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 The women of the Arabs :with a chapter f 
 
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Blind Men by the Wayside Begging 
 
THE WOMEN 
 
 OF 
 
 THE ARABS. 
 
 WITH A CHAPTER FOR CHILDREN. 
 BY 
 
 Rev. henry HARRIS JESSUP, D.D., 
 
 Seventeen years American Missionary in Syria. 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 Rev. C. S. ROBINSON, D.D., & Rev. ISAAC RILEY. 
 
 ' The threshold weeps forty days when a girl is bom." 
 
 — Mt. Lebanon Proverb. 
 
 LOISTDON: 
 SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, LOW & SEARLE, 
 
 CROWN BUILDINGS, 188 FLEET STREET. 
 1874. 
 
nil 
 
 A. lixiu^ 
 
THIS BOOK 
 
 IS DEDICATED TO THE 
 
 CHRISTIAN WOMEN OF AMERICA. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 nPHE Orient is the birthplace of prophecy. Before 
 the advent of our Lord, the very air of the East 
 was resounding with the " unconscious prophecies of 
 heathenism.'' Men were in expectation of great 
 changes in the earth. When Mohammed arose, he not 
 only claimed to be the deliverer of a message inspir- 
 ed of Allah, but to foretell the events of futurity. 
 He declared that the approach of the latter day 
 could be distinguished by unmistakable signs, among 
 which were two of the most notable character. 
 
 Before the latter day, the sun shall rise in the 
 West, and God will send forth a cold odoriferous wind 
 blowing from Syria Damascena, which shall szveep 
 away the souls of all the faithful, and the Koran it- 
 self. What the world of Islam takes in its literal sense, 
 we may take in a deeper spiritual meaning. Is it 
 not true, that far in the West, the gospel sun began 
 to rise and shed its beams on Syria, many years 
 ago, and that in our day that cold odoriferous wind 
 of truth and life, fragrant with the love of Jesus and 
 the love of man, is beginning to blow from Syria 
 Damascena, over all the Eastern world ! The church 
 and the school, the printing press and the translated 
 
Vj PREFA CE. 
 
 Bible, the periodical and the ponderous volume, the 
 testimony of living witnesses for the truth, and of 
 martyrs who have died in its defence, all combine to 
 sweep away the systems of error, whether styled 
 Christian, Moslem or Pagan. 
 
 The remarkable uprising of christian women in 
 Christian lands to a new interest in the welfare of 
 woman in heathen and Mohammedan countries, is 
 one of the great events of the present century. This 
 book is meant to be a memorial of the early laborers in 
 Syria, nearly all of whom have passed away. It is in- 
 tended also as a record of the work done for women 
 and girls of the Arab race ; to show some of the great 
 results which have been reached and to stimulate to 
 new zeal and effort in their behalf. 
 
 In tracing the history of this work, it seemed ne- 
 cessary to describe the condition of woman in Syria 
 when the missionaries first arrived, and to examine 
 the different religious systems, which affect her po- 
 sition. 
 
 In preparing the chapter on the Pre-Islamic 
 Arabs, I have found valuable materials in Chenery's 
 Hariri, Sales and Rodwell's Koran, and Freytag's 
 Arabic Proverbs. 
 
 For the facts about the Druze religion, I have 
 consulted Col. Churchill's Works, Mount Lebanon, 
 and several Arabic manuscripts in the mission library 
 in Beirut. 
 
 Rev. S. Lyde's interesting book called the " Asian 
 Mystery,'' has given me the principal items with 
 regard to the Nusairiyeh religion. This confirms 
 
PREFACE. vii 
 
 the statements of Suleiman Effendi, whose tract, re- 
 vealing the secrets of the Nusairiyeh faith, was 
 printed years ago at the Mission Press in Beiriit, and 
 translated by that ripe Arabic Scholar Prof. E. Salis- 
 bury of New Haven. The bloody Nusairiyeh never 
 forgave Suleiman for revealing their mysteries ; and 
 having invited him to a feast in a village near Adana, 
 1871, brutally buried him alive in a dunghill! 
 
 For the historical statements of this volume, I am. 
 indebted to the files of the Missionary Herald, the 
 Annual Reports of the Syria Mission, the archives 
 of the mission in Beirut, the memoir of Mrs. Sarah 
 L. Smith, and private letters from Mrs. Whiting, 
 Mrs. De Forest, and various missionary and native 
 friends. 
 
 Information on the general work of the Syrian 
 Mission may be found in Dr. Anderson's " Missions 
 to the Oriental churches," Rev. Isaac Bird's " Bible 
 Work in Bible Lands," and the pamphlet sketches 
 of Rev. T. Laurie and Rev. James S. Dennis. 
 
 The specimens of poetry from ancient Arabic po- 
 etesses, have been gathered from printed and manu- 
 script volumes, and from the lips of the people. 
 
 Some accounts of child life in Syria and specimens 
 of Oriental stories and nursery rhymes have been 
 gathered into a " Children's Chapter." They have a 
 value higher than that which is given by mere enter- 
 tainment as they exhibit many phases of Arab home 
 life. The illustrations of the volume consist of draw- 
 ings from photographs by Bergheim of JerusaJem 
 and Bonfils of Beirut. 
 
viii PREFA CE. 
 
 The pages of Arabic were electrotyped in Beirut 
 by Mr. Samuel Hallock, the skilful superintendent of 
 the American Press. 
 
 I send out this record of the work carried on in 
 Syria with deep gratitude for all that the Lord has 
 done, and with an ardent desire that it may be the 
 means of bringing this great field more vividly before 
 the minds of Christian people, of wakening warmer 
 devotion to the missionary cause, and so of hastening 
 the time when every Arab woman shall enjoy the 
 honor, an4 be worthy of the elevation which come 
 with faith in Him who was first foretold as the seed 
 of the woman. 
 
 HENRY HARRIS JESSUP. 
 
 Beirut, Syria, Nov. 28, 1872. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 — ♦ — 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 FAGB 
 
 State of Women among the Arabs of the Jahiliyeh, 
 or the " Times of the Ignorance." I 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 State of Women in the Mohammedan World 7 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 The Druze Religion and Druze Women 20 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Nusairtyeh 35 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Chronicle of Women's Work from 1820 to 1872 45 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 Mrs. Whiting's School 57 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Dr. De Foresfs Work in Beirdt 73 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 Re-opening of the School in Beirut 97 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 pAca 
 Luciya Shekkur '. 1 14 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 Raheel 120 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 Hums 140 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 Miriam the Aleppine 151 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Modern Syrian Views with regard to Female Education 158 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 Bedawin Arabs 180 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 Woman between Barbarism and Civilization 191 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 Opinions of Protestant Syrians with regard to the 
 Work of American Women in Syria 200 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 Other Labors for Women and Girls in this Field. . . . 204 
 
 CHAPTER XVIIJ. 
 The Amount of Biblical Instruction given in Mission 
 Schools 211; 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 The Children's Chapter , 
 
 00 
 
Beirut, Syria, July, 1873. 
 
 Owing to the impossibility of my atte^iding 
 persofially to the editing of this volume, I re- 
 quested m.y old friends, Rev. C. S. Robinson, 
 D.D., and Rev. Isaac Riley, of New York, to 
 superintend the work, and would gratefully ac- 
 knowledge their kind and disinterested aid, 
 cheerfully proffered at no little sacrifice of 
 
 tim^e. 
 
 H. H. JESSUP. 
 
TH B3 
 
 Women of the Arabs. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 STATE OF WOMEN AMONG THE ARABS OF THE 
 JAHILIYEH, OR THE "TIMES OF THE IG- 
 NORANCE." 
 
 T N that eloquent Sura of the Koran, called Ettek- 
 wir, (Ixxxi.) it is said, " When the girl buried 
 alive shall be asked for what sin she was slain." 
 The passage no doubt refers to the cruel practice 
 which still in Mohammed's time lingered among the 
 tribe of Temim, and which was afterwards eradicated 
 by the influence of Islam. The origin of this prac- 
 tice has been ascribed to the superstitious rite of 
 sacrificing children, common in remote times to all 
 the Semites, and observed by the Jews up to the age 
 of the Captivity, as we learn from the denunciations 
 of Jeremiah. But in later times daughters were 
 buried alive as a matter of household economy, 
 owing to the poverty of many of the tribes, and to 
 their fear of dishonor, since women were often 
 I 
 
2 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 carried off by their enemies in forays, and made 
 slaves and concubines to strangers. 
 
 So that at a wedding, the wish expressed in the 
 gratulations to the newly-married pair was, " with 
 concord and sons," or "with concord and perma- 
 nence ; with sons and no daughters." This same 
 salutation is universal in Syria now. The chief wish 
 expressed by women to a bride is, " may God give 
 you an " arees," i. e. a bridegroom son. 
 
 In the Koran, Sura xiv, Mohammed argues 
 against the Arabs of Kindneh, who said that the 
 angels were the daughters of God. " They (blas- 
 phemously) attribute daughters to God ; yet they 
 wish them not for themselves. When a female child 
 is announced to one of them, his face grows dark, 
 and he is as though he would choke." 
 
 The older Arab Proverbs show that the burying 
 alive of female children was deemed praiseworthy. 
 
 " To send women before to the other world, is a benefit." 
 " The best son-in-law is the grave." 
 
 The Koran also says, that certain men when 
 hearing of the birth of a daughter hide themselves 
 " from the people because of the ill-tidings ; shall he 
 keep it with disgrace, or bury it in the dust." 
 (Sura xvi.) 
 
 It is said that the only occasion on which 0th- 
 man ever shed a tear, was when his little daughter, 
 whom he was burying alive, wiped the dust of the 
 grave-earth from his beard ! 
 
 Before the Seventh Century this practice seems 
 
" TIMES OF THE IGNORANCE." 3 
 
 to have been gradually abandoned, but was re- 
 tained the longest in the tribe of Temim. Naman, 
 king of Hira, carried off among his prisoners in a 
 foray, the daughter of Kais, chief of Temim, who 
 fell in love with one of her captors and refused to 
 return to her tribe, whereupon her father swore to 
 bury alive all his future female children, which he 
 did, to the number of ten. 
 
 Subsequent to this, rich men would buy the lives 
 of girls devoted to inhumation, and Sa Saah thus 
 rescued many, in one case giving two milch camels 
 to buy the life of a new-born girl, and he was styled 
 " the Reviver of the Maidens buried alive." 
 
 The following Arabic Proverbs having reference 
 to women and girls will illustrate the ancient Arab 
 ideas with regard to their character and position, 
 better than volumes of historic discourse : 
 
 ** Obedience to women will have to be repented of." 
 
 " A man can bear anything but the mention of his women." 
 
 " The heart of woman is given to folly." 
 
 " Leave not a girl nor a green pasture unguarded." 
 
 " What has a girl to do with the councils of a nation ? " 
 
 " If you would marry a beauty, pay her dowry." 
 
 " Fear not to praise the man whose wives are true to him." 
 
 " Woman fattens on what she hears." (flattery) 
 
 " Women are the whips of Satan." 
 
 "If you would marry a girl, inquire about the traits of her 
 
 mother." 
 
 " Trust neither a. king, a horse, nor a woman. For the king is 
 
 fastidious, the horse prone to run away, and the woman is perfidious." 
 " My father does the fighting, and my mother the talking about 
 
 it." 
 
 " Our mother forbids us to err and runs into error.'' 
 " Alas for the people who are ruled by a woman \ " 
 
4 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 The position of woman among the Arabs before 
 the times of IMohammed can be easily inferred from 
 what has preceded. But there is another side to 
 the picture. Although despised and abused, woman 
 often averted her dignity and maintained her rights, 
 not only by physical force, but by intellectual supe- 
 riority as well. The poetesses of the Arabs are 
 numerous, and some of them hold a high rank. 
 Their poetry was impromptu, impjissioned, and 
 chiefly of the elegiac and erotic type. The faculty 
 of improvisation was cultivated even by the most 
 barbarous tribes, and although such of their poetry 
 as has been preserved is mostly a kind of rhymed 
 prose, it often contains striking and beautiful 
 thoughts. They called improvised poetry "the 
 daughter of the 'hour." 
 
 The queen of Arabic poetesses is EI Khunsa, 
 who flourished in the days of Mohammed. Elegies 
 on her two warrior brothers Sakhr and Mu'dwiyeh 
 are among the gems of ancient Arabic poetry. She 
 was not what would be called in modern times a 
 refined or delicate lady, being regarded as proud 
 and masculine in temper even by the Arabs of her 
 own age. In the eighth year of the Hegira, her son 
 Abbas brought a thousand warriors to join the 
 forces of the Prophet. She came with him and re- 
 cited her poetry to Mohammed. She lamented her 
 brother for years. She sang of Sakhr : 
 
 " His goodness is Ijnown by his brotherly face, 
 Thrice blessed such sign of a heavenly grace : 
 
" TIMES OF THE IGNORANCE." 5 
 
 You would think from his aspect of meekness and shame. 
 That his anger was stirred at the thought of his fame. 
 Oh rare virtue and beautiful, natural trait, 
 Which never will change by the change of estate ! 
 When clad in his armor and prepared for the fray, 
 The army rejoiceth and winneth the day ! " 
 
 Again, she lamented him as follows : 
 
 " Each glorious rising sun brings Sakhr to my mind, 
 I think anew of him when sets the orb of day ; 
 And had I not beheld the grief and sorrow blind 
 Of many mourning ones o'er brothers snatched away, 
 I should have slain myself, from deep and dark despair." 
 
 The poet Nabighah erected for her a red leather 
 tent at the fair of Okaz, in token of honor, and in 
 the contest of poetry gave her the highest place 
 above all but Maymun, saying to her, " If I had not 
 heard him, I would say that thou didst surpass 
 every one in poetry. I confess that you surpass all 
 women." To which she haughtily replied, " Not 
 the less do I surpass all me^,"- 
 
 The follo.wing are among the famous lines of El 
 Khunsa, which gave her the title of princess of Arab 
 poetesses. The translation I have made quite lit- 
 eral. 
 
 ■• Ah time has its wonders ; its changes amaze ; 
 
 It leaves us the tail while the head it slays ; 
 
 It leaves us the low while the highest decays ; 
 
 It leaves the obscure, the despised, and the slave, 
 
 But of honored and loved ones, the true and the brave, 
 
 It leaves us to mourn o'er the untimely grave. 
 
 The two new creations, the day and the night. 
 
 Though ceaselessly changing, are pure as the light : 
 
 But man changes to error, corruption and blight." 
 
6 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 The most ancient Arab poetess, Zarifeh, is sup- 
 posed to have lived as long ago as the Second Cen- 
 tury, in the time of the bursting of the famous dyke 
 of Mareb, which devastated the land of Saba. 
 Another poetess, RaMsh, sister of the king of Hira, 
 was given in marriage, by the king when intoxicated, 
 to a man named Adi. 
 
 Alas, in these days the Moslem Arabs do not 
 wait until blinded by wine, to give their daughters 
 in marriage to strangers. I once overheard two 
 Moslem young men conversing in a shop, one of 
 whom was about to be married. His companion 
 said to him, " have you heard anything about the 
 looks of your betrothed?'' "Not much," said he, 
 " only I am assured that she is white." 
 
 In a book written by Mirai ibn Yusef el Hanbali, 
 are the names of twenty Arab women who impro- 
 vised poetry. Among them are Leila, Leila el 
 Akhyaliyeh, Lubna, Zeinab, Afra, Hind, May, Jentib, 
 Hubaish, Zarifeh, Jemileh, Remleh, Lotifeh, and 
 others. Most of the verses ascribed to them are 
 erotic poetry of an amatory character, full of the 
 most extravagant expressions of devotion of which 
 language is capable, and yet the greater part of it 
 hardly bearing translation. It reminds one strikingly 
 of Solomon's Song, full of passionate eloquence. 
 And yet in the poetry of El Khunsa and others, 
 which is of an elegiac character, there are passages 
 full of sententious apothegms and proverbial wis- 
 dom. 
 
CHAPTER II. I 
 
 STATE OF WOMEN IN THE MOHAMMADAN WORLD. 
 
 /^ UR knowledge of the position of women among 
 ^^^ the Mohammedans is derived from the Koran, 
 Moslem tradition, and Moslem- practice. 
 
 I. In the first place, the Koran does not teach 
 that women have no souls. Not only was Mo- 
 hammed tod deeply indebted to his rich wife 
 Khadijah, to venture such an assertion, but he ac- 
 tually teaches in the Koran the immortality and 
 moral responsibility of women. One of his wives 
 having complained to him that God often praised 
 the men, but not the women who had fled the 
 country for the faith, he immediately produced the 
 following revelation : 
 
 " I will not suffer the work of him among you who worketh to be 
 lost, whether he be male or female." (Sura iii.) 
 
 In Sura iv. it is said : 
 
 " Whoso doeth good works, and is a true believer, whether male 
 or female, shall be admitted into Paradise." 
 
 In Sura xxxiii : 
 
 " Truly, the Muslemen and the Muslimate, (fem.) 
 The believing men and the believing women. 
 The devout men and the devout women. 
 
8 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 The men of truth and the women of truth. 
 
 The patient men and the patient women, 
 
 The humble men and the humble women. 
 
 The charitable men and the charitable women. 
 
 The fasting men and the fasting women. 
 
 The chaste men and the chaste women, 
 
 And the men and women who oft remember God ; 
 
 For them hath God prepared 
 
 Forgiveness and a rich recompense." 
 
 II. Thus Mohammedans cannot and do not deny 
 that women have souls, but their brutal treatment 
 of women has naturally led to this view. The Caliph 
 Omar said that " women are worthless creatures and 
 soil men's reputations." In Sura iv. it is written : 
 
 " Men are superior to women, on account of the qualities 
 With which God has gifted the one above the other. 
 And on account of the outlay they make, from their substance 
 for them. 
 
 Virtuous women are obedient 
 
 But chide those for whose refractoriness 
 
 Ye have cause to fear and scourge them." 
 
 The interpretation of this last injunction being 
 left to the individual believer, it is carried out with 
 terrible severity. The scourging and beating of 
 wives is one of the worst features of Moslem domes- 
 tic life. It is a degraded and degrading practice, 
 and having the sanction of the Koran, will be in- 
 dulged in without rebuke as long as Islamism as a 
 system and a faith prevails in the world. Happily 
 for the poor women, the husbands do not generally 
 beat them so as to imperil their lives, in case their 
 own relatives reside in the vicinity, lest the excru- 
 
STA TE OF MOHAMMEDAN WOMEN. g 
 
 dating screams of the suffering should reach the 
 ears of her parents and bring the husband into dis- 
 grace.' But where there is no fear of interference 
 or of discovery, the blows and kicks are appHed in 
 the most merciless and barbarous manner. Women 
 are killed in this way, and no outsider knows the 
 cause. One of my Moslem neighbors once beat one 
 of his wives to death. I heard her screams day after 
 day, and finally, one night, when all was still, I heard 
 a dreadful shriek, and blow after blow falling upon 
 her back and head. I could hear the brute cursing 
 her as he beat her. The police would not interfere, 
 and I could not enter the house. The next day 
 there was a funeral from that house, and she was 
 carried off and buried in the most hasty and unfeel- 
 ing manner. Sometimes it happens that the woman 
 is strong enough to defend herself, and conquers a 
 peace ; but ordinarily when you hear a scream in 
 the Moslem quarter of the city and ask the reason, 
 it will be said to you with an indifferent shrug of 
 the shoulder, " that is only some man beating his 
 wife." 
 
 That thirty-eighth verse of Sura iv. is one of the 
 many proofs that the Koran is not the book of God, 
 because it violates the law of love. " Husbands 
 love your wives," is a precept of the Gospel and not 
 of the Koran. Yet it is a sad fact that the nominal 
 Christians of this dark land are not much better in 
 this respect than their Moslem neighbors. The 
 Greeks, Maronites and Papal Greeks beat their 
 wives on the slightest provocation. In the more 
 1* 
 
lO THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 enlightened towns and cities this custom is " going 
 out of fashion," though still often resorted to in fits 
 of passion. Sometimes the male relatives of the 
 wife retaliate in case a husband beats her. In the 
 village of Schwire, in Lebanon, a man beat his wife 
 in a brutal manner and she fled to the house of her 
 brother. The brother watched his opportunity; 
 waylaid the offending husband, and avenged his 
 sister's injuries by giving him a severe flogging. In 
 Eastern Turkey, a missionary in one of the towns 
 noticed that not one woman attended church on 
 Sunday. He expostulated with the Protestants, 
 and urged them to persuade their wives to accom- 
 pany them. The next Sunday the women were all 
 present, as meek and quiet as could be wished. The 
 missionary was delighted, and asked one of the men 
 how they persuaded them to come ? He replied, 
 " We all beat our wives soundly until they consented 
 to come ! " This wife-beating custom has evidently 
 been borrowed by the Christian sects from their 
 Moslem rulers and oppressors, and nothing but a 
 pure Christianity can induce them to abandon it. 
 
 III. Some have supposed that there will be no 
 place in the Moslem Paradise for women, as their 
 place will be taken by the seventy-two bright-eyed 
 Houris or damsels of Paradise. Mohammed once 
 said that when he took a view of Paradise he saw 
 the majority of its inhabitants to be the poor, and 
 when he looked down into hell, he saw the 'greater 
 part of the wretches confined there to be women ! 
 Yet he positively promised his followers that the 
 
STA TE OF MOHAMMEDAN WOMEN. 1 1 
 
 very meanest in Paradise will have eighty thousand 
 servants, seventy-two wives of the Houris, besides 
 the wives he Itad in this world. The promises of the 
 Houris are almost exclusively to be found in Suras, 
 written at a time when Mohammed had only a single 
 wife of sixty years of age, and in all the ten years 
 subsequent to the Hegira, women are only twice 
 mentioned as the reward of the faithful. And this, 
 while in four Suras, the proper wives of the faithful 
 are spoken of as accompanying their husbands into 
 the gardens of bliss. 
 
 " They and their wives on that day 
 
 Shall rest in shady groves.'' (Sura 36.) 
 " Enter ye and your wives into Paradise delighted." (Sura 43.) 
 " Gardens of Eden into which they shall enter 
 Together with the just of their fathers, and their wives." (Sura 
 13.) 
 
 An old woman once desired Mohammed to in- 
 tercede with God that she might be admitted to 
 Paradise, and he told her that no old woman would 
 enter that place. She burst into loud weeping, 
 when he explained himself by saying that God 
 would then make her young again. 
 
 I was once a fellow-passenger in the Damascus 
 diligence, with a Mohammedan pilgrim going to 
 Mecca by way of Beirut and Egypt, in company 
 with his wife. I asked him whether his wife would 
 have any place in Paradise when he received his 
 quota of seventy-two Houris. " Yes," said he, look- 
 ing towards his wife, whose veil prevented our seeing 
 her, although she could see us, " if she obeys me in 
 
12 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 all respects, and' is a faithful wife, and goes to Mecca, 
 she will be made more beautiful than all the Houris 
 of Paradise." Paradise is thus held up to the 
 women as the reward of obedience to their hus- 
 bands, and this is about the sum and substance of 
 what the majority of Moslem women know about 
 religion. 
 
 Women are never admitted to pray with men in 
 public, being obliged to perform their devotions at 
 home, or if they visit the Mosques, it must be at a 
 time when the men are not there, for the Moslems 
 are of opinion that the presence of women inspires 
 a different kind of devotion from that which is 
 'desirable in a place set apart for the worship of God. 
 
 The Moslem idea of woman is vile and degraded. 
 A Moslem absent from home never addresses a letter 
 to his wife, but to his son or brother, or some male 
 relative. It is considered a grievous insult to ask a 
 Moslem about the health of his wife. If obliged to 
 allude to a woman in conversation, you must use 
 the word " ajellak Allah," " May God elevate you" 
 above the contamination of this subject ! You 
 would be expected to use the same expression in 
 referring to a donkey, a dog, a shoe, a swine or any- 
 thing vile. It is somewhat like the Irish expression, 
 "Saving your presence, sir," when alluding to an 
 unpleasant subject. 
 
 A Greek christian (?) in Tripoli came to an 
 American Missionary physician and said, " there is 
 a woman, ' ajell shanak Allah ' here who is ill. I 
 beg your pardon for mentioning so vile a subject to 
 
STATS OF MOHAMMEDAN WOMEN. 13 
 
 your excellency." Said the doctor, " and who may 
 it be ? " " Ajellak, it is my wife ! " 
 
 I remember once meeting the Mohammedan 
 Mufti of Beirut in Dr. Van Dyck's study at the 
 printing press. The Mufti's wife, (at least one of 
 them,) was ill, and he wished medical advice, but 
 could not insult the Doctor by alluding to a woman 
 in his presence. So he commenced, after innumera- 
 ble salutations, repeating good-morning, and may 
 your day be happy, until he could decently proceed 
 to business. " Your excellency must be aware that 
 I have a sick man at my house. May God grant 
 you health ! Indeed, peace to your head. InshuUah, 
 it is only a slight attack ! " " He has pain in his 
 back, headache, and he will not eat." " Has he any 
 fever ? " "A little.'' " I will come and see her this 
 afternoon." " May God increase your good. Good 
 morning, sir ! " 
 
 The Mohammedan laws with regard to polygamy, 
 inheritance and divorce, are a decided advance on 
 the Pagan Arabs of " the Ignorance." • 
 
 The Pagan Arabs allowed any number of wives. 
 The Koran allows only four to any believer, the 
 prophet himself having peculiar privileges in this 
 respect. The modern practice of Mohammedans in 
 taking a score or more of wives is directly contrary 
 to the Koran. The Pagan Arabs suffered no woman 
 to have any part of the husband's or father's inheri- 
 tance, on the ground that none should inherit who 
 could not go to war, and the widows were disposed 
 of as a part of their husband's possessions. The 
 
14 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 Koran says, (Sura iv.) " Women ought to have a 
 part of what their parents leave." A male shall 
 have twice as much as a female. But a man's 
 parents, and also his brothers and sisters are to have 
 equal shares, without reference to sex. " God com- 
 mandeth you to give the male the portion of two 
 females. If she be an only daughter, she shall have 
 the half. Your wives shall have a fourth part of 
 what ye leave, if ye have no issue." 
 
 Among the Pagan Arabs, divorce was a mere 
 matter of caprice. The Koran says, (Sura ii.) " You 
 may divorce your wives twice (and take them back 
 again). But if the husband divorce her a third time, 
 it is not lawful for him to take her again, until she 
 shall have been actually married to another husband, 
 and then divorced by him." I have known cases 
 where the husband in a fit of passion has divorced 
 his wife the third time, and, in order to get her back 
 again, has hired another man to marry her and then 
 divorce her. A rich Effendi had divorced his wife 
 the third time, and wishing to remarry her, hired a 
 poor man to marry her for a consideration of seven 
 hundred piastres. He took the wife and the money, 
 and the next day refused to give her up for less than 
 five thousand piastres, which the Effendi was obliged 
 to pay, as the woman had become the lawful and 
 wedded wife of the poor man. 
 
 No Mohammedan ever walks with his wife in the 
 street, and in Moslem cities, very few if any of men 
 of other sects are willing to be seen in public in com- 
 pany with a woman. The women are closely veiled, 
 
STATE OF MOHAMMEDAN WOMEN. 15 
 
 and if a man and his wife have occasion to go any- 
 where together, he walks in advance and she walks 
 a long distance behind him. Nofel Effendi, one of 
 the most learned and intelligent Protestants in Syria, 
 once gave me the explanation of this aversion to 
 walking in public with women, in a more satisfactory 
 manner than I have ever heard it before. Said he, 
 " You Franks can walk with your wives in public, 
 because their faces are unveiled, and it is known that 
 they are your wives, but our women are so closely 
 veiled that if I should walk with my wife in the street, 
 no one would know whether I was walking with my 
 own wife or another man's ! You cannot expect a 
 respectable man to put himself into such an embar- 
 rassing position ! '' No Moslem woman or girl 
 would dare go into the street without a veil, for fear 
 of personal chastisement from the husband and 
 father, and the Greek, Maronite and other nominal 
 Christian women in Syria shrink from exposing- 
 their faces, through fear of insult from the Moham- 
 medans. 
 
 When European women, either residents or trav- 
 ellers, pass through the Moslem quarter of these 
 cities of Syria and Palestine, with faces unveiled, 
 they are made the theme of the most outrageous 
 and insulting comments by the Moslem populace. 
 Well is it for the feelings of the most of these worthy 
 Christian women, that they do not understand the 
 Arabic language. The Turkish governor of Tripoli 
 was obliged to suppress the insulting epithets of the 
 Moslems towards European ladies when they first 
 
1 6 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 began to reside there, by the infliction of the basti- 
 nado. 
 
 In 1857, the Rev. Mr. Lyons in Tripoli, hired 
 Sheikh Owad, a Moslem bigot, to teach him the 
 Arabic grammar. He was a conceited boor; well 
 versed in Arabic grammar, but more ignorant of 
 geography, arithmetic and good breeding than a 
 child. One day Mrs. Lyons passed through the room 
 where he was teaching Mr. L. and he turned his 
 head away from her and spat towards her with a 
 look of unutterable contempt. It was the last time 
 he did it, and he has now become so civilized that he 
 can say good morning to the wife of a missionary, 
 and even consent to teach the sacred, pure and un- 
 defiled Arabic to a woman ! I believe that he has 
 not yet given his assent to the fact that the earth 
 revolves on its axis, but he has learned that there 
 are women in the world who know more than Sheikh 
 Owad. 
 
 In ancient times Moslem women were occasionally 
 taught to read the Koran, and among the wealthier 
 and more aristocratic classes, married women are 
 now sometimes taught to read, but the mass of the 
 Moslem men are bitterly opposed to the instruction 
 of women. When a man decides to have his wife 
 taught to read, the usual plan is to hire a Wind Mo- 
 hammedan Sheikh, who knows the Koran by heart. 
 He sits at one side of the room, and she at the other, 
 some elderly woman, either her mother or her 
 mother-in-law, being present. The blind Sheikhs 
 have remarkable memories and sharp ears, and can 
 
STATE OF MOHAMMEDAN WOMEN. ly 
 
 detect the slightest error in pronunciation or render- 
 ing, so they are employed in the most of the Moslem- 
 schools. The mass of the Mohammedans are ner- 
 vously afraid of entrusting the knowledge of reading 
 and writing to their wives and daughters, lest they 
 abuse it by writing clandestine letters to improper 
 persons. " Teach a girl to read and write ! " said a 
 Mohammedan Mufti in Tripoli to me, " Why, she 
 will write letters, sir, — yes, actually write letters ! the 
 thing is not to be thought of for a moment." I re- 
 plied, " Effendum, you put your foot on the women's 
 necks and then blame them for not rising. Educate 
 your girls and train them to intelligence and virtue, 
 and then their pens will write only what ought to be 
 written. Train the hand to hold a pen, without 
 training the mind to direct it, and only mischief can 
 result." " Saheah, saheahP '' very true, very true," 
 said he, " But how can this be done? " 
 
 It has begun to be done in Syria. From the 
 days of Mrs. Sarah L. Smith to the present time, 
 Moslem girls have been taught to read and write and 
 sew, and there are many now learning in the various 
 American, British and Prussian schools. But it 
 will be long before any true idea of fhe dignity of 
 woman enters the ■ debased minds of Arab Moham- 
 medans. The simple fact is that there is no moral 
 purity or elevation among the men, and how can it 
 be expected among the women. The Moslem idea 
 of woman is infinitely lower than the old Jewish idea. 
 Woman in the time of Christ was highly honored. 
 Believing women followed Christ throughout Galilee 
 
1 8 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 and Judea, and although enemies stood watching 
 with hateful gaze on every side, not one word of in- 
 sinuation was ever lisped against them. It is a most 
 sadly irripressive fact to. one living in Syria at the 
 present day, that the liberty and respect allowed to 
 woman in the days of our Saviour would now be ab- 
 solutely impossible. In purely Greek or Maronite or 
 Armenian villages, the women enjoy far greater lib- 
 erty than where there is a Moslem element in the 
 population. And it is worthy of remark and grateful 
 recognition, that although Christianity in the East 
 has sunk almost to a level, in outward morality, with 
 the Islamic and semi-Pagan sects, there is a striking 
 difference between the lowest nominal Christian com- 
 munity and the highest Mohammedan, in the respect 
 paid to woman. Ignorant and oppressed as the 
 Greek and Maronite women may be, you feel on en- 
 tering their houses, that the degrading yoke of Mos- 
 lem brutality is not on their necks. Their husbands 
 may be coarse, ignorant and brutal, beating their 
 wives and despising their daughters, mourning at the 
 birth of a daughter, and marrying her without her 
 consent, and yet there are lower depths of coarseness 
 and brutality, of cruelty and bestiality, which are only 
 found among Mohammedans. I once suggested to a 
 Tripoli Moslem, that he send his daughters to our 
 Girls' School, then taught by Miss Sada Gregory, a 
 native teacher trained in the family of Mrs. Whiting, 
 and he looked at me with an expression of mingled 
 pity and contempt, saying, "Educate a. girlJ You 
 might as well attempt to educate a cat ! " 
 
STA TE OF MOHAMMEDAN WOMEN. ig 
 
 Not two months since, I was conversing with sev- 
 eral of the aristocratic Mohammedans of Beirut, who 
 were in attendance at the commencement of the 
 Beirut Protestant Medical College. The subject of 
 the education of girls was introduced, and one of 
 them said, " we are beginning to have our girls in- 
 structed in your Protestant schools, and would you 
 believe it, I heard one of therti read the other day, 
 (probably his own daughter,) and she actually asked 
 a question about the construction of a noun preceded 
 by a preposition ! I never heard the like of it. The 
 things do distinguish and understand what they read, 
 after all ! " The others replied, " Mashallah ! Mash- 
 allah ! " " The will of God be done ! " 
 
 Some ten years ago, an influential Moslem Sheikh 
 in Beirut, who was a personal friend of Mr. Araman, 
 the husband of Lulu, brought his daughter Wah'idy 
 (only one) to the Seminary to be instructed, on con- 
 dition that no man should ever see her face. As Mr. 
 Araman himself was one of the teachers, and I was 
 accustomed to make constant visits to the school, she 
 was obliged to wear a light veil, which she drew adroit- 
 ly over her face whenever the door was opened. This 
 went on for months and years, until at length in re- 
 citation she would draw the veil aside. Then she 
 used to listen to pubHc addresses in the school with- 
 out her veil, and finally, in June, 1867, she read a 
 composition on the stage at the Public Examination, 
 on, " The value of education to the women and girls 
 of Syria," her father. Sheikh Said el Ghur, being pres- 
 ent, with a number of his Moslem friends. 
 
CHAPTER HI. 
 
 THE DRUZE RELIGION AND DRUZE WOMEN. 
 
 'T^HE great expounder and defender of the Druze 
 religion is Hamze, the " Universal Intelli- 
 gence," the only Mediator between God and man, 
 and the medium of the creation of all things. This 
 Hamze was a shrewd, able and unprincipled man. 
 In his writings he not only defends the abominations 
 of Hakem, but lays down the complete code of 
 Druze doctrine and duty. 
 
 It is the belief of many, and said to be the ortho- 
 dox view among the Druzes that their system as 
 such is to last exactly goo lunar years. The date 
 of the Druze era is 408 Hegira, or 1020 A. D. The 
 present year, 1872, corresponds to the year 1289 
 Anno Hegira, so that in nineteen lunar years the 
 system will begin to come to an end according to its 
 own reckoning, and after 1 000 years it will cease to 
 exist. Others have fixed this present year as the 
 year of the great cataclysm, but the interpreters are 
 so secret and reserved in their statements, that it is 
 only by casual remarks that we can arrive at any 
 idea of their real behef. Lying to infidels is such a 
 meritorious act, that you cannot depend on one 
 word they say of themselves or their doctrines. 
 
THE DRUZE RELIGION AND DRUZE WOMEN. 2 1 
 
 Their secret books, which were found in the civil 
 wars of 1841 and 1845, have been translated and 
 published by De Lacy, and we have a number of 
 them in the original Arabic manuscripts in the Mis- 
 sion Library in Beirut. From a chapter in one of 
 these, entitled " Methak en Nissa," or the " En- 
 gagements of Women," I have translated the follow- 
 ing passages, to show the religious position of 
 women, as bearing upon my object in describing 
 the condition of Syrian females. 
 
 " Believers are both male and female. By in- 
 struction women pass from ignorance to knowl- 
 edge, and become angels like the Five Ministers 
 who' bear the Throne : i. e., the Doctrine of the 
 Unity. All male and female believers ought to be 
 free from all impurity and disgrace and dishonor. 
 Believing women should shun lying (to the breth- 
 ren) and infidelity and concupiscence, and the ap- 
 pearance of evil, and show the excellency of their 
 work above all Trinitarian women, avoiding all sus- 
 picion and taint which might- bring ill upon their 
 brethren, and avoiding giving attention to what is 
 contrary to the Divine Unity. 
 
 " We have written this epistle to be read to all 
 believing women who hold to the Unity of Hakem, 
 who knows His Eternity and obey their husbands. 
 But let no Dai or Maz^n read it to a woman until he 
 is well assured of her faith and her religion, and she 
 shall have made a written professioh of her faith. 
 He shall not read it to one woman alone, nor in a 
 house where there is but one woman, even though 
 
22 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 he be worthy of all confidence, lest suspicion be 
 awakened and the tongue of slander be loosed. Let 
 there be assembled together at least three women, 
 and let them sit behind a curtain or screen, so as not 
 to be seen. Each woman must be accompanied by 
 her husband, or her father, or brother or son, if he 
 be a Unitarian. The Dai in reading must keep his 
 eyes fixed on his book, neither turning towards the 
 place where the women are, nor casting a glance 
 towards it, nor listening to them. The woman, more- 
 over, must not speak a word during the reading, and 
 whether she is affected by a transport of joy, or 
 moved by an impression of respect and fear, she 
 must carefully abstain from showing her feelings 
 either by smiles or tears. For the smiles, the tears, 
 and the words of a woman may excite man's pas- 
 sions. Let her give her whole attention to the read- 
 ing, receive it in her heart, and apply all the facul- 
 ties of her mind to understand its meaning, in-order 
 clearly to conceive the true signification of what she 
 is listening to. If she finds any passage obscure, let 
 her ask the Dai, (the preacher,) and he shall answer, 
 if he can, and if not, promise to ask those who are 
 more learned, and when he has obtained the solution 
 he must inform her, if she be deemed worthy. 
 
 " The highest duty of Unitarian women is to 
 know our Moulah Hakem and' the Kaim Hamze. 
 If they follow Him, let them know that He has re- 
 leased them entirely from the observance of the 
 Seven Arbitrary Pillars of the Law (of Islam) which 
 are (i) Prayer, (2) Fasting (3) Pilgrimage, (4) Assert- 
 
THE DRUZE RELIGION AND DRUZE WOMEN. 23 
 
 ing, There is no God but God and Mohammed is 
 the Prophet of God, (5) Giving tithes, (6) War on 
 infidels, (7) Submission to authority. But on the 
 other hand, all believing women must perform the 
 Seven Religious Duties : The First and greatest is 
 Truth in your words : (i.e to the brethren and sisters) 
 the Second is, To watch reciprocally over the safety 
 of the brethren; the Third is, to renounce wholly 
 and entirely whatever religion you may have pre- 
 viously professed ; the Fourth is, To keep yourselves 
 apart, clear and distinct from all who are in error ; 
 the Fifth is. To recognize the existence of the Unity 
 of our Lord in all ages, times and epochs ; the Sixth 
 is, To be satisfied with His will and His works, what- 
 ever they may be ; The Seventh is, To abandon and 
 resign yourselves to all His orders whether in pros- 
 perity or adversity. You must keep these Seven 
 Commandments, and keep them strictly secret from 
 all who are of a different religion. If the Druze 
 women do all this and fulfil their duties, they are 
 indeed among the good, and shall have their reward 
 among the 159 Angels of the Presence and among 
 the Prophets who were Apostles, and be saved from 
 the snare of the accursed Iblis (Diabolus). Praise 
 then to our Lord Hakim, the praise of the thankful ! 
 He is my hope and victory ! " 
 
 What can you expect of the women, if the teach- 
 ers are thus warped with hypocrisy and falsehood. 
 They receive you politely. Dr. De Forest used to 
 say, that there is not a boor in the Druze nation. 
 But their very politeness confounds you. The old* 
 
An Arab Sheikh. 
 
THE DRUZE WOMEN AND DRUZE RELIGION. 2$ 
 
 politely paid their salams, saying, " Naharkum. 
 Saieed," "May your day be blessed," "Allah 
 yahtikum el afiyeh," " God give you health ! " 
 
 When a Druze Sheikh wishes to marry, he asks 
 consent of the father without having seen the 
 daughter. If the father consents, he informs her, 
 and if she consents, the suitor sends his affianced 
 presents of clothes and jewelry, which remain in her 
 hands as a pledge of his fidelity. She is pictured to 
 him as the paragon of beauty and excellence, but he 
 is never allowed to see her, speak to her, or write to 
 her, should she know how to write. His mother or 
 aunt may see her or bring reports, but he does not 
 see her until the wedding contract is signed and the 
 bride is brought to his house. 
 
 The following is the marriage ceremony of the 
 Druzes. It is read by the Kadi or Sheikh, and in 
 accordance to the Druze doctrine that they must 
 outwardly conform to the religion of the governing 
 power, it is a purely Mohammedan ordinance. 
 
 " Praise to God, the original Creator of all things ; 
 the Gracious in all His gifts and prohibitions ; who 
 has decreed and fixed the ordinance of marriage ; 
 may Allah pray for (bless) our Prophet Mohammed, 
 and his four successors ! Now after this, we say 
 that marriage is one of the laws given by the proph- 
 ets, and one of the statutes of the pious to guard 
 against vice ; a gift from the Lord of the earth and 
 the heaven. Praise to Him who by it has brought 
 the far ones near, and made the foreigner a relative 
 and friend f We are assembled here to attend to a 
 
26 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 matter decreed and fated of Allah, and whose be- 
 ginning, middle and end he has connected with the 
 most happy and .auspicious circumstances. This 
 matter is the blessed covenant of marriage. Insh- 
 uUah, may it be completed and perfected, and praise 
 to Allah, the Great Completer ! Amen ! 
 
 In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compas- 
 sionate. He is my portion and sufficiency. M^y 
 Allah pray for his pure prophet ! " 
 
 This is the marriage contract between the person 
 named A. son of — of the village of — in the dis- 
 trict of — in Lebanon, and his betrothed named B. 
 the daughter of — of the village of — she being a 
 maiden of full and marriageable age, with no legal 
 obstacles to her marriage. (May Allah protect her 
 veil, and have mercy on her relatives and friends !) 
 
 In view of the mercies of Allah and his prophet Mo- 
 hammed, they pay fifty piastres ($2.00) of full and law- 
 ful number, weight and measure, of the Imperial mint 
 of our Moulah the Sultan, (may the exalted and merci- 
 ful One give him the victory !) and of new white silver. 
 The agent of the husband is — and of the wife is — . 
 
 It is the absolute and bounden duty of the hus- 
 band to provide clothing for the body of his wife and 
 a crown for her head, and of the wife to give him his 
 due honor and rights and do his work, and Allah will 
 be with those who fear Him, and not suffer those who 
 do well to lose their reward. 
 
 Signed Sheikh (seal) 
 
 Iseal 
 seal 
 seal 
 
THE DRUZE RELIGION AND DRUZE WOMEN. 27 
 
 A whole week is given up to festivity before her 
 arrival, and the retinue of the bride mounted on fine 
 horses escort her amid the firing of musketry, the 
 zilagheet shrieks of the women, and general rejoicing, 
 to the bridegroom's house. Col. Churchill describes 
 what follows : " The bride meantime, after having re- 
 ceived the caresses and congratulations of her near 
 relatives, is conducted to a chamber apart and placed 
 on a divan, with a large tray of sweetmeats and con- 
 fectionery before her, after which all the females 
 withdraw and she is left alone, with a massive veil 
 of muslin and gold thrown over her head and cover- 
 ing her face, breasts and shoulders down to the waist. 
 What thoughts and sensations must crowd upon the 
 maiden's mind in this solitude ! not to be disturbed 
 but by him who will shortly come to receive in that 
 room his first impressions of her charms and attrac- 
 tions ! Presently she hears footsteps at the door ; it 
 opens quietly ; silently and unattended her lover ap- 
 proaches her, lifts the veil off her face, takes one 
 glance, replaces it and withdraws." 
 
 He then returns to the grand reception-room, 
 takes his seat at the head of the divan amid the 
 throng of Sheikhs and other invited guests. He 
 maintains an imperturbable silence, his mind being 
 supposed to be absorbed by one engrossing object. 
 It may be delight. It may be bitter disappointment. 
 It is generally past midnight when the party breaks 
 up and the family retires. 
 
 A plurality of wives is absolutely forbidden. If a 
 Druze wishes to divorce his wife, he has merely to 
 
28 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 say, " You had better go back- to your father," or she, 
 the woman, wishes to leave her husband, she says, " I 
 wish to go back to my father," and if her husband 
 says, " Very well, go," the divorce in either case holds 
 good, and the separation is irrevocable. Both parties 
 are free to re-marry. Childlessness is a common cause 
 of divorce. 
 
 The birth of a son is the occasion of great rejoic- 
 ing and presents to the family. But the birth of a 
 daughter is considered a misfortune, and of course 
 not the slightest notice is taken of so inauspicious an 
 event. This holds true among all the sects and peo- 
 ples of Syria, and nothing but a Christian training and 
 the inculcation of the pure principles of gospel mor- 
 ality can remove this deeply seated prejudice. The 
 people say the reason of their dislike of daughters is 
 that while a son builds up the house, and brings in a 
 wife from without and perpetuates the family name, 
 the daughter pulls down the house, loses her name, 
 and is lost to the family. 
 
 The wealthier and more aristocratic Druze sitts or 
 ladies are taught to read by the Fakih or teacher, 
 but the masses of the women are in brutish ignorance. 
 You enter a Druze house. The woman waits upon 
 you and brings coffee, but you see only one eye, the 
 rest of the head and face being closely veiled. In 
 an aristocratic house, you would never be allowed to 
 see the lady, and if she goes abroad, it is only at 
 night, and with attendants on every side to keep off 
 the profane gaze of strangers. If a physician is call- 
 ed to attend a sick Druze woman, he cannot see her 
 
THM DRUZE RELIGION AND DRUZE WOMEN. 29 
 
 face nor her tongue, unless she choose to thrust it 
 through a hole in her veil. In many cases they suffer 
 a woman to die sooner than have her face seen by a 
 physician. 
 
 The Druzes marry but one wife at a time, and 
 yet divorce is so common and so heartlessly practiced 
 by the men, that the poor women live in constant 
 fear of being driven from their homes. 
 
 In Abeih, we were startled one evening by the cry 
 " Rouse ye men of self respect ! Come and help us ! '' 
 It was a dark, rainy night, and the earthen roof of a 
 Druze house had fallen in, burying a young man, his 
 wife and his mother, under the mass of earth, stones 
 and timber. They all escaped death, but were serious- 
 ly injured, the poor young wife suffering the most of 
 all, having fallen with her left arm in a bed of burn- 
 ing coals, and having been compelled to lie there 
 half an hour, so that when dug out, her hand was 
 burned to a cinder! For several days the husband 
 refused to send for a doctor, but at length hiswfe 
 Hala was sent to the College Hospital (of the Prus- 
 sian Knights of St. John) in Beirut where Dr. Post 
 amputated the hand below the elbow. 
 
 One would naturally suppose that such a calamity, 
 in which both so narrowly escaped death, would 
 bind husband and wife together in the strongest 
 bonds of affection and sympathy. But not so in 
 this case. The poor young wife is now threatened 
 with divorce, because she is no longer of any use to 
 her husband, and her two little children are to be 
 taken from her ! She lies on her bed in the Hospital, 
 
30 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 the very picture of stoical resignation. Not a groan 
 or complaint escapes her. 
 
 She said one day, " Oh how glad I am that this 
 happened, for it has taken away all my sins, and I 
 shall never have to suffer again in this world or the 
 next ! " This is the doctrine of the Druzes, and, 
 cold and false as it is, she has made it her support 
 and her stay. 
 
 Dr. Post and Mrs. Bliss have pointed her to the 
 Lamb of God " who bore our sins in His own body 
 on the tree," and she seems interested to hear and 
 learn more. 
 
 Her younger sister is in the Beirut Seminary. 
 May this poor sufferer find peace where alone it 
 can be found, in trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 whose blood cleanseth from all sin ! 
 
 The cruelty of her husband, sanctioned as it is 
 by the religious code of the Druzes, may be the 
 means of opening her eyes to the falsity of that 
 heartless Christless system, and lead her to the foot 
 of the Cross ! 
 
 Christians, who read these lines, pray for Hala 
 of Abeih ! 
 
 SITT ABLA. 
 
 More than twenty years ago in the little Druze 
 village of Aitath, in Lebanon, about seven miles from 
 Beirut, lived a family of Druze Sheikhs of the tribe 
 of Telhuk. This tribe was divided into the great 
 Sheikhs and the little Sheikhs, and among the latter 
 was the Sheikh Khottar. The proximity of this 
 
THE DRUZE WOMEN AND DRUZE RELIGION. 31 
 
 village to Beiriit, its elevated position, cool air, and 
 fine fountain of water, made it a favorite summer 
 retreat for the missionaries from the withering heats 
 of the plain. Sheikh Khottar and his wife the Sitt, 
 having both died, their orphan son Selim and 
 daughter Abla, called the Sitt (or lady) Abla, were 
 placed under the care of other members of the 
 family of Telhuk. ■ The missionaries opened a 
 school for boys and Selim attended it. Dr. and 
 Mrs. Van Dyck were living in Aitath at the time, 
 and the young Druze maiden Abla, who was be- 
 trothed to a Druze Sheikh, became greatly attached 
 to Mrs. Van Dyck, and came almost constantly to 
 visit her. The light of a better faith and the truth 
 of a pure gospel gradually dawned upon her mind, 
 until her love for Mrs. Van Dyck grew into love for 
 the Saviour of sinners. The Sheikh to whom she . 
 was betrothed was greatly enraged at her course in 
 visiting a Christian lady, and meeting her one day 
 when returning to her home, attacked her in the 
 most brutal manner, and gave her a severe beating. 
 She fled and took refuge in the house of Mrs. Van 
 Dyck, who had taught her to read and given her a 
 Bible. A short time after, several of her cousins 
 seized her and scourged her most cruelly, and a 
 violent persecution was excited against her and her 
 brother Selim. She was in daily and hourly expec- 
 tation of being killed by her male relatives, as it had 
 never been heard of in the Druze nation that a 
 young girl should dare to become a Christian, and 
 Mr. Whiting, missionary in Abeih, sent over a cour- 
 
32 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 ageous Protestant youth named Saleh, who took the 
 Sitt Abla by night over the rough mountain road to 
 Abeih in safety. But even here she was not safe. 
 The Druzes of Lebanon at that time were at the 
 height of their feudal power. . Girls and women were 
 killed among them without the least notice on the 
 part of the mountain government. Abla was like a 
 prisoner in the missionary's house, not venturing to 
 go outside the door, and in order to be at peace, 
 she went down with her brother to Beirut, where 
 she has since resided. Selim united with thei 
 Church, but was afterwards suspended from com- 
 munion for improper conduct, and joined himself to 
 the Jesuits, so that Abla has had to endure a two- 
 fold persecution from her Druze relatives and her 
 Jesuit brother. On her removal to Beirut she was 
 disinherited and deprived of her little portion of her 
 father's estate^ and her life has been a constant 
 struggle with persecution, poverty and want. Yet 
 amid all, she has stood firm as a rock, never swerv- 
 ing from the truth, or showing any disposition to go 
 back to her old friends. At times she has suffered 
 from extreme privation, and the missionaries and 
 native Protestants would only hear of it through 
 others who happened to meet her. Since uniting 
 with the Church in 1849 she has lived a Christian 
 life. In a recent conversation she said, " I count all 
 things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge 
 of Christ Jesus my Lord, _/(?r whom I have suffered 
 the loss of all things. . . . and I still continue, by the 
 grace of Him Exalted, and by the merits of Jesus 
 
THE DRUZE WOMEN AND DRUZE RELIGION. 
 
 33 
 
 Christ my Saviour, awaiting a happy death, and ever- 
 lasting rest." 
 
 KHOZMA. 
 
 Her Christian experience is Hke that of Khozma 
 Ata. She is the only female member of the Protest- 
 ant church in Syria from among the Druzes, except 
 Sitt Abla. She was born in Beirftt of the Druze 
 family of Witwat, and when quite a child was taken 
 by Dr. Beadle, then by Miss Tilden, living at one 
 time in Aleppo, then in Jerusalem, and finally set- 
 tled in the family of Dr. De Forest, where she con- 
 tinued until his departure for America in 1854. For 
 several years she has been an invalid, and is not 
 often able to leave her house, even to go to church. 
 Two of her little girls are in the Female Seminary. 
 In 1 86 1 she taught a day school for girls in Beirut, 
 and assisted Dr. De Forest in his work in the Beirut 
 Seminary. I called upon her a few days since, and 
 she handed me a roll of Arabic manuscript, which 
 she said she had been translating from the English. 
 It is a series of stories for children which she has 
 prepared to be printed in our monthly journal for 
 Syrian children. The name of the journal is " kou- 
 kab es Subah," or " Morning Star." She has been 
 confined to her bed a part of the summer, and when 
 she gave me the manuscript, she apologized for the 
 handwriting, on the ground that she had written 
 the most of it sitting or lying on her bed. She has 
 not forgotten the example and instructions of Dr. 
 and Mrs. De Forest, and speaks of them with en- 
 
34 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 thusiastic interest. Her husband failed in business 
 some years ago, and she is in a constant struggle 
 with want, but her old friends and loving sisters, 
 Raheel and Lulu, who are among her nearest neigh- 
 bors, are unremitting in their kind attentions to her. 
 What a difference between the faithful Christian 
 nurture her little children are receiving at home, 
 and the worse than no training received by the 
 children of her Druze relatives at Ras Beirut, who 
 are still under the shadow of their old superstitions. 
 She never curses her children nor invokes the wrath 
 of God upon them. She is never beaten and spit 
 upon and tortured and threatened with death by 
 her husband. It is worth much to have rescued a 
 Khozma and an Abla from the degradation of Druze 
 superstition ! These two good women, with Adbal- 
 lah in Beirut, and Hassan, Hassein, Asaad and Ali, 
 in Lebanon, are among the living witnesses to the 
 preciousness of the love of Christ, who have come 
 forth from the Druze community. They have been 
 persecuted, and may be again, but they stand firm 
 in Christ. Not a few Druze girls are gathered in 
 our schools in Beirut, Lebanon, and the vicinity of 
 Hermon, as well as in other schools in Damascus, 
 Hasbeiya and elsewhere, and some of their young- 
 men are receiving a Christian education. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 NUSAIRIYEH. 
 
