A special Normal\ncourse of training is conducted every year, and it is believed that\neventually young women trained in other schools will enter this Normal\nDepartment to receive especial preparation for the work of teaching.\n\nThe charity boarders are supported by the contributions of Sabbath\nSchools and individuals in the United States, with especial reference to\ntheir being trained for future usefulness.\n\nAfter an experience of nearly ten years in conducting the greater part\nof the correspondence with the patrons of this school, and maintaining\ntheir interest in the pupils and teachers whom they were supporting by\ntheir contributions, I would venture to make a few suggestions to the\nChristian Mission Bands, Societies, Bible Classes, Sabbath Schools and\nindividuals who are doing so much for the education of children in\nforeign lands.\n\nI. Let all contributions for Women's Work and the education of girls,\nbe sent through the Women's Boards of Missions, or if that is not\nconvenient, in the form of a banker's draft on London, payable to the\nPrincipal of the Seminary with whom you have correspondence.\n\nII. If possible, allow your donation to be used for the general purposes\nof the Seminary, without insisting that a special pupil or teacher be\nassigned to you. But if it be not possible to maintain the interest of\nyour children and youth in a work so distant without some special\nobject, then by all means,--\n\nIII. Do not demand too much from your over-taxed sisters in the foreign\nfield in the way of letters and reports. The labors of a teacher are\narduous everywhere. But when instruction is given in a foreign language,\nin a foreign climate, and to children of a foreign nation, these labors\nare greatly increased. Add then to this toil correspondence with the\nBoard of Missions, the daily study of the language, the work of visiting\namong the people, and receiving their visits, and you can understand how\nthe keeping up of correspondence with twenty or thirty Sabbath Schools\nand Societies is a burden which no woman should be called on to bear.\n\nIV. Do not expect sensational letters from your friends abroad. Do not\ntake for granted that the child of ten years of age you are supporting,\nwill develop into a distinguished teacher or Bible woman before the\narrival of the next mail. Do not be discouraged if you have to wait and\npray for years before you hear good tidings. Should any of the native\nchildren ever send you a letter, (and they have about as clear an idea\nof who you are and where you are, as they have of the satellites of\nJupiter,) do not expect from their youthful productions the elegance of\nAddison or the eloquence of Burke.\n\nV. Pray earnestly for the conversion of the pupils in Mission Schools.\nThis I regard as the great advantage of the system of having pupils\nsupported by Christians in the home churches, and known to them by name.\nThey are made the subjects of special prayer. This is the precious\ngolden bond which brings the home field near to us, and the foreign\nfield near to you. Our chief hope for these multitudes of children now\nreceiving instruction, is, that they will be prayed for by Christians at\nhome.\n\n\nTHE SIDON FEMALE SEMINARY.\n\nThe Annual Report above mentioned, speaks thus of the Sidon Seminary:\n\"It is conducted by Miss Jacombs and Miss Stainton, and has numbered\nabout twenty boarders and six day scholars. The boarders are exclusively\nfrom Protestant families, selected from the common schools in all parts\nof the field, and are in training for the Mission service, as teachers\nand Bible readers. Four of the graduates of last year are already so\nemployed. One difficulty in the way of reaching with the truth the minds\nof the women in the numerous villages of the land, will be obviated in\npart, as the results of this work are farther developed.\n\n\"There has been considerable seriousness and some hopeful conversions,\nin both these seminaries during the past year.\n\n\"The work is worthy of the interest taken in it by the Women's Boards of\nMissions, and by societies and individuals in the church who have\nco-operated in it.\"\n\nThe Sidon Seminary, as stated on a previous page, was begun in 1862, and\nhas had four European and six native teachers. Of the latter, one was\ntrained in Mrs. Bird's family, one in Shemlan Seminary, three in the\nSidon school, and one by Mrs. Watson.\n\nTen of its graduates have been employed as teachers, and eight are still\nso engaged.\n\nI annex a list of Girls' Schools now or formerly connected with the\nSyria Mission.\n\n                          No. of  No. of   When begun\n  Location.               Pupils. Teach'rs\n\nBeirut,       Day School,   50       2       1834\n  \"           Seminary,     50      10       1848\nSidon,        Seminary,     20       3       1862\n  \"           Day School,    6       1       1862\nAbeih,            \"         60       1       1853\nDeir el Komr,     \"         50       2       1855  To be resumed soon.\nGhorify,          \"         40       1       1863  All Druzes.\nEl Hadeth,        \"         40       1       1870\nShwifat,          \"         70       2       1871\nDibbiyeh,         \"         20       1       1868\nB'Hamdun,         \"         30       1       1853  Discontinued.\nMeshgara,         \"         30       1       1869  Boys and girls,\nAin Anub,         \"         20       1       1870    and 60 boys.\nKefr Shima,       \"         40       1       1856  Boys and girls.\nRasheiya el\n  Fokhar,         \"         30       1       1869\nJedaideh,         \"         40       1       1870\nEl Khiyam,        \"         25       1       1868\nIbl,              \"         30       1       1868\nDeir Mimas,       \"         15       1       1865\nKana,             \"         35       1       1869\nHums,             \"         40       1       1865\nSafita,           \"         30       1       1869\nHamath,           \"         30       1       1872\n-------------             -----------------\nTotals    23               801      36\n\nThis gives a total of twenty-three girls' schools besides the\ntwenty-four boys' schools under the care of the Mission, and three\nschools where there are both boys and girls. I have kept the name of\nB'hamdun in the list, for its historical associations, but the thirty\npupils credited to it, will be more than made good in the girl's school\nabout to be resumed in Tripoli under the care of Miss Kip.\n\nThe total number of girls is about 800, and the number of teachers 36.\nThe total cost of these twenty-three schools, including the two\nSeminaries in Beirut and Sidon, is about eight thousand dollars per\nannum, including rents, salaries of five American and English ladies,\nand thirty-one native teachers.\n\nThe average cost of the common schools in the Sidon field is sixty\ndollars per annum, and in the Lebanon field it varies from this sum to\nabout twice that amount, owing to the fact that the Deir el Komr and\nother schools are virtually High Schools.\n\nThe teacher in the Sidon field, and in Abeih, and Safita, are graduates\nof the Sidon Seminary.\n\nIt is probable that a High School or Seminary for girls will be opened\nby Miss Kip in Tripoli during the coming year.\n\nThe preceding schedule can give but a faint idea of the struggles and\ntoil, the patient labors, disappointments and trials of faith through\nwhich the women of the American Mission have passed during the last\nforty years, in beginning and maintaining so many of these schools for\ngirls in Syria.\n\nDid I speak of _trials_? The Missionary work has its trials, but I\nbelieve that its joys are far greater. The saddest scenes I have\nwitnessed during a residence of seventeen years in Syria, have been when\nMissionaries have been obliged to _leave the work_ and return to their\nnative land. There are trials growing out of the hardness of the human\nheart, our own want of faith, the seeming slow progress of the gospel,\nand the heart-crushing disappointments arising from broken hopes, when\nindividuals and communities who have promised well, turn back to their\nold errors \"like the dog to his vomit\" again. But of joys it is much\neasier to speak, the joy of preaching Christ to the perishing,--of\nlaboring where others will not labor,--of laying foundations for the\nfuture,--of feeling that you are doing what you can to fulfil the\nSaviour's last command,--of seeing the word of God translated into a new\nlanguage,--a christian literature beginning to grow,--children and youth\ngathered into Schools and Seminaries of learning, and even sects which\nhate the Bible obliged to teach their children to read it,--of seeing\nchristian families growing up, loving the Sabbath and the Bible, the\nsanctuary and the family altar.--Then there is the joy of seeing souls\nborn into the kingdom of our dear Redeemer, and churches planted in a\nland where pure Christianity had ceased to exist,--and of witnessing\nunflinching steadfastness in the midst of persecution and danger, and\nthe triumphs of faith in the solemn hour of death.\n\nThese are a few of the joys which are strewn so thickly along the path\nof the Christian Missionary, that he has hardly time to think of\nsorrow, trial and discouragement. Those who have read Dr. Anderson's\n\"History of Missions to the Oriental Churches,\" and Rev. Isaac Bird's\n\"History of the Syria Mission,\" or \"Bible Work in Bible Lands,\" will see\nthat the work of the Syria Mission from 1820 to 1872 has been one of\nconflict with principalities and powers, and with spiritual wickedness\nin high and low places, but that at length the hoary fortresses are\nbeginning to totter and fall, and there is a call for a general advance\nin every department of the work, and in every part of the land.\n\nOther agencies have come upon the ground since the great foundation work\nwas laid, and the first great victories won, and in their success it\nbecomes all of God's people to rejoice; but the veterans who fought the\nfirst battles, and overcame the great national prejudice of the Syrian\npeople against female education, should ever be remembered with\ngratitude.\n\nIt has been my aim in this little volume to recount the history of\nWoman's Work in the past. Who can foretell what the future of Christian\nwork for Syrian Women will be?\n\nMay it ever be a work founded on the Word of God, aiming at the\nelevation of woman through the doctrines and the practice of a pure\nChristianity, striving to plant in Syria, not the flippant culture of\nmodern fashionable society, but the God-fearing, Sabbath-loving, and\nBible-reading culture of our Anglo-Saxon ancestors!\n\nA few years ago, a Greek priest named Job, from one of the distant\nvillages high up in the range of Lebanon, called on me in Beirut. I had\nspent several summers in his village, and he had sometimes borrowed our\nArabic sermons to read in the Greek Church, and now, he said, he had\ncome down to see what we were doing in Beirut. I took him through the\nFemale Seminary and the Church, and then to the Library and the Printing\nPress. He examined the presses, the steam engine, the type-setting, and\ntype-casting, the folding, sewing, and binding of books, and looked\nthrough the huge cases filled with Arabic books and Scriptures, saw all\nthe editions of the Bible and the Testament, and then turned in silence\nto take his departure. I went with him to the outer gate. He took my\nhand, and said, \"By your leave I am going. The Lord bless your work.\nSir, I have a thought; we are all going to be swept away, priests and\nbishops, Greeks and Maronites, Moslems and Druzes, and there will be\nnothing left, nothing but the Word of God and those who follow it. That\nis my thought. Farewell.\"\n\nMay that thought be speedily realized! May the coarseness, brutality and\ncontempt for woman which characterize the Moslem hareem, give way to the\nrefinement, intelligence, and mutual affection which belong to the\nChristian family!\n\nMay the God of prophecy and promise, hasten the time when Nusairy\nbarbarism, Druze hypocrisy, Moslem fanaticism, Jewish bigotry and\nnominal Christian superstition shall fade away under the glorious beams\nof the rising Sun of Righteousness!\n\nMay the \"glory of Lebanon\" be given to the Lord, in the regeneration\nand sanctification of the families of Lebanon!\n\nToo long has it been true, in the degradation of woman, that the \"flower\nof Lebanon languisheth.\"\n\nSoon may we say in the truly Oriental imagery of the Song of\nSongs,--\"Come with me from Lebanon, look from the top of Amana, from the\ntop of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, from the mountains of\nthe leopards,\"--and behold, in the culture of woman, in society\nregenerated, in home affection, in the Christian family, what is in a\npeculiar sense, \"a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and\nstreams from Lebanon!\"\n\n\"Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a\nfruitful field?\" When \"the reproach of the daughters of Syria,\" shall be\ntaken away, and when amid the zearas of the Nusairiyeh, the kholwehs of\nthe Druzes, the mosques of the Moslems and the tents of the Bedawin, may\nbe heard the voice of Christ, saying to the poor women of the Arab race,\nweary and fainting under the burdens of life:\n\n    \"Daughter be of good comfort,\n    Thy faith hath made thee whole,\n            Go in peace!\"\n\n\n\n\nTHE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER.\n\nPART I.\n\n\n                              _Abeih, Mount Lebanon_, Sept., 1872.\n\nMy Dear Son Willie:--\n\nIt is now eight years since you left Syria, and you were then so young,\nthat you must have forgotten all about the country and the people. I\nhave often promised to tell you more about the Syrian boys and girls,\nwhat they eat and wear, and how they study and play and sleep, and the\nsongs their mothers sing to them, and many other things. And now I will\ntry and fulfil my promise.\n\nHere is a little boy at the door. His name is Asaad Mishrik, or \"happy\nsunrise,\" and his name is well given, for he comes every morning at\nsunrise with a basket of fresh ripe figs, sweet and cold, and covered\nwith the sparkling dew. This morning when he came, your brother Harry\nstood by the door looking at the figs with wistful eyes, and I gave him\na large one, which disappeared very suddenly. Asaad is a bright-eyed\nboy, and helps his mother every day.\n\nWhen he comes in, he says, Subah koom bil khire, \"Your morning in\ngoodness.\" Then Assaf, the cook, answers him, \"Yusaid Subahak,\" \"May God\nmake happy your morning.\" If I come out when he is here, he runs up to\nkiss my hand, as the Arab children are trained to be respectful to their\nsuperiors. When a little Arab boy comes into a room full of older\npeople, he goes around and kisses the hand of each one and then places\nit on his forehead. Asaad wears a red tarboosh or cap on his head, a\nloose jacket, and trowsers which are like a blue bag gathered around the\nwaist, with two small holes for his feet to go through. They are drawn\nup nearly to his knees, and his legs are bare, as he wears no stockings.\nHe wears red shoes pointed and turned up at the toes. When he comes in\nat the door, he leaves his shoes outside, but keeps his cap on his head.\n\nThe people never take off their caps or turbans when entering a house,\nor visiting a friend, but always leave their shoes at the door. The\nreason is, that their floors are covered with clean mats and rugs, and\nin the Moslem houses, the man kneels on his rug to pray, and presses his\nforehead to the floor, so that it would not be decent or respectful to\nwalk in with dirty shoes and soil his sijjady on which he kneels to\npray. They have no foot-mats or scrapers, and it is much cheaper and\nsimpler to leave the shoes, dirt and all at the door. Sometimes we are\nmuch embarrassed in calling on the old style Syrians as they look with\nhorror on our muddy feet, and we find it not quite so easy to remove\nour European shoes. But it must be done, and it is better to take a\nlittle extra trouble, and regard their feelings and customs, than to\nappear coarse and rude.\n\nIt is very curious to go to the Syrian school-houses, and see the piles\nof shoes at the door. There are new bright red shoes, and old tattered\nshoes, and kob kobs, and black shoes, and sometimes yellow shoes. The\nkob kobs are wooden clogs made to raise the feet out of the mud and\nwater, having a little strap over the toe to keep it on the foot. You\nwill often see little boys and girls running down steps and paved\nstreets on these dangerous kob kobs. Sometimes they slip and then down\nthey go on their noses, and the kob kobs fly off and go rattling over\nthe stones, and little Ali or Yusef, or whatever his name is, begins to\nshout, Ya Imme! Ya Imme! \"Oh, my mother!\" and cries just like little\nchildren in other countries.\n\nBut the funniest part of it is to see the boys when they come out of\nschool and try to find their shoes. There will be fifty boys, and of\ncourse a hundred shoes, all mixed together in one pile. When school is\nout, the boys make a rush for the door. Then comes the tug of war. A\ndozen boys are standing and shuffling on the pile of shoes, looking\ndown, kicking away the other shoes, running their toes into their own,\nstumbling over the kob kobs, and then making a dash to get out of the\ncrowd. Sometimes shins will be kicked, and hair pulled, and tarbooshes\nthrown off, and a great screaming and cursing follow, which will only\ncease when the Muallim comes with his \"Asa\" or stick, and quells the\nriot. That pile of shoes will have to answer for a good many schoolboy\nfights and bruised noses and hard feelings in Syria. You would wonder\nhow they can tell their own shoes. So do I. And the boys often wear off\neach other's shoes by mistake or on purpose, and then you will see Selim\nrunning with one shoe on, and one of Ibrahim's in his hand, shouting and\ncursing Ibrahim's father and grandfather, until he gets back his lost\nproperty. Sometimes when men leave their shoes outside the door of a\nhouse where they are calling, some one will steal them, and then they\nare in a sorry plight. Shoes are regarded as very unclean, and when you\nare talking in polite society, it will never do to speak of them,\nwithout asking pardon. You would say, \"the other day some one stole my\nnew shoes, ajellak Allah,\" _i.e._, May God exalt you above such a vile\nsubject! You would use the same words if you were talking with a Moslem,\nand spoke of a dog, a hog, a donkey, a girl or a woman.\n\nThey do not think much of girls in Syria. The most of the people are\nvery sorry when a daughter is born. They think it is dreadful, and the\npoor mother will cry as if her heart would break. And the neighbors come\nin and tell her how sorry they are, and condole with her, just as if\nthey had come to a funeral. In Kesrawan, a district of Mount Lebanon\nnear Beirut, the Arab women have a proverb, \"The threshold weeps forty\ndays when a girl is born.\"\n\nThere is a great change going on now in Syria in the feelings of the\npeople in regard to girls, but in the interior towns and villages where\nthe light of the Gospel has not shone as yet, and there are no schools,\nthey have the ancient ideas about them up to this very hour.\n\nI knew an old Syrian grandmother in Tripoli who would not kiss her\ngranddaughter for six months after she was born, because she was born a\ngirl! But I know another family in that city of Tripoli that do not\ntreat girls in that style. The father is Mr. Antonius Yanni, a good\nChristian man, and a member of the Mission Church. He is American Vice\nConsul, and on the top of his house is a tall flag-staff, on which\nfloats the stars and stripes, on Fourth of July, and the Sultan's\nbirthday, Queen Victoria's birthday, and other great feast days. One day\nwhen the Tripoli women heard that \"Sitt Karimeh, Yanni's wife, had\nanother \"_bint_,\" (girl) they came in crowds to comfort her in her great\naffliction! When Yanni heard of it, he could not restrain himself. He\nloved his older daughter Theodora very dearly, and was thankful to God\nfor another sweet baby girl, so he told the women that he would have\nnone of this heathenish mourning in his house. He then shouted to his\njanizary or Cawass, a white bearded old Moslem named Amr, \"Amr, haul up\nthe Bandaira el Americaniyeh, (American flag) to show the world how glad\nI am that I have another daughter.\" \"On my head, on my head, sir,\" said\nAmr, and away he went and hauled up the stars and stripes. Now the\nPasha's palace is not far away, and soon the Turkish guards saw the\nflag, and hastened to the Pasha with the news that the American Consul\nhad some great feast day, as his flag was raised. The Pasha, supposing\nit to be some important national feast day of the American Government\nwhich he was so stupid as not to know about, sent his Chief Secretary at\nonce to Mr. Yanni to ask what feast it might be? Yanni received him\npolitely and ordered a narghileh and coffee and sherbet, and after\nsaying \"good-morning,\" and \"may you live forever,\" and \"God prolong your\ndays!\" over and over and over again, and wishing that Doulet America\nmight ever flourish, the Secretary asked which of the great American\nfestivals he was celebrating that day. Yanni laughed and said,\n\"Effendum, you know how many of the ignorant in Syria are so foolish as\nto mourn and lament when God sends them a daughter, but I believe that\nall God's gifts are good, and that daughters are to be valued as much as\nsons, and to rebuke this foolish notion among the people, I put up my\nflag as a token of joy and gratitude.\" \"Sebhan Allah! you have done\nright, sir,\" ... was the Secretary's reply, and away he went to the\nPasha. What the Pasha said, I do not know, but there was probably more\ncursing than usual that day in the grand palace of Tripoli, for the\nMohammedans think the birth of a daughter a special judgment from God.\n\nWhen a boy is born, there is great rejoicing. Presents are sent to him,\nand the people call to congratulate the father, and the whole house is\ngay and joyous. After a few days a dainty dish called \"Mughly\" is made\nand sent around as a present to all of the relatives. It is made of\npounded rice, and flavored with rich spices and sugar and put into\nlittle bowls, and almonds and other nuts sprinkled over the top. One of\nthese little bowls is sent to each of the friends. But when a girl is\nborn, there is no rejoicing, no giving of presents, and no making of the\ndelicious \"mughly.\"\n\nHere come two little girls bringing earthen pots of milk. They are poor\ngirls, daughters of two of our neighbors who are fellaheen or farmers.\nOne has no shoes, and neither have stockings. They wear plain blue\ngowns, made of coarse cotton cloth, dyed with indigo, and rusty looking\ntarbooshes on their heads, and a little piece of dirty white muslin\nthrown over their heads as a veil to cover their faces with, when men\ncome in sight. One is named Lebeeby and the other Lokunda, which means\n_Hotel_. They behave very well when they come here, as they have the\nfear of the big Khowadja before their eyes, but when they are at home\nrunning about, they often use dreadful language. Little boys and girls\nin Syria have some awful oaths which they constantly use. I suppose the\npoor things do not know the meaning of half the bad words they use. One\nof the most common is \"Yilan Abook,\" \"curse your father!\" It is used\neverywhere and on every side by bad people, and the children use it\nconstantly in their play. When the little girls come into our Schools\nand Seminaries, it is a long time before they will give up \"abook\"-ing.\nOne of our friends in America is educating a nice little girl in the\nBeirut Seminary, and we asked the teacher about her a few days ago. The\nanswer was, \"She still lies and swears dreadfully, but she has greatly\nimproved during the past two years, and we are encouraged about her.\"\n\nSometimes a boy will say to another Yilan abook, \"Curse your father,\"\nand another will answer, Wa jiddak, \"and your grandfather,\" and then\nthey will call back and forth like cats and dogs. I saw a Moslem boy\nnear my house standing by the corner to shield himself from the stones\nanother boy was throwing, and shouting wa jid, jid, jid, jid, jidak,\n\"and your great-great-great-great-grandfather,\" and away went the other\nboy, shouting as he ran, \"and your great-great-great-great gr-e-at,\" and\nI heard no more. And then there are a great many very naughty and vile\nwords which the children use, which I cannot write, and yet we hear them\nevery day. It is very hard to keep our children from learning them, as\nthey talk Arabic better than we do, and often learn expressions which\nthey do not know the meaning of. One of the most common habits is using\nthe name of God in vain. The name of God is Allah, and \"O God,\"\n_Yullah_. Then there is _Wullah_ and _Bismillah_, \"In the name of God,\"\n_Hamdlillah_, \"Praise to God,\" _Inshullah_, \"If God will.\" The most\nawful oaths are Wullah and Billah. The people use _Yullah_ at all times\nand on all occasions. The donkey-drivers and muleteers say _Yullah_\nwhen they drive their animals. Some years ago a good man from America,\nwho fears God and would not take his name in vain was travelling in the\nHoly Land, and came on to Beirut. When he reached there, some one asked\nhim if he had learned any Arabic during his journey. He said yes, he had\nlearned _Bakhshish_ for \"a present,\" and _Yullah_ for \"go ahead.\" His\nfriend asked him if he had used the latter word much on the way. He said\ncertainly, he had used it all the way. His friend answered, Professor,\nyou have been swearing all the way through the Holy Land. Of course he\ndid not know it and meant no wrong. But it shows that such words are\nused so commonly in Syria that strangers do not think them bad language,\nand it also shows that travellers ought to be careful in using the words\nthey learn of muleteers and sailors in Arab land.\n\nIn some parts of the country the little boys and girls swear so\ndreadfully that you can hardly bear to be with them. Especially among\nthe Nusairiyeh, they think that nothing will be believed unless they add\nan oath. Dr. Post once rebuked an old Sheikh for using the word \"Wullah\"\nso often, and argued so earnestly about it that the man promised never\nto use it again. The old man a moment after repeated it. The doctor\nsaid, \"will you now pledge me that you will not say 'Wullah' again?\" He\nreplied, \"Wullah, I will.\"\n\nSometimes a donkey-driver will get out of patience with his long-eared\nbeast. The donkey will lie down with his load in a deep mud-hole, or\namong the sharp rocks. For a time the man will kick and strike him and\nthrow stones at him, and finally when nothing else succeeds he will\nstand back, with his eyes glaring and his fist raised in the air, and\nscream out, \"May Allah curse the beard of your grandfather!\" I believe\nthat the donkey always gets up after that,--that is, if the muleteer\nfirst takes off his load and then helps him, by pulling stoutly at his\ntail.\n\nI told you that one of the girls who bring us milk, is named\n\"_Lokunda_,\" or _Hotel_. She is a small specimen of a hotel, but\nprovides us purer and sweeter cow's milk than many a six-storied hotel\non Broadway would do. You will say that is a queer name for a girl, but\nif you stop and think about many of our English names you would think\nthem queer too. Here in Syria, we have the house of Wolf, the house of\n\"Stuffed Cabbage,\" Khowadji Leopard, the lady \"Wolves,\" and one of our\nfellow villagers in Abeih where we spend the summer is Eman ed Deen\n\"faith-of-religion,\" although he has neither faith nor religion.