 'T'O the North of Mount Lebanon, and along the 
 ■^ low range of mountains extending from Antioch 
 to Tripoli, and from the Mediterranean on the West 
 to Hums on the East, live a strange, wild, blood- 
 thirsty race called the Nusairiyeh numbering about 
 200,000 souls, and now for the first time in their his- 
 tory coming within the range of Missionary effort. 
 
 The Druzes admit women to the Akkal or initia- 
 ted class, but not so the Nusairiyeh. The great se- 
 cret of the Sacrament is administered in a secluded 
 place, the women being shut up in a house, or- kept 
 away from the mysteries. In these assemblies the 
 Sheikh reads prayers, and then all join in cursing 
 Abubekr, Omar, Othman, Sheikh et-Turkoman and 
 the Christians and others. Then he gives a spoonful of 
 wine, first to the Sheikhs present, and then to all the 
 rest. They then eat fruit, offer other prayers, and 
 the assembly breaks up. The rites of initiation are 
 frightful in the extreme, attended by threats, impre- 
 cations and bla.sphemous oaths, declaring their lives 
 forfeited if they expose the secrets of the order. 
 
 They use given signs and questions, by which they 
 salute each other, and ascertain whether a stranger 
 is one of them or not. In their books they employ 
 
36 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 the double interlacing triangle oT seal of Solomon. 
 They call each other brethren, and enjoin love and 
 truthfulness, but only to the brethren. In this they 
 are like the Druzes. So little do they regard all out- 
 side their own sect, that \\iey pray to God to take out 
 of the hearts of all others than themselves, what little 
 light of knowledge and, certainty they may possess I 
 The effect of this secret, exclusive, and selfish system 
 is shown in the conduct of the Nusairiyeh in robbing 
 and murdering Moslems and Christians without com- 
 punction. 
 
 As it has been said, the Nusairiyeh women are en- 
 tirely excluded from all participation in religious cer- 
 emonies and prayers, and from all religious teaching. 
 The reason given is two-fold ; the first being that 
 women cannot be trusted to keep a secret, and the 
 second because they are considered by the Nusairi- 
 yeh as something unclean. They believe that the 
 soul of a wicked man may pass at death into a brute, 
 or he may be punished for his sins in this Kfe by be- 
 ing born in a woman's form in the next generation. 
 And so, if a woman live in virtue and obedience, there 
 is hope of her again being born into the woi'ld as a 
 man, and becoming one of the illuminati and possess- 
 ors of the secret. It is a long time for the poor things 
 to wait, but it is a convenient reward for their hus- 
 bands to hold out before them. 
 
 Yet the women are so religiously inclined by 
 nature that they will have some object of worship, 
 and while their husbands, fathers and sons are talk- 
 ing and praying about the celestial hierarchies, and 
 
NUSAIRIYEH. 
 
 37 
 
 the unfathomable mysteries, the wives, mothers and 
 daughters will throng the " zeyarehs," or holy visit- 
 ing shrines, on the hill tops, and among the groves 
 of green trees, to propitiate the favor of the reputed 
 saints of ancient days. These shrines are supposed 
 to have miraculous powers, but Friday is the day 
 when the prophets are more especially " at home," 
 to receive visitors. On other days they may be " on 
 a journey," or asleep. Whenever a Nuisaiyeh woman 
 is in sorrow or trouble or fear, she goes to the zeya- 
 reh and cries in a piteous tone, " zeyareh, hear 
 me!" 
 
 Their women do not veil themselves, and conse- 
 quently there is more of freedom among them than 
 among Moslems and Druzes, and in their great festi- 
 vals, men and women all dance together. 
 
 When a young man sees a girl who pleases him, 
 he bargains with her father, agreeing to pay from 
 twenty dollars to two hundred, according to the dig- 
 nity of her family ; of which sum she receives but 
 four dollars, unless her father should choose to give 
 her a red bridal box and bedding for her outfit. She 
 rides in great state to the bridegroom's house amid 
 the firing of guns and shouts of the women, and on 
 dismounting, the bridegroom gives her a present of 
 from one to three dollars, called the " dismounting 
 money." 
 
 Divorce needs only theAvill of the man, and polyg- 
 amy is common. Lane says in speaking of Egypt, 
 " The depraving effects of this freedom of divorce up- 
 on both sexes, may be easily imagined. There are 
 
38 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 many men in this country who, in the course of ten 
 years, have married as many as twenty, thirty or more 
 wives ; and women, not far advanced in age, who 
 have been wives to a dozen or more men succes- 
 sively." 
 
 The Nusairiyeh women smoke, swear, and use the 
 most vile and unclean language, and even go beyond 
 the men in these respects. Swearing and lying are 
 universal not only among the Nusairiyeh, but among 
 the most of the Syrian people. You never receive a 
 direct reply from a Nusairy. He will answer your 
 question by asking another, in order, if possible, to as- 
 certain your object in asking it and to conceal the true 
 state of the case. Their Moslem and nominal Chris- 
 tian neighbors are not much better. They all lie, and 
 swear, and deceive. Mr. Lj^de illustrates the ignorance 
 of the Greek clergy in.Latakiah by the following in- 
 cident. A ploughman who had learned something of 
 the Bible, heard a Greek priest cursing the father of 
 a little child. He said, " My father, is it right to 
 curse ? " " Oh," said he, " it was only from my lips." 
 " But does not the psalmist say. Keep the door of my 
 hps?" "That" replied the priest, "is only in the 
 English Bible." 
 
 Walpole says of the Nusairiyeh women, "when 
 young, they are handsome, often fair, with light hair 
 and jet-black eyes ; or the rarer beauty of fair eyes 
 and coal-black hair or eyebrows." 
 
 When a fight takes place between the tribes, the 
 women, like the women of the Druzes, enter into the 
 spirit of it with demoniacal fury. During the battle 
 
NUSAJRIYEH. 39 
 
 they bring jars of water, shout, sing, and encourage 
 the men, and at the close carry off the booty, such 
 as pots, pans, chickens, quilts, wooden doors, trays, 
 etc. In the Druze war of i860, I saw the Druze 
 women running with the men through Aitath, on 
 their way to the scene of hostilities in the Metn. 
 The Bedawin women likewise aid their husbands in 
 the commissariat of their nomad warfare. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Lyde was the first to undertake di- 
 rect missionary labors among the Nusairiyeh, and his 
 work has been carried on by the Reformed Presbyte- 
 rian Mission in Latakiah. The Rev. J. Beattie sends 
 me the following facts with regard to the work now 
 going on among the women and girls. 
 
 The first convert under the labors of Mr.. Lyde 
 was Hammud, of the village of Merj, a young man 
 of iine mind and most lovely character, who gave 
 promise of great usefulness. After he became a 
 Christian, his mother, finding that no Nusairy girl 
 would marry a Christian, determined to secure a young 
 girl and have her educated for Hammud. So she 
 paid four Turkish pounds for a little Nusairy girl 
 named Zahara or Venus, whose widowed mother had 
 removed to her village. This payment was in accord- 
 ance with Nusairy customs, and constituted the. 
 girl's dowry. After the betrothal in 1863, Hammud 
 sent her to Latakiah, where she was taken into the 
 family of the late Dr. Dodds for instruction and 
 training. She gladly received the truth, and Ham- 
 mud labored-earnestly for her enlightenment. Every- 
 thing seemed bright and promising, until suddenly all 
 
40 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 their earthly hopes were dashed by the early death of 
 Hammud in December, 1864. He died in the tri- 
 umphs of the Christian faith, and from that time she 
 gave herself to the Lord. In August, 1865, she with 
 several others was baptized and received into the 
 communion of the Church. At her own request, she 
 was baptized as Miriam. 
 
 In 1866 she was married to Yusef Jedid, and 
 lived with him in several of the villages among the 
 Nusairiyeh, where he was engaged in teaching. 
 Her husband at length removed to Bahluliyeh in 
 1870, and a wide door of usefulness was opened to 
 them. Her little daughters Lulu and Helany were 
 with her, and there was every prospect that she 
 would be able to do much for Christ among her 
 benighted sisters. But the same disease, consump- 
 tion, which prostrated Hammud, now laid her aside. 
 It was probably brought on by a careless exposure 
 of her health while lying down on the damp ground 
 and falling asleep uncovered, as the natives of the 
 mountain villages are in the habit of doing. The 
 missionaries from Latakiah constantly visited her, 
 and Dr. Metheny gave her the benefit of his medi- 
 cal skill, but all in vain. She loved to converse on 
 heavenly things, and hear the Scriptures and prayer. 
 But when the missionaries returned to the city, she 
 was overwhelmed by the rebukes and merciless up- 
 braidings of the fellaheen, who have no sympathy 
 for the sick, the disabled and the dying. Her ears 
 were filled with the sound of cursing and bitterness, 
 and no wonder that she entreated the missionaries 
 
NUSAIRIYEH. 4I 
 
 not to leave her. She told Mr. Beattie that she did 
 not fear to die, for her trust was in Jesus Christ, but 
 it was hard to be left among such coarse and unsym- 
 pathizing people. At length she was brought into 
 Latakiah, where she seemed to feel more at home. 
 At times she passed through severe spiritual conflicts, 
 and said she was struggling with the adversary, who 
 had tried to make her blaspheme. At one time she 
 was in great excitement, but when the 34th Psalm 
 flfas read she became entirely composed and calm, 
 and in turn began chanting the 23rd Psalm to the 
 end. She sent for all of her friends and begged their 
 forgiveness, commended her children to the care of 
 Miss Crawford, and asked Mr. Beattie to pray with 
 her again. Her bodily sufferings now increased, 
 when suddenly she called out, " The Lord be glori- 
 fied ! To God give the glory ! '' Soon after, she 
 gently fell "asleep in Jesus." Thus died the first 
 woman, as far as we know, ever truly converted from 
 among the Pagan Nusairiyeh. Her conversion 
 opened the way for that work of moral, religious and 
 intellectual elevation among the Nusairy females 
 which has since been carried on in Latakiah and 
 ■vicinity. 
 
 The first Christian woman to undertake the direct 
 task of educating and elevating the Nusairiyeh females 
 was Miss Crawford. She commenced her work in 
 1869. The Mission had found that the Boarding 
 School for boys was training a class of young men, 
 who could not find, among the tens of thousands of 
 famines in their native mountains, a single girl fitted 
 
42 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 to be one's companion for life. The females were 
 everywhere neglected, and Miss Crawford came to 
 Syria just at the time of the greatest need. Under 
 the care and direction of the Mission, she commenced 
 a Boarding School for girls in Latakiah in the fall of 
 1869. At first, but few pupils could be persuaded to 
 come. Only two attended during the first year. 
 Their names were Sada and Naiuf, the sister of 
 Zahara. The next year Sada left, and ten new ones 
 entered the school : Marie, Howa, Naiseh, Shehla, 
 Thaljeh, (snow,) Tumra, (fruit,) Ghazella, Husna, 
 Bureib'han, and Harba. They were all from twelve 
 to fourteen in age, and remained through the winter, 
 but at the beginning of wheat harvest, their friends 
 forced them to return to their homes for the summer. 
 They made marked progress both in study and de- 
 portment, and before leaving for their homes passed 
 a creditable examination both in their studies and in 
 needlework. The fact was thus established to the 
 astonishment of the citizens of Latakiah, that the 
 Nusairiyeh girls were equal in intellect and skill in 
 needlework to the brightest of the city girls. In the 
 autumn of 1871 it vvas feared that the Pagan parents 
 of the girls would prevent their return to the school, 
 but, greatly to the gratification of the missionaries, all 
 of the ten returned, bringing with them nine others ; 
 Hamameh, (dove,) Henireh, Elmaza, (diamond,) 
 Deebeh,(she-wolf,) Alexandra, Zeinab, Lulu, (pearl,) 
 Howwa, (Eve,) and Naameh, (grace). 
 
 During the year the pupils brought new joy to 
 the hearts of their teachers. Not only were their 
 
NUSAIRIYEH. 43 
 
 numbers greatly increased, but the older girls seemed 
 all to be under the influence of deep religious im- 
 pressions on their return to the school. Although 
 they had spent the summer among the wild fella- 
 heen and been compelled to listen to blasphemy, 
 impurity and cursing on every side, they had been 
 able by the aid of God's Spirit to discriminate 
 between good and evil, and to contrast the lawless 
 wickedness of the fellaheen with the holy precepts 
 of the Bible. Finding themselves unable to meet 
 the requirements of God's pure and holy law, they 
 returned under serious distress of mind, asking what 
 they should do to be saved ? Such of them as could 
 do so, had been in the habit of meeting together 
 during the summer for prayer, and of repeating the 
 ten commandments and other portions of Scripture 
 with which they were familiar. They had been 
 threatened and beaten by their friends on account 
 of their religious views, but they remained unmoved. 
 The child-like simple faith of some of them was 
 remarkable. Marie was punished on one occasion 
 by her father for attending the missionary service at 
 B'hamra on the Sabbath. He forbade her to eat 
 for a whole day, and she prayed that God would 
 give her bread. Soon after, on her way to the vil- 
 lage fountain, she found part of a merkuk, loaf of 
 bread, by the wayside, which she picked up and ate 
 most gratefully, regarding it as a direct answer to 
 her prayer. Another Ghuzaleh, was brutally beaten 
 because she would not swear and blaspheme, and 
 
44 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 all were threatened and insulted because they would 
 not work on Sunday. 
 
 In November, 1871, seven of these girls, on their 
 own application, were received into the membership 
 of the Church. It was an interesting sight to see 
 that group of Nusairiyeh heathen girls standing to 
 receive the ordinance of Christian baptism. In the 
 spring of 1872, another was added to the list. 
 These little ones of Christ have all thus far shown 
 themselves faithful. They were sent back to their 
 homes in the summer, and several, if not the most, 
 of them may be forbidden to return again to the 
 school. Some may say, why allow them to go 
 home ? The policy of encouraging children to run 
 away from their parents and connect themselves 
 with foreign missionaries and missionary institutions, 
 will lead the heathen to hate the very name of 
 Christianity, and to charge it with being a foe to all 
 social and family order, and on the broad ground of 
 missionary usefulness, the girls can do far more 
 good in their own homes than elsewhere. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 CHRONICLE OF WOMEN'S WORK FROM 1820 TO 1872. 
 
 TT must not be inferred from what has been said on 
 a preceding page with regard to the favorable 
 position occupied by the women of the nominal 
 Christian sects of Syria as compared with the Mo- 
 hammedan women, that the first missionaries found 
 the Greek and Maronite women and girls who speak 
 the Arabic language' eager or even willing to receive 
 instruction. Far from it. The effects of the Mo- 
 hammedan domination of twelve hundred years have 
 been to degrade and depress all the sects and nation- 
 alities who are subject to Islam. Not only were 
 there not women and girls found to learn to read, 
 but the great mass of the men of the Christian sects 
 could neither read nor write. Many of the promi- 
 nent Arab merchants in Beirut to-day can neither 
 read nor write. I say Arab merchants, and yet very 
 few of the Arabs of the Greek Church have more 
 than a mere tinge of Arab blood in their veins. To 
 call them Syrians, would be to confound them with 
 the " Syrian " or " Jacobite " sect, who are found only 
 in the vicinity of Hums, Hamath and Mardin. So 
 with the Maronites. They are chiefly of a darker com- 
 plexion than the Arab Greeks, and are supposed to 
 
46 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 have had their origin in Mesopotamia. Yet all these 
 sects and races speak the common Arabic language, 
 and hence it will be convenient to call them Arabs, 
 although I am aware, that while many of the modern 
 Syrians glory in the name " Oulad el Arab," many 
 others regard it with dislike. 
 
 The Syrian Christianity, moreover, so often al- 
 luded to in the history of the Syrian Mission, is the 
 lowest type of the religion of the Greek and Ronian 
 churches. Saint-worship and picture-worship are 
 universal. An ignorant priesthood, and a super- 
 stitious people, no Bfbles, and no readers to read 
 them, no schools and no teachers capable of conduct- 
 ing them, prayers in unknown tongues, and a bitter 
 feeling of party spirit in all the sects, universal be- 
 lief in the efficacy of fasts and vows, pilgrimages and 
 offerings to the shrines of reputed saints, churches 
 without a preached gospel, and prayers performed 
 as a duty without the worship of the heart, univer- 
 sal Mariolatry, a Sabbath desecrated by priests and 
 people alike, God's name everywhere profaned by 
 men, women and children, and truthfulness of lip al- 
 most absolutely unknown ; the women and girls de- 
 graded and oppressed and left to the tender mercies 
 of a corrupt clergy through the infamies of the con- 
 fessional ; all these practices and many others which 
 space forbids us to mention, combined with the social 
 bondage entailed upon woman by the gross code of 
 Islam, rendered the women of the nominal Christian 
 sects of Syria almost as hopeless subjects of mission- 
 
WOMEN'S WORIC FROM 1820 TO 1872. 47 
 
 ary labor as were their less favored Druze and Moslem 
 
 sisters. 
 
 In order to present the leading facts in the his- 
 tory of Mission Work for Syrian women, I propose 
 to give a brief review of the salient points, in the 
 order of time, as I have been able to glean them 
 from the missionary documents within my reach. 
 
 The first Protestant missionary to Syria since the 
 days of the Apostles, was the Rev. Levi Parsons, 
 who reached Jerusalem January 16, 1821, and died 
 in Alexandria February 10, 1822. In 1823, Rev. 
 Pliny Fisk, and Dr. Jonas King reached Jerusalem 
 to take his place, and on the lOth of July came to 
 Beirut. Dr. King spent the summer in Deir el Kamr, 
 and Mr. Fisk in a building now occupied by the Je- 
 suit College in Aintura. 
 
 On the i6th of November, 1823, Messrs. Goodell 
 and Bird reached Beirut, and on the 6th of Decem^^ 
 ber, 1824, they wrote as follows : " Mr. King's Arab- 
 ic instructor laughs heartily that the ladies of our 
 company are served first at table. He said that if 
 any person should come to his house and speak to 
 his vi'iis first, he should be offended. He said the 
 English ladies have some understanding, the Arab 
 women have none. It is the custom of this country 
 that a woman must never be seen eating or walking, 
 or in company with her husband. When she walks 
 abroad, she must wrap herself in a large white sheet, 
 and look like a ghost, and at home she must be 
 treated more like a slave than a partner. Indeed, 
 women are considered of so little consequence that 
 
Arabic Lord's Prayer. 
 ■S 4 
 4j\ 
 
 j:i . 5, J. i U=> J3S,. V4\ ov Aii 
 
 OV»' 
 
WOMEN'S WORK FROM 1820 TO 1872. 49 
 
 know how to read and write. They are quite bad 
 enough with what little they now know. Teach them 
 to read and write, and there would be no living with 
 them !' " That Tyrian priest of fifty years ago, was 
 a fair sample of his black-frocked brethren through- 
 out Syria from that time to this. There have been 
 a few worthy exceptions, but the Syrian priesthood 
 of all sects, taken as a class, are the avowfed enemies 
 of the education and elevation of their people. 
 Some of the exceptions to this rule will be mention- 
 ed in the subsequent pages of this volume. 
 
 In 1826, there were three hundred children in 
 the Mission schools in the vicinity of Beirut. 
 
 In 1827, there were 600 pupils in 13 schools, of 
 whom one hundred and twenty were girls! In view 
 of the political, social and religious condition of 
 Syria at that time, that statement is more remark- 
 able than almost any fact in the history of the Syr- 
 ian Mission. It shows that Mrs. Bird and Mrs. 
 Goodell must have labored to good purpose in per- 
 suading their benighted Syrian sisters to send their 
 daughters to school, and to these two Christian 
 women is due the credit of having commenced Wo- 
 man's Work for Women in modern times in Syria. 
 In that same year, the wives of Bishop Dionysius 
 Carabet and Gregory Wortabet were received to the 
 communion of the Church in Beirut, being the first 
 spiritual fruits of Women's Work for Women in 
 modern Syria. 
 
 During 1828 and 1829 the Missionaries tempo- 
 rarily withdrew to Malta. In 1833, Dr. Thomson 
 3 
 
so 
 
 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 and Dr. Dodge arrived in Beirdt. The Mission now 
 consisted of Messrs. Bird, Whiting, Eli Smith, Drs. 
 Thomson and Dodge. In a letter written at thai 
 time by Messrs. Bird, Smith and Thomson, it is said, 
 " Of the females, none can either read or write, oi 
 the exceptions are so very few as not to deserve 
 consideration. Female education is not merely 
 neglected, but discouraged and opposed." They 
 also stated, that " the whole number of native chil- 
 dren in the Mission Schools from the beginning had 
 been 650; 500 before the interruption in 1828, and 
 I go since." " Female education as such is yet nearly 
 untried." 
 
 During that year Mrs. Thomson and Mrs. Dodge 
 commenced a school for girls in Beirut. ' Dr. Eli 
 Smith speaks of this school as follows, in the Mem- 
 oir of Mrs. S. L. Smith : " A few girls were previously 
 found in some of the public schools supported by 
 the Mission, and a few had lived in the Mission 
 families. But these ladies wished to bring them 
 more directly under missionary influence, and to 
 confer upon them the benefit of a system of instruc- 
 tion adapted to females. A commencement was 
 accordingly made, by giving lessons to such little 
 girls as could be irregularly assembled for an hour 
 or two a day at the Mission-house ; such an informal 
 beginning being not only all that the ladies had 
 time to attempt, but being also considered desirable 
 as less likely to excite jealousy and opposition. Foi 
 the project was entered upon with much trembling 
 and apprehension. Not merely indifference to female 
 
WOMEN'S WORK FROM i8zo TO 1872. 5 i 
 
 education had to be encountered, but strong preju- 
 dice against it existing in the public mind from 
 time immemorial. The Oriental prejudice against 
 innovations from any quarter, and especially from 
 foreigners, threatened resistance. The seclusion of 
 females within their own immediate circle of rela- 
 tionship originally Oriental, but strengthened by 
 Mohammedan influence, stood in the way. And 
 more than all, religious jealousy, looJcing upon the 
 missionaries as dangerous heretics, and their in- 
 fluence as contamination, seemed to give unequivo- 
 cal warning that the attempt might be fruitless. 
 But the missionaries were not aware of the hold 
 they had gained upon the public confidence. The 
 event proved in this, as in many other missionary 
 attempts, that strong faith is a better principle to 
 act upon in the propagation of the gospel, than 
 cautious calculation. Even down to the present 
 time (1840) it is not known that a word of oppo- 
 sition has been uttered against the school which was 
 then commenced. 
 
 " On the arrival of Mrs. S. L. Smith in Beirut 
 in January, 1834, she found some six or eight girls 
 assembled every afternoon in Mrs. Thomson's room 
 at the Mission house, receiving instruction in sewing 
 and reading. One was far enough advanced to aid 
 in teaching, and the widow of Gregory Wortabet 
 occasionally assisted. On the removal of Mrs. 
 Thomson and Mrs. Dodge to Jerusalem, the entire 
 charge of the school devolved upon Mrs. Smith, 
 aided by Mrs. Wortabet. Especial attention was 
 
52 
 
 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 given to reading, sewing, knitting and good behav- 
 ior. In November, 1835, Miss Rebecca Williams 
 arrived in Beirut as an assistant to Mrs. Smith. 
 The school then increased, and in the spring of 1836 
 an examination was held, at which the mothers of 
 the children and some other female friends were 
 present. The scholars together amounted to up- 
 wards of forty ; the room was well-filled, " presenting 
 a scene that would have dehghted the heart of many 
 a friend of missions. Classes were examined in 
 reading, spelling, geography, first lessons in arithme- 
 tic, Scripture questions, the English language, and 
 sacred music, and the whole was closed by a brief 
 address from Mrs. Dodge. The mothers then came 
 forward of their own accord, and in a gratifying 
 manner expressed their thanks to the ladies for 
 what they had done for their daughters." Of the 
 pupils of this school, the greater part were Arabs of 
 the Greek Church ; two were Jewesses ; and some 
 were Druzes ; and at times there were eight or ten 
 Moslems. 
 
 A Sabbath School, with five teachers and thirty 
 pupils, was established at the same time, the majority 
 of the scholars being girls. A native female prayer- 
 meeting was also commenced at this time, conducted 
 by three missionary ladies and two native Protestant 
 women. At times, as many as twenty were present, 
 and this first female prayer-meeting in Syria in 
 modern times, was attended with manifest tokens 
 of the Divine blessing. 
 
 As has been already stated, the seclusion of 
 
WOMEN'S WORK FROM 1820 TO 1872. 53 
 
 Oriental females renders it almost impossible for a 
 male missionary to visit among them or hold reli- 
 gious meetings exclusively for women. This must be 
 done, if at all, by the missionary's wife or by Chris- 
 tian women devoted especially to this work. It was 
 true in 1834, and it is almost equally true in 1873. 
 The Arabs have a proverb, "The tree is not cut 
 down, but by a branch of itself;" t. e. the axe 
 handle is of wood. So none can reach the women 
 of Syria but women. The Church of Rome under- 
 stands this, and is, sending French, ItaHan and 
 Spanish nuns in multitudes to work upon the girls 
 and women of Syria, and the women of the Syria 
 Mission, married and unmarried, have done a noble 
 work in the past in the elevation and education of 
 their Syrian sisters. And in this connection it should 
 be observed, that a sine qua non of efficient useful- 
 ness among the women of Syria, is that the Christian 
 women who labor for them should know the Arabic 
 language. Ignorance of the language is regarded 
 by the people as indicating a want of sympathy with 
 them, and is an almost insuperable barrier to a true 
 spiritual influence. The great work to be done for • 
 the women of the world in the future, is to be done 
 in their own mother-tongue, and it would be well 
 that all the Female Seminaries in foreign lands 
 should be so thoroughly supplied with teachers, that 
 those most familiar with the native language could 
 be free to devote a portion of their time to labors 
 among the native women in their homes. 
 
 In 1834 and 1835 Mrs. Dodge conducted a school 
 
54 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 for Druze girls in Aaleih, in Lebanon. This School 
 in Aaleih, a village about 2300 feet above the level 
 of the sea, was once suddenly broken up. Not a 
 girl appeared at the morning session. A rumor had 
 spread through the village, that the English fleet 
 had come up Mount Lebanon from Beirut, and was 
 approaching Aaleih to carry off all the girls to Eng- 
 land ! The panic however subsided, and the girls 
 returned to school. In 1836 Mrs. Hebard and Mrs. 
 Dodge carried on the work which Mrs. Smith had 
 so much loved, and which was only temporarily in- 
 terrupted by her death. 
 
 In 1837, Mrs. Whiting and Miss Tilden had an 
 interesting school of Mohammedan girls in Jerusa- 
 lem, and Mrs. Whiting had several native girls in 
 her own family. 
 
 In reply to certain inquiries contained in a note 
 I addressed to Miss T. she writes : " I arrived in 
 Beirut, June 16, 1835. Mr. and Mrs. Whiting in 
 Jerusalem were desirous that I should take a small 
 school that Mrs. Whiting had gathered, of Moham- 
 medan girls. She had in her family two girls from 
 Beirut, Salome, (Mrs. Prof. Wortabet,) and Hanne, 
 (Mrs. Reichardt.) There were in school from 12 to 
 20 or more scholars, all Moslems. Only one Chris- 
 tian girl could be persuaded to attend. I think that 
 the inducement they had to send their daughters 
 was the instruction given in sewing and knitting, 
 free of expense to them. Mrs. Whiting taught the 
 same scholars on the Sabbath. The Scripture used 
 in' their instruction, both week days and on the Sab- 
 
WOMEN'S WORK FROM -Lizo TO \9,n2. 55 
 
 bath, was the Psalms. After a year and a half I went 
 to Beirut and assisted in the girl's school, which 
 was somewhat larger and more promising. Miss 
 Williams had become Mrs. Hebard, and Miss Badger 
 from Malta was teaching at the time. Mrs. Smith's 
 boarding scholar Raheel, was with Mrs. Hebard. I 
 suppose that female education in the family was 
 commenced in Syria by Mr. Bird, who taught the 
 girl that married Demetrius. (Miss T. probably 
 meant to say Dr. Thomson, as Mariya, daughter of 
 Yakob Agha, was first placed in his family by her 
 father in 1834.) The girls taught in the different 
 missionaries' families were Raheel, Salome, Hanne, 
 Khozma, Lulu, Kefa, and Susan Haddad. Schools 
 were taught inithe mountains, and instruction given 
 to the women, and meetings held with them as the 
 ladies had strength and opportunity, at their differ- 
 ent summer residences. The day scholars were 
 taught in Arabic, and the boarding scholars in 
 Arabic and English. I taught them Colburn's 
 Arithmetic. I taught also written arithmetic, 
 reading, etc., in the boys' school." 
 
 In 1841, war broke out between the Druzes and 
 Maronites, and the nine schools of the Mission, in- 
 cluding the Male Seminary of 31 pupils, the Girls' 
 School of 25 pupils, and the Druze High School in 
 Deir el Kamr, were broken up. 
 
 In 1842, the schools were resumed. In twelve 
 schools were 279 pupils, of whom 52 were girls, and 
 twelve young girls were living as boarders in mission 
 families. 
 
56 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 In 1843, there were thirteen schools with 438 pu- 
 pils, and eleven young girls in mission families. 
 
 During the year 1844, 186 persons were publicly 
 recognized as Protestants in Hasbeiya. Fifteen wo- 
 men attended a daily afternoon prayer-meeting, and 
 expressed great surprise and delight at the thought 
 that religion was a thing in which women had a 
 share ! A fiery persecution was commenced against 
 the Protestants, who all fled to Abeih in Lebanon. 
 On their return they were attacked and stoned in 
 the streets, and Deacon Fuaz was severely wounded. 
 
 In 184s, Lebanon was again desolated with civil 
 war, the schools were suspended, and the instruction 
 of 1 82 girls and 424 boys interrupted for a time. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 MRS. whiting's school. 
 
 T N 1 846, Mrs. Whiting commenced a girls' day- 
 school in her family at Abeih, and in Beirut there 
 were four schools for boys and girls together, and 
 one school for girls alone. In 18 Mission schools 
 there were 144 girls and 384 boys. This girls' school 
 in Abeih in 1846 was taught by Salome (Mrs. Wor- 
 tabet) and Hanne, (Mrs. Reichardt,) the two oldest 
 girls in Mr. Whiting's family. It was impossible to 
 begin the school before August ist, as the houses of 
 the village which had been burned in the war of the 
 preceding year had not been rebuilt, and suitable ac- 
 commodations could not readily be found. During 
 the summer there were twelve pupils, and in the fall 
 twenty-five, from the Druze, Maronite, Greek Catho- 
 lic and Greek sects, and the greatest freedom was 
 used in giving instruction in the Bible and the As- 
 sembly's and Watts' Catechisms. A portion of every 
 day was spent in giving especial religious instruction, 
 and on the Sabbath a part of the pupils were gather- 
 ed into the Sabbath School. During the fall a room 
 was erected on the Mission premises for the girls' 
 school, at an expense of 100 dollars. 
 
 The following letter from Mrs. Whiting needs no 
 introduction. It bears a melancholy interest from 
 
58 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 the fact that the beloved writer died shortly after- 
 wards, at Newark, N. J., May i8th, 1873. 
 " My first introduction to the women of Syria was 
 by Mrs. Bird, mother of Rev. "Wm. Bird and Mrs. 
 Van Lennep. She was then in the midst of her lit- 
 tle family of four children. I daily found her in her 
 nursery, surrounded by native women who came to her 
 in great numbers, often with their sick children. They 
 were always received with the greatest kindness and 
 ministered to. She might be seen giving a warm 
 bath to a sick child, or waiting and watching the ef- 
 fecl of other remedies. Mothers from the neighbor- 
 ing villages of Lebanon were allowed to bring their 
 sick children and remain for days in her house until 
 relief was obtained. She was soon known through- 
 out Beirut and these villages as the friend of the suf- 
 fering, and I have ever thought that by these Chris- 
 tian self-denying labors, she did much towards gain- 
 ing the confidence of the people. And who shall say 
 that while good Father Bird was in his study library 
 among the ' Popes and Fathers,' preparing his con- 
 troversial work ' The Thirteen Letters,' this dear sis- 
 ter, by her efforts, was not making a way to the 
 hearts of these people for the reception of gospel 
 truth, which has since been preached so successfully 
 in the neighboring villages of Lebanon ? 
 
 " In the autumn of 1834, Mr. Whiting was removed 
 to the Jerusalem station. I found the women ac- 
 cessible and ready to visit me, and invite me to their 
 houses, but unwilling to place their girls under my in- 
 struction. All my efforts for some time were fruit- 
 
MRS. WHITING'S SCHOOL. 
 
 59 
 
 less. Under date of Aug. 22, I find this entry in Mr. 
 Whiting's journal : " During the past week, three Ht- 
 tle Moslem girls have been placed under Mrs. Whit- 
 ing's instruction for the purpose of learning to read 
 and sew. They seem much pleased with their new 
 employment, and their parents, who are respectable 
 Moslems, express great satisfaction in the prospect 
 of their learning. They say, in the Oriental style 
 that the children are no longer theirs, but ours, and 
 that they shall remain with us and learn everything 
 we think proper to teach them. This event excited 
 much talk in the city, particularly among the Moslem 
 mothers. The number of scholars, chieily Moslem 
 girls, increased to twenty-five and thirty." 
 
 At a later date, Jan., 1836, "one of the girls in 
 Mrs. Whiting's school, came with a complaint against 
 a Jew who had been attempting to frighten her away 
 from the school by telling her and her uncle (her 
 guardian) that her teacher certainly had some evil de- 
 sign, and no doubt intended to select the finest of the 
 girls, and send them away to the Pasha, and that it 
 was even written so in the books which she was teach- 
 ing the children to read. Whether the Jew has been 
 set up by others to tell the people this absurd non- 
 sense, I cannot say, but certainly it is a new thing for 
 Jews to make any opposition, or to show any hostili- 
 ty to us. And this looks very much like the evil 
 influence which has been attempted in another quar- 
 ter." 
 
 " March 7. Yesterday Mrs. W. commenced a 
 Sunday school for the pupils of her day school 
 
6o THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 They were much delighted. They began to learn 
 the Sermon on the Mount." 
 
 " Sept. 7. Had a visit from two Sheikhs of the 
 Mosque of David. One of them inquired particu- 
 larly respecting Mrs. Whiting's school for Moslem 
 girls, and wished to know what she taught them to 
 read. I showed him the little spelling-book which 
 we use, with which he was much pleased and begged 
 me to lend it to him. I gave him one, with a copy 
 of the Psalms, which he wished to compare with the 
 Psalms of David as the Moslems have them. He 
 invited me strongly to come and visit him, and to 
 bring Mrs. Whiting to see his family." 
 
 The school continued with little interruption un- 
 til October 3d, when Miss Tilden arrived and had 
 the charge of the school for nearly two years. I left in 
 feeble health, with Mr. Whiting, for the United States, 
 where we spent more than one year. Miss Tilden 
 during our absence was engaged in teaching in the 
 boys' school in Beirlit. On my return the Moslem 
 school was not resumed, and soon after Mr. Whiting 
 was again transferred to the Abeih station. 
 
 My work in the family school began in October, 
 1835, when Salome Carabet and Hanne Wortabet 
 were placed by their parents in our family school. 
 We afterwards added to the number Melita Carabet, 
 and the two orphan girls Sada and Ruf ka Gregory. 
 These two were brought to us in a very providential 
 way. They were the children of Yakob Gregory, a 
 respectable Armenian well known in Beirut. 
 
 He had two children, and when these were quite 
 
MRS. WHITING'S SCHOOL. 6 1 
 
 young, he left his wife, and nothing was heard of 
 him afterwards. The mother died soon after and 
 left the children in the care of the American Mission 
 and the Armenian Bishop. The old grandmother, 
 who was in Aleppo, on hearing of her death, soon 
 returned to Beirut to look after the children. She 
 was allowed to visit them in the Bishop's family, 
 where they were cared for, and one day, in a stealthy 
 way, she took Sada into the city, placed her in the 
 hands of a Jew, on board of a native boat bound for 
 Jaffa. I suppose Sada was then about six years old. 
 They set sail. The child cried bitterly on finding 
 her grandmother was not on board as she had prom- 
 ised. There was on board the boat an Armenian, 
 well acquainted with her father, who inquired of her 
 the cause. On hearing her story he remonstrated 
 with the Jew, who said she had been placed in his 
 hands by her grandmother to be sent to Jerusalem. 
 On their arriving at Jaffa, the affair was made known 
 to Mr. Murad, the American Consul. He sent for 
 the Jew, took the child from his hands, and dismissed 
 him, and wrote to Mr. Whiting in Jerusalem an ac- 
 count of the affair, and was directed by him to send 
 the child to us. Not long after, her grandmother 
 came to Jerusalem bringing Rufka. She tried to 
 interest the Armenian Convent in her behalf. Here 
 I find an extract from Mr. Whiting's journal, which will 
 give you all of interest on this point. " After being 
 out much of the morning, I returned and found the 
 grandmother of little Sada, who had brought her 
 little sister Rufka to leave her with us. She had a 
 
62 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 quarrel with the convent, and fled for refuge to us. 
 We cannot but be thankful that both these little 
 orphans are at length quietly placed under our care 
 and instruction." 
 
 The parents of three of the girls in our family, 
 being Protestants, always gave their sanction to our 
 mode of instructing and training them. Bishop 
 Curabet likewise aided us in every way in his power, 
 and ever seemed most grateful for what I was doing 
 for his daughters. In his last sickness, when en- 
 feebled by age, I often visited him. Once on going 
 into his room, he was seated as usual on his Turk- 
 ish rug. One of the family rose to offer me a chair, 
 I said, " let me sit near you on your rug, that I may 
 talk to you." With much emotion he replied, "■ Insh- 
 ullah tukodee jenb il Messiah fe melakoot is sema ! " 
 " God grant that you may sit by the side of Christ 
 in the kingdom of Heaven ! " 
 
 We were from time to time encouraged by to- 
 kens of a work of God's Spirit in their hearts. 
 Melita Curabet was the first to indulge a hope in 
 Christ, and united with the Church in Abeih. Sa- 
 lome united in Beirut ; Hanne in Hasbeiya, where 
 her brother. Rev. John Wortabet, was pastor. Sada 
 was received by Mr. Calhoun at Abeih, soon after 
 Mr. Whiting's death, and Rufka in later years united 
 with the United Presbyterian Church in Alexandria, 
 Egypt. I have ever thought these girls were under 
 great obligations to the American Churches and the 
 American Mission, who for so many years supported 
 and instructed them, and I have ever tried to im- 
 
MRS. WHITING'S SCHOOL. 
 
 63 
 
 press upon them a sense of their obhgation to im- 
 part to others of their countrywomen what they 
 had received. I believe as early as 1836, they 
 began assisting me in the Moslem school for girls 
 in Jerusalem, in which they continued to assist Miss 
 Tilden until the school was given up. 
 
 Soon after our removal to Abeih, October, 1844, 
 we established a day-school for girls in the village 
 on the Mission premises, of which Salome and 
 Hanne had the entire charge under my superintend- 
 ence. When the Station at Mosul was established, 
 Salome was appointed by the Mission to assist Mrs. 
 Williams in her work among the women, in which 
 work she continued until her marriage with Rev. 
 John Wortabet. Melita was afterwards appointed 
 by the Mission to the Aleppo Station to assist Mrs. 
 Eddy and Mrs. Ford in the work, and so they were 
 employed at various stations in the work of teach- 
 ing, until I left the Mission. I have kept up a con- 
 tinual correspondence with them, and have learned 
 from others to my joy, that they were doing the 
 work for which I had trained them.'' 
 
 The above deeply interesting letter from Mrs. 
 Whiting is enough in itself to show what an amount 
 of patient Christian labor was expended through a 
 course of many years, in the education of the five 
 young Syrian maidens who were entrusted in the 
 providence of God to her care. I have been per- 
 sonally acquainted with four of them for seventeen 
 years, and can testify, as can many others, of the 
 good use they have made of their high opportunities. 
 
64 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 The amount of good they have accomplished as 
 teachers, in Abeih, Jerusalem, Deir el Komr, Has- 
 beiya, Tripoli, Aleppo, Mosul, Alexandria, Cairo, 
 Melbourne, (Australia,) and in the Mission Female 
 Seminary and the Prussian Deaconesses' Institute in 
 Beirut, will never be known until all things are re- 
 vealed. I have received letters from several of 
 them, which I will give in their own language, as 
 they are written in English. The first is from 
 Salome, now the wife of the Rev. Prof John Wor- 
 tabet, M. D., of the Syrian Protestant College in 
 Beirut, 
 
 " I do not consider my history worth recording, 
 and it is only out of consideration of what is due to 
 .Mrs. Whiting for the labor she bestowed upon us, 
 that I am induced to take up my pen to comply with 
 your request. I was taken by Mrs. Whiting when 
 only six years old, together with Hannie Wortabet, 
 who was five years old, to be brought up in her fam- 
 ily, she having no children of her own. Owing part- 
 ly to the nature of the religious instruction we re- 
 ceived, and partly to my own timid sensitive nature, 
 I was, from time to time for many years, under'deep 
 spiritual terrors, without any saving result. When 
 I was about sixteen, a revival of religion took place, 
 under whose influence I was also brought. Mr. Cal- 
 houn was my spiritual adviser, and although my 
 mind groped in darkness, and bordered on despair 
 for many weeks, I hope I was then led to put my 
 trust in Jesus, and if ever I am saved, my only hope 
 
MRS. WHITING'S SCHOOL. 
 
 65 
 
 now is, and ever shall be, in the merits of Jesus' 
 blood and His promises." 
 
 The next letter is from Melita Carabet, daughter 
 of the Armenian Bishop Dionysius Carabet, who be- 
 came a Protestant in 1823. She. writes as follows : 
 
 " Nothing could give me more pleasure than to 
 comply with your request, and thereby recall some 
 of the happy days and incidents of my childhood and 
 youth, spent under the roof of my godly teafchers, 
 Mr. and Mrs. Whiting. I ought to remember them 
 as far back as at the baptismal font, for I heard 
 afterwards that they were both present on the occa- 
 sion, which took place in Malta, where I was born. 
 But as my memory does not carry me back so far, I 
 must date my recollections from the time I was five 
 years of age, when I came to live in their family. I 
 can distinctly recollect the first texts of Scripture 
 and verses of hymns that dear Mrs. Whiting taught 
 my young lips to repeat, and my little prayer which 
 I used to say at her knees on going to bed, I still re- 
 peat to this day, " Now I lay me,'' etc. One inci- 
 dent which happened about a year later, was so deep- 
 ly impressed on my memory, and had such an effect 
 upon me at the time, that I must mention it. It was 
 this. Mrs. Whiting had given us girls (we were five in 
 number, my sister Salome, and Hannie, Dr. Worta- 
 bet's sister, and Sada and Rufka Gregory) some raisins 
 to pick ove r preparatory to making cake. I stole 
 an opportunity after a while, to slip about a dozen 
 of these raisins into my pocket. No one saw me do 
 it, but from the moment I had done it, I began to 
 
66 THE- WOMEN OP THE ARABS. 
 
 feel very unhappy, and repented the deed; My com- 
 panions went out to play, but 1 could not join in 
 their sports. My heart was too heavy. I sat 
 mourning over my sin, and could eat no supper, and 
 had no rest until I had made a full confession to 
 Mrs. Whiting at bed-time. She prayed and wept 
 over me, and somehow I was comforted and went to 
 my little bed much happier. 
 
 " I remember nothing more until a much later 
 period, when I was about the age of twelve. About 
 this time, there was a great awakening among the 
 young girls in some of the Mission families. Mr. 
 Calhoun's prayers and advice were very much so- 
 licited and sought, in guiding and praying with the 
 young inquirers. One Sunday as I was reading the 
 little tract " The Blacksmith's wife," (which I have 
 kept to this day,) I felt a great weight and sense of 
 sin. I trace my conversion to the reading of this 
 tract. It was not long before I found peace. I have 
 often since longed for those days and hours of sweet 
 communion with my Saviour. I joined the Church a 
 very short time after this, and at this early age was 
 given charge of a Bible class in Abeih. 
 
 " Now I must pass over a few more years, when 
 I went to Hasbeiya, to spend a little time with my sis- 
 ter Salome, now wife of Dr. John Wortabet, who was 
 appointed pastor of the little Protestant Church there. 
 I spent one year of my life here, during which time 
 I took charge of a little day school for giris in my 
 sister's house. Dr. Wortabet's sister Hannie had 
 opened this school some years before I came. I do 
 
MRS. WHITING'S SCHOOL. 
 
 67 
 
 not remember the number of pupils, but there were 
 five httle Moslem princesses, grandchildren of the 
 great Emir " Saad-ed-Deen," who was called some 
 years later to Constantinople to be punished for 
 having spoken disrespectfully of Queen Victoria. 
 These little princesses were regular attendants at the 
 school, and learned to read in the New Testament, 
 and studied Watts' Catechism with the rest of the 
 Christian children. I had also charge of a Bible 
 class for women, who used to meet once a week in 
 the Protestant Church. This was before the massa- 
 cre of i860. The rest of my life has been spent in 
 teaching in Beirut. Since the massacres, I have 
 been teaching the orphans in the Prussian School, 
 where I at present reside. Indeed it has been my 
 home ever since I undertook this work which I love 
 dearly, and which I hope to continue so long as the 
 Lord sees fit, and gives me strength to work for 
 Him." 
 
 I am permitted to make the following extract 
 from a letter written by Melita to Mrs. Whiting, in 
 February, 1868. I give the exact language, as the 
 letter is written in English : 
 
 Prussian Institution, Beirttt, ) 
 February 23, 1868. J 
 My Dear Mrs. Whiting — 
 
 It is so cold this morning that I can with difficulty hold my pen. 
 It has been a very cold and stormy month, and there seems no pros- 
 pect of fair weather yet. The snow on the mountains is as low as 
 the lowest hills, and I pity the poor creatures who must be suffering 
 in consequence. J. enjoys the weather very much ; indeed he seems 
 so exhilarated and invigorated by it that one could almost wish it to 
 
68 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 last on his account, Viut I must say that 1 wisTi it was ovev, and the 
 ■warm sunbeams shedding their genial rays again upon the cold ftoien 
 earth. 
 
 Trouble and grief are such a common complaint at present that 
 you will not be surprised to hear me relate my share of them. I have 
 indeed had my full share, and you would say so too had you seen how 
 1 was occupied during my holidays last summer, in taking care of my 
 ill and suffering brother. And aside from my fatigue, for I was always 
 on my feet until two or three hours after midnight, quite alone with 
 him — merely to witness such indescribable suffering as he went through, 
 was more than is generally allotted to human beings on earth. He 
 had been unwell for some time previous, and had been advised by 
 the Doctor to go up to the mountains, so Mr. Calhoun kindly offered 
 him a place in the Seminaiy, where he could sfop until his health was 
 recruited, and in the meantime give a couple of English lessons dur- 
 ing the day to the boys in the Seminary. He lodged with the Theo- 
 logical students in a little room above the school, but he had not 
 been up there more than a week, when his whole body became sud- 
 denly covered with a burning eruption that was always spreading and 
 increasing in size. He could neither lie nor sit in any possible posi- 
 tion, and was racked with pains that seemed at times well nigh driving 
 him mad. I trembled for his reason, and was so awed and terrified by 
 the sight, that I was in danger of losing mine as well. No one would 
 come near him, and Mrs. Calhoun had kindly asked me to come and 
 spend the holidays with them, so it fell to my lot to nurse and take 
 care of him. I used to go to him in the morning as soon as I got up, 
 and .sit (or stand) up with him until two or three o'clock at night, 
 dressing his sores ; running down only occasionally for my meals, and 
 with my little lantern coming down in the dead of night, all alone, 
 to lay my weary head and aching heart and limbs on my bed for a 
 little rest. But not to sleep, for whenever I closed my eyes, I had 
 that eternal picture and scene of suffering before me. I could find 
 no one who was willing for love or for money to help me or relieve 
 me for one night or day. The disease was so offensive as well as 
 frightful, that no one could stop in the room. One of the Prussian 
 " Sisters *' who went up with me, kindly assisted me sometimes until 
 she came down. In this state did J. find me on his return from Eng- 
 land. His family was up in Aaleih, and he used to ride over occa- 
 sionally to-see P. and prescribe some new medicine for him, but his 
 
MSS. WHITING'S SCHOOL. 
 
 69 
 
 skill was baffled with this terrifying disease, and poor P. remained in 
 this agonizing state of suffering for five wliole months without leaving 
 his bed. He was carried down on a litter to Beirut, where he has 
 been since. He took a little room by himself, and gives lessons in 
 English until something more prosperous turns up for him. Twenty 
 years' experience seemed to be added to my life in those three 
 months of anxiety I went through last summer ; and what a picture of 
 suffering and grief was I, after this, myself ! No wonder if I feel 
 entirely used up this winter, and feel it a great effort to live. 
 
 There is not the slightest prospect of my ever getting back my 
 lost property from that man — as he has long since left the country, 
 and is said to be a great scoundrel and a very dishonorable man. If 
 he were not, he would never have risked the earnings of a poor 
 orphan girl by asking for it on the eve of his bankruptcy. Had I my 
 property I might perhaps have given up teaching for a while, and 
 gone away for a little change and rest, but God has willed it other- 
 wise, no doubt for some wise purpose, and to some wise end, although 
 so difi&cult and incomprehensible at present. It is all doubtless for 
 the trial of my faith and trust in Him. Let me then trust in Him ! 
 Yea, though He slay me, let me yet trust in Him ! Has He ever yet 
 failed me ? Has He not proved Himself in all ages to be the Father 
 and the God of the orphan and the widow ? He mvist see that I need 
 these troubles and sorrows, or He would not send them, for my 
 Father's hand would never cause his child a needless tear. A bruised 
 reed He will not break, but will temper the storm to the shorn lamb ; 
 I will then no longer be dejected and cast down, but look upward and 
 trust in my Heavenly Father, feeling sure that He will make all right 
 in the end. 
 
 My letter is so sad and melancholy that I cannot let it go without 
 something more cheerful, so I will add a line to brighten and cheer it 
 up a little. For life, with all the bitterness it contains, has also much 
 that is agreeable and affords much enjoyment ; for there is a wonder- 
 ful elasticity in the human mind which enables it, when sanctified by 
 divine grace, to bear up under present ills. So with all my griefs and 
 ills, I have been able to enjoy myself too sometimes this winter. I 
 have lately attended two Concerts, one here, given by the Prussian 
 Sisters, for the benefit of the new Orphanage, " Talitha Kumi," at 
 Jerusalem, lately erected by the Prussian Sisters there — and one given 
 by the " Sisters of Charity," for the benefit of the orphans and poor 
 
70 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 of this town. Daood Pasha most generously gave up the large hall 
 in his mansion for the occasion, as well as honoring it by his attend- 
 ance The Concert in our Institution was entirely musical, vocal and 
 instrumental. All the Missionaries came. We had nearly three hun- 
 dred tickets sold at five francs apiece, so that there was a nice little 
 sum added to the Orphan's Fund at Jerusalem. 
 
 Ever your affectionate Melita. 
 
 Saada Gregory was engaged in teaching at differ- 
 ent times in Tripoli, Aleppo, Hasheiya and Egypt. 
 Her school in Tripoli was eminently successful, and 
 her labors in Alexandria were characterized by great 
 energy and perseverance. She kept up a large school 
 even when suffering from great bodily pain. She is 
 now in the United States in enfeebled health. 
 
 American Mission House, ) 
 
 Alexandria, November 8, 1867. ) 
 My Dear Mrs. Whiting, 
 
 I know you will be expecting a letter from me soon, partly in an- 
 swer to yours sent by MrS. Van Dyck, and especially because it is the 
 day on which you expect all your children to remember you. I never 
 do forget this day, but this time there are special reasons for my re- 
 membering it. Whenever the day has come around, I have felt more 
 forcibly than at others, how utterly alone I have been, for since .dear 
 Mr. Whiting was taken away from us, it has seemed as though we 
 were made doubly orphans, but this time it has not been so. I think 
 I have been made to realize that I have a loving Father in heaven 
 who loves and watches over and cares for me more than ever you or 
 Mr. Whiting did. I do really feel now that God has given me friends, 
 so this day has not been so sad a one to me as it usually is. Another 
 source of thankfulness to-day is, that I have been raised up from a 
 bed of pain and suffering from which neither I nor any of my friends 
 thought I ever would rise. Weaiy days and nights of pain, when it 
 was torture to move and almost impossible to lie still, and when it 
 seemed at times that death would be only a relief, and yet here I am 
 still living to praise Him for many, many mercies. Mr. Pinkerton 
 waited on me day and night, often depriving himself 6f sleep and rest 
 
MRS. WHITING'S SCHOOL. 
 