\n\nAmong the boys' names are Selim, Ibrahim, Moosa, Yakob, Ishoc, Mustafa,\nHanna, Yusef, Ali, Saieed, Assaf, Giurgius, Faoor, and Abbas. I once met\na boy at the Cedars of Lebanon, who was named Jidry, or \"Small-Pox,\"\nbecause that disease was raging in the village when he was born. It is\nvery common to name babies from what is happening in the world when they\nare born. A friend of mine in Tripoli had a daughter born when an\nAmerican ship was in the harbor, so he called her America. When another\ndaughter was born there was a Russian ship in port, so he called her\nRussia. There is a young woman in Suk el Ghurb named Fetneh or Civil\nWar, and her sister is Hada, or Peace. An old lady lately died in Beirut\nnamed Feinus or Lantern. In the Beirut school are and have been girls\nnamed Pearl, Diamond, Morning Dawn, Dew, Rose, Only one, and Mary Flea.\nThat girl America's full name was America Wolves, a curious name for a\nSyrian lamb!\n\nSometimes children are named, and if after a few years they are sick,\nthe parents change their names and give them new ones, thinking that the\nfirst name did not agree with them. A Druze told me that he named his\nson in infancy _Asaad_ (or happier) but he was sickly, so they changed\nhis name to _Ahmed_ (Praised) and after that he grew better! He has now\nbecome a Christian, and has resumed his first name Asaad.\n\nI once visited a man in the village of Brummana who had six daughters,\nwhom he named _Sun_, _Morning_, _Zephyr breeze_, _Jewelry_, _Agate_, and\n_Emerald_. I know girls named Star, Beauty, Sugar, One Eyed, and\nChristian Barbarian. Some of the names are beautiful, as Leila, Zarifeh,\nLulu, Selma, Luciya, Miriam and Fereedy.\n\nAll of the men are called Aboo-somebody; _i.e._ the father of somebody\nor something. Old Sheikh Hassein, whose house I am living in, is called\nAboo Abbas, _i.e._ the father of Abbas, because his eldest son's name is\nAbbas. A young lad in the village, who is just about entering the\nFreshman class in the Beirut College, has been for years called Aboo\nHabeeb, or the father of Habeeb, when he has no children at all. Elias,\nthe deacon of the church in Beirut was called Aboo Nasif for more than\nfifty years, and finally in his old age he married and had a son, whom\nhe named Nasif, so that he got his name right after all. They often give\nyoung men such names, and if they have no children they call them by the\nname of the son they might have had. But they will not call a man Aboo\nLulu or Aboo Leila. If a man has a dozen daughters he will never be\ncalled from them. They are \"nothing but girls.\" A queer old man in\nGhurzuz once tried to name himself from his daughter Seleemeh, but\nwhenever any one called him Aboo Seleemeh, all the fellaheen would laugh\nas if they would explode, and the boys would shout at him \"there goes\nold Aboo Seleemeh,\" as if it were a grand joke.\n\nThe Moslems and Druzes generally give their children the old unmixed\nArabic names, but the Maronites, the Greeks, and the Protestants often\nuse European names. A young lady named Miss Mason was once a teacher in\nthe Sidon Seminary, and spent the summer in the mountain village of Deir\nMimas. One of the women of the village liked her name, and named her\ndaughter \"Miss Mason,\" and if you should go there you would hear the\nlittle urchins of Deir Mimas shouting Miss Mason! to a little\nblue-gowned and tarbooshed Arab girl.\n\nWhat noise is that we hear down in the village, under the great jowz\n(walnut) trees by the fountain? It rolls and gurgles and growls and\nbellows enough to frighten a whole village full of children. But the\nlittle Arab boys and girls are playing around, and the women are filling\ntheir jars at the fountain just as if nothing had happened. But it is a\nfrightful noise for all that. It is the bellowing of the camels as their\nheavy loads are being put on. They are kneeling on the ground, with\ntheir long necks swaying and stretching around like boa constrictors.\nThese camels are very useful animals, but I always like to see them at a\ndistance, especially in the month of February, for at that time they get\nto be as \"mad as a March hare.\" They are what the Arabs call \"taish,\"\nand often bite men severely. In Hums one bit the whole top of a man's\nhead off, and in Tripoli another bit a man's hand off. I once saw a\ncamel \"taish\" in Beirut, and he was driving the whole town before him.\nWherever he came, with his tongue hanging down and a foaming froth\npouring from his mouth as he growled and bellowed through the streets,\nthe people would leave their shops and stools and run in dismay. It was\na frightful sight. I was riding down town, and on seeing the crowd, and\nthe camel coming towards me, I put spurs to my horse and rode home.\n\nWhen camels are tied together in a long caravan with a little\nmouse-colored donkey leading the van, ridden by a long-legged Bedawy,\nwho sits half-asleep smoking his pipe, you would think them the tamest\nand most innocent creatures in the world, but when they fall into a\npanic, they are beyond all control. A few years ago a drove of camels\nwas passing through the city of Damascus. The Arabs drive camels like\nsheep, hundreds and sometimes thousands in a flock, and they look\nawkward enough. When this drove entered the city, something frightened\nthem, and they began to run. Just imagine a camel running! What a sight\nit must have been! Hundreds of them went through the narrow streets,\nknocking over men and women and donkeys, upsetting the shopkeepers, and\nspilling out their wares on the ground, and many persons were badly\nbruised. At length a carpenter saw them coming and put a timber across\nthe street, which dammed up the infuriated tide of camels, and they\ndashed against one another until they were all wedged together, and thus\ntheir owners secured them.\n\nIn August, 1862, a famous Bedawin Chief, named Mohammed ed Dukhy, in\nHouran, east of the Jordan, rebelled against the Turkish Government. The\nDruzes joined him, and the Turks sent a small army against them.\nMohammed had in his camp several thousand of the finest Arabian camels,\nand they were placed in a row behind his thousands of Arab and Druze\nhorsemen. Behind the camels were the women, children, sheep, cattle and\ngoats. When the Turkish army first opened fire with musketry, the camels\nmade little disturbance, as they were used to hearing small arms, but\nwhen the Turkish Colonel gave orders to fire with cannon, \"the ships of\nthe desert\" began to tremble. The artillery thundered, and the poor\ncamels could stand it no longer. They were driven quite crazy with\nfright, and fled over the country in every direction in more than a Bull\nRun panic. Some went down towards the Sea of Galilee, others towards the\nswamps of Merom, and hundreds towards Banias, the ancient Caesarea\nPhilippi, and onwards to the West as far as Deir Mimas. Nothing could\nstop them. Their tongues were projecting, their eyes glaring, and on\nthey went. The fellaheen along the roads caught them as they could, and\nsold them to their neighbors. Fine camels worth eighty dollars, were\nsold for four or five dollars a head, and in some villages the fat\nanimals were butchered and sold for beef. Some of them came to Deir\nMimas, where two of the missionaries lived. The Protestants said to the\nmissionaries, \"here are noble camels selling for five and ten dollars,\nshall we buy? Others are buying.\" \"By no means,\" they told them. \"They\nare stolen or strayed property, and you will repent it if you touch\nthem.\" Others bought and feasted on camel steaks, and camel soup, and\ncamel kibby, but the Protestants would not touch them. In a day or two,\nthe cavalry of the Turks came scouring the country for the camels, as\nthey were the spoils of war. Then the poor fellaheen were sorry enough\nthat they had bought and eaten the camels, for the Turks made them pay\nback double the price of the beasts, and the Protestants found that\n\"honesty was the best policy.\"\n\nThe camel is very sure footed, but cannot travel on muddy and slippery\nroads. The Arabs say \"the camel never falls, but if he falls, he never\ngets up again.\" They carry long timbers over Lebanon, on the steep and\nrocky roads, the timber being balanced on the pack saddle, one end\nextending out on front, and the other behind. Sometimes the timber\nbegins to swing about, and down the camel goes over the precipice and is\ndashed to pieces.\n\nThe Arabs say that a man once asked a camel, \"What made your _neck_ so\ncrooked?\" The camel answered, \"My neck? Why did you ask about my neck?\nIs there anything else straight about me, that led you to notice my\nneck?\" This has a meaning, which is, that when a man's habits are all\nbad, there is no use in talking about _one_ of them.\n\nPerhaps you will ask, did you ever eat camel's flesh? Certainly. We do\nnot get it in Beirut, as camels are too expensive along the sea-coast to\nbe used as food, but in the interior towns, like Hums and Hamath, which\nborder on the desert or rather the great plains occupied by the ten\nthousands of the Bedawin, camel's meat is a common article in the\nmarket. They butcher fat camels, and young camel colts that have broken\ntheir legs, and sometimes their meat is as delicious as beefsteak. But\nwhen they kill an old lean worn-out camel, that has been besmeared with\npitch and tar for many years, and has been journeying under heavy loads\nfrom Aleppo to Damascus until he is what the Arabs call a \"basket of\nbones,\" and then kill him to save his life, or rather his beef, the meat\nis not very delicate.\n\nThe Arab name for a camel is \"Jemel\" which means _beauty_! They call\nhim so perhaps because there is no beauty in him. You will read in\nbooks, that the camel is the \"ship of the desert.\" He is very much like\na ship, as he carries a heavy cargo over the ocean-like plains and\n\"buraries\" or wilds of the Syrian and Arabian deserts. He is also like a\nship in making people sea-sick who ride on his back, and because he has\na strong odor of tar and pitch like the hold of a ship, which sometimes\nyou can perceive at a long distance.\n\n\n\n\nPART II.\n\n\nPerhaps you would like to take a ride with me some day, and visit some\nof the missionary stations in Syria. What will you ride? The horses are\ngentle, but you would feel safer on a donkey. Mules are sometimes good\nfor riding, but I prefer to let them alone. I never rode a mule but\nonce. I was at Hasbeiya, and wished to visit the bitumen wells. My horse\nwas not in a condition to be ridden, so I took Monsur's mule. It had\nonly a jillal or pack saddle, and Monsur made stirrups of rope for me.\nMy companions had gone on in advance, and when I started, the mule was\neager to overtake them. All went well until we approached the little\nstream which afterwards becomes the River Jordan. The ground was\ndescending, and the road covered with loose stones. The rest of our\nparty were crossing the stream and the mule thought he would trot and\ncome up with them. I tried to hold him in with the rope halter, but he\nshook his head and dashed on. About the middle of the descent he\nstumbled and fell flat upon his nose. I went over his head upon my\nhands, but my feet were fast in the rope stirrups. Seeing that he was\ntrying to get up, I tried to work myself back into the saddle, but I had\nonly reached his head, when he sprang up. I was now in a curious and not\nvery safe situation. The mule was trotting on and I was sitting on his\nhead holding on to his ears, with my feet fast in the rope stirrups. A\nlittle Arab boy was passing with a tray of bread upon his head and I\nshouted to him for help. He was so amused to see a Khowadja with a hat,\nriding at that rate on a mule's head, that he began to roar with\nlaughter and down went his tray on the ground and the Arab bread went\nrolling among the stones. It was a great mercy that I did not fall under\nthe brute's feet, but I held on until he got the other side of the\nJordan, when a man ran out from the mill and stopped him. Monsur now led\nhim by the halter and I reached the bitumen wells in safety.\n\nYou can mount your donkey and Harry will ride another, and I will ride\nmy horse, and we will try a Syrian journey. As we cannot spare the time\nto go from Beirut to Tripoli by land, I have sent Ibrahim to take the\nanimals along the shore, and we will go up by the French steamer, a fine\nlarge vessel called the \"Ganges.\" We go down to the Kumruk or Custom\nHouse, and there a little Arab boat takes us out to the steamer. In\nrough weather it is very dangerous going out to the steamers, and\nsometimes little boats are capsized, but to-night there is no danger.\nYou are now on the deck of the steamer. What a charming view of Beirut\nand Mount Lebanon. Far out on the point of the cape are the new\nbuildings of the Syrian College, and next is the Prussian Hospital and\nthen the Protestant Prussian Deaconesses Institution with 130 orphans\nand 80 paying pupils. There is the house of Dr. Thomson and Dr. Van Dyck\nand Dr. Post, and the Turkish Barracks, and Mrs. Mott's school, and our\nbeautiful Church, with its clock tower, and you can hear the clock\nstrike six. Then next to the Church is the Female Seminary with its 100\npupils, and the Steam Printing Press, where are printed so many books\nand Scriptures every year in the Arabic language. Those tall cypress\ntrees are in the Mission Cemetery where Pliny Fisk, and Eli Smith, and\nMr. Whiting, and a good many little children are buried. Near by are the\nhouses of Dr. Bliss and Dr. Lewis and our house, and you can see mosques\nand minarets and domes and red-tiled roofs, and beautiful arched\ncorridors and green trees in every direction. Do you see the beautiful\npurple tints on the Lebanon Mountains as the sun goes down? Is it not\nworth a long journey to see that lofty peak gilded and tinted with\npurple and pink and yellow as the sun sinks into the sea?\n\nWhat a noise these boatmen make! I doubt whether you have ever heard\nsuch a screaming before.\n\nNow you can imagine yourself going to sleep in the state-room of this\ngreat steamer, and away we go. The anchor comes up clank, clank, as the\ngreat chain cable is wound up by the donkey engine, and now we move off\nsilently and smoothly. In about five hours we have made the fifty miles,\nand down goes the anchor again in Tripoli harbor. At sunrise the Tripoli\nboatmen come around the steamer. We are two miles off from the shore and\na rough north wind is blowing. Let us hurry up and get ashore before the\nwind increases to a gale, as these North winds are very fierce on the\nSyrian coast. Here comes Mustafa, an old boatman, and begs us to take\nhis feluca. We look over the side of the steamer and see that his boat\nis large and clean and agree to take it for twelve piastres or fifty\ncents for all of us and our baggage. Then the other boatmen rush up and\nscream and curse and try to get us to take their boats, but we say\nnothing and push through them and climb down the steps to the boat. The\nwhite caps are rolling and the boat dances finely. Mustafa puts up a\nlarge three-cornered sail, Ali sits at the rudder, and with a stroke or\ntwo of the oars we turn around into the wind and away we dash towards\nthe shore. The Meena (port) is before us, that white row of houses on\nthe point; and back among the gardens is the city of Tripoli. In less\nthan half an hour we reach the shore, but the surf is so high that we\ncannot go near the pier, so they make for the sand beach, and before we\nreach it, the boat strikes on a little bar and we stop. Out jump the\nboatmen, and porters come running half naked from the shore and each\nshouts to us to ride ashore on his shoulders. They can carry you and\nHarry with ease, but I am always careful how I sit on the shoulders of\nthese rough fellows. There is Ibrahim on the shore with our animals, and\ntwo mules for the baggage. We shall take beds and bedsteads and cooking\napparatus and provisions and a tent. Ibrahim has bought bread and\npotatoes and rice and semin (Arab butter) and smead (farina) and\ncandles, and a little sugar and salt, and other necessaries. We will\naccept Aunt Annie's invitation to breakfast, and then everything will be\nready for a start.\n\nWhat is the matter with those boys in that dark room? Are they on\nrockers? They keep swinging back and forth and screaming at the top of\ntheir voices all at once, and an old blind man sits on one side holding\na long stick. They all sit on the floor and hold books or tin cards in\ntheir hands. This is a Moslem school, and the boys are learning to read\nand write. They all study aloud, and the old blind Sheikh knows their\nvoices so well that when one stops studying, he perceives it, and\nreaches his long stick over that way until the boy begins again. When a\nboy comes up to him to recite, he has to shout louder than the rest, so\nthat the Sheikh can distinguish his voice. There, two boys are fighting.\nThe Sheikh cannot and will not have fighting in his school, and he calls\nthem up to him. They begin to scream and kick and call for their\nmothers, but it is of no use. Sheikh Mohammed will have order. Lie down\nthere you Mahmoud! Mahmoud lies down, and the Sheikh takes a stick like\na bow with a cord to it, and winds the cord around his ankles. After\ntwisting the cord as tight as possible, he takes his rod and beats\nMahmoud on the soles of his feet, until the poor boy is almost black in\nthe face with screaming and pain. Then he serves Saleh in the same way.\nThis is the _bastinado_ of which you have heard and read. When the\nMissionaries started common schools in Syria, the teachers used the\nbastinado without their knowledge, though we never allow anything of the\nkind. But the boys behave so badly and use such bad language to each\nother, that the teacher's patience is often quite exhausted. I heard of\none school where the teacher invited a visitor to hear the boys recite,\nand then offered to whip the school all around from the biggest boy to\nthe smallest, in order to show how well he governed the school! They do\nnot use the alphabet in the Moslem schools. The boys begin with the\nKoran and learn the _words by sight_, without knowing the letters of\nwhich they are composed.\n\nHere come two young men to meet us. Fine lads they are too. One is named\nGiurgius, and the other Leopold. When they were small boys, they once\namused me very much. Mr. Yanni, who drew up his flag on the birth of\nBarbara, sent Giurgius his son, and Leopold his nephew to the school of\nan old man named Hanna Tooma. This old man always slept in the\nafternoon, and the boys did not study very well when he was asleep. I\nwas once at Yanni's house when the boys came home from school. They\nwere in high glee. One of them said to his father, our teacher slept all\nthe afternoon, and we appointed a committee of boys to fan him and keep\nthe flies off while the rest went down into the court to play, and when\nhe moved we all hushed up until he was sound asleep again. But when he\n_did_ wake up, he took the big \"Asa\" and struck out right and left, and\ngave every boy in the school a flogging. The father asked, but why did\nhe flog them all? Because he said he knew some of us had done wrong and\nhe was determined to hit the right one, so he flogged us all!\n\nSee the piles of fruit in the streets! Grapes and figs, watermelons and\npomegranates, peaches, pears, lemons and bananas. At other seasons of\nthe year you have oranges, _sweet lemons_, plums, and apricots. There is\nfresh fruit on the trees here every week in the year. Now we are passing\na lemonade stand, where iced lemonade is sold for a cent a glass, cooled\nwith snow from the summit of Mount Lebanon 9000 feet high. Grapes are\nabout a cent a pound and figs the same, and in March you can buy five\noranges or ten sweet lemons for a cent. Huge watermelons are about eight\nor ten cents a piece. We buy so many pounds of milk and oil and potatoes\nand charcoal. The prickly pear, or subire, is a delicious fruit,\nalthough covered with sharp barbed spines and thorns. It is full of hard\nlarge woody seeds, but the people are very fond of the fruit. Sheikh\nNasif el Yazijy was a famous Arab poet and scholar, and a young man once\nbrought him a poem to be corrected. He told him to call in a few days\nand get it. He came again and the Sheikh said to him. \"Your poem is like\nthe Missionary's prickly pear!\" \"The Missionary's prickly pear?\" said\nthe young poet. \"What do you mean?\" \"Why,\" said the Sheikh, \"Dr. ---- a\nmissionary, when he first came to Syria, had a dish of prickly pears set\nbefore him to eat. Not liking to eat the seeds, he began to pick them\nout, and when he had picked out all the seeds, there was nothing left!\nSo your poem. You asked me to remove the errors, and I found that when I\nhad taken out all the errors, there was nothing left.\"\n\nIt is about time for us to start. We will ride through the orange\ngardens and see the rich fruit bending the trees almost down to the\nground. Steer your way carefully through the crowd of mules, pack\nhorses, camels and asses loaded with boxes of fruit hastening down to\nthe Meena for the steamer which goes North to-night.\n\nHere is Yanni, with his happy smiling face coming out to meet us. We\nwill dismount and greet him. He will kiss us on both cheeks and insist\non our calling at his house. The children are glad to see you, and the\nSitt Karimeh asks, how are \"the preserved of God?\" that is, the\n_children_. Then the little tots come up to kiss my hand, and Im\nAntonius, the old grandmother, comes and greets us most kindly. It was\nnot always so. She was once very hostile to the Missionaries. She\nthought that her son had done a dreadful deed when he became a\nProtestant. Although she once loved him, she hated him and hated us.\nShe used to fast, and make vows, and pray to the Virgin and the saints,\nand beat her breast in agony over her son. She had a brother and another\nson, who were like her, and they all persecuted Yanni. But he bore it\npatiently without an unkind word in return for all their abuse. At\nlength the brother Ishoc was taken ill. Im Antonius brought the pictures\nand put them over his head and called the priests. He said, \"Mother,\ntake away these idols. Send away these priests. Tell my brother Antonius\nto come here, I want to ask his forgiveness.\" Yanni came. Ishoc said to\nhim, \"Brother, your kindness and patience have broken me down. You are\nright and I am wrong. I am going to die. Will you forgive me?\" \"Yes, and\nmay God forgive and bless you too.\" \"Then bring your Bible and read to\nme. Read about some _great_ sinner who was saved.\" Yanni read about the\ndying thief on the cross. \"Read it again! Ah, that is my case! I am the\nchief of sinners.\" Every day he kept Yanni reading and praying with him.\nHe loved to talk about Jesus and at length died trusting in the Saviour!\nThe uncle Michaiel, was also taken ill, and on his death-bed would have\nneither priest nor pictures, and declared to all the people that he\ntrusted only in the Saviour whom Yanni had loved and served so well.\nAfter that Im Antonius was softened and now she loves to hear Yanni read\nthe Bible and pray.\n\nThe servant is coming with sherbet and sweetmeats and Arabic coffee in\nlittle cups as large as an egg-shell. Did you notice how the marble\nfloors shine! They are scrubbed and polished, and kept clean by the\nindustrious women whom you see so gorgeously dressed now. These good\nladies belong to the Akabir, or aristocracy of Tripoli, but they work\nmost faithfully in their housekeeping duties. But alas, they can neither\nread nor write! And there is hardly a woman in this whole city of 16,000\npeople that can read or write! I once attended a company of invited\nguests at one of the wealthy houses in Tripoli, and there were thirty\nTripolitan ladies in the large room, dressed in the most elegant style.\nI think you never saw such magnificence. They were dressed in silks and\nsatins and velvets, embroidered with gold thread and pearls, and their\narms and necks were loaded with gold bracelets and necklaces set with\nprecious stones, and on their heads were wreaths of gold and silver work\nsparkling with diamonds, and fragrant with fresh orange blossoms and\njessamine. Many of them were beautiful. But not one of them could read.\nThe little boys and girls too are dressed in the same rich style among\nthe wealthier classes, and they are now beginning to learn. Many of the\nlittle girls who were taught in Sadi's school here thirteen years ago,\nare now heads of families, and know how to read the gospel.\n\nIbrahim comes in to say that we must hurry off if we would reach Halba\nto sleep to-night. So we bid Yanni's family good-bye. We tell them \"Be\nKhaterkum.\" \"By your pleasure,\" and they say \"Ma es Salameh,\" \"with\npeace.\"--Then they say \"God smooth your way,\" and we answer, \"Peace to\nyour lives.\" Saieed the muleteer now says \"Dih, Ooah,\" to his mules, and\naway we ride over the stony pavements and under the dark arches of the\ncity, towards the East. We cross the bridge over the River Kadisha, go\nthrough the wheat and barley market, and out of the gate Tibbaneh, among\nthe Moslems, Maronites, Bedawin, Nusairiyeh, Gypsies, and Greeks, who\nare buying and selling among the Hamath and Hums caravans.\n\nDo you see those boys playing by the stone wall? They are catching\nscorpions. They put a little wax on a stick and thrust it into the holes\nin the wall, and the scorpions run their claws into the wax when they\nare easily drawn out, and the boys like to play with them. The sting of\nthe scorpion is not deadly, but it is very painful, something like being\nstung by half a dozen hornets.\n\nHere come a company of Greek priests, with the Greek bishop of Akkar.\nThe priests are all Syrians but the bishop is from Greece, and knows but\nlittle Arabic. The priests are very ignorant, for they are generally\nchosen from among the lowest of the people.\n\nWhen the former Greek Bishop died in Tripoli, in 1858, his dead body was\ndressed in cloth of gold, with a golden crown on his head, and then the\ncorpse was set up in a chair in the midst of the Greek Church, with the\nface and hands uncovered so that all the people could see him. The\nfingers were all black and bloated, but the men, women and children\ncrowded up to kiss them. When the body was taken from the city to Deir\nKeftin, three miles distant the Greek mountaineers came down in a rabble\nto get the blessing from the corpse. And how do you think they got the\nblessing? They attacked the bearers and knocked off pieces of the\ncoffin, and then carried off the pall and tore it in pieces, fighting\nfor it like hungry wolves. A number of people were wounded. After the\nburial they dug up the earth for some distance around the tomb, and\ncarried it off to be used as medicine. A little girl brought a piece of\nthe bishop's handkerchief to my house, hearing that some one was ill,\nsaying that if we would burn it and drink the ashes in water, we would\nbe instantly cured.\n\nThe Syrians have a good many stories about their priests, which they\nlaugh about, and yet they obey them, no matter how ignorant they are.