 71 
 
 in order to do it, and when convalescence set in, and with the restless- 
 ness of a sick person, I used to fancy I would be more comfortable up 
 stairs, he used to carry me up and down and gratify all my whims. 
 For five weeks I was in bed, and many more confined to my room 
 and the house. But the greatest reison for thankfulness is, that God 
 has in His great mercy brought me to a knowledge of Himself, and of 
 my own lost state as a guilty sinner. It was while lying those long 
 weary days on the bed that I was made to see that for ten long years 
 I had been deceiving myself. Instead of being a Christian and be- 
 ing prepared to die, I was still in the gall of bitterness and the 
 bonds of iniquity, and if God had taken me away during that sickness, 
 it would have been with a lie in my right hand. Now when I look 
 back on those long years spent in sin and in self-deception, I wonder 
 at God's loving kindness and patience in sparing me still to show 
 forth in me His goodness and forbearance. Truly it is of His mer- 
 cies that I was not consumed. How often I taught others and talked 
 to them of the love of Christ, and yet I had not that love myself. 
 How many times I sat down to His table with his children, and yet I 
 had no portion nor lot in the matter. Sometimes when I think how 
 near destruction I was, with literally but a step between me and 
 death, eternal death, and yet God raised me up and brought me to 
 Christ and made me love Him, and how ever since He has been watch- 
 ing over me giving me the measure of comfort and peace that I enjoy 
 and giving me the desire to know and love Him more, I wonder at my 
 own coldness, at the frequency with which I forget Him. How 
 strong sin still is over me, how prone I am to wander away from 
 Christ and to forget His love, to allow sin to come between me and 
 Him, and yet He still follows me with His love, still He brings me 
 back to Him, the good Shepherd. Oh ! if I could live nearer Christ, 
 if I could realize and rejoice in His love. Now when I think how 
 near I may be to the eternal world, that at any moment a severe at- 
 tack of pain may come on which will carry me off, it is good to know 
 that my Saviour will be with me ; that He is mine and I am His. It 
 is not easy to look death calmly in the face and know that my days 
 are numbered, yet can I not participate in the promise that He Him- 
 self will come and take me to be with Him where He is. I would 
 like to be allowed to live longer and be permitted to bring souls to 
 Christ, but I feel assured that He will do what is best, and that He 
 will not call me away as long as He has any work for me to do here. 
 
72 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 I have a feeling that this will be my last letter to you, and I now take 
 the opportunity of thanking you for all you have done for me, for all 
 the care you bestowed on me, the prayers you have offered for me, and 
 the kind thoughtfulness you still manifest for my welfare. It would 
 be a comfort to me if I could see and talk with you once more, but 
 I fear that will never be in this world, but shall we not meet in our 
 Saviour's presence, purified, justified and sanctified through His 
 blood ? With truest love and gratitude 
 
 I remain yours, Saada. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 DR. DE forest's WORK IN BEIRUT. 
 
 TN 1847, Dr. and Mrs. De Forest commenced their 
 work of female education, receiving two young 
 women into their family. In 13 Mission schools there 
 were 163 girls and 462 boys. During the year 1847, 
 six schools were in operation in connection with the 
 Beirut Station. One in the Mesaitebe with 32 pupils, 
 of whom 10 were girls. This school was promising 
 and 1 5 of the pupils could read in the Bible. Anoth- 
 er was in the Ashrafiyeh, with 50 pupils, of whom 12 
 were girls. Nineteen in this school could read in the 
 Bible. Another was on the Mission premises with 
 seventy pupils. Another school, south of the Mis- 
 sion premises, had 60 pupils, of whom 1 5 were girls. 
 In addition to these was the Female School with 
 thirty girls, taught by Raheel. 
 
 In 1848, on the organization of the first Evan- 
 gelical Church, nineteen members were received, of 
 whom four were women. Dr. De Forest had seven 
 native girls in his family, and there were fifty-five ' 
 girls in other schools. 
 
 In 1849, ^"^s. Thomson and Mrs. De Forest vis- 
 ited Hasbeiya to labor among the women, by whom 
 they were received with great cordiality. The 
 girls' schocA of that time was regularly maintained 
 4 
 
74 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 and well attended. Dr. De Forest had thirteen na- 
 tive girls boarders in his family in Beirut, and Mr. 
 Whiting had five. 
 
 In the Annual Report of the Beirut Station for 
 1850, it is stated that " a more prayerful spirit pre- 
 vails among the brethren and sisters. One pleasing 
 evidence of this is the recent establishment of a 
 weekly female prayer-meeting, which is attended by 
 all the female members of the Church. Yet it is 
 somewhat remarkable that in our little Church there 
 is so small a proportion of females. Unhappily, only 
 one of our native brethren is blessed with a pious wife. 
 Some of them are surrounded with relatives and 
 friends whose influence is such as to hinder rather 
 than help them in their Christian course, and in the 
 religious training of their children." 
 
 This difficulty still exists in all parts of the Pro- 
 testant community, not only in Syria, but through- 
 out the Turkish Empire, and probably throughout 
 the missionary world. The young men of the Pro- 
 testant Churches at the present time endeavor to 
 avoid this source of trial and embarrassment by mar- 
 rying only within the Protestant community, and the 
 rapid growth of female education in these days gives 
 promise that the time is near when the mothers in 
 Syria will be in no respect behind the fathers in 
 either virtue or intelligence. The Beirut Church 
 now numbers 107 members, of whom 57 are men and 
 50 are women. 
 
 In 1851, Miss Anna L. Whittlesey arrived in Bei- 
 rti as an assistant, to Dr. and Mrs. De Forest, and 
 
DR. DEFORESTS WORK IN BEIRUT. 
 
 75 
 
 died in a year less one day after her arrival, beloved 
 and lamented by all. In July of that year five of 
 the women in Hasbeiya united with the Church. 
 
 In 1852 and 1853 the Female Seminary in Beirut 
 reached a high degree of prosperity, and the girls' 
 schools in different parts of the land were well attend- 
 ed. Miss Cheney arrived from America to supply 
 Miss Whittlesey's place. 
 
 In 1854, Dr. De Forest was obliged from failing 
 health, to relinquish his work and return to the 
 United States. A nobler man never lived. As a 
 physician he was widely known and universally be- 
 loved, and as a teacher and preacher he exerted a 
 lasting influence. The good wrought by that saint- 
 ly man in Syria will never be fully known in this 
 world. The lovely Christian families in Syria, whose 
 mothers were trained by him and his wife, will be his 
 monuments for generations to come. It is a com- 
 mon remark in Syria, that the great majority of all 
 Dr. De Forest's pupils have turned out well. 
 
 I have not been able to find the official reports 
 with regard to the Female Seminary of Dr. De 
 Forest in Beirut for the years 1847, 1848, and 
 1849, t>ut from the Reports made by Dr. De Forest 
 himself for the years 1850, 1852 and 1853, I make 
 the following extracts : 
 
 In 1856, the Doctor writes: "The Seminary 
 now has seventeen pupils including two Khozma and 
 Lulu, who act as teachers. The older class have 
 continued to study the Sacred Scriptures, as a daily 
 lesson, and have nearly finished the Old Testament. 
 
76 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 They have studied a brief Compend of History in 
 Arabic, and have continued Arithmetic and English. 
 Compositions have been required of them weekly in 
 Arabic until last autumn, when they began to write 
 alternately in English and Arabic. A brief course 
 of Astronomy was commenced, illustrated by Mat- 
 tison's maps, given by Fisher Howe, Esq., of Brook- 
 lyn, N. Y. 
 
 " Recently the pupils have been invited to spend 
 every second Sabbath evening with the other mem- 
 bers of the family in conversation respecting some 
 missionary field which has been designated pre- 
 viously. The large missionary map is hung in the 
 sitting-room, and all are asked in turn to give some 
 fact respecting the field in question. Even the 
 youngest, who have not yet learned to read with 
 facility in their own language, furnish their mite of 
 information. 
 
 " The instruction: in this school has been given by 
 Dr. and Mrs. De Forest, aided by Mrs. De Fdrest's 
 parents and the two elder pupils who have rendered 
 such efficient aid heretofore. The pupils of all the 
 classes have made good progress in their various 
 studies, and their deportment has been satisfactory. 
 They are gaining mental discipline and intellectual 
 furniture, and have acquired much evangelical 
 knowledge. Deep seriousness has been observed 
 on the part of some of the elder pupik at different 
 times, and they give marked and earnest attention 
 to the preached wo'rd. 
 
 " In our labors for the reconstruction of society 
 
DR. DE FORESTS WORK IN BEIRUT. 
 
 77 
 
 here, we feel more and more the absplute need of a 
 sanctified and enlightened female influence ; such 
 an influence as is felt so extensively in America, and 
 whose beneficent action is seen in the proper train- 
 ing of children, and in the expulsion of a thousand 
 superstitions from the land. Christian schools seem 
 the most evident means of securing such an end. 
 Commerce and intercourse with foreigners, and 
 many other causes are co-operating with missionary 
 effort to enlighten the men of Beirut and its vicinity, 
 but the women, far more isolated than in America, 
 are scarcely affected by any of these causes, and 
 they hinder materially the moral elevation of the 
 other sex. Often the man who seems full of intelli- 
 gence and enterprise and mental enlargement when 
 abroad, is found when at home to be a mere super- 
 stitious child ; the prophecy that his mother taught 
 him being still the religion of his home, and the 
 heathenish maxims and narrow prejudices into 
 which he was early indoctrinated still ruling the 
 house. The inquirer after truth is seduced back to 
 error by the many snares of unsanctified and igno- 
 rant companionship, and the convert who did run 
 well is hindered by the benighted stubbornness to 
 which he is unequally yoked. 
 
 " While exerting this deleterious influence over 
 their husbands and children, the females of the land 
 have but little opportunity for personal improve- 
 ment, and are not very promising subjects of mis- 
 sionary labor. His faith must be strong who can 
 labor with hope for the conversion of women, with 
 
78 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 whom the customs of society prohibit freedom of 
 intercourse, and who have not learning enough to 
 read a book, or vocabulary enough to understand 
 a sermon, or mental discipline enough to follow con- 
 tinuous discourse. 
 
 In the Report for 1852, Dr. De Forest writes: 
 " At the date of our last Annual Report, Miss 
 Whittlesey was in good health, was rapidly acquiring 
 the Arabic, and was zealously pressing on in hei 
 chosen work, with well-trained intellect, steady pur- 
 pose and lively hope. But God soon called her 
 away, and she departed in " hope of eternal life 
 which God that cannot lie promised before the world 
 began." The Female Boarding School has suffered 
 much from the loss of its Principal, but the same 
 course of study has been pursued as before, though 
 necessarily with less efficiency. One of the assistant 
 pupils, (Lulu,) who has been relied upon for much of 
 the teaching, and superintendence of the scholars, 
 was married' last autumn to the senior tutor of the 
 Abeih Seminary. The number of pupils now in the 
 school is fifteen. The communication of Biblical 
 and religious knowledge has been a main object of 
 this school. All the pupils, as a daily lesson, study 
 the Assembly's Shorter Catechism, first in Arabic 
 with proof-texts, and .afterwards in English with 
 Barker's Explanatory Questions and Scripture proofs, 
 and they are taught a brief Historical Catechism of 
 the Old and New Testaments. The first of proper 
 school hours every day is occupied with the Script- 
 ures by all the school. The Epistles to the Hebrews 
 
DR. DE FOREST'S WORK IN BEIRUT. 
 
 n 
 
 and the Romans formed the subject of these lessons 
 until the autumn, when Mr. Calhoun's revised edi- 
 tion of the " Companion to the Bible" was adopted 
 as a text-book, and the Old Testament has been 
 studied in connection with that work. The pupils 
 all attend the service at the Mission Chapel, and 
 have lessons appropriate to the Sabbath in the inter- 
 vals of worship. 
 
 "The evening family worship is in Arabic, and is 
 a familiar Bible Class. All the pupils are present, 
 and not unfrequently some of their relatives and 
 other strangers. In addition to this religious in- 
 struction, the several classes have studied the Arabic 
 and English languages, some of them writing in 
 both, geography and history, arithmetic mental and 
 higher, astronomy, and some of the simple works on 
 natural philosophy and physiology. Compositions 
 have been required in Arabic and English. The 
 lessons in drawing, commenced by Miss Whittlesey, 
 have been continued under the instruction of Mrs. 
 Smith, and plain and fancy needle-work have been 
 taught as heretofore. 
 
 "To those who have watched the growth of intel- 
 lect, and in some instances, we hope, the growth of 
 grace in these few pupils, and in the other female 
 boarding scholars in some of the mission families, 
 who have seen the pleasing contrast afforded by 
 Syrian .females when adorned after the Apostolic 
 recommendation by good works and a " meek and 
 quiet spirit," with those who cover empty heads 
 with pearls and enrobe untidy persons in costly 
 
8o THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 array, — who have rejoiced to see one and another 
 family altar set up, where both heads of the family 
 and the hearts of both unite in acknowledging God, 
 — this branch of our labors need offer no further 
 arguments to justify its efficient prosecution. 
 
 "The library ofthe Seminary consists of 220 
 school books, and 148 volumes of miscellaneous 
 books, chiefly for the young. The school has 6 large 
 fine maps, and 50 of Mr. Bidwell's Missionary maps, 
 and 16 of Mattison's astronomical maps. These 
 maps were the gifts of Mrs. Dr. Burgess and of 
 Fisher Howe, Esq. The school has a pair of globes, 
 one Season's machine, one orrery, a pair of gasome- 
 ters, a spirit-lamp and retort stand, a centre of 
 gravity apparatus, a capillary attraction apparatus, 
 a galvanic trough, a circular battery, an electro- 
 magnet, a horse shoe magnet, a revolving magnet, 
 a wire coil and hemispheric helices, and an electric 
 shocking machine." 
 
 The report of the Female Seminary for 1853 is 
 written in the handwriting of Mrs. De Forest, owing 
 to the increasing infirmity of Dr. De Forest's health, 
 and this report has a sad interest from its being the 
 last one ever dictated by Dr. De Forest. 
 
 " A small day-school for girls has been taught by 
 one of the pupils in Mrs. Whiting's family during 
 the winter, and it is contemplated to continue the 
 school hereafter in the Girl's School house. on the 
 Mission premises, under the instruction of a gradu- 
 ate of the Female Seminary. The demand for such 
 instruction for girls is steadily increasing. 
 
DR. DE FOREST'S WORK IN BEIRUT. gl 
 
 " The teaching force of the Seminary was increased 
 last spring by the arrival of Miss Cheney, who enter- 
 ed at once upon the duties of her position, devoting 
 a portion of her time to the acquisition of Arabic, 
 and a part to the instruction of some classes in Eng- 
 lish. Still, on account of the repeated illnesses of 
 Dr. De Forest, it was not deemed advisable to re- 
 ceive a new class last autumn. The only girls ad- 
 mitted during the year were one of Mrs. Whiting's 
 pupils who was transferred to the Seminary for one 
 year, one of the class who graduated two years since, 
 and who desired to return for another year, and 
 Sara, the daughter of Mr. Butrus Bistany. These 
 three were received into existing classes, while it was 
 not deemed' advisable under the circumstances to 
 make up another class composed of new pupils. 
 
 " The course of instruction, Biblical and other, 
 has been much the same as that hitherto pursued. 
 Miss Cheney commenced "Watts on the Mind," with 
 some of the older pupils, in English. All the pupils 
 have had familiar lessons on Church History in Arab- 
 ic, and some of them have begun an abridged work 
 on Moral Philosophy. Much effort has been bestow- 
 ed upon the cultivation of a taste for the reading of 
 profitable books, and a number of the girls have 
 read the whole of " D'Aubign^'s History of the 
 Reformation," and other history with Mrs. De For- 
 est in the evening class, the atlas being always open 
 before them. Mrs. Smith has given some instruc- 
 tion in the rudiments of drawing to a part of the 
 pupils, and Mrs. Bird and Mrs. Calhoun have given 
 4* 
 
82 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 lessons in vocal music, for which some of the pupils 
 have considerable taste. 
 
 " After completing the ' Companion to the Bible' 
 in Arabic, the whole school were engaged daily in a 
 Harmony of the Gospels, and other Biblical and re- 
 ligious instruction has been continued as heretofore. 
 We have ever kept in mind the necessity of not 
 denationalizing these Arab children, and we believe 
 that this desired result has been attained. The long 
 vacation of six weeks in the spring, and the same in 
 the autumn, the commencement of all instruction 
 in Arabic, and the preponderance of Arabic study in 
 the school, have contributed to this result. The 
 older pupils have attained to a considerable knowl- 
 edge of English, giving them access to books suit- 
 able for girls to read, and yet Arabic is the language 
 of the school, and the pupils are Syrians still in 
 dress and manners. The advantages of the school 
 are more and more appreciated in the city, and the 
 adjacent mountains. Many were exceedingly earn- 
 est in offering their daughters last autumn, both 
 Protestant and other, and some when repulsed at the 
 Seminary, besought the mission families to receive 
 their children." 
 
 During the next year, the school was placed in 
 the family of Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, under the charge 
 of Miss Cheney. A class of eight graduated, and 
 the pupils contributed to benevolent objects of the 
 fruits of their industry, over I200 piastres, or about 
 fifty dollars. 
 
 In a report on Education, prepared by the Syria 
 
DR. DE FOREST'S WORK IN BEIRUT. 
 
 83 
 
 Mission in 1855, it was stated, that "without enter- 
 ing into details in regard to the course of study pur- 
 sued, we are happy to say that the results of Dr. De 
 Forest's Seminary were very gratifying, and proved, 
 if proof were needed, that there is the same capa- 
 city in the native female mind of the country that 
 there is in the male, and that under proper instruc- 
 tion, and by the blessing of God, there will be 
 brought forward a class of intelligent, pious and effi- 
 cient female helpers in the great work of evangeliz- 
 ing this community." 
 
 The hope implied in the a.bove sentence with re- 
 gard to the raising up of " a class of intelligent, pious 
 and efficient female helpers," has been abundantly 
 realized. The list of Dr. De Forest's pupils is to a 
 great extent the list of the leading female teachers 
 and helpers in all the various departments of evan- 
 gelic work in Syria. 
 
 Not'having access to the records of the Semi- 
 nary as they have been lost, I have obtained from 
 several of the former pupils a list of the members 
 of the various classes from 1848 to 1852. The 
 whole number of pupils during that period was 
 twenty-three. Of these two died in faith, giving 
 good evidence of piety. Of the twenty-one who 
 survive, twelve are members of the Evangelical 
 Church, and nine are now or were recently engaged in 
 teaching, although nearly twenty years have elapsed 
 since they graduated. Twenty-one are at the head 
 of families, esteemed and honored in the communi- 
 
84 y^^' WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 ties where they reside. The names of the whole 
 class are as follows : 
 
 Ferha Jimmal, now Kowwar of Nazareth. 
 
 Sarra Haddad, now Myers of Beirut. 
 
 Sada Sabunjy, now Barakat of Beirut. 
 
 Sada Haleby, of Beirut. 
 
 Miriam Tabet, now Tabet of Beirut. 
 
 Khushfeh Mejdelany, now MusuUy of Beiriit. 
 
 Khnrma Mejdelany, now Ashy of Hasbeiya. 
 
 Mirta Tabet, now Suleeby of B-hamdiin. 
 
 Feifun Maliif, of Aramoon. 
 
 Katrin Roza, of Kefr Shima. 
 
 Mirta Suleeby, now Trabulsy of Beiriit. 
 
 Sara Suleeby, of Beiriit. 
 
 Esteer Nasif, now Aieed of Suk el Ghurb. 
 
 Hada Suleeby, now Shidoody of Beiriit. 
 
 Helloon Laziiah, now Zuraiuk of Beirut. 
 
 Khushfeh Towileh, now Mutr of Beirut. 
 
 Fetneh Suleeby, now Shibly of Suk el Ghurb. 
 
 Akabir Barakat, now Ghubrin of Beirut. 
 
 Hamdeh Barakat, now Bii Rehan of Hasbeiya, 
 
 Eliza Hashem, now Khiiri of Beiriit. 
 
 Rufka Haddad, (deceased). 
 
 Sara Bistany, (deceased). 
 
 Durra Schemail, of Kefr Shima. 
 
 Two of the most successful of those engaged in 
 teaching, are now connected with the British Syrian 
 Schools. They are Sada Barakat and Sada el Haleby. 
 The former has written me a letter in English in re- 
 gard to her own history and religious experience, which 
 
DR. DE PORESTS WORK IN BEIRUT. 85 
 
 I take the liberty to transcribe here verbatim in her 
 own language. She was one of the least religious of 
 all the pupils in the school, when she was first received 
 but the work of conviction and conversion was a 
 thorough one, and she has been enabled by the grace 
 of God to offer constant and most efficient testimony 
 to the reality of Christian experience, in the respon- 
 sible position she has been called upon to fill in the 
 late Mrs. Thomson's institution. 
 
 SuK EL Ghurb, Mt. Lebanon, ) 
 September 3, 1872. j 
 
 Dear Sir — I am thankful to say, in reply to your inquiiy, that I 
 was not persecuted when I became a Protestant, like my other native 
 sisters were when they became Protestants, because I was very young. 
 I was about four years old when my father died, and a year after, my 
 mother married a Protestant man. I came to live with my mother in 
 her new home, with my two brothers. It was very hard to lose a dear 
 loving father who loved his children so much as my mother tells me 
 he did. But the Lord does everything right, because if the Lord had 
 not talcen my father away from us I should not have known the true 
 religion. I lived in my step-father's house till I was twelve years old. 
 I was then placed in Dr. De Forest's school, in the year 1848. I stayed 
 there four years. 1 was not clever at my studies, and especially the 
 English language was very difficult for me. Even until now I re- 
 member a lesson in English which was so hard for me that I was 
 punished twice for it, and I could not learn it. Now it will make me 
 laugh to think of these few words, which I could not translate into 
 Arabic : " The hen is in the yard." My mind was more at play than 
 at learning. I was very clever at housework, and at dressing dolls, 
 and was always the leader in all games. From that you can see that 
 I was not a very good girl at school. After the two first years I began 
 to think how nice it would be to become a real Christian like my dear 
 teacher Dr. De Forest. Then I used to pray, and read, especially the 
 " Pilgrim's Progress," and my mind was so busy at it that I used some- 
 times to leave my lesson and go and sit alone in my room. Nobody 
 knew what was the matter with me, but Dr. De Forest used to ask me 
 
86 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 why I did not go to school ? I told him that I was very troubled, and 
 he told me to pray to God very earnestly to give me a new heart. I 
 did pray, but I did not have an answer then. Three or four times 
 during my school time I began to wish to become a Christian. I 
 prayed and was very troubled. I wept and would not play, and as I 
 got no immediate answer, I left off reading and sometimes praying 
 entirely. Everybody noticed that I did not much care to read, and 
 especially a religious book. I felt that my heart had grown harder 
 than before I had wished to become a Christian. The greatest trial 
 was that I had no faith, and for that reason I used not to believe in 
 prayer, but still I longed to become a real Christian. I left school in 
 the year 1852, and went to live at home with my mother. I was 
 taken ill, and when f was ill I was very much afraid of death, for I 
 felt that God was very angry with me. 
 
 Till about two years after I left school, I had no religion at all. 
 One evening a young man from Abeih came to our house. His name 
 is Giurgius el Haddad, who is now Mr. Calhoun's cook. After a little 
 while he began to talk about religion, and to read the book, " Little 
 Henry and his Bearer." I felt very much ashamed that others who 
 lid not have the opportunity to learn about religion had religion, and 
 I, who had learned so much, had none. That was the blessed even- 
 ing on which I began to inquire earnestly about my salvation. I was 
 three months praying and found no answer to my prayers. Christian 
 friends tried to lead me to Christ, but I could not take hold of Him, 
 till He Himself appeared to my soul in all His beauty and excellency. 
 Before I ^pund peace Dr. Eli Smith and Mr. Whiting wanted me to 
 teach a day school for them. That was about three years after I left 
 off learning. " Oh," thought I, " how can I teach others about Christ 
 when I do not know Him myself? " However I began the school by 
 opening and closing it with prayer, without any faith at all. So I 
 began by reading from the first of Matthew, till I came to the i6th 
 chapter. When I came to that chapter I read as usual, with blinded 
 eyes ; but when I came to the (13th) thirteen verse, and from there to 
 the seventeenth, where it says, " Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for 
 flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which 
 is in heaven," I felt that this had been said to me, and were these 
 words sounded from heaven I would not have felt happier. How true 
 it is that no flesh could reveal unto me what God had revealed, be- 
 cause many Christian friends tried' to make me believe, but I could 
 
DR. DE FORESTS WORK IN BEIRUT. 87 
 
 not. I felt as if everything had become new and beautiful, because 
 my Heavenly Father had made them all. I was sometimes with faith 
 and sometimes doubting, and by these changes my faith was strength- 
 ened. After a short time, I asked Mr. Whiting to let me join the 
 Church. He asked me if I saw any change in myself, and I baid, 
 " One thing I know, that I used to dislike Christian people, and now 
 they are my best friends." After a short time I was permitted to join 
 the Church. Then I left off teaching the day school, and was asked 
 to teach in a "Boarding school with Miss Cheney, in the same Semi- 
 nary where I was brought up. We taught in that school only six 
 months. Miss Cheney married, and I was engaged to be married. 
 While I was engaged, I went to Mr. Bird's school for girls in Deir el 
 Kamr, and taught there for more than a year. I was married by Mr. 
 Bird in his own house to M. Yusef Barakat, and then we went to 
 Hasbeiya. I stayed there seven months and then went to Beiriit, and 
 thence to Damascus with my husband, because he had to teach there, 
 I had nothing to do there but to look after my house, my little boy, 
 and my husband. 
 
 After some time, the massacre broke out in Damascus, Quly g, 
 i860,) so we came back as refugees to Beirut. Soon after my hus- 
 band was taken ill and then died. In that same year i860, dear Mrs. 
 Bowen Thompson came to Beirut. She felt for the widows and or- 
 phans, being herself a widow. She asked me if I would come and 
 teach a school for the widows and orphans, which I accepted thank- 
 fully. We opened the school with five children and seven women, 
 and the work, by God's help has prospered, so that now, instead of 
 one school, there are twenty-two schools. Until now I continue teach- 
 ing in the Institution, and had I known that nearly all my life would 
 be spent in teaching, I should have tried to gain more when I was a 
 child. I can forget father and mother, but can never forget those who 
 taught me, especially about religion. Although some of them are 
 dead, yet still they live by their Christian example, which they have 
 left behind. My whole life will be full of gratitude to those dear 
 Christian friends, and I pray that God himself may reward them a 
 hundred fold. 
 
 Yours respectfully, 
 
 Sada Barakat. 
 
 In the year 1851, the Missionaiy Sewing Society 
 
88 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 of the Beirut Female Seminary heard of the interest- 
 ing state of things in Aintab, and that the women 
 there were anxious to learn to read. The missiona- 
 ries in Aintab hired an old man to go around from 
 house to house to teach the women to re^d in their 
 homes, but the women were so eager to learn that 
 the old man was unable to meet the demand. So 
 children were employed to assist. The plan worked 
 admirably, and in 1851, eighty women received in- 
 struction and became able to read God's Word. 
 The Arab girls in Mrs. De Forest's school were called 
 together, and it was proposed that they sew and em- 
 broider and send the proceeds of their work to pay 
 the little girl teachers in Aintab. There were pres- 
 ent, Ferha, (joy,) Sara, Saada Sabunjy, Miriam, 
 Khushfeh, Khurma, Mirta, (Martha) Feifun, Katrina, 
 Hada, Sada el Haleby, Esteer, Helloon, Fetny, 
 Akabir, Hamdy, and Liza. The needles were brisk- 
 ly plied, and in due time, two hundred and fifty pias- 
 tres were collected and forwarded to Aintab. Mrs. 
 Schneider wrote back thanking the " dear Arab girls." 
 The habits of benevolence thus acquired have con- 
 tinued with the most of these girls until now. The 
 greater part of them are now church-members and 
 the heads of families. 
 
 The following letter written by Mrs. De Forest 
 in Feb. 1852, gives some account of Lulu Araman. 
 
 Beirut, Syria, February, 1852, 
 My Dear young friends in Thetford : 
 
 The quilt you sent came safely, and I thank you much for all the 
 care and trouble you have taken to make and quilt it for me. I at 
 
DR. DE FORESU'S WORK IN BEIRUT. 89 
 
 first thought of keeping it for myself, but then it occurred to ine that 
 perhaps it might please you better and interest you more if I gave it 
 to Lulu, one of my girls, who is to be married some time this year to 
 Mr. Michaiel Araman, one of the teachers in the Abeih Seminary. 
 You will thus have the pleasure of feeling that you have in one sense 
 done something for the school, as she is an assistant pupil, or pupil 
 teacher. She has been with me now for about eight years, and seems 
 almost like my own daughter. Perhaps you will be interested in 
 knowing something of her. 
 
 She was born in a ].leasant valley, Wady Shehrur, near Beirut, 
 celebrated for its fine oranges, and indeed for almost all kind of fine 
 fruits. She lost both her parents early in life. Her brothers (contra- 
 ry to the usual custom here where girls are not much regarded or 
 cared for) were very kind to her, and as she was a delicate child, they 
 took great care of her, and often used to make vows to some saint in 
 her behalf. At one time, when she was very ill, they vowed to Mar 
 Giurgis (for they are members of the Greek Church, and St. George 
 is one of the favorite saints of the Greeks, and indeed of all the Chris- 
 tian sects here, and they still show the spot where he is said to have 
 killed the dragon) that if she recovered, she should carry tO one of his 
 shrines two wax candles as tall as herself and of a prescribed weight. 
 While she was ^till feeble they provided the candles, and as she was 
 too weak to walk, they carried her and the candles also, to the holy 
 place and presented them. 
 
 When she was eight years old, they were persuaded by an acquaint- 
 ance to place her in one of the Mission families. Here she was in- 
 structed in her own language, and especially in the Holy Scriptures. 
 She was allowed, however, to keep her feasts and fasts, and to attend 
 her own church, until she became convinced that these things would 
 not saVe her and she wished to give them up. One feast day the lady 
 with whom she lived gave her some sewing and told her to seat her- 
 self and do her task. She refused, saying it was a, feast day, and it 
 was unlawful work. A little while after she asked permission to go 
 and visit her brother's family ; but the lady told her, " No, if it is un- 
 lawful to work, it is unlawful to visit. I have no objection to your 
 keeping your feast days, but if you do you must keep them as holy 
 time." So she gave her a portion of Scripture to learn, and she was 
 kept very quiet all day, as though it was the Sabbath, and without the 
 day being made agreeable to her like the Sabbath by going to Church 
 
90 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 and Sabbath School. She did not at all like keeping a feast in this 
 manner, which is very different from the manner in which such a day 
 or even the Sabbath, is kept in this land, and was ever after ready to 
 work when told to do so. When her brothers saw that she was be- 
 ginning to give up their vain ceremonies, they became anxious to get 
 her away, lest she should become a Protestant ; and at one time, when 
 she went home to attend the wedding of one of her relatives, they re- 
 fused to allow her to return, and it was only through the good man- 
 agement of the native friend who was sent for her, and her own de- 
 termination to come, that she was permitted to come back. 
 
 We hope that she became truly pious six years ago, in 1846, as 
 her life evinces that she is striving to live according to the precepts 
 of the gospel. She has never dared to go home again, although it has 
 been a great trial for her to stay away, because she knew that .she 
 shouid be obliged to remain there, and to conform to the idolatrous 
 rites of the Greek Church. She has assisted us in the School for 
 nearly five years, besides teaching a day school at various times, be- 
 fore the Boarding School was commenced, and we shall feel very sorry 
 to part with her. Still we hope that she will yef be useful to her 
 countrywomen, and furnish them an example of a happy Christian 
 home, of which there are so few at present in this country. 
 
 Our school has now nineteen pupils, most of whom are promising. 
 Some we hope are true Christians. The girls opened their box the 
 other day, and found that they had a little more than last year from 
 their earnings. Some friends added a little, and they have now forty 
 dollars. One half they send to China, and the other half give to the 
 Church here.' 
 
 The hope expressed by Mrs. De Forest in 1852, 
 with regard to the future usefulness of Lulu, has 
 not been disappointed. Her family is a model 
 Christian family, the home of piety and affection, 
 the centre of a pure and hallowed influence. Her 
 eldest daughter Katie, named from Mrs. De Forest, 
 is now a teacher in the Beirut Female Seminary in 
 which her father has been the principal instructor in 
 the Bible and in the higher Arabic branches for ten 
 
DR. DE FORESTS WORK IN BEIRUT. 
 
 91 
 
 years. For years this institution was carried on in 
 Lulu's house, and she was the Matron while Rufka 
 was the Preceptress, and its very existence is owing 
 to the patient and faithful labors of those two Chris- 
 tian Syrian women. If any one who reads these 
 lines should doubt the utility of labors for the girls 
 and women of the Arab race, let him visit first the 
 squalid, disorderly, cheerless and Christless homes 
 of the mass of the Arab villagers of Syria, and then 
 enter the cheerful, tidy, well ordered home of Mr. 
 and Mrs. Araman, when the family are at morning 
 prayers, listen to the voice of prayer and praise and 
 the reading of God's word. Instead of the father 
 sitting gloomily alone at his morning meal, and the 
 mother and children waiting till their lord is through 
 and then eating by themselves in the usual Arab 
 way, he would see the whole family seated together 
 in a Christian, homelike manner, the Divine blessing 
 asked, and the meal conducted with propriety and 
 decorum. After breakfast the father and Katie go 
 to the Seminary to give their morning lessons, 
 Henry (named for Dr. De Forest) sets out for the 
 College, in which he is a Sophomore, and the 
 younger children go to their various schools. Lulu's 
 place at church is rarely vacant, and since that 
 " relic of barbarism" the curtain which separated 
 the men from the women has been removed from 
 the building, the whole family, father, mother, and 
 children sit together and join in the worship of God. 
 Her brother and relatives from " Wady" are on the 
 most affectionate terms with her, and her elder 
 
92 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 sister is in the domestic department of the Beirut 
 Female Seminary. 
 
 This change is very largely due to the efforts 
 of Mrs. De Forest, whose name with that of 
 her sainted husband is embalmed in the mem- 
 ory of the Christian families of Syria, and 
 will be held in everlasting remembrance. The 
 second ge?ieration of Christian teachers is now grow- 
 ing up in Syria. Three of Mrs. De Forest's pupils 
 have daughters now engaged in teaching. Khushfeh, 
 Lulu, and Sada el Haleby; and Miriam Tabet has a 
 daughter married to Mr. S. Hallock, of the Ameri- 
 can Press in Beirut. 
 
 FRUITS OF DR. DE FOREST'S GIRL'S SCHOOL. 
 
 In the autumn of 1852, there was a school of 
 thirty girls in B'hamdtin, a village high up in Mt. 
 Lebanon. Fifteen months before the teacher was 
 the only female in the village who could read, and 
 she had been taught by the native girls in Dr. De 
 Forest's school. Quite a number of the girls of the 
 village had there learned to read, and they all came 
 to the school clean and neatly dressed. They com- 
 mitted to memory verses of Scripture, and it was 
 surprising to see how correctly they recited them at 
 the Sabbath School. At meeting they were quiet 
 and attentive like the best behaved children in 
 Christian lands. It would be difficult to sum up the 
 results of that little school for girls twenty years ago 
 in B'hamdun. That village is full of gospel light. 
 A Protestant church edifice is in process of erection, 
 
DR. DE FORESTS WORK IN BEIRUT. 
 
 93 
 
 a native pastor, Rev. Sulleba Jerawan, preaches to the 
 people, and the mass of the people have at least an 
 intellectual acquaintance with the truth. 
 
 The picturesque village of B'hamdiin, where Dr. 
 De Forest's school is established, is on the side of a 
 lofty mountain. It is nearly 4000 feet above the level 
 of the Mediterranean Sea. The village is compact 
 as a little city, the streets narrow, rocky and crooked, 
 the houses flat-roofed, and the floors of mud. One 
 of the Protestants, the father of Miriam Tabet, has 
 built a fine large house with glass windows and paved 
 floors, which is one of the best houses in that part of 
 Lebanon. The village is surrounded by vineyards, 
 and the grapes are regarded as the finest in Mt. Leba- 
 non. The people say that they never have to dig 
 for the foundation of a house, but only to sweep off 
 the dust with a broom. There is not a shade tree 
 in the village. One day Dr. De Forest asked, " Why 
 don't you plant a tree?" "We shall not live till it 
 has grown," was the reply. " But your children 
 will," said the Doctor. " Let them plant it then," 
 was the satisfactory answer. 
 
 My first visit to B'hamdun was made in Febru- 
 ary, 1856, a few days after my first arrival in Syria. 
 On Sabbath morning I attended the Sabbath School 
 with Mr. Benton, at that time a missionary of the 
 A. B. C. F. M. One Httle girl named Katrina Su- 
 bra, then nine years of age, repeated the Arabic 
 Hymn " Kumu wa Rettelu," "Awake and sing the 
 song of Moses and the Lamb.'' She was a bright- 
 eyed child of fair complexion and of unusual intelli- 
 
Q4 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 gence. At that time there was no children's hymn 
 book in Arabic, and I asked Mr. B. to promise the 
 children that when I had learned the Arabic, I 
 would translate a collection of children's hymns into 
 Arabic, which promise was fulfilled first in the print- 
 ing of the " Douzan el Kethar," " The tuning of the 
 Harp," in 1861. Katrina was the daughter of Elias 
 Subra, one of the wealthiest men in the village, who 
 had just then become a Protestant. She had been 
 interested in the truth for some time, and though at 
 the time only eight years old, was accustomed dur- 
 ing the preceding summer to tell the Arab children 
 that she was a Protestant, though they answered 
 her with insults and cursing. At first she could not 
 bear to be abused, and answered them in language 
 more forcible than proper, but by the time of my 
 visit she had become softened and subdued in her 
 manner, and was never heard to speak an unkind 
 word to any one. She undertook, even at that age, 
 to teach the Greek servant girl in the family how to 
 read. One day the old Greek Priest met her in the 
 street and asked her why she did not go to confession 
 as the other Greek children do. She replied that 
 she could go to Christ and confess. The priest then 
 said that her father and the rest of the Protestants 
 go to the missionary and write out their sins on 
 papers which he puts into rat holes in the wall ! 
 Katrina knew this to be a foolish falsehood and told 
 the priest so. He then asked her how the Protest- 
 ants confess. She replied that they confess as the 
 Lord Jesus tells them to, quoting to him the Ian- 
 
DR. DEFORESTS WORK IN BEIRUT. ^5 
 
 guage of Scripture, (Matt. 6 : 6.) " But thou when 
 thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou 
 hast shut the door, pray to thy Father which is in 
 sec/et, and thy Father who seeth in secret shall re- 
 ward thee openly." The priest was confounded by 
 the ready truthful answer of the child, and turned 
 away. 
 
 Three years later Katrina was a member of the 
 Mission Female Seminary in Suk el Ghurb, a village 
 three hours distant from Beirut, under the instruc- 
 tion of Miss Temple and Miss Johnson, and contin- 
 ued there until the Seminary was broken up by the 
 massacres of May and June, i860. I remember 
 well the day when that procession of girls and teach- 
 ers rode and walked down from Suk el Ghurb to 
 Beirut. All Southern Lebanon was in a blaze. 
 Twenty-five villages were burning. Druze and 
 Maronite were in deadly strife. Baabda and Hadeth 
 which we passed on our way to Beirut, were a smok- 
 ing ruin. Armed bodies of Druzes passed and 
 saluted us, but no one offered to insult one of the 
 girls by word or gesture. Dr. and Mrs. Bliss gave 
 us lunch at their home in the Suk as we came from 
 Abeih, and then followed a few days later to Beirut. 
 Miss Temple tried to re-open the school in Beirut, 
 but the constant tide of refugees coming in from 
 the mountains, and the daily rumors of an attack 
 by Druzes and Moslems on Beirut, threw the city in- 
 to a panic, and it was found impossible to carry on 
 the work of instruction. The girls were sent to 
 their parents where this was practicable, and the 
 
96 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 Seminary as such ceased for a time to exist. Ka- 
 trina, was married in 1864 to M. Ghurzuzy, a Pro- 
 testant merchant of Beirut, who is now secular 
 agent or Wakil of the Syrian Protestant College. 
 In 1866, she united with the Evangelical Church in 
 Beirut. She has had repeated attacks of illness, in 
 which she has manifested the most entire submis- 
 sion to the Divine will, and a calm and sweet trust 
 in her Lord and Saviour. Her home is a Christ- 
 ian home, and her children are being trained in 
 " the nurture and admonition of the Lord." 
 
A Syrian Woman, 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 RE-OPENING OF THE SCHOOL IN BEIRUT. 
 
 TN 1856 Miss Cheney re-opened the Female Semi- 
 
 nary with eight pupils, in Beirut, and in 'the 34 
 schools of the Mission there were 1068 pupils, of 
 whom 266 were girls. 
 
 In 1857, there were 277 girls in the various 
 schools. 
 
 In 1858, Miss Temple and Miss Johnson arrived 
 from America, and the Female Seminary was opened 
 in Suk el Ghurb in the family of Rev. Dr. Bliss, Miss 
 Johnson and Miss Cheney having returned to the 
 United States, Miss Mason came to aid Miss Tem- 
 ple in February, i860. The girl's school in Beirut 
 under the care of Rufka Gregory, had about 60 pu- 
 pils. The civil war in Lebanon, followed by the 
 massacres in Jezzin, Deir el Komr, Hasbeiya, Rash- 
 eiya and Damascus, beginning in May, and continu- 
 ing until the middle of July,, broke up all our schools 
 and seminaries, and filled the land with sorrow and 
 desolation. 
 
 Miss Temple and Miss Mason remained for a 
 season in Beinit, studying the Arabic language, and 
 in 1862 Miss Temple having returned to the U. S. A., 
 Miss Masoa opened a Boarding School for girls in 
 Sidon. 
 
 5 
 
98 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 It was decided that none but Protestant girls 
 should be received into this school, that no English 
 should be taught, and that the style of eating, sleep- 
 ing and dress should be conformed as much as pos- 
 sible to the standard of native customs in the country 
 villages, in order that the girls might the more read- 
 ily return to their homes as teachers, without acquir- 
 ing European tastes and habits. Miss Mason car- 
 ried on this school until 1865, when she returned to 
 the U. S. A., and it was decided if possible to carry 
 it on with native instructors under the supervision 
 of Mrs. Eddy. 
 
 In the winter of 1867 it was under the kind 
 charge of Mrs. Watson of Shemlan and her adopted 
 daughter. Miss Handumeh Watson, and is now con- 
 ducted by two English young ladies, Miss Jacombs 
 and Miss Stanton, who are supported by the London 
 " Society for the Promotion of Female Education in 
 the East." On the removal of the girls' Boarding 
 School to Sidon, it was evident that the Female 
 Seminary must be re-opened in Beirut. Owing to 
 the depressed state of Missionary finances in Amer- 
 ica, arising from the civil war, it was deemed advisa- 
 ble to reorganize the Beirut Seminary on a new 
 basis, with only native teachers. The Providence 
 of God had prepared teachers admirably fitted for 
 this work, who undertook it with cheerful hope and 
 patient industry. It was decided to make a paying 
 Boarding School of a higher order than any existing 
 institution in Syria, and to resume instruction in the 
 English language, giving lessons also in French and 
 
RE-OPENING OF THE SCHOOL IN BEIRUT. 
 
 99 
 
 Music to those who were willing to pay for these 
 branches. 
 
 Mr. Michael Araman, for many years a teacher 
 in the Abeih Seminary with Mr. Calhoun, and for 
 some time a native preacher in Beirut, was appointed 
 instructor in the Biblical History and the Higher 
 Arabic branches ; his wife Lulu, the Matron, and 
 Miss Ruf ka Gregory, the Preceptress. Ruf ka was 
 an orphan, as already stated, and was trained 
 with her sister Sada in the family of Mr. and Mrs. 
 Whiting for many years. As a teacher and a disci- 
 plinarian she had not an equal among the women 
 of Syria, and under the joint management of this 
 corps of teachers, aided by competent assistants in 
 the various branches, the Seminary rose in public 
 esteem, until it became one of the most attractive 
 and prosperous institutions in Syria. 
 
 In March, 1862, Rufka's day school of seventy 
 girls held a public examination in the Chapel. The 
 girls were examined in Arabic reading, geography, 
 grammar, catechism, arithmetic, Scripture lessons 
 and English, with an exhibition of specimens of 
 their needle work. In the fall it was commenced as 
 a Boarding School, with two paying pupils and four 
 charity pupils. The funds for commencing the 
 boarding department were furnished by Mr. Alex- 
 ander Van Rensselaer, Mrs. Henry Farnum, Col. 
 Frazer, H. B. M. Commissioner to Syria, and others. 
 The Seminary not being under the direction of the 
 Mission as such, nor in connection with the Ameri- 
 can Board, was placed under the care of a local 
 
lOO THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 Board of Managers, consisting of Dr. Thomson, Dr. 
 Van Dyck, Consul J. A. Johnson, and Rev. H. H. Jes- 
 sup. Dr. Thomson was indefatigable in his efforts 
 to place it on a firm and permanent foundation, as a 
 purely Native Protestant institution, and the fact 
 that such a school could be carried on for a year 
 without a single foreign instructor, was one of the 
 most encouraging features in the history of the Syria 
 Mission. It was the first purely native Female Sem- 
 inary in Western Asia, and we hope it will not be 
 the last. 
 
 It will continue to be the aim of the Mission, and 
 of the present able faculty of the institution, to train 
 up Native teachers qualified- to carry on the work 
 in the future. 
 
 At the same time in the fall of 1862, a school for 
 Damascene girls was opened in an upper room of 
 my house, under the care of one of Dr. De Forest's 
 pupils, Sada el Haleby, who carried it on successfully 
 with seventy girls until August, 1864, when, on my 
 departure for the U. S. A. the school was taken up 
 by the late Mrs. Bowen Thompson, whose Society 
 has maintained it until this day. 
 
 In 1863, the number of paying boarders in the 
 Seminary had increased to twenty, and in 1866 the 
 pupils numbered eighty, and the income from native 
 paying pupils was about fifteen hundred dollars in 
 gold! 
 
 The Annual Examination was held in the latter 
 part of June, in the Mission Chapel, and continued 
 three days, thronged by a multitude of interested 
 
RE-OPENING OF THE SCHOOL IN BEIRUT. \o\ 
 
 spectators. The Turkish official Arabic Journal of 
 Beirut, the " Hadikat el Akhbar," published a 
 lengthy report of the Examination, pronouncing it 
 the most satisfactory examination of girls that ever 
 took place in Syria. An English clergyman who 
 was present refused to believe that they were Syrian 
 girls, insisting that they must be English. The 
 girls recited in Bible History, giving all the impor- 
 tant dates from Adam to Christ, with an account 
 of the rites, sacrifices and prophecies which refer to 
 Christ, giving also the names of all the patriarchs, 
 judges, kings and prophets in their order. Twenty- 
 two different classes were examined, and many of 
 the girls read original qompositions. 
 
 On the Sabbath, July ist, two of the assistant 
 teachers, Asin Haddad and Sara Sarkis (?) were 
 received to the communion of the Beirut Church. 
 They traced their religious awakening to the dying 
 testimony of Sara Bistany, which is described in a 
 subsequent chapter. Several of the younger pupils 
 were much interested in the subject of religion at 
 the time, and one Httle girl about seven years old 
 said to her teacher, " I gave the Lord my heart, and 
 He took it." Asin died in Latakiah in 1869, tri- 
 umphing in Christ. The women of the neighbor- 
 hood came to the house of her brother to hear her 
 joyous expressions of trust in Jesus, and her assur- 
 ance that she should soon be with Him in glory. 
 She was the second daughter of that young bride 
 of fifteen years of age, who learned to read in 1825, 
 
I02 THE WOMEN OF' THE ARABS. 
 
 in the school taught by her own husband, Tannus el 
 Haddad. 
 
 In 1867, the health of Rufka having become 
 seriously impaired, she removed to Egypt, where 
 after a period of rest, she opened on her own 
 account a school for girls in Cairo, which she main- 
 tained with her wonted energy, until her marriage 
 with the Rev. Mr. Muir, a Scotch clergyman, whom 
 she accompanied to Melbourne, Australia, in 1869. 
 Since the death of her husband she has returned to 
 her favorite employment of teaching, with marked 
 success, among the British population of Melbourne. 
 
 While in Cairo, she passed through a deep and 
 agonizing religious experience, which she described 
 in the following letter to Mrs. Whiting, and the re- 
 sult of which was a new life in Christ. 
 
 Cairo, Egypt, July 9, 1868. 
 
 " I think I shall always remember my stay in Cairo with much 
 pleasure, but the greatest advantage of this year is the opportunity I 
 had of stopping to think of the interests of a never dying soul, of a 
 neglected Saviour, an offended God. Yes, I have reflected, struggled, 
 oh, how hard, and thanks to an ever merciful God, I trust I have been 
 led by the Holy Spirit to see and feel my great sin, and casting my- 
 self at the feet of Jesus, stayed there with my sinful heart till a lov- 
 ing Saviour just came and took it up. Oh, how grieved was His ten- 
 der heart when He saw how defiled it was with sin and wickedness, 
 but He said, fear not, my blood will cleanse it and make it pure ; 
 then how He pleaded my case before His Father, setting forth His 
 boundless love and infinite righteousness as a reason why He wished 
 to be accepted. Yes, dear Mrs. Whiting, I hope I can now say. Thy 
 God is my God, and the blessed Saviour you have loved so long is 
 now very precious to me. The past winter has been,a solemn time 
 with me. Many hard struggles have I had, much fear that I might 
 
RE-OPENING OF THE SCHOOL IN BEIRUT. 
 
 103 
 
 have forever grieved God's Holy Spirit, and for a long time it all 
 seemed so dark, there seemed no hope for me who had been so long 
 living away from the Saviour, but in great fear and despair I just 
 rushed and cast myself at His feet, and asked Him to let me perish 
 there if I must perish ; there was nothing else for me to do, and I 
 felt such happiness in just leaving myself in His care. How wonder- 
 ful is His love ! But what a life of constant prayer and watching is that 
 of a Christian ! in the first place to aim at close walking with God, 
 leaving Him to order our steps for us, and trusting Him so to order 
 our way as to best enable us to walk closely with Him. It has been 
 1 most comforting thought when I find it difficult to live right and 
 feel my utter weakness, that Jesus is each day saying to His Father 
 for me, " I pray not she should be taken out of the world, but that she 
 should be kept from the evil" and to live up to oiir privileges and to 
 walk worthy of our high calling. 
 
 My precious teacher, I know you will rejoice and thank God with 
 me for His great goodness to me in bringing me to the feet of Jesus. 
 Oh, how precious He is to my poor soul ! He is Heaven. How He 
 blesses me every moment ! His boundless love to me who am most 
 unworthy of the least of His mercies. If ever any one had reason to 
 boast of the loving kindness of the Lord, it surely must be myself. 
 In His great mercy I have had the privilege of openly confessing my 
 faith in Him, and publicly professing my determination to be the 
 Lord's at the last communion in the Church here in May. I put it off 
 till then hoping to do it in Beirut in the Church dear Mr. Whiting had 
 preached in for so many years, and among the girls I had taught, and 
 all the young friends there, but as that was not allowed me, I joined 
 the Church here." 
 
 Her devoted friend and loving assistant teacher 
 Luciyah, was deeply affected by what she learned 
 from Riifka of her new spiritual life, and she too 
 turned her thoughts to divine things, and soon after 
 the arrival of Miss Everett and Miss Carruth in 1868, 
 to take charge of the Seminary, she came out openly 
 on the Lord's side, and in the midst of a fire of 
 
I04 I'HE WOMEN OF TBE ARABS. 
 
 domestic persecution, publicly professed her faith in 
 Jesus as her only Saviour. 
 
 Miss Carruth, after staying just long enough in 
 the Seminary to win the hearts of teachers and pu- 
 pils, was obliged to return to her native land, where 
 she is still an efficient laborer in the New England 
 Woman's Board of Missions. 
 
 The year following the departure of Rufka to 
 Egypt was a critical time in the history of the Sem- 
 inary. Lulu continued in charge of the domestic 
 department, and Mr. Araman managed the business 
 of the school, while Mrs. Salt (a sister of Melita and 
 Salome) aided in several of the classes. But the 
 institution owed its great success during that year, 
 if not its very existence, to the untiring energy and 
 efficient services of Mrs. Dr. Bliss and Mrs. Emilia 
 Thomson, daughter of the Rev. Dr. Thomson. 
 They each gave several hours every day to instruc- 
 tion in the English language, the Scriptures and 
 music, and the high standard of excellence already 
 attained in the Seminary was maintained if not sur- 
 passed. 
 
 Their perfect familiarity with the Arabic lan- 
 guage gave them a great advantage in the manage- 
 ment and instruction of the pupils, and their efforts on 
 behalf of the Institution, in maintaining it in full 
 and successful operation during the year previous to 
 the arrival of Miss Everett and Miss Carruth, de- 
 serve grateful recognition. 
 
 In the winter of 1870 and 1871 Miss Sophia 
 Loring, and Miss Ellen Jackson arrived from Amer- 
 
RE-OPENJNG OF THE SCHOOL IN BEIRUT. 105 
 
 ica as colleagues of Miss Everett, and under their 
 efficient management aided by Mr. Araman, Luciyah 
 and other native teachers, the Seminary is enjoying 
 a high degree of prosperity. 
 
 In March, 1864, the Mission had issued an ap- 
 peal for funds to erect a permanent home for this 
 Seminary, and in 1866 the present commodious and 
 substantial edifice was erected, a lasting monument 
 of the liberality of Christian men and women in 
 America and England. 
 