\nAbu Selim in the Meena used to tell me this story: Once there was a\npriest who did not know how to count. This was a great trial to him, as\nthe Greeks have so many fasts and feasts that it is necessary to count\nall the time or get into trouble. They have a long fast called _Soum el\nkebir_, and it is sometimes nearly sixty days long. One year the fast\ncommenced, and the priest had blundered so often that he went to the\nbishop and asked him to teach him some way to count the days to the\nEaster feast. The bishop told him it would be forty days, and gave him\nforty kernels of \"hummus,\" or peas, telling him to put them into his\npocket and throw one out every day, and when they were all gone, to\nproclaim the feast! This was a happy plan for the poor priest, and he\nwent on faithfully throwing away one pea every day, until one day he\nwent to a neighboring village. In crossing the stream he fell from his\ndonkey into the mud, and his black robe was grievously soiled. The good\nwoman of the house where he slept, told him to take off his robe and she\nwould clean it in the night. So after he was asleep she arose and washed\nit clean, but found to her sorrow that she had destroyed the peas in the\npriest's pocket. Poor priest, said she, he has lost all his peas which\nhe had for lunch on the road! But I will make it up to him. So she went\nto her earthen jar and took a big double handful of hummus and put them\ninto the priest's pocket, and said no more. He went on his way and threw\nout a pea every morning for weeks and weeks. At length, some of his\nfellaheen heard that the feast had begun in another village, and told\nthe Priest. Impossible, said he. My pocket is half full yet. Others came\nand said, will you keep us fasting all the year? He only replied, look\ninto my pocket. Are you wiser than the Bishop? At length some one went\nand told the Bishop that the priest was keeping his people fasting for\ntwenty days after the time. And then the story leaked out, and the poor\nwoman told how she had filled up the pocket, and the bishop saw that\nthere was no use in trying to teach the man to count.\n\nSee the reapers in the field, and the women gleaning after them, just\nas Ruth did so many thousand years ago! On this side is a \"lodge in a\ngarden of cucumbers.\"\n\nNow we come down upon the sea-shore again, and on our right is the great\nplain of Akkar, level as a floor, and covered with fields of Indian corn\nand cotton. Flocks and herds and Arab camps of black tents are scattered\nover it. Here is a shepherd-boy playing on his \"zimmara\" or pipe, made\nof two reeds tied together and perforated. He plays on it hour after\nhour and day after day, as he leads his sheep and goats or cattle along\nthe plain or over the mountains. You do not like it much, any more than\nhe would like a melodeon or a piano. When King David was a shepherd-boy\nhe played on such a pipe as this as he wandered over the mountains of\nJudea.\n\nNow we turn away from the sea and go eastward to Halba. Before long we\ncross the river Arka on a narrow stone bridge, and pass a high hill\ncalled \"Tel Arka.\" Here the Arkites lived, who are mentioned in Genesis\nx:17. That was four thousand two hundred years ago. What a chain of\nvillages skirt this plain! The people build their villages on the hills\nfor protection and health, but go down to plough and sow and feed their\nflocks to the rich level plain. Now we cross a little stream of water,\nand look up the ravine, and there is Ishoc's house perched on the side\nof the hill opposite Halba. Ishoc and his wife Im Hanna, come out to\nmeet us, and he helps us pitch the tent by the great fig tree near his\nhouse. We unroll the tent, splice the tent pole, open the bag of tent\npins, get the mallet, and although the wind is blowing hard, we will\ndrive the pegs so deep that there will be no danger of its blowing over.\n\nAbu Hanna, or Ishoc, is a noble Christian man, one of the best men in\nSyria. He has suffered very much for Christ's sake. The Greeks in the\nvillage on the hill have tried to poison him. They hired Nusairy\nMughlajees to shoot him. They cut down his trees at night, and pulled up\nhis plantations of vegetables. They came at night and tore up the roof\nof his house, and shot through at him but did not hit him. But the\nMohammedan Begs over there always help him, because he is an honest man,\nand aids them in their business and accounts. When the Greeks began to\npersecute him, they told him to fire a gun whenever they came about his\nhouse, and they would come over and fight for him. They even offered to\ngo up and burn the Greek village and put an end to these persecutions.\nBut Ishoc would not let them. He said, \"Mohammed Beg, you know I am a\nChristian, not like these Greeks who lie and steal and kill, but I\nfollow the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, who said, 'Love your\nenemies,' and I do not wish to injure one of them.\" The Begs were\nastonished at this, and went away, urging him if there were any more\ntrouble at night to fire his gun and they would come over from Halba at\nonce.\n\nI love this good man Ishoc. His pure life, his patience and gentleness\nhave preached to these wild people in Akkar, more than all the sermons\nof the missionaries.\n\nWould you like to see Im Hanna make bread for our supper? That hole in\nthe ground, lined with plaster, is the oven, and the flames are pouring\nout. They heat it with thorns and thistles. She sits by the oven with a\nflat stone at her side, patting the lumps of dough into thin cakes like\nwafers as large as the brim of your straw hat. Now the fire is burning\nout and the coals are left at the bottom of the oven, as if they were in\nthe bottom of a barrel. She takes one thin wafer on her hand and sticks\nit on the smooth side of the oven, and as it bakes it curls up, but\nbefore it drops off into the coals, she pulls it out quickly and puts\nanother in its place. How sweet and fresh the bread is! It is made of\nIndian corn. She calls it \"khubs dura.\" Abu Hanna says that we must eat\nsupper with them to-night. They are plain fellaheen, and have neither\ntables, chairs, knives nor forks. They have a few wooden spoons, and a\nfew plates. But hungry travellers and warm-hearted friendship will make\nthe plainest food sweet and pleasant.\n\nSupper is ready now, and we will go around to Abu Hanna's house for he\nhas come to tell us that \"all things are ready.\" The house is one low\nroom, about sixteen by twenty feet. The ceiling you see is of logs\nsmoked black and shining as if they had been varnished. Above the logs\nare flat stones and thorns, on which earth is piled a foot deep. In the\nwinter this earth is rolled down with a heavy stone roller to keep out\nthe rain. In many of the houses the family, cattle, sheep, calves and\nhorses sleep in the same room. The family sleep in the elevated part of\nthe room along the edge of which is a trough into which they put the\nbarley for the animals. This is the \"medhwad\" or manger, such as the\ninfant Jesus was laid in. We will now accept Im Hanna's kind invitation\nto supper. The plates are all on a small tray on a mat in the middle of\nthe floor, and there are four piles of bread around the edge. There is\none cup of water for us all to drink from, and each one has a wooden\nspoon. But Abu Hanna, you will see, prefers to eat without a spoon.\nAfter the blessing is asked in Arabic, Abu Hanna says, \"tefudduloo,\"\nwhich means help yourselves. Here is kibby, and camel stew, and Esau's\npottage, and olives, and rice, and figs cooked in dibbs, and chicken\nboiled to pieces, and white fresh cheese, and curdled milk, and fried\neggs.\n\nKibby is the Arab plum pudding and mince pie and roast beef all in one.\nIt is made by pounding meat in a mortar with wheat, until both are mixed\ninto a soft pulp and then dressed with nuts and onions and butter, and\nbaked or roasted in cakes over the fire. Dr. Thomson thinks that this\ndish is alluded to in Prov. 27:22, \"Though thou shouldest bray a fool in\na mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart\nfrom him.\" That is, put the fool into Im Hanna's stone mortar with wheat\nand pound him into kibby, and he would still remain a fool! It takes\nsomething besides pounding to get the folly out of foolish men.\n\nYou see there are no separate plates for us. We all help ourselves from\nthe various dishes as we prefer. Abu Hanna wants you to try the\n\"mejeddara,\" made of \"oddis.\" It is like thick pea soup, but with a\npeculiar flavor. This is what Jacob made the pottage of, when he tempted\nEsau and bought his birthright. I hope you will like it, but I do not.\nAfter seventeen years of trying, I am not able to enjoy it, but Harry\nwill eat all he can get, and the little Arab children revel in it. You\nmake poor work with that huge wooden spoon. You had better try Abu\nHanna's way of eating. Many better men than any of us have eaten in that\nway, and I suppose our Saviour and his disciples ate as Abu Hanna eats.\nHe tears off a small piece of the thin wafer-like bread, doubles it into\na kind of three cornered spoon, dips it into the rice, or picks up a\npiece of kibby with it, and then eats it down, spoon and all! Im Hanna\nsays I am afraid those little boys do not like our food, so she makes a\nspoon and dips up a nice morsel of the chicken, and comes to you and\nsays \"minshan khatri,\" for my sake, eat this, and you open your mouth\nand she puts it in. That is the way our Saviour dipped the \"sop\" and put\nit into the mouth of Judas Iscariot to show the disciples which one it\nwas. Giving the sop was a common act, and I have no doubt Jesus had\noften given it to John and Peter and the other disciples, as a kindly\nact, when they were eating together.\n\nIm Hanna is fixing the lamp. It is a little earthen saucer having a lip\non one side, with the wick hanging over. The wick just began to smoke\nand she poured in more olive oil, and it burns brightly again. Do you\nremember what the prophet Isaiah (42:3) said, \"a bruised reed shall he\nnot break, and smoking flax shall he not quench.\" This is quoted in\nMatt. 12 of our Lord Jesus. The word flax means _wick_. It is \"fetileh\"\nin Arabic, and this is just what Im Hanna has been doing. She saw the\nwick smoking and flickering, and instead of blowing it out and quenching\nit, she brought the oil flask, and gently poured in the clear olive oil\nand you saw how quickly the flame revived. So our Lord would have us\nlearn from Him. When the flame of our faith and love is almost dead and\nnothing remains but the smoking flickering wick, He does not quench it,\nand deal harshly with us, but he comes in all gentleness and love and\npours in the oil of His grace, and then our faith revives and we live\nagain.\n\n\n\n\nPART III.\n\n\nHere come some little Bedawin gypsy children. One is laughing at my hat.\nHe never saw one before and he calls me \"Abu Suttle,\" the \"father of a\nPail,\" and wonders why I carry a pail on my head. The people love to use\nthe word Abu, [father] or Im, [mother]. They call a musquito Abu Fas,\nthe father of an axe. The centipede is \"Im Arba wa Arb-ain; \"The\nmother of forty-four legs.\" The Arabic poet Hariri calls a _table_ the\n\"father of assembling;\" _bread_, the \"father of pleasantness;\" a _pie_,\n\"the mother of joyfulness,\" _salt_, \"the father of help,\" _soap_ the\n\"father of softness;\" Death is called by the Arab poets, \"Father of the\nLiving,\" because all the living are subject to him.\n\nAfter breakfast we will start for Safita. You see that snow-white dome\non the hill-top! and another on the next hill under that huge oak tree,\nand then another and another. These are called Nebi or Ziarat or Wely.\nEach one contains one or more tombs of Nusairy saints or sheikhs, and\nthe poor women visit them and burn lamps and make vows to the saints who\nthey think live in them. They know nothing of Christ, and when they feel\nsad and troubled and want comfort they enter the little room under the\nwhite dome, and there they call, \"O Jafar et Tiyyar hear me! O Sheikh\nHassan hear me!\"\n\nThis is just as the old Canaanite women used to go up and worship on\nevery high hill, and under every green tree, thousands of years ago, and\nthese poor Nusairiyeh are thought to be the descendants of the old\nCanaanites.\n\nHere come men on horseback to visit that \"ziyara.\" Up they go to the\nlittle room with the white dome, and all dismount. The old sheikh who\nhas charge, comes out to meet them. They are pilgrims and have to make\nvows and bring offerings. One had a sick son and he once vowed that if\nhis son got well he would bring a sheep and a bushel of wheat as an\noffering to this shrine. So there is the sheep on one of the horses, and\nthat mule is bringing the wheat. If the old sheikh has many such\nvisitors he will grow rich. Some of them do. And yet the people laugh at\nthese holy places, and tell some strange stories about them. One of the\nstories is as follows:--\n\nOnce upon a time there was a great Sheikh Ali, a holy man, who kept a\nholy tomb of an ancient prophet. The tomb was on a hill under a big oak\ntree, and the white dome could be seen for miles around. Lamps were kept\nburning day and night in the tomb, and if any one extinguished them,\nthey were miraculously lighted again. Men with sore eyes came to visit\nit and were cured. The earth around the tomb was carried off to be used\nas medicine. Women came and tied old rags on the limbs of the tree, as\nvows to the wonderful prophet. Nobody knew the name of the prophet, but\nthe tomb was called \"Kobr en Nebi,\" or \"tomb of the prophet.\" A green\ncloth was spread over the tomb under the dome, and incense was sold by\nthe sheikh to those who wished to heal their sick, or drive out evil\nspirits from their houses. Pilgrims came from afar to visit the holy\nplace, and its fame extended over all the land. Sheikh Ali was becoming\na rich man, and all the pilgrims kissed his hand and begged his\nblessing. Now Sheikh Ali had a faithful servant named Mohammed, who had\nserved him long and well. But Mohammed was weary of living in one place,\nand asked permission to go and seek his fortune in distant parts. So\nSheikh Ali gave him his blessing and presented him with a donkey, which\nhe had for many years, that he might ride when tired of walking. Then\nMohammed set out on his journey. He went through cities and towns and\nvillages, and at last came out on the mountains east of the Jordan in a\ndesert place. No village or house was in sight and night came on. Tired,\nhungry and discouraged poor Mohammed lay down by his donkey on a great\npile of stones and fell asleep. In the morning he awoke, and alas his\ndonkey was dead. He was in despair, but his kindly nature would not let\nthe poor brute lie there to be devoured by jackals and vultures, so he\npiled a mound of stones over its body and sat down to weep.\n\nWhile he was weeping, a wealthy Hajji or pilgrim came along, on his\nreturn from Mecca. He was surprised to see a man alone in this\nwilderness, and asked him why he was weeping? Mohammed replied, O Hajji,\nI have found the tomb of a holy prophet, and I have vowed to be its\nkeeper, but I am in great need. The Hajji thanked him for the news, and\ndismounted to visit the holy place, and gave Mohammed a rich present.\nAfter he had gone Mohammed hastened to the nearest village and bought\nprovisions and then returned to his holy prophet's tomb. The Hajji\nspread the news, and pilgrims thronged to the spot with rich presents\nand offerings. As money came in Mohammed brought masons and built a\ncostly tomb with a tall white dome that could be seen across the Jordan.\nHe lived in a little room by the tomb, and soon the miraculous lights\nbegan to appear in the tomb at night, which Mohammed had kindled when no\none was near. He increased in fame and wealth, and the Prophet's tomb\nbecame one of the great shrines of the land.\n\nAt length Sheikh Ali heard of the fame of the new holy place in the\ndesert, and as his own visitors began to fall off, decided to go himself\nand gain the merit of a visit to the tomb of that famous prophet. When\nhe arrived there with his rich presents of green cloth, incense and\nmoney, he bowed in silence to pray towards Mecca, when suddenly he\nrecognized in the holy keeper of the tomb, his old servant Mohammed.\n\"Salam alaykoom\" said Sheikh Ali. \"Alaykoom es Salam,\" replied Mohammed.\nWhen he asked him how he came here, and how he found this tomb, Mohammed\nreplied, this \"tomb is a great \"sirr\" or mystery, and I am forbidden to\nutter the secret.\" \"But you _must_ tell _me_,\" said Sheikh Ali, \"for I\nam a father to you.\" Mohammed refused and Ali insisted, until at length\nMohammed said, \"my honored Sheikh, you remember having given me a\ndonkey. It was a faithful donkey, and when it died I buried it. This is\nthe tomb of that donkey!\" \"Mashallah! Mashallah!\" said Sheikh Ali. The\nwill of Allah be done! Then they ate and drank together, and renewed the\nmemory of their former life, and then Sheikh Mohammed said to Sheikh\nAli, \"My master, as I have told you the 'sirr' of my prophet's tomb, I\nwish to know the secret of yours.\" \"Impossible,\" said Ali, \"for that is\none of the ancient mysteries, too sacred to be mentioned by mortal\nlips.\" \"But you _must_ tell me, even as I have told you.\" At length the\nold Sheikh Ali stroked his snowy beard, adjusted his white turban, and\nwhispered to Mohammed, \"and my holy place is the _tomb of that donkey's\nfather_!\" \"Mashallah,\" said Mohammed, \"may Allah bless the beard of the\nholy donkeys!\"\n\nThe people tell this story, which shows, that they ridicule and despise\ntheir holy places, and yet are too superstitious to give them up. The\ngreat thing with the sheiks who keep them is _the piastres_ they make\nfrom the visitors.\n\nAs we go up the hill to Safita, you see the tall, beautiful Burj, or\nCrusader's tower, built as were many of the castles and towers whose\nruins you see on the hills about here, by the French and English eight\nhundred years ago, to keep down the wild and rebellious people. The\nProtestant Church is at the east. These are two watch towers. One was\nbuilt for warriors who fought with sword and spear, and the other for\nthe simple warfare of the gospel. You may depend upon it, we shall have\na welcome here. It is nearly sunset, and the people are coming in from\ntheir fields and pastures and vineyards. Daud and Nicola, and Michaiel,\nSoleyman, Ibrahim, and Yusef, Miriam, Raheel and Nejmy and crowds of\nothers with a throng of little ragged boys and girls, come running to\ngreet us. \"Praise God we have seen you in peace!\" \"Ehelan wa Sehelan,\"\n\"Welcome and Welcome!\" \"Be preferred!\" \"Honor us with your presence!\"\n\"How is your state?\" \"Inshullah you are all well!\" \"How are those you\nleft behind?\" \"How are the preserved of God?\" \"I hope you are not\nwearied with the long ride, this hot day?\" \"From whence have you come,\nin peace?\" \"What happy day is this to Safita!\" and we answer as fast as\nwe can, and dismount and pitch the tent in front of the church door, in\nthe little plot of ground next to the houses of some of the brethren.\nThe church is built of cream colored limestone, the same color as the\ngreat Burj, and contrasts strongly with the houses of the people. Did\nyou ever see such houses? They are hardly high enough to stand up in,\nand are built of roundish boulders of black trap-rock, without lime, and\nlook as if the least jar would tumble them all down. Each house has but\none room, and here the cattle, goats and donkeys all sleep in the same\nroom. The people are poorer than any fellaheen (peasants) you ever saw.\nThere is not a chair or table in the village, unless the Beshoor family\nhave them. They are the only wealthy people here, and in years past they\nhave oppressed the Protestants in the most cruel manner. Beshoor had a\nlawsuit with the people about the land of the village. It belonged to\nthem, and he wanted it. So he brought Government horsemen and drove them\noff their lands and took the crops himself. They thought they would try\na new way to get justice. The Government officials were all bribed, so\nthere was no hope there. So they decided to turn Protestants and get aid\nin that way. They did not know what the Protestant religion was, but\nhad some idea that it would help them. Down they went to Tripoli to the\nmissionaries with a list of three hundred persons who wanted to become\nAngliz or Protestants. The people sometimes call us Angliz, or English,\nothers call us \"Boostrant\" or \"Brostant,\" but the common name is\n\"Injiliyeen\" or people of the Enjeel, or Evangel, that is, the\nEvangelicals.\n\nDr. Post and your Uncle Samuel came up to Safita to look into the\nmatter. They found the people grossly ignorant and living like cattle,\ncalling themselves Protestants and knowing nothing of the gospel. So\nthey sent a teacher and began to teach them. When the people found that\nthe missionaries did not come to distribute money, some of them went\nback to the Greeks. But others said no; this new religion is more than\nwe expected. The more we hear, the more we like it. We shall live and\ndie Protestants. Then Beit Beshoor became alarmed. They said, if this\npeople get a school, have a teacher, and read the Bible, we cannot\noppress them. They must be kept down in ignorance. So they began in\nearnest. The Protestants were arrested and dragged off to Duraikish to\nprison. Women and children were beaten. Brutal horsemen were quartered\non their houses. That means, that a rough fellow, armed with pistols and\na sword came to the house of Abu Asaad, and stayed two weeks. He made\nthem cook chickens, and bring eggs and bread and everything he wanted\nevery day, and bring barley for his horse. The poor man had no barley\nand had to buy, and the Greeks would make him pay double price for it.\nWhen he could get no more he was beaten and his wife insulted, and so it\nwas in almost every Protestant house. They began to love the Gospel, and\nthe men who knew how to read, would meet to read and pray together. One\nevening, all the Protestants met together in one of the houses. Their\nsufferings were very great. Their winter stores had been plundered,\ntheir olives gathered by Beit Beshoor, and they talked and prayed over\ntheir trouble. It was a dark, cold, rainy night, and the wind blew a\ngale. While they were talking together, a man came rushing in crying,\nrun for your lives! the horsemen are here! Before they could get out, a\nsquad of wild looking wretches were at the door. The men fled, carrying\nthe larger children and the women carrying the babies, and off they went\ninto the wilderness in the storm and darkness. Some women were seized\nand tied by ropes around their waists, to the horsemen, and marched off\nfor miles to prison. The men who were caught were put in chains. Some\ntime later they got back home again. But they would not give up the\nGospel. Beshoor sent men who told them they could have peace if they\nwould only go back to the Greek Church. But he offered peace quite too\nlate. They had now learned to love the Gospel, and it was worth more to\nthem than all the world beside. One night they were assembled in a\nlittle low black house, when some men came to the door and threw in\nburning bundles of straw and then shut the door, so that they were\nalmost stifled with the smoke. They sent a messenger to Beirut. The\ncase was laid before the Pasha, and he telegraphed to have the\nProtestants let alone. But Beshoor cared for nothing. A Nusairy was\nhired to shoot Abu Asaad, the leading Protestant. His house was visited\nin the daytime, and the man saw where Abu Asaad's bed was placed. In the\nnight he came stealthily upon the roof, dug a hole through, and fired\nthree bullets at the spot. But see how God protects his people! That\nevening Abu Asaad said to his wife; the floor is getting damp in the\ncorner, let us remove the bed and mat to the other side. They did so,\nand when the man fired, the bullets went into the ground just where Abu\nAsaad had slept the night before! He ran out and saw the assassins and\nrecognized one of them as the servant of Beshoor's son. The next day he\ncomplained to the Government and they refused to hear him because he did\nnot bring witnesses!\n\nBut the poor people would not give up. Every day they went to their\nfields, carrying their Testaments in their girdles and at noontime would\nread and find comfort. Their children were half naked and half starved.\nWhen word reached Beirut, the native Protestant women met together and\ncollected several hundred piastres (a piastre is four cents) for the\nwomen and girls of Safita. They made up a bale of clothing, and sent\nwith it a very touching and kind letter, telling their poor persecuted\nsisters to bear their trials in patience, and put all their trust in the\nLord Jesus. That aid, together with the contributions made by the\nmissionaries and others in Beirut, gave them some relief, and the kind\nwords of sympathy strengthened their hearts. The school was kept up amid\nall these troubles. One of the boys was taught in Abeih Seminary, and\ntwo of the girls were sent to the Beirut Female Seminary.\n\nYou would have been amused to see those girls when they first reached\nBeirut. They walked barefoot from Safita down to Tripoli, about forty\nmiles, and then Uncle S. took them on to Beirut. He bought shoes for\nthem, and hired two little donkeys for them to ride, but they preferred\nto walk a part of the way, and would carry their shoes in their hands\nand run along the sandy beach in the surf, far ahead of the animals. I\nrode out to meet them, and they were a sorry sight to see. Uncle S. rode\na forlorn-looking horse, and two ragged men from Safita walked by his\nside, followed by two ragged fat-faced girls riding on little donkeys.\nThe girls were almost bewildered at the city sights and scenes. Soon we\nmet a carriage, and they were so frightened that they turned pale, and\ntheir donkeys were almost paralyzed with fear. One of the little girls,\nwhen asked if she knew what that was, said it was a mill walking.\n\nThe first few days in school they were so homesick for Safita that they\nran away several times. They could not bear to be washed and combed and\nsent to the Turkish bath, but wanted to come back here among the goats\nand calves and donkeys. One night they went to their room and cried\naloud. Rufka, the teacher, asked them what they wanted? They said,\npointing to the white beds, \"We don't like these white things to sleep\non. We don't want to stay here. There are no calves and donkeys, and the\nroom is so light and cold!\" The people here in Safita think that the\ncattle help to keep the room warm. In the daytime they complained of\nbeing tired of sitting on the seats to study, and wished to _stand up\nand rest_. One was 11 and the other 12 years old, and that was in 1865.\n\nOne of them, Raheel, fell sick after a time, and was much troubled about\nher sins. Her teacher Sara, who slept near her, overheard her praying\nand saying, \"Oh Lord Jesus, do give me a new heart! I am a poor sinner.\nDo you suppose that because I am from Safita, you cannot give me a new\nheart? O Lord, I _know_ you can. Do have mercy on me!\"\n\nWho are those clean and well dressed persons coming out of the church?