 Its cost was about eleven thousand dollars, and 
 the raising of this sum was largely due to the liber- 
 ality and personal services of Mr. Wm. A. Booth, of 
 New York, who also kindly acted as treasurer of 
 the building fund. The lumber used in its construc- 
 tion was brought from the ' state of Maine. The 
 doors and windows were made under the direction 
 of Dr. Hamlin of Constantinople, in Lowell, Mass., 
 the tiles came from Marseilles, the stone from the 
 sandstone quarries of Ras Beirut, the stone pave- 
 ment partly from Italy and partly from Mt. Lebanon, 
 and the eighty iron bedsteads from Birmingham, 
 England. The cistern, which holds about 20,000 
 gallons, was built at the expense of a Massachusetts 
 lady, and the portico by a lady of New York. The 
 melodeon was given by ladies in Georgetown, D. C, 
 and the organ is the gift of a benevolent lady in 
 Newport, R. I. 
 
 Time would fail me to recount the generous of- 
 ferings of Christian men and women who have aided 
 in the support of this school during the ten years of 
 
I06 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 its history. Receiving no pecuniary aid from the 
 American Board, the entire responsibility of its sup- 
 port fell upon a few members of the Syria Mission. 
 Travellers who passed through the Holy Land, some- 
 times assumed the support of charity pupils, or in- 
 terested their Sabbath Schools in raising scholarships, 
 on their return home, and a few noble friends in the 
 United States have sent on their gifts from time to 
 time unsolicited, to defray the general expenses of 
 the Institution. Its support has been to some of us a 
 work oi faith, as well as a labor of love. Not un- 
 frequently has the end of the month come upon us, 
 without one piastre in the treasury for paying the 
 teachers' salaries or buying bread for the children, 
 when suddenly, in some unknown and unexpected 
 way, funds would be received, sufficient for all our 
 wants. About two years since the funds were en- 
 tirely exhausted. More than a hundred dollars 
 would be owing to the teachers and servants on the 
 following day. The accounts were examined, and 
 all possible means of relief proposed, but without 
 avail. At length one of the members of the Execu- 
 tive Committee asked leave to look over the accounts. 
 He did so, and said he could not find any mention 
 of a sum of about thirty Napoleons, which he was 
 sure he had paid into the treasury several months 
 before, as a donation frojn Mr. Booth of New York, 
 whose son had died in Beirut. The money had not 
 been paid into the school treasury. The vouchers 
 were all produced, and there was left no resort but 
 prayer. There was earnest supplication that night 
 
KE-OPENING OF THE SCHOOL IN BEIRUT. 
 
 107 
 
 that the Lord would reHeve us from our embarrass- 
 ment, and provide for the necessities of the school. 
 The next morning the good brother, above men- 
 tioned, recalled to mind his having given that 
 money to Dr. Van Dyck in the Mission Library for 
 the School. Dr. Van Dyck was consulted, and at 
 once replied, " Certainly I received the money. It 
 is securely locked up in the safe where it has been 
 for months awaiting orders." The safe was opened, 
 and the money found to be almost to a piastre the 
 amount needed for obligations of the School. 
 
 Since the transfer of the Syria Mission to the 
 board of Missions of the Presbyterian Church, the 
 pecuniary status of the Seminary has been somewhat 
 modified. The Women's Boards of Missions of New- 
 York and Philadelphia have assumed the responsi- 
 bility of raising scholarships for its support among 
 the Auxiliary Societies and Sabbath Schools ; the 
 salaries of the teachers are provided for by individ- 
 uals and churches, and several of the old friends of 
 the school retain their interest in it, while the danger 
 of a deficit is guarded against, by the guarantees of 
 the good Christian women who are doing so grand 
 and noble a work in this age for the world's evangel- 
 ization. The annual cost of supporting a pupil now 
 is about sixty dollars gold. The number of paying 
 pupils is increasing, and the prospect for the future 
 is encouraging. 
 
 In the year 1864, a letter was received from cer- 
 tain Christian women in America, addressed to the 
 girls of the School, and some of the older girls pre- 
 
I08 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 pared a reply in Arabic, a translation of which was 
 sent to America. It was as follows : 
 
 " From the girls of the Beirut School in Syria, to 
 the sisters beloved in the Lord Jesus, in a land very 
 far away. We have been honored in reading the 
 lines which reached us from you, O sisters, distant 
 in body but near in spirit, and we have given glory 
 to God the Creator of all, who has caused in your 
 hearts true love to us, and spiritual sympathies 
 which have prompted you, dear sisters in the Lord, 
 to write to us. Yes, it is the Lord Jesus who has 
 brought about between us and between you (Arabic 
 idiom) a spiritual intercourse, without the intercourse 
 of bodily presence. For we have never in our lives 
 seen you, nor your country, nor have we spoken to 
 you face to face, and so you likewise have not seen 
 us. Had neither of us the Word of God, the Holy 
 and Only Book which is from one Father and a God 
 unchangeable, to tell us that we have one nature, 
 and have all fallen into one transgression, and are 
 saved in one way, which is the Lord Jesu*, we could 
 not, as we now can, call you in one union, our sisters. 
 The Lord Jesus calls those who love Him His breth- 
 ren, and since He is the only bond and link, are we 
 not His sister, and thus sisters to each other? Tru- 
 ly, O dear sisters, we are thirsting to see you, and we 
 all unite in offering prayers and praises to God, 
 through His Son Immanuel, the possessor of the 
 glorious Name, praying that we may see you ; but 
 we cannot in this world, for we are in the East, and 
 you are in the West, far, very far. But, O dear 
 
A Jew with the Phylactery. 
 
RE-OPENING OF THE SCHOOL IN BEIRUT. 109 
 
 friends, as we hope for the resurrection from the 
 dead, so after our period in this world is ended, we 
 shall meet by the blessing of God in those bright 
 courts which are illumined by the light of the Sav- 
 iour, which need not sun nor moon to give them 
 light, — that holy place which is filled with throngs 
 of angels who never cease to offer glory to God. 
 There we may meet and unite with all the saved in 
 praising the Saviour. There we may meet our 
 friends who have passed on before us " as waiting 
 they watch us approaching the shore,'' as we sing in 
 the hymn. There around the throne of the glori- 
 ous Saviour, there in the heavenly Jerusalem, our 
 songs will not be mingled with tears and grief, for 
 the Lord Jesus Himself will wipe away all tears from 
 our eyes. There will not enter sin nor its likeness 
 into our hearts sanctified by the Holy Spirit. There 
 this body which shall rise incorruptible, will not re- 
 turn to the state in which it was in this world. In 
 those courts we shall be happy always, and the rea- 
 son is that we shall always be with the Great Shep- 
 herd, as it is said in the Book of Revelation, ' He 
 shall shepherd them and lead them to fountains of 
 living waters and wipe all tears from their eyes.' 
 Our sisters, were it not for the Holy Bible which the 
 Lord has given to His people, we should have no 
 comfort to console us with regard to our friends 
 whom we have lost by means of death. We beg you 
 to help us by offering prayers to the living and true 
 God that He will make us faithful even unto death, 
 — that He will bless us while on the sea of this life, 
 
no THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 until we reach the shore of peace without fear or 
 trouble, that we may be ready to stand before the 
 seat of the Lord Jesus the Judge of all, clothed in the 
 robes of His perfect righteousness, which he wove 
 for us on the Cross, and is now ready to give to 
 those who ask Him. Let us then all ask of God 
 that this our only treasure may be placed where no 
 thief can break in and steal, and no moth shall cor- 
 rupt. And may the Lord preserve you ! 
 We love to sing this hymn, 
 
 ' Holy Bible, Book Divine, 
 Precious treasure, thou art mine ! ' 
 
 and we entreat you that when you sing it, you will 
 let it be a remembrancer from us to you." 
 
 In March, 1865, a little girl was brought to the 
 school under somewhat peculiar circumstances. 
 Years ago, in the- days of Mr. Whiting, a Maronite 
 monk named Nejm, became enlightened, left the 
 monastery and was married to a Maronite woman 
 named Zarifeh, by Mr. Whiting. For years the 
 poor man passed through the fires of persecution 
 and trial. Even his wife, in her ignorance, though 
 not openly opposing him, trembled with fear every 
 time he read the Scriptures aloud. At the time 
 mentioned above, their little daughter Resha was 
 about five years of age. The Papal Maronite Bishop 
 of Beirut made a visit to Nejm's village, Baabda, to 
 dispense indulgences, in accordance with the Pope's 
 EncycHcal letter. Nejm was called upon to pay his 
 portion of the sum assessed upon the people, but 
 
RE-OPENING OF THE SCHOOL IN BEIRUT. \\\ 
 
 having been a Protestant fifteen years, he refused to 
 pay it. At the instigation of the priests, his wife 
 was then taken from him, and his Httle Resha, his 
 only child, was carried off by one of the priests to 
 Beirut, and thrust inside the gates of the convent 
 of the French Sisters of Charity. The poor father 
 came to me, well-nigh broken-hearted, pleading for 
 assistance. I laid the case before His Excellency 
 Daud Pasha, Governor of Lebanon, who was then in 
 Beirut, and drew up a petition to the Pasha of 
 Beirut also, on the subject. Nejm went about weep- 
 ing and wringing his hands, and my feelings became 
 deeply enlisted in his behalf. Three weeks after- 
 wards, after a series of petitions and visits to the 
 Pasha of Beirut, the girl Resha was removed from 
 the convent and taken by Nejm's enemies to a 
 house near Nahr Beirut, about two miles distant, 
 and just over the border line of the Mountain 
 Pashalic. I then addressed another letter to Daiid 
 Pasha, and he promptly ordered her to be restored 
 to her father. The manner in which Nejm, the 
 father, finally secured the child was not a little 
 amusing. He had been searching for his child for 
 several weeks, waiting and watching, until his 
 patience was about exhausted, when he heard that 
 Resha was again in the hands of the priests in 
 Baabda. The mother followed the child, and the 
 priests threatened to kill her, if she informed her 
 husband where the girl was secreted. Daud Pasha 
 was then at his winter palace in Baabda, and Nejm 
 took my letter to him. While awaiting a reply at 
 
112 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 the door, some one informed him that his daughter 
 was at the fountain. Without waiting further for 
 official aid, he ran to the fountain, took up his 
 daughter, put her on his back, and ran for Beirut,- a 
 distance of about four miles, where he brought her 
 to my house, and placed her in my room, with loud 
 ejaculations of thanks to God. " Neshkar Allah ; 
 El mejd lismoo." Thanks to God ! Glory to His 
 name ! The mother soon followed, and the girl was 
 sent as a day scholar to the Seminary. They are 
 now living in Baabda. The mother, Zarify, united 
 with the Evangelical Church of Beirut, July 21, 
 1872, giving the best evidence of a true spiritual 
 experience. The little girl is anxious to teach, and 
 it was proposed to employ her as an assistant in the 
 girls' school in Baabda, but the tyrannical oppres- 
 sions of the priesthood upon the family who had 
 offered their house for the school, and the refusal of 
 the Pasha of Lebanon to grant protection to the 
 persecuted, have obliged the brethren there to post- 
 pone their request for a school for the present. 
 
 Alas for the poor women of Syria ! Even when 
 they seek to obtain the consolations of the Gospel 
 by learning to read the Word of life, they are sur- 
 rounded by priests and Sheikhs who watch their 
 chance to destroy the " Bread of Life ! " In March, 
 1865, a Maronite woman called at the Press to buy a 
 book of poems, to teach her boy to read. " Why 
 not buy a Testament?" asked the bookseller. "I 
 did buy an Engeel Mushekkel," (a voweled Testa- 
 ment.) " Be careful of it then," said Khalil, " for 
 
RE-OPENING OF THE SCHOOL IN BEIRUT. \ [3 
 
 the edition is exhausted, and you cannot get another 
 for months." " It is too late to be careful now, for 
 the book has bee^i burned." " Burned ? by whom ? " 
 " By the Jesuits, who gathered a large pile and 
 burned them." God grant that as Tyndale's Eng- 
 lish New Testament, first printed in 1527 was only 
 spread the more widely for the attempts of the 
 Papal Bishop of London to burn it, so the Arabic 
 Bible may receive a new impulse from the similarly 
 inspired efforts of the Bishop's successors ! 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 LUCIYA SHEKKUR. 
 
 'T^HE work done for Christ and for Syrian girls in 
 the families of Missionaries in Syria, may well 
 compare with that done in the established institutions 
 of learning. Mrs. Whiting was not alone in the work 
 of training native Arab girls in her own home. The 
 same work had been done by other Missionaries be- 
 fore her, and has been carried on with no little suc- 
 cess by Mrs. Bird, Mrs. Calhoun and others, up to 
 the present time. 
 
 It is an interesting sight to see the Thursday 
 afternoon Women's meeting in the house of Mrs. 
 Calhoun in Abeih, and to know that a large part of 
 that company of bright, intelligent and tidily dressed 
 young native women, who listen so intently to the 
 Bible lesson, and join so heartily in singing the sweet 
 songs of Zion, were trained up either in her own 
 , family, or under her own especial influence. By 
 means of her own example in the training of her 
 children, she has taught the women of Abeih, and 
 through them multitudes of women in other villages, 
 the true Christian modes of family government and 
 discipline, and introduced to their notice and practice 
 many of those little conveniences and habits in the 
 
LUCIYA SHEKKUR. 
 
 "5 
 
 training of children, whose influence will be felt for 
 many generations. 
 
 When Mr. and Mrs. Bird removed to Deir el 
 Komr in 1855, they not only opened a large school 
 for the education of girls, with Sada Haleby, one of 
 Dr. De Forest's pupils, as teacher, but received 
 into their own family three young girls, named 
 Luciya, Sikkar and Zihry, all of whom entered upon 
 spheres of usefulness. Zihry became a teacher, in 
 Deir el Komr, and has continued to teach until the 
 present time. She was at one time connected with 
 the Beirut Female Seminary, and is now teaching in 
 the Institution of Mrs. Shrimpton, under the aus- 
 pices of the British Syrian Schools. 
 
 Luciya taught in Deir el Komr until the school 
 was overwhelmed in the fires and blood of the Mas- 
 sacre year, i860. 
 
 In 1862 she taught in the Sidon School, and after- 
 wards married the Rev. Sulleba Jerwan, the first na- 
 tive pastor in Hums. In that great city, and amid 
 the growing interest of the young Protestant com- 
 munity, she found a wide and attractive field of labor. 
 She was a young woman of great gentleness and 
 delicacy of nature, and of strong religious feeling, 
 and entered upon the work of laboring among the 
 women and girls of Hums, with exemplary zeal and 
 discretion. She became greatly beloved, and her 
 Godly example and gentle spirit will never be for- 
 gotten. 
 
 But at length her labors were abruptly cut short. 
 Consumption, a disease little known in Syria, but 
 
Il6 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 ■which afterwards cut down her brother and only sis- 
 ter Sikkar, fastened upon her, and she was obliged, 
 in great suffering, to leave the raw and windy cli- 
 mate of Hums, for the milder air of Beirdt. Her 
 two brothers being in the employ of Miss Whately 
 in Cairo, she went, on their invitation, to Egypt, 
 where after a painful illness, she fell asleep in Jesus. 
 Amid all her sufferings, she maintained that same 
 gentle and lovely temper of mind, which made her 
 so greatly beloved by all who knew her. 
 
 She has rested from her labors, and her works do 
 follow her. Not long after her sister Sikkar, who 
 had also been trained in Mrs. Bird's family, died in 
 her native village Ain Zehalteh. 
 
 Her last end also, was peace, and although no 
 concourse of Druze Sheikhs came barefoot over the 
 snow to her funeral, as they did on the death of the 
 Sitt Selma, in the same village, no doubt a concourse 
 of higher and holier beings attended her spirit to 
 glory. 
 
 When Luciya was in Beirut before her departure 
 to Egypt, I used to see her frequently, and I shall 
 never forget the calm composure with which she 
 spoke of her anticipated release from the pains and 
 sufferings of life. Christ was her portion, and she 
 lived in communion with him, certain that ere long 
 she should depart and be with him forever. 
 
 The poor Moslem women in the houses adjoining 
 her room used to come in, and with half-veiled faces 
 look upon her calm and patient face with wonder. 
 Would that they too might find her Saviour precious 
 
LUCIYA SHEKKUR. 117 
 
 to them, in their hours of sickness, suffering and 
 death ! 
 
 Truly, there is no religion but that of Jesus 
 Christ, that can soften the pillow of suffering, and 
 take away the sting and dread of death. 
 
 One of the most serious difficulties in the way of 
 the higher female education in Syria, is the early 
 age at which girls are married. One young girl at- 
 tended the Beirut Seminary for two years, from eight 
 to ten, and the teachers were becoming interested 
 in her progress, when suddenly her parents took her 
 out of the school, and gave her to a man in marriage. 
 After the festivities of the marriage week were over 
 at her husband's house, she went home to visit her 
 mother, taking her dolls with her to amuse her- 
 self! 
 
 The Arabic journal " the Jenneh'' of Beirut, con- 
 tained a letter in June, 1872, from its Damascus cor- 
 respondent, praising the fecundity of Syria, and 
 stating that a young woman who was married at 
 nine and a half, became a grandmother at twenty ! 
 Such instances are not uncommon in Damascus and 
 Hums, where the chief and almost the only concern 
 of parents is to marry off their daughters as early as 
 nature will allow, without education, experience or 
 any other qualification for the responsible duties of 
 married life. When the above mentioned letter 
 from Damascus was published. Dr. Van Dyck took 
 occasion to write an article in the " Neshra," the 
 Missionary Weekly, of which he is the editor, ex- 
 posing the folly and criminality of such early mar- 
 
Il8 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 riages, and demonstrating their disastrous effects on 
 society at large. 
 
 Since the establishment of schools and seminaries 
 of a high grade for girls, this tendency is being de- 
 cidedly checked in the vicinity of Beirut, and girls 
 are not given up as incorrigibly old, even if they 
 reach the age of seventeen. 
 
 Dr. Meshakah of Damascus, who has long been 
 distinguished for his learned and eloquent works on 
 the Papacy, is a venerable white-bearded patriarch and 
 his wife looks as if she were his daughter. I once 
 asked him how old she was when married, and he 
 said eleven. I asked him why he married her so 
 young ? He said that in his day, young girls received 
 no training at home, and young men who wished 
 properly trained wives, had to marry them young, so 
 as to educate them to suit themselves ! 
 
 Education is rapidly obviating that necessity, and 
 young men are more than willing that girls to whom 
 they are betrothed, should complete their education, 
 lest they be eclipsed by others who remain longer at 
 school. I once called on a wealthy native merchant 
 in Beirut, who remarked that " the Europeans have 
 a thing in their country which we have not. They 
 call it ed-oo-cashion, and I am anxious to have it in- 
 troduced into Syria." This " ed-oo-cashion" is al- 
 ready settling many a question in Syria which noth- 
 ing else could settle, and the natives are also learn- 
 ing that something more than mere book-knowledge 
 is needed, to elevate and refine the family. One of 
 the most direct results of female education thus far 
 
LUCIYA SHEKKUR. ng 
 
 in Syria has been the abolition from certain classes 
 of society of some of those superstitious fears which 
 harass and torment the ignorant masses. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 RAHEEL. 
 
 "NJO sketch of Woman's Work for Syrian women 
 would be complete which did not give some 
 account of the life and labors of that pioneer in work 
 for Syrian women, Mrs. Sarah L. H. Smith, wife of 
 Dr. Eli Smith. She reached Beirut, January 28, 
 1834, full of high and holy resolves to devote her life 
 to the benefit of her Syrian sisters. From the first 
 to the very last ^f her life in Syria, this was the one 
 great object of her toils and prayers. As soon as 
 April 2, she writes, "Our school continues to prosper, 
 and I love the children exceedingly. Do pray that 
 God will bless this incipient step to enlighten the 
 women of this country. You cannot conceive of 
 their deplorable ignorance. I feel it more and more 
 every day. Their energies are expended in outward 
 adorning of plaiting the hair and gold and pearls and 
 costly array, literally so. I close with one request, 
 that you will pray for a revival of religion in Beirut.'' 
 Again she writes, June 30, 1834, " I feel somewhat 
 thoughtful, this afternoon, in consequence of having 
 heard of the ready consent of the friends of a little 
 girl, that I should take her as I proposed, and edu- 
 cate her. I am anxious to do it, and yet my experi- 
 ence and observation in reference to such a course, 
 
'1 
 
 
 3- 
 
 
 •3 
 
 ? 
 
 •0 
 
RAHEEL. 121 
 
 and my knowledge of the sinful heart of a child, lead 
 me to think I am undertaking a great thing. I feel, 
 too, that my example and my instruction will control 
 her eternal destiny." This girl was Raheel Ata. 
 Again, August i6 : " It is a great favor that so many 
 of the men and boys can read. Alas, our poor sis- 
 ters ! the curse rests emphatically upon them. 
 Among the Druze princesses, some, perhaps the 
 majority, furnish an exception and can read. Their 
 sect is favorable to learning. Not so with the Maron- 
 ites. I have one scholar from these last, but when 
 I have asked the others who have been here if they 
 wished to read, they have replied most absolutely in 
 the negative, saying that it was for boys, and not 
 for them. I have heard several women acknowledge 
 that they knew no more than the donkeys.'' 
 
 August 23. A Maronite priest compelled two lit- 
 tle girls to leave her school, but the Greek priest 
 sent " his own daughter, a pretty, rosy-cheeked girl'' 
 to be taught by Mrs. Smith. On the 22d of Sep- 
 tember, 1834, she wrote from B'hamdun, a village 
 five hours from BeirAt, on Lebanon, "Could the fe- 
 males of Syria be educated and regenerated, the 
 whole face of the country would change ; even, as 
 I said to an Arab a few days since, to the appear- 
 ance of the houses and the roads. One of our little 
 girls, whom I taught before going to the mountains, 
 came to see me a day or two since, and talked in- 
 cessantly about her love for the school, and the 
 errors of the people here, saying that they ' cared 
 not for Jesus Christ, but only for the Virgin Mary.' " 
 6 
 
122 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 October 8. She says, " A servant woman of 
 Mrs. Whiting, who has now hved long enough with 
 her to love her and appreciate her principles, about 
 a year and a half since remarked to some of the 
 Arabs, that the people with whom she lived did 
 ' not lie, nor steal, nor quarrel, nor do any such 
 things ; but poor creatures,' said she, ' they have no 
 religion.' " 
 
 On the 22d of October, she wrote again, " Yes- 
 terday I went up to Mr. Bird's to consult about the 
 plan of a school-house now commenced for females. I 
 can hardly believe that such a project is actually in 
 progress, and I hail it as the dawn of a happy change 
 in Syria. Two hundred dollars have been subscrib- 
 ed by friends in this vicinity, and I told Mr. B. that 
 if necessary he might expend fifty more upon the 
 building, as our Sabbath School in Norwich had 
 pledged one hundred a year for female education in 
 Syria." 
 
 The principal contributor to this fund -Cvas Mrs. 
 Alexander Tod, formerly Miss Gliddon, daughter of 
 the U. S. Consul in Alexandria. 
 
 The building stood near where the present Church 
 in Beirut stands, and was removed, and the stones 
 used in the extension of the old Chapel. In the 
 year 1866 Mr. Tod revisited Beirut and contributed 
 £100 towards the erection of the new Female Sem- 
 inary, saying that as Mrs. Tod aided in the first Fe- 
 male Seminary building in Beirut, he wished to aid 
 in the second. The school-house was a plain struct- 
 ure, and was afterwards used as' a boy's school, and 
 
RAHEEL. 
 
 123 
 
 the artist who photographed the portraits printed in 
 this volume received his education there under the 
 instruction of the late Shahin Sarkis, husband of 
 Azizy. 
 
 In the latter part of October, 1834, Mrs. Smith 
 writes, " Yesterday I commenced the female school 
 with four scholars, which were increased to ten to- 
 day, and the number will probably continue to aug- 
 ment as before from week to week. As I walked home 
 about sunset this evening, I thought, ' Can it be that 
 I arr. a schoolmistress, and the only one in all Syria ?' 
 and I tripped along with a quick step amid Egypt- 
 ians, Turks and Arabs, Moslems and Jews, to my 
 quiet and pleasant home.'' 
 
 November 9. " I sometimes indulge the thought 
 that God has sent me to the females of Syria — to the 
 little girls, of whom I have a favorite school — for their 
 good." 
 
 January 5, 1835. " On Friday I distributed re- 
 wards to twenty-three little girls belonging to my 
 school, which, as they are all poor, consisted of cloth- 
 ing. Our Sabbath School also increases. Eighteen 
 were present last Sabbath." 
 
 On the nth of January Dr. Thomson wrote, 
 " Mrs. Smith's female school prospers wonderfully, 
 but it is the altar of her own health ; and I fear that 
 in the flame that goeth up toward heaven from off 
 that altar, she will soon ascend as did Manoah's 
 angel. We can hardly spare her ; she is our only 
 hope for a female school in Beirut at present.'' 
 
 The state of society in Syria at that time is well 
 
124 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 pictured in the following language, used by Mrs. 
 Smith in a letter dated February 12, 1835 : "Ex- 
 cepting the three or four native converts, we know 
 not one pious religious teacher, one judicious parent, 
 one family circle regulated by the fear of God ; no, 
 not even one ! " 
 
 " I wish I had strength to do more, but my school 
 and my studies draw upon my energies continually." 
 Even at that early day Moslem girls came to be 
 taught by Mrs. Smith. She writes June 2, " A few 
 days since, one of my little Moslem scholars, whose 
 father was once an extensive merchant here, came 
 and invited me to make a call upon her mother. I 
 took Raheel and accompanied her to their house 
 which is in our neighborhood. I found it a charming 
 spot and very neatly kept. Hospitality is regarded 
 here as a religious act, I think, and a reputation for 
 it is greatly prized." 
 
 In July she wrote of what has not ceased to be a 
 trial to all missionaries in Beirut for the past forty 
 years, the necessity of removing to the mountains 
 during the hot summer months. The climate of the 
 plain is debilitating to foreigners, and missionary 
 families are obliged to spend three months of the hot 
 season in the Lebanon villages. " My school inter- 
 ests me more and more every day, and I do not love 
 to think of suspending it even for a few weeks during 
 the hot season. Day before yesterday a wealthy 
 Jewish lady came with her two daughters to the 
 school, and begged me to take the youngest as a 
 scholar." 
 
R A HEEL. 125 
 
 July 19. " At our Sabbath School to-day were 
 twenty-eight scholars, twenty-one girls and seven 
 boys." 
 
 July 31. "To-day I closed my school for the 
 month of August by the distribution of rewards to 
 thirty little girls. The American and English Con- 
 suls and a few Arab friends were present, and ex- 
 pressed much pleasure at the sight of so many young- 
 natives in their clean dress. A few of the more edu- 
 cated scholars read a little in the New Testament." 
 
 August 8. " On Saturday I closed my school 
 for the month of August. It was increasing every 
 day in numbers and I would gladly have continued 
 it. Last Sabbath we had at the Sabbath School 
 forty-six scholars, a fourth of i^hom were Moslems^ 
 
 September 29. "Yesterday I commenced my 
 school again with twenty scholars ; which, for the first 
 day, was a good number. Mrs. Whiting has ten lit- 
 tle Moslem girls in Jerusalem, and the promise of 
 more. " 
 
 December 14. " On Saturday, our native female 
 prayer-meeting consisted of twenty, besides two chil- 
 dren. Fourteen were Arabs, more than were ever 
 present before. We met in the girls' school room, 
 where we intend in future to assemble. We sung 
 part of a psalm, as we have begun to teach music in 
 our school. We find the children quite as capable 
 of forming musical sounds as those in our own coun- 
 try ; but alas, we have no psalms or hymns adapted to 
 their capacities. The Arabic cannot be simplified 
 like the English, without doing violence to Arab 
 
126 THE WOMEN. OF THE ARABS. 
 
 taste; at least such is the opinion now. What 
 changes may be wrought in the language, we cannot 
 tell. Of this obstacle in the instruction of the young 
 here, you have not perhaps thought. It is a pain- 
 ful thought to us, that children's literature, if I may 
 so term it, is incompatible with the genius of this lan- 
 guage : of course, infant school lessons must be bereft 
 of many of their a.ttractions." 
 
 It may be interesting to know whether present 
 missionary experience differs from that of Mrs. Smith 
 and her husband in 1835, with regard to children's 
 literature in the Arabic language. 
 
 In 1858, Mr. Ford prepared, with the aid of Mr. 
 Bistany, (the husband of " Raheel," Mrs. Smith's 
 adopted child,) a series of children's Scripture Tracts 
 in simple and yet .perfectly correct Arabic, so that 
 the youngest child can understand them. In 1862, 
 we printed the first Children's Hymn-book, partly 
 at the expense of the girls in Rufka's school. We 
 have now in Arabic about eighty children's hymns, 
 and a large number of tracts and story books de- 
 signed for children. We also publish an Illustrated 
 Children's Monthly, called the " Koukab es Subah," 
 " The Morning Star," and the children read it with 
 the greatest eagerness. 
 
 The Koran, which is the standard of classic Arab- 
 ic, cannot be changed, and hence can never be a 
 book for children. It cannot be a family book, or a 
 women's book. It cannot attract the minds of the 
 young, with that charm which hangs around the ex- 
 quisitely simple and beautiful narratives of the Old 
 
RAHEEL. 127 
 
 and New Testament. It is a gem of Arabic poetry, 
 but like a gem, crystalline and unchanging. It has 
 taken a mighty hold upon the Eastern world, because 
 of its Oriental style and its eloquent assertion of the 
 Divine Unity. It is reverenced, but not loved, and 
 will stand where it is while the world moves on. 
 Every reform in government, toleration and material 
 improvement in the Turkish Empire, Persia and 
 Egypt, is made in spite of the Koran and contrary 
 to its spirit. The printing of the Koran is unlawful, 
 but it is being printed. All pictures of living ob- 
 jects are unlawful, but the Sultan is photographed, 
 Abd el Kader is photographed, the " Sheikh ul 
 Islam" is photographed. European shoes are un- 
 lawful because sewed with a swine's bristle, but Mos- 
 lem Muftis strut about the streets in French gaiters, 
 and the women of their harems tottle about in the 
 most absurd of Parisian high-heeled slippers. 
 
 The Arabic Bible translated by Drs. Eli Smith 
 and Cornelius Van Dyck, is voweled with the gram- 
 matical accuracy and beauty of the Koran with the 
 aid of a learned Mohammedan Mufti, and yet has all 
 the elegant simplicity of the original and is intelligi- 
 ble to every Arab, old and young, who is capable of 
 reading at all. The stories of Joseph, Moses, and 
 David, of Esther, Daniel and Jonah are as well 
 adapted to the comprehension of children in the 
 Arabic as in the English. 
 
 Not a few of the hymns in the Children's Hymn 
 book are original, written by M. Ibrahim Sarkis, 
 husband of Miriam of Aleppo, and M. Asaad Shi- 
 
128 THE WOMEN OF THE' ARABS. 
 
 doody, husband of Hada. This Hymn book was pub- 
 Hshed in 1862, with Plates presented by Dr. Robin- 
 son's Sabbath School of the First Presbyterian 
 Church, Brooklyn. 
 
 This digression seemed necessary, in order to 
 show the great progress that has been made since 
 1836, in preparing a religious literature. It is no 
 longer true as in Mrs. Smith's day, " that we have no 
 psalms or hymns adapted to the capacities of children. 
 Nor is it longer true that " children's literature is in- 
 compatible with the genius of the Arabic language!' 
 
 In a letter addressed to the young women in the 
 " Female Academy at Norwich," February, 1836, 
 Mrs. Smith gives a vivid description of the " average 
 woman " of Syria in her time, and the description 
 holds true of nine-tenths of the women at the present 
 day. There are now native Christian homes, not 
 the least attractive of which is the home of her own 
 little protege Raheel, but the great mass continue as 
 they were forty years ago. She says, " My dear 
 friends, will you send your thoughts to this, which is 
 not a heathen, but an unevangelized country. I will 
 not invite you to look at our little female school of 
 twenty or thirty, because these form but a drop 
 among the thousands and thousands of youth 
 throughout Syria ; although I might draw a contrast 
 even from this not a little in your favor. But we 
 will speak of the young Syrian females at large, 
 moving in one unbroken line to the land of darkness 
 and sorrow. Among them you will find many a fine 
 form and beautiful face ; but alas ! the perfect work- 
 
RAHEEL. 
 
 129 
 
 manship of their Creator is rendered tame and insip- 
 id, for want of that mental and moral culture which 
 gives a peculiar charm to the human countenance. 
 It is impossible for me to bring the females of this 
 country before you in so vivid a manner that you 
 can form a correct idea of them. But select from 
 among your acquaintances a lady who" is excessively 
 weak, vain- and trifling ; who has no relish for any 
 intellectual or moral improvement ; whose conversa- 
 tion is altogether confined to dress, parties, balls, ad- 
 miration, marriage ; whose temper and faults have 
 never been corrected by their parents, but who is 
 following, unchecked, all the propensities of a fallen, 
 corrupt nature. Perhaps you will not be able to find 
 any such, though I have occasionally met with them 
 in America. If you succeed, however, in bringing a 
 person of this character to your mind, then place the 
 thousands of girls, and the women, too, of this land, 
 once the land of patriarchs, prophets and apostles, in 
 her class." " These weak-minded Syrian females are 
 not attentive to personal cleanliness; neither have 
 they a neat and tasteful style of dress. Their ap- 
 parel is precisely such as the Apostle recommended 
 that Christian females should avoid ; while the orna- 
 ment of a meek and quiet spirit is thrown wholly out 
 of the account. They have no books, and no means 
 of moral or intellectual improveixient. It is consid- 
 ered a disgrace for a female to know how to read and 
 write, and a serious obstacle to her marriage, which 
 is the principal object of the parent's heart. This ab- 
 horrence of learB ing in females, exists most strongly 
 6* 
 
130 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 in the higher classes. Nearly every pupil in our 
 school is very indigent. Of God's word they under- 
 stand nothing, for a girl is taken to church perhaps 
 but once a year, where nothing is seen among the 
 women but talking and trifling; of course she attaches 
 no solemnity to the worship of God. No sweet do- 
 mestic circle of father, brother, mother and sister, all 
 capable of promoting mutual cheerfulness and im- 
 provement, greets her in her own house. I do not ' 
 mean to imply that there exists no family affection 
 among them, for this tie is often very strong ; but it 
 has no foundation in respect, and is not employed to 
 promote elevation of character. The men sit and 
 smoke their pipes in one apartment, while in 
 another the women cluster upon the floor, and with 
 loud and vociferous voices gossip with their neigh- 
 bors. The very language of the females is of a lower 
 order than that of the men, which renders it almost 
 impossible for them to comprehend spiritual and ab- 
 stract subjects, when first presented to their minds. 
 I know not how often, when I have attempted to 
 converse with them, they have acknowledged that 
 they did not understand me, or have interrupted me 
 by alluding to some mode or article of dress, or 
 something quite as foolish." "Thus you see, my 
 young friends, how unhappy is the condition of the 
 females of Syria, and how many laborers are wanted 
 to cultivate this wide field. On the great day of 
 final account, the young females of Syria, of India, 
 of every inhabited portion of the globe, who are 
 upon the stage of life with you, will rise up, either 
 
RAHEEL. 131 
 
 to. call you blessed, or to enhance your condemna- 
 tion." "God is furnishing American females their 
 high privileges, with the intention of calling them 
 forth into the wide fields of ignorance and error, 
 which the world exhibits. I look over my country 
 and think of the hundreds and thousands of young 
 ladies, intelligent, amiable and capable, who are as- 
 sembled in schools and academies there ; and then 
 turn my eye to Jerusalem, Hebron, Nazareth, Sychar, 
 Damascus, Tyre, Sidon, Jaffa, and to the numerous 
 villages of Mount Lebanon, and think, ' Why this 
 inequality of condition and privileges? Why can 
 there not be stationed at every one of those morally 
 desolate places, at least one missionary family, and 
 one single female as a teacher? Does not Jesus 
 Christ, the Good Shepherd, require it of His youth- 
 ful friends in America, that from love to Him, grati- 
 tude for their own distinguished mercies, compassion 
 for perishing souls, and the expectation of perfect 
 rest and happiness in heaven, they should spread 
 themselves over the wide world, and feed the sheep 
 and the lambs scattered without a shepherd upon 
 the mountains ? ' Yes, He requires it, and angels 
 will yet behold it ; but shall we not see it in our 
 day?" 
 
 Great changes have come over Syria since the 
 above words were written. Not less than twelve 
 high schools for girls have been established since 
 then in Syria and Palestine, and not far from forty 
 common schools, exclusively for girls, under the 
 auspices of the different Missionary Societies. 
 
132 THE WOMEN OP THE ARABS. 
 
 In February, 1836, Mrs. Smith also undertook 
 the work of systematic visiting among the mothers of 
 her pupils. She says, " Perhaps it will be a very long 
 time before we shall see any fruit. Indeed those 
 who enter into our labors may gather it in our stead ; 
 yet I am anxious that we should persevere until we 
 die, though no apparent effect be produced." 
 
 In April, 1836, she wrote, "My mind is much 
 upon a female boarding school ; and if I can get the 
 promise of ten girls, we shall, God willing, remove 
 the press from our house, and commence one in the 
 fall." 
 
 In May she commenced a new term of her day 
 school with twenty-six scholars. She says, " The 
 wife of a persecuted Druze is very anxious to learn 
 to read, and she comes to our house every day to 
 get instruction from Raheel." She also says, " We 
 feel the want of books exceedingly. The little girl 
 whom I took more than a year since," and who ad- 
 vances steadily in intelligence and knowledge, has 
 no book but the Bible to read, not one." Then 
 again, " Should our press get into successful opera- 
 tion, I despair in doing anything in the way of in- 
 fant schools, because the Arabic language cannot be 
 simplified, at least under existing prejudices. If 
 every hymn and little story must be dressed up in 
 the august habiliments of the Koran, what child of 
 three and six years old will be wiser and better for 
 them ! How complete is the dominion of the Great 
 Adversary over this people ! All the links of the 
 chain must be separated, one by one. And what a 
 
RAHEEL. 133 
 
 long, I had almost said, tedious process ! But I for- 
 get that to each one will be assigned a few only of 
 these links. We are doing a little, perhaps, in this 
 work; if faithful, we shall rest in heaven, and others 
 will come and take our places and our work." 
 
 On the eleventh of June, Mrs. Smith's health 
 had become so impaired from the dampness of the 
 floor and walls of her school building, that her phy- 
 sician advised- a sea voyage for her. After suffering 
 shipwreck on the coast of Asia Minor, and enduring 
 great hardships, she reached Smyrna, where she died 
 on the 30th of September, in the triumphs of the 
 Gospel. Her Memoir is a book worthy of being 
 read by every Christian woman engaged in the Mas- 
 ter's service. 
 
 In a letter written from Smyrna, July 28, she says, 
 " I had set my heart much upon taking Raheel with 
 me. Parents, however, in Syria, have an especial 
 aversion to parting with their children for foreign 
 countries. One of my last acts therefore was to 
 make a formal committal of her into the hands of 
 my kind friend Miss Williams. I had become so 
 strongly attached to the little girl, and felt myself so 
 much rewarded for all my efforts with her, that the 
 circumstances of this separation were perhaps more 
 trying than any associated with our departure." 
 
 Mrs. Smith had from the first a desire to take a 
 little Arab girl to be brought up in her family, and 
 at length selected Raheel, one of the most promis- 
 ing scholars in her school, when about eight years of 
 age, and with the consent of her parents adopted 
 
134 
 
 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 her. In her care, attentions and affections, she took 
 ahnost the rank of a daughter. She was trained to 
 habits of industry, truth and studiousness, and 
 although Mrs. S. had been but nine months in the 
 country when she adopted her, she commenced 
 -praying with her in Arabic from the very first. 
 
 Dr. Eh Smith says, " In a word, the expectations 
 Mrs. Smith had formed in taking her, were fully 
 answered ; and she was Sften heard to say, that she 
 had every day been amply repaid for the pains be- 
 stowed upon her. It will not be wondered at, that 
 her affections became entwined very closely around 
 so promising a pupil, and that the attachment as- 
 sumed much of the character of parental kindness. 
 Mrs. Smith's sharpest trial, perhaps, at her departure 
 from Beiriit, arose from leaving her behind." 
 
 After the departure of Mrs. Smith, her fellow- 
 laborer, Miss Williams, afterwards Mrs. Hebard, 
 took charge of Raheel, who remained with her five 
 years. She then lived successively with Mrs. Lan- 
 neau and Mrs. Beadle, and lastly with Dr. and Mrs. 
 De Forest. 
 
 When in the family of Dr. De Forest, she became 
 engaged to be married to Mr. Butrus Bistany, a 
 learned native of the Protestant Church, who was 
 employed by the Mission as a teacher. Her mother 
 and friends were opposed to the engagement, as 
 they wished to marry her to a man of their own 
 selection. On Carnival evening, February 20, in 
 the year 1843, her mother invited her to come and 
 spend the feast with the family. She hesitated, but 
 
RAHEEL. 135 
 
 finally consented to go with Dr. De Forest and call 
 upon her family friends and return before night. 
 After sitting several hours, the Doctor arose to go 
 and she prepared to follow him. Her mother pro- 
 tested, saying that they would not allow her to 
 return to her home with the missionary. Finding 
 that the mother and brother-in-law were preparing 
 to resist her departure by violence. Dr. De Forest 
 retired, sending a native frfend to stay in the house 
 until his return. He repaired to the Pasha and laid 
 the case before him. The Pasha declared her free 
 to choose her own home, as she was legally of age, 
 and sent a janizary with Dr. De Forest to examine 
 the case and insure her liberty of action. On enter- 
 ing the house, the janizary called for Raheel and 
 asked her whether she wished to go home or stay 
 with her mother? She replied, " I wish to go home 
 to Mrs. De Forest." The janizary then, wrote down 
 her request, and told her to go. She arose to go, 
 but could not find her shoes. There was some delay, 
 when her brother-in-law seized her arm and at- 
 tempted to drag her to an inner room. The Pasha's 
 officer seized the other arm and the poor girl was in 
 danger of having her shoulders dislocated. At 
 length the officer prevailed and she escaped. Her 
 mother and the women who had assembled from the 
 neighborhood, then set up a terrific shriek, like a 
 funeral wail, "She's lost! she's dead! wo is me!" 
 It was all pre-arranged. The brother-in-law had 
 been around to the square to a rendezvous of sol- 
 diers, and told them that an attempt would be made 
 
136 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 to abduct his sister by force, and if they heard a 
 shriek from the women, to hasten to his house. The 
 rabble of soldiers wanted no better pastime than 
 such a melee among the infidels, and promised to 
 come. When they heard the noise they started on 
 a run. Raheel, having suspected something of the. 
 kind, induced Dr. De Forest to take another road, 
 and as they turned the corner to enter the mission 
 premises, they saw the rabble running in hot haste 
 towards her mother's house, only to find that the 
 bird had flown. 
 
 In the following summer she was married to Mr. 
 Bistany, who was for eight years assistant of Dr. 
 Eh Smith in the work of Bible translation, and for 
 twenty years Dragoman of the American Consulate. 
 He is now Principal of a private Boarding School 
 for boys, called the " Medriset el Wutaniyet" or 
 "Native School," which has about 150 pupils of all 
 sects. He and his son Selim Effendi are the editors 
 and proprietors also of three Arabic journals ; the 
 Jenan, a Monthly Literary Magazine, illustrated by 
 wood-cuts made by a native artist, and having a 
 circulation of about 1500; the Jenneh, a semi-weekly 
 newspaper published Tuesday and Friday; and the 
 Jeneineh, published Monday, Wednesday, Thursday 
 and Saturday. There is not a more industrious 
 man in Syria than Mr. Bistany, and he is doing a 
 great work in the enlightenment of his countrymen. 
 
 Raheel's home is one of affection, decorum, and 
 Christian refinement, and she has fulfilled the high- 
 est hopes and prayers of her devoted foster mother. 
 
RABEEL. 
 
 137 
 
 in discharging the duties of mother, neighbor, church 
 member, and friend. May every missionary woman 
 be rewarded in seeing such fruits of her labors ! 
 
 In January, 1866, Sarah, one of Raheel's daugh- 
 ters, named after Mrs. Sarah L. Smith, was attacked 
 by typhoid pneumonia. From the first she was deeply 
 impressed on the subject of religion, and in deep 
 concern about her soul. She sent for me, and I 
 found her in a very hopeful state of mind. Day 
 after day I called and conversed and prayed with her, 
 and her views of her need of Christ were most clear 
 and comforting, and she wished her testimony to His 
 love to be known among all her young companions. 
 Her friends from the school gathered at her request 
 to see her, and she urged them to come to Christ, 
 and several who have since united with the Church 
 traced their first awakening to her words on her 
 death-bed. 
 
 One day Sarah said to me, " How thankful I am 
 for this sickness ! It has been the voice of God to 
 my soul ! I have given myself to Jesus forever ? I 
 have been a great sinner, and I have been thinking 
 about my sins, and my need of a Saviour, and I am 
 resolved to live for Him hereafter." On her father's 
 coming into the room, she said in English, " Papa, I 
 am so happy that the Lord sent this sickness upon 
 me. You cannot tell how I thank him for it." 
 
 After a season spent in prayer, I urged her, on 
 leaving, to cast herself entirely on the Saviour of 
 sinners, before another hour should pass. The next 
 day as I entered the room, she said, " I am at peace 
 
138 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 now. I did cast myself on Jesus and He received 
 me. I know His blood has washed my sins away." 
 She had expressed some fear that she might not be 
 able to live a consistent Christian life should she re- 
 cover, " but," said she, " I could trust in Christ to 
 sustain me." After a few words of counsel and 
 prayer, and reading a portion of Scripture, she ex- 
 claimed, " It is all one now, whether I die or live. 
 I am ready to go or stay. The Lord knows best." 
 
 At the last interview between her and her father, 
 she expressed her determination to make the Bible 
 henceforth her study and guide, and requested him 
 to read the 14th chapter of John, which seemed to 
 give her great comfort. Soon after that she ceased 
 to recognize her friends, and on Monday night, Jan- 
 uary 5, she gently fell asleep. I was summoned to 
 the house at 2 A. M. by a young man who said, " She 
 is much worse, hasten." On reaching the house I 
 met Rufka, teacher of the Seminary, who exclaimed, 
 " She is gone, she is gone." Entering the mukod 
 room, I found all the family assembled. There were 
 no shrieks and screams and loud wailings, as is the 
 universal custom in this land. All were seated, and 
 the father, Abu Selim, was reading that chapter 
 which Sarah had asked him to read. I then led the 
 family in prayer, and all were much comforted. She 
 had lived a blameless life, beloved by all who knew 
 her, and had been a faithful and exemplary daugh- 
 ter and sister, but her only trust at the last was in 
 her Saviour. She saw in her past life only sin, and 
 hoped for salvation in the blood of Christ alone. 
 
RAHEEL. 
 
 139 
 
 The funeral was attended by a great concourse of 
 people of all sects, and the Protestant chapel was 
 crowded. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 HUMS. 
 
 T^HE city of Hums, the ancient Emessa, is situ- 
 ated about one mile east of the river Orontes, 
 and about half way between Aleppo and Damascus. 
 It is in the midst of a vast and fertile plain, extend- 
 ing to Palmyra on the east, and to the Orontes on 
 the west. With the exception of a few mud-built 
 villages along the east and near the city, there is no 
 settled population between Hums and Palmyra. 
 The wild roving Bedawin sweep the vast plains in 
 every direction, and only a few years ago, the great 
 gates of Hums were frequently closed at midday to 
 prevent the incursion of these rough robbers of the 
 desert. On the west of the city are beautiful gar- 
 dens and orchards of cherry, walnut, apricot, plum, 
 apple, peach, olive, pomegranate, fig and pear trees, 
 and rich vineyards cover the fields on the south. It 
 is a clean and compact town of about 25,000 inhabi- 
 tants, of whom 700 are Greek Christians, 300 Jacob- 
 ites, and the rest Mohammedans. The houses are 
 built of sun-dried bricks and black basaltic rock, and 
 the streets are beautifully paved with small square 
 blocks of the same rock, giving it a neat and clean 
 appearance. There are few windows on the street ; 
 
HUMS. 
 
 141 
 
 the houses are one story high, with diminutive doors, 
 not more than four feet high ; and the low dull walls 
 stretching along the streets, give the city a dismal 
 and monotonous appearance. The reason of build- 
 ing the doors so low^ is to prevent the quartering of 
 Turkish government horsemen on their families, as 
 well as to prevent the Bedawin Arabs from plunder- 
 ing them. On the southwest corner of the city 
 stands an ancient castle in ruins, built on an artificial 
 mound of earth of colossal size, which was once faced 
 with square blocks of black trap rock, but this facing 
 has been all stripped off to build the modern city. 
 
 The people are simple and . country-like in dress 
 and manners, and the most of them have a cow- 
 yard within the courts of their houses, thus combin- 
 ing the pastoral with the citizen life. The majority 
 of the Greeks are silk-weavers and shoemakers, weav- 
 ing girdles, scarfs and robes for different parts of 
 Syria and Egypt, and supplying the Bedawin and 
 the Nusairy villagers with coarse red-leather boots 
 and shoes. 
 
 Hums early became the seat of a Christian 
 Church, and in the reign of Diocletian, its bishop, 
 Silvanus, suffered martyrdom. In 636 A. D., it was 
 captured by the Saracens, (or " Sherakiyeen,'' 
 " Easterns," as the Arab Moslems were called,) and 
 although occupied for a time by the Crusaders, it 
 has continued a Moslem city, under Mohammedan 
 rule. The Greek population have been oppressed 
 and ground to the very dust by their Moslem neigh- 
 bors and rulers, and their women have been driven 
 
142 ^-^-S WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 for protection into a seclusion and degradation sim- 
 ilar to that of the Moslem hareems. 
 
 The Rev. D. M. Wilson, a missionary of the A. 
 B. C. F. M., took up his residence in Hums in Octo- 
 ber, 1855, and remained until obliged to leave by 
 the civil war which raged in the country in i860. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Aiken went to Hums in April, 1856, 
 but Mrs. Aiken died June 20, after having given 
 promise of rare usefulness among the women of 
 Syria. 
 
 After Mr. Wilson left Hums, a faithful native 
 helper, Sulleba Jerwan, was sent to preach in Hums. 
 His wife, Luciya Shekkoor, had been trained in the 
 family of Rev. W. Bird in Deir el Komr, and was a 
 devoted and excellent laborer on behalf of the wo- 
 men of Hums. In October, 1862, one of the more 
 enlightened men among the Greeks was taken ill, 
 and sent for Pastor Sulleba to come and make him 
 a. religious visit. He went, and found quite a com- 
 pany of relatives and friends present. The sick man 
 asked him to read from the Word of God, and 
 among the passages selected, was that containing 
 the Ten Commandments. While he, was reading 
 the Second Commandment, the wife of the sick man 
 exclaimed, " Is that the Word of God ? If it is, read 
 it again." He did so, when she arose and tore down 
 a wooden painted picture of a saint, which had been 
 hung at the head of the bed, declaring that hence- 
 forth there should be no idol worship in that house. 
 Then taking a knife, she scraped the paint from the 
 picture, and took it to the kitchen to serve as the 
 
HUMS. 143 
 
 cover to a saucepan ! This was done with the appro- 
 bation of all present. The case was the more re- 
 markable, as it was one of the first cases in Syria in 
 which a woman has taken such a decided stand 
 against picture-worship and saint-worship, in advance 
 of the rest of the family. 
 
 In the year 1863, before the ordination of Pastor 
 Sulleba, there being no Protestant properly qualified 
 to perform the marriage ceremony in Hums, I went 
 to that city to marry two of the Protestant young 
 men. It was the first time a Protestant marriage 
 had ever taken place in Hums, and great interest 
 was felt in the ceremony. It is the custom among 
 the other sects to pronounce the bride and groom 
 husband and wife, neither giving an opportunity to 
 spectators to object, nor asking the girl if she is wil- 
 ling to marry the man. The girl is oftentimes not 
 consulted, but simply told she is to marry such a 
 man. If it pleases her, well and good. If not, 
 there is no remedy. The Greek Church gives no 
 liberty in this respect, although the priest takes it 
 for granted that the friends have satisfied both bride 
 and groom with regard to the desirableness of the 
 match. If they are not satisfied, the form of the 
 ceremony gives neither of them the right of re- 
 fusal. 
 
 The two young men, Ibrahim and Yunis, called 
 upon me soon after my arrival, to make arrangements 
 for the marriage. I read them the form of the mar- 
 riage ceremony and they expressed their approval, 
 but said it would be necessary to give the brides 
 
144 ^^-^ WOMEN OF TBE ARABS. 
 
 very careful instructions as to how and when to an- 
 swer, lest they say yes when they should say no, and 
 «(7 when they wished to sa.y yes! I asked them to 
 accompany me to the houses of the girls, that I might 
 give them the necessary directions. They at once 
 protested that this would not be allowed. They had 
 never called at the brides' houses when the girls were 
 present, and it would be a grievous breach of deco- 
 rum for them to go even with me. So certain of the 
 male relatives of the girls were sent for to accom- 
 pany me, and I went to their houses. On entering 
 the house of the first one, it was only after long and 
 elaborate argument and diplomatic management, 
 that we could induce the bride to come in from the 
 other room and meet me. At length she came, with 
 her face partially veiled, and attended by several 
 married women, her relatives. 
 
 They soon began to ply me with questions. " Do 
 you have the communion before the ceremony?" 
 " No." " Do you use the " Ikleel,'' or crown, in the 
 service? " " No, we sometimes use the ring." Said 
 one, " I hear that you ask the girl if she is willing to 
 take this man to be her husband." " Certainly we 
 do." " Well, if that rule had been followed in my 
 day, I know oi one woman who would have said no ; 
 but they do not give us Greek women the chance." 
 
 I then explained to them that the bride must 
 stand beside the bridegroom, and when I asked her 
 if she knew of any lawful reason why she should not 
 marry this man, Ibrahim, she should say No, — and 
 when I asked her if she took him to be her lawful 
 
Women Grinding at a Mill. 
 
HUMS. 145 
 
 / 
 and wedded husband, she must answer F^j. Some 
 of the women were under great apprehension that 
 she might answer No in the wrong place ; so I re- 
 peated it over and over again until the girl was sure 
 she should not make a mistake. The woman above 
 alluded to now said, " I would have said No in the 
 right place, if I had been allowed to do it ! " I then 
 went to the house of the other bride and gave her 
 similar instructions. The surprise of the women who 
 came in from the neighborhood, that the girl should 
 have the right to say yes or no, was most amusing 
 and suggestive. That one thing seemed to give 
 them new ideas of the dignity and honor of woman 
 under the Gospel. Marriage in the East is so gener- 
 ally a matter of bargain and sale, or of parental con- 
 venience and profit, or of absolute compulsion, that 
 young women have little idea of exercising their own 
 taste or judgment in the choice of a husband. 
 
 This was new doctrine for the city of Heliogaba- 
 lus, and, as was to be expected, the news soon spread 
 through the town that the next evening a marriage 
 ceremony was to' be performed by the Protestant 
 minister, in which the bride was to have the privilege 
 of refusing the man if she wished. And, what was 
 even more outrageous to Hums ideas of propriety, 
 it was rumored that the brides were to walk home 
 from the Church in co'mpany with their husbands ! 
 This was too much, and certain of the young Hums- 
 ites, who feared the effect of conferring such un- 
 heard-of rights and privileges on women, leagued to- 
 gether to mob the brides and grooms if such a course 
 7 
 
146 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 were attempted. We heard of the threat and made 
 ample preparations to protect Protestant women's 
 rights. 
 
 The evening came, and with it such a crowd of 
 men, women and children, as had never assembled in 
 that house before. The houses of Hums are built 
 around a square area into which all the rooms open, 
 and the open space or court of the mission-house 
 was very large. Before the brides arrived, the entire 
 court, the church and the schoolroom, were packed 
 with a noisy and almost riotous throng. Men, wom- 
 en and children were laughing and talking, shouting 
 and screaming to one another, and discussing the ex- 
 traordinary innovation on Hums customs about to 
 be enacted. Soon the brides arrived, accompanied 
 by a veiled and sheeted crowd of women, all carrying 
 candles and singing as they entered the house. 
 We took them into the study of the native preacher 
 Sulleba, and after a reasonable delay, we forced a 
 way for them through the crowd into the large 
 square room, then used as a church. My brother 
 and myself finally succeeded in placing them in a 
 'proper position in front of the pulpit, and then we 
 waited until Asaad and Michaiel and Yusef and Na- 
 sif had enforced a tolerable stillness. It should be 
 said that silence and good order are almost unknown 
 in the Oriental churches. Men are walking about 
 and talking, and even laughing, while the priests are 
 " performing" the service, and they are much im- 
 pressed by the quiet and decorum of Protestant wor- 
 ship. 
 
HUMS. 
 
 H7 
 
 The two brides were closely veiled so that I 
 could not distinguish the one from the other. Ibra- 
 him was slender and tall, at least six feet three, and 
 Yunis was short and corpulent. So likewise, one of 
 the brides was very tall, and the other even shorter 
 than Yunis. As we could not see the brides' faces, 
 we arranged them according to symmetry and ap- 
 parent propriety, placing the tall bride by the tall 
 groom, and the two short ones together. After the 
 introductory prayer, I proceeded to deliver a some- 
 what full and practical address on the nature of 
 marriage, and the duties and relations of husband 
 and wife, as is our custom in Syria, not only for the 
 instruction of the newly married pair, but for the 
 good of the community. No Methodist exhorter 
 ever evoked more hearty responses, than did this ad- 
 dress, from the Hums populace. " That is true." 
 " That is news in ikis city.'' " Praise to God." Mash- 
 ullah ! A woman exclaimed on hearing of the duties 
 of husband to wife, " Praise to God, women are some- 
 thing after all ! " I then turned to the two pairs, and 
 commenced asking Ibrahim the usual question, " Do 
 you " etc., etc.,) when a woman screamed out, " Stop, 
 stop, Khowadji, you have got the wrong bride by 
 that man. He is to marry the short girl ! " Then 
 followed an explosion of laughter, and during the 
 confusion we adjusted the matter satisfactorily. A 
 Moslem EfTendi who was present remarked after lis- 
 tening to the service throughout, "that is the most 
 sensible way of getting married that I ever heard 
 of." 
 
148 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 After the ceremony, we sent the newly married 
 pairs to the study to await the dispersion of the mul- 
 titude, before going into the street. But human cu- 
 riosity was too great. None would leave until they 
 saw the extraordinary sight of a bride and groom 
 walking home together. So we prepared our lanterns 
 and huge canes, and taking several of the native 
 brethren, my brother and myself walked home first 
 with Ibrahim and wife, and then with Yunis and his 
 wife. We walked on either side of them, and the 
 riotous rabble, seeing that they could not reach the 
 bride and groom, without first demolishing two tall 
 Khowadjis with heavy canes, contented themselves 
 with coarse jokes and contemptuous laughter. 
 
 This was nine years ago, and on a recent visit to 
 Hums, the two brides and their husbands met me 
 at the door of the church on Sunday, to show me 
 their children. Since that time numerous Protest- 
 ant weddings have taken place in Hums, and a new 
 order of things is beginning to dawn upon that peo- 
 ple. 
 
 The present native pastor, the Rev. Yusef Bedr, 
 was installed in June, 1872. His wife Leila, is a 
 graduate of the Beirut Female Seminary, and has 
 been for several years a teacher. Her father died 
 in January, 1871, in the hospital of the Beirut Col- 
 lege, and her widowed mother, Im Mishrik, has gone 
 to labor in Hums as a Bible Woman. When her 
 father was dying, I went to see him. Noticing his 
 emaciated appearance, I said, " Are you very ill, 
 Abu Mishrik ? " " No my friend, / am not ill. My 
 
HUMS. 149 
 
 body is ill, and wasting away but / am well. I am 
 happy. I cannot describe my joy. I have no desire 
 to return to health again. If you would fill my hands 
 with bags of gold, and send me back to Abeih in 
 perfect health, to meet my family again, I would 
 not accept the offer, in the place of what I know is 
 before me. I am going to see Christ ! I see Him 
 now. •! know He has borne my sins, and I have noth- 
 ing now to fear. It would comfort me to see some 
 of my friends again, and especially Mr. Calhoun, 
 whom I love ; but what are my friends compared 
 with Christ, whom I am going so soon to see?" 
 After prayer, I bade him good bye, and a few hours 
 after, he passed peacefully away. 
 
 The teacher of the Girls' School in Hums, is Be- 
 linda, also a former pupil of the Beirut Seminary. 
 Her brother-in-law, Ishoc, is the faithful colporteur, 
 who has labored so earnestly for many years in the 
 work of the Gospel in Syria. His grandfather was a 
 highway robber, who was arrested by the Pasha, 
 after having committed more than twenty murders. 
 When led out to the gallows, the Pasha offered him 
 office as district governor, if he would turn Moslem. 
 The old murderer refused, saying that he had not 
 much religion, but he would not give up the Greek 
 Church ! So he was hung, and the Greeks regarded 
 him as a martyr to the faith ! Ishoc's father was as 
 bad as the grandfather, and trained Ishoc to the so- 
 ciety of dancing girls and strolling minstrels. When 
 Ishoc became a Protestant, the father took down his 
 sword to cut off his head, but his mother interceded 
 
I50 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 and saved his life. Afterwards his fither one day 
 asked him if it was possible that a murderer, son of 
 a murderer, could be saved. He read the gospel to 
 him, prayed with him, and at length the wicked 
 father was melted to contrition and tears. He died 
 a true Christian, and the widowed mother is now 
 living with Ishoc in Beirut. Belinda has a good 
 school, and the wealthiest families of the Greeks 
 have placed their daughters under her care. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 MIRIAM THE ALEPPINE. 
 
 'T^HE city of Aleppo was occupied as a Station of 
 the Syria Mission for many years, until finally 
 in 1855 it was left to the Turkish-speaking mission- 
 aries of the Central Turkey Mission. It is one of 
 the most difficult fields of labor in Turkey, but has 
 not been unfruitful of genuine instances of saving 
 faith in Christ. Among them is the case of Miriam 
 Nahass, (or Mary Coppersmith,) now Miriam Sark- 
 ees of Beirut. 
 
 From a letter pubHshed in the Youth's Dayspring 
 at the time, I have gathered the following facts : 
 
 In 1853 and 1854 the Missionaries in Aleppo, 
 Messrs. Ford and Eddy, opened a small private 
 school for girls, the teacher of which was Miriam Na- 
 hass. When the Missionaries first came to Aleppo, 
 her father professed to be a Protestant, and on this 
 account suffered not a little persecution from the 
 Greek Catholic priests. At times he was on the 
 point of starvation, as the people were forbidden to 
 buy of him or sell to him. One day he brought his 
 little daughter Miriam to the missionaries, and asked 
 them to take her and instruct her in all that is good, 
 which they gladly undertook, and her gentle pleas- 
 ant ways soon won their love. 
 
152 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 Her mother was a superstitious woman, who 
 hated the missionaries, and could not bear to have 
 her daughter stay with them. She used for a long 
 time to come almost daily to their house and bitterly 
 complain against them and against her husband for 
 robbing her of her daughter. She would rave at 
 times in the wildest passion, and sometimes she 
 would weep as if broken-hearted ; not because she 
 loved her child so much, but because she did not 
 like to have her neighbors say to her, "Ah! You 
 have let your child become a Protestant ! " 
 
 It may well be supposed that this was very an- 
 noying to the missionary who had her in special 
 charge, and so it was; but he found some profit in 
 it. He was just then learning to speak the language, 
 and this woman by her daily talk, taught him a 
 kind of Arabic, and a use of it, not to be obtained 
 from grammars and dictionaries. He traced much 
 of his ready command of the language to having 
 been compelled to listen so often to the wearisome 
 harangues of Miriam's mother. Sometimes the 
 father would be overcome by the mother's entreat- 
 ies and would take away the girl, but after awhile 
 he would bring her back again, to the great joy of 
 those who feared they had lost her altogether. This 
 state of things continued two or three years, while 
 Miriam's mind was. daily improving and her charac- 
 ter unfolding, and hopes were often entertained that 
 the Spirit of God was carrying on a work of grace in 
 her soul. 
 
 One day her father came to the missionary, and 
 
MIRIAM THE ALEPPINE. 
 
 153 
 
 asked him to loan him several thousand piastres (a 
 thousand piastres is $40,) with which he might set up 
 business. * This was of course refused, when he went 
 away greatly enraged. He soon returned and took 
 away his daughter, saying that Protestantism did not 
 pay what it cost. It had cost him the loss of prop- 
 erty and reputation ; it had cost him the peace of 
 his household and the presence of his little girl, 
 and it did not bring in to him in return even the 
 loan of a few piastres, and he would try it no longer. 
 Prayer continued to be offered without ceasing for 
 Miriam, thus taken back to an irreligious home ; and 
 though the missionaries heard of her return and her 
 father's return to the corrupt Greek Catholic Church, 
 and of the exultation of the mother over the attain- 
 ment of her wishes, yet they did not cease to hope 
 that God would one day bring her back and make 
 her a lamb of His fold. 
 
 An Arab young woman, Melita, trained in the 
 family of Mrs. Whiting in Beirut, was sent to Aleppo 
 about this time to open a girls'*school there. The 
 Greek Catholic priests then thought to estabhsh a 
 similar school of their own sect to prevent their chil- 
 dren from attending that of the Protestants. They 
 secured Miriam as their teacher. As she went from 
 her home to the school and back again, she used 
 sometimes to run into the missionary's house by 
 stealth, and assure him that her heart was still with 
 him, and her faith unchanged. The school contin- 
 ued a few weeks, but the priests having failed to 
 pay anything towards its support, her father would 
 7* 
 
154 
 
 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 let her teach no more. Perhaps two years passed 
 thus, with but little being seen of Miriam, but she 
 was not forgotten at the throne of grace. 
 
 The teacher from Beirut having returned to her 
 home, it was proposed to Miriam's father that she 
 should teach in the Protestant school. Quite unex- 
 pectedly he consented, with the understanding that 
 she was to spend every evening at home. At first, 
 little was said to her on the subject of religion ; soon 
 she sought religious conversation herself, and brought 
 questions and different passages of Scripture to be 
 explained. After about a month, having previously 
 conversed with the missionary about her duty, when 
 her father came for her at night, she told him that 
 she did not want to go home with him, but to stay 
 where she was. She ought to obey God rather than 
 her parents. They had made her act the part of a 
 hypocrite long enough ; to pretend to be a Catholic 
 when she was a Protestant at heart, and they knew 
 that she was. Her father promised that everything 
 should be according to her wishes, and then she re- 
 turned with him. 
 
 Two or three days p3.ssed away and nothing was 
 seen or heard of Miriam. A servant was then sent 
 to her father's house to inquire if she was sick, and 
 he was rudely thrust away from the door. The mis- 
 sionary felt constrained to interfere, that Miriam 
 might at least have the opportunity of declaring 
 openly her preference. According to the laws of 
 the Turkish government, the father had no right to 
 keep her at her age, against her will, and it was neces 
 
MIRIAM THE ALEPPINE. 
 
 155 
 
 sary that she have an opportunity to choose with 
 whom she wished to live. The matter was repre- 
 sented to the American Consul, who requested the 
 father to appear before him with his daughter. 
 When the officer came to his house, he found that 
 the father had locked the door and gone away with 
 the key. From an upper window, however, Miriam 
 saw him and told him that she was shut up there a 
 prisoner, not knowing what might be done with her, 
 and she begged for assistance. She had prepared a 
 little note for the missionary, telling of her attach- 
 ment to Christ's cause, and closing with the last two 
 verses of the eighth chapter of Romans, " For I am 
 persuaded, that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor 
 principalities, nor powers, nor things present nor 
 things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any 
 other creature, shall be able to separate us from the 
 love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." 
 The janizary proposed to her to try if she could not 
 get out upon the roof of the next house,- and de- 
 scend through it to the street, which she successfully 
 accomplished, and was soon joyfully on her way to a 
 place of protection in the Consulate. 
 
 Miriam, after staying three days at the Consul's 
 house, returned to that of the missionary. Her pa-, 
 rents tried every means to induce her to return. 
 They promised and threatened and wept, but though 
 greatly moved at times in her feelings, she rem.ained 
 firm to her purpose. They tried to induce her to go 
 home for a single night only, but she knew them too 
 well to trust herself in their hands. Her mother had 
 
156 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 artfully arranged to meet her at the house of a friend; 
 but her brother came, a little before the time, to 
 warn her that a plan was laid to meet her at this 
 house with a company of priests who were all ready 
 to marry her forcibly to a man whom she knew noth- 
 ing about, as is often done in this country. Miriam ' 
 thus gave up father and mother, brothers and sisters, 
 for the sake of Christ and his gospel. 
 
 In the year 1855 Mr. Ford removed to Beirut, 
 and Miriam accompanied him. She made a public 
 profession of her faith in Christ in 1856, and was mar- 
 ried in 1858 to Mr. Ibrahim Sarkees, foreman and 
 principal proof reader of the American Mission Press. 
 Her father has since removed to Beirut, and all of 
 the family have become entirely reconciled to her 
 being a Protestant. Her brother Habibis is a fre- 
 quent attendant on Divine service, and regards 
 himself as a Protestant. 
 
 Miriam is now deeply interested in Christian 
 work, and the weekly meetings of the Native 
 Women's Missionary Society are held at her house. 
 The Protestant women agree either to attend this 
 Sewing Society, or pay a piastre a week in case of 
 their absence. 
 
 I close this chapter with the mention of Werdeh, 
 [Rose,] daughter of the celebrated Arabic poet Nasif 
 el Yazijy, who aided Dr. Eli Smith in the translation 
 of the Bible into Arabic. She is now a member of 
 the Evangelical Church in Beirut. She herself has 
 written several poems of rare merit ; one an elegy up- 
 on the death of Dr. Smith ; another expressing grate- 
 
Werdeh's Arabic Poem, Lamenting the Death of Farah Bistany. 
 l^\s-4\ l_rV^ iA\^i-i. oj\_ i^j: iri\j 
 
 jJ^*^, dLJf>- lju^:>%, Vi^ 
 
 •^ y ^ r^ • " 
 
 >^' 
 
 - -1 • 
 
 j.mSv.v» yiP- ^ac v_Jl9 j5[5 
 '-« ' J ' 
 
 J^ ^yJ\ OiV» \$ O-wJl 15^>*^' O (J^^^ •-r'y C-.~J 
 
 
MIRIAM THE ALEPPINE. 157 
 
 ful thanks to Dr. Van Dyck for attending her sick 
 brother. Only this can be introduced here, a poerh 
 lamenting the death of Sarah Huntington B^^tany, 
 daughter of Raheel, who died in January, 1866. 
 Sarah's father and her own father, Sheikh Nasif, had 
 been for years on the most intimate terms, and the 
 daughters were like sisters. The account of Sarah's 
 death will be found in another part of this volume. 
 
 Oh sad separation ! Have you left among mortals, 
 
 An eye without tears, hot and burning with sorrow ? 
 
 Have you left on this earth a heart without anguish. 
 
 Or a soul unharrowed with grief and emotion ? 
 
 Thou hast plucked off a flower from our beautiful garden, 
 
 Which shall shine like the stars in the gardens celestial. 
 
 Wo is me ! I have lost a fair branch of the willow 
 
 Broken ruthlessly off. And what heart is vot broken ? 
 
 Thou hast gone, but from me thou wilt never be absent. 
 Thy person will live to my sight and my hearing. 
 
 Tears of blood will be shed by fair maids thy companions, 
 
 Thy grave will be watered by tears thickly falling. 
 
 Thou wert the fair jewel of Syrian maidens. 
 
 Far purer and fairer than pearls of the ocean. 
 
 Where now is thy knowledge of language and science? 
 
 This sad separation has left to us nothing. 
 
 Ah, wo to the heart of fond father and mother. 
 No sleep, — naught but anguish and watching in sorrow 
 Thou art clad in white robes in the gardens of glory, 
 We are clad in the black robe of sorrow and mourning. 
 
 Oh grave, yield thy honors to our pure lovely maiden. 
 
 Who now to thy gloomy abode is descending ! 
 
 Our Sarah departed, with no word of farewell. 
 Will she ever return with a fond word of greeting ? 
 
 Oh deep sleep of death, that knows no awaking ! 
 
 Oh absence that knows no thought of returning ! 
 
 If she never comes back to us here in our sorrow. 
 We shall go to her soon. 'Twill be but to-morrow ! 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 MODERN SYRIAN VIEWS WITH REGARD TO FEMALE 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 T N the year 1847, ^ Literary Society was formed in 
 Beirut, through the influence of Drs. Thomson, 
 Eh Smith, Van Dyck, De Forest and Mr. Whiting, 
 which continued in operation for about six years, and 
 numbered among its members the leading men of all 
 the various native communities. Important papers 
 were read on various scientific and social subjects. 
 The missionaries had been laboring for years to cre- 
 ate an enlightened public sentiment on the subject 
 of female education, contending against social preju- 
 dices, profound ignorance, ecclesiastical tyranny and 
 selfish opposition, and at length the fruit of their la- 
 bors began to appear. In the following articles may 
 be seen something of the views of the better class of 
 Syrians. The first was read before the Beirut Liter- 
 ary Society, Dec. 14, 1849, by Mr. Butrus Bistany, who, 
 as stated above, married Raheel, and is now the head 
 of a flourishing Academy in Beirut, and editor of 
 three Arabic journals. I have translated only the 
 salient points of this long and able paper : — 
 
 We have already spoken of woman in barba- 
 rous lands. The Syrian women, although better off 
 in some respects than the women of barbarous na- 
 
SYRIAN VIEWS ON FEMALE EDUCATION. 155 
 
 tions, are still in the deepest need of education and 
 elevation, since they stand in a position midway be- 
 tween the barbarous and the civilized. How few of 
 the hundreds of thousands of women in Syria know 
 how to read ! How few are the schools ever estab- 
 lished here for teaching women 1 Any one who de- 
 nies the degradation and ignorance of Syrian wom- 
 en, would deny the existence of the noonday sun. 
 Do not men shun even an allusion to women, and if 
 obHged to speak of them, do they not accompany 
 the remark with " a jellak Allah," as if they were 
 speaking of a brute beast, or some filthy object ? 
 Are they not treated among us very much as among 
 the barbarians ? To what do they pay the most at- 
 tention? Is it not to ornament and dress, and re- 
 fining about styles of tatooing with the " henna" and 
 " kohl ? " What do they know about the training 
 of children, domestic economy and neatness of per- 
 son, and the care of the sick ? How many abomi- 
 nable superstitions do they follow, although forbidden 
 by their own religions ? Are not the journals and 
 diaries of travellers full of descriptions of the state 
 of our women ? Does not every one, familiar with 
 the state of society and the family among us, know 
 all these things, and mourn over them, and demand 
 a reform ? Would that I might awaken among the 
 women the desire to learn, that thus they might be 
 worthy of higher honor and esteem ! 
 
 " Woman should be instructed in religion. This 
 is one of her highest rights and privileges and her 
 bounden duty. 
 
l6o THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 " She should be taught in her own vernacular 
 tongue, so as to be able to express herself correctly, 
 and use pure language. Woman should learn to 
 wriie. 
 
 " She should be taught to read. How is it possi- 
 ble for woman to remember all her duties, religious 
 and secular, through mere oral instruction ? But a 
 written book, is a teacher always with her, and in 
 every place and circumstance. It addresses her 
 without a voice, rebukes her without fear or shame, 
 answers without sullenness and complaint. She con- 
 sults it when she wishes, without anxiety and em- 
 barrassment, and banishes it if not faithful or satis- 
 factory, or even burns it without crime ! 
 
 " Why forbid woman the use of the only means 
 she can have of sending her views and feelings 
 where the voice cannot reach? Now when a wo- 
 man wishes to write a letter, she must go, closely 
 veiled to the street, and hire a professional scribe to 
 write for her, a letter which she cannot read, and 
 which may utterly misrepresent her! 
 
 " Woman should also have instruction in the tratn- 
 ing of children. The right training of children is 
 not a natural instinct. It is an art, and a lost art 
 among us. It must be learned from the experience 
 and observation of those who have lived before us; 
 and where do we now find the woman who knows 
 how to give proper care to the bodies and souls of 
 her children ? " 
 
 Mr. Bistany then speaks of' the importance of 
 teaching woman domestic economy, sewing, cook- 
 
SYRIAN VIEWS ON FEMALE EDUCATION. i6l 
 
 ing, and the care of the sick, as well as geography, 
 arithmetic, and history, giving as reasons for the 
 foregoing remarks, that the education of woman will 
 benefit herself, her husband, her children and her 
 country. 
 
 " How can she be an intelligent wife, a kind com- 
 panion, a wise counsellor, a faithful spouse, aiding 
 her husband, lightening his sufferings, training his 
 children, and caring for his home, without educa- 
 tion? Without education, her taste is corrupt. 
 She will seek only outward ornament, and dress, 
 and painting, as if unsatisfied with her Creator's 
 work ; becoming a mere doll to be gazed at, or a 
 trap to catch the men. She will believe in countless 
 superstitions, such as the Evil Eye, the howhng of 
 dogs, the crying of foxes, etc., which are too well 
 known to need mention here. He who would 
 examine this subject, should consult that huge 
 unwritten book, that famous volume called " Ketab 
 en Nissa," the " Book of the Women," a work which 
 has no existence among civilized women ; or ask the 
 old wives who have read it, and taught it in their 
 schools of superstition. 
 
 " Let him who would know the evils of neglect- 
 ing to educate woman, look at the ignorant, un- 
 taught woman in her language and dress, her con- 
 duct at home and abroad ; her notions, thoughts, 
 and caprices on religion and the world ; her morals, 
 inclinations and tastes ; her house, her husband, her 
 children and acquaintances, when she rejoices or 
 mourns, when sick or well ; and he will agree with 
 
l62 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 US that an uneducated woman is a great evil in the 
 world, not to say the greatest evil possible to be im- 
 agined. 
 
 " In the reformation of a nation, then, the first 
 step in the ladder is the education of the women 
 from their childhood. And those who neglect the 
 women and girls, and expect the elevation of the 
 people by the mere training of men and boys, are 
 like one walking with one foot on the earth, and the 
 other in the clouds ! They fail in accomplishing 
 their, purpose and are barely able, by the utmost 
 energy, to repair that which woman has corrupted 
 and destroyed. They build a wall, and woman tears 
 down a caatle. They elevate boys one degree, and 
 women depress them many degrees. 
 
 " Perhaps I have now said enough on a subject 
 never before written upon by any of our ancestors 
 of the sons of the Arabs. My object has been to 
 prove the importance of the education of woman, 
 based on the maxim, that, ' she who rocks the cradle 
 with her right hand, moves the world with her 
 arm.' " 
 
 The next article I have translated from Mr. Bis- 
 tany's Semi-monthly Magazine, called the " Jenan," 
 for July, 1870. It was written by an Arab woman 
 of Aleppo, the Sitt Mariana Merrash. She writes 
 with great power and eloquence in the Arabic; and 
 her brother, Francis Effendi, is one of the most 
 powerful writers of modern Syria. The paper of 
 the Sitt Mariana is long, and the introduction is most 
 ornate and flowery. She writes on the condition of 
 
SYHIAN VIEWS OAT FEMALE EDUCA TJON. 163 
 
 woman among the Arabs, and refutes an ancient 
 Arab slander against women that they are cowardly 
 and avaricious, because they will not fight, and care- 
 fully hoard the household stores. She then pro- 
 ceeds : — 
 
 " Wo to us Syrian women, if we do not know 
 enough to distinguish and seek after those qualities 
 which will elevate and refine our minds, and giv 
 breadth to our thoughts, and enable us to take a 
 proper position in society ! We ought to attract 
 sensible persons to us by the charm of our cultiva- 
 tion and refinement, not by the mere phantom of 
 beauty and personal ornament. Into what gulfs of 
 stupidity have we plunged ! Do we not know that 
 the reign of beauty is short, and not enough of it- 
 self to be worthy of regard? And even supposing 
 that it were enough of itself, in the public estima- 
 tion, to make us attractive and desirable, do we not 
 know assuredly that after beauty has faded, we 
 should fall at once into a panic of anxiety and grief, 
 since none would then look at us save with the eye 
 of contempt and ridicule, to say nothing of the vain 
 attempts at producing artificial beauty which" cer- 
 tain foolish women make, as if they were deaf to the 
 insults and abuse heaped upon them ? Shall we 
 settle down in indolence, and never once think of 
 what is our highest advantage and our chiefest 
 good ? Shall we forever run after gay attire and 
 ornament ? Let us arise and run the race of mental 
 culture and literary adornment, and not listen for a 
 moment to those who insult us by denying the 
 
1 64 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 appropriateness of learning to women, and the capa- 
 city of women for learning ! 
 
 "Were we not made of the same clay as men? 
 Even if we are of weaker texture, we have the same 
 susceptibility which they have to receive impressions 
 from what is taught to us. If it is good, we receive 
 good as readily as they; and if evil, then evil. Of 
 what use is a crown of gold on the brow of igno- 
 rance, and what loveliness is there in a jewelled star 
 on the neck of coarseness and brutality, or in a dia- 
 mond necklace over a heart of stupidity and igno- 
 rance? The great poet Mutanebbi has given us an 
 apothegm of great power on this very subject. He 
 says : 
 
 ' Fukr el jehtil bela okl ila adab, 
 Fukr el hamar bela ras ila resen/ 
 
 ' A senseless fool's need of instruction is like a headless donkey's 
 need of a halter.' 
 
 " Let ns then gird ourselves with wisdom and 
 understanding, and robe ourselves with true polite- 
 ness and meekness, and be crowned with the flowers 
 of the 'jenan' (gardens) of knowledge (a pun on the 
 name of the magazine) now opened to us. Let us 
 pluck the fruits of wisdom, lifting up our heads in 
 gratulation and true pride, and remain no longer in 
 that cowardice and avarice which were imputed to 
 the women of the Arabs before us!" 
 
 The next article I shall translate, is a paper on the 
 Training of Children in the East, by an Arab woman 
 of Alexandria, Egypt, the Sitt Wusfina Mesirra, 
 
SYRIAN VIEWS ON FEMALE EDUCATION. 165 
 
 wife of Selim Effendi el Hamawy. It was printed 
 in the " Jenan" for Jan., 1871. After a long and 
 eloquent poetical introduction, this lady says : — 
 
 "Let us put off the robes of sloth and inert- 
 ness, and put on the dress of zeal and earnestness. We 
 belong to the nineteeth century, which exceeds all 
 the ages of mankind in light and knowledge. Why 
 shall we not show to men the need of giving us the 
 highest education, that we may at the least con- 
 tribute to their happiness and advantage, and rightly 
 train our children and babes, not to say that we may 
 pluck the fruits of science, and the best knowledge 
 for ourselves ? Let them say to us, you are weak and 
 lacking in knowledge. I reply, by perseverance and 
 patience, we shall attain our object. 
 
 " Inasmuch as every one who reaches mature 
 years, must pass by the road of childhood and youth, 
 everything pertaining to the period of childhood 
 becomes interesting and important, and I beg per- 
 mission to say a word on the training of children. 
 
 " When it pleased God to give us our first child, I 
 determined to train it according to the old approved 
 modes which I had learned from my family relatives 
 and fellow-countrywomen. So I took the baby boy 
 soon after his birth, and put him in a narrow 
 cradle provided with a tin tube running down through 
 a perforation in the little bed, binding and tying him 
 down, and wrapping and girding him about from his 
 shoulders to his heels, so that he was stiff and un- 
 movable, excepting his head, which rolled and wrig- 
 gled about from right to left, with the rocking of the 
 
l66 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 cradle, this rocking being deemed necessary for the 
 purpose of inducing sleep and silence in the child. 
 My lord and husband protested against this treat- 
 ment, proving to me the evil effects of this wrapping 
 and rocking, by meiny and weighty reasons, and even 
 said that it would injure the little ones for life, even 
 if they survived the outrageous abuse they were sub- 
 jected to. I was astonished, and said, how can this be ? 
 We were all trained and treated in this manner, and 
 yet lived and grew up in the best possible style. 
 All our countrymen have been brought up in this way, 
 and none of them that I know of have ever been 
 injured in the way you suggest. He gave it up, and 
 allowed me to go on in the old way, until something 
 happened which suddenly checked the babe in his 
 progress in health and happiness. He began to 
 throw up his milk after nursing, and to grow illy,giving 
 signs of brain disease, and then my lord said, you 
 must now give up these customs and take my coun- 
 sel. So, on the spur of the moment, I accepted his 
 advice and gave up the cradle. I unrolled the bind- 
 ings and wrappings and gave up myself to putting 
 things in due order. I clothed my child with gar- 
 ments adapted to his age and circumstances, and to 
 the time and place, and regulated the times of his 
 eating and play by day, and kept him awake as much 
 as might be, so that he and his parents could sleep 
 at night. I soon saw a wonderful change in his 
 health and vigor, though I experienced no little 
 trouble from my efforts to wean him from the rocking 
 of the cradle to which he was accustomed. My favor- 
 
SYRIAN VIEWS ON FEMALE EDUCATION. 167 
 
 able experience in this matter, led me to use my in- 
 fluence to induce the daughters of my race, and my 
 own family relatives, to give up practices which are 
 alike profitless, laborious and injurious to health. 
 My husband also aided me in getting books on the 
 training of children, and I studied the true system of 
 training, learning much of what is profitable to the 
 mothers and fathers of my country in preserving the 
 health of their children in mind and body. The 
 binding and wrapping of babes in the cradle prevents 
 their free and natural movements, and the natural 
 growth of the body, and injures their health." 
 
 The next paper is from the pen of Khalil Effen- 
 di, editor of the Turkish official journal of Beirut. 
 It appeared in the columns of the " Hadikat el Akh- 
 bar " of January, 1867. It represents the leading 
 views of a large class of the more enlightened Syr- 
 ians with regard to education, and by way of preface 
 to the EiTendi's remarks, I will make a brief histori- 
 cal statement. 
 
 The Arab race were in ancient times celebrated 
 for their schools of learning, and although the arts 
 and sciences taught in the great University under the 
 Khalifs of Baghdad, were chiefly drawn from Greece, 
 yet in poetry, logic and law the old Arab writers 
 long held a proud preeminence. But since the 
 foundation of the present Ottoman Empire, the 
 Arabs have been under a foreign yoke, subject to 
 every form of oppression and wrong, and for genera- 
 tions hardly a poet worth the name has appeared 
 excepting Sheikh Nasif el Yazin. Schools have 
 
l68 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 been discouraged, and learning, which migrated with 
 the Arabs into Spain, has never returned to its 
 Eastern home. There are in every Moslem town 
 and city common schools, for every Moslem boy 
 must be taught to read the Koran ; but with the ex- 
 ception of the Egyptian school of the Jamea el Az- 
 har in Cairo, there had not been up to 1867 for 
 years even a high school under native auspices, in 
 the Arabic-speaking world. But what the Turks 
 have discouraged and the Arab Moslems have failed 
 to do, is now being done among the nominal Chris- 
 tian sects, and chiefly by foreign educators. During 
 the past thirty years a great work in educating the 
 Arab race in Syria has been done by the American 
 Missionaries. Their Seminary in Abeih, on Mount 
 Lebanon, has trained multitudes of young men, who 
 are now scattered all over Syria and the East, and 
 are making their influence felt. Other schools have 
 sprung up, and the result is, that the young men 
 and women of Syria are now talking about the 
 " Asur el Jedid," or " New Age of Syria,'' by which 
 they mean an age of education and light and ad- 
 vancement. The Arabic journal, above referred to, 
 is owned by the Turkish government, or rather sub- 
 sidized by it, and its editor is a talented young 
 Greek of considerable poetic ability. It is not often 
 that he ventures td speak out boldly on such a 
 theme as education, but the pressure from the peo- 
 ple upon the Governor-General was so great at the 
 time, that he gave permission to the editor to utter 
 his mind. I translate what he wrote, quite hterally. 
 
Fartha, or opening Chapter of the Koran. 
 
 1 o ^.-f \ 
 
 ^> 
 
 ■ Jl\ ^j.vs'-j''^^/'^' ^ 
 
 I 
 
 ^ "° ■^ u'' \' '" uT '°\ > ''"'''' v^ '^^"-^ *, *■• 
 1 V ^^ ^ ?- V "g-^ • "*- , ^ 
 
 The same Anglicized by Rodioell 
 
 1 Bismillahi' ralimani' rraheem 
 
 2 El-hamdoo lillahi rabi'lalameen 
 
 3 Arrahmani' ralieem 
 
 4 Maliki yowmi-d-deen 
 
 6 Eyaka naboodoo waeyaka nestaeen 
 
 6 Ihdina' ssirat almostakeem 
 
 7 Sirat alezeena anamta aleihim, gheiri-'lmoghdoobl alcihim 
 wala' daleen. Ameen, 
 
 Burton's rhyming translation of same 
 
 1 In the Name of Allah, the Merciful the Compassionate I 
 
 2 Praise be to Allah who the three -worlds made, 
 
 3 The Merciful the Compassionate. 
 
 4 The King of tlie day of Fate. 
 
 6 Thee alone do 'vvo worship and of thee alone do we ask aid 
 
 6 Guide us to the path that is straight — 
 
 7 The path of those to whom thy love is great, 
 Not those on whom is hate, 
 
 Nor they that deviate. Amen. 
 
SYRIAN VIEWS ON FEMALE EDUCATION. 169 
 
 "There can be no doubt that the strength of 
 every people and the source of their happiness, rest 
 upon the diffusion of knowledge among them. 
 Science has been in every age the foundation of 
 wealth and national progress, and since science and 
 the arts are the forerunners of popular civilization, 
 and the good of the masses and their elevation in 
 the scale of intellectual and physical growth, there- 
 fore primary education is the necessary prepara- 
 tion for all scientific progress. And in view of this, 
 the providence of our most exalted government 
 has been turned to the accomplishment of what has 
 been done successfully in other lands, in the multi- 
 plication of schools and colleges. And none can be 
 ignorant of the great progress of science and educa- 
 tion, under His August Imperial Excellency the 
 Sultan, in Syria, where schools and printing presses 
 have multiplied, especially in the city of Beirut and 
 its vicinity. For in Beirut and Mount Lebanon, 
 there are nearly two thousand male pupils, large 
 and small, in Boarding Schools, learning the Arabic 
 branches and foreign languages^ and especially the 
 French language, which is more widely spread than 
 any other. The most noted of these schools are the 
 French Lazarist School at Ain Tura in Lebanon, the 
 American Seminary in Abeih, the Jesuit School at 
 Ghuzir, and the Greek School at Suk el Ghurb, the 
 most of the pupils being from the cities of Syria. 
 Then there are in Beirut the Greek School, the 
 school of the Greek Catholic Patriarch, the Native 
 National College of Mr. Butrus el Bistany, and there 
 8 
 
lyo THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 are also nearly a thousand girls in the French Laza- 
 rlst School, the Prussian Protestant Deaconesses, 
 the American Female Seminary and Mrs. Thomp- 
 son's British Syrian School, and other female schools. 
 And here we must mention that all of these schools, 
 (excepting the Druze Seminary,) are in the 
 hands of Christians, and the Mohammedans of Bei- 
 rut have not a single school other than a common 
 school, although in Damascus and Tripoli they have 
 High Schools which are most successful, and many 
 of their children in Beirut, are learning in Christian 
 schools, a fact which we take as a proof of their anx- 
 iety to attain useful knowledge, although they have 
 not as yet done aught to found schools of their own. 
 And though the placing of their children in Chris- 
 tian schools is a proof of the love and fellowship be- 
 tween these two sects in this glorious Imperial Age, 
 vi^e cannot but say that it would be far more befit- 
 ting to the honor and dignity of the Mussulmen to 
 open schools for their own children as the other 
 sects are doing. And lately the Imperial Governor 
 of Syria has been ui^ing them to this step, and they 
 are now planning the opening , of such a s'-hool, 
 which will be a means of great benefit and glory to 
 Islam." 
 
 The editor then states that the great want of 
 Syria is a school where a high practical education 
 can be given, and says : — 
 
 " We now publish the glad tidings to the sons of 
 Syria that such a College has just been opened in 
 Syria, in the city of Beirut, by the liberality of good 
 
SYRIAN VIEWS ON FEMALE EDUCATION. 
 
 171 
 
 men in America and England, and called the " Syr- 
 ia Protestant College." It is to accommodate event- 
 ually one thousand pupils, will have a large library 
 and scientific apparatus, including a telescope for 
 viewing the stars, besides cabinets of Natural His- 
 tory, Botany, Geology and Mineralogy. It will 
 teach all Science and Art, Law and Medicine, and 
 we doubt not will meet the great want of our native 
 land." 
 
 Five years have passed since the above was writ- 
 ten. Since that time the number of pupils in the 
 various schools in Beirut has trebled, and new edu- 
 cational edifices of stately proportions are being 
 built or are already finished, in every part of the 
 city. It may be safely said that the finest structures 
 in Beirut are those built for educational purpqses. 
 The Latins have the Sisters of Charity building of 
 immense proportions, the Jesuit establishment, the 
 Maronite schools, and the French -Sisters of Naza- 
 reth Seminary, which is to be one of the most com- 
 manding edifices of the East. The Greeks have 
 their large High School, and the Papal-Greeks, or 
 Greek-Catholics their lofty College. The Moslems 
 have built with funds drawn from the treasury of the 
 municipality, a magnificent building for their Reshi- 
 diyeh, while the Protestants have the imposing 
 edifices occupied by the American Female Semi- 
 nary, the British Syrian Schools, the , Prussian 
 Deaconesses Institute, and most extensive and 
 impressive of all, the new edifices of the Syrian 
 Protestant College at Ras Beirut. 
 
172 
 
 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 As another illustration of public sentiment in 
 Syria with regard to evangelical work, I will trans- 
 late another paragraph from this official news- 
 paper : 
 
 " We have been writing of the progress of the 
 Press in Syria, and of Arabic literature in Europe, 
 but we have another fact to mention which will no 
 doubt fill the sons of our country with astonishment. 
 You know well the efforts which were put forth 
 some time since in the printing of the Old and New 
 Testaments in various editions in the Arabic lan- 
 guage, in the Press of the American Mission in 
 Beirut. This work is under the direction of the 
 distinguished scholar Dr. Van Dyck, who labored 
 assiduously in the completion of the translation of 
 the Bible from the Hebrew and Greek languages, 
 which was commenced by the compassionated of 
 God, Dr. Eli Smith. They had printed from time 
 to time large editions of this Bible with great labor 
 and expense, and sold them out, and then were 
 obliged to set up the types again for a new edition. 
 But Dr. Van Dyck thought it best, in order to find 
 relief from the vast expenditure of time and money 
 necessary to reset the types, to prepare for every 
 page of the Bible a plate of copper, oh whose face 
 the letters should be engraved. He therefore pro- 
 ceeded to New York, and undertook in co-operation, 
 with certain men skilled in the electrotyping art, to 
 make plates exactly corresponding to the pages of 
 the Holy Book, and he has sent to us a specimen 
 page taken from the first plate of the vowelled Tes- 
 
SYSIAN VIEWS ON FEMALE EDUCA TION. 
 
 1/3 
 
 tament, and on comparison with the page printed 
 here, we find it an exact copy of the Beirut edition 
 which is printed in the same type with our journal. 
 We regard it as far clearer and better than the sheets 
 printed from movable types, and we congratulate 
 Dr. Van Dyck, and wish him all success in this 
 enterprise." 
 
 Such statements as these derive their value from 
 the fact that they appear in the official paper of a 
 Mohammedan government, and are a testimony to 
 the value of the Word of God. 
 
 The next article is a literal translation of an ad- 
 dress delivered in June, 1867, at the Annual Ex- 
 amination of the Beirut Female Seminary. This 
 Seminary was the first school in Syria for girls, which 
 was established on the paying principle, and in the 
 year 1867 its income from Syrian girls who paid 
 their own board and tuition was about fifteen hun- 
 dred dollars in gold. It commenced with six pupils, 
 and now has fifty boarders. A crowded assembly 
 attended the examination in the year above men- 
 tioned, and at its close, several native gentlemen 
 made addresses in Arabic. The most remarkable 
 address was made by a Greek Priest, Ghubrin Jebara, 
 the Archimandrite and agent of the Patriarch. 
 When it is remembered that in the days of Bird, 
 Goodell and Fisk, the Greek clergy were among the 
 most bitter enemies of the missionaries, it will be 
 seen that this address indicates a great change in 
 Syria. Turning to the great congregation of three 
 or four hundred people who were assembled in the 
 
174 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 American Chapel, Greeks, Maronites, Mohammedans, 
 Catholics and Protestants, he said : 
 
 "You know my friends, into what a sad state our 
 land and people had fallen, morally, socially and 
 intellectually. We had no schools, no books, no 
 means of instruction, when God in His Providence 
 awakened the zeal of good men far across two seas 
 in distant America, of which many of us had never 
 heard, to leave home and friends and country to 
 spend their lives among us, yes even among such as' 
 I am. In the name of my countrymen in Syria, I 
 would this day thank these men, and those who sent 
 them. They have given us the Arabic Bible, numer 
 ous good books, founded schools and seminaries, 
 and trained our children and youth. But for the 
 American Missionaries the Word of God would 
 have well nigh died out of the Arabic language. But 
 now through the labors of the lamented Eli Smith 
 and Dr. Van Dyck, they have given us a translation 
 so pure, so exact, so clear and so classical as to be ac- 
 ceptable to all classes and all sects. But for their 
 labors, education would still be where it was centuries 
 ago, and our children would still have continued to 
 grow up like wild beasts. Is there any one among us 
 so bigoted, so ungrateful, as not to appreciate these 
 benevolent labors ; so blind as not to see their fruits ? 
 True, other European Missionaries have come here 
 from France and Italy, and we will not deny their 
 good intentions. But what have they brought us ? 
 And what have they taught ? A little French. They tell 
 us how far Lyons is from Paris, and where Napoleon 
 
SYRIAN VIEWS ON FEMALE EDUCATION. 
 
 175 
 
 first lived, and then they forbid the Word of God, 
 and scatter broadcast the writings of the accursed in- 
 fidel Voltaire. But these Americans have come 
 thousands of miles, from a land than which there is no 
 happier on earth, to dwell among such as we are, yes, 
 I repeat it, such as I am, to translate God's word, to 
 give us schools and good books, and a goodly exam- 
 ple, and I thank them for it. I thank them and all 
 who are laboring for us. I would thank Mr. Mikhaiel 
 Araman, the Principal of this Female Seminary, who 
 is a son of our land, and Miss Ruf ka Gregory, the 
 Preceptress, who is a daughter of our own people, for 
 the wonderful progress we have witnessed during these 
 three days among the daughters of our own city and 
 country, in the best kind of knowledge. Allah grant 
 prosperity to this Seminar}', and all its teachers and 
 pupils, peace and happiness to all here present to-day 
 and long life to our Sultan Abdul Aziz." 
 
 As my object in giving these extracts from Arab 
 writers and orators of the present day, is to give 
 some idea of the change going on in Syrian public 
 sentiment with regard to education, the dignity of 
 woman, and the abolition of superstitious social 
 usages, I cannot do better than to translate from 
 the official journal of Daud Pasha, late governor of 
 Mt. Lebanon, an article on the customs of the Leb- 
 anon population. This paper was styled " Le Li- 
 ban," and printed both in Arabic and French in July, 
 1867. It gives us a glimpse of the civilizing and 
 Christianizing influences which are at work in Syria. 
 
 " In Mount Lebanon there exist certain cus- 
 
176 THE WOMEN OF THE AJiABS. 
 
 toms, which had their origin in kindly feeling and 
 sympathy, but have now passed, beyond the limits 
 of propriety, and lost their original meaning. For 
 example, when one falls sick, his relatives and friends 
 at once begin to pour in upon him. The whole 
 ■population of the town will come crowding into the 
 house, each one speaking to the sick a word of com- 
 fort and encouragement, and then sitting down in 
 the sick room. The poor invalid must respond to 
 all these salutations, and even be expected to rise 
 in bed and bow to his loving friends. Then the 
 whole company must speak a word to the family, to 
 the wife and children, assuring them that the disease 
 is but slight, and the sick man will speedily recover. 
 Then they crowd into the sick room (and suck a 
 crowd it is !) and the family and servants are kept 
 running to supply them with cigars and narghilehs, 
 by means of which they fill the room with a dense and 
 suffocating smoke. Meantime, they talk all at once 
 and in a loud voice, and the air soon becomes im- 
 pure and suffocating, and all these things as a matter 
 of course injure the sick man, and he becomes worse. 
 Then the childish doctors of the town are summoned, 
 and in they come with grave faces, and a great show 
 of wisdom, and each one begins to recount the 
 -names of all the medicines he has heard of, and 
 ■describes their effects in working miraculous cures. 
 Then they enter into ignorant disputes on learned 
 subjects, and talk of the art of medicine of which 
 they know nothing save what they have learned by 
 hearsay. One will insist that this medicine is the 
 
SYRIAN VIEWS ON FEMALE EDUCATION. 
 
 177 
 
 best, because his father used it with great benefit 
 just before he died, and another will urge the claims 
 of another medicine, of a directly opposite character, 
 and opinions will clash, and all in the presence of the 
 sick man, who thus becomes agitated and alarmed. 
 He takes first one medicine and then its opposite, 
 and then he summons other doctors and consults his 
 relatives. Then all the old women of the neighbor- 
 hood take him in hand and set at naught all that the 
 doctors have advised, give him medicines of whose 
 properties they are wholly ignorant, and thus they 
 hasten the final departure of their friend on his long 
 last journey. And if he should die, the whole popu- 
 lation of the town assembles at once at the house, 
 and the relatives, friends, and people from other 
 villages come thronging in. They fill the house with 
 their screams and wails of mourning. They recount 
 the virtues of the departed with groans and shrieks, 
 and lamentations in measured stanzas. This all re- 
 sembles the customs of the old Greeks and Romans 
 who hired male and female mourners to do their 
 weeping for them. After this, they proceed at once 
 to bear the corpse to the grave, without one thought 
 as to proving whether there be yet life remaining or 
 not, not leaving it even twelve hours, and never 
 twenty-four hours. It is well known that this cus- 
 tom is most brutal and perilous, for they may sup- 
 pose a living man to be dead, and bury him alive, as 
 has, no doubt, often been done. Immediately after 
 the burial, the crowd return to the house of the 
 deceased, where a sumptuous table awaits them, and 
 8* 
 
178 THE WOMEN OF THE ARAB'i. 
 
 all the relatives, friends, and strangers eat their fill. 
 After eight days, the wailing, assembling, crowding, 
 and eating are repeated, for the consolation of the 
 distracted relatives. And these crowds and turbu- 
 lent proceedings occur, not simply at Syrian funerals, 
 but also at marriages and births, in case the child 
 born is a boy, for the Syrians are fond of exhibiting 
 their joy and sorrow. But it should be remembered, 
 that just as in civilized lands, all these demonstra- 
 tions of joy and sorrow are tempered by moderation 
 and wisdom, and subdued by silent acquiescence in 
 the Divine will, so in uncivilized lands, they are the 
 occasion for giving the loose rein to passion and tu- 
 mult and violent emotion. How much in conform- 
 ity with true faith in God, and reHgiotis principle, is 
 the quiet, well-ordered and moderate course of pro- 
 cedure among civilized nations ! 
 
 "So in former times, the man was everywhere 
 the absolute tyrant of the family. The wife was 
 the slave, never to be seen by others. And if, in 
 conversation, it became necessary to mention her 
 name, it would be by saying this was done by my 
 wife ' ajellak Allah.' But now, there is a change, and 
 woman is no longer so generally regarded as worthy 
 of contempt and abuse, and the progress being made 
 in the emancipation and elevation of woman, is one 
 of the noblest and best proofs of the real progress of 
 Lebanon in the paths of morality and civilization.'' 
 
 This is the language of the official paper of the 
 Lebanon government. Yet how difficult to root out 
 superstitious and injurious customs by official utter- 
 
SYRIAN VIEWS ON FEMALE EDUCATION. 
 
 179 
 
 ances ! At the very time that article was written, 
 these customs continued in full force. A woman in 
 Abeih, whose husband died in 1866, refused to allow 
 her house or her clothes to be washed for more than 
 a whole year afterward, just as though untidiness 
 and personal uncleanliness would honor her deceased 
 husband ! 
 
-CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 BEDAWIN ARABS. 
 
 ''INHERE is one class of the Arab race, of which 
 little or nothing has been said in the preceding 
 pages, for the simple reason that there is little to be 
 said of missionary work or progress among them. 
 We refer to the Bedawin Arabs. The true sons of 
 Ishmael. boasting of their descent from him, living a 
 wild, free and independent life, rough, untutored and 
 warlike, plundering, rbbbingand murdering one anoth- 
 er as a business ; roaming over the vast plains which 
 extend from Aleppo to Baghdad, and from Bagh- 
 dad to Central Arabia, and bordering the outskirts 
 of the more settled parts of Syria and Palestine ; ig- 
 norant of reading and writing, and yet transacting ex- 
 tensive business in wool and live-stock with the bor- 
 der towns and cities ; nominally Mohammedans, and 
 yet disobeying every precept of Moslem faith and 
 practice ; subjects of the Ottoman Sultan, and yet 
 living in perpetual rebellion or coaxed by heavy 
 bribes into nominal submission ; suffering untold 
 hardships from their life of constant exposure to win- 
 ter storms and summer heats ; without proper food, 
 clothing or shelter, and utterly destitute of medical 
 aid and relief, and yet despising the refinements of 
 
BED A WIN ARABS. 1 8 1 
 
 civilized life, and regarding with contempt the man 
 who will sleep under a roof; they constitute a most 
 ancient, attractive class of men, interesting to ^very 
 lover of his race, and especially to the Missionary of 
 the Cross. 
 
 European missionaries can do little among them. 
 To say nothing of the rough, nomadic, unsettled 
 and perilous life they lead, any European would find 
 himself so much an object of curiosity and suspicion 
 among them, and the peculiar Bedawin pronuncia- 
 tion of the Arabic so different from the correct pro- 
 nunciation, that he would be constantly embar- 
 rassed. Native missionaries, on the other hand, can 
 go among them freely, and if provided with a supply 
 of vaccine virus and simple medicines, can have the 
 most unrestrained access to them. During the last 
 ten years, several native colporteurs have been sent 
 among the Bedawin, and lately the Native Mission- 
 ary Society in Beirut has sent out one of its teachers 
 as a missionary to the Arabs. There is little use in 
 taking books among them, as very few can make use 
 of them. Mr. Arthington of Leeds, England, has 
 been making earnest efforts to induce the Bedawin to 
 send their children to schools in the towns, or allow 
 schools to be opened among their own camps. We 
 have tried every means to induce their leading 
 Sheikhs to send their sons and daughters to Beirut 
 for instruction, but the Arabs all dread sending their 
 children to any point within the jurisdiction of the 
 Turks, lest they be suddenly seized by the Turks as 
 hostages for the good behavior of their parents. The 
 
l82 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 latter course, i. e., sending teachers to live among 
 them, to migrate with them and teach their children 
 as it were " on the wing," seems to be the one most 
 practicable, as soon as teachers can be trained. Un- 
 til the Turkish government shall compel the Beda- 
 win to settle down in villages and till the soil, there 
 can be little done in the way of instructing them. 
 And when that step is taken, it is quite doubtful 
 whether the Moslem government will not send its 
 Khoteebs or religious teachers, and compel them all 
 to embrace the religion of Islam. If that should be 
 done, Christian teachers will have but little oppor- 
 tunity of opening schools among them. 
 