\nOur dear brother Yusef Ahtiyeh, the native preacher, and his wife Hadla,\nand Miriam, the teacher of the girls' school. Yusef is one of the most\nrefined and lovely young men in Syria. What a clear eye he has, and what\na pleasant face! He too has borne much for his Master. In 1865, when he\nleft the Greek Church, he was living with his brother in Beirut. His\nbrother turned him out of the house at night, with neither bed nor\nclothing. He came to my house and staid with me some time. He said it\nwas hard to be driven out by his brother and mother, but he could bear\nanything for Christ's sake. Said he, \"I can bear cursing and beating and\nthe loss of property. But my mother is weeping and wailing over me. She\nthinks I am a heretic and am lost forever. Oh, it is hard to bear, the\n'persecution of tears!'\" But the Lord gave him grace to bear it, and he\nis now the happy spiritual guide of this large Protestant community, and\nthe Nusairy Sheikhs look up to him with respect, while that persecuting\nbrother of his is poverty-stricken and sick, and can hardly get bread\nfor his children.\n\nMiriam, the teacher, is a heroine. Her parents were Greeks, but sent her\nto school to learn to read. She learned in a short time to read the New\nTestament, and to love it, and to keep the Sabbath day holy. The keeping\nof the Sabbath was something new in Safita. The Nusairiyeh have no holy\nday at all, and the Greeks have so many that they keep none of them.\nThey work and buy and sell and travel on the Sabbath as on other days,\nand think far more of certain saint's days than of the Sabbath. When\nMiriam was only seven years old, her father said to her one Sabbath\nmorning, \"go with me to the hursh (forest) to get a donkey load of\nwood.\" She replied, \"my father, I cannot go, it is not right, for it is\nGod's day.\" The father went without her, and while cutting wood, his\ndonkey strayed away, and he had to search through the mountains for\nhours, so that he did not reach home until twelve o'clock at night, and\nthen without any wood. He said he should not go for wood on Sunday any\nmore.\n\nBut a few Sundays after, it was the olive season, and Miriam's mother\ntold her to go out with the women and girls to gather olives. They had\nbeen at work during the week, and the mother thought Miriam ought to go\non Sunday with the rest. But Miriam said, \"don't you remember father's\nlosing the donkey, and what he said about it? I cannot go.\" \"Then,\" said\nher mother, \"if you will not work, you shall not eat.\" \"Very well, ya\nimme, I will not eat. If I keep the Lord's day, He will keep me.\" Away\nwent the mother to the olive orchard, and Miriam went to the preaching\nand the Sunday School. At evening, when the family all came home, Miriam\nread in her New Testament and went to bed without her supper. The next\nmorning she said, \"Mother, now I am ready to gather olives. Didn't I\ntell you the Lord would keep me?\"\n\nAfter this Miriam's father became a Protestant, and allowed the\nmissionaries to send her to the Seminary in Sidon, where she was the\nbest girl in the school. When she went home in the vacation in 1869, new\npersecutions were stirred up against the Protestants. The Greek Bishop,\nwith a crowd of priests and a body of armed horsemen, came to the\nvillage, to compel all the Protestants to turn back to the old religion.\nThe armed men went to the Protestant houses and seized men and women and\ndragged them to the great Burj, in which is the Greek church. Miriam's\nfather and mother were greatly terrified and went back with them to the\nGreeks. They then called for Miriam. \"Never,\" said she to the Bishop, \"I\nwill never worship pictures and pray to saints again. You may cut me in\npieces, but I will not stir one step with them.\" The old Bishop turned\nback, and left her to herself. Near by was a man named Abu Isbir, who\nwas so frightened that he said, \"yes, I will go back, don't strike me!\"\nBut his wife, Im Isbir, was not willing to give up. She rebuked her\nhusband and took hold of his arm, and actually dragged him back to his\nhouse, to save him the shame of having denied the Gospel. He stood firm,\nand afterwards united with the Church.\n\nHere comes Im Isbir. Poor woman, she is a widow now. Her husband died\nand left her with these little children, and last night her valuable cow\ndied, and she is in great distress. Yusef, the preacher, says she is the\nmost needy person in Safita. You would think so from the ragged\nappearance of the children. They are like the children in Eastern\nTurkey, whom Mr. Williams of Mardin used to describe, whose garments\nwere so ragged and tattered that there was hardly cloth enough to _make\nborders for the holes_! They dig up roots in the fields for food, and\nnow and then the neighbors give them a little of their coarse corn\nbread. The Greeks tell her to turn back to them and they will help her,\nbut she says, \"when one has found the light, can she turn back into the\ndarkness again?\" Yusef wishes us to walk in and sit down, as the people\nare anxious to see us. He lives in the church from necessity. He cannot\nget a house in the village, excepting these dark cavern-like rooms with\ndamp floors, and so the missionaries told him to occupy one half of the\nchurch room. A curtain divides it into two rooms and on Sunday the\ncurtain is drawn, his things are piled up on one side, and the women and\ngirls sit in that part, while the men and boys sit on the other side.\nAll sit on mats on the floor. Is that cradle hanging from the ring in\nthe arch between the two rooms, kept there on Sunday? Yes, and when I\npreached here last June, Yusef's baby was swinging there during the\nwhole service. One of the women kept it swinging gently, by pulling a\ncord, which hung down from it. It did not disturb the meeting at all. No\none noticed it. They have calves and cows, donkeys and goats in their\nown houses at night, and sleep sweetly enough, so that the swinging of a\nhanging cradle in the inside of the church is not thought to be at all\nimproper.\n\nDo you see that shelf on the wall? It reminds me of a little girl named\nMiriam who once came to your Aunt Annie in Deir Mimas to ask about the\nSidon school, whither she was going in a few weeks. She told Miriam that\nshe would have to be thoroughly washed and combed every day, and would\nsleep on a _bedstead_. Then Miriam asked permission to see a bedstead,\nas she did not know what it could be. The next night, about midnight,\nMiriam's mother heard something drop heavily on the floor, and then a\nchild crying. She went across the room, and there was Miriam sitting on\nthe mat. \"What is the matter, Miriam?\" she asked. Miriam said, \"mother,\nthe Sit told me I was to sleep on a bedstead in Sidon school, and I\nthought I would practice beforehand, so I tried to sleep on the shelf,\nand tumbled off in my sleep!\"\n\nAbu Asaad says the Nusairy Sheikh who was arrested some months ago has\nbeen poisoned. Poisoning used to be very common in Syria. If we should\ncall at the house of a Nusairy, and he brought coffee for us to drink,\nhe would take a sip himself out of the cup before giving it to us, to\nshow that it was not poisoned. Once Uncle S. and Aunt A. were invited\nout to dine in Hums at the house of the deacon of the church. His mother\nis an ignorant woman, and had often threatened to kill him. When they\nhad eaten, they suddenly were taken ill, and suffered much from the\neffects of it. It was found that the mother had put poison into the\nfood, intending to kill her son, the missionaries, and the other invited\nguests, but through the mercy of God none of them were seriously\ninjured.\n\nMichaiel says that they have only half a crop of corn this year, as the\n_locusts_ devoured the other half in the spring. You remember I sent you\nsome locusts' wings once, in a letter. When they appear in the land, the\nPashas and Mudirs and Kaimakams give orders to the people to go out and\ngather the eggs of the locusts as soon as they begin to settle down to\nbury themselves in the earth. The body of the female locust is like the\nspawn of a fish, filled with one mass of eggs. Each man is obliged to\nbring so many ounces of these eggs to the Pasha and have them weighed\nand then burned. A tailor of Beirut brought a bag of them, and as it was\nlate, put them in his shop for the night and went home. He was unwell\nfor a few days and when he went to his shop again, opened the door, and\nthousands of little black hopping creatures, like imps, came like a\ncloud into his face. They had hatched out in his absence.\n\nThis is a fearful land for lying; in these mountains around us, you\ncannot depend on a word you hear. The people say that in the beginning\nof the world, Satan came down to the earth with seven bags of lies,\nwhich he intended to distribute in the seven kingdoms of the earth. The\nfirst night after he reached the earth he slept in Syria, and opened one\nof the bags, letting the lies loose in the land. But while he was\nasleep, some one came and opened all the other bags! so that Syria got\nmore than her share!\n\nAn old man in Beirut once said, \"Sir, you must be careful what you\nbelieve, and whom you trust in this country. If there are twenty-four\ninches of hypocrisy in the world, twenty-three are in Syria.\" This man\nwas a native of great experience. I think he was rather severe on his\ncountrymen. Yet the people have had a hard training. The Nusairiyeh all\nlie. They do not even pretend to tell the truth. The Druze religion\nteaches the people that it is right to lie to all except Druzes. The\nMoslems are better than either of these two classes, but they lie\nwithout a blush, and you must be very careful how you believe them.\n\nAmong the Maronite and Greek sects, their priests tell the people that\nthey can forgive sins. When a man lies or steals or does anything else\nthat is wicked, he pays a few piastres to the priest, who gives him what\nthey call absolution or forgiveness. So the people can do what they\nplease without fear, as the priest is ready to forgive them for money.\nThese sects call themselves Christian, but there is very little of\nChristianity among them. A Greek in Tripoli once told me that there was\nnot a man in the Greek church in Tripoli who would not lie, excepting\n_one_ of the priests.\n\nLeaving Safita, we will go back on a different road, crossing directly\nto the sea-shore, and then along the coast to Tripoli. Here is a little\nabject village, and the people look as abject as the village. Their\nneighbors laugh at them for their stupidity, and tell the following\nstory: They have no wells in the village, and the little fountain is not\nsufficient for their cattle, so they water them from the Ramet or pool,\nwhich is filled by the rains and lasts nearly all summer. One year the\nwater in the Ramet began to fail, and there was a quarrel between the\ntwo quarters of the village, as to which part should have the first\nright to the water. Finally they decided to divide the pool into two\nparts, by making a fence of poles across the middle of it. This worked\nvery well. One part watered their cattle on one side and the other part\non the other side. But one night there was a great riot in the village.\nSome of the men from the north side saw a south-sider dipping up water\nfrom the north side and pouring it over the fence into the other part\nof the pool. Of course this made no difference, as the fence was nothing\nbut open lattice work, but the people were too stupid to see that, so\nthey fought and bruised one another for a long time.\n\nIn another village, _Aaleih_, near Beirut, the people were formerly so\nstupid that the Arabs say that once when the clouds came up the\nmountains and settled like a bank of fog under the cliff on which their\nvillage is built, they thought it was the sea, and went to fish in the\nclouds!\n\nSo you see the Syrians are as fond of humorous stories as other people.\n\n\n\n\nPART IV.\n\n\nBut here we are coming upon a gypsy camp. The Arabs call them Nowar, and\nyou will find that the Arab women of the villages are careful to keep an\neye on their little children when the gypsies are around. They often\nsteal children in the towns and cities, when they can find them straying\naway from home at dusk, and then sell them as servants in Moslem\nfamilies. Last year we were all greatly interested in a story of this\nkind, which I know you will be glad to hear.\n\nAfter the terrible massacre in Damascus in 1860, thousands of the Greek\nand Greek Catholic families migrated to Beirut, and among them was a man\nnamed Khalil Ferah, who escaped the fire and sword with his wife and\nhis little daughter Zahidy. I remember well how we were startled one\nevening in 1862, by hearing a crier going through the streets, \"child\nlost! girl lost!\" The next day he came around again, \"child lost!\" There\nwas great excitement about it. The poor father and mother went almost\nfrantic. Little Zahidy, who was then about six years old, was coming\nhome from school with other girls in the afternoon, and they said a man\ncame along with a sack on his back, and told Zahidy that her mother had\nsent him to buy her some sugar plums and then take her home, and she\nwent away with him. It is supposed that he decoyed her away to some\nby-road and then put her into the great sack, and carried her off to the\nArabs or the gypsies.\n\nThe poor father left no means untried to find her. He wrote to Damascus,\nAlexandria, and Aleppo, describing the child and begged his friends\neverywhere to watch for her, and send him word if they found her. There\nwas one mark on the child, which, he said, would be certain to\ndistinguish her. When she was a baby, and nursing at her mother's\nbreast, her mother upset a little cup of scalding hot coffee upon the\nchild's breast, which burned it to a blister, leaving a scar which could\nnot be removed. This sign the father described, and his friends aided\nhim in trying to find the little girl. They went to the encampments of\nthe gypsies and looked at all the children, but all in vain. The father\njourneyed by land and by sea. Hearing of a little girl in Aleppo who\ncould not give an account of herself, he went there, but it was not his\nchild. Then he went to Damascus and Alexandria, and at length hearing\nthat a French Countess in Marseilles had a little Syrian orphan girl\nwhose parents were not known, he sent to Marseilles and examined the\ngirl, but she was _not his child_. Months and years passed on, but the\nfather never ceased to speak and think of that little lost girl. The\nmother too was almost distracted.\n\nAt length light came. Nine years had passed away, and the Beirut people\nhad almost forgotten the story of the lost Damascene girl. Your uncle S.\nand your Aunt A. were sitting in their house one day, in Tripoli, when\nTannoos, the boy, brought word that a man and woman from Beirut wished\nto see them. They came in and introduced themselves. They were Khalil,\nthe father of the little lost girl, and his sister, who had heard that\nZahidy was in Tripoli, and had come to search for her. The mother was\nnot able to leave home.\n\nIt seems that a native physician in Tripoli, named Sheikh Aiub el\nHashim, was an old friend of the father and had known the family and all\nthe circumstances of the little girl's disappearance, and for years he\nhad been looking for her. At length he was called one day to attend a\nsick servant girl in the family of a Moslem named Syed Abdullah. The\npoor girl was ill from having been beaten in a cruel manner by the\nMoslem. Her face and arms were tattooed in the Bedawin style, and she\ntold him that she was a Bedawin girl, and had been living here for some\nyears, and her name was Khodra. While examining the bruises on her body,\nhe observed a peculiar scar on her breast. He was startled. He looked\nagain. It was precisely the scar that his friend had so often described\nto him. From her age, her features, her complexion and all, he felt sure\nthat she was the lost child. He said nothing, but went home and wrote\nall about it to the father in Beirut. He hastened to Tripoli bringing\nhis sister, as he being a man, could not be admitted to a Moslem hareem.\nThen the question arose, how should the sister see the girl! They came\nand talked with your uncle, and went to Yanni and the other Vice\nConsuls, and at length they found out that the women of that Moslem\nfamily were skillful in making silk and gold embroidery which they sold.\nSo his sister determined to go and order some embroidered work, and see\nthe girl. She talked with the Moslem women, and with their Bedawy\nservant girl, and made errands for the women to bring her specimens of\ntheir work, improving the opportunity to talk with the servant. She saw\nthe scar, and satisfied herself from the striking resemblance of the\ngirl to her mother, that she was the long-lost Zahidy.\n\nThe father now took measures to secure his daughter. The American,\nPrussian, English and French Vice Consuls sent a united demand to the\nTurkish Pasha, that the girl be brought to court to meet her father, and\nthat the case be tried in the Mejlis, or City Council. The Moslems were\nnow greatly excited. They knew that there were not less than twenty\ngirls in their families who had been stolen in this way, and if one\ncould be reclaimed, perhaps the rest might, so they resolved to resist.\nThey brought Bedawin Arabs to be present at the trial, and hired them to\nswear falsely. When the girl was brought in, the father was quite\novercome. He could see the features of his dear child, but she was so\ndisfigured with the Bedawin tattooing and the brutal treatment of the\nMoslems, that his heart sank within him. Yet he examined her, and took\nhis oath that this was his daughter, and demanded that she be given up\nto him. The Bedawin men and women were now brought in. One swore that he\nwas the father of the girl, and a woman swore that she was her mother.\nThen several swore that they were her uncles, but it was proved that\nthey were in no way related to the one who said he was her father. Other\nwitnesses were called, but they contradicted one another. Then they\nasked the girl. Poor thing, she had been so long neglected and abused,\nthat she _had forgotten her father_, and the Moslem women had threatened\nto kill her if she said she was his daughter, so she declared she was\nborn among the Bedawin, and was a Moslem in religion. Money had been\ngiven to certain of the Mejlis, and they finally decided that the girl\nshould go to the Moslem house of Derwish Effendi to await the final\ndecision.\n\nThe poor father now went to the Consuls. They made out a statement of\nthe case and sent it to the Consuls General in Beirut, who sent a joint\ndispatch to the Waly of all Syria, who lives in Damascus, demanding\nthat as the case could not be fairly tried in Tripoli, the girl be\nbrought to Beirut to be examined by a Special Commission. The Waly\ntelegraphed at once to Tripoli, to have the girl sent on by the first\nsteamer to Beirut. The Moslem women now told the girl that orders had\ncome to have her killed, and that she was to be taken on a steamer as if\nto go to Beirut, but that really they were going to throw her into the\nsea, and that if she reached Beirut alive they would cut her up and burn\nher! So the poor child went on the steamer in perfect terror, and she\nreached Beirut in a state of exhaustion. When she was rested, a\nCommission was formed consisting of the Moslem Kadi of Beirut who was\nacting Governor, the political Agent, Delenda Effendi, the Greek\nCatholic Bishop Agabius, the Maronite Priest Yusef, and the agent of the\nGreek Bishop, together with all the members of the Executive Council.\n\nHer father, mother and aunt were now brought in and sat near her. She\nrefused to recognize them, and was in constant fear of being injured.\nThe Kadi then turned to her and said, \"do not fear, my child. You are\namong friends. Do not be afraid of people who have threatened you. No\none shall harm you.\" The Moslem Kadi, the Greek Catholic priests, and\nothers having thus spoken kindly to her, the father and mother stated\nthe history of how the little girl was lost nine years ago, and that she\nhad a scar on her breast. The scar was examined, and all began to feel\nthat she was really their own daughter. The girl began to feel more\ncalm, and the Kadi told her that her own mother wanted to ask her a few\nquestions.\n\nHer mother now went up to her and said, \"My child, don't you remember\nme?\" She said \"no I do not.\" \"Don't you remember that _your name was\nonce Zahidy_, and I used to call you, and you lived in a house with a\nlittle yard, and flowers before the door, and that you went with the\nlittle girls to school, and came home at night, and that one day a man\ncame and offered you sugar plums and led you away and carried you off to\nthe Arabs? Don't you know _me_, my _own daughter_?\" The poor girl\ntrembled; her lips quivered, and she said, \"Yes, I _did_ have another\nname. I _was_ Zahidy. I did go with little girls. Oh, ya imme! My\nmother! you _are_ my mother,\" and she sprang into her arms and wept, and\nthe mother wept and laughed, and the Moslem Kadi and the Mufti, and the\npriests and the Bishops and the Effendis and the great crowd of\nspectators wiped their eyes, and bowed their heads, and there was a\ngreat silence.\n\nAfter a little the Kadi said, \"it is enough. This girl _is_ the daughter\nof Kahlil Ferah. Sir, take your child, and Allah be with you!\"\n\nThe father wiped away the tears and said, \"Your Excellency, you see this\npoor girl all tattooed and disfigured. You see how ignorant and feeble\nshe is. If she were not my child, there is nothing about her to make me\nwish to take her. But she is my own darling child, and with all her\nfaults and infirmities, I love her.\" The whole Council then arose and\ncongratulated the father and mother, and a great crowd accompanied them\nhome. Throngs of people came to see her and congratulate the family, and\nafter a little the girl was sent to a boarding school.\n\nI can hardly think over this story even now without tears, for I think\nhow glad I should have been to get back again a child of mine if it had\nbeen lost. And I have another thought too about that little lost girl.\nIf that father loved his daughter so as to search and seek for her, and\nexpend money, and travel by land and sea for years, in trying to find\nher, and when at length he found her, so forlorn and wretched and\ndegraded, yet loved her still because she was _his daughter_, do you not\nthink that Jesus loves us even more? We were lost and wretched and\nforlorn. A worse being than Bedawin gypsies has put his mark on our\nhearts and our natures. We have wandered far, far away. We have served\nthe world, and forgotten our dear Heavenly Father. We have even refused\nto receive Him when he has come near us. Yet Jesus came to seek and to\nsave us. And when he found us so degraded and sinful and disfigured, He\nloved us still, because we are His own children. Don't you think that\nthe little lost Damascene girl was thankful when she reached her home,\nand was loved and kindly treated by father and mother and relatives and\nfriends? And ought we not to be very thankful when Jesus brings us\nhome, and calls us \"dear children\" and opens the gate of heaven to us?\n\nThis story of the lost Damascene child calls to my mind a little song\nwhich the Maronite women in Lebanon sing to their babies as a lullaby.\nThe story is that a Prince's daughter was stolen by the Bedawin Arabs,\nand carried to their camp. She grew up and was married to a Bedawin\nSheikh and had a little son. One day a party of muleteers came to the\ncamp selling grapes, and she recognized them as from her own village.\nShe did not dare speak to them, so she began to sing a lullaby to her\nbaby, and motioned to the grape-sellers to come near, and when the\nBedawin were not listening, she would sing them her story in the same\ntone as the lullaby.\n\n\nTHE LULLABY.\n\n                 Sleep, baby sleep! a sleep so sweet and mild,\n                 Sleep, my Arab boy, my little Bedawin child!\n_Aside to the  }     Once I was a happy girl,\ngrape-sellers_ }     The Prince Abdullah's daughter.\n                     Playing with the village maids,\n                     Bringing wood and water.\n                     Suddenly the Bedawin\n                     Carried me away;\n                     Clothed me in the Aba robe\n                     And here they make me stay.\n                 Sleep, baby sleep! a sleep so sweet and mild,\n                 Sleep, my Arab boy, my little Bedawin child!\n_Aside_              Ye sellers of grapes hear what I say.\n                     I had dressed in satin rich and gay.\n                     They took my costly robes away,\n                     And dressed me in Aba coarse and grey.\n                     I had lived on viands costly and rare,\n                     And now raw camel's flesh is my fare.\n                 Sleep, baby sleep! a sleep so sweet and mild,\n                 Sleep, my Arab boy, my little Bedawin child!\n_Aside_              Oh seller of grapes, I beg you hear,\n                     Go tell my mother and father dear,\n                     That you have seen me here to-day.\n                     Just by the Church my parents live,\n                     The Bedawin stole me on Thursday eve.\n                     Let the people come and their sister save,\n                     Let them come with warriors bold and brave,\n                     Lest I die of grief and go to my grave.\n\nThe grape-sellers then go home, and the warriors come and rescue her,\nand take her home.\n\nWe will stop here a moment and make a pencil sketch of this Arab camp,\nbut we must be very careful not to let them see us writing. They have a\ngreat fear of the art of writing, a superstitious idea that a person who\nwrites or sketches in their camp, is writing some charm or incantation\nto bring mischief upon them. I once heard of a missionary who went to an\nArab village to spend the night. The people were all Maronites, and\ngrossly ignorant. He pitched his tent and sat down to rest. Presently a\ncrowd of rough young men came in and began to insult him. They demanded\nbakhshish, and handled his bedding and cooking utensils in a very brutal\nmanner, and asked him if he had any weapons. He bethought himself of one\nweapon and began to use it. He took out a pencil and paper, and began to\nmake a sketch of the ringleader. He looked him steadily in the eye, and\nthen wrote rapidly with his pencil. The man began to tremble and slowly\nretreated and finally shouted to his companions, and off they all went.\nShortly after, they sent a man to beg Mr. L. not to cut off their heads!\nTheir priests teach them that the Protestants have the power of working\nmagic, and that they draw a man's portrait and take it with them, and if\nthe man does anything to displease them, they cut off the head of the\npicture and the man's head drops off! Mr. L. sent them word that they\nhad better be very careful how they behaved. They did not molest him\nagain.\n\nHere we are near Tripoli, at the Convent of the _Sacred Fish_. What a\nbeautiful spot! This large high building with its snow-white dome, and\nthe great sycamore tree standing by this circular pool of crystal water,\nmake a beautiful scene. What a crowd of Moslem boys! They have come all\nthe way from Tripoli, about two miles, to feed the Sacred Fish. They are\na gay looking company, with their red, green, blue, yellow, white and\npurple clothes, and their bright red caps and shoes, and some of them\nwith white turbans. They come out on feast days and holidays to play on\nthis green lawn and feed the fish. The old sheikh who keeps this holy\nplace, has great faith in these fish. He says they are all good Moslems,\nand are inhabited by the souls of Moslem saints, and there is one black\nfish, the Sheikh of the saints, who does not often show himself to\nspectators. There are hundreds if not thousands of fish, resembling the\ndace or chubs of America. He says that during the Crimean war, many of\nthe older ones went off under the sea to Sevastopol and fought the\nRussian infidels, and some of them came back wounded. The people think\nthat if any one eats these fish he will die immediately. That I _know_\nto be false, for I have tried it. When the American Consul was here in\n1856, his Moslem Kawasses caught several of the fish, and brought them\nto Mr. Lyons' house. We had them cooked and ate them, but found them\ncoarse and unpalatable. That was sixteen years ago and we have not felt\nthe evil effects yet.