 One of the leading tribes of the Bedawin is the 
 Anazy, who are more numerous, powerful and wealthy 
 than any other Kobileh of the Arabs. Their princi- 
 pal Sheikh on the Damascus border is Mohammed 
 ed Dukhy, the warlike and successful leader of ten 
 thousand Arab horsemen, of the Weled Ali. He is 
 now an officer of the Turkish government, with a 
 salary of ten thousand dollars a year, employed to 
 protect the great Haj or Pilgrim Caravan, which goes 
 annually from Damascus to Mecca. He furnishes 
 camels for the Haj, and a powerful escort of horse- 
 men, and is under bonds to keep the Arabs quiet. 
 
 In Feburary, 1871, he came to Beirut on business, 
 and was the guest of a Maronite merchant, who 
 brought him at our invitation to visit the Female 
 Seminary, the College and the Printing Press. After 
 looking through the Seminary, examining the various 
 departments, and inquiring into the course of study, 
 
BEDA WIN ARABS. 
 
 183 
 
 he turned to the pupils and said, " Our Bedawin 
 girls would learn as much in six months as you learn 
 in two years." I told him we should like to see the 
 experiment tried, and that if he would send on a doz- 
 en Bedawin girls, we would see that they had every 
 opportunity for improvement. He said, "Al- 
 lah only knows the future. Who knows but it 
 may yet come to pass ? " The Sheikh himself can 
 neither read nor write, but his wife, the Sitt Harba, or 
 Lady Spear, who came from the vicinity of Hamath, 
 can read and write well, and she is said to be the only 
 Bedawiyeh woman who can write a letter. With 
 this in view we prepared an elegant copy of the Arab- 
 ic Bible, enclosed in a waterproof case made by the 
 girls of the Seminary, and presented it to him at the 
 Press. He expressed great interest in it, and asked 
 what the book contained. We explained the con- 
 tents, and he remarked,. " I will have the Sitt Harba 
 read to me of Ibrahim, Khalil Allah, (the Friend of 
 God), and Ismaeel, the father of the Arabs, and Ne- 
 by (prophet) Moosa, and Soleiman the king, and 
 Aieesa, (Jesus,) the son of Mary." The electrotype 
 apparatus deeply interested him, but when Mr. Hal- 
 lock showed him the steam cylinder press, rolling 
 off the sheets with so great rapidity and exactness, 
 he stood back and remarked in the most deliberate 
 manner, " the man who made that press can conquer 
 anything but death ! " It seemed some satisfaction- 
 to him that in the matter of death the Bedawin was 
 on a level with the European. 
 
 From the Press, the Sheikh went to the Church, 
 
1 84 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 and after gazing around on the pure white walls, re- 
 marked, " There is the Book, but I see no pictures 
 nor images. You worship only God here ! " He 
 was anxious to see the Tower Clock, and although he 
 had lost one arm, and the other was nearly paralyzed 
 by a musket shot in a recent fight in the desert, he 
 insisted on climbing up the long ladders to see the 
 clock whose striking he had heard at the other end 
 of the city, and he gazed long and admiringly at this 
 beautiful piece of mechanism. On leaving us, he re- 
 newedly thanked us for The Book, and the next day 
 he left by diligence coach for Damascus. 
 
 In the summer we sent, at Mr. Arthington's ex- 
 pense, a young man from the Beirut Medical Col- 
 lege, named Ali, as missionary to itinerate among 
 the Bedawin, with special instructions to persuade 
 the Arabs if possible to send their children to school. 
 He remained a month or two among them, by day 
 and by night, sleeping by night outside the tents 
 with his horse's halter tied to his arms to prevent its 
 being stolen, and spending the evenings reading to 
 the assembled crowd from the New Testament. He 
 was present as a spectator at a fight between Mo- 
 hammed's men and 'the Ruella Arabs east of the 
 Sea of Galilee, in which the Ruella were defeated, 
 but Mohammed's son Faur was wounded, and Ali at- 
 tended him. The Sitt Harba told Ali that a papist 
 named Shwiry, in Damascus, had taken the Arabic 
 Bible from them ! So Ali gave them another. This 
 Bible-hating spirit of the Papacy is the same the 
 world over. How contemptible the spirit of a man 
 
BEDA WIN ARABS. 
 
 185 
 
 professing the name of Christian, and yet wilHng to 
 rob the only woman among the Bedawin who can 
 read, of the word of everlasting life ! The whole 
 family of the Sheikh were interested in reading an 
 illustrated book for children of folio size, styled 
 " Lilies of the Field," which we printed in Beirut 
 last year. When AH set out on this journey, I gave 
 him a letter to the Sheikh, reminding him of his visit 
 to Beirut, and urging again upon him the sending 
 of his children to school. The Sheikh sent me the 
 following reply, written by his wife, the Sitt Harba, 
 and sealed with his own signet ring. I value the 
 letter highly as being written by the only Bedawin 
 woman able to write : 
 
 To his excellency the most honored and esteemed, our revered 
 Khowadja Henry Jessup, may his continuance be prolonged I 
 Amen. 
 
 After offering you the pearls of salutation, and the ornaments of 
 pure odoriferous greeting, we would beg to inform you that your epis- 
 tle reached us in the hand of Ali Effendi, and we perused it rejoic- 
 ing in the information it contained about your health and prosperity. 
 You remind us of the importance of sending our sons and daughters 
 to be educated in your schools. Ali Effendi has urged us very strong- 
 ly to this course ; an:l has spent several weeks with us among the 
 Arabs. He has read to the children from The Book, and tried to in- 
 terest them in learning to read. He has also gone from tent to tent 
 among our Bedawin, talking with them and urging upon them this 
 great subject. He constantly read to them that which engaged their 
 attention, and we aided him in urging it upon them. Inshullah 
 (God grant) that there may soon be a school among the Arabs them- 
 selves. We Bedawin do not understand the language nor the ways 
 of Europeans, and we should like to have one like Ali Effendi, who 
 knows our way of talking and living, come to teach us and our chil- 
 dren. We would also inform you that the book with pictures, which 
 
1 86 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 you sent to the Sitt Harba, has reached her, and she has read it with 
 great pleasure, and asks of God to increase your good. She sends 
 salams to you and to the Sitt, and all your family. 
 
 And may you live forever ! Salam. 
 
 MOHAMMED DUKHY. 
 29 Jemady Akhar ) 
 12S9 of the Hegira) 
 
 " Postscript. — There has been a battle between us and the Ruella 
 tribe, and the Ruellas ate a defeat. All Effendi was present and will 
 give you the particulars." 
 
 At the date of this writing, Ali has been again to 
 Mohammed's camp, taking books and medicines, 
 and has done his utmost to prepare the way for 
 opening schools among the Bedawin in their own 
 camps. Ali has brought another letter from Sitt 
 Harba, in which she gives her views with regard to 
 the education of the Bedawin. I sent several writ- 
 ten questions to her in Arabic, to which she cheer- 
 fully gave replies. The following is the substance 
 of her answers : 
 
 I. The Bedawin Arabs ought to learn to read 
 and write, in order to learn religion, to increase in 
 understanding, and to become acquainted with the 
 Koran. They profess to be- Moslems, but in reality 
 have no religion. 
 
 II. The reason why so few of the Bedawin know 
 how to read, is because it is out of their line of busi- 
 ness. They prefer fighting, plundering, and feeding 
 flocks and herds. Reading and books are strange 
 and unknown to them. 
 
 III. If they wished to learn to read, the true 
 time and place would be in the winter, when they 
 
RED A WIN ARABS. 1 8/ 
 
 migrate to the East in the Jowf, where they are 
 quiet and uninterrupted by government tax-gatherers. 
 
 IV. I learned to read in the vicinity of Hums. 
 My father brought for my instruction a Khoteeb or 
 Moslem teacher, who taught me reading. His name 
 was Sheikh Abdullah. The Sheikh Mohammed 
 taught me writing. 
 
 V. The Bedawin esteem a boy better than a girl, 
 because the boy may rise to honor, but the girl has 
 nothing to expect from her husband, and his parents 
 and relatives, but cursing and abuse. 
 
 VI. A man may marry four wives. If one of 
 them ceases bearing children, and she be of his 
 family, he makes a covenant of fraternity with her, 
 and he supports her in his own camp, but she is 
 regarded simply as a sister. If she be of another 
 family, he sends her home, and pays her what her 
 
 'friends demand. 
 
 VII. The girls and women have no more religion 
 than the boys and men. They never pray nor fast, 
 nor make the pilgrimage to Mecca. But the old 
 women repeat certain prayers, and visit the ziyaras, 
 mazars, and welys, and other holy places. 
 
 VIII. If teachers would come among us, who 
 can live as we do, and dwell in our camps, and travel 
 with us to the desert, they could teach the great 
 part of our children to read, especially if they under- 
 stood the art of medicine. 
 
 Ali spent several weeks among them, sleeping in 
 the camp, and attending upon their sick. The camp 
 was on the mountains east of the Sea of Galilee. 
 
1 88 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 Fevers prevailed through the entire district from 
 Tiberias to Damascus, and Ali devoted himself faith- 
 fully to the care of the sick. The Sheikh himself 
 was ill with fever and ague, as were several members 
 of his family. One day Ali prepared an effervescing 
 draught for him, and when the acid and the alkali 
 united, and the mixture effervesced, the Bedawin 
 seated in the great tent screamed and ran from the 
 tent as if the Ruellas were down upon them ! What, 
 said they, is this ? He pours water into water, and 
 out come fire and smoke ! The Sheikh himself was 
 afraid to drink it, so Ali took it himself, and finally, 
 after explaining the principle of the chemical process, 
 he induced both the Sheikh and the Sit Harba to 
 drink the draught. On leaving the encampment, 
 the Sheikh gave Ali a guard, and three Turkish 
 pounds (about $14,) to pay for his medicines and 
 medical services, saying, that as his Bedawin were 
 growing poor since they were forbidden to make 
 raids on other tribes, they could not pay for his ser- 
 vices, and he would pay for all. He offered to give 
 him a goat skin bottle of semin (Arab butter) and 
 several sheep, but Ali was unable to carry either, and 
 declined the offer. Ali brought a specimen of Beda- 
 win bread. It is black, coarse, and mixed with 
 ashes and sand. The Bedawin pound their wheat, 
 and knead the coarse gritty flour without sifting, 
 and bake it on the heated earthen ovens. 
 
 The Bedawin swarm with vermin. Their gar- 
 ments, their persons, their tents and their mats are 
 literally alive with the third plague of Egypt, lice ! 
 
BEDA WIN ARABS. 
 
 189 
 
 AH soon found himself completely overrun with them, 
 and was almost driven wild. The Sitt Harba urged 
 him to try the Bedawin remedy for cleansing his head. 
 On inquiring what it was, he declared he would rather 
 have the disease than the remedy ! After his return 
 to his village in Lebanon, he spent several days in ab- 
 lutions and purifications before venturing to bring me 
 his report. The Sitt Harba gave him a collection of 
 the nursery rhymes which she and the Bedawin women 
 sing to their little brown babies, and some of them 
 will be found in the " Children's Chapter " of this 
 volume. The Sheikh Mohammed, who can neither 
 read nor write, repeated to Ali the following Kosideh 
 or Song, which he composed in Arabic poetry, after 
 his victory over Feisal, of the Ruella tribe, .in 1866. 
 The Ruellas had previously driven Mohammed's tribe 
 from one of the finest pasture regions in Howian, and 
 Ed Dukhy regained it after a desperate struggle. 
 
 Oh fair and beautiful plain, oh rich green Bedawin pasture, 
 We had left you, too often stained, with the blood of violent battle ; 
 Ah, dark disastrous day, when brother abandoned his brother. 
 Though riding the fleetest of mares, and safe from pursuit of the 
 
 foeman. 
 He never once turned to inquire, though we tasted the cup of destruc- 
 tion. 
 Oh fair and beautiful plain, we yesterday fought and regained thee 1 
 I praise and honor His name, who only the victory giveth ! 
 O, Feisal, we've meted to you your deserts in royal measure ; 
 With our spears so burning and sharp, we cut off the necks of your 
 
 Arabs, 
 O, Shepherd of Obaid, you fled deserting your pastures, 
 Biting your finger in pain and regret for your sad disasters — 
 Savage hyena, come forth, from your lair in the land of Jedaileh, 
 
I go 
 
 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 Howl to your fellow-beasts, in the distant land of Butlna ; 
 
 Come and eat your fill of the dead in the Plain of Fada, 
 
 O, fair and beautiful plain, you belong to the tribe of the victor ; 
 
 But Feisal is racked with pain, when he hears the battle story, 
 
 Our right-handed spearmen have palsied his arm is its strength and 
 
 power ; 
 A blow fell hard on his breast, from the hand of our Anazy warriors ; 
 Come now, ye who wish for peace, we are ready in honor to meet you 1 
 Our wrongs are all avenged, and our arms are weaiy of battle. 
 
 The Arabic original of these lines breathes the 
 true spirit of poetry, and shows that the old poetic fire 
 still burns in the desert. Feisal now hves in the re- 
 gion adjacent to Mohammed Dukhy, and they leave 
 a space of several miles between their camps to pre- 
 vent trespass, and the danger of re-opening the old 
 blood-feyd. 
 
 I would commend the Arabs of the Desert to 
 the prayerful remembrance of the Women of Ameri- 
 ca. How the gospel is to reach them, is one of the 
 great problems of our day. Their women are sunk- 
 en to the lowest depths of physical and moral de- 
 gradation. The extent of their religion is in being 
 able to swear Mohammedan oaths. " Their mouths 
 are full of cursing and bitterness ; their feet are swift 
 to shed blood ; destruction and misery are in their 
 ways, and the way of peace have they not known." 
 Although their hand is against every man, and every 
 man's hand against them, let them feel that there is 
 one class of men who love them and care for them 
 with a disinterested love, and who seek their ever- 
 lasting welfare ! 
 
CHAPTER XV, 
 
 " WOMAN BETWEEN BARBARISM AND CIVILIZATION." 
 
 'T'HIS is the title of an Arabic article in the " Je- 
 nan" for Sept. I, 1872, written by Frances Ef- 
 fendi Merrash, brother of the Sitt Mariana, whose 
 paper we have translated on a preceding page. It is 
 evident that the Effendi writes from the atmosphere 
 of Aleppo. The more "polite'' society of that city 
 is largely made up of that mongrel population, half 
 French and half Arab, which is styled " L evantine " 
 and too often combines the vices of both, with the 
 virtues of neither. It will be seen that the able 
 author is combatting the worst form of French flip- 
 pant civilization, which has already found its way 
 into many of the towns and cities of the Orient. 
 He says : — 
 
 " Inasmuch as woman constitutes a large portion 
 of human kind, and an essential element in society, 
 as well as the leading member of the race in respect 
 to its perpetuation, it becomes necessary both to 
 consider and speak of her character and position, al- 
 though there are not wanting those who are coarse 
 enough and rude enough to declare woman a worth- 
 less part of the creation. 
 
 " Woman possesses a nature remarkably impressi- 
 
192 
 
 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 ble and susceptible to influence, owing to the delica- 
 cy of her organization and the pecuHarities of her 
 structure. Her proper culture therefore calls for 
 the greatest possible skill and care to protect her 
 from those corrupting influences to which she is by- 
 nature especially susceptible. We should therefore 
 neither leave her locked in the fetters of the ancient 
 barbarism and rudeness, nor leave her free to the 
 uncontrollable liberty of this modern civilization, for 
 both these extremes bring her into one common evil 
 estate and both have one effect upon her. 
 
 " Have you not observed how the customs of 
 ancient rude barbarism corrupted the manners of 
 woman and obliterated all those virtues and excellen- 
 cies for which she is especially designed by nature ? 
 It was deemed nlost opprobrious for woman to learn 
 to read and write, to say nothing of other arts. It 
 was thought indispensable to bind upon her mouth 
 the fetters of profound silence so that none ever 
 heard her voice but her own coarse husband, and the 
 walls of the enclosure in which she was kept impris- 
 oned. She had no liberty of thought or action. 
 Every woman's thoughts were limited by the thoughts 
 of her husband, and her character was cast in the 
 mould of his, whether that were good or bad. And 
 in addition to this, she always suffered from whatever 
 of rudeness there might be in her rough companion, 
 who availed himself of his superior brute physical 
 strength as a weapon to overcome her moral power. 
 He scourged and cursed and despised her in every 
 possible way, when she was innocent of crime or er- 
 
BARBARISM AND CIVILIZA TION. 
 
 193 
 
 ror. As a result of this course, her own self respect, 
 and the feeling that she was abused and insulted by 
 her companion or partner, led her oftentimes to cast 
 off all shame and modesty, whenever a suitable oppor- 
 tunity presented itself. This grew out of the fact 
 that she no longer regarded herself as the companion 
 of her husband and the sharer of, all his natural and 
 moral rights, his joys and sorrows, but she rather imag- 
 ined herself his captive and bond slave. She thus sank 
 to the position of a slave-woman who is never allow- 
 ed peace or rest, and cares nothing for the training of 
 her children or the ordering of her house, since she 
 looks upon herself as a stranger in a home not her 
 own, and we all know how difficult it is for a slave to 
 perform the duties of the free ! 
 
 " On the other hand, have you not observed how 
 the influence of modern civilization is corrupting 
 the nature of woman and making havoc with her 
 morals ? 
 
 "There is nothing strange in this, for her deli- 
 cate nature, when it had escaped from the chains 
 and imprisonment of the mildest barbarism, into the 
 open free arena of civilization, lost its reckoning, 
 and wandered hither and thither in bewilderment 
 according to its own unrestrained passions. Woman 
 thus became like a feather, ' Borne on the tempest 
 wherever it blows, and driven about where no one 
 knows.' 
 
 " Now since evil images and objects are far more 
 numerous in this world than those which are good, 
 it becomes evident that the influence of evil upon 
 9 
 
194 
 
 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 the mind of woman is stronger and more abiding 
 than the influence of the good, owing to this intense 
 dehcacy of texture in her mental constitution. Let 
 us suppose that one man and one woman were 
 placed in a position where they should only see evil 
 deeds, or only good deeds : the woman would leave 
 that place either vastly worse than the man, or vast- 
 ly better. Now the moral misconduct of woman is 
 far more detrimental to the propagation of the race, 
 than is the misconduct of man. It is therefore 
 better for the woman not to go to the extremes of 
 the modern civilization, whose evils are equal to, 
 yes, and far surpass, its benefits. Have you not no- 
 ticed that the leaders of modern civilization in our 
 age, have initiated, if not surpassed, all the excesses 
 of riot, and lust and rapine, ever practiced under 
 the barbarism of the ages of antiquity? Do not the 
 women of this age go lower in shamelessness than the 
 women of ancient times ? Here we see them veiling 
 their faces with the flimsy gauze of artifice, and befoul- 
 ing the pure waters of life with the turbulent stream 
 of their own vanity. They pollute the purity of real 
 beauty by the foul arts of beautifying, and cry out 
 in loud rude voices in every assembly and gathering. 
 They strut about in vain-glorious conceit, and 
 flaunt their gaudy apparel in indecent boldness. 
 They claim what does not belong to them and med- 
 dle with what does not concern them. They do not 
 blusli to cloud the precious jewel of modesty with 
 the salfish airs of passion. Nothing is said which 
 they dci not hear, nothing occurs which they do not 
 
BARBARISM AND CIVILIZATION. 
 
 195 
 
 see. They become bold, unblushing and unwo- 
 manly. 
 
 " Such bein^ the state of things, there can be no 
 doubt that an excess of this kind of civilization for 
 woman amounts to about the same thing as the ex- 
 cess of her rude barbarism in ancient times. The 
 two extremes meet. The dividing line between 
 them then, that is, the middle course, is the proper 
 one for woman to take. To this middle course there 
 must be some natural and legitimate guide. This 
 guide is a sound education, and on this subject we 
 propose at some future time to write, inasmuch as 
 the education of woman is one of the most impor- 
 tant of subjects. Woman is the one fountain from 
 which is derived the life of man in its earliest pe- 
 riods. She is the source of all training, and the 
 root of character. Have you not heard that she 
 who rocks the cradle, moves the world?" 
 
 It is evident that the author of this paper has 
 not been so happy as to see the noblest type of a 
 sanctified Christian civilization, such as can be seen 
 in the Christian homes of America and England, or 
 even in the truly Christian homes of Syria. Let us 
 hope that the day is not far distant, when even in 
 Aleppo, a pure Christianity shall have taken the 
 place of that semi-barbaric system styled the papacy, 
 which enthralls the intellects and hearts of so many 
 of the nominal Christians of the Orient, and when 
 the enslaved inmates of the Moslem hareems shall 
 be set free, not to indulge in the license of a Parisian 
 
196 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 libertinism, but with that liberty wherewith Christ 
 makes His people free ! 
 
 THE VALUE SET ON WOMAN'S LIFE IN SYRIA. 
 The free license allowed to men by the Koran in 
 the beating of their wives, has led the entire popula- 
 tion of the East to set a low estimate upon the 
 life of woman. Until recently in Syria women were 
 poisoned, thrown down wells, beaten to death, or 
 cast irko the sea, and the government made no in- 
 quisition into the matter. According to Moham- 
 medan law, a prosecution for murder must always 
 be commenced by the friends of the victim, and if 
 they do not enter complaint, or furnish witnesses, 
 the murderer is not even arrested. And if he be 
 convicted of the crime, he is released on paying to 
 the relatives of the victim the price of blood, which 
 is fixed at 13,000 piastres, or $520! A man may 
 well " count the cost" before committing murder. 
 This constant compounding of punishment has de- 
 graded the popular views of the value of human 
 life, so that formerly the murder of a woman was 
 never punished. In March, 1856, a Druze girl near 
 B'hamdun married a man of her own choice, instead 
 of marrying the man assigned to her by her family. 
 She was waylaid by her own brother and the rejected 
 suitor, murdered and thrown into a well. 
 
 About a year after the massacres of i860, while 
 the European Commissioners were still in Syria, and 
 Lebanon was beginning to attain something of its 
 wonted quiet, several Turkish soldiers made an as- 
 
BARBARISM AtfD CIVILIZATION. 
 
 197 
 
 sault upon a young Maronite girl from the village 
 of Ain Kesur, who was carrying a jar of water to the 
 workmen on the Deir el Komr road. Mr. Calhoun 
 was requested by the Relief Committee in Beirut to 
 devote the charity funds distributed in this part of 
 Lebanon, to giving employment to the needy in 
 road-building. This girl was employed to supply 
 the men with water. The brutual soldiers attempted 
 to gag her with a handkerchief, in order to accom- 
 plish' their design, but she was too strong for them. 
 The struggle was long and violent, but she finally 
 effected her escape, leaving on the road the frag- 
 ments of. the broken jar, her shoes and shreds of 
 calico which they had torn from her clothing. Just 
 at that moment Giurgius el Haddad, Mr. Calhoun's 
 cook, came up, and seeing the broken jar and the 
 clothing, guessed what had happened, and after 
 finding the girl, and hearing her story, started in 
 pursuit of the soldiers to Ainab, whither they had 
 gone, and where a Turkish officer was stationed. 
 He stated the case to the officer, and received in 
 reply a blow on his arm from a heavy cane. The 
 case was reported to the Turkish Colonel in Abeih, 
 who summoned all parties and ordered each of the 
 soldiers to be beaten with forty lashes on the bare 
 back. But word had reached Col. Frazier, the Brit- 
 ish Commissioner, and he came at once to Abeih in 
 company with Omar Pasha, with order from Fread 
 Pasha, to examine the case de novo. The result was 
 that two of the soldiers were condemned by military 
 law to be .shot, and were shot at sunset June 5th, in 
 
198 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 front of the old palace just below Mr. Calhoun's 
 house. The event produced a profound impression, 
 and Druzes and Moslems began to feel that a wo- 
 man's life and honor were after all of some value. 
 
 In April, 1862, when Daud Pasha was governor 
 of Mt. Lebanon, a Druze, named Hassan, murdered a 
 Druze girl of his own village, supposing that Daud 
 Pasha would not interfere with the time-honored cus- 
 tom of killing girls ! Much to his surprise, however, he 
 was arrested, convicted and hung, and the poor 
 women of all sects in the mountain began to feel that 
 after all they had an equal right to life with the other 
 sex. 
 
 In most parts of Syria to-day, the murder of 
 women and girls is an act so insignificant as hardly 
 to deserve notice. Mt. Lebanon and vicinity consti- 
 tute an exception perhaps, but woman's right to life 
 is one of those rights which have not yet been fully 
 guaranteed in the Turkish Empire. 
 
 In October, 1862, the Arabic official newspaper in 
 Beirut, contained a letter from Hums which illustrates 
 this fact. A fanatical wretch from Hamath, one of the 
 infamous Moslem saints, set up the claim that he had 
 received the power to cast out devils by divine in- 
 spiration. He found credulous followers among the 
 more ignorant, and went to Hums to practice his dia- 
 bolical trade. A poor woman had lost her reason 
 through excessive grief at the death of her son. The 
 husband and others of her relatives went to consult 
 the new prophet. He refused to go and see her, 
 stating that he would not condescend to go to the 
 
BARBARISM AND CIVILIZATION. 
 
 199 
 
 devils, but the devils must come to him. The poor 
 woman was accordingly brought to him, and left to 
 await the opportune moment, when he could cast out 
 the devils, which he declared to be raving within her. 
 After a few days, her father called to inquire about 
 her, and found her growing constantly worse. The 
 Hamathite told him that he must bring a gallon of 
 liquid pitch, to be used as a medicine, and the next 
 day the devils would leave her. The pitch was 
 brought, and after the father had gone, the lying 
 prophet tied a cord around her feet, and drew her up 
 to the ceiling, and while she was thus suspended, 
 thrust a red hot iron rod into one of her eyes, and 
 cauterized her body almost from head to foot ! He 
 tfien placed the pitch on the floor under her head, and 
 set it on fire until the body was " burned to charcoal ! " 
 The next day the friends called, expecting to find her 
 restored to her right mind, when the wretch pointed 
 them to the blackened cinder. They exclaimed with 
 horror and asked him the reason of this bloody crime ? 
 He replied that on applying the test of burning pitch, 
 one of the devils had gone out of her, tearing out her 
 right eye, and when he forbade the rest from destroy- 
 ing the other eye, they fell upon her and killed her ! 
 The body was buried, but the government took not 
 the slightest notice of the fact. The official journal 
 in Beirut simply warned the public against patron- 
 izing such a bloody impostor ! 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 OPINIONS OF PROTESTANT SYRIANS WITH REGARD TO 
 THE WORK OF AMERICAN WOMEN IN SYRIA. 
 
 'T^HE following letters have been addressed to me 
 by prominent native Syrian gentlemen, whose 
 wives have been trained in the American Mission 
 Seminaries and families. They all write in English, 
 and I give their own language. 
 
 ■ Mr. Butrus el Bistany, the husband of Raheel, 
 writes me as follows : — 
 
 Beirut, Oct. 23, 1872. 
 
 " It would be superfluous to speak of the efforts 
 of American Missionary ladies in training the females 
 of Syria, and the good done by them. 
 
 " The sainted Sarah L. Smith, who was one of 
 the first among them, established the first Female 
 School in Beirut. 
 
 " Mrs. Whiting, also, who had no children of her 
 own, trained five girls in her family, all of whom are 
 still living. 
 
 " Mrs. De Forest had a very interesting female 
 school in her family, and the girls educated in that 
 school are of the best of those educated by Ameri- 
 can ladies in Syria. 
 
 " The obstacles in those times were very great, and 
 
OPINIONS OF PROTESTANT SYRIANS. 201 
 
 the people believed that education is injurious to fe- 
 males. But these ladies obtained a few girls to edu- 
 cate gratuitously, and thus made a good impression 
 on the minds of the people, and wrought a change in 
 public opinion, so that year by year the people be- 
 gan to appreciate female education. And as we are 
 now building on the foundation laid by those good 
 ladies and reaping the fruit of their labors, we should 
 pray to be imbued with the same spirit, and try as 
 much as we can to follow their example, and carry on 
 the work with the same spirit, zeal and wisdom as 
 they did." 
 
 Mr. Naame Tabet, the husband of Miriam, who 
 was educated by Dr. and Mrs. De Forest, writes as 
 follows : — 
 
 Beirut, Oct. 21, 1872. 
 
 " It affords me unfeigned gratification that you 
 give me an opportunity of recording my impressions 
 in regard to the advantages of female education in 
 this country under the guidance of the light of the 
 Gospel of our Lord and Saviour, such as is exempli- 
 fied by the American Mission, whose labors in diffus- 
 ing and disseminating the Scriptures are so conspic- 
 uously manifest. 
 
 "That example chiefly has had the effect, in this 
 neighborhood, to stir up gigantic efforts to fill the 
 want of female education. The same feeling is ex- 
 tending itself throughout Syria, so that future pros- 
 pects for the promotion of pure Christian knowledge 
 and true civilization are briUiant and ought surely to 
 
202 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 encourage the benevolent in persevering in their ac- 
 tion." 
 
 The Rev. John Wortabet, M. D., Professor of 
 Anatomy in the Syrian Protestant College, and hus- 
 band of Salome, writes as follows : — 
 
 Beirut, Oct. 20, 1872. 
 
 " Though I was very young when Mrs. Smith, 
 Mrs. Whiting, and Mrs. De Forest began their la- 
 bors in the cause of Female Education in Syria, I 
 can distinctly recollect that they were the first to ini- 
 tiate that movement which has grown to so vast an 
 extent at the present time. To them belongs the 
 honor of having been the determined and brave pio- 
 neers in the important work of raising woman from 
 her degraded position, brought on by ignorance and 
 Mohammedan influence, to one of considerable re- 
 spect, in a social, intellectual and moral point of 
 view. I do not mean that they achieved then this 
 great and worthy object, but they were first to begin 
 the work, which is still going on, and destined appa- 
 rently to grow much farther. And it is but just that 
 their names and primary labors be embalmed in the 
 memories of the past. 
 
 " Aside from the intrinsic good which they accom- 
 plished, and the direct fruits of their labors, and you 
 are as well acquainted with them as I am — they gave 
 the first and best teachers for the schools which have 
 sprung up so abundantly since their time. Of the 
 importance of giving well-trained female teachers for 
 
OPINIONS OF PROTESTANT SYRIANS. 
 
 203 
 
 female schools, in the peculiar social system of the 
 East, nothing need be said. 
 
 " I believe, however, that the main value of these 
 earlier labors was the impulse which they gave to the 
 course of Female Education in Syria. Prejudices 
 and barriers, which had become hoary by the lapse 
 of time, have been completely broken down, at least 
 among the Christian Churches of the East." 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 OTHER LABORS FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS IN THIS 
 FIELD. 
 
 'T'HE following statements have been chiefly made 
 out from documents furnished to me by those 
 in charge of the various Institutions. I give them 
 in order according to the date of their establish- 
 ment. 
 
 THE IRISH AND AMERICAN UNITED PRESBYTERIAN 
 MISSION IN DAMASCUS. 
 
 I have not received official statistics with regard 
 to the work of this Mission in behalf of women, but 
 they have maintained schools for girls and personal 
 labors for the women through a long series of years. 
 Mrs. Crawford, who is thoroughly familiar with the 
 Arabic language, has labored in a quiet and perse- 
 vering manner among the women of Damascus and 
 Tebrud, and the fruits of these labors will be seen in 
 years to come. Miss Dales, now Mrs. Dr. Lansing, 
 of Cairo, conducted a school for Jewish girls in 
 Damascus some fifteen years ago, which was well 
 attended. 
 
 Mrs. E. Watson, an English lady of great energy 
 and zeal in the cause of female education, after years 
 
OTHER LABORS FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS. 205 
 
 of labor in North and South America, Greece and Asia 
 Minor, came to Syria in 1858, and commenced a girls' 
 school in her own hired house. She afterwards 
 removed to Shemlan, in Mount Lebanon, where 
 she erected a building at her own expense for a 
 girls' boarding school, and afterwards gave it to the 
 Society for the Promotion of Female Education in 
 the East. She has since, with untiring energy, 
 erected another building for a Seminary for Druze 
 and Christian girls, the former Institution continuing 
 as it has been for many years under the efficient 
 management of Miss Hicks, assisted by Miss Dob- 
 bie. She has also recently erected a neat and sub- 
 stantial church edifice in Shemlan. 
 
 In Miss Hicks' absence, Mrs. Watson has ad- 
 dressed me the following letter : 
 
 Shemlan, August 28, 1872. 
 
 " Our first school for native girls was commenced 
 in Beirut in 1858. The teachers have been Miss 
 Hicks, Miss Hiscock, Mrs. Walker, Miss Dillon, Miss 
 Jacombs, (now in Sidon,) Miss Stainton, (now in 
 Sidon,) and Miss Dobbie. No native female teach- 
 ers have been employed. except pupils of the school 
 under Miss Hicks' care. Masters Riskullah in Beirut, 
 and Murad, Reshid and Daud, in Shemlan, have 
 been connected with the school as teachers of the 
 higher Arabic branches. 
 
 "The whole number of boarders under our care 
 up to the present time, is above one hundred. The 
 only teachers in my second boarding school are, my 
 
2o6 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 adopted daughter Handumeh, and Zarifeh Twiney, a 
 pupil of the Prussian Deaconesses. Seventeen or 
 eighteen of our pupils have been, or are now teach- 
 ers, and ten are married. 
 
 " The school directed ,by Miss Hicks was given 
 over to the Ladies' Society in England, some six or 
 seven years ago, and has been supported by them 
 since. The new school in the upper house is under 
 no society and is not regularly aided by any. There 
 are from twenty-six to twenty-eight boarders under 
 the care of my daughter, Miss Watson, I aiding as I 
 can. Several girls have been supported for the last 
 two years by friends in America and England. We 
 have had ten Druze girls in our school in the upper 
 house. Miss Hicks has had three or four, and a 
 number in her day school. We had also a number 
 in our day school at Aitah, four of whom are mar- 
 ried to Druze Sheikhs." 
 
 Mr. Elias Suleeby, aided by friends in Scotland, 
 has for a considerable period conducted common 
 schools in a part of Mount Lebanon and the Bukaa, 
 and now the enterprise has been adopted by the 
 Free Church of Scotland, who have sent the Rev. 
 Mr. Ray to be their Superintendent. 
 
 Their schools are chiefly for boys, though in all 
 the village schools it is usual for a few of the smaller 
 girls to attend the boys' school. In Suk el Ghurb, 
 however, they have a boarding school containing 
 some twenty-five girls. 
 THE PRUSSIAN DEACONESSES INSTITUTE IN BEIRUT. 
 
 The Orphan House, Boarding School and Hos- 
 
OTHER WORK FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS. 207 
 
 pital with which the Prussian Deaconesses are con- 
 nected, were established in i860. The two former 
 are supported by the Kaiserswerth Institution in 
 Germany, and the latter by the Knights of St. John. 
 
 In the Orphan House are one hundred and 
 thirty orphan girls, all native Syrians, who are clothed, 
 fed and instructed for four or five years, and often 
 transformed from wild, untutored semi-barbarians to 
 tidy, well behaved and useful young women. They 
 have ordinarily about fifty applicants waiting for a 
 vacancy in order to enter. 
 
 The Boarding School is for the education of the 
 children of European residents, Germans, French, 
 Italians, Greeks, Maltese, English, Scotch, Irish, Hun- 
 garians, Dutch, Swiss, Danish, Americans and others. 
 The medium of instruction is the French language. 
 
 Since the Orphan School began, many of the 
 girls have married, thirty have become teachers, and 
 about twenty of them are living as servants in 
 families. 
 
 In August of the year 1861, the Deaconesses had 
 received about no orphans. The children entering 
 are received for three years, and the surviving parent 
 or guardian is required to sign a bond, agreeing to 
 leave the child for that period, or if the child is with- 
 drawn before that time, to pay to the Deaconesses 
 all that has been expended upon her. 
 
 In the summer of 1861, several of the parents 
 came and tried to remove their children, though 
 they had no means of supporting them, but the con- 
 tract stood in the way, and they had no money to 
 
2o8 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 pay. The Jesuits then came forward and furnished 
 the parents with French gold in Napoleons, and 
 withdrew in one day fifty orphan girls from the insti- 
 tution, sending them, not to an institution of their 
 own, but turning them back upon their wretched 
 parents and friends to be trained in poverty and 
 ignorance. A few days later, thirty more of the 
 girls were removed in the same way, leaving only 
 thirty. The parerrts had a legal right to remove the 
 children on the payment of the money, but what 
 shall be said of the cruelty of the Jesuits who turned 
 back these wretched children to the destitution and 
 misery of a Syrian orphan? The Jesuits are the 
 same everywhere, unscrupulous and intriguing, count- 
 ing all means as right, which promote their own end. 
 
 THE BRITISH SYRIAN SCHOOLS. 
 
 These Schools, so numerous and widely extended, 
 have grown up since the massacre year i860. I re- 
 member well the first arrival of Mrs. Bowen Thomp- 
 son in Beirut, and her persevering energy in forming 
 her little school for the widows aud orphans of Has- 
 beiya, Deir -el Komr and Damascus. 
 
 From that little beginning in i860, the school in- 
 creased the following year, until finally other branch 
 schools were organized in Beirut and Lebanon, and 
 then in Damascus and Tyre, until now, the following 
 schedule, furnished to me by the officers of the Insti- 
 tution, will show to what proportions the enterprise 
 has grown. The Memoir of Mrs. Thompson, entitled 
 " The Daughters of Syria, ' gives so full a history of 
 
OTHER WORK FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS. 209 
 
 these schools, that I need . only refer the reader to 
 that volume for all the information desired. Since the 
 lamented death of Mrs. Thompson, the direction of 
 the schools has been entrusted to her sister, Mrs. Men- 
 tor Mott. The Central Training School in Beirut 
 was under the care of Mrs. Shrimpton, who labored 
 with great earnestness and wisdom in that important 
 institution until the spring of 1873, when she resigned 
 her position and became connected with the work of 
 Female education under the American mission in 
 Syria. She is aided by English and native teachers. 
 The schools in Zahleh, Damascus, Hasbeiya and 
 Tyre are under the care of English and Scotch ladies, 
 who have certainly evinced the most admirable cour- 
 age and resolution in entering, in several of these 
 places, upon outpost duty, without European society, 
 and isolated for months together from persons speak- 
 ing their own language. I believe that such instan- 
 ces as these have demonstrated anew the fact that 
 where woman is to be reached, woman can go, and 
 Christian women from Christian lands, even if beyond 
 the age generally fixed as the best adapted to the 
 easy acquisition of a foreign language, may yet do a 
 great- work in maintaining centres of influence at the 
 outposts, and superintending the labors of native teach- 
 ers. These young native teachers trained in Shem- 
 lan, Sidon, Suk el Ghurb and Beirut, cannot go to 
 distant places as teachers, and ought not to go, with- 
 out a home and proper protection provided for them. 
 Such protection is given by a European or American 
 woman, who has the independence and the resolution 
 
2IO THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 to go where no missionary family resides, and cany 
 on the work of female education. Even at the risk 
 of offending the modesty of the persons concerned, I 
 cannot refrain from putting on record my admiration 
 of the course of Miss Wilson in Zahleh, Miss Gibbon 
 in Hasbeiya, and Miss Williams in Tyre, in making 
 homes for themselves, and carrying on their work far 
 from European society and intercourse. 
 
 The British Syrian Schools are doing a good work 
 in promoting Bible education. Many of the native 
 teachers, male and female, have been trained in our 
 Mission Seminaries, and not a few of them are mem- 
 bers of our evangelical churches. It has always been 
 my aim, from the time when Mrs] Bowen Thompson 
 first landed in Syria to the present time, to do all in my 
 power to " help those women which labored with me 
 in the gospel." 
 
 We are engaged in a common work, surrounded 
 by thousands of needy perishing souls, Mohammedan, 
 Pagan and Nominal Christian. The work is pressing, 
 and the Lord's husbandmen ought to work together, 
 forgetting and ignoring all diversities of nationality, 
 denomination and social customs. There should be 
 no such word as American, English, Scotch or Ger- 
 man, attached to any enterprise that belongs to the 
 common Master. The common foe is united in op- 
 position. Let us be united in every practicable way. 
 Let our name be Christian, our work one of united 
 sympathy, prayer and cooperation, and let not Christ 
 be divided in His members. I write these words in 
 connection with the subject of the British Syrian 
 
OTHER WORK FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS. 21I 
 
 Schools, because I can speak from experience of the 
 value of such cooperation in the past. As Acting 
 Pastor of the Native Evangelical Church in Beirut, 
 to the communion of which I have received so many 
 young teachers and pupils from the various Semi- 
 naries and schools, I feel the great importance of this 
 hearty cooperation and unity of action among those 
 who are at the head of the various Protestant Edu- 
 cational Institutions in Syria. 
 
 The Emissaries of Rome are laboring with sleep- 
 less vigilance to win Syria to the Papacy. Sisters 
 of Charity, Sisters of Nazareth, Jesuits, Lazarists, 
 Capuchins, Dominicans, and Franciscans, monks, 
 nuns and papal legates, are swarming throughout 
 the land. Though notoriously jealous of each oth- 
 er's progress, they are always united in their com- 
 mon opposition to the Evangelical faith, and an 
 open Bible. We have thus not only the old colossal 
 fortresses of Syrian error to demolish, but the new 
 structures of Jesuitical craft to overturn, before Syria 
 comes to Christ. 
 
 It has been stated on a preceding page that in 
 183s, the American wife of an English merchant, 
 Mrs. Alexander Tod, gave a large part of the funds 
 to build the first school-house for girls ever built in 
 Syria. That substantial union has been happily re- 
 produced in the cordial cooperation of the Anglo- 
 American and German communities in Beirut, 
 both in the Church, public charities and educational 
 institutions, up to the present time. 
 
 Let us all live in Christ, work for Christ, keep 
 
212 
 
 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 our eye fixed on Christ, and we shall be with Christ, 
 and Christ with us ! 
 
 BRITISH SYRIAN SCHOOLS, 1872. 
 
 No. 
 
 Established. 
 
 Name. 
 
 Scholars. 
 
 Teachers. 
 
 I 
 
 i860 
 
 Training Institution, 
 
 92 
 
 16 
 
 2 
 
 1863 
 
 Musaitebeh, 
 
 85 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 1868 
 
 Blind School, men & 
 
 boys, 16 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 1868 
 
 , Blind girl-s' School, 
 
 II 
 
 I 
 
 5 
 
 i860 
 
 Boys' gchool. 
 
 85 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 1861 
 
 East Coombe, 
 
 120 
 
 4 
 
 7 
 
 i860 
 
 Elementary, 
 
 30 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 1872 
 
 Es-Saifeh, 
 
 100 
 
 4 
 
 9 
 
 1 860 
 
 Infant School, 
 
 125 
 
 3 
 
 10 
 
 i860 
 
 Moslem, 
 
 50 
 
 4 
 
 II 
 
 i860 
 
 Night School, 
 
 
 5 
 
 12 
 
 1863 
 
 Olive Branch, 
 DAMASCUS. 
 
 85 
 
 4 
 
 13 
 
 1867 
 
 St. Paul's, 
 
 170 
 
 6 
 
 14 
 
 1869 
 
 Blind School, 
 
 15 
 
 I 
 
 15 
 
 1870 
 
 Medan, 
 
 80 
 
 a 
 
 16 
 
 1867 
 
 Night School, 
 LEBANON. 
 
 30 
 
 I 
 
 17 
 
 1863 
 
 Ashrafiyek 
 
 53 
 
 3 
 
 18 
 
 1868 
 
 Ain Zehalteh, 
 
 50 
 
 I 
 
 19 
 
 1869 
 
 Aramoon, 
 
 40 
 
 2 
 
 20 
 
 1863 
 
 Hasbeiya, 
 
 160 
 
 3 
 
 21 
 
 1867 
 
 Mokhtara, 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 22 
 
 1868 
 
 Zahleh, 
 
 TYRE. 
 
 75 
 
 4 
 
 23 
 
 1869 
 
 Girls' School, 
 
 50 
 
 s 
 
 
 Totals, 
 
 . 
 
 . 1522 
 
 78 
 
 
 Bible Women. 
 
 • • ■ 
 
 7 
 
 
OTHER WORK FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS. 
 
 MISS TAYLOR S SCHOOL FOR MOSLEM GIRLS. 
 
 213 
 
 This worthy Christian lady from Scotland is do- 
 ing a quiet yet most effective work in Beirut, with 
 which few are acquainted, yet it is carried on in faith 
 from year to year, and the fruits will no doubt appear 
 one day, in a vast reformation in the order, morality 
 and general improvement of the Moslem families of 
 Beirut. 
 
 Ever since the days of Mrs. Sarah L. Smith, and 
 Mrs. Dr. Dodge, Moslem girls have been more or 
 less in attendance upon the schools of the Syria Mis- 
 sion, but the purely Moslem schools of Miss Taylor 
 and of the British Syrian Schools are making a spe- 
 cial effort to extend education with every Moslem 
 household. 
 
 This school was opened in February, 1868, for the 
 poorest of the poor. It received the name of " The 
 Original Ragged school for Moslem Girls." No one 
 is considered as enrolled, who has not been at least 
 three weeks- in regular attendance. The number al- 
 ready received has reached very n.ear five hundred, 
 all Mohammedans, except five Jewish and fifteen 
 Druze girls. Native teachers are also employed, and 
 the pupils are taught reading, writing, geography, 
 and arithmetic. The principal lesson-book is the 
 Bible. The early history of this institution is replete 
 with interest ; but it has attracted little public notice 
 hitherto. It has always been a prudential question 
 whether it would not be wiser to proceed with its 
 work in a quiet unobtrusive way, so as not to awake 
 
214 '^^^ WOMEiV OF THE ARABS. 
 
 fanatical opposition. But steady and appreciative 
 friends have stood by it from the beginning, and 
 those who know the school best have commended it 
 most earnestly. 
 
 CHURCH OF SCOTLAND SCHOOL FOR JEWISH GIRLS IN 
 BEIRUT. 
 
 This school has been in operation since 1865. 
 Although established originally for Jewish girls alone, 
 of whom it frequently had fifty in regular attend- 
 ance, it has also had under instruction, Greek and 
 Moslem girls. 
 
 Three European teachers and two native teach- 
 ers have been connected with it, under the super- 
 vision of the Rev. James Robertson, Pastor of the 
 Anglo-American congregation in Beirut. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE AMOUNT OF BIBLICAL INSTRUCTION GIVEN IN 
 MISSION SCHOOLS. 
 
 '"PHERE has been great difference of opinion 
 with regard to the proper position of Education 
 in the Foreign Missionary work. While some have 
 given it the first rank as a missionary agency, others 
 have kept it in the background as being a non-mis- 
 sionary work, and hence to be left to the natives 
 themselves to conduct, after their evangelization by 
 the simple and pure preaching of the gospel. The 
 Syria Mission have been led, by the experience of 
 long and laborious years of labor in this peculiar 
 field, to regard education as one of the most impor- 
 tant auxiliaries in bringing the Gospel in contact 
 with the people. Society and sects are so organized 
 and constituted, that while the people of a given 
 village would not receive a missionary as simply a 
 preacher of the Gospel, they will gladly accept a 
 school from his hands, and welcome him on every 
 visit to the school as a benefactor. They will not 
 only receive the daily lessons and instructions of 
 the school-teacher in religious things, but even ask 
 the missionary to preach to them the Word of life. 
 Schools in Syria are entering wedges" for Gospel 
 truth. 
 
2l6 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 Our schools are of two classes, the High schools 
 or Seminaries for young men and young women, 
 and the common schools for children of both sexes. 
 In the former. Biblical instruction is the great thing, 
 the chief design of the High schools being to train 
 the young to a correct and thorough acquaintance 
 with Divine truth. The course of Bible instruction 
 conducted by Mr. Calhoun in Abeih Seminary, is, I 
 doubt not, more thorough and constant, than in any 
 College or High School in the United States. 
 While the sciences are taught systematically, the 
 Bible is made the principal text-book, and several 
 hours each day are given to its study. In our com- 
 mon schools, likewise, Bible reading and instruction 
 hold a prominent place. Owing to the paucity of 
 books in the Arabic language proper to be used as 
 reading books, a reading book was prepared by the 
 Mission, consisting almost exclusively of extracts 
 from the Scriptures. In addition to this book, the 
 Psalms of David and the New Testament are used 
 as regular reading books in all the schools. There 
 are daily exercises in reading the Bible and reciting 
 the Catechism. It will be observed from what I 
 have stated, that the amount of spiritual knowledge 
 acquired by the children, in the very process of 
 learning to read, is not small. Being obliged to 
 commit to memory texts, paragraphs, and whole 
 chapters, from year to year, their minds become 
 stored with the precious words of the Sacred Book. 
 Very much depends upon the teacher. When we 
 can obtain pious, praying teachers, the Scripture 
 

 
 \ 
 
 3^^ 
 
 \ 
 
 W 
 
 \ 
 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 to 
 u 
 
 < 
 
AMOUNT OF BIBLICAL INSTRUCTION. 217 
 
 lessons can be given with much more profit and suc- 
 cess, and it is our aim to employ only pious teachers 
 where we can get them. And the example of the 
 teacher receives a new auxiliary, as it were, in im- 
 pressing these lessons on the mind, where the pupils 
 can attend a preaching service on the Sabbath. 
 Sometimes a pressing call comes from a village, 
 where it seems important for strategic reasons, to 
 respond at once. A pious teacher cannot be found, 
 and we send a young man of well-known moral char- 
 acter. But only necessity would oblige us to do 
 this, and a change for the better is always made as 
 soon as practicable. 
 
 Bible schools are a mighty means of usefulness. 
 I think nothing strikes a new missionary with more 
 grateful surprise on entering the Syrian Mission- 
 field, than to witness the great prominence given to 
 Biblical instruction, from the humblest village school 
 of little Arab boys and girls, to the highest Semi- 
 naries. The examinations in the Scriptures passed 
 by the young men in Abeih, and the girls in the 
 Beirut and Sidon Seminaries, would do credit to the 
 young people in any American community. Bible 
 schools are not merely useful as an entering wedge 
 to give the missionary a position and an influence 
 among the people ; they are intrinsically useful in 
 introducing a vast amount of useful Bible knowledge 
 into the minds of the children, and through them to 
 their parents. In countries where the people as a 
 mass are ignorant of reading, they are an absolute 
 necessity, and in any community they are a blessing. 
 10 
 
2l8 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 Had all Mission Schools been conducted on the 
 same thorough Biblical basis as those in Syria, there 
 would have been less objection to schools as a part 
 of the missionary work. 
 
 THE SPHERE AND MODES OF WOMAN'S WORK IN 
 FOREIGN LANDS. 
 
 In this age, when Christian women in many 
 lands are engaging in the Foreign Mission work 
 with so much zeal, it is important to know who 
 should enter personally upon this work, and what 
 are the modes and departments of labor in which 
 they can engage when on the ground. 
 
 No woman should go to the Foreign field who 
 has not sound health, thorough education, and. a 
 reasonable prospect of being able to learn a foreign 
 language. The languages of different nations differ 
 as to comparative ease of acquisition, but it is well 
 for any one who has the Arabic language to learn, 
 to begin as early in life as practicable. It should be 
 borne in mind that the work in foreign lands is a 
 self-denying work, and I know of no persons who 
 are called to undergo greater self-denial than un- 
 married women engaged in religious work abroad. 
 They are doing a noble work, a necessary work, 
 and a work of lasting usefulness. Deprived in 
 many instances of the social enjoyments and pro- 
 tection of a home, they make a home in their 
 schools, and throw themselves into a peculiar sym- 
 pathy with their pupils, and the families with 
 which they are brought into contact. Where sev- 
 
AMOUNT OF BIBLICAL INSTRUCTION. 
 
 219 
 
 eral are associated together, as they always should 
 be, the institution in which they live becomes a 
 model of the Christian order, sympathy and mutual 
 help, which is characteristic of the home in Christian 
 lands. Christian women, married and unmarried, 
 can reach a class in every Arabic community from 
 which men are sedulously excluded. They should 
 enter upon the foreign work as a life-work, devote 
 themselves first of all to the mastery of the language 
 of the people, open their eyes to all that is pleasant 
 and attractive among the natives, and close them to 
 all that is unlovable and repulsive, resolved to love 
 the people, and what pertains to them, for Christ's 
 sake who died for them, and to identify themselves 
 with the people in' every practicable way. Persons 
 who are incapable of- loving or admiring anything 
 that is not American or English had better remain 
 in America or England ; and on the other hand, 
 there is no surer passport to the affections of any 
 people, than the disposition to overlook their faults, 
 and to treat them as our brethren and sisters for 
 whoi'^ a common Saviour died. Let no missionary 
 of either sex who goes to a foreign land, think that 
 there is nothing to be learned from Syrians or Hin- 
 doos, Chinese or Japanese. The good is not all 
 confined to any land or people. 
 
 Among the departments of woman's work in for- 
 eign lands are the following : — 
 
 I. Teaching in established institutions, Female 
 Seminaries, Orphan Houses and High Schools. 
 
 II. Acting as Nurses in Hospitals, as is done by 
 
220 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 the Prussian Protestant Deaconesses of Kaiserwerth, 
 who are scattered over the East and doing a work of 
 peculiar value. 
 
 III. Visiting from house to house, for the express 
 purpose of holding religious conversation with the 
 people in their own language. This can ortly be 
 done in Syria by one versed in the Arabic, and able 
 to speak without an interpreter. 
 
 Ignorance of the language of the people, is a bar- 
 rier which no skill of an interpreter can break down, 
 and every woman who would labor with acceptance 
 and success among the women of Syria, must be able 
 to speak to them familiarly in their own mother 
 tongue. Interpreters may be honest and conscien- 
 tious, but not one person in a thousand can translate 
 accurately from one language to another without 
 previous preparation. And besides, interpreters are 
 not always reliable. There is still living, in the city 
 of Tripoli, an old man named Abdullah Yanni, who 
 acted as interpreter for a Jewish Missionary some 
 forty years ago. He tells many a story of the extra- 
 ordinary shape which that unsuspecting missionary's 
 discourses assumed in passing through his lips. One 
 day they went through the principal street to preach 
 to the Moslems. A great crowd assembled, and Ab- 
 dullah trembled, for in those days of darkness Mos- 
 lems oppressed and insulted Christians with perfect 
 impunity. Said the missionary, " Tell the Moslems 
 that unless they all repent and believe in Christ, they 
 will perish forever." Abdullah translated, and the 
 Moslems gave loud and earnest expression to their 
 
AMOUNT OF BIBLICAL INSTRUCTION. 221 
 
 delight. They declared, " That is so, that is so, wel- 
 come to the Khowadja ! " Abdullah had told them 
 that " the Khowadja says, that he loves you very 
 much, and the Engliz and the Moslems are ' sowa 
 sowa,' i. e. together as one.'' 
 
 Abdullah soon found it necessary to tell his con- 
 fiding friend and employer, that it would not do to 
 preach in that bold manner, for if he should translate 
 it literally, the Moslems would kill both of them on the 
 spot. The missionary replied, " Let them kill us 
 then.'' Abdullah said, " it may do very well for you, 
 but I am not prepared to die, and would prefer to 
 wait." The very first requisite for usefulness in a 
 foreign land is the language. It might be well, as pre- 
 viously intimated in this volume, that in each of the 
 Female Seminaries, the number of the teachers 
 should be large enough to allow the most experi- 
 enced in the language to give themselves for a portion 
 of each week to these friendly religious visits. The 
 Arab race are eminently a sociable, visiting people, and 
 a foreign lady is always welcome among the women 
 of every grade of society, from the highest to the 
 lowest. 
 
 IV. Holding special Women's Meetings of the 
 Female Church members from week to week in the 
 homes of the different famihes. The neighboring 
 women will come in, and the native women, who 
 would never take part in a women's prayer-meeting, 
 in the presence of a missionary, will gladly do it with 
 the example and encouragement of one of their own 
 sex. Such meetings have been conducted in Hums 
 
222 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 and Tripoli, in Beirut, Abeih, Deir el Komr and 
 Sidon, and in Suk el Ghurb, B'hamdun, Hasbeiya, 
 and Deir Mimas for many years. Mrs. Smith, Mrs. 
 Isaac Bird, Mrs. Thomson, Mrs. Van Dyck, Mrs. 
 Whiting, Mrs. Goodell, Mrs. Dr. Dodge, Miss Will- 
 iams, Miss Tilden, Mrs. De Forest, Mrs. Calhoun, 
 Mrs. Wilson, Mrs. Ford, Mrs. Foot, Mrs. Eddy, and 
 Mrs. W. Bird, Mrs. Lyons and Mrs. Cheny, Mrs. Bliss, 
 Miss Temple, Miss Mason, Mrs. S. Jessup are among 
 the American Christian women who have labored or 
 are still laboring for the welfare of their sisters in 
 Syria, and younger laborers more recently entered 
 into the work, are preparing to prosecute the work 
 with greater energy than ever. There are other 
 names connected with Woman's Work in Syria as 
 prosecuted by the American Mission, but the list is 
 too long \o be enumerated in full. Many of them 
 have rested from their labors, and their works do fol- 
 low them. 
 
 THE BEIRUT FEMALE SEMINARY. 
 
 The last Annual Report of the Board of Mis- 
 sions of the Presbyterian Church of the United States, 
 speaks of these two Female Seminaries as follows : 
 " The, Beirut Seminary is conducted by Miss 
 Everett, Miss Jackson and Miss Loring, containing 
 forty boarding and sixty day scholars, where the ob- 
 ject is to give an education suited to the wants of 
 the higher classes oi the people, to gain a control 
 over the minds of those females who will be most 
 influential in forming society and moulding opinion. 
 
AMOUNT OF BIBLICAL INSTRUCTION. 223 
 
 This hold the Papal Sisters of Charity have striven 
 earnestly to gain, and its vantage ground was not 
 to be abandoned to them. The institution is rising 
 in pubHc esteem and confidence, as the number and 
 the class of pupils in attendance testify. The Semi- 
 nary is close to the Sanctuary, not less in sympathy 
 than in position,'and its whole influence is given to 
 make its pupils followers of Christ." 
 
 In addition to this brief notice, it should be said 
 that there are in the Beirut Seminary thirty charity 
 boarders, who are selected chiefly from Protestant, 
 Greek and Druze families, to be trained for teachers 
 of a high order in the various girls' schools in the 
 land. A special Normal course of training is con- 
 ducted every year, and it is believed that eventually 
 young women trained in other schools will enter 
 this Normal Department to receive especial pre- 
 paration for the work of teaching. 
 
 The charity boarders are supported by the con- 
 tributions of Sabbath Schools and individuals in the 
 United States, with especial reference to their being 
 trained for future usefulness. 
 
 After an experience of nearly ten years in conduct- 
 ing the greater part of the correspondence with the 
 patrons of this school, and maintaining their interest 
 in the pupils and teachers whom they were support- 
 ing by their contributions, I would venture to make 
 a few suggestions to the Christian Mission Bands, 
 Societies, Bible Classes, Sabbath Schools and individ- 
 uals who are doing so much for the education of 
 children in foreign lands. 
 
224 "^^^ WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 I. Let all contributions for Women's Work and 
 the education of girls, be sent through the Women's 
 Boards of Missions, or if that is not convenient, in the 
 form of a banker's draft on London, payable to the 
 Principal of the Seminary with whom you have cor- 
 respondence. 
 
 IL If possible, allow your donation to be used 
 for the general purposes of the Seminary, without 
 insisting that a special pupil or teacher be assigned 
 to you. But if it be not possible to maintain the in- 
 terest of your children and youth in a work so distant 
 without some special object, then by all means, — 
 
 III. Do not demand too much from your over- 
 taxed sisters in the foreign field in the way of letters 
 and reports. The labors of a teacher are arduous 
 everywhere. But when instruction is given in a for- 
 eign language, in a foreign climate, and to children 
 of a foreign nation, these labors are greatly increased. 
 Add then to this toil correspondence with the Board 
 of Missions, the daily study of the language, the 
 work of visiting among the people, and receiving their 
 visits, and you can understand how the keeping up 
 of correspondence with twenty or thirty Sabbath 
 Schools and Societies is a burden which no woman 
 should be called on to bear. 
 
 IV. Do not expect sensational letters from your 
 friends abroad. Do not take for granted that the 
 child of ten years of age you are supporting, will 
 develop into a distinguished teacher or Bible woman 
 before the arrival of the next mail. Do not be dis- 
 couraged if you have to wait and pray for years 
 
AMOUNT OF BIBLICAL INSTRUCTION. 
 
 22$ 
 
 before you hear good tidings. Should any of the 
 native children ever send you a letter, (and they 
 have about as clear an idea of who you are and 
 vi'here you are, as they have of the satelhtes of Jupi- 
 ter,) do not expect from their youthful productions 
 the elegance of Addison or the eloquence of Burke. 
 V. Pray very earnestly for the conversion of the 
 pupils in Mission Schools. This I regard as the 
 great advantage of the system of having pupils sup- 
 ported by Christians in the home churches, and 
 known to them by name. They are made the sub- 
 jects of special prayer. This is the precious golden 
 bond which brings the home field near to us, and the 
 foreign field near to you. Our chief* hope for these 
 multitudes of children now receiving instruction, is, 
 that they will be prayed for by Christians at home. 
 
 THE SIDON FEMALE SEMINARY. 
 
 The Annual Report above mentioned, speaks 
 thus of the Sidon Seminary: "It is conducted by 
 Miss Jacombs and Miss Stainton, and has numbered 
 about twenty boarders and six day scholars. The 
 boarders are exclusively from Protestant families, 
 selected from the common schools in all parts of the 
 field, and are in training for the Mission service, as 
 teachers and Bible readers. Four of the graduates 
 of last year are already so employed. One difficulty 
 in the way of reaching with the truth the minds of 
 the women in the numerous villages of the land, 
 will be obviated in part, as the results of this work 
 are farther developed. 
 
226 
 
 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 "There has been considerable seriousness and 
 some hopeful conversions, in both these seminaries 
 during the past year. 
 
 " The work is worthy of the interest taken in it 
 by the Women's Boards of Missions, and by socie- 
 ties and individuals in the church who have co-oper- 
 ated in it." 
 
 The Sidon Seminary, as stated on a previous 
 page, was begun in 1862, and has had four European 
 and six native teachers. Of the latter, one was 
 trained in Mrs. Bird's family, one in Shemlan Semi- 
 nary, three in the Sidon school, and one by Mrs. 
 Watson. 
 
 Ten of its graduates have been employed as 
 teachers, and eight are still so engaged. 
 
 I annex a list of Girls' Schools now or formerly 
 connected with the Syria Mission. 
 
 [soon. 
 To be resumed 
 All Druzes. 
 
 Discontinued. 
 
 Boys and girls, 
 
 and 60 bojs. 
 
 Boys and girls. 
 
 
 
 No. OF No 
 
 OF When be- 
 
 Location. 
 
 
 Pupils. Teach'rs gun 
 
 Beirut, 
 
 Day School, 
 
 50 
 
 3 1834 
 
 tt 
 
 Seminary, 
 
 50 10 1848 
 
 Sidon, 
 
 Seminary, 
 
 30 
 
 3 1863 
 
 (f 
 
 Day School, 
 
 6 
 
 I 1863 
 
 Abeih, 
 
 " 
 
 60 
 
 I 1853 
 
 Deir el Komr, 
 
 " 
 
 5° 
 
 3 1855 
 
 Ghorify, 
 El Hadeth, 
 
 (( 
 
 40 
 
 [ 1863 
 
 tt 
 
 40 
 
 I 1870 
 
 Shwifat, 
 
 ** 
 
 70 
 
 1 -1871 
 
 Dibbiyeh, 
 
 " 
 
 ao 
 
 [ 1868 
 
 B'Hamdfln, 
 
 tt 
 
 30 
 
 I 1853 
 
 Meshghara, 
 
 tt 
 
 30 
 
 1869 
 
 Ain An6b, 
 
 tt 
 
 30 
 
 1870 
 
 Kefr Shima, 
 
 " 
 
 40 
 
 1856 
 
 Rasheiya el 
 
 
 
 
 Fokhar, 
 
 (( 
 
 30 
 
 1869 
 
 Jedaideh, 
 
 ** 
 
 40 
 
 1870 
 
 El Khiyam, 
 
 " 
 
 25 
 
 1868 
 
 Ibl, 
 
 tt 
 
 30 I 
 
 1868 
 
 Deir Mimas, 
 
 *' 
 
 IS ' 
 
 1865 
 
 Kana, 
 
 ** 
 
 35 ' 
 
 ,869 
 
 Hums, 
 
 It 
 
 40 I 
 
 1865 
 
 Saflta, 
 
 tt 
 
 30 I 
 
 1869 
 
 Hamath, 
 
 tt 
 
 30 I 
 
 1873 
 
 Totals 
 
AMOUNT OF BIBLICAL INSTRUCTION. 
 
 227 
 
 This gives a total of twenty-three girls' schools 
 besides the twenty-four boys' schools under the care 
 of the Mission, and three schools where there are both 
 boys and girls. I have kept the name of B'ham- 
 dun in the list, for its historical associations, but the 
 thirty pupils credited to it, will be more than made 
 good in the girl's school about to be resumed in 
 Tripoli under the care of Miss Kip. 
 
 The total number of girls is about 800, and the 
 number of teachers 36. The total cost of these 
 twenty-three schools, including the two Seminaries in 
 Beirut and^ Sidon, is about eight thousand dollars 
 per annum, including rents, salaries of five American 
 and English ladies, and thirty-one native teachers. 
 
 The average cost of the common schools in the 
 Sidon field is sixty dollars per annum, and in the Leb- 
 anon field it varies from this sum to about twice 
 that amount, owing to the fact that the Deir el 
 Komr and other schools are virtually High Schools. 
 
 The teacher in the Sidon field, and in Abeih, and 
 Safita, are graduates of the Sidon Seminary. 
 
 It is probable that a High School or Seminary 
 for girls will be opened by Miss Kip in Tripoli du- 
 ring the coming year. 
 
 The preceding schedule can give but a faint idea 
 of the struggles and toil, the patient labors, disap- 
 pointments and trials of faith through which the 
 women of the American Mission have passed during 
 the last forty years, in beginning and maintaining so 
 many of these schools for girls in Syria. 
 
 Did I speak of trials? The Missionary work has 
 
228 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 its trials, but I believe that its joys are far greater. 
 The saddest scenes I have witnessed during a resi- 
 dence of seventeen years in Syria, have been when • 
 Missionaries have been obliged to leave the work and 
 return to their native land. There are trials growing 
 out of the hardness of the human heart, our own 
 want of faith, the seeming slow progress of the gos- 
 pel, and the heart-crushing disappointments arising 
 from broken hopes, when individuals and communi- 
 ties who have promised well, turn back to their old 
 errors " like the dog to his vomit" again. But of 
 joys it is much easier to speak, the joy of preaching 
 Christ to the perishing, — of laboring where others 
 will not labor, — of laying foundations for the future, 
 — of feeling that you are doing what you can to ful- 
 fil the Saviour's last command, — of seeing the word of 
 God translated into a new language, — a christian 
 literature beginning to grow, — children and youth 
 gathered into Schools and Seminaries of learning, 
 and even sects which hate the Bible obliged to teach 
 their children to read it, — of seeing christian families 
 growing up, loving the Sabbath and the Bible, the 
 sanctuary and the family altar. — Then there. is the 
 joy of seeing souls born into the kingdom of our 
 dear Redeemer, and churches planted in a land 
 where pure Christianity had ceased to exist, — and of 
 witnessing unflinching steadfastness in the midst of 
 persecution and danger, and the triumphs of faith in 
 the solemn hour of death. 
 
 These are a few of the joys which are strewn so 
 thickly along the path of the Christian Missionary, 
 
AMOUNT OF BIBLJCAL INSTRUCTION. 229 
 
 that he has hardly time to think of sorrow, trial and 
 discouragement. Those who have read Dr. Ander- 
 son's " History of Missions to the Oriental Church- 
 es," and Rev. Isaac Bird's " History of the Syria 
 Mission," or " Bible Work in Bible Lands,'' will see 
 that the work of the Syria Mission from 1820 to 1872 
 has been one of conflict with principalities and pow- 
 ers, and with spiritual wickedness in high and low 
 places, but that at length the hoary fortresses are be- 
 ginning to totter and fall, and there is a call for a gen- 
 eral advance in every department of the work, and in 
 every part of the land. 
 
 Other agencies have come upon the ground since 
 the great foundation work was laid, and the first 
 great victories won, and in their success it becomes 
 all of God's people to rejoice ; but the veterans who 
 fought the first battles, and overcame the great na- 
 tional prejudice of the Syrian people against female 
 education, should ever be remembered with gratitude. 
 
 It has been my aim in this little volume to re- 
 count the history of Woman's Work in the past. 
 Who can foretell what the future of Christian work 
 for Syrian Women will be ? 
 
 May it ever be a work founded on the Word of 
 God, aiming at the elevation of woman through the 
 doctrines and the practice of a pure Christianity, 
 striving to plant in Syria, not the flippant culture of 
 modern fashionable society, but the God-fearing, 
 Sabbath-loving, and Bible-reading culture of our' 
 Anglo-Saxon ancestors ! 
 
 A few years ago, a Greek priest named Job, from 
 
230 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 one of the distant villages high up in the range of 
 Lebanon, called on nne in Beirut. I had spent seve- 
 ral summers in his village, and he had sometimes 
 borrowed our Arabic sermons to read in the Greek 
 Church, and now, he said, he had come down to see 
 what we were doing in Beirut. I took him through the 
 Female Seminary and the Church, and then to the 
 Library and the Printing Press. He examined the 
 presses, the steam engine, the type-setting, and type- 
 casting, the folding, sewing, and binding of books, 
 and looked through the huge cases filled with Arabic 
 books and Scriptures, saw all the editions of the Bible 
 and the Testament, and then turned in silence to 
 take his departure. I went with him to the outer 
 gate. He took my hand, and said, " By your leave 
 I am going. The Lord bless your work. Sir, I have 
 a thought ; we are all going to be swept away, priests 
 and bishops, Greeks and Maronites, Moslems and 
 Druzes, and there will be nothing left, nothing but 
 the Word of God and those who follow it. That is 
 my thought. Farewell." 
 
 May that thought be speedily realized ! May the 
 coarseness, brutality and contempt for woman which 
 characterize the Moslem hareefn, give way to the 
 refinement, intelligence, and mutual affection which 
 belong to the Christian family ! 
 
 May the God of prophecy and promise, hasten 
 the time when Nusairy barbarism, Druze hypocrisy, 
 Moslem fanaticism, Jewish bigotry and nominal 
 Christian superstition shall fade away under the glo- 
 rious beams of the rising Sun of Righteousness ! 
 
AMOUNT OF BIBLICAL INSTRUCTION. 
 
 231 
 
 May the " glory of Lebanon '' be given to the 
 Lord, in the regeneration and sanctification of the 
 families of Lebanon ! 
 
 Too long has it been true, in the degradation of 
 woman, that the "flower of Lebanon languisheth." 
 
 Soon may we say in the truly Oriental imagery 
 of the Song of Songs, — " Come with me from Leb- 
 anon, look from the top of Amana, from the top of 
 Shenir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, from the 
 mountains of the leopards," — and behold, in the 
 culture of woman, in society regenerated, in home 
 affection, in the Christian family, what is in a pecu- 
 liar sense, "a fountain of gardens, a well of living 
 waters, and streams from Lebanon!" 
 
 " Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall 
 be turned into a fruitful field?" When "the re- 
 proach of the daughters of Syria," shall be taken 
 away; and when amid the zearas of the Nusairiyeh, 
 the kholwehs of the Druzes, the mosques of the 
 Moslems and the tents of the Bedawin, may be 
 heard the voice of Christ, saying to the poor women 
 of the Arab race, weary and fainting under the 
 burdens of life : 
 
 " Daughter be of good comfort, 
 " Thy faith hath made thee whole, 
 " Go in peace ! " 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE children's CHAPTER. 
 
 FA-urn I. 
 
 Abeih, Mount Lebanon, Sept., 1872. 
 TV /TY Dear Son Willie : — 
 
 It is now eight years since you left Syria, and 
 you were then so young, that you must have forgot- 
 ten all about the country and the people. I have of- 
 ten promised to tell you more about the Syrian boys 
 and girls, what they eat and wear, and how they 
 study and play and sleep, and the songs their moth- 
 ers sing to them, and many other things. And now 
 I will try and fulfil my promise. 
 
 Here is a little boy at the door. His name is 
 Asaad Mishrik, or " happy sunrise," and his name is 
 well given, for he comes every morning at sunrise 
 with a basket of fresh ripe figs, sweet and cold, and 
 covered with the sparkling dew. This morning when 
 he came, your brother Harry stood by the door 
 looking at the figs with wistful eyes, and I gave him 
 a large one, which disappeared very suddenly. 
 Asaad is a bright-eyed boy, and helps his mother 
 every day. 
 
234 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 When he comes in, he says, Subah kpom bil 
 
 khire,. "Your morning in goodness." Then Assaf, 
 
 the cook, answers him, "Yusaid Subahak," "May 
 
 God make happy your morning." If I come out 
 
 when he is here, he runs up to kiss my hand, as the 
 
 Arab children are trained to be respectful to their 
 
 superiors. When a little Arab boy comes into a room 
 
 full of older people, he goes around and kisses the 
 
 hand of each one and then places it on his forehead. 
 
 Asaad wears a red tarboosh or cap on his head, 
 
 a loose jacket, and trowsers which are like a blue 
 
 bag gathered around the waist, with two small holes 
 
 for his feet to go through. They are drawn up 
 
 nearly to his knees, and his legs are bare, as he wears 
 
 no stockings. He wears red shoes pointed and 
 
 turned up at the toes. When he comes in at the 
 
 door, he leaves his shoes outside, but keeps his cap 
 
 on his head. 
 
 The people never take off their caps or turbans 
 when entering a house, or visiting a friend, but 
 always leave their shoes at the door. The reason 
 is, that their floors are covered with clean mats 
 and rugs, and in the Moslem houses, the man 
 kneels on his rug to pray, and presses his fore- 
 head to the floor, so that it would not be decent or 
 respectful to walk in with dirty shoes and- soil his 
 sijjady on which he kneels to pray. They have no 
 foot-mats or scrapers, and it is much cheaper and 
 simpler to leave the shoes, dirt and all at the door. 
 Sometimes we are much embarrassed in calling on 
 the old style Syrians as th&ylodk with horror on our 
 
THE CIlILDKEiVS CHAPTER. 
 
 235 
 
 muddy feet, and we find it not quite so easy to 
 remove our European shoes. But it must be done, 
 and it is better to take a little extra trouble, and 
 regard their feelings and customs, than to appear 
 coarse and rude. 
 
 It is very curious to go to the Syrian school- 
 houses, and see the piles of shoes at the door. There 
 are new bright red shoes, and old tattered shoes, and 
 kob kobs, and black shoes, and sometimes yellow 
 shoes. The kob kobs are wooden clogs made to 
 raise the feet out of the mud and water, having a 
 little strap over the toe to keep it on the foot. You 
 will often see little boys and girls running down 
 steps and paved streets on these dangerous kob 
 kobs. Sometimes they slip and then down they go 
 on their noses, and the kob kobs fly off and go rat- 
 tling over the stones, and little AH or Yusef, or what- 
 ever his name is, begins to shout, Ya Imme ! Ya 
 Imme! " Oh, my mother ! " and cries just like little 
 children in other countries. 
 
 But the funniest part of it is to see the boys 
 when they come out of school and try to find their 
 shoes. There will be fifty boys, and of course a 
 hundred shoes, all mixed together in one pile. 
 When school is out, the boys make a rush for the 
 door. Then comes the tug of war. A dozen boys 
 are standing and shuffling on the pile of shoes, look- 
 ing down, kicking away the other shoes, running 
 their toes into their own, stumbling over the kob 
 kobs, and then making a dash to get out of the 
 crowd. Sometimes shins will be kicked, and hair 
 
236 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 pulled, and tarbooshes thrown off, and a great 
 screaming and cursing follow, which will only cease 
 when the Muallim comes with his " Asa" or stick, 
 and quells the riot. That pile of shoes will have to 
 answer for a good many schoolboy fights and bruised 
 noses and hard feelings in Syria. You would won- 
 der how they can tell their own shoes. So do I. 
 And the boys often wear off each other's shoes by 
 mistake or on purpose, and then you will see Selim 
 running with one shoe on, and one of Ibrahim's in 
 his hand, shouting and cursing Ibrahim's father and 
 grandfather, until he gets back his lost property. 
 Sometimes when men leave their shoes outside the 
 door of a house where they are caUing, some one 
 will steal them, and then they are in a sorry plight. 
 Shoes are regarded as very unclean, and when you 
 are talking in polite society, it will never do to 
 speak of them, without asking pardon. You would 
 say, "the other day some one stole my new shoes, 
 ajellak Allah," i e., May-God exalt you above such 
 a vile subject ! You would use the same words if 
 you were talking with a Moslem, and spoke of a 
 dog, a hog, a donkey, a girl or a woman. 
 
 They do not think much of girls in Syria. The 
 most of the people are very sorry when a daugh- 
 ter is born. They think it is dreadful, and the 
 poor mother will cry as if her heart would break 
 And the neighbors come in and tell her how sorry 
 they are, and condole with her, just as if they 
 had come to a funeral. In Kesrawan, a district 
 of Mount Lebanon near Beirut, the Arab women 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 
 
 237 
 
 have a proverb, " The threshold weeps forty days 
 when a girl is born." 
 
 There is a great change going on now in Syria in 
 the feelings of the people in regard to girls, but in 
 the interior towns and villages where the light of the 
 Gospel has not shone as yet, and there are no schools, 
 they have the ancient ideas about them up to this 
 very hour. 
 
 I knew an old Syrian grandmother in Tripoli who 
 would not kiss her granddaughter for six months 
 after she was born, because she was born a girl ! But 
 I know another family in that city of Tripoli that do 
 not treat girls in that style. The father is Mr. An- 
 tonius Yanni, a good Christian man, and a member 
 of the Mission Church. He is American Vice Consul, 
 and on the top of his house is a tall flag-staff, on 
 which floats the stars and stripes, on Fourth of July, 
 and the Sultan's birthday, Queen Victoria's birthday, 
 and other great feast days. One day when the 
 Tripoli women heard that " Sitt Karimeh, Yanni's 
 wife, had another " bint,''' (girl) they came in crowds to 
 comfort her in her great affliction ! When Yanni 
 heard of it, he could not restrain himself He loved 
 his older daughter Theodora very dearly, and was 
 thankful to God for another sweet baby girl, so he 
 told the women that he would have none of this 
 heathenish mourning in his house. He then shouted 
 to his janizary or Cavvass, a white bearded old Mos- 
 lem named Amr, " Amr, haul up the Bandaira el 
 Americaniyeh, (American flag) to show the world 
 how glad I am that I have another daughter.'' " On 
 
238 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 my head, on my head, sir," said' Amr, and away he 
 went and hauled up the stars and stripes. Now the 
 Pasha's palace is not far away, and soon the Turkish 
 guards saw the flag, and hastened to the Pasha with 
 the news that the American Consul had some great 
 feast day, as his flag was raised. The Pasha, suppos- 
 ing it to be some important national feast day of the 
 American Government which he was so stupid as 
 not to know about, sent his Chief Secretary at once 
 to- Mr. Yanni to ask what feast it might be? Yanni 
 received him politely and ordered a narghileh and 
 coffee and sherbet, and after saying " good-morning," 
 and "may you live forever," and " God prolong your 
 days ! " over and over and over again, and wishing 
 that Doulet America might ever flourish, the Secre- 
 tary asked which of the great American festivals he 
 was celebrating that day. Yanni laughed and said, 
 " Effendum, you know how many of the ignorant in 
 Syria are so fooUsh as to mourn and lament when 
 God sends them a daughter, but I believe that all 
 God's gifts are good, and that daughters are to be 
 valued as much as sons, and to rebuke this foolish 
 notion among the people, I put up my flag as a token 
 of joy and gratitude." "Sebhan Allah! you have 
 
 done right, sir," was the Secretary's reply, and 
 
 away he went to the Pasha. What the Pasha said, I 
 do not know, but there was probably more cursing 
 than usual that day in the grand palace of Tripoh, 
 for the Mohammedans think the birth of a daughter 
 a special judgment from God. 
 
 When a boy is born, there is great rejoicing. 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 239 
 
 Presents are sent to him, and the people call to con- 
 gratulate the father, and the whole house is gay and 
 joyous. After a few days a dainty dish called 
 " Mughly" is made and sent around as a present to 
 all of the relatives. It is made of pounded rice, and fla- 
 vored with rich spices and sugar and put into little 
 bowls, and almonds and other nuts sprinkled over 
 the top. One of these little bowls is sent to each of 
 the friends. But when a girl is born, there is no re- 
 joicing, no giving of presents, and no making of the 
 delicious " mughly.'' 
 
 Here come two little girls bringing earthen pots 
 of milk. They are poor girls, daughters of two of 
 our neighbors who are fellaheen or farmers. One has 
 no shoes, and neither have stockings. They wear 
 plain blue gowns, made of coarse cotton cloth, dyed 
 with indigo, and rusty looking tarbooshes on their 
 heads, and a little piece of dirty white muslin thrown 
 over their heads as a veil to cover their faces with, 
 when men come in sight. One is named Lebeeby and 
 the other Lokunda, which means Hotel. They behave 
 very well when they come here, as they have the fear 
 of the big Khowadja before their eyes, but when 
 they are at home running about, they often use dread- 
 ful language. Little boys and girls in Syria have 
 some awful oaths which they constantly use. I sup- 
 pose the poor things do not know the meaning of 
 half the bad words they use. One of the most com- 
 mon is " Yilan Abook" " curse your father !'' It is used 
 everywhere and on every side by bad people, and 
 the children use it constantly in their play. When 
 
240 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 the little girls come into our Schools and Seminaries, 
 it is a long time before they will give up " abook"- 
 ing. One of our friends in America is educating a 
 nice little girl in the Beirut Seminary, and we asked 
 the teacher about her a few days ago. The answer 
 was, " She still lies and swears dreadfully, but she 
 has greatly improved during the past two years, and 
 we are encouraged about her." 
 
 Sometimes a boy will say to another Yilan abook, 
 " Curse your father," and another will answer, Wa 
 jiddak, " and your grandfather," and then they will 
 call back and forth like cats and dogs. I saw a Mos- 
 lem boy near my house standing by the corner to 
 shield himself from the stones another boy was 
 throwing, and shouting wa jid, jid, jid, jid, jidak, 
 " and your great-great-great-great-grandfather," and 
 away went the other boy, shouting as he ran, " and 
 your " great-great-great-great gr-e-at," and I heard 
 no more. And then there are a great many very 
 naughty and vile words which the children use, 
 which I cannot write, and yet we hear them every 
 day. It is very^ hard to keep our children from learn- 
 ing them, as they talk Arabic better than we do, and 
 often learn expressions which they do not know the 
 meaning of. One of the most common habits is 
 using the name of God in vain. The name of God is 
 Allah, and "O God," isYullah. Then there is Wul- 
 lah and Bismillah, "In the name of God," Hamdlil- 
 lalt, " Praise to God," Inshullah, " If God will." The 
 most awful oaths are Wullah and BiJiah. The peo- 
 ple use Yullah at all times and on all occasions. The 
 
Moslems at Prayer. 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 
 
 241 
 
 donkey-drivers and muleteers say Yullah when they 
 drive their animals. Some years ago a good man 
 from America, who fears God and would not take 
 his name in vain was travelling in the Holy Land, 
 and came on to Beirut. When he reached there, 
 some one asked him if he had learned any Arabic 
 during his journey. He said yes, he had learned 
 Bakhshish for " a present," and Yullah for " go 
 ahead." His friend asked him if he had used the 
 latter word much on the way. He said certainly, he 
 had used it all the way. His friend answered. Pro- 
 fessor, you have been swearing all the way through 
 the Holy Land. Of course he did not know it and 
 meant no wrong. But it shows that such words are 
 used so commonly in Syria that strangers do not 
 think them bad language, and it also shows that 
 travellers ought to be careful in using the words they 
 learn of muleteers and sailors in Arab land. 
 
 In some parts of the country the little boys and 
 girls swear so dreadfully that you can hardly bear to 
 be with them. Especially among the Nusairiyeh, 
 they think that nothing will be believed unless they 
 add an oath. Dr. Post once rebuked an old Sheikh 
 for using the word " Wullah " so often, and argued 
 so earnestly about it that the man promised never 
 to use it again. The old man a moment after re- 
 peated it. The doctor said, " will you now pledge 
 me that you will not say ' Wullah ' again ? He re- 
 pHed, " Wullah, I will." 
 
 Sometimes a donkey-driver will get out of pa- 
 tience with his long-eared beast. The donkey will 
 
.242 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 lie down with his load in a deep mud-hole, or among 
 the sharp rocks. For a time the man will kick and 
 strike him and throw stones at him, and finally when 
 nothing else succeeds he will stand back, with his 
 eyes glaring and his fist raised in the air, and scream 
 out, " May Allah curse the beard of your grand- 
 father ! " I believe that the donkey always gets up 
 after that, — that is, if the muleteer first takes off his 
 load and then helps him, by pulling stoutly at his tail. 
 
 I told you that one of the girls who bring us milk, 
 is named ^' Lokunda" or Hotel. She is a small speci- 
 men of a hotel, but provides us purer and sweeter cow's 
 milk than many a six-storied hotel on Broadway 
 would do. You will say that is a queer name for a 
 girl, but if you stop and think about many of our Eng- 
 lish names you would think them queer too. Here in 
 Syria, we have the house of Wolf, the house of 
 " Stuffed Cabbage," Khowadji Leopard, the lady 
 " Wolves," and one of our fellow villagers in Abeih 
 where we spend the summer is Eman ed Deen " faith- 
 of-religion,"' although he has neither faith nor re- 
 ligion. 
 
 Among the boys' names are Selim, Ibrahim, 
 Moosa, Yakob, Ishoc, Mustafa, Hanna, Yusef, Ali, 
 Saieed, Assaf, Giurgius, Faoor, and Abbas. I once 
 met a boy at the Cedars of Lebanon, who was named 
 Jidry, or " Small-Pox," because that disease was rag- 
 ing in the village when he was born. It is very com- 
 mon to name babies from what is happening in the 
 world when they are born. A friend of mine in 
 Tripoli had a daughter born when an American ship 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 243 
 
 was in the harbor, so he called her America. When 
 another daughter was born there was a Russian ship 
 in port, so he called her Russia. There is a young 
 woman in Siik el Ghurb named Fetneh or Civil War, 
 and her sister is Hada, or Peace. An old lady lately- 
 died in Beirut named Fein^is or Lantern. In the 
 Beirut school are and have been girls named Pearl, 
 Diamond, Morning Dawn, Dew, Rose, Only one, and 
 Mary Flea. That girl America's full name was 
 America Wolves, a curious name for a Syrian lamb ! 
 
 Sometimes children are named, and if after a few 
 years they are sick, the parents change their names 
 and give them new ones, thinking that the first name 
 did not agree with them. A Druze told me that he 
 named his son in infancy A saad (or happier) but be 
 was sickly, so they changed his name to Ahmei 
 (Praised) and after that he grew better ! He has now- 
 become a Christian, and has resumed his first name 
 Asaad. 
 
 I once visited a man in the village of Brummana 
 who had six daughters, whom he named Sun, Morn- 
 ing, Zephyr breese, yewelry, Agate, and Emerald. 
 I know girls named Star, Beauty, Sugar, One Eyed, 
 and Christian Barbarian. Some of the names are 
 beautiful, as Leila, Zarifeh, Liilu, Selma, Luciya, 
 Miriam and Fereedy. 
 
 All of the men are called Aboo-somebody ; i.e. 
 the father of somebody or something. Old Sheikh 
 Hassein, whose house I am living in, is called Aboo 
 Abbas, i.e. the father of Abbas, because his eldest 
 son's name is Abbas. A young lad in the village, 
 
244 "^^^ WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 who is just about entering the Freshman class in the 
 Beirut College, has been for years called Aboo 
 Habeeb, or the father of Habeeb, when he has no 
 children at all. Elias, the deacon of the church in 
 Beirut was called Aboo Nasif for more than fifty 
 years, and finally in his old age he married and had 
 a son, whom he named Nasif, so that he got his 
 name right after all. They often give young men 
 such names, and if they have no children they call 
 them by the name of the son they might have had. 
 But they will not call a man Aboo Liilu or Aboo 
 Leila. If a man has a dozen daughters he will 
 never be called from them. They are " nothing but 
 girls.'' A queer old man in Ghurzuz once tried to 
 name himself from"his daughter Seleemeh, but when- 
 ever any one called him Aboo Seleemeh, all the 
 fellaheen would laugh as if they would explode, and 
 the boys would shout at him " there goes old Aboo 
 Seleemeh," as if it was a grand joke. 
 
 The Moslems and Druzes generally give their 
 children the old unmixed Arabic names, but the 
 Maronites, the Greeks, and the Protestants often use 
 European names. A young lady named Miss Mason 
 was once a teacher in the Sidon Seminary, and spent 
 the summer in the mountain village of Deir Mimas. 
 One of the women of the village liked her name, and 
 named her daughter ."Miss Mason," and if you 
 should go there you would hear the little urchins of 
 Deir Mimas shouting Miss Mason ! to a little blue- 
 gowned and tarbooshed Arab girl. 
 
 What noise is that we hear down in the village, 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 24S 
 
 under the great jowz (walnut) trees by the fountain ? 
 It rolls and gurgles and growls and bellows enough" 
 to frighten a whole village full of children. But the 
 little Arab boys and girls are playing around, and the 
 women are filling their jars at the fountain just as if 
 nothing had happened. But it is a frightful noise 
 for all that. It is the bellowing of the camels as 
 their heavy loads are being put on. They are kneel- 
 ing on the ground, with their long necks swaying 
 and stretching around like boa constrictors. These 
 camels are very useful animals, but I always like to 
 see them at a distance, especially in the month of 
 February, for at that time they get to be as " mad as 
 a March hare." They are what the Arabs call " taish," 
 and often bite men severely. In Hums one bit the 
 whole top of a man's head off, and in Tripoli another 
 bit a man's hand off. I once saw a camel " taish " 
 in Beirut, and he was driving the whole town before 
 him. Wherever he came, with his tongue hanging 
 down and a foaming froth pouring from his mouth as 
 he growled and bellowed through the streets, the 
 people would leave their shops and stools and run in 
 dismay. It was a frightful sight. I was riding down 
 town, and on seeing the crowd, and the camel com- 
 ing towards me, I put spurs to my horse and rode 
 home. 
 
 When camels are tied together in a long caravan 
 with a little mouse-colored donkey leading the 
 van, ridden by a long-legged Bedawy, who sits half- 
 asleep smoking his pipe, you would think them the 
 tamest and most innocent creatures in the world, but 
 
246 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 when they fall into a panic, they are beyond all con- 
 trol. A few years ago a drove of camels was passing 
 through the city of Damascus. The Arabs drive 
 camels like sheep, hundreds and sometimes thousands 
 in a flock, and they look awkward enough. When 
 this drove entered the city, something frightened 
 them, and they began to run. Just imagine a camel 
 running ! What a sight it must have been ! Hun- 
 dreds of them went through the narrow streets, 
 knocking over men and women and donkeys, up- 
 setting the shopkeepers, and spilling out their wares 
 on the ground, and many persons were badly bruised. 
 At length a carpenter saw them coming and put a 
 timber across the street, which dammed up the in- 
 furiated tide of camels, and they dashed against one 
 another until they were all wedged together, and 
 thus their owners secured them. 
 
 In August, 1862, a famous Bedawin Chief, named 
 Mohammed ed Dukhy, in Houran, east of the Jordan, 
 rebelled against the Turkish Government. The 
 Druzes joined him, and the Turks sent a small army 
 against them. Mohammed had in his camp several 
 thousand of the finest Arabian camels, and they 
 were placed in a row behind his thousands of Arab 
 and Druze horsemen. Behind the camels were the 
 women, children, sheep, cattle and goats. When the 
 Turkish army first opened fire with musketiy, the 
 camels made little disturbance, as they were used to 
 hearing small arms, but when the Turkish Colonel 
 gave orders to fire with cannon, " the ships of the 
 desert " began to tremble. The artillery thundered. 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 247 
 
 and the poor camels could stand it no longer. They 
 were driven quite crazy with fright, and fled over 
 the country in every direction in more than a Bull Run 
 panic. Some went down towards the Sea of Galilee, 
 others towards the swamps of Merom, and hundreds 
 towards Banias. the ancient Csesarea Phihppi, and 
 onwards to the West as far as Deir Mimas. Nothing 
 could stop them. Their tongues were projecting, 
 their eyes glaring, and on they went. The fellaheen 
 along the roads caught them as they could, and sold 
 them to their neighbors. Fine camels worth eighty 
 dollars, were sold for four or live dollars a head, and 
 in some villages the fat animals were butchered and 
 sold for beef Some of them came to Deir Mimas, 
 where two of the missionaries lived. The Protestants 
 said to the missionaries, " here are noble camels sell- 
 ing for five and ten dollars, shall we buy ? Others are 
 buying." " By no means," they told them. " They 
 are stolen or strayed property, and you will repent it 
 if you touch them." Others bought and feasted on 
 camel steaks, and camel soup, and camel kibby, 
 but the Protestants could not touch them. In 
 a day or two, the cavalry of the Turks came scour- 
 ing the country for the camels, as they were the 
 spoils of war. Then the poor fellaheen were sorry 
 enough that they had bought and eaten the camels, 
 for the Turks made them pay back double the price 
 of the beasts, and the Protestants found that 
 " honesty was the best policy." 
 
 The camel is very sure footed, but cannot travel 
 on muddy and slippery roads. The Arabs say " the 
 
248 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 camel never falls, but if he falls^ he never gets up 
 again." They carry long timbers over Lebanon, on 
 the steep and rocky roads, the timber being balanced 
 on the pack saddle, one end extending out on front, 
 and the other behind. Sometimes the timber begins 
 to swing about, and down the camel goes over the 
 precipice and is dashed to pieces. 
 
 The Arabs say that a man once asked a camel, 
 "What made your neck so crooked?'' The camel 
 answered, " My neck ? Why did you ask about my 
 neck? Is there anything else straight about me, 
 that led you to notice my neck ? " This has a mean- 
 ing, which is, that when a man's habits are all bad, 
 there is no use in talking about one of them. 
 
 Perhaps you will ask, did you ever eat camel's 
 flesh? Certainly. We do not get it in Beirut, as 
 camels are too expensive along the sea-coast to be 
 used as food, but in the interior towns, like Hums 
 and Hamath, which border on the desert or rather 
 the great plains occupied by the ten thousands of 
 the Bedawin, camel's meat is a common article in 
 the market. They butcher fat camels, and young 
 camel colts that have broken their legs, and some- 
 times their meat is as deHcious as beef steak. But 
 when they kill an old lean worn-out camel, that has 
 been besmeared with pitch and tar for many years, 
 and has been journeying under heavy loads from 
 Aleppo to Damascus until he is what the Arabs call 
 a " basket of bones," and then kill him to save his 
 life, or rather his beef, the meat is not very delicate. 
 
 The Arab name for a camel is " Jemel" which 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 249 
 
 means beauty ! They call him so perhaps because 
 there is no beauty in him. You will read in books, 
 that the camel is the " ship of the desert." He is 
 very much hke a ship, as he carries a heavy cargo 
 over the ocean-like plains and " buraries" or wilds 
 of the Syrian and Arabian deserts. He is also like 
 a ship in making people sea-sick who ride on his back, 
 and because he has a strong odor of tar and pitch like 
 the hold of a ship, which sometimes you can perceive 
 at a long distance. 
 
 PAUT II. 
 
 Perhaps you would like to take a ride with me 
 some day, and visit some of the missionary stations 
 in Syria. What will you ride ? The horses are gen- 
 tle, but you would feel safer on a donkey. Mules 
 are sometimes good for riding, but I prefer to let 
 them alone. I never rode a mule but once. I was 
 at Hasbeiya, and wished to visit the bitumen wells. 
 My horse was not in a condition to be ridden, so I 
 took Monsur's mule. It had only a jillal or pack 
 saddle, and Monsur made stirrups of rope for me. 
 My companions had gone on in advance, and when I 
 started, the mule was eager to overtake them. All 
 went well until we approached the little stream which 
 afterwards becomes the River Jordan. The ground 
 was descending, and the road covered with loose 
 Stones. The rest of our party were crossing the 
 stream and the mule thought he would trot and 
 II* 
 
250 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 come up with them. I tried to hold him in with 
 the rope halter, but he shook his head and dashed 
 on. About the middle of the descent he stum- 
 bled and fell flat upon his nose. I went over his 
 head upon my hands, but my feet were fast in the 
 rope stirrups. Seeing that he was trying to get up, 
 I tried to work myself back into the saddle, but I 
 had only reached his head, when he sprang up. 
 I was now in a curious and not very safe situation^ 
 The mule was trotting on and I was sitting on his 
 head holding on to his ears, with my feet fast in the 
 rope stirrups. A little Arab boy was passing with a 
 tray of bread upon his head and I shouted to him for 
 help. He was so amused to see a Khowadja with a 
 hat, riding at that rate on a mule's head, that he be- 
 gan to roar with laughter and down went his tray on 
 the ground and the Arab bread went rolling among 
 the stones. It was a great mercy that I did not fall 
 under the brute's feet, but I held on until he got the 
 other side of the Jordan, when a man ran out from 
 the mill and stopped him. Monsur now led him by 
 the halter and I reached the bitumen wells in safety. 
 You can mount your donkey and Harry will ride 
 another, and I will ride my horse, and we will try a 
 Syrian journey. As we cannot spare the time to go 
 from Beirut to Tripoli by land, I have sent Ibrahim 
 to take the animals along the shore, and we will go 
 up by the French steamer, a fine large vessel called 
 the " Ganges." We go down to the Kumruk or 
 Custom House, and there a little Arab boat takes us 
 out to the steamer. In rough weather it is ver^' dan- 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 25 1 
 
 gerous going out to the steamers, and sometimes lit- 
 tle boats are capsized, but to-night there is no danger. 
 You are now on the deck of the steamer. What a 
 charming view of Beirut and Mount Lebanon. Far 
 out on the point of the cape are the new buildings of 
 the Syrian College, and next is the Prussian Hospital 
 and then the Protestant Prussian Deaconesses Institu- 
 tion with 130 orphans and 80 paying pupils. There is 
 the house of Dr. Thomson and Dr. Van Dyck 
 and Dr. Post, and the Turkish Barracks, and Mrs. 
 Mott's school, and our beautiful Church, with its 
 clock tower, and you can hear the clock strike six. 
 Then next to the Church is the Female Seminary 
 with its 100 pupils, and the Steam Printing Press, 
 where ara printed so many books and Scriptures 
 every year in- the Arabic language. Those tall cy- 
 press trees are in the Mission Cemetery where Pliny 
 Fisk, and Eli Smith, and Mr. Whiting, and a good 
 many little children are buried. Near by are the 
 houses of Dr. Bliss and Dr. Lewis and our house, 
 and you can see mosques and minarets and domes 
 and red-tiled roofs, and beautiful arched corridors 
 and green trees in every direction. Do you see the 
 beautiful purple tints on the Lebanon Mountains as 
 the sun goes down ? Is it not worth a long journey 
 to see that lofty peak gilded and tinted with purple 
 and pink and yellow as the sun sinks into the sea? 
 
 What a noise these boatmen make ! I doubt 
 whether you have ever heard such a screaming be- 
 fore. 
 
 Now you can imagine yourself going to sleep in 
 
25 2 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 the state-room of this great steamer, and away we 
 go. The anchor comes up clank, clank, as the great 
 chain cable is wound up by the donkey engine, and 
 now we move off silently and smoothly. In about 
 five hours we have made the fifty miles, and down 
 goes the anchor again in Tripoli harbor. At sunrise 
 the Tripoli boatmen come around the steamer. We 
 are two miles off from the shore and a rough north 
 ^yind is blowing. Let us hurry up and get ashore 
 before the wind increases to a gale, as these North 
 winds are very fierce on the Syrian coast. Here 
 comes Mustafa, an old boatman, and begs us to take 
 his feluca. We look over the side of the steamer 
 and see that his boat is large and clean and agree to 
 take it for twelve piastres or fifty cents for all of us 
 and our baggage. Then the other boatmen rush up 
 and scream and curse and try to get us to take their 
 boats, but we say nothing and push through them 
 and climb down the steps to the boat. The white 
 caps are rolling and the boat dances finely. Mustafa 
 puts up a large three-cornered sail, Ali sits at the 
 rudder, and with a stroke or two of the oars we turn 
 around into the wind and away we dash towards the 
 shore. The Meena (port) is before us, that white 
 row of houses on the point ; and back among the 
 gardens is the city of Tripoli. In less than half an 
 hour we reach the shore, but the surf is so high that 
 we cannot go near the pier, so they make for the 
 sand beach, and before we reach it, the boat strikes 
 on a little bar and we stop. Out jump the boatmen, 
 and porters come running half naked from the shore 
 
THE CHILD JiEN'S CHAPTER. 253 
 
 and each shouts to us to ride ashore on his shoulders, 
 "fhey can carry you and Harry with ease, but I am 
 always careful how I sit on the shoulders of these 
 rough fellows. There is Ibrahim on the shore with 
 our animals, and two mules for the baggage. We 
 shall take beds and bedsteads and cooking appara- 
 tus and provisions and a tent. Ibrahim has bought 
 bread and potatoes and rice and semin (Arab butter) 
 aud smead (farina) and candles, and a little sugar and 
 salt, and other necessaries. We will accept Aunt 
 Annie's invitation to breakfast, and then everything 
 will be ready for a start. 
 
 What is the matter with those boys in that dark 
 . room ? Are they on rockers ? They keep swinging 
 ■ back and forth and screaming at the top of their 
 voices all at once, and an old blind man sits on one 
 side holding a long stick. They all sit on the floor 
 and hold books or tin cards in their hands. This is 
 a Moslem school, and the boys are learning to read 
 and write. They all study aloud, and the old blind 
 Sheikh knows their voices so well that when one 
 stops studying, he perceives it, and reaches his long 
 stick over that way until the boy begins again. When 
 a boy comes up to him to recite, he has to shout 
 louder than the rest, so that the Sheikh can distin- 
 guish his voice. There, two boys are fighting. The 
 Sheikh cannot and will not have fighting in his 
 school, and he calls them up to him. They begin to 
 scream and kick and call for their mothers, but it is 
 of no use. Sheikh Mohammed will have order. Lie 
 down there you Mahmoud ! Mahmoud lies down, 
 
254 "^^^ WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 and the Sheikh takes a stick like, a bow with a cord 
 to it, and winds the cord around his ankles. After 
 twisting the cord as tight as possible, he takes his 
 rod and beats Mahmoud on the soles of his feet, un- 
 til the poor boy is almost black in the face with 
 screaming and pain. Then he serves Saleh in the 
 same way. This is the bastinado of which you have 
 heard and read. When the Missionaries started 
 common schools in Syria, the teachers used the 
 bastinado without their knowledge, though we never 
 allow anything of the kind. But the boys behave so 
 badly and use such bad language to each other, that 
 the teacher's patience is often quite exhausted. I 
 heard of one school where the teacher invited a visit- 
 or to hear the boys recite, and then offered to whip 
 the school all around from the biggest boy to the 
 smallest, in order to show how well he governed the 
 school ! They do not use the alphabet in the Mos- 
 lem schools. The boys begin with the Koran and 
 learn the words by sight, without knowing the letters 
 of which they are composed. 
 
 Here come two young men to meet us. Fine 
 lads they are too. One is named Giurgius, and the 
 other Leopold. When they were small boys, they 
 once amused me very much. Mr. Yanni, who drew 
 up his flag on the birth of Barbara, sent Giurgius 
 his son, and Leopold his nephew to the school of an 
 old man named Hanna Tooma. This old man al- 
 ways slept in the afternoon, and the boys did not 
 study very well when he was asleep. I was once at 
 Yanni's house when the boys came home from school. 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 255 
 
 They were in high glee. One of them said to his 
 father, our teacher slept all the afternoon, and we 
 appointed a committee of boys to fan him and keep 
 the flies off while the rest went down into the court 
 to play, and when he moved we all hushed up until 
 he was sound asleep again. But when he did wake 
 up, he took the big " Asa" and struck out right and 
 left, and gave every boy in the school a flogging. 
 The father asked, but why did he flog them all.? 
 Because he said he knew some of us had done wrong, 
 and he was determined to hit the right one, so he 
 flogged us all! 
 
 See the piles of fruit in the streets ! Grapes and 
 figs, watermelons and pomegranates, peaches, pears, 
 lemons and bananas. At other seasons of the year 
 you have oranges, sweet lemons, plums, and apricots. 
 There is fresh fruit on the trees here every week in 
 the year. Now we are passing a lemonade stand, 
 where iced lemonade is sold for a cent a glass, cooled 
 with snow from the summit of Mount Lebanon 90OC1 
 feet high. Grapes are about a cent a pound and 
 figs the same, and in March you can buy five or- 
 anges or ten sweet lemons for a cent. Huge wa- 
 termelons are about eight or ten cents a piece. We 
 buy so many pounds of milk and oil and potatoes 
 and charcoal. The prickly pear, or subire, is a 
 delicious fruit, although covered with sharp barbed 
 spines and thorns. It is full of hard large woody 
 seeds, but the people are very fond of the fruit. 
 Sheikh Nasif el Yazijy was a famous Arab poet and 
 scholar, and a young man once brought him a poem 
 
256 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 to be corrected. He told him to call in a few days 
 and get it. He came again and the Sheikh said to 
 him. "Your poem is like the Missionary's prickly 
 pear!" " The Missionary's prickly pear?" said the 
 young poet. " What do you mean ? " " Why said the 
 
 Sheikh." Dr. a missionary, when he first came 
 
 to Syria, had a dish of prickly pears set before him 
 to eat. Not liking to eat the seeds, he began to 
 pick them out, and when he had picked out all the 
 seeds, there was nothing left ! So your poem. You 
 asked me- to remove the errors, and I found that 
 when I had taken out all the errors, there was noth- 
 ing left." 
 
 It is about time for us to start. We will ride 
 through the orange gardens and see the rich fruit 
 bending the trees almost down to the ground. 
 Steer your way carefully through the crowd of mules, 
 pack horses, camels and asses loaded with boxes of 
 fruit hastening down to the Meena for the steamer 
 which goes North to-night. 
 