\n\nThis poor woman has a sick child, and has come to get the Sheikh to read\nthe Koran over it and cure it. The most of the Syrian doctors are\nignorant quacks, and the people have so many superstitions that they\nprefer going to saints' tombs rather than call a good physician. There\nis a Medical College in Beirut now, and before long Syria will have some\nskilful doctors. I knew an old Egyptian doctor in Duma named Haj\nIbrahim, who was a conceited fellow. He used to bleed for every kind of\ndisease. An old man eighty years of age was dying of consumption, and\nthe Haj opened a vein and let him bleed to death. When the man died, he\nsaid if he had only taken a little more blood, the old man would have\nrecovered. I was surprised by his coming to me one day and asking for\nsome American newspapers. I supposed he wished them to wrap medicines in\nand gave him several New York Tribunes. A few days after he invited us\nto eat figs and grapes in his vineyard and we stopped at his house. He\nsaid he was very thankful for the papers. They had been very useful. I\nwondered what he meant, and asked him. He showed me a jar in the corner\nin which he had dissolved the papers into a pulp in oil and water, and\nhad given the pulp as medicine to the people! He said it was a powerful\nmedicine. He supposed that the English printed letters would have some\nmagic influence on diseases.\n\nOne of the Moslem lads carries a short iron spear as a sign that he is\ngoing to be a derwish. Dr. De Forest once found himself surrounded in a\nMoslem village by a troop of little Moslems, each of them with an\niron-headed spear in his hand. A Moorish Sheikh, or Chief, had been for\nsome two years teaching the Moslems of the place the customs of their\nholy devotees, and in consequence all the boys had become derwishes, or\nMoslem monks. He was a shrewd old Sheikh. He knew that the true way to\nperpetuate his religion was to _teach the children_. He had taught them\nthe Moslem prayers and prostrations, and to keep certain moral precepts.\nHow glad we should be if these boys would come and sit down by us while\nwe talk to them of Jesus! There they come. See how their eyes sparkle,\nas I speak to them. They have never heard about the gospel before. But I\nmust speak in a low tone, as the old Sheikh is coming and he looks down\nupon us as infidel dogs! Perhaps some of them will think of these words\nsome day, and put their trust in our Divine Saviour.\n\nMany of the people seem to think that the missionary's house is like the\nCave of Adullam, where David lived, (1 Sam. xxii:2) when \"every one that\nwas in distress, and every one that was in debt and every one that was\ndiscontented, gathered themselves unto him.\" It makes it very hard to\ndeal with the people, to have so many of them come to us with improper\nmotives. They come and say they love the gospel and want instruction,\nand have endured persecution, when suddenly you find that they want\nmoney, or to be protected from punishment, or to get office, or to get\nmarried to some improper person, or something else that is wrong.\n\nOnce a sheikh from Dunniyeh in Lebanon came to Tripoli, and declared\nhimself a Protestant. He was very zealous, and wanted us to feel that he\nwas too good a man to be turned away, as he was wealthy and of a high\nfamily. He was armed with a small arsenal of weapons. He had a servant\nto carry his gun and pipe, and came day after day to read books, and\ntalk on religion. He said that all he needed was the protection of the\nAmerican Consul, and then he would make his whole village Protestants.\nWe told him we could have nothing to do with politics. If he wanted to\nbecome a Christian, he must take up his cross and follow Christ. He said\nthat was just what he wanted to do, only he wished to benefit the cause\nby bringing others to follow Him. He seemed very earnest, but there was\nsomething dark and mysterious in his ways, and we were afraid of him.\nNow the Arabs have a proverb, \"No tree is cut down but by _one of its\nown limbs_,\" _i.e._ the axe handle, and we thought a native only could\nunderstand a native, so we took the famous convert around to see Yanni.\nHe went into Yanni's office, and Mr. L. and myself sat out in the\ngarden under the orange trees. After a few minutes Yanni called out,\n\"Come in, be preferred, your excellencies! I have found it all out. I\nunderstand the case.\" We went in and climbed up upon the platform, next\nthe desk in the office. The Maronite candidate for the church sat\nsmiling, as if he thought he would now be received at once. Yanni went\non, \"I understand the case exactly. This man is a son of a Sheikh in\nDunniyeh. He is in a deadly quarrel with his father and brothers about\nthe property, and says that if we will give him the protection of the\nAmerican Consulate, he will go home, kill his father and brothers, seize\nall the property, and then come down and join the church, and live in\nTripoli!\" We were astounded, but the brutal fellow turned to us and\nsaid, \"yes, and I will then make all the village Protestants, and if I\nfail, then cut my head off!\" We told him that if he did anything of that\nkind, we would try to get him hung, and the American Consulate would\nhave nothing to do with him. \"Very well,\" said he, \"I have made you a\n_fair offer_, and if you don't accept it, I have nothing more to say.\"\nWe rebuked him sharply, and gave him a sermon which he did not relish,\nfor he said he was in haste, and bade us a most polite good morning. He\nwas what I should call an Adullamite.\n\nA Greek priest in the village of Barbara once took me aside, to a\nretired place behind his house, and told me that he had a profound\nsecret to tell me. He wished to become a Protestant and make the whole\nvillage Protestant, but on one condition, that I would get him a hat, a\ncoat, and pantaloons, put a flag-staff on his house, and have him\nappointed American Consul. I told him the matter of the hat, coat and\npantaloons he could attend to at but slight expense, but I had no right\nto make Consuls and erect flagstaffs. Then he said he could not become\nProtestant.\n\nIn 1866, a man named Yusef Keram rebelled against the Government of\nLebanon and was captured and exiled. The day he was brought into Beirut,\na tall rough looking mountaineer called at my house. He was armed with a\nmusket and sword, besides pistols and dirks. After taking a seat, he\nsaid, \"I wish to become Angliz and American.\" \"What for,\" said I. \"Only\nthat I would be honored with the honorable religion.\" \"Do you know\nanything about it?\" \"Of course not. How should I know?\" \"Don't you know\nbetter than to follow a religion you know nothing about?\" \"But I can\nlearn.\" \"How do you know but what we worship the devil?\" \"No matter.\nWhatever you worship, I will worship.\" I then asked him what he came\nfor. He said he was in the rebel army, was captured, escaped and fought\nagain, and now feared he should be shot, so he wanted to become Angliz\nand American. I told him he need have no fear, as the Pasha had granted\npardon to all. \"Is that so?\" \"Yes, it is.\" On hearing this he said he\nhad business to look after, and bade me good evening.\n\nBut you will be tired of hearing about the Adullamites. If those who\ncame to David were like the discontented and debtors who come to us, he\nmust have been tired too. So many suspicious characters come to us, that\nwe frequently ask men, when they come professing great zeal for the\ngospel, whether they have killed anybody, or stolen, or quarrelled with\nany one? And it is not always easy to find out the truth. If fifty men\nturn Protestants in a village, perhaps five or ten will stand firm, and\nthe rest go back, and frequently all go back.\n\nBut the rain is coming down and we will hasten to the Meena to Uncle\nS.'s house, where we can rest after this wearisome and hasty journey\nfrom Safita. For your sake I am glad that we took comfortable bedding\nand bedsteads with us. It costs a few piastres more to hire a baggage\nanimal, but it is cheaper in the end. At one time I was going on a hard\njourney, and I thought I would be economical, so I took only my horse\nand a few articles in my khurj or saddle bags, with a little boy to show\nme the road and take care of my horse. When I reached the village, I\nstopped at the house of a man said to be a Protestant. He lived in the\nmost abject style, and I soon found by his bad language towards his\nfamily and his neighbors that he needed all the preaching I could give\nhim that evening. There was only one room in the house, and that was\nsmall. By nine o'clock the mother and the children had lain down on a\nmat to sleep, and the neighbors who came in were beginning to doze. I\nwas very weary with a long ride on a hot August day, and asked mine host\nwhere I should lie down to sleep. He led me to a little elevated\nplatform on the back side of the room, where a bed was spread for me.\nThe dim oil lamp showed me that the bed and covering were neither of\nthem clean, but I was too weary to spend much time in examining them,\nand after spreading my linen handkerchief over the pillow, I tried to\nsleep. But this could not be done. Creeping things, great and small,\nwere crawling over me from head to foot. There was a hole in the wall\nnear my head, and the bright moonlight showed what was going on. Fleas,\nbugs, ants, (attracted by the bread in my khurj,) and more horrible\nstill, swarms of lice covered the bed, and my clothing. I could stand it\nno longer. Gathering up my things, and walking carefully across the\nfloor to keep from stepping on the sleeping family, I reached the door.\nBut it was fastened with an Arab lock and a huge wooden key, and could\nonly be opened by a violent shaking and rattling. This, with the\ncreaking of the hinges, woke up my host, who sprung up to see what was\nthe matter. I told him I had decided to journey on by moonlight. It was\nthen one o'clock in the morning, and on I rode, so weary, that when I\nreached Jebaa at ten o'clock, I was obliged to go to bed. I did not\nrecover from the onset of the vermin for weeks.\n\nI have known missionaries to travel without beds, tents or bedsteads,\nand to spend weary days and sleepless nights, so as to be quite unfitted\nfor their great work of preaching to the people. If you ever grow up to\nbecome a missionary, I hope you will live as simply as you can, but be\ncareful of your health and try to live as long as you can, for the sake\nof the people you are working for, and the Lord who sends you forth. It\nis not good economy for a missionary to become a martyr to studying\nArabic, or to poor food, or to exhausting modes of travelling. One can\nkill himself in a short time, if he wishes, on missionary ground, but he\ncould have done that at home without the great expense of coming here to\ndo it, and besides, that is not what a missionary goes out for. He ought\nto live as long as he can. He should have a dry house, in a healthy\nlocation, good food, and proper conveniences for safe travelling.\n\nHow pleasant it is to hear that sweet toned bell! Let us climb up to the\nroof and read the inscription on it. \"From little Sabbath School\nChildren in America to the Mission Church in Tripoli, Syria.\" It was\nsent in 1862 by the children in Fourth Avenue Church, New York, and in\nNewark, Syracuse, Owego, Montrose and other places.\n\nThe Moslems abhor bells. They say bells draw together evil spirits. We\nare not able yet to have a bell in Hums, on account of the Moslem\nopposition. They do not use bells, but have men called Muezzins\nstationed on the little balconies around the top of the tall minarets,\nto call out five times a day to the people to come to prayer. They\nselect men and boys with high clear voices, and at times their voices\nsound very sweetly in the still evening. They say, \"There is no God but\nGod.\" That is true. Then they add, \"and Mohammed is the Apostle of God,\"\nand that is not true. As the great historian Gibbon said; these words\ncontain an \"eternal truth and an eternal lie.\"\n\nThe Moslems are obliged to pray five times every day, wherever they may\nbe. At home, in their shops, in the street, or on a journey, whenever\nthe appointed time arrives, they fall on their knees, and go through\nwith the whole routine of prayers and bodily prostrations. One day\nseveral Moslems called on us in Tripoli, at the eighth hour of the day\n(about 2 o'clock P.M.), and after they had been sitting some\ntime engaged in conversation, one of them arose and said to his\ncompanions, \"I must pray.\". They all asked, \"Why? It is not the hour of\nprayer.\" \"Because,\" said he, \"when I went to the mosque at noon to pray,\nI had an ink-spot on my finger nail, and did not perceive it until after\nI came out, and hence my prayer was of no account. I have just now\nscraped it off, and must repeat my noon prayer.\" So saying, he spread\nhis cloak upon the floor, and then kneeling upon it with his face\ntowards Mecca, commenced his prayers, while his companions amused\nthemselves by talking about his ceremonial strictness. One of them said\nto me, \"He thinks he is holy, but if you could see the _inside_ of him,\nyou would find it black as pitch!\" He kept his head turned to hear what\nwas being said, and after he had finished, disputed a remark one of them\nhad made while he was praying. Such people worship God with their lips,\nwhile their hearts are far from him.\n\nMoslems have a great horror of swine. They think us barbarians to eat\nham or pork. In February, 1866, the Moslems of Beirut were keeping the\nFast of Ramadan. For a whole month of each year they can eat and drink\nnothing between sunrise and sunset, and they become very cross and\nirritable. In Hums, some Moslems saw a dog eating a bone in Ramadan, and\nkilled him because he would not keep the fast. They fast all day, and\nfeast all night. Ramadan is really a great nocturnal feast, but it is\nhard for the working people to wait until night before beginning the\nfeast. During that fast of 1866, a Maronite fellah came into Beirut\ndriving a herd of swine to the market. Now of all sights in the world,\nthe sight of swine is to an orthodox Moslem the most intolerable, and\nespecially in the holy month of Ramadan. Even in ordinary times, when\nswine enter the city, the Moslems gather up their robes, turn their\nbacks and shout, \"hub hub,\" \"hub hub,\" and if the hogs do not hasten\nalong, the \"hub hub,\" is very apt to become a hubbub. On the 28th of\nthat holy month, a large herd entered Beirut on the Damascus road. The\nMoslems saw them, and forthwith a crowd of Moslem young men and boys\nhastened to the fray. A few days before, the Maronite Yusef Keram had\nentered the city amid the rejoicings of the Maronites. These swine, whom\nthe Moslems called \"Christian Khanzir,\" should meet a different\nreception. Their wrath overcame their prejudice. The Maronite\nswine-drivers were dispersed and the whole herd were driven on the run\nup the Assur with shouts of derision, and pelted with stones and clubs.\n\"You khanzir, you Maronite, you Keram, out with you!\" and the air rang\nwith shouts mingled with squeals and grunts. I saw the crowd coming. It\ngathered strength as it approached Bab Yakoob, where the white turbaned\nfaithful rose from their shops and stables to join in the persecution of\nthe stampeding porkers. \"May Allah cut off their days! Curses on their\ngrandfather's beard! Curses on the father of their owner! Hub hub! Allah\ndeliver us from their contamination!\" were the cries of the crowd as\nthey rushed along. The little boys were laughing and having a good time,\nand the men were breathing out wrath and tobacco smoke. Alas, for the\npoor swine! What became of them I could not tell, but the last I saw,\nwas the infuriated crowd driving them into the Khan of Muhayeddin near\nby, where one knows not what may have happened to them. I hope they did\nnot steal the pork and eat it \"on the sly,\" as the Bedawin did at Mt.\nSinai, who threw away the hams the travellers were carrying for\nprovisions, and declared that their camels should not be defiled with\nthe unclean beast! The travellers were _very_ indignant at such a loss,\nbut thought it was too bad to injure the feelings of the devout Moslems,\nand said no more. What was their horror and wrath to hear the next night\nthat the Bedawin were seen cooking and eating their hams at midnight,\nwhen they thought no one would see them!\n\nDo the Syrian people all smoke? Almost all of them. They speak of it as\n\"drinking a pipe, drinking a cigar,\" and you would think that they look\nupon tobacco as being as necessary to them as water. Old and young men,\nwomen and even children smoke, smoke while they work or rest, while at\nhome or journeying, and measure distances by their pipes. I was\ntravelling, and asked a man how far it was to the next village. He said\nabout two pipes of tobacco distant! I found it to be nearly an hour, or\nthree miles. The Orientals spend so much time in smoking, that some one\nhas said \"the Moslems came into power with the Koran in one hand, and\nthe sword in the other, but will go out with the Koran in one hand and\nthe pipe in the other!\"\n\nHere we are on the sandy beach. What myriads of sea shells, and what\nbeautiful colors they have. And here are sponges without number, but\nthey are worthless. There on the sea are the little sloops of the sponge\nfishers. They are there through the whole summer and the fishers dive\ndown into the sea where the water is from 100 to 200 feet deep, and walk\naround on the bottom holding their breath, and when they can bear it no\nlonger pull the cord which is tied around the waist, and then their\ncompanions draw them up. They do not live long, as it is very hard and\nunnatural labor. Sometimes they are killed by sharks or other sea\nmonsters. One of them told me that he was once on the bottom, and just\nabout to pick up a beautiful white sponge, when he saw a great monster\nwith huge claws and arms and enormous eyes coming towards him, and he\nbarely escaped being devoured. At another time, the men in the boat felt\na sudden jerk on the rope and pulled in, when they found only the man's\nhead, arms and chest on it, the rest of his body having been devoured by\nsome great fish or sea animal. The sponges grow on rocks, pebbles or\nshells, and some of them are of great value. It is difficult to get the\nbest ones here, as the company who hire the divers export all the good\nones to Europe.\n\n\n\n\nPART V.\n\n\nWord has come that there is cholera in Odessa, so that all the Russian\nsteamers going to Beirut will be in quarantine. It will not be pleasant\nto spend a week in the Beirut quarantine, so we will keep our baggage\nanimals and go down by land. It is two long days of nine hours each, and\nyou will be weary enough. Bidding good-bye to our dear friends here and\nwishing them God's blessing in their difficult work among such people,\naway we go! Yanni and Uncle S. and some of the teachers will accompany\nus a little way, according to the Eastern custom, and then we dismount\nand kiss them all on both cheeks, and pursue our monotonous way along\nthe coast, sometimes riding over rocky capes and promontories and then\non the sand and pebbles close to the roaring surf.\n\nSee how many monasteries there are on the sides of Lebanon! Between\nTripoli and Beirut there are about a hundred. The men who live in them\nare called monks, who make a vow never to marry, and spend their lives\neating and drinking the fruits of other men's labors. They own almost\nall the valuable land in this range of mountains for fifty miles, and\nthe fellaheen live as \"tenants at will\" on their estates. When a man is\nlazy or unfortunate, if he is not married, his first thought is to\nbecome a monk. They are the most corrupt and worthless vagabonds in the\nland, and the day must come before long, when the monasteries and\nconvents will be abolished and their property be given back to the\npeople to whom it justly belongs.\n\nWe are now riding along by the telegraph wires. It seems strange to see\nMorse's telegraph on this old Phenician coast, and it will seem stranger\nstill when we reach Beirut, to receive a daily morning paper printed in\nArabic, with telegrams from all parts of the world!\n\nIn July, a woman came to the telegraph office in Beirut, asking, \"Where\nis the telegraph?\" The Clerk, Yusef Effendi, asked her, \"Whom do you\nwant, the Director, the Operator, or the Kawass?\" She said, \"I want\nTelegraph himself, for my husband has sent me word that he is in prison\nin Zahleh and wants me to come with haste, and I heard that Telegraph\ntakes people quicker than any one else. Please tell me the fare, and\nsend me as soon as possible!\" The Effendi looked at her, and took her\nmeasure, and then said, \"You are too tall to go by telegraph, so you\nwill have to go on a mule.\" The poor ignorant woman went away greatly\ndisappointed.\n\nAnother old woman, whose son was drafted into the Turkish army, wished\nto send him a pair of new shoes, so she hung them on the telegraph wire.\nA way-worn foot traveller coming along soon after took down the new\nshoes and put them on, and hung his old ones in their place. The next\nday the old lady returned and finding the old shoes, said, \"Mashallah,\nMohammed has received his new shoes and sent back his old ones to be\nrepaired.\"\n\nThe telegraph has taught all the world useful lessons, and the Syrians\nhave learned one lesson from it which is of great value. When they write\nletters they use long titles, and flowery salutations, so that a whole\npage will be taken up with these empty formalities, leaving only a few\nlines at the end, or in a postscript, for the important business. But\nwhen they send a telegram and have to pay for every word, they leave out\nthe flowery salutations and send only what is necessary.\n\nThe following is a very common way of beginning an Arabic letter:\n\n\"To the presence of the affectionate and the most distinguished, the\nhonorable and most ingenuous Khowadja, the honored, may his continuance\nbe prolonged!\"\n\n\"After presenting the precious pearls of affection, the aromatic\nblossoms of love, and the increase of excessive longing, after the\nintimate presence of the light of your rising in prosperity, we would\nsay that in a most blessed and propitious hour your precious letter\nhonored us,\" etc.\n\nThat would cost too much to be sent by telegraph. Precious pearls and\naromatic blossoms would become expensive luxuries at two cents a word.\nSo they have to be reserved for letters, if any one has time to write\nthem.\n\nHere we come to the famous Dog River. You will read in books about this\nriver and its old inscriptions. If you have not forgotten your Latin,\nyou can read a lesson in Latin which was written here nearly two\nthousand years ago. There you can see the words.\n\n       Imp. Caes. M. Aurelius\n   Antoninus Pius Felix Augustus\n  Par. Max. Brit. Max. Germ. Maximus\n          Pontifex Maximus\n         Montibus Imminentibus\n             etc. etc.\n\nThis Emperor Marcus Aurelius, must have cut this road through the rocks\nabout the year 173 A.D. But there is another inscription higher up, with\narrow-headed characters and several other tablets. They are Assyrian and\nEgyptian. One of the Assyrian tablets was cut by Sennacherib 2500 years\nago, and one of the Egyptian by Sesostris, king of Egypt, 3100 years\nago. Don't you feel very young and small in looking at such ancient\nmonuments? All of those men brought their armies here, and found the\npath so bad along the high precipice overhanging the sea, that they cut\na road for their horses and chariots in the solid limestone rock. Just\nthink of standing where Sennacherib and Alexander the Great passed\nalong with their armies!\n\nWhat a steep and narrow road! We will dismount and walk over this\ndangerous pass. It is not pleasant to meet camels and loaded mules on\nsuch a dizzy precipice, with the high cliff above, and the roaring waves\nof the sea far below! It is well we dismounted. Our horses are afraid of\nthose camels carrying long timbers balanced on their backs. Let us turn\naside and wait until they pass.\n\nSeeing these camels reminds me of what I saw here in 1857. I was coming\ndown the coast from Tripoli and reached the top of this pass, in the\nnarrowest part, just as a caravan of camels were coming from the\nopposite direction. I turned back a little, and stood close under the\nedge of the cliff to let the camels go by. They were loaded with huge\ncanvas sacks of tibn, or cut straw, which hung down on both sides,\nmaking it impossible to pass them without stooping very low. Just then I\nheard a voice behind me, and looking around, saw a shepherd coming up\nthe pass with his flock of sheep. He was walking ahead, and they all\nfollowed on. I called to him to go back, as the camels were coming over\nthe pass. He said, \"Ma ahlaik,\" or \"don't trouble yourself,\" and on he\ncame. When he met the camels, they were in the narrowest part, where a\nlow stone wall runs along the edge of the precipice. He stooped down and\nstepped upon the narrow wall, calling all the time to his sheep, who\nfollowed close upon his heels, walking in single file. He said \"tahl,\ntahl,\" \"come, come,\" and then made a shrill whirring call, which could\nbe heard above the roaring of the waves on the rocks below. It was\nwonderful to see how closely they followed the shepherd. They did not\nseem to notice the camels on the one side, or the abyss on the other\nside. Had they left the narrow track, they would either have been\ntrodden down by the heavily laden camels, or have fallen off into the\ndark waters below. But they were intent on following their shepherd.\nThey heard his voice, and that was enough. The cameleers were shouting\nand screaming to their camels to keep them from slipping on these smooth\nrocks, but the sheep paid no attention to them. They knew the shepherd's\nvoice. They had followed him before, through rivers and thickets, among\nrocks and sands, and he had always led them safely. The waves were\ndashing and roaring on the rocks below, but they did not fear, for the\nshepherd was going on before. Had one of those sheep turned aside, he\nwould have lost his footing and been destroyed and thrown the whole\nflock into confusion.\n\nYou know why I have told you this story. You know that Jesus is the Good\nShepherd. He said, \"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them and they\nfollow me.\" Wherever Jesus leads it is safe for us to go. How many boys\nand girls there are who think they know a better path than the one Jesus\ncalls them to follow. There are \"stranger\" voices calling on every side,\nand many a child leaves the path of the Good Shepherd, and turns aside\nto hear what they would say. If they were truly lambs of Jesus' fold,\nthey would love Him, and follow Him in calm and storm, and never heed\nthe voice of strangers.\n\nI was once travelling from Duma to Akura, high up on the range of\nLebanon. It was a hot summer's day, and at noon I stopped to rest by a\nfountain. The waste water of the fountain ran into a square stone birkeh\nor pool, and around the pool were several shepherds resting with their\nflocks of sheep and goats. The shepherds came and talked with me, and\nsat smoking for nearly an hour, when suddenly one of them arose and\nwalked away calling to his flock to follow him. The flocks were all\nmixed together, but when he called, his sheep and goats began to raise\ntheir heads and start along together behind him. He kept walking along\nand calling, until all his flock had gone. The rest of the sheep and\ngoats remained quietly as though nothing had happened. Then another\n\"Rai,\" or shepherd, started up in another direction, calling out in a\nshrill voice, and _his sheep_ followed him. They knew their shepherd's\nvoice. Our muleteers were talking all the time, but the sheep paid no\nattention to them. They knew one voice, and would follow no other.\n\nWe will now hasten on to Beirut. You will wish to see the Female\nSeminary, and the Sabbath School and the Steam Printing Press, and many\nof the Beirut Schools, before we start to Abeih again.\n\nHere is the Female Seminary. There are a hundred girls here, studying\nArabic reading and writing geography, arithmetic, grammar, botany,\nphysiology and astronomy, and a few study English, French and music. But\nthe great study is the _Bible_. I am afraid that very few schools in\nAmerica have as much instruction in the Bible, as the girls in this\nSeminary and the Sidon Seminary receive. You would be surprised to hear\nthe girls recite correctly the names of all the patriarchs; kings and\nprophets of the Old Testament, with the year when they lived, and the\ndate of all the important events of the Old and New Testament History,\nand the Life of Christ, and the travels of the Apostle Paul, and the\nprophecies about Christ in the Old Testament, and then recite the whole\nWestminster Assembly's Catechism in Arabic! I have given out _one\nhundred and twenty_ Bibles and Hymn Books as rewards to children in the\nschools in Beirut, who have learned the Shorter Catechism perfectly in\nArabic.\n\nFive years ago there was a girl in the school who was once very rude and\nself-willed, and very hard to control. She had a poor bed-ridden brother\nwho had been a cripple for years, and was a great care to the family.\nThey used to carry him out in the garden in fine weather and lay him on\na seat under the trees, and sometimes his sister would come home from\nthe school and read to him from the Bible, to which he listened with\ngreat delight. Not long after this he died, and his sister was sent for\nto come home to the funeral. On reaching home she found a large crowd of\nwomen assembled from all that quarter of the city, shrieking and wailing\nover his death, according to the Oriental custom. When A. the little\ngirl came in, one of the women from an aristocratic Greek family was\ntalking in a loud voice and saying that it was wrong for any person to\ngo from the house of mourning to another house before first going home,\nbecause one going from a house of mourning would carry an _evil\ninfluence_ with her. A. listened and then spoke out boldly before the\nseventy women, \"How long will you hold on to these foolish\nsuperstitions? Beirut is a place of light and civilization. Where can\nyou find any such teaching as this in the gospel? It is time for us to\ngive up such superstitions.\" The old woman asked, \"Where did that girl\nlearn these things? Truly she is right. These things _are_\nsuperstitions, but they will not die until _we old women die_.\" It\nrequired a great deal of courage in A. to speak out so boldly, when her\nown brother had died, but all felt that she spoke the truth, and no one\nrebuked her.\n\nNear by the house of A. is another beautiful house surrounded by\ngardens, and ornamented in the most expensive manner. A little girl from\nthis family was attending the school in 1867. Her name was Fereedy. She\nwas a boarder and the best behaved girl in the school. One day during\nvacation, her mother came to Rufka and said, \"What have you done to my\nlittle daughter Fereedy? She came home last Saturday with her sister,\nand at once took the whole care of the little children, so that I had no\ntrouble with them. And when night came she put her little sisters to bed\nand prayed with them all, and then in the morning she prayed with them\nagain. I never saw such a child. She is like a little angel.\" The mother\nis of the Greek sect, and the little girl was only twelve years old.\n\nAnd here is a story about another of the superstitions of the fellaheen,\nand what a little girl taught the people about them. This little girl\nnamed L. went with her father to spend the summer in a mountain village,\nwhere the people had a strange superstition about an oak tree. One day\nshe went out to walk and came to the great oak tree which stood alone on\nthe mountain side. You know that the Canaanites used to have idols under\nthe green trees in ancient times. When L. reached the tree, she found\nthe ground covered with dead branches which had fallen from the tree.\nNow, wood is very scarce and costly in Syria, and the people are very\npoor, so that she wondered to see the wood left to rot on the ground,\nand asked the people why they did not use it for fuel. They said they\ndared not, as the tree belonged to Moses the Prophet, and he protected\nthe tree, and if any one took the wood, they would _fall dead_. She\nsaid, \"Moses is in heaven, and does not live in oak trees, and if he\ndid, he is a good man, and would not hurt me for burning up old dry\nsticks.\" So she asked them if she might have the wood? They said, \"yes,\nif you _dare_ to take it, for we are afraid to touch it.\" So she went to\nthe tree and gathered up as much as she could carry, and took it home.\nThe people screamed when they saw her, and told her to drop it or it\nwould kill her, but on she went, and afterwards went back and brought\nthe rest. She then talked with the ignorant women, and her father told\nthem about the folly of their superstitions, and read to them in the\nBible about Moses, and they listened with great attention. I have often\nthought I should like to go to that village, and see whether the people\nnow leave the dead branches under Moses' oak, or use them for fuel\nduring the heavy snow storms of winter.\n\n\n\n\nPART VI.\n\n\nHere we are, home again at Abeih. Here are Asaad and Khalil, and several\nothers. I asked Khalil one day to write out for me a list of all the\ngames the boys play in Abeih, and he brought me a list of _twenty-eight_\ndifferent ones, and said there were many more.\n\nI. The first is called Khatim or the Ring. A boy puts a ring on the back\nof his hand, tosses it and catches it on the back of his fingers. If it\nfalls on the middle finger, he shakes it to the forefinger, and then he\nis Sultan, and appoints a Vizier, whom he commands to beat the other\nboys. Then the boys all sing,\n\n    Ding, dong, turn the wheel,\n    Wind the purple thread:\n    Spin the white and spin the red,\n    Wind it on the reel:\n    Silk and linen as well as you can,\n    Weave a robe for the Great Sultan.\n\nII. Killeh. Like the game of shooting marbles.\n\nIII. Owal Howa. The same as leap frog.\n\nIV. Biz Zowaia. Cat in the corner.\n\nV. Taia ya Taia. All the boys stand in a row, and one in front facing\nthem, who calls out Taia ya Taia. They all then run after him and hit\nhim. He then hops on one foot as if lame, and catches one of them, who\ntakes his place.\n\nVI. El Manya. Hig tig.\n\nVII. Bil Kobbeh. A circle of boys stand with their heads bowed. Another\ncircle stand outside, and on a given signal try to mount on the backs of\nthe inner circle of boys. If they succeed they remain standing in this\nway; if not, the boy who failed must take the inside place.\n\nVIII. Ghummaida. Blind-man's-buff.\n\nIX. Tabeh. Base ball and drop ball.\n\nX. Kurd Murboot or Tied Monkey. A rope is tied to a peg in the ground,\nand one boy holds it fast. The others tie knots in their handkerchiefs\nand beat him. If he catches them without letting go his hold on the\nrope, they take his place.\n\nXI. Shooha or Hawk. Make a swing on the limb of a tree. A boy leans on\nthe swing and runs around among the boys, until he catches one to take\nhis place.\n\nXII. Joora. Shooting marbles into a joora or hole in the ground.\n\nXIII. Khubby Mukhzinak. \"Pebble pebble.\" One boy goes around and hides a\npebble in the hand of one of the circle and asks \"pebble, pebble, who's\ngot the pebble.\" This is like \"Button, button.\"\n\nThen there are other games like chequers and \"Morris,\" chess, and games\nwhich are used in gambling, which you will not care to hear about.\n\nSometimes when playing, they sing a song which I have translated:\n\n    I found a black crow,\n    With a cake in his maw,\n    I asked him to feed me,\n    He cried caw, caw.\n\n    A chicken I found\n    With a loaf of bread--\n    I asked him to feed me.\n    He cried, enough said.\n\n    And an eagle black\n    With a beam on his back\n    Said from Egypt I come\n    And he cried clack, clack.\n\nSo you see the Arab boys are as fond of plays and songs as American\nboys. They have scores of songs about gazelles, and pearls, and Sultans,\nand Bedawin, and Ghouls, and the \"Ghuz,\" and the Evil Eye, and Arab\nmares and Pashas.\n\nA few days ago a Druze, named Sheikh Ali, called upon me and recited to\nme a strange song, which reminded me of the story of \"Who killed Cock\nRobin,\" and \"The House that Jack built.\" In some of the Arab villages\nwhere fleas abound, the people go at times to the tennur or oven, (which\nis like a great earthen jar sunken in the ground,) to shake off the\nfleas into the fire. The story which I have translated goes thus: A\nbrilliant bug and a noble flea once went to the oven to shake off the\nignoble fleas from their garments into the fire. But alas, alas, the\nnoble flea lost his footing, fell into the fire and was consumed. Then\nthe brilliant bug began to weep and mourn, saying,\n\n            Alas! Ah me!\n            The Noble Flea!\n    While he was thus weeping,\n    And his sad watch keeping,\n    A glossy raven overhead,\n    Flew swiftly down and gently said,\n    Oh my friend, oh brilliant bug,\n    Why are you weeping on the rug?\n    The bug replied, O glossy raven,\n    With your head all shorn and shaven,\n    I am now weeping,\n    And sad watch keeping,\n            Over, Ah me!\n            The Noble Flea.\n      The raven he,\n    Wept over the flea,\n    And flew to a green palm tree--\n    And in grief, _dropped a feather_,\n    Like snow in winter weather.\n    The palm tree said my glossy raven,\n    Why do you look so craven,\n    Why did you drop a feather,\n    Like snow in winter weather?\n    The raven said,\n    The flea is dead!\n    I saw the brilliant bug weeping\n    And his sad watch keeping,\n            Alas, Alas, Ah me!\n            Over the Noble Flea.\n    Then the green Palm tree,\n    Wept over the noble flea.\n    Said he, The flea is dead!\n    And _all his branches shed_!\n    The Shaggy Wolf he strayed,\n    To rest in the Palm tree's shade\n    He saw the branches broken,\n    Of deepest grief the token,\n    And said, Oh Palm tree green,\n    What sorrow have you seen?\n    What noble one is dead,\n    That you your branches shed?\n    He said, O Wolf so shaggy,\n    Living in rocks so craggy,\n    I saw the glossy raven,\n    Looking forlorn and craven,\n    Dropping down a feather,\n    Like snow in winter weather.\n    He saw the brilliant bug weeping\n    And his sad watch keeping,\n            Alas, Alas, Ah me!\n            Over the Noble Flea!\n    Then the Wolf in despair\n    _Shed his shaggy hair_.\n    Then the River clear and shining,\n    Saw the wolf in sorrow pining,\n    Asked him why in sad despair,\n    He had shed his shaggy hair?\n    Said the Wolf, Oh River shining,\n    I in sorrow deep am pining,\n    For the Palm tree I have seen,\n    Shedding all his branches green,\n    And he saw the glossy raven,\n    Looking so forlorn and craven,\n    As he dropped a downy feather,\n    Like the snow in winter weather.\n    He saw the brilliant bug weeping,\n    And his sad watch keeping,\n            Alas, Alas, Ah me,\n            Over the Noble Flea!\n    Sadly then the shining River,\n    _Dried its waters up forever_.\n    Then the Shepherd with his sheep\n    Asked the River once so deep,\n    What great grief, oh shining river,\n    Dried your waters up forever?\n    Said the River once so shining,\n    I in sorrow deep am pining,\n    Since I saw the wolf's despair,\n    When he shed his shaggy hair,\n    For the Palm tree he had seen,\n    Shedding all his branches green,\n    And he saw the glossy raven,\n    Looking so forlorn and craven,\n    As he dropped a downy feather,\n    Like the snow in winter weather,\n    He saw the brilliant bug weeping,\n    And his sad watch keeping.\n            Alas, Alas, Ah me!\n            Over the Noble Flea!\n    Then the Shepherd in sorrow deep,\n    _Tore the horns from all his sheep_,\n    Sadly bound them on his head,\n    Since he heard the flea was dead.\n    Then the Shepherd's mother dear,\n    Asked him why in desert drear,\n    He had torn in sorrow deep,\n    All the horns from all his sheep,\n    Sadly bound them on his head,\n    Just as though a friend was dead?\n    Said he, 'tis because the River,\n    Dried his waters up forever,\n    Since he saw the Wolf's despair,\n    When he shed his shaggy hair.\n    For the Palm tree he had seen,\n    Shedding all his branches green,\n    For he saw the glossy raven,\n    Looking so forlorn and craven,\n    As he dropped a downy feather,\n    Like the snow in winter weather.\n    He saw the brilliant bug weeping,\n    And his sad watch keeping,\n    Alas, Alas, Ah me!\n            Over the Noble Flea!\n    Mother sad began to cry,\n    Thrust her needle in her eye;\n    Could no longer see her thread,\n    Since she heard the flea was dead.\n    Then the Father grave and bland,\n    Hearing this, _cut off his hand_;\n    And the daughter, when she hears,\n    In despair, _cuts off her ears_;\n    And through the town deep grief is spread,\n    Because they heard the flea was dead.\n\n\nTHE NURSERY RHYMES OF THE ARABS.\n\nWho is that singing in such a sweet plaintive voice in the room beneath\nour porch? It is the Sit Leila, wife of Sheikh Abbas, saying a lullaby\nto her little baby boy, Sheikh Fereed. We will sit on the porch in this\nbright moonlight, and listen while she sings:\n\n    Whoever loves you not,\n    My little baby boy;\n    May she be driven from her house,\n    And never know a joy!\n    May the \"Ghuz\" eat up her husband,\n    And the mouse her oil destroy!\n\nThis is not very sweet language for a gentle lady to use to a little\ninfant boy, but the Druze and Moslem women use this kind of imprecation\nin many of their nursery songs. Katrina says that many of the Greek and\nMaronite women sing them too. This young woman Laia, who sits here, has\nrepeated for me not less than a hundred and twenty of these nursery\nrhymes, songs for weddings, funeral wails, etc. Some of the imprecations\nare dreadful.\n\nThey seem to think that the best way to show their love to their babies,\nis to hate those who do not love them.\n\nIm Faris says she has heard this one in Hasbeiya, her birthplace:\n\n        O sleep to God, my child, my eyes,\n        Your heart no ill shall know;\n        Who loves you not as much as I,\n        May God her house o'erthrow!\n    May the mosque and the minaret, dome and all,\n    On her wicked head in anger fall!\n    May the Arabs rob her threshing floor,\n    And not one kernel remain in her store.\n\nThe servant girl Nideh, who attends the Sit Leila, thinks that her turn\nhas come, and she is singing,\n\n    We've the white and the red in our baby's cheeks,\n    In pounds and tons to spare;\n    But the black and the rust,\n    And the mould and the must,\n    For our neighbor's children are!\n\nI hope she does not refer to _us_ for we are her nearest neighbors. But\nin reality I do not suppose that they actually mean what they sing in\nthese Ishmaelitic songs. Perhaps they do when they are angry, but they\nprobably sing them ordinarily without thinking of their meaning at all.\n\nSometimes snakes come down from the ceilings of these earth-roofed\nhouses, and terrify the people. At other times government horsemen come\nand drag them off to prison, as they did in Safita. These things are\nreferred to in this next song which Nideh is singing:\n\n    If she love you not, my boy,\n    May the Lord her life destroy!\n    Seven mules tread her down,\n    Drag her body through the town!\n    Snakes that from the ceiling hang,\n    Sting her dead with poison fang!\n    Soldiers from Damascus city,\n    Drag her off and shew no pity!\n    Nor release her for a day,\n    Though a thousand pounds she pay!\n\nThat is about enough of imprecations, and it will be pleasanter to\nlisten to Katrina, for she will sing us some of the sweetest of the\nSyrian Nursery Songs.\n\n    Sleep, my moon, my baby sleep!\n    The Pleiades bright their watches keep.\n    The Libra shines so fair and clear,\n    The stars are shining, hush my dear!\n\nThere is not much music in the tunes they sing to these words. The airs\ngenerally are plaintive and monotonous, and have a sad and weary sound.\n\nHere is another:\n\n    My boy, my moon, I bid you good morrow!\n    Who wishes you peace shall know no sorrow!\n    Whom you salute, his earth is like heaven,\n    His care relieved, his sin forgiven!\n\nShe says that last line is extravagant, and I think as much. The next\none is a Moslem lullaby.\n\n    O Lord of the heavens, Knowing and Wise,\n    Preserve my Ali, the light of my eyes!\n    Lord of high heaven, Compassionate!\n    Keep my dear boy in every state!\n\nThis one is used by the women of all the sects, but in all of the songs\nthe name is changed to suit the name of the baby to whom the mother is\nsinging,\n\n    Ali, your eyes are sleeping,\n    But God's eyes never sleep:\n    Their hours of lonely weeping\n    None can forever keep.\n    How sweet is the night of health,\n    When Ali sleeps in peace!\n    Oh may such nights continue,\n    Nor ever, ever cease!\n\nAmong all the scores of nursery songs, I have heard only a very few\naddressed to _girls_, but some of these are beautiful. Hear Katrina sing\nthis one:\n\n    Lulu dear the house is bright,\n    With your forehead's sunny light;\n    Men your father honor now\n    When they see your lovely brow.\n    If father comes home sad and weary,\n    Sight of you will make him cheery.\n\nThe \"fuller's soap\" mentioned in Malachi 3:2, is the plant called in\nArabic \"Ashnan or Shenan,\" and the Arabs sometimes use it in the place\nof soap. The following is another song addressed to a baby girl:\n\n    Come Cameleer, as quick as you can,\n    And make us soap from the green \"Shenan,\"\n    To bathe our Lulu dear;\n    We'll wash her and dress her,\n    And then we'll caress her,\n    She'll sleep in her little sereer. (cradle)\n\nThis song is sung by the Druze women to their baby girls:\n\n    Your eye is jet black, and dark are its lashes,\n    Between the arched brows, like a crescent it flashes;\n    When painted with \"kohl\" 'tis brighter by far,\n    Than the full-orbed moon or the morning star.\n\nThe following is supposed to be addressed by a Druze woman to her\nneighbor who has a daughter of marriageable age, when she is obliged to\nveil her face:\n\n    Hide your daughter, veil her face,\n    Neighbor, do not tarry:\n    For my Hanna is of age,\n    Says he wants to marry.\n    When I asked about his choice,\n    Said he was not needy:\n    But that if he ever wed,\n    He thought he'd like Fereedy.\n\nThe next one is also Druze and purely Oriental:\n\n    Two healths, one health,\n    Four healths more:\n    Four sacks of sesame seed,\n    Scattered on the floor;\n    Pick and count them one by one.\n    Reckon up their number;\n    For every seed wish Hassan's health.\n    Sweetly may he slumber!\n\nThe Druze women delight in nothing so much as to have their sons ride\nfine horses:\n\n    My Yusef, my cup of sherbet sweet,\n    My broadcloth red hung over the street,\n    When you ride the blood mare with sword and pistol,\n    Your saddle is gold and your stirrups crystal.\n\nKatrina says that this little song is the morning salutation to baby\nboys:\n\n      Good morning now to you, Little boy!\n      Your face is like the dew, Little boy!\n    There never was a child, so merry and so mild,\n      So good morning once again, Little boy!\n\nThis song is sung by the Druze women to their babes:\n\n    O Sparrow of Paradise,\n    Hush him to sleep?\n    Your feathers are \"henna.\"\n    Watch him and keep!\n    Bring sleep soft and sweet\n    Upon your white wings!\n    For Hassan the pet\n    And his mother who sings!\n\nThe apples of Damascus are noted throughout Syria, though we should\nregard them as very poor fruit:\n\n    What's he like? If any ask us,\n    Flowers and apples of Damascus;\n    Apples fragrant on the tray,\n    Roses sweet with scent of May.\n\nLaia says that the next one is sung by the Druze women to their baby\nboys:\n\n        I love you, I prize you, and for you I wish,\n        A hundred oak trees in the valley;\n        A hundred blood mares all tied in the court,\n        And ready for foray or sally.\n    Mount your horse, fly away, with your scarf flowing free,\n    The chiefs of the tribe will assemble;\n    Damascus, Aleppo, and Ghutah beside,\n    At the sound of your coming will tremble.\n\nNejmeh says that the Bedawin women who come to Safita, her native place,\noften sing the following song:\n\n    Come little Bedawy, sit on my lap,\n    Pretty pearls shine in your little white cap,\n    Rings are in your ears,\n    Rings are in your nose,\n    Rings upon your fingers,\n    And \"henna\" on your toes.\n\nThey use the \"henna\" to dye their hands, feet and finger nails, when a\nwedding or festive occasion occurs in the family.\n\nKatrina recalls another little song which she used to sing to Harry:\n\n    Welcome now, my baby dear,\n    Whence did you come?\n    Your voice is sweet,\n    What little feet!\n    Make yourself at home!\n\nNideh, the Druze girl down stairs is ready with another song. She is\nrocking little Sheikh Fereed in his cradle, and says:\n\n    In your cradle sleep my boy,\n    Rest from all your labor;\n    May El Hakim, heaven's God,\n    Ever be your neighbor!\n\nIt makes me feel sad to hear a poor woman praying to a man. This El\nHakim was a man, and a bad man too, who lived many hundred years ago,\nand now the Druzes regard him as their God. But what difference is there\nbetween worshipping Hakim as the Druzes do, and worshipping Mary and\nJoseph as the Greeks and Maronites do. Laia says the Maronites down in\nthe lower part of this village sing the following song:\n\n    Hillu, Hillu, Hallelujah!\n    Come my wild gazelles!\n    He who into trouble falls\n    On the Virgin Mother calls;\n    To Damascus she's departing,\n    All the mountain monks are starting.\n    Come my priest and come my deacon,\n    Bring the censer and the beacon,\n    We will celebrate the Mass,\n    In the Church of Mar Elias;\n    Mar Elias, my neighbor dear,\n    You must be deaf if you did not hear.\n\nSit Leila sings:\n\n    I love you my boy, and this is the proof,\n    I wish that you had all the wealth of the \"Shoof,\"\n    Hundreds of costly silken bales,\n    Hundreds of ships with lofty sails.\n    Hundreds of towns to obey your word,\n    And thousands of thousands to call you lord!\n\nKatrina is ready to sing again:\n\n    I will sing to you,\n    God will bring to you,\n    All you need, my dear:\n    He's here and there,\n    He is everywhere,\n    And to you He's ever near.\n\nPeople say that every baby that is born into the world is thought by its\nmother to be better than any other ever born. The Arab women think so\ntoo, and this is the way they sing it:\n\n    One like you was never born,\n    One like you was never brought;\n    All the Arabs might grow old,\n    Fighting ne'er so brave and bold,\n    Yet with all their battles fought\n    One like you they never caught.\n\nIm Faris asks if we would not like to hear some of the rhymes the Arab\nwomen sing when playing with their children. Here are some of them. The\nfirst one you will think is like what you have already seen in \"Mother\nGoose.\"\n\n    Blacksmith, blacksmith, shoe the mare,\n    Shoe the colt with greatest care;\n    Hold the shoe and drive the nail,\n    Else your labor all will fail;\n    Shoe a donkey for Seleem,\n    And a colt for Ibraheem.\n\nSugar cane grows luxuriantly in Syria, and it was first taken from\nTripoli, Syria, to Spain, and thence to the West Indies and America. But\nall they do with it now in Syria, is to suck it. It is cut up in pieces\nand sold to the people, old and young, who peel it and suck it. So the\nArab women sing to their children:\n\n    Pluck it and suck it, the green sugar cane,\n    Whatever is sweet is costly and vain;\n    He'll cut you a joint as long as a span,\n    And charge two piastres. Now buy if you can!\n\nWered says she will sing us two or three which they use in teaching the\nlittle Arab babies to \"pat\" their hands:\n\n    Patty cake, baby! Make him dance!\n    May his age increase and his years advance!\n    May his life like the rock, long years endure,\n    Overgrown with lilies, so sweet and pure!\n\nAnd now the Sit Leila is singing again one of the Druze lullabys:\n\n    Tish for two, Tish for two!\n    A linen shirt with a border blue!\n    With cloth that the little pedler sells,\n    For the father of eyes like the little gazelles!\n    Your mother will weave and spin and twine,\n    To clothe you so nicely O little Hassein!\n\nDo you hear the jackals crying as they come up out of the valley? Their\ncry is like the voice of the cat and dog mingled together, and Im Faris\nknows some of the ditties which they sing to their children about the\njackals and their fondness for chickens:\n\n    You cunning rogues beware!\n    You jackals with the long hair!\n    You ate up the chickens of old Katrin,\n    And ran away singing like wild Bedawin.\n\nIt is not pleasant to have so many fleas annoying us all the time, but\nwe must not be more anxious to keep the fleas out than to get the people\nin, and as the fellaheen come to see us, they will be likely to _flea_\nus too. Safita is famous for fleas, so no wonder that Nejmeh knows the\nfollowing song of the boys about fleas:\n\n    I caught and killed a hopping flea,\n    His sister's children came to me:\n    One with drum my ears did pierce,\n    One was fluting loud and fierce,\n    Then they danced me, made me sing,\n    Like a monkey in a ring.\n    Come O Deeby, come I pray,\n    Bring the Doctor right away!\n    Peace on your heart feel no alarm,\n    You have not had the slightest harm.\n\nLaia is never at a loss for something new, and I am amazed at her\nmemory. She will give us some rhyming riddles in Arabic, and we will put\nthem into English as best we may. The first is about the _Ant_:\n\n    'Tis black as night,\n    But it is not night:\n    Like a bird it has wings,\n    But it never sings:\n    It digs through the house,\n    But it is not a mouse:\n    It eats barley and grass,\n    But it is not an ass.\n\nRiddle about a _gun_:\n\n    A featherless bird flew over the sea,\n    A bird without feathers, how can that be?\n    A beautiful bird which I admire,\n    With wooden feet and a head of fire!\n\nRiddle on _salt_:\n\n    O Arab tribes, so bold and gay,\n    What little grain have you to-day?\n    It never on the trees is seen,\n    Nor on the flowers and wheat so green.\n    Its source is pure, 'tis pleasant to eat,\n    From water it comes that is not sweet,\n    Though from water it comes, and there's water in it,\n    You put it in water, it dies in a minute.\n\nThe door has opened down stairs, and some of Sit Leila's friends have\ncome to see her. The moment they saw the little baby Fereed, they all\nbegan to call out, \"Ism Allah alayhee,\" \"The name of Allah upon him.\"\nThey use this expression to keep off the Evil Eye. This superstition is\nuniversal throughout Western Asia, Northern Africa, and exists also in\nItaly and Spain. Dr. Meshaka of Damascus says that those who believe in\nthe Evil Eye, \"think that certain people have the power of killing\nothers by a glance of the eye. Others inflict injury by the eye. Others\npick grapes by merely looking at them. This power may rest in _one_ eye,\nand one man who thought he had this power, _veiled one eye_, out of\ncompassion for others! The Moslem Sheikhs and others profess to cure the\nevil eye, and prevent its evil effects by writing mystic talismanic\nwords on papers, which are to be worn. Others write the words on an egg,\nand then strike the forehead of the evil eyed with the egg.\"\n\nWhenever a new house is built, the workmen hang up an egg shell or a\npiece of alum, or an old root, or a donkey's skull, in the front door,\nto keep off the evil eye. Moslem women leave their children ragged and\ndirty to keep people from admiring them, and thus smiting them with the\nevil eye. They think that blue eyes are especially dangerous.\n\nThey think that the name of God or Allah is a charm against evil, and\nwhen they repeat it, they have no idea of reverence for that Holy Name.\n\nHere is a terrible imprecation against a woman who smites with the Evil\nEye:\n\n    May her hand be thrust in her mouth,\n    And her eyes be burned in the fire!\n    The blessings of Mighty God,\n    Preserve you from her ire!\n\nNideh sings\n\n    Upon you the name of Allah,\n    Around you Allah's eye!\n    May the Evil Eye be blinded,\n    And never harm my boy!\n\nIt is ten o'clock at night, and Katrina, Laia, Wered, and Handumeh say\nit is time to go. Handumeh insists that we come to her wedding\nto-morrow. Amin will go with them to drive away the dogs, and see that\nno wolves, hyenas, or leopards attack them by the way.\n\n\n\n\nPART VII.\n\n\nThe boys of Abeih are early risers. What a merry laugh they have! What\nnew song is that they are singing now?\n\nThere has been a shower in the night and Yusef and Khalil are singing\nabout the rain. We say in English \"_it_ rains\" but the Arabs tell us\nwhat \"it\" refers to. They say \"The world rains,\" \"The world snows,\" \"The\nworld is coming down,\" \"The world thunders and lightens.\" So you will be\nable to tell your teacher, when he asks you to parse \"it rains,\" that\n\"_it_\" is a pronoun referring to \"world.\" Hear them sing:\n\n    Rain, O world, all day and night,\n    We will wash our clothing white.\n    Rain, O world, your waters shed,\n    On my dear grandmother's head.\n\nThe sun shines out now, and Khalil says the \"world has got well\" again,\nso he sings:\n\n    Shines the sun with brightest beam\n    On the roof of Im Seleem;\n    Now the bear will dance a reel,\n    On the roof of Im Khaleel.\n\nThe roofs of the houses are low and flat, and on the hill-sides you can\nwalk from the street above upon the roof of the houses below. I once\nlived in a house in Duma in which the cattle, donkeys, and sheep used to\nwalk on our roof every evening as they came in from pasture. It was not\nvery pleasant to be awakened at midnight by a cow-fight on the roof, and\nhave the stones and dirt rattling down into our faces, but we could get\nno other house, and had to make the best of it. You can understand then\nKhalil's song:\n\n    The sun is rising all so bright\n    Upon the Pasha's daughter:\n    See her toss the tassels blue,\n    As her mother taught her.\n    Turn the oxen on the roof\n    Of the village priest;\n    He will kill them one and all,\n    And give the poor a feast.\n\nThe boys seem to be in high glee. They all know Handumeh and her\nbetrothed Shaheen Ma'ttar, so they are swinging and singing in honor of\nher wedding.\n\nBut the time has come for the wedding, and we will go over to Ain Kesur,\nabout a mile away, and join in the bridal procession. As we come near\nthe house we hear the women inside singing. They have been dressing the\nbride, and after she is dressed they lead her around and try to make her\ndance. Perhaps they will let us see how she is dressed. Her head is\ncovered with a head-dress of pink gauze, embroidered with gold thread\nand purple chenille, and ornamented with pearl beads and artificial\nflowers, and over all a long white gauze veil trimmed with lace. Her\near-rings are gold filigree work with pendant pearls, and around her\nneck is a string of pure amber beads and a gold necklace. She wears a\njacket of black velvet, and a gilt belt embroidered with blue, and\nfastened with a silver gilt filigree buckle in the form of a bow knot\nwith pendants. On her finger is a gold ring set with sapphire, and\nothers with turquoises and amethysts. Her dress is of brown satin, and\non her arms are solid gold bracelets which cost 1400 piastres or\nfifty-six dollars. You know Handumeh is not a rich girl, and her\nbetrothed is a hard working muleteer, and he has had to work very hard\nto get the money to buy all these things, for it is the custom for the\nbridegroom to pay for the bride's outfit. The people always lay out\ntheir money in jewelry because it is easily carried, and easily buried\nin time of civil wars and troubles in the land. Shaheen's brothers and\nrelatives have come to take her to Abeih, but he is nowhere to be seen.\nIt would not be proper for him to come to her house. For weeks she has\nnot been over to Abeih, except to invite us to her wedding, and when\nAnna asked her on what day she was to be married, she professed not to\nknow anything about it. They think it is not modest for a bride to care\nanything about the wedding, and she will try to appear unwilling to go\nwhen they are ready to start. The women are singing now:\n\n    Dance, our bride so fair,\n    Dance and never care;\n    Your bracelets sing, your anklets ring,\n    Your shining beauty would dazzle a king!\n    To Damascus your father a journey has made,\n    And your bridegroom's name is Abu Zeid.\n\nAnd now the young men outside are dancing and fencing, and they all join\nin singing:\n\n    Dance, my dancer, early and late,\n    Would I had like you seven or eight;\n    Two uncles like you, blithe and gay,\n    To stand at my back in the judgment day!\n\nAnd now the young men, relatives of the bridegroom, address the brother\nof the bride, as her father is not living, and they all sing:\n\n    O brother of the bride, on a charger you should ride;\n    A Councillor of State you should be;\n    Whene'er you lift your voice,\n    The judgment halls rejoice,\n    And the earth quakes with fear\n    From Acre to Ghuzeer.\n\nAnd now the warlike Druzes, who are old friends of Shaheen and his\nfather, wish to show their good will by singing a wedding song, which\nthey have borrowed from the old wild inhabitants of this land of\nCanaan:\n\n    O brother of the bride, your mare has gnawed her bridle,\n    Run for the blacksmith, do not be idle.\n    She has run to the grave where are buried your foes,\n    And pawed out their hearts with her iron shoes!\n\nBut the time has come for the procession to move, and we go along slowly\nenough. The bride rides a mare, led by one of Shaheen's brothers, and as\nwe pass the fountain, the people pour water under the mare's feet as a\nlibation, and Handumeh throws down a few little copper coins to the\nchildren. The women in the company set up the zilagheet, a high piercing\ntrill of the voice, and all goes merry as a marriage bell. When we reach\nthe house of Shaheen, he keeps out of sight, not even offering to help\nhis bride dismount from her horse. That would never do. He will stay\namong the men, and she in a separate room among the women, until the\nhour of the ceremony arrives.\n\nBut the women are singing again, and this time the song is really\nbeautiful in Arabic, but I fear I have made lame work of it in the\ntranslation:\n\n    Allah, belaly, belaly,\n    Allah, belaly, belaly,\n    May God spare the life of your sire,\n    Our lovely gazelle of the valley!\n        May Allah his riches increase\n        He has brought you so costly a dowry;\n        The moonlight has gone from his house,\n        The rose from his gardens so flow'ry.\n        Run away, rude men, turn aside,\n        Give place to our beautiful bride:\n        From her sweet perfumes I am sighing,\n        From the odor of musk I am dying.\n    Come and join us fair maid, they have brought you your dress,\n    Leave your peacocks and doves, give our bride a caress;\n    Red silk! crimson silk! the weaver cries as he goes:\n    But our bride's cheeks are redder blushing bright as the rose.\n    Dark silk! black silk! hear him now as he sings:\n    But our bride's hair is black, like the raven's dark wings;\n    With the light of our eyes with our Handumeh sweet\n    No maid of the Druzes can ever compete.\n    She is worth all the wealth of the Lebanon domain,\n    All the vineyards and olives, the silk worms and grain.\n    And no maids of the Christians can with her compare\n    Tho' shining with pearls and with jewels so rare.\n\nThe house is now crowded full, the men being all in one room with\nShaheen, and the women in the other room, and the court with the bride\nHandumeh. One of Shaheen's brothers comes around with a kumkum, and\nsprinkles orange flower water in all our faces, and Khalil asks us if we\nwish the ceremony to take place now? We tell him that he must ask the\nbride and groom. So Abu Shaheen comes into the court with the old priest\nEklemandus, as Shaheen's family belong to the Greek Catholic sect.\nHandumeh is really a Protestant, and Shaheen has nothing to do with the\npriests, but the \"old folks\" had their way about it. A white curtain\nhangs across the court, and the bride stands on one side, with her\nbridesmaid, and all the women and girls, and on the other side is the\npriest with Shaheen, and all of the men and boys. Then candles were\ndistributed, and lighted, and the old priest adjusted his robes and\nbegan to read the marriage service. An assistant stood by his side\nlooking over his shoulder, and responding Amen in a loud and long drawn\nvoice. At length the priest called out to him, \"A little shorter there\non those Amens. We don't want long Amens at a wedding!\" This set the\nwhole crowd laughing, and on he went reading passages of Scripture,\nprayers and advice to the bride and bridegroom in the most hasty and\ntrifling manner, intoning it through his nose, so that no one could\nunderstand what he was saying. While he was reading from the gospel\nabout the marriage at Cana of Galilee, a small boy, holding a lighted\ncandle, came very near burning off the old man's beard, and he called\nout to him, \"Put out your candle! You have tormented my life out of me\nwith that candle.\" This raised another laugh, and on he read. Then he\ntook two rings, and drawing aside the curtain, placed one on the bride's\nhead, and the other on the bridegroom's head, pronouncing them man and\nwife, and then gave them each a sip of wine and the ceremony was\nconcluded, all the men kissing Shaheen, and the women Handumeh.\nRefreshments were then served to the guests from the village, and a\ndinner to those from other villages. In the evening there assembled a\ngreat company in Shaheen's house, and the hour was given up to story\ntelling. Saleh, whose brother married Shaheen's sister, will begin with\nthe _Story of the Goats and the Ghoul_.\n\nOnce there was a Nanny Goat, strong and powerful, with long and strong\nhorns, and once upon a time she brought forth twin kids, fair and\nbeautiful. One was named _Sunaisil_, and the other Rabab. Now the Nanny\nGoat went out every morning to the pasture, leaving her twin kids in the\ncave. She shut the door carefully, and they locked it on the inside\nthrough fear of the Ghoul, for her neighbor in the next house was a\nGhoul who swallowed little children alive. Then at evening when she came\nhome, she would stand outside the door, and sing to her twin kids this\nlittle song:\n\n    Hearken now Sunaisil,\n    Come Rabab my dear:\n    Open to your mother,\n    Never, never fear.\n    She has sweet milk in her udder.\n    Tufts of grass upon her horn;\n    She'll give you both your supper,\n    And breakfast in the morn.\n\nThe little twin kids would know her voice, open the door in gladness,\nand eat a hearty supper, and after hearing a nice story from the\nAnziyeh, (for so their mother was called), drop off to sweet sleep.\n\nNow all things went on well for some time, until one day the Ghoul\nneighbor being very hungry for a supper of twin kids, came to the door\nof the cave and tried to push it open. But it was too strong for her, so\nshe went away in perplexity. At length she thought she would sing to\nthem the very song, which the Nanny Goat sang to them every evening on\nher return, so she sang it:\n\n    Hearken now Sunaisil,\n    Come Rabab, my dear, etc., etc.\n\nand when they heard this song, they opened the door with gladness to eat\ntheir supper, when suddenly the Ghoul sprang upon them with her huge\nmouth open, and swallowed them both down at once. She then shut the door\nand fastened it as it was before, and went on her way. At evening the\nNanny Goat came home with milk and grass for her twin kids' supper, and\nknocked at the door and sang:\n\n    Hearken now Sunaisil,\n    Come Rabab my dear, etc., etc.,\n\nas usual, but no one opened the door. Then she knocked and sang again,\nand at length she gave up all hope of their opening the door, and butted\nagainst the door with her horns and broke it open. She then entered the\ncave but there were no twin kids there. All was still. Then she knew\nthat the Ghoul had eaten them. So she hastened to the house of the\nGhoul, and went upon the top of the house, and began to stamp and pound\nupon the roof. The Ghoul, hearing the stamping upon the roof, called\nout, whosoever stamps on my roof, may Allah stamp on his roof! The Nanny\nGoat replied, I am on your roof; I, whose children you have eaten. Come\nout now, and we will fight it out by butting our heads together. Very\nwell, said the Ghoul, only wait a little until I can make me a pair of\nhorns like you. So the goat waited, and away went the Ghoul to make her\nhorns. She made two horns of dough and dried them in the sun until they\nwere hard, and then came to \"butt\" with the goat. At the first shock,\nwhen the goat butted her with her horns, the horns of dough broke all to\npieces; then the goat butted her again in her bowels and broke her in\ntwain, and out jumped Sunaisil and Rabab, frisking and leaping and\ncalling out \"ya imme,\" oh, my mother, Oh, my mother! The Ghoul being\ndead they had no more fear, and lived long and happy lives with their\nmother the Anaziyeh.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nDid you notice how the little boys listened to Saleh's story of the\nGoats and the Ghoul? This story is told by the mothers to their little\nchildren, all over Syria, in the tents of the Bedawin and in the houses\nof the citizens. One of the women, named Noor, (_i.e._ Light), a sister\nof the bridegroom, says she will tell the children the story of the\nHamam, the Butta, the Wez, and the Hamar, that is, of the Dove, the\nDuck, the Goose, and the Donkey, if all will sit still on the floor. So\nall the little boys and girls curl their feet under them and fold their\narms, and Noor begins:\n\nOnce the Dove, the Duck, the Goose, and the Donkey joined company and\nagreed to live together. Then they took counsel about their means of\nliving, and said, how long shall we continue in such distress for our\nnecessary food? Come let us plough a piece of ground, and plant each one\nsuch seeds as are suited to his taste. So they ploughed a piece of\nground and sowed the seed. The Goose planted rice, the Duck planted\nwheat, the Dove planted pulse, and the Donkey planted barley, and they\nstationed the Donkey on guard to watch the growing crop. Now when the\nseeds began to grow and flourish, and the Donkey looked upon it green\nand bright and waving in the wind, he arose and ate it all, and then\nwent and threw himself into a ditch near by. Then came the Dove, the\nGoose, and the Duck to survey the growing crop, and lo and behold, it\nwas all eaten up, and the ground was red and barren. Then said they,\nwhere is the Donkey whom we set on guard over our crop? They searched\nnear and far, and at length they found him standing in the ditch, and\nthey asked him where are the crops we so carefully planted and set you\nto watch? Then said the Donkey, the Bedawin came with their flocks of\nsheep and pastured them on our crops, and when I tried to resist, they\nthrew me into this ditch. Then they replied, it is false, you have eaten\nit yourself. He said, I did not. They said, yes, you did, for you are\nsleek and fat, and the contest waxed hot between them, until at length\nthey all agreed to make each one swear an oath \"by the life of the\nLake,\" which was near at hand, and whoever swore the oath, and sprang\ninto the Lake without falling, should be declared innocent. So the Dove\nwent down first and said:\n\n    Ham, Ham, Ham, I am the Dove Hamam,\n    Ham, Ham, Ham, My food is the plain Kotan, (pulse),\n    Ham, Ham, Ham, If I ate the growing crop,\n                 May I suddenly throw it up!\n                 May Allah tumble me into the Lake,\n                 And none any news of me ever take!\n\nThen the Dove leaped into the Lake, and flew to the limb of a tree on\nthe shore, and was proved innocent.\n\nThen the Duck went down and said:\n\n    But But, But, I am the Butta Duck,\n    But, But, But, My food is wheat and muck;\n    But, But, But, If I ate the growing crop,\n                 May I suddenly throw it up!\n                 May Allah tumble me into the Lake,\n                 And none any news of me ever take!\n\nSo the Duck leaped into the Lake, and then flew to the limb of a tree on\nthe shore and was proved innocent.\n\nThen the Goose went down and said:\n\n    Wez, Wez, Wez, I am the Goose and the Wez,\n    Wez, Wez, Wez, I eat Egyptian riz, (rice),\n    Wez, Wez, Wez, If I ate the growing crop,\n                 May I suddenly throw it up!\n                 May Allah tumble me into the Lake,\n                 And none any news of me ever take!\n\nSo the Goose leaped into the Lake and then flew to the limb of a tree on\nthe shore and was proved innocent.\n\nThen the Donkey went down and said:\n\n    Hak, Hak, Hak, I am the Donkey Jack,\n    Hak, Hak, Hak, I barley eat by the sack:\n    Hak, Hak, Hak, If I ate the growing crop,\n                 May I suddenly throw it up!\n                 May Allah tumble me into the Lake,\n                 And none any news of me ever take!\n\nThen the Donkey leaped boldly into the Lake, and down he fell, and his\nfeet stuck fast in the mud and mire. Then his three companions, seeing\nhim proved guilty of the crime, flew away and left him to his fate. Then\nthe Donkey began to \"bray\" for mercy, and called at the top of his\nvoice:\n\n                  Whoever will help me out of this plight,\n                  May eat my tail at a single bite!\n    The Bear heard the braying,\n    And without long delaying,\n    He answered by saying:\n                Long eared Donkey will you pay,\n                Every word of what you say?\n                If I save you by my might,\n                Will you stand still while I bite?\n    The lying Ass lay still,\n    And answered, \"Yes, I will.\"\n                The Bear then gave a fearful roar,\n                And dragged the Donkey to the shore,\n                And said, I saved you from your plight,\n                Now stand still, Donkey, while I bite!\n    He said: Wait Bruin till I rest,\n    And \"smell the air\" from East to West,\n    And then I'll run with all my might,\n    And turn my tail for you to bite!\n                Then Bruin took him at his word\n                Away he went swift as a bird,\n                And called out, now Bruin, I will rest,\n                I'll smell the air from East to West,\n                I'm running now with all my might,\n                I've \"turned my tail\" for you to bite!\n    The Bear resolved in grief and pain,\n    He'd never help an Ass again.\n\nAbu Habeeb, who is just about to enter the college, has a story which\nall the Arabs know, and love to hear. It is called:\n\nThe Lion and Ibn Adam, that is, the Lion and Man, the son of Adam.\n\nOnce there was a Lion who had a son, and he always charged him, saying,\nmy son, beware of Ibn Adam. But at length the old Lion died, and the\nyoung lion resolved that he would search through the world and see that\nwonderful animal called Ibn Adam, of whom his father had so often warned\nhim. So out he went from his cave, and walked to and fro in the\nwilderness. At length he saw a huge animal coming towards him, with long\ncrooked legs and neck, and running at the top of his speed. It was a\nCamel. But when the Lion saw his enormous size and rapid pace, he said,\nsurely, this must be Ibn Adam himself. So he ran towards him and roared\na fearful roar. Stop where you are! The Camel stopped, trembling with\nfear of the Lion. Said the Lion, are you Ibn Adam? No, said the Camel, I\nam a Camel fleeing from Ibn Adam. Said the Lion, and what did Ibn Adam\ndo to you that you should flee from him? The Camel said, he loaded me\nwith heavy burdens, and beat me cruelly, and when I found a fit chance,\nI fled from him to this wilderness. Said the Lion, is Ibn Adam stronger\nthan you are? Yes indeed, many times stronger. Then the Lion was filled\nwith terror, lest he too should fall into the hands of Ibn Adam, and he\nleft the Camel to go his way in peace. After a little while, an Ox\npassed by, and the Lion said, _this_ must be Ibn Adam. But he found that\nhe too was fleeing from the yoke and the goad of Ibn Adam. Then he met a\nHorse running fleet as the wind, and he said, this swift animal must be\nthe famous Ibn Adam, but the Horse too was running away from the halter,\nthe bridle the spur or the harness of the terrible Ibn Adam. Then he met\na mule, a donkey, a buffalo and an elephant, and all were running in\nterror of Ibn Adam. The Lion thought what terrible monster must he be to\nhave struck terror into all these monstrous animals! And on he went\ntrembling, until hunger drove him to a forest to seek for prey to eat.\nWhile he was searching through the forest, lo and behold, a Carpenter\nwas at work cutting wood. The Lion wondered at his curious form, and\nsaid, who knows but this may be Ibn Adam? So he came near and asked him\nsaying, Are you Ibn Adam? He replied, I am. Then the Lion roared a\nfearful roar, and said, prepare for battle with the Lion, the king of\nbeasts! Then Ibn Adam said: What do you want of me? Said the Lion, I\nwant to devour you. Very well, said the Carpenter, wait until I can get\nmy claws ready. I will go and take this wood yonder, and then I will\nreturn and fight you. If you kill me, eat me, and if I conquer you I\nwill let you go, for we the sons of Adam do not eat the flesh of wild\nbeasts, nor do we kill them, but we let them go. The Lion was deceived\nby those artful words, for he had seen the Camel and his companions\nrunning away, and he thought within himself, now, if Ibn Adam did really\neat the flesh of beasts, he would not have let the Camel and the Horse,\nthe Buffalo and the Mule escape into the desert. So he said to the\nCarpenter very well, I will wait for you to take the wood, and return\nwith your claws. Not so, said the Carpenter, I am afraid that you will\nnot wait for me. You are a stranger, and I do not trust your word. I\nfear you will run away before I return. Said the Lion, it is impossible\nthat the Lion should run away from any one. Said the Carpenter, I cannot\nadmit what you say, unless you will grant me one thing. And what is\nthat, said the Lion. The Carpenter said, I have here a little rope. Come\nlet me tie you to this tree until I return, and then I shall know where\nto find you. The Lion agreed to this plan, and the Carpenter bound him\nwith ropes to the tree until he and the tree were one compact bundle.\nThen the Carpenter went away to his shop, and brought his glue pot, and\nfilling it with glue and pitch boiled it over the fire. Then he returned\nand besmeared the Lion with the boiling mixture from his head to the end\nof his tail, and applied a torch until he was all in a flame from head\nto tail, and in this plight the Carpenter left him. Then the Lion roared\nin agony until the whole forest echoed the savage roar, and all the\nanimals and wild beasts came running together to see what had happened.\nAnd when they saw him in this sad plight, they rushed to him and loosed\nhis bonds, and he sprang to the river and extinguished the flames, but\ncame out singed and scarred, with neither hair nor mane. Now when all\nthe beasts saw this pitiable sight, they made a covenant together to\nkill Ibn Adam. So they watched and waited day and night, until at length\nthey found him in the forest. As soon as he saw them, he ran to a lofty\ntree, and climbed to its very top, taking only his adze with him, and\nthere awaited his fate. The whole company of beasts now gathered around\nthe foot of the tree, and tried in vain to climb it, and after they\nwalked around and around, at length they agreed that one should stand at\nthe foot of the tree, and another on his back, and so on, until the\nupper one should reach Ibn Adam, and throw him down to the ground. Now\nthe Lion whose back was burned and blistered, from his great fear of man\ndemanded that he should stand at the bottom of the tree. To this all\nagreed. Then the Camel mounted upon the Lion's back, the Horse upon the\nCamel, the Buffalo upon the Horse, the Bear upon the Buffalo, the Wolf\nupon the bear, and the Donkey upon the Wolf, and so on in order, until\nthe topmost animal was almost within reach of the Carpenter, Ibn Adam.\nNow, when he saw the animals coming nearer and nearer, and almost ready\nto seize him, he shouted at the top of his voice. Bring the glue pot of\nboiling pitch to the Lion! Hasten! Hasten! Now when the Lion heard of\nthe boiling pitch, he was terrified beyond measure and leaped one side\nwith all his might and fled. Down came the pile of beasts, tumbling in\nconfusion, the one upon the other, and all lay groaning bruised and\nbleeding, some with broken legs, some with broken ribs, and some with\nbroken heads. But as soon as the clamor of their first agony was over,\nthey all called out to the Lion, why did you leap out and bring all\nthis misery upon us! The Lion replied:\n\n    The story's point he never knew,\n    Who never felt the burning glue!\n\nMonsoor, who has just been to Damascus, says that if he can have another\npipe, and a cup of Arab coffee, he will tell the story of the famous Jew\nRufaiel of Damascus. So he begins:\n\nThe story of Rufaiel, the rich Jew of Damascus, and the Moslem Dervish.\n\nOnce there lived in Damascus a rich Jew named Rufaiel. He had great\nwealth in marble palaces and rich silk robes, and well stored bazaars,\nand his wife and daughters were clad in velvets and satins, in gold and\nprecious stones. He had also great wit and cunning, and often helped his\nfellow Jews out of their troubles. Now the Pasha of Damascus was a\nMohammedan, who had a superstitious fear of the holy Moslem Dervishes,\nand they could persuade him to tax and oppress the Jews in the most\ncruel manner. In those days there came to Damascus a holy Dervish who\nhad long, uncombed black hair, and although he was a vile and wicked\nman, he made the people believe that he was a holy saint, and could\nperform wonderful miracles. The Pasha held him in great reverence, and\ninvited him often to dinner, and when he came in, he would stoop and\nkiss the Dervish's feet! And what was most wonderful of all, the Dervish\nleft Damascus every Thursday night after bidding the Pasha farewell, and\njourneyed to Mecca and returned in the morning and told the Pasha all\nthe Mecca news and what he had seen and heard. This he did every week,\nthough all wise men laughed at him, and said he only went out of the\nCity Gate and slept in the gardens of Damascus!\n\nNow the Dervish was a great enemy of the Jews. He hated them, cursed\nthem, spat upon them, and called them infidel dogs, and he persuaded the\nPasha to increase their taxes fourfold. Their sufferings now became very\ngreat. They had to sell their houses and furniture to pay the heavy\ntaxes, and many were beaten and thrust into prison. So the leading Jews\nin their distress came to Rufaiel, and begged him to go to the Pasha and\nobtain relief for them and their families. He said he would think about\nthe matter. So after they had gone, he called the chief jeweller and\npipe maker of the city, and ordered them to make a long pipe of\nexquisite workmanship, with a stem of rosewood carved and inlaid with\npearls, a bowl of pure gold set with diamonds, and a mouth-piece of gold\nand amber. Then he went one day to call on the Pasha, and made him a\npresent of this elegant pipe, the like of which had never been seen in\nDamascus. The Pasha was greatly pleased and ordered all in his presence\nto retire that he might enjoy the society of Rufaiel, the munificent\nJew. Then Rufaiel turned to the Pasha and said, \"may your Excellency\nlive forever! I have brought you this pipe as a faint token of my high\nesteem and affection, but I am filled with deepest sorrow that it is not\nperfect.\" \"Not perfect?\" said the Pasha. \"In what respect could it be\nmore perfect than what it is?\" Said Rufaiel, \"you will notice that\nbetween the amber and the gold of the mouth-piece a little ring is\nwanting. This ring was the very gem and excellence of the pipe. It was\ncut from the Black Stone of the Kaaba in Mecca, and has miraculous\nproperties. But when the pipe was brought from Mecca, the ring was left\nwith Mustafa, the jeweller, who is ready to send it by the first fit\nopportunity.\" \"Alas,\" said the Pasha, \"but how can we send for it now?\nThe Pilgrim caravan has gone, and there will be none again for a year.\"\n\"Oh,\" said Rufaiel, \"this is easily arranged. To-day is Thursday, and\nto-night the holy Dervish will go to Mecca and return to-morrow morning.\nYour Excellency need only command him to bring the black ring, and\nbefore this time to-morrow the pipe will be complete in its beauty and\nexcellency.\" \"El Hamdu Lillah! Praise to Allah! It shall be done!\" So\nwhen Rufaiel had gone, the Pasha summoned the Dervish, and told him of\nthis wonderful pipe which had come to him from Mecca, and that it only\nneeded the black ring to make it absolutely perfect, and that he was\nhereby commanded on pain of death to bring the ring from Mecca before\nFriday at the hour of noon prayer. The Dervish bowed most obeisantly and\nretired black in the face with rage and despair. But it occurred to him\nat once that none in Damascus but Rufaiel could have purchased such a\npipe. So he left the City Gate, called the Bab Allah, or Gate of God, at\nsunset, bidding his friends farewell, and walked away in the gardens\nuntil night came on. Then, at the sixth hour of the night he returned\nby another gate, and crept along to the door of the mansion of Rufaiel.\nThe door was opened, and Rufaiel received him with great politeness. The\nDervish fell on the floor and kissed his feet and begged for his life.\nSaid he, \"give me that black ring which belongs to the Pasha's pipe, and\nwe will be friends forever! Ask what you will and it shall be done to\nyou. Only give me this ring.\" Said Rufaiel, \"you have ruined my people\nwith oppression, and now do you ask a favor?\" \"Yes,\" said the Dervish,\n\"and you shall have any favor you ask.\" So Rufaiel thought to himself a\nmoment, and then said, \"I ask one thing. Do you obtain from the Pasha an\norder on all the tax collectors of Damascus, that when any Jew shall\nsay, _I am one of the Seventy_, the collector shall pass him by, and no\ntax ever be demanded of him.\" \"Done,\" said the Dervish, and embracing\nRufaiel, he bade him good-night. Then in the morning he hastened in at\nBab Allah, and presented the ring to the Pasha, who was so delighted\nthat he granted his request, and orders were given that no tax should\never be collected from any Jew who should say \"I am one of the Seventy.\"\nThen Rufaiel assembled all the Jews of Damascus, and bade them say to\nthe tax-gatherers whenever they came, \"_I am one of the Seventy_.\" So\nthe Jews had rest from taxation, all the days of Rufaiel.\n\nSaleh Bu Nusr, one of the best men in Mount Lebanon, and the father of\nKhalil, who brought us the list of Arab boys' games, has already told us\nthe story of the Goats and the Ghoul, and he says that the savory odor\nof the egg plant being cooked for the wedding guests, reminds him of the\nstory of the Badinjan or Egg Plant.\n\nOnce there was a great Emir or Prince who had a very abject and\nobsequious servant named Deeb (Wolf). One day Deeb brought to the Emir\nfor his dinner a dish of stewed badinjan, which pleased the Emir so much\nthat he complimented Deeb, and told him that it was the best dinner he\nhad eaten for months. Deeb bowed to the earth and kissed the feet of the\nEmir, and said, \"may God prolong the life of your excellency! Your\nexcellency knows what is good. There is nothing like the badinjan. It is\nthe best of vegetables. Its fruit is good, its leaf is good, its stalk\nis good, and its root is good. It is good roasted, stewed, boiled,\nfried, and even raw. It is good for old and young. Your excellency,\nthere is nothing like the badinjan.\" Now the Emir was unusually hungry,\nand ate so bountifully of the badinjan that he was made very ill. So he\nsent for Deeb, and rebuked him sharply, saying, \"you rascal, you Deeb,\nyour name is Wolf, and you are rightly named. This badinjan which you\npraised so highly has almost killed me.\" \"Exactly so,\" said Deeb, \"may\nyour excellency live forever! The badinjan is the vilest of plants. It\nis never eaten without injury. Its fruit is injurious, its leaf is\ninjurious, its stalk is noxious, and its root is the vilest of all. It\nis not fit 'ajell shanak Allah,' for the pigs to eat, whether raw,\nroasted, stewed, boiled or fried. It is injurious to the young and\ndangerous to the old. Your excellency, there is nothing so bad as the\nbadinjan! Never touch the badinjan!\"--\"Out with you, you worthless\nfellow, you Deeb! What do you mean by praising the badinjan when I\npraise it, and abusing it when it injures me?\" \"Ah, your excellency,\"\nsaid Deeb, \"am I the servant of the badinjan, or the servant of your\nexcellency? I must say what pleases you, but it makes no difference\nwhether I please the badinjan or not.\"\n\nThe wedding party is now over, and the guests are departing. Each one on\nleaving says, \"by your pleasure, good evening!\" The host answers, \"go in\npeace, you have honored us.\" The guests reply, \"we have been honored,\nAllah give the newly married ones an arees,\" (a bridegroom). They would\nnot dare wish that Shaheen and Handumeh might some day have a little\nbaby _girl_. That would be thought an insult.\n\nWe will walk up the hill to our mountain home, passing the fountain and\nthe great walnut trees. Here comes a horseman. It is Ali, who has been\nspending a month among the Bedawin Arabs. He will come up and stay with\nus, and tell us of his adventures. He says that the Sit Harba, the wife\nof the great Arab Sheikh ed Dukhy, taught him a number of the Bedawin\nNursery Songs, and although he is weary with his journey, he will repeat\nsome of them in Arabic.\n\nThey are all about camels and spears and fighting and similar subjects,\nand no wonder, as they see nothing else, and think of nothing else.\n\n    To-morrow is the feast day,\n    We've no \"henna\" on our hands;\n    Our camels went to bring it,\n    From far off distant lands;\n    We'll rise by night and listen,\n    The camel bells will ring;\n    And say a thousand welcomes\n    To those who \"henna\" bring.\n\nAnd here is a song which shows that the Bedawin have the same habit of\ncursing their enemies, which we noticed in the Druze lullabys:\n\n    On the rose and sweetest myrtle,\n    May you sleep, my eyes, my boy;\n    But may sharpest thorns and briars,\n    All your enemies destroy!\n\nAli says that one of the most mournful songs he heard in the desert was\nthe following:\n\n    I am like a wounded camel,\n    I grind my teeth in pain;\n    My load is great and heavy,\n    I am tottering again.\n    My back is torn and bleeding,\n    My wound is past relief,\n    And what is harder still to bear,\n    None other knows my grief!\n\nThe next is a song which the people sung in the villages on the borders\nof the desert. By \"the sea\" they mean the Sea of Galilee:\n\n    My companions three,\n    Were fishing by the sea;\n    The Arabs captured one,\n    The Koords took his brother,\n    In one land was I,\n    My friends were in another.\n\n    I was left to moan,\n    In sorrow deep and sad,\n    Like a camel all alone,\n    Departing to Baghdad;\n    My soul I beg you tell me whether,\n    Once parted friends e'er met together?\n\nThe Bedawin have as low an idea of girls as the Bedawin in the cities,\nand are very glad when a boy is born. Sometimes when the Abeih girls are\nplaying together, you will hear a little girl call out, \"it is very\nsmall indeed. Why it is a little wee thing, as small as was the\nrejoicing the day I was born!\" But hear what the Bedawin women sing when\na boy is born:\n\n    Mashallah, a boy, a _boy_!\n    May Allah's eye defend him!\n    May she who sees and says not _the Name_,\n    Be smitten with blindness and die in shame!\n\nHow would you like to live among the Bedawin, and have a dusky Arab\nwoman, clad in coarse garments, covered with vermin and odorous of\ngarlic and oil, to sing you to sleep on a mat on the ground?\n\n    Hasten my cameleer, where are you going?\n    It is eventide, and the camels are lowing:\n    My house in a bundle I bear on my back,\n    Whenever night comes, I my bundle unpack.\n\nThe next is a song of the pastoral Arabs:\n\n    Hasten my guide and lead us away,\n    For we have fought and lost the day;\n    To the well we went all thirsty and worn,\n    The well was dry! and we slept forlorn.\n\n    The Bedawin came in battle array,\n    Attacked us all famished at break of day\n    And took all our camels and tents away!\n\nDeath enters the Bedawin tents as well as the palaces of kings and the\ncomfortable homes of the people in Christian lands. But what desolation\nit leaves behind in those dark sorrowing hearts, who know nothing of the\nlove of Jesus and the consolations of the gospel. This is a funeral song\nthe poor Bedawin women sing over the death of a child:\n\n    Oh hasten my camel, begone, begone,\n    Oh haste where your loved ones stay:\n    There weep and lament. There my \"spirit\" is gone,\n    Is gone to a night without day:\n    Oh Star of the Morning, thou Star of the day,\n    And Star of the Evening, both hasten away,\n    And bring me a balm for my wounded heart,\n    For I from my child, my \"spirit\" must part.\n\nSoon may the \"day dawn, and the day star arise\" in their dark hearts,\nand Jesus the \"Bright and Morning Star\" be their portion forever!\n\nThe next song is about the pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Thousands of Greeks,\nArmenians and Catholics go to Jerusalem every year to visit the \"Holy\nPlaces,\" and get a certificate of the pardon of all their sins. The\nGreek Patriarch performs a lying imposture called the Holy Fire every\nyear at Greek Easter, by lighting a candle with a match inside a dark\nroom, and declaring that it is miraculously lighted by fire which comes\nforth from the tomb of Christ! So the poor Greek woman sings to her\nchild:\n\n    Oh take me on a pilgrimage,\n    Jerusalem to see:\n    The Tomb of Christ and Holy fire,\n    And Hill of Calvary:\n    And then I'll to the Convent go,\n    Ask pardon for my sin:\n    And say, my Lady, now forgive,\n    And comfort me again.\n\nThe next is really beautiful, and is good enough for any mother to sing\nto her child. It is a morning song:\n\n    Praise to Him who brings the light,\n    And keeps the birds in darkest night.\n    God is merciful to all,\n    Rise ye men and on Him call!\n    Allah praise in every lot,\n    He keeps you and you know it not.\n\nAnd this one too, about the little worms, is curious enough:\n\n    Praise to Him who feeds the worms,\n    In the silent vale!\n    Provides their portion every day,\n    Protects them in the dangerous way.\n    No doubt they praise Him too, and pray,\n    In the silent vale!\n\nWhen our good friend Yusef, whom we saw in Safita, asked the Nusairiyeh\nwomen to repeat to him their nursery rhymes, they denied that they had\nany. They were afraid to recite them, lest he write them down and use\nthem as a magic spell or charm against them. When a child is born among\nthem, no one is allowed to take a coal or spark of fire from the house\nfor a week, lest the child be injured. They always hang a little coin\naround the child's neck to keep off eruptions and diseases from its\nbody.\n\nYou must be weary by this time, after Handumeh's wedding and the story\ntelling and the Bedawin songs. Let us retire to rest for the night,\nthankful for the precious Bible, and the knowledge of Jesus Christ. You\nare safe indeed in the hands of God, and need not fear the Ghoul nor the\nBah'oo. Good night.\n\nSuch is life. Yesterday a wedding, and to-day a funeral. Do you hear\nthat terrific wail, those shrieks and bitter cries of anguish? Young\nSheikh Milham has died. The Druze and Christian women are gathered in\nthe house, and wailing together in the most piteous manner. It is\ndreadful to think what sufferings the poor women must endure. They do\neverything possible to excite one another. They not only call out,\n\"Milham, my pride, my bridegroom, star of my life, you have set, my\nflower, you have faded,\" but they remind each other of all the deaths\nthat have occurred in their various families for years, and thus open\nold wounds of sorrow which time had healed. Yet they have regular\nfuneral songs, and we will listen while they sing in a mournful strain:\n\n    Milham Beg my warrior,\n    Your spear is burnished gold;\n    Your costly robes and trappings,\n    Will in the street be sold.\n    \"Where is the Beg who bore me?\"\n    I hear the armor crying--\n    Where is the lord who wore me?\n    I hear the garments sighing.\n\nNow Im Hassein from Ainab bursts out in a loud song, addressing the\ndead body, around which they are all seated on the ground:\n\n    Rise up my lord, gird on your sword,\n    Of heavy Baalbec steel;\n    Why leave it hanging on the nail?\n    Let foes its temper feel!\n    Would that the Pasha's son had died,\n    Not our Barmakeh's son and pride!\n\nThen Lemis answers in another song in which they all join:\n\n    Ten thousands are thronging together,\n    The Beg has a feast to-day;\n    We thought he had gone on a visit,\n    But alas, he has gone to stay.\n\nThen they all scream, and tear their hair and beat their breasts. Alas,\nthey have no light beyond the grave. Who could expect them to do\notherwise? The Apostle Paul urges the Christians \"not to sorrow even as\nothers which have no hope!\" This is sorrow without hope. The grave is\nall dark to them. How we should thank our Saviour for having cast light\non the darkness of the tomb, and given us great consolation in our\nsorrows! Here comes a procession of women from Kefr Metta. Hear them\nchanting:\n\n    I saw the mourners thronging round,\n    I saw the beds thrown on the ground;\n    The marble columns leaning,\n    The wooden beams careening,\n    My lord and Sheikh with flowing tears,\n    I asked what was its meaning?\n    He sadly beckoned me aside,\n    And said, To-day _my son_ has died!\n\nThen an old woman, a widow, who has been reminded of the death of her\nhusband, calls out to him:\n\n    Oh, Sheikh, have you gone to the land?\n    Then give my salams to my boy,\n    He has gone on a long, long journey,\n    And took neither clothing nor toy.\n    Ah, what will he wear on the feast days,\n    When the people their festal enjoy?\n\nNow one of the women addresses the corpse:\n\n    Lord of the wide domain,\n    All praise of you is true.\n    The women of your hareem,\n    Are dressed in mourning blue.\n\nThen one sings the mother's wail:\n\n    My tears are consuming my heart,\n    How can I from him bear to part.\n    Oh raven of death, tell me why,\n    You betrayed me and left him to die?\n    Oh raven of death begone!\n    You falsely betrayed my son!\n    Oh Milham, I beg you to tell,\n    Why you've gone to the valley to dwell?\n    From far, far away I have come,\n    Who will come now to take me back home?\n\nThen rises such a wail as you never heard before. A hundred women all\nscreaming together and then men are coming to take it away. The women\nhug and kiss the corpse, and try to pull it back, while the men drive\nthem off, and carry it out to the bier. Some of the women faint away,\nand a piercing shriek arises. Then you hear the mother's wail again.\n\nThen one sings the call of the dead man for help:\n\n    Oh ransom me, buy me, my friends to-day,\n    'Tis a costly ransom you'll have to pay,\n    Oh ransom me, father, whate'er they demand,\n    Though they take all your money and houses and land.\n\nAnd another sings his address to the grave-diggers:\n\n    Oh cease, grave-diggers, my feelings you shock,\n    I forbade you to dig, you have dug to the rock;\n    I bade you dig little, you have dug so deep!\n    When his father's not here, will you lay him to sleep?\n\nThen a poor woman who has lately buried a young daughter begins to sing:\n\n    Oh bride! on the roofs of heaven,\n    Come now and look over the wall:\n    Oh let your sad mother but see you,\n    Oh let her not vainly call!\n    Hasten, her heart is breaking,\n    Let her your smile behold;\n    The mother is sadly weeping,\n    The maiden is still and cold.\n\nThe Druzes believe that millions of Druzes live in China and that China\nis a kind of heaven. So another woman sings:\n\n    Yullah, now my lady, happy is your state!\n    Happy China's people, when you reached the gate!\n    Lady, you are passing,\n    To the palace bright,\n    All the stars surpassing,\n    On the brow of night!\n\nAnd now the body is taken to be buried, and the women return to the\nhouse, where the wailing is kept up for days and weeks. They have many\nother funeral songs, of which I will give two in conclusion:\n\n    Ye Druzes, gird on your swords,\n    A great one is dead to-day;\n    The Arabs came down upon us,\n    They thought us in battle array,\n    But they wept when they found us mourning,\n    For our leader has gone away!\n\nThe next is the lament of the mother over her dead son:\n\n    The sun is set, the tents are rolled,\n    Happy the mother whose lambs are in fold;\n    But one who death's dark sorrow knew,\n    Let her go to the Nile of indigo blue,\n    And dye her robes a mourning hue!\n\nAnd now, my dear boy, our Syrian journey is ended. You have seen and\nheard many strange things. Whatever is good among the Arabs, try to\nimitate; whatever is evil, avoid. Perhaps you will write to me some day,\nand tell me what you think of Syria and the Syrians. Many little boys\nand girls will read this long letter, but it is your letter, and I have\nwritten it for your instruction and amusement.\n\nMay the good Shepherd, who gave His life for the sheep, lead you beside\nthe still waters of life, and at last when He shall appear, may He give\nyou a crown of glory which fadeth not away!\n\nTHE END\n\n\n\n\nINDEX.\n\n\nArabs of the Jahiliyeh, 1\n\nArabs of Kinaneh, 2\n\nArabic Proverbs, 3\n\nAraman, Michaiel, 19, 99\n\nAsin Haddad, 101\n\nAbu Selim, 138, 260\n\nAbu Mishrik, 148\n\nAleppo, 151\n\nAsur el Jedid, 168\n\nAmerican Seminary Abeih, 169\n\nAnazy, 182\n\nArthington, Mr., 181, 184\n\nAli, 184, 359\n\nAmount of Instruction, 57, 78, 81, 316\n\nAbdullah Yanni, 220\n\nAintab, 88\n\nAbu Asaad, 274, 276, 283\n\nAbu Isbir, 281\n\nArab Camp, 295\n\nAbdullamites, 298\n\nArkites, 262\n\nAbu Hanna, 263\n\nAsaad Mishrik, 233\n\n\nBurying Alive, 1\n\nBirth of Daughter, 28, 236\n\nB'hamdun, 93, 121\n\nBliss, Mrs. Dr., 104\n\nBooth, Wm. A., 105, 106\n\nBird, Rev., 47, 48, 50, 58, 115\n\nBistany, Mr., 126, 134, 158, 200\n\nBedr, Rev. Yusef, 148\n\nBelinda, 149\n\nBedawin Arabs, 180\n\nBritish Syrian Schools, 84\n\nBeattie, Rev., 41\n\nBird, Mrs., 50\n\nBeit Beshoor, 274\n\nBells, 304\n\nBedawin Songs, 360\n\n\nCarabet Melita, 62, 65, 67, 153\n\nCheney, Miss, 74, 81, 97\n\nCarruth, Miss, 104\n\nCalhoun, Mrs., 79, 114, 197\n\nCrawford, Mrs., 204\n\nChurch of Scotland Schools for Jewish Girls, 214\n\nCarabet, Bishop Dionysius, 49\n\nConvent of the Sacred Fish, 296\n\nCamels, 245\n\n\nDivorce, 14, 17, 29, 37\n\nDruze, 20\n\nDodds, Dr., 39\n\nDe Forrest, Dr., 23, 33, 73, 75, 134, 298\n\nDales, Miss, 204\n\nDepartment of Women's Work, 219\n\nDodge, Dr., 50\n\nDodge, Mrs., 50, 52, 53\n\nDog River, 312\n\n\nEl Khunsa, the poetess, 4\n\nEducation of Girls, 18, 19\n\nEverett, Miss, 103\n\nEarly Age of Marriage, 117\n\nEddy, Mr., 151\n\nEl Hakem, 331, 22\n\nEvil Eye, 336\n\n\nFemale Prayer-Meeting, 56, 74\n\nFord, Mr., 126, 151, 156\n\nFrench Lazarist School, 169\n\nFrancis Effendi Merrash, 91\n\nFast of Ramadan, 306\n\nFeller's Soap, 328\n\nFunerals, 316, 364\n\nFemale Seminary, Beirut, 222, 315\n\nFruits, 255\n\nFisk, Rev. Pliny, 47\n\n\nGreek School Suk el Ghurb, 169\n\nGhubrin Jebara, 173\n\nGoodell, Mrs., 50\n\nGames, 319\n\nGreek Priests, 259\n\nGoodell, Dr., 47, 48\n\n\nHouris, 10\n\nHamze, 20\n\nHala of Abeih, 29\n\nHammud, 39\n\nHums, 140\n\nHassan, 198\n\nHicks, Miss, 206\n\nHowe, Fisher, 76, 80\n\nHaj Ibraham, 297\n\n\nIshoc, 149, 263\n\nIrish-American United Presbyterian Mission in Damascus, 204\n\nIshmaelitic Songs, 326\n\nImprecations, 326\n\n\nJohnson, Miss, 97\n\nJacombs, Miss, 98, 225\n\nJackson, Miss Ellen, 104\n\nJenan, 136, 162, 165, 191\n\nJenneh, 136\n\nJeneineh, 136\n\nJesuit School Ghuzir, 169\n\nJob, 229\n\n\nKhozma Ata, 33, 75\n\nKatrina Subra, 93, 95\n\nKoukab es Subah, 33, 126\n\nKoran, 1, 2, 11, 126, 297\n\nKhalil Effendi, 167\n\nKhalil Ferah, 286\n\nKing, Dr. Jonas, 47, 48\n\n\nLatakiah Boarding School, 42\n\nLoring, Miss Sophia, 104\n\nLuciya, Shekkur, 114\n\nLyde, Mr., 38, 39\n\nLying, 284\n\nLullaby, 294\n\nLetters, 311\n\nLokunda, 242\n\n\nMoslem Paradise for Women, 10\n\nMoslem Idea of Women, 12, 17\n\nMoulah Hakem, 22, 331\n\nMassacres of 1860, 24, 95, 196, 286\n\nMarriage Ceremony of Druzes, 25\n\nMarie, 43\n\nMaronites, 45\n\nMason, Miss, 97\n\nMeshakah, Dr., 118\n\nMiriam the Aleppine, 15\n\nModern Syrian Views, 158\n\nMoslem Schools, 168, 253\n\nMiss Taylor's School Moslem Girls, 213\n\nMethak en Nissa, 21\n\nMetheny, Dr., 40\n\nManger, 265\n\nMissionary Stations, 249\n\nMiriam, 279, 282\n\nMonasteries, 309\n\nMarriage, 338, 117, 143\n\nMohammed ed Dukhy, 182, 189, 246\n\n\nNaman, King of Hira, 3\n\nNusairiyeh, 35\n\nNusairiyeh Women, 38\n\nNejm, 110\n\nNaame Tabet, 201\n\nNowar, 286\n\nNursery Songs, 325\n\nNames, 242, 244\n\n\nOthman, 2\n\nOkkal, 24\n\nOulad el Arab, 46\n\n\nPoetesses of Arabs, 6\n\nPosition of Woman in Mohammedan World, 7\n\nPrussian Deaconess' Institute Beirut, 206\n\nPost, Dr., 29\n\nPraying, 305\n\nParsons, Rev. Levi, 47\n\n\nQualifications for Missionaries, 53\n\n\nRakash, the Poetess, 6\n\nRufka, Gregory, 60, 97, 99, 102, 138, 175, 277\n\nResha, 110\n\nRaheel, 120\n\nRuella Arabs, 184\n\n\nSa Saah, 3\n\nSchwire, 10\n\nSheikh Owad, 16\n\nSheikh Said el Ghur, 19\n\nSheikh Khottar, 31\n\nSheikh Mohammed ed Dukhy, 182, 189, 246\n\nSheikh Aiub el Hashem, 288\n\nSitt Abla, 30\n\nSyrian Christianity, 46\n\nStale of Mission in 1828, 49,\n  --1834, 51, 53,\n  --1841, 55,\n  --1846, 57\n  --1852, 75,\n  --1864, 101\n\nSeclusion of Oriental Females, 52\n\nSada Gregory, 18, 61, 70\n\nSuperstitions, 77, 317, 318, 336\n\nSada Barakat, 84\n\nStanton, Miss, 98\n\nSada el Haleby, 84, 100, 115\n\nSara Bistany, 101, 136\n\nSmith, Dr., 50, 127\n\nSarkis, Mr. Ibraham, 127\n\nSulleba Jerwan, 142\n\nSara Huntington Bistany, 157\n\nSitt Mariana Merrash, 162\n\nSitt Wustina Mesirra, 165\n\nSchools of Syria, 169, 171\n\nSitt Harba, 183, 185, 359\n\nSafita, 277, 285, 302, 334\n\nSeven Arbitrary Pillars of the Law, 22\n\nSuggestions to Friends of Missions, 224\n\nSidon Female Seminary, 225\n\nSaad-ed-Deen, 67\n\nSphere and Mode of Woman's Work, 218\n\nSyed Abdullah, 288\n\nSwine, 306\n\nStory of the Goats and the Ghoul, 343\n\nStory of the Hamam, Butta, etc., 346\n\nStory of the Lion and Ibn Adam, 350\n\nStory of the Jew Rufaiel, 354\n\nStory of the Badinjan, 358\n\nShepherds, 313\n\nSwearing, 240\n\nSoum el Kebir, 260\n\nSmith, Mrs., 27, 50, 120\n\nSyrian School-Houses, 235\n\n\nTribe of Temim, 3\n\nTriangle of Solomon, 36\n\nTemple, Miss, 97\n\nThomson, Dr., 48, 100, 123\n\nThomson, Miss Emilia, 104\n\nTod, Mrs. Alexander, 122\n\nThompson, Mrs. Bowen, 208\n\nThomson, Mrs., 50\n\nTelegraph, 310\n\nTilden, 33, 54, 60\n\n\nVan Dyck, 31, 107, 117, 127, 172\n\nValue Set on Woman's Life, 196\n\n\nWahidy, 19\n\nWomen's Work, 1820 to 1872, 45\n\nWortabet, Salome, 49, 64\n\nWhittlesey, Mrs. A.L., 74, 78\n\nWatson, Mrs., 98, 204\n\nWomen's Boards of Missions, 104\n\nWhiting, Mrs., 31, 57, 63, 125\n\nWilson, Rev. D.M., 83, 142\n\nWerdeh, 156\n\nWortabet, Rev. John, 202\n\nWhiting, Rev., 50, 58, 61\n\nWaly, 291\n\nWortabet, Gregory, 49, 51\n\nWilliams, Miss Rebecca, 52, 55\n\n\nYusef Jedid, 40\n\nYusef Ahtiyeh, 278, 281\n\nYanni, 237, 254, 256, 289, 300, 309\n\nYusef Keram, 301\n\n\nZarifeh, the Poetess, 6\n\nZeyarehs, 37, 268\n\nZahara, 39\n\nZarify, 110\n\nZahidy, 287\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Notes:\n\nReplaced \"Beirut\" with \"Beirut\" for consistency throughout the book.\nReplaced \"Nusairiyeh\" with \"Nusairiyeh\" for consistency throughout the\n  book.\nPage 147: Added opening parenthesis before \"etc., etc.\"\nPage 206: Changed Aitah to Aitath.\nPage 273: Changed Inshallah to Inshullah.\nPage 311: Changed Mushullah to Mashallah.\nPage 370: Changed Abdulla Yanni to Abdullah Yanni.","title":"The Women of the Arabs","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":99387}