 Here is Yanni, with his happy smiling face com- 
 ing out to meet us. We will dismount and greet him. 
 He will kiss us on both cheeks arid insist on our call- 
 ing at his house. The children are glad to see you, 
 and the Sitt Karimeh asks, how are " the preserved 
 of -God?" that is, the children. Then the little tots 
 come up to kiss my hand, and Im Antonius, the old 
 grandmother, comes and greets us most kindly. It 
 was not always so. She was once very hostile to 
 the Missionaries. She thought that her son had 
 done a dreadful deed when he became a Protestant, 
 
THE CHILDKEN'S CHAPTER. 257 
 
 Although she once loved him, she hated him and 
 hated us. She used to fast, and make vows, and 
 pray to the Virgin and the saints, and beat her 
 breast in agony over her son. She had a brother 
 and another son, who were like her, and they all 
 persecuted Yanni. But he bore it patiently without 
 an unkind word in return for all their abuse. At 
 length the brother Ishoc-was taken ill. Im Anto- 
 nius brought the pictlires and put them over his 
 head and called the priests. He said, " Mother, take 
 away these idols. Send away these priests. Tell 
 my brother Antonius to come here, I want to ask 
 his forgiveness." Yanni came. Ishoc said to him, 
 " Brother, your kindness and patience have broken 
 me down. You are right and I am wrong. I am 
 going to die. Will you forgive me?" "Yes, and 
 may God forgive and bless you too." " Then bring 
 your Bible and read to me. Read about some great 
 sinner who was saved." Yanni read about the dying 
 thief on the cross. " Read it again ! All, that is my 
 case ! I am the chief of sinners." Every day he kept 
 Yanni reading and praying with him. He loved to 
 talk about Jesus and at length died trusting in the 
 Saviour ! The uncle Michaiel, was also taken ill, and 
 on his death-bed would have neither priest nor pic- 
 tures, and declared to all the people that he trusted 
 only in the Saviour whom Yanni had loved and 
 served so well. After that Im Antonius was soften- 
 ed and now she loves to hear Yanni read the Bible 
 and pray. 
 
 The servant is coming with sherbet and sweet- 
 
258 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 meats and Arabic coffee in little cups as large as an 
 egg-shell. Did you notice how the marble floors 
 shine! They are scrubbed and 'polished, and kept 
 clean by the industrious women whom you see so 
 gorgeously dressed now. These good ladies belong 
 to the Akabir, or aristocracy of Tripoli, but they 
 work most faithfully in their housekeeping duties. 
 But alas, they can neither read nor write ! And 
 there is hardly a woman in this whole city of 16,000 
 people that can read or write ! I once attended a 
 company of invited guests at one of the wealthy 
 houses in Tripoli, and there were thirty TripoHtan 
 ladies in the large room, dressed in the most elegant 
 style. I think you never saw such magnificence. 
 They were dressed in silks and satins and velvets, 
 embroidered with gold thread and pearls, and their 
 arms and necks were loaded with gold, bracelets and 
 necklaces set with precious stones, and on their heads 
 were wreaths of gold and silver work sparkhng with 
 diamonds, and fragrant with fresh orange blossoms 
 and jessamine. Many of them were beautiful. But 
 not one of them could read. The little boys and 
 girls too are dressed in the same rich style among the 
 wealthier classes, and they are now beginning to learn. 
 Many of the little girls who were taught in Sada's 
 school here thirteen years ago, are now heads of fam- 
 ilies, and know how to read the gospel. 
 
 Ibrahim comes in to say that we must hurry off 
 if we would reach Halba to sleep to-night. So we 
 bid Yanni's family good-bye. We tell them " Be 
 Khaterkum." " By your pleasure," and they say 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 259 
 
 « Ma es Salameh " " with peace."— Then they say, 
 " God smooth your way," and we answer, " Peace 
 to your lives.'' SaiEed the muleteer now says " Dih, 
 Ooah,'' to his mules, and away we ride over the stony 
 pavements and under the dark arches of the city, to- 
 wards the East. We cross the bridge over the River 
 Kadisha, go through the wheat and barley market, 
 and out of the gate Tibbaneh, among the Moslems, 
 Maronites, Bedawin, Nusairiyeh, Gypsies, and Greeks, 
 who are buying and selling among the Hamath and 
 Hums caravans. 
 
 Do you see those boys playing by the stone wall ? 
 They are catching scorpions. They put a little wax 
 on a stick and thrust it into the holes in the wall, 
 and the scorpions run their claws into the wax when 
 they are easily drawn out, and the boys like to play 
 with them. The sting of the scorpion is not deadly, 
 but it is very painful, something like being stung by 
 half a dozen hornets. 
 
 Here come a company of Greek, priests, with 
 the Greek bishop of Akkar. The priests are all Syr- 
 ians but the bishop is from Greece, and knows but 
 little Arabic. The priests are very ignorant, for they 
 are generally chosen from among the lowest of the 
 people. 
 
 When the former Greek Bishop, died in Tripoli, 
 in 1858, his dead body was dressed in cloth of gold, 
 with a golden crown on his head, and then the corpse 
 was set up in a chair in the midst of th'e Greek 
 Church, with the face and hand.s uncovered so that 
 all the people could see him. The fingers were all 
 
26o THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 black and bloated, but the men, women and children 
 crowded up to kiss them. When the body was tak- 
 en from the city to Deir Keftin, three miles distant, 
 the Greek mountaineers came down in a rabble to 
 get the blessing from the corpse. And how do you 
 think they got the blessing ? They attacked the 
 bearers and knocked off pieces of the coffin, and then 
 carried off the pall and tore it in pieces, fighting for 
 it like hungry wolves. A number of people were 
 wounded. After the burial they dug up the earth 
 for some distance around the tomb, and carried it off 
 to be used as medicine. A little girl brought apiece 
 of the bishop's handkerchief to ray house, hearing 
 that some one was ill, saying that if we would burn 
 it and drink the ashes in water, we would be instant- 
 ly cured. 
 
 The Syrians have a good many stories about their 
 priests, which they laugh about, and yet they obey 
 them, no matter how ignorant they are. Abu Selim 
 in the Meena used to tell me this story : Once 
 there was a priest who did not know how to count. 
 This was a great trial to him, as the Greeks have so 
 many fasts and feasts that it is necessary to count 
 all the time or get into trouble. They have a long 
 fast called Soum el kebir, and it is sometimes nearly 
 sixty days long. One year the fast commenced, and 
 the priest had blundered so often that he went to 
 the bishop and asked him to teach him some way 
 to count the days to the Easter feast. The bishop 
 told him it would be forty days, and gave him forty 
 kernels of "hummus," or peas, telling him to put 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 261 
 
 them into his pocket and throw one out every day, 
 and when they were all gone, to proclaim the feast ! 
 This was a happy plan for the poor priest, and he 
 went on faithfully throwing away one pea every day, 
 until one day he went to a neighboring village. In 
 crossing the stream he fell from his donkey into the 
 mud, and his black robe was grievously soiled. The 
 good woman of the house where he slept, told him 
 to take off his robe and she would clean it in the 
 night. So after he was asleep she arose and washed 
 it clean, but found to her sorrow that she had de- 
 stroyed the peas in the priest's pocket. Poor priest, 
 said she, he has lost all his peas which he had for 
 lunch on the road ! But I will make it up to him. 
 So she went to her earthen jar and took a big double 
 handful of hummus and put them into the priest's 
 pocket, and said no more. He went on his way and . 
 threw out a pea every morning for weeks and weeks. 
 At length, some of his fellaheen heard that the feast 
 had begun in another village, and told the Priest. 
 Impossible, said he. My pocket is half full yet. 
 Others came and said, will you keep us fasting all the 
 year? He only replied, look into my pocket. Are 
 you wiser than the Bishop ? At length some one 
 went and told the Bishop that the priest was keep- 
 ing his people fasting for twenty days after the time. 
 And then the story leaked out, and the poor woman 
 told how she had filled up the pocket, and the bishop 
 saw that there was no use in trying to teach the man 
 to count. 
 
 See the reapers in the field, and the women glean- 
 
262 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 ing after them, just as Ruth did so many thousand 
 years ago ! On this side is a " lodge in a garden of 
 cucumbers." 
 
 Now we come down upon the sea-shore again, 
 and on our right is the great plain of Akkar, level as 
 a floor, and covered with fields of Indian corn and 
 cotton. Flocks and herds and Arab camps of black 
 tents are scattered over it. Here is a shepherd-boy 
 playing on his " zimmara " or pipe, made of two 
 reeds tied together and perforated. He plays on it 
 hour after hour and day after day, as he leads his 
 sheep and goats or cattle along the plain or over the 
 mountains. You do not like it. much, any more than 
 he would like a melodeon or a piano. When King 
 David was a shepherd-boy he played on such a pipe 
 as this as he wandered over the mountains of Judea. 
 Now we turn away from the sea and go eastward 
 to Halba. Before long we cross the river Arka on a 
 narrow stone bridge, and pass a high hill called " Tel 
 Arka." Here the Arkites lived, who are mentioned 
 in Genesis x : 17. That was four thousand two 
 hundred years ago. What a chain of villages skirt 
 this plain ! The people build their villages on the 
 hills for protection and health, but go down to 
 plough and sow and feed their flocks to the rich 
 level plain. Now we cross a little stream of 
 water, and look up the ravine, and there is Ishoc's 
 house perched on" the side of the hill opposite Halba. 
 Ishoc and his wife Im Hanna, come out to meet us, 
 and he helps us pitch the tent by the great fig tree 
 near his house. We unroll the tent, splice the tent- 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 263 
 
 pole, open the bag of lent pins, get the mallet, and 
 although the wind is blowing hard, we will drive the 
 pegs so deep that there will be no danger of its blow- 
 ing over. 
 
 Abii Hanna, or Ishoc, is a noble christian man, 
 one of the best men in Syria. He has suffered very 
 much for Christ's sake. The Greeks in the village 
 on the hill have tried to poison him. They hired 
 Nusairy Mughlajee-s to shoot him. They cut down 
 his trees at night, and pulled up his plantations of 
 Vegetables. They came at night and tore up the 
 roof of his house, and shot through at him but did 
 not hit him. But the Mohammedan Begs over there 
 always help him, because he is an honest man, and 
 aids them in their business and accounts. When the 
 Greeks began to persecute him, they told him to 
 fire a gun whenever they came about his house, and 
 they would come over and fight for him. They even 
 offered to go up and burn the Greek village and put 
 an end to these persecutions. But Ishoc would not 
 let them. He said, " Mohammed Beg, you know I 
 am a Christian, not like these Greeks who lie and 
 steal and kill, but I follow the words of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, who said, ' Love your enemies,' and I 
 do not wish to injure one of them." The Begs 
 were astonished at this, and went away, urging 
 him if there were any more trouble at night to fire 
 his gun and they would come over from Halba at 
 once. 
 
 I love this good man Ishoc. His pure life, his 
 patience and gentleness have preached to these wild 
 
264 '^HE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 people in Akkar, more than all the sermons of the 
 missionaries. 
 
 Would you like to see Im Hanna make bread for 
 our supper ? That hole in the ground, lined with 
 plaster, is the oven, and the flames are pouring out. 
 They heat it with thorns and thistles. She sits by 
 the oven with a flat stone at her side, patting the 
 lumps of dough into thin cakes like wafers as large 
 as the brim of your straw hat. Now the fire is burn- 
 ing out and the coals are left at the bottom of the 
 oven, as if they were in the bottom of a barrel. She 
 takes one thin wafer on her hand and sticks it on 
 the smooth side of the oven, and as it bakes it curls 
 up, but before it drops off into the coals, she pulls it 
 out quickly and puts another in its place. How 
 sweet and fresh the bread is ! It is made of Indian 
 corn. She calls it " khubs dura." Abu Hanna says 
 that we must eat supper with them to-night. They 
 are plain fellaheen, and have neither tables, chairs, 
 knives nor forks. They have a few wooden spoons, 
 and a few plates. But hungry travellers and warm- 
 hearted friendship will make the plainest food sweet 
 and pleasant. 
 
 Supper is ready now, and we will go around to 
 Abu Hanna's house for he has come to tell us that 
 " all things are ready." "The house is one low room, 
 about sixteen by twenty feet. The ceiling you see 
 is of logs smoked black and shining as if they had 
 been varnished. Above the logs are flat stones and 
 thorns, on which earth is piled a foot deep. In the 
 winter this earth is rolled down with a heavy stone 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 265 
 
 roller to keep out the rain. In many of the houses 
 the family, cattle, sheep, calves and horses sleep in 
 the same room. The family sleep in the elevated 
 part of the room along the edge of which is a trough 
 into which they put the barley for the animals. This 
 is the " medhwad " or manger, such as the infant 
 Jesus was laid in. We will now accept Im Hanna's 
 kind invitation to supper. The plates are all on a 
 small tray on a mat in the middle of the floor, and 
 there are four piles of bread around the edge. 
 There is one cup of water for us all to drink from, 
 and each one has a wooden spoon. But Abu Hanna, 
 you will see, prefers to eat without a spoon. After 
 the blessing is asked in Arabic, Abu Hanna says, 
 " tefudduloo,'' which means help yourselves. Here 
 is kibby, and camel stew, and Esau's pottage, and 
 olives, and rice, and figs cooked in dibbs, and chicken 
 boiled to pieces, and white fresh cheese, and curdled 
 milk, and fried eggs. 
 
 Kibby is the Arab plum pudding and mince pie 
 and roast beef all in one. It is made by pounding 
 meat in a mortar with wheat, until both are mixed 
 into a soft pulp and then dressed with nuts and 
 onions and butter, and baked or roasted in cakes 
 over the fire. Dr. Thomson thinks that this dish is 
 alluded to in Prov. 27 : 22, " Though thou shouldest 
 bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, 
 yet will not his foolishness depart from him." That 
 is, put the fool into Im Hanna's stone mortar with 
 wheat and pound him into kibby, and he would still 
 
266 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 remain a fool ! It takes something besides pound- 
 ing to get the folly out of foolish men. 
 
 You see there are no separate plates for us. We 
 all help ourselves from the various dishes as we pre- 
 fer. Abu Hanna wants you to try the " mejeddara," 
 made of " oddis." It is like thick pea soup, but 
 with a peculiar flavor. This is what Jacob made the 
 pottage of, when he tempted Esau and bought his 
 birthright. I hope you will, like it, but I do not. 
 After seventeen years of trying, I am not able to 
 enjoy it, but Harry will eat all he can get, and the 
 little Arab children revel in it. You make poor 
 work with that huge wooden spoon. You had bet- 
 ter try Abu Hanna's way of eating. Many better 
 men than any of us have eaten in that way, and I 
 suppose our Saviour and his disciples ate as Abu 
 Hanna eats. He tears off a small piece of the thin 
 wafer-like bread, doubles it into a kind of three cor- 
 nered spoon, dips it into the rice, or picks up a piece 
 of kibby with it, and then eats it down, spoon and 
 all ! Im Hanna says I am afraid those little boys do 
 not like our food, so she makes a spoon and dips up 
 a nice morsel of the chicken, and comes to ycm and 
 says " minshan khatri," for my sake, eat this, and 
 ■you open your mouth and she puts it in. That is 
 the way our Saviour dipped the " sop" and put it 
 into the mouth of Judas Iscariot to show the disci- 
 ples which one it was. Giving the sop was a com- 
 mon act, and I have no doubt Jesus had often given 
 it to John and Peter and the other disciples, as a 
 kindly act, when they were eating together. 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 
 
 267 
 
 Im Hanna is fixing the lamp. It is a little earth- 
 en saucer having a lip on one side, with the wick 
 hanging over. The wick just began to smoke and she 
 poured-in more olive oil, and it burns brightly again. 
 Do you remember what the prophet Isaiah (42 : 3) 
 said, " a bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking 
 flax shall he not quench." This is quoted in Matt. 
 12 of our Lord Jesus. The word flax me.ans wick. 
 It is " fetileh" in Arabic, and this is just what Im 
 Hanna has been doing. She saw the wick smoking 
 and flickering, and instead of blowing it out and 
 quenching it, she brought the oil flask, and gently 
 poured in the clear olive oil and you saw how quickly 
 the flame revived. So our Lord would have us learn 
 from Him. When the flame of our faith and love 
 is almost dead and nothing remains but^the smoking 
 flickering wick. He does not quench it, and deal 
 harshly with us, but he comes in all gentleness and 
 love and pours in the oil of His grace, and then our 
 faith revives and we live again. 
 
 FAUT III. 
 
 Here come some little Bedawin gypsy children. 
 One is laughing at my hat. He never saw one before 
 and he calls me " Abu Suttle," the " father of a 
 Pail," and wonders why I carry a pail on my head. 
 The people love to use the word Abu, [father] or Im, 
 [mother]. They call a musquito Abu Fas, the father 
 of an axe. The centipede is " Im Arba wa Arb-ain,'' 
 
268 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 " The mother of forty-four legs." The Arabic poet 
 Hariri calls a tal>le the " father of assembling ;" iiread, 
 the " father of pleasantness ; a J>te, " the mother of 
 joyfulness," sali, the father of help," soap the " father 
 of softness ;" Death is called by the Arab poets, 
 "Father of the Living," because all the living are 
 subject to him. 
 
 After breakfast we will start for Safita. You see 
 that snow-white dome on the hill-top ! and another 
 on the next hill under that huge oak tree, and then 
 another and another. These are called Nebi or Zia- 
 rat or Wely. Each one contains one or more tombs 
 of Nusairy saints or sheikhs, and the poor women vis- 
 it them and burn lamps and make vows to the saints 
 ivho they think live in them. They know nothing 
 of Christ, and when they feel sad and troubled and 
 want comfort they enter the little room under the 
 white dome, and there they call, " O Jafar et Tiyyar 
 hear me! O Sheikh Hassan hear me!" 
 
 This is just as the old Canaanite women used to 
 go up and worship on every high hill, and under 
 every green tree, thousands of years ago, and these 
 poor Nusairiyeh are thought to be the descendants 
 of the old Canaanites. 
 
 Here come men on horseback to visit that " ziya- 
 ra." Up they go to the little room with the white 
 dome, and all dismount. The old sheikh who has 
 charge, comes out to meet them. They are pilgrims 
 and have to make vows and bring offerings. One 
 had a sick son and he once vowed that if his son got 
 well he would bring a sheep and a bushel of wheat as 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER 269 
 
 an offering to this shrine. So there is the sheep on 
 one of the horses, and that mule is bringing the 
 wheat. If the old sheikh has many such visitors he 
 will grow rich. Some of them do. And yet the 
 people laugh at these holy places, and tell some 
 strange stories about them. One of the stories is as 
 follows : — 
 
 Once upon a time there was a great Sheikh AH, 
 a holy man, who kept a holy tomb of an ancient 
 prophet. The tomb was on a hill under a big oak 
 tree, and the white dome could be seen for miles 
 around. Lamps were kept burning day and night in 
 the tomb, and if any one extinguished them, they 
 were miraculously lighted again. Men with sore 
 eyes came to visit it and were cured. The earth- 
 around the, tomb was carried off to be usedas medi- 
 cine. Women came and tied old rags on the limbs of 
 the tree, as vows to the wonderful prophet. Nobody 
 knew the name of the prophet, but the tomb was 
 called " Kobr en Nebi," or " tomb of the prophet." 
 A green cloth was spread over the tomb under the 
 dome, and incense was sold by the sheikh to those 
 who wished to heal their sick, or drive out evil spir- 
 its from their houses. Pilgrims came from afar to 
 visit the holy place, and its fame extended over all 
 the land. Sheikh Ali was becoming a rich man, 
 and all the pilgrims kissed his hand and begged his 
 blessing. Now Sheikh Ali had a faithful servant 
 named Mohammed, who had served him long and 
 well. But Mohammed was weary of living in one 
 place, and asked permission to go and seek his for- 
 
tJO THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 tune in distant parts. So Sheikh AH gave him his 
 blessing and presented him with a donkey, which he 
 had for many years, that he might ride when tired of 
 walking. Then Mohammed set out on his journey. 
 He went through cities and towns and villages, and 
 at last came out on the mountains east of the Jor- 
 dan in a desert place. No village or house was in gight 
 and night came on. Tired, hungy and discouraged 
 poor Mohammed lay down by his donkey on a great 
 pile of stones and fell asleep. In the morning he 
 awoke,. and alas his donkey was dead. He was in 
 despair, but his kindly nature would not let the 
 poor brute lie there to be devoured by jackals and 
 vultures, so he piled a mound of stones over its body 
 and sat down to weep. 
 
 While he was weeping, a wealthy Hajji or pilgrim 
 came along, on his return from Mecca. He was sur- 
 prised to see a man alone in this wilderness, and ask- 
 ed him why he was weeping ? Mohammed replied, 
 O Hajji, I have found the tomb of a holy prophet, 
 and I have vowed to be its keeper, but I am in great 
 need. The Hajji thanked him for the news, and dis- 
 mounted to visit the holy place, and gave Moham- 
 med a rich present. After he had gone Mohammed 
 hastened to the nearest village and bought provisions 
 and then returned to his holy prophet's tomb. The 
 Hajji spread the news, and p'ilgrms thronged to the 
 spot with rich presents and offerings. As money 
 came in Mohammed brought masons and built a 
 costly tomb with a tall white dome that could be 
 seen across the Jordan. He lived in a little room 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 
 
 271 
 
 by the tomb, and soon the miraculous Hghts began 
 to appear in the tomb at night, which Mohammed 
 had kindled when no one was near. He increased 
 in fame and wealth, and the Prophet's tomb became 
 one of the great shrines of the land. 
 
 At length Sheikh Ali heard of the fame of the 
 new holy place in the desert, and as his own visitors 
 began to fall off, decided to go himself and gain the 
 merit of a visit to the tomb of that famous prophet. 
 When he arrived there with his rich presents of 
 green cloth, incense and money, he bowed in silence 
 to pray towards Mecca, when suddenly he recog- 
 nized in the holy keeper of the tomb, his old servant 
 Mohammed. " Salam alaykoom " said Sheikh' Ali. 
 " Alaykoom es Salam," replied Mohammed. When 
 he asked him how he came here, and how he found 
 this tomb, Mohammed replied, this " tomb is a great 
 " sirr '' or mystery, and I am forbidden to utter the 
 secret." " But you must tell me" said Sheikh " Ali, for 
 I am a father to you." Mohammed refused and Ali in- 
 sisted, until at length Mohammed said, " my honored 
 Sheikh, you remember having given me a donkey. 
 It was a faithful donkey, and when it died I buried 
 it. This is the tomb of that donkey ! " " Mashallah ! 
 Mashallah ! " said Sheikh Ali. The will of Allah be 
 done ! Then they ate and drank together, and renew- 
 ed the memory of their former life, and then Sheikh 
 Mohammed said to Sheikh Ali, " My master, as I 
 have told you the ' sirr ' of my prophet's tomb, I wish 
 to know the secret of yours." " Impossible," said 
 AH, " for that is one of the ancient mysteries, too 
 
272 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 sacred to be mentioned by mortal lips." " But you 
 must tell me, even as I have told you." At length 
 the old Sheikh AU stroked his snowy beard, adjusted 
 his white turban, and whispered to Mohammed, 
 " and my holy place is the tomh of that donkey s 
 father t " " Mashallah," said Mohammed, " may 
 Allah bless the beard of the holy donkeys ! " 
 
 The people tell this story, which shows, that they 
 ridicule and despise their holy places, and yet are too 
 superstitious to give them up. The great thing with 
 the sheiks who keep them is iVt piastres they make 
 from the visitors. 
 
 As we go up the hill to Safita, you see the tall, 
 beautiful Burj, or Crusader's tower, built as were 
 many of the castles and towers whose ruins you see 
 on the hills about here, by the French and English 
 eight hundred years ago, to keep down the wild and 
 rebellious people. The Protestant Church is at the 
 east. These are two watch towers. One was built 
 for warriors who fought with sword and spear, and 
 the other for the simple warfare of the gospel. You 
 rnay depend upon it, we shall have a welcome here. 
 It is nearly sunset, and the people are coming in 
 from their fields and pastures and vineyards. Daud 
 and Nicola, and Michaiel, Soleyman, Ibrahim, and 
 Yusef, Miriam, Raheel and Nejmy and crowds of 
 others with a throng of little ragged boys and girls, 
 come running to greet us. " Praise God we have 
 seen you in peace ! " " Ehelan wa Sehelan," " Wel- 
 come and Welcome ! " " ,Be preferred ! " " Honor 
 us with your presence!" "How is your state?" 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 273 
 
 Inshallah you are all well!" " How are those you 
 left behind?" How are the preserved of God?" 
 " I hope you are not wearied with the long ride, this 
 hot day?" "From whence have you come, in 
 peace ? " " What happy day is this to Safita ! " and 
 we answer as fast as we can, and dismount and pitch 
 the tent in front of the church door, in the little 
 plot of ground next to the houses of some of the 
 brethren. The church is built of cream colored 
 limestone, the same color as the great Burj, and 
 contrasts strongly with the houses of the people. 
 Did you ever see such houses ? They are hardly 
 high enough to stand up in, and are built of round- 
 ish boulders of black trap-rock, without lime, and 
 look as if the least jar would tumble them all down. 
 Each house has but one room, and here the cattle, 
 goats and donkeys all sleep in the same room. The 
 people are poorer than any fellaheen (peasants) you 
 ever saw. There is not a chair or table in the vil- 
 lage, unless the Beshoor family have them. They 
 are the only wealthy people here, and in years past 
 they have oppressed the Protestants in the most 
 cruel manner. Beshoor had a lawsuit with the peo- 
 ple about the land of the village. It belonged to 
 them, and he wanted it. So he brought Govern- 
 ment horsemen and drove them off their lands and 
 took the crops himself. They thought they would 
 try a new way to get justice. The Government 
 officials were all bribed, so there was no hope there. 
 So they decided to turn Protestants and get aid in 
 that way. They did not know what the Protestant 
 
274 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 religion was, but had some Mea that it would help 
 them. Down they went to Tripoli to the mission- 
 aries with a list of three hundred persons who want- 
 ed to become Angliz or Protestants. The people 
 sometimes call us Angliz, or English, others call us 
 " Boostrant" or " Brostant," but the common name 
 is " Injiliyeen" or people of the Enjeel, or Evangel, 
 that is, the Evangelicals. 
 
 Dr. Post and your Uncle Samuel came up to Safita 
 to look into the matter. They found the people grossly 
 ignorant and living like cattle, calling themselves Pro- 
 testants and knowing nothing of the gospel. So they 
 sent a teacher and began to teach them. When the 
 people found that the missionaries did not come to dis- 
 tribute money, some of them went back to the Greeks. 
 But others said no ; this new religion is more than we 
 expected. The more we hear, the more we Hke it. 
 We shall live and die Protestants. Then Beit Be- 
 shoor became alarmed. They said, if this people get 
 a school, have a teacher, and read the Bible, we can- 
 not oppress them. They must be kept down in igno- 
 rance. So they began in earnest. The Protestants 
 were arrested and dragged off to Duraikish to prison. 
 Women and children were beaten. Brutal horsemen 
 were quartered on their houses. That means, that a 
 rough fellow, armed with pistols and a sword came 
 to the house of -Abii Asaad, and stayed two weeks. 
 He made them cook chickens, and bring eggs and 
 bread and everything he wanted every day, and 
 bring barley for his horse. The poor man had no 
 barley and had to buy, and theGreeks. would make 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 
 
 27s 
 
 him pay double price for it. When he could get no 
 more he was beaten and his wife insulted, and so it 
 was in almost every Protestant house. They began 
 to love the Gospel, and the men who knew how to 
 read, would meet to read and pray together. One 
 evening, all the Protestants met together in one of 
 the houses. Their sufferings were very great. Their 
 winter stores had been plundered, their olives gather- 
 ed by Beit Beshoor, and they talked and prayed over 
 their trouble. It was a dark, cold, rainy night, and 
 the wind blew a " gale. While they were talking 
 together, a man came rushing in crying, run for your 
 lives ! the horsemen are here ! Before they could 
 get out, a squad of wild looking wretches were at the 
 door. The men fled, carrying the larger children 
 and the women carrying the babies, and off they went 
 into the wilderness in the storm and darkness. 
 Some women were seized and tied by ropes around 
 their waists, to the horsemen, and marched off for 
 miles to prison. The men who were caught were 
 put in chains. Some time later they got back home 
 again. But they would not give up the Gospel. 
 Beshoor sent men who told them they could have 
 peace if they would only go back to the Greek 
 Church. But he offered peace quite too late. They 
 had now learned to love the Gospel, and it was worth 
 more to them than all the world beside. One night 
 they were assembled in a little low black house, when 
 some men came to the door and threw in burning 
 bundles of straw and then shut the door, so that 
 they were almost stifled with the smoke. They 
 
276 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 sent a messenger to Beirut. The case was laid before 
 the Pasha, and he telegraphed to have the Protest- 
 ants let alone. But Beshoor cared for nothing. A 
 Nusairy was hired to shoot Abu Asaad, the leading 
 Protestant. His house was visited in the daytime, 
 and the man saw where Abu Asaad's bed was pla- 
 ced. In the night he came stealthily upon the roof, 
 dug a hole through, and fired three bullets at the 
 spot. But see how God protects his people ! That 
 evening Abu Asaad said to his wife ; the floor is 
 getting damp in the corner, let us remove the bed 
 and mat to the other side. They did so, and when 
 the man fired, the bullets went into the ground 
 just where Abu Asaad had slept the night before ! 
 He ran out and saw the assassins and recognized 
 one of them as the servant of Beshoor's son. The 
 next day he complained to the Government and they 
 refused to hear him because he did not bring wit- 
 nesses ! 
 
 But the poor people would not give up. Every 
 day they went to their fields, carrying their Testa- 
 ments in their girdles and at noontime would read 
 and find comfort. Their children were half naked 
 and half starved. When word reached Beirut, the 
 native Protestant wome» met together and collected 
 several hundred piastres (a piastre is four cents) for 
 the women and girls of Safita. They made up a 
 bale of clothing, and sent with it a very touching 
 and kind letter, telling their poor persecuted sisters 
 to bear their trials in patience, and put all their trust 
 in the Lord Jesus. That aid, together with the con- 
 
l\-- -lit %*« 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 
 
 277 
 
 tributions made by the missionaries and others in 
 Beirut, gave them some relief, and the kind words of 
 sympathy strengthened their hearts. The school 
 was kept up amid all these troubles. One of the 
 boys was taught in Abeih Seminary, and two of the 
 girls were sent to the Beirut Female Seminary. 
 
 You would have been amused to see those girls 
 when they first reached Beirut. They walked bare- 
 foot from Safita down to Tripoli, about forty miles, 
 and then Uncle S. took them on to Beirut. He 
 bought shoes for them, and hired two little donkeys 
 for them to ride, but they preferred to walk a part of 
 the way, and would carry their shoes in their hands 
 and run along the sandy beach in the surf, far ahead 
 of the animals. I rode out to meet them, and they 
 were a sorry sight to see. Uncle S. rode a forlorn- 
 looking horse, and two ragged men from Safita walk- 
 ed by his side, followed by two ragged fat-faced 
 girls riding on little donkeys. The girls were almost 
 bewildered at the city sights and scenes. Soon we 
 met a carriage, and they were so frightened that they 
 turned pale, and their donkeys were almost para- 
 lyzed with fear. One of the little girls, when asked if 
 she knew what that was, said ir was a mill walking. 
 
 The first few days in school they were so home- 
 sick for Safita that they ran away several times. 
 They could not bear to be washed and combed and 
 sent to the Turkish bath, but wanted to come back 
 here among the goats and calves and donkeys. One 
 night they went to their room and cried aloud. 
 Rufka, the teacher, asked them what they wanted ? 
 
278 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 They said, pointing to the white beds, " We don't 
 like these white things to sleep on. We don't want 
 to stay here. There are no calves and donkeys, and 
 the room is so light and cold ! " The people here in 
 Safita think that the cattle help to keep the room 
 warm. In the daytime they complained of being 
 tired of sitting on the seats to study, and wished to 
 stand up and rest. One was 11 and the other 12 
 years old, and that was in 1865. 
 
 One of them, Raheel, fell sick after a time, and 
 was much troubled about her sins. Her teacher 
 Sara, who slept near her, overheard her praying and 
 saying, " Oh Lord Jesus, do give me a new heart ! I 
 am a poor sinner. Do you suppose that because I am 
 from Safita, you cannot give me a new heart ? O 
 Lord, I know you can. Do have mercy on me ! " 
 
 Who are those clean and well dressed persons 
 coming out of the church ? Our dear brother Yusef 
 Ahtiyeh, the native preacher, and his wife Hadla, 
 and Miriam, the teacher of the girls' school. Yusef 
 is one of the most refined and lovely young men in 
 Syria. What a clear eye he has, and what a pleasant 
 face! He too has borne much for his Master. In 
 1865, when he left the Greek Church, he was living 
 with his brother in Beirut. His brother turned him 
 out of the house at night, with neither bed nor 
 clothing. He came to my house and staid with 
 me some time. He said it was hard to be- driven 
 out by his brother and mother, but he could bear 
 anything for Christ's sake. Said he, " I can bear 
 cursing and beating and the loss of property. But 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 279 
 
 my mother is weeping and wailing over me. She 
 thinks I am a heretic and am lost forever. Oh, it is 
 hard to bear, the ' persecution of tears ! ' " But the 
 Lord gave him grace to bear it, and he is now the 
 happy spiritual guide of this large Protestant com- 
 munity, and the Nusairy Sheikhs look up to him with 
 respect, while that persecuting brother of his is 
 poverty-stricken and sick, and can hardly get bread 
 for his children. 
 
 Miriam, the teacher, is a heroine. Her parents 
 were Greeks, but sent her to school to learn to 
 read. She learned in a short time to read the 
 New Testament, and to love it, and to keep the 
 Sabbath day holy. The keeping of the Sabbath was 
 something new in Safita. The Nusairiyeh have no 
 holy day at all, and the Greeks have so many that 
 they keep none of them. They work and buy and 
 sell and travel on the Sabbath as on other days, and 
 think far more of certain saint's days than of the Sab- 
 bath. When Miriam was only seven years old, her 
 father said to her one Sabbath morning, " go with me 
 to the hursh (forest) to get a donkey load of wood." 
 She replied, " my father, I cannot go, it is not right, 
 for it is God's day." The father went without her, 
 and while cutting wood, his donkey strayed away, 
 and he had to search through the mountains for 
 hours, so that he did not reach home until twelve 
 o'clock at night, and then without any wood. He 
 said he should not go for wood on Sunday any more. 
 But a few Sundays after, it was the olive season, 
 and Miriam's mother to'd her to go out with the 
 
2S0 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 women and girls to gather olives. They had been 
 at work during the week, and the mother thought 
 Miriam ought to |o on Sunday with the rest. But 
 Miriam said, "don't you remember father's losing 
 the donkey, and what he said about it? I can- 
 not go." "Then," said her mother, "if you will not 
 work, you shall not eat." " Very well, ya imme, I 
 will not eat. If I keep the Lord'sday, He will keep 
 me." Away went the mother to the olive orchard, 
 and Miriam went to the preaching and the Sunday 
 School. At evening, when the family all came home, 
 Miriam read in her New Testament and went to bed 
 without her supper. The next morning she said, 
 " Mother, now I am ready to gather olives. Didn't 
 I tell you the Lord would keep me ? " 
 
 After this Miriam's father became a Protestant, 
 and allowed the missionaries to send her to the Sem- 
 inary in Sidon, where she was the best girl in the 
 school. When she went home in the vacation in 
 1869, new persecutions were stirred up against the 
 Protestants. The Greek Bishop, with a crowd of 
 priests and a body of armed horsemen, came to the 
 village, to compel all the Protestants to turn back to 
 the old religion. The armed men went to the Protest- 
 ant houses and seized men and women and dragged 
 them to the great Burj, in which is the Greek church. 
 Miriam's father and mother wei'e greatly terrified 
 and went back with them to the Greeks. They then 
 called for Miriam. " Never," said she to the Bish- 
 op, " I will never worship pictures and pray to saints 
 again. You may cut me in pieces, but I will not 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 28 1 
 
 stir one step with them." The old Bishop turned 
 back, and left her to herself. Near by was a man 
 named Abu Isbir, who was so frightened that he 
 said, " yes, I will go back, don't strike me !" But his 
 wife, Im Isbir, was not wilHng to give up. She re- 
 buked her husband and took hold of his arm, and 
 actually dragged him back to his house, to save him 
 the shame of having denied the Gospel. He stood 
 firm, and afterwards united with the Church. 
 
 Here comes Im Isbir. Poor woman, she is a 
 widow now. Her husband died and left her with 
 these little children, and last night her valuable cow 
 died, and she is in great distress. Yusef, the preach- 
 er, says she is the most needy person in Safita. You 
 would think so from the ragged appearance of the 
 children. They are like the children in Eastern 
 Turkey, whom Mr. Williams of Mardin used to de- 
 scribe, whose garments were so ragged and tattered 
 that there was hardly cloth enough to make bor- 
 ders for the holes ! They dig up roots in the fields 
 for food, and now and then the neighbors give them 
 a little of their coarse corn bread. The Greeks tell 
 her to turn back to them and they will help her, but 
 she says, " when one has found the light, can she turn 
 back into the darkness again ?'' Yusef wishes us to 
 walk in and sit down, as the people are anxious to 
 see us. He lives in the church from necessity. He 
 cannot get a house in the village, excepting these 
 dark cavern-like rooms with damp floors, and so the 
 missionaries told him to occupy one half of the 
 church room. A curtain divides it into two rooms, 
 
282 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 and on Sunday the curtain is drawn, his things are 
 piled up on one side, and the women and girls sit in 
 that part, while the men and boys sit on the other 
 side. All sit on mats on the floor. Is that cradle 
 hanging from the ring in the arch between the two 
 rooms, kept there on Sunday? Yes, and when I 
 preached here last June, Yusef's baby was swinging 
 there during the whole service. One of the women 
 kept it swinging gently, by pulling a cord, which 
 hung down from it. It did not disturb the meeting 
 at all. No one noticed it. They have calves and 
 cows, donkeys and goats in their own houses at night, 
 and sleep sweetly enough, so that the swinging of a 
 hanging cradle in the inside of the church is not 
 thought to be at all improper. 
 
 Do you see that shelf on the wall ? It reminds 
 me of a little girl named Miriam who once came to 
 your Aunt Annie in Deir Mimas to ask about the 
 Sidon schoQl, whither she was going in a few weeks. 
 She told Miriam that she would have to be thor- 
 oughly washed and combed every day, and would 
 sleep on a bedstead. Then Miriam asked permission 
 to see a bedstead, as she did not know what it could 
 be. The next night, about midnight, Miriam's 
 mother heard something drop heavily on the floor, 
 and then a child crying. She went across the room, 
 and there was Miriam sitting on the mat. " What is 
 the matter, Miriam?" she asked. Miriam said, 
 " mother, the Sit told me I was to sleep on a bed- 
 stead in Sidon school, and I thought I would prac- 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 283 
 
 tice beforehand, so I tried to sleep on the shelf, and 
 tumbled off in my sleep ! " 
 
 Abu Asaad says the Nusairy Sheikh who was 
 arrested some months ago has been poisoned. Poi- 
 soning used to be very common in Syria. If we 
 should call at the hpuse of a Nusairy, and he brought 
 coffee for us to drink, he would take a sip himself 
 out of the cup before giving it to us, to show that it 
 was not poisoned. Once Uncle S. and Aunt A. 
 were invited out to dine in Hums at the house of 
 the deacon of the church. His mother is an igno- 
 rant woman, and had often threatened to kill him. 
 When they had eaten, they suddenly were taken ill, 
 and suffered much from the effects of it. It was 
 found that the mother had put poison into the food, 
 intending to kill her son, the missionaries, and the 
 other invited guests, but through the mercy of God 
 none of them were seriously injured. 
 
 Michaiel says that they have only half a crop of 
 corn this year, as the locusts devoured the other half 
 in the spring. You remember I sent you some 
 locusts' wings once, in a letter. When they appear 
 in the land, the Pashas and Mudirs and Kaimakams 
 give orders to the people to go out and gather the 
 eggs of the locusts as soon as they begin to settle 
 down to bury themselves in the earth. The body 
 of the female locust is like the spawn of a fish, filled 
 with one mass of eggs. Each man is obliged to 
 bring so many ounces of these eggs to the Pasha 
 and have them weighed and then burned. A tailor 
 of Beirut brought a bag of them, and as it was late. 
 
284 "^^^ WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 put them in his shop for the' night and went home. 
 He was unwell for a few days and when he went to 
 his shop again, opened the door, and thousands of 
 little black hopping creatures, like imps, came hke a 
 cloud into his face. They had hatched out in his 
 absence. 
 
 This is a fearful land for lying ; in these, moun- 
 tains around us, you cannot depend on a word you 
 hear. The people say that in the beginning of the 
 world, Satan came down to the earth with seven 
 bags of lies, which he intended to distribute in the 
 seven kingdoms of the earth. The first night after 
 he reached the earth he slept in Syria, and opened 
 one of the bags, letting the lies loose in the land. 
 'JBut while he was asleep, some one came and open- 
 ed all the other bags ! so that Syria got more than 
 her share ! 
 
 An old man in Beirut once said, " Sir, you must 
 be careful what you believe, and whom you trust 
 in this country. If there are twenty-four inches of 
 hypocrisy in the world, twenty-three are in Syria." 
 This man was a native of great experience. I think 
 he was rather severe on his countrymen. Yet the 
 people have had a hard training. The Nusairiyeh 
 all lie. They do not even pretend to tell the truth. 
 The Druze religion teaches the people that it is right' 
 to lie to all except Druzes. The Moslems are better 
 than either of these two classes, but they lie without 
 a blush, and you must be very careful how you be- 
 lieve them. 
 
 Among the Maronite and Greek sects, their 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 285 
 
 priests tell the people that they can forgive sins. 
 When a man lies or steals or does anything else that 
 is wicked, he pays a few piastres to the priest, who 
 gives him what they call absolution or forgiveness. 
 So the people can do what they please without fear, 
 as the priest is ready to forgive them for money. 
 These sects call themselves Christian, but there is 
 very little of Christianity among them. A Greek in 
 Tripoli once told me that there was not a man in the 
 Greek church in Tripoli who would not lie, excepting 
 one of the priests. 
 
 Leaving Safita, we will go back on a different 
 road, crossing directly to the sea-shore, and then 
 along the coast to Tripoli. Here is a little abject 
 village, and the people look as abject as the village. 
 Their neighbors laugh at them for their stupidity, 
 and tell the following story : They have no wells in 
 the village, and the little fountain is not sufficient for 
 their cattle, so they water them from the Ramet or 
 pool, which is filled by the rains and lasts nearly all 
 summer. One year the water in the Ramet began 
 to fail, and there was a quarrel between the two 
 quarters of the village, as to which part should have 
 the first right to the water. Finally they decided to 
 divide the pool into two parts, by making a fence 
 of poles across the middle of it. This worked very 
 well. One part watered their cattle on one side and 
 the other part on the other side. But one night 
 there was a great riot in the village. Some of the 
 men from the north side saw a south-sider dipping 
 up water from the north side and pouring it over the 
 
286 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 fence into the other part of the pool. Of course 
 this made no difference, as the fence was nothing 
 but open lattice work, but the people were too stupid 
 to see that, so they fought and bruised one another 
 for a long time. 
 
 In another village, Aaleih, near Beirut, the peo- 
 ple were formerly so stupid that the Arabs say that 
 once when the clouds came up the mountains 
 and settled like a bank of fog under the cliff on 
 which their village is built, they thought it was the 
 sea, and went to fish in the clouds ! 
 
 So you see the Syrians are as fond of humorous 
 stories as other people. 
 
 FART IV. 
 
 But here we are coming upon a gypsy camp. The 
 Arabs call them Nowar, and you will find that the 
 Arab women of the villages are careful to keep an 
 eye on their little children when the gypsies are 
 around. They often steal children in the towns and 
 cities, when they can find them straying away from 
 home at dusk, and then sell them as servants in 
 Moslem families. Last year we were all greatly in- 
 terested in a story of this kind, which I know you 
 will be glad to hear. 
 
 After the terrible massacre in Damascus in i860, 
 thousands of the Greek and Greek Catholic families 
 migrated to Beirut, and among them was a man named 
 Khalil Ferah, who escaped the fire and sword with 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 28/ 
 
 his wife and his little daughter Zahidy. I remember 
 well how we were startled one evening in 1862, by- 
 hearing a crier going through the streets, " child 
 lost ! girl lost !" The next day he came around 
 again, " child lost !" There was great excitement 
 about it. The poor father and mother went almost 
 frantic. Little Zahidy, who was then about six years 
 old, was coming home from school with other girls 
 in the afternoon, and they said a man came along 
 with a sack on his back, and told Zahidy that 
 her mother had sent him to buy her some sugar 
 plums and then take her home, and she went away 
 with him. It is supposed that he decoyed her away 
 to some by-road and then put her into the great ~ 
 sack, and carried her off to the Arabs or the gypsies. 
 The poor father left no means untried to find 
 her. He wrote to Damascus, Alexandria, and Alep- 
 pp, describing the child and begged his friends every- 
 wliere to watch for her, and send him word if they 
 found her. There was one mark on the child, 
 which, he said, would be certain to distinguish her. 
 When she was a baby, and nursing at her mother's 
 breast, her mother upset a little cup of scalding hot 
 coffee upon the child's breast, which burned it to a 
 blister, leaving a scar which could not be removed. 
 This sign the father described, and his friends aided 
 him in trying to find the little girl.. They went to 
 the encampments of the gypsies and looked at all the 
 children, but all in vain. The father journeyed by 
 land and by sea. Hearing of a little girl in Aleppo 
 who could not give an account of herself, he went 
 
238 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 there, but it was not his child. Then he went to 
 Danaascus and Alexandria, and at length hearing 
 that a French Countess in Marseilles had a little 
 Syrian orphan girl whose parents were not known, 
 he sent to Marseilles and examined the girl, but she 
 was not his child. Months and years passed on, but 
 the father never ceased to speak and think of that 
 little lost girl. The naother too was almost dis- 
 tracted. 
 
 At length light came. Nine years had passed 
 away, and the Beirut people had almost forgotten the 
 story of the lost Damascene girl. Your uncle S. and 
 your Aunt A. were sittin ; in their house one day, 
 in Tripoli, when Tannoos, the boy, brought word 
 that a man and woman from Beirut wished to see 
 them. They came in and introduced themselves. 
 They were Khalil, the father of the little lost girl, 
 and his sister, who had heard that Zahidy was in 
 Tripoli, and had come to search for her. The moth- 
 er was not able to leave home. 
 
 It seems that a native physician in Tripoli, nam- 
 ed Sheikh Aiub el Hashim, was an old friend of the 
 father and had known the family and all the circum- 
 stances of the little girl's disappearance, and for 
 years he had been looking for her. At length he 
 was called one day to attend a sick servant girl in the 
 family of a Moslem named Syed Abdullah. The 
 poor girl was ill from having been beaten in a cruel 
 manner by the Moslem. Her face and arms were 
 tattooed in the Bedawin style, and she told him that 
 she was a Bedawin girl, and had been living here for 
 
Women Weeping at the Tomb. 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 289 
 
 some years, and her name was Khodra. While ex- 
 amining the bruises on her body, he observed a pe- 
 cuHar scar on her breast. He was startled. He 
 looked again. It was precisely the scar that his 
 friend had so often described to him. From her age, 
 her features, her complexion and all, he felt sure that 
 she was the lost child. He said nothing, but went 
 home and wrote all about it to the father in Beirut. 
 He hastened to TripoH bringing his sister, as he be- 
 ing a man, could not be admitted to a Moslem ha- 
 reem. Then the question arose, how should the sis- 
 ter see the girl ! They came and talked with your 
 uncle, and went to Yanni and the other Vice Con- 
 suls, and at length they.found out that the women of 
 that Moslem family were skillful in making silk and 
 gold embroidery which they sold. So his sister de- 
 termined to go and order some embroidered work, 
 and see the girl. She talked with the Moslem wom- 
 en, and with their Bedawy servant girl, and made 
 errands for the women to bring her specimens of 
 their work, improving the opportunity to talk with 
 the servant. She saw the scar, and satisfied herself 
 from the striking resemblance of the girl to her 
 mother, that she was the long-lost Zahidy. 
 
 The father now took measures to secure his 
 daughter. The American, Prussian, English and 
 French Vice Consuls sent a united demand to the 
 Turkish Pasha, that the girl be brought to court to 
 meet her father, and that the case be tried in the 
 Mejlis, or City Council. The Moslems were now 
 greatly excited. They knew that there were not less 
 13 
 
290 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 than twenty girls in their families who had been sto- 
 len in this way, and if one could be reclaimed, per- 
 haps the rest might, so they resolved to resist. They 
 brought Bedawin Arabs to be present at the trial, 
 and hired them to swear falsely. When the girl 
 was brought in, the father was quite overcome. He 
 could see the features of his dear child, but she was 
 so disfigured with the Bedawin tattooing and the bru- 
 tal treatment of the Moslems, that his heart sank 
 within him. Yet he examined her, and took his 
 oath that this was his daughter, and demanded 
 that she be given up to him. The Bedawin men and 
 women were now brought in. One swore that he 
 was the father of the girl, and a woman swore that 
 she was her mother. Then several swore that they 
 were her uncles, but it was proved that they were in 
 no way related to the one who said he was her fath- 
 er. Other witnesses were called, but they contradict- 
 .ed one another. Then they asked the girl. Poor 
 thing, she had been so long neglected and abused, 
 that she had forgotten her father, and the Moslem 
 women had threatened to kill her if she said she was 
 his daughter, so she declared she was born among 
 the Bedawin, and was a Moslem in religion. Money 
 had been given to certain of the Mejlis, and they 
 finally decided that the girl should go to the Moslem 
 house of Derwish Effendi to await the final decis- 
 ion. 
 
 The poor father now went to the Consuls. They 
 made out a statement of the case and sent it to the 
 Consuls General in Beinlt, who sent a joint dispatch 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 2gl 
 
 to the Waly of alF Syria, who lives in Damascus, de- 
 manding that as the case could not be fairly tried 
 in Tripoli, the girl- be brought to Beiriit to be exam- 
 ined by a Special Commission. The Waly tele- 
 graphed at once to Tripoli, to have the girl sent on 
 by the first steamer to Beirut. The Moslem women 
 now told the girl that orders had come to have her 
 killed, and that she was to be taken on a steamer as 
 if to go to Beiinit, but that really they were going 
 to throw her into the sea, and that if she reached 
 Beirut aUve they would cut her up and burn her ! 
 So the poor child went on the steamer in perfect 
 terror, and she reached Beirut in a state of exhaus- 
 tion. When she was rested, a Commission was 
 formed consisting of the Moslem Kadi of Beirut who 
 was acting Governor, the political Agent, Delenda 
 Effendi, the Greek Catholic Bishop Agabius, the 
 Maronite Priest Yusef, and the agent of the Greek 
 Bishop, together with all the members of the Execu- 
 tive Council. 
 
 Her father, mother and aunt were now brought 
 in and sat near her. She refused to recognize them, 
 and was in constant fear of being injured. The 
 Kadi then turned to her and said, " do not fear, my 
 child. You are among friends. Do not be afraid 
 of people who have threatened you. No one shall 
 harm you." The Moslem Kadi, the Greek Catholic 
 priests, and others having thus spoken kindly to her, 
 the father and mother stated the history of how the 
 httle girl was lost nine years ago, and that she had a 
 scar on her breast. The scar was examined, and 
 
292 THE, WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 all began to feel that she was really ■ their own 
 daughter. The girl began to feel more calm, and 
 the Kadi told her that her own mother wanted to 
 ask her a few questions. 
 
 Her mother now went up to her and said, " My 
 child, don't you remember me?" She said " no I 
 do not." " Don't you remember thsit your name was 
 once Zahidy, and I used to call you, and you lived in 
 a house with a little yard, and flowers before the 
 door, and that you went with the little girls to 
 school, and came home at night, and that one day a 
 man came and offered you sugar plums and led you 
 away and carried you off to the Arabs? Don't you 
 know me, my own daughter f " The poor girl trem- 
 bled ; her lips quivered, and she said,, " Yes, I did 
 have another name. I was Zahidy. I did go with 
 little girls. Oh, ya imme ! My mother ! you are 
 my mother," and she sprang into her arms and 
 wept, and the mother wept and laughed, and the 
 Moslem Kadi and the Mufti, and the priests and the 
 Bishops and the Effendis and the great crowd of 
 spectators wiped their eyes, and bowed their heads, 
 and there was a great silence. 
 
 After a little the Kadi said, " it is enough. This 
 girl is the daughter of Kahlil' Ferah. Sir, take your 
 child, and Allah be with you ! " 
 
 The father wiped away the tears and said, "Your 
 Excellency, you see this poor girl all tattooed and 
 disfigured. You see how ignorant and feeble she is. 
 If she were not my child, there is nothing about her 
 to make me wish to take her. But she is my own 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 
 
 293 
 
 darling child, and with all her faults and infirmities, 
 I love her." The whole Council then arose and con- 
 gratulated l^e father and mother, and a great crowd 
 accompanied them home. Throngs of people came 
 to see her and congratulate the family, and after a 
 little the girl was sent to a boarding school. 
 
 I can hardly think over this story even now with- 
 out tears, for I think how glad I should have been 
 to get back again a child of mine if it had been lost. 
 And I have another thought too about that little 
 lost girl. If that father loved his daughter so as to 
 search and seek for her, and expend money, and 
 travel by land and sea for years, in trying to find 
 her, and when at length he found her, so forlorn and 
 wretched and degraded, yet loved her still because 
 she was his daughter, do you not think that Jesus 
 loves us even more? We were lost and wretched 
 and forlorn. A wor.se being than Bedawin gypsies 
 has put his mark on our hearts and our natures. 
 We have wandered far, far away. We have served 
 the world, and forgotten our dear Heavenly Father. 
 We have even refused to receive Him when he has 
 come near us. Yet Jesus came to seek and to save 
 us. And when he found us so degraded and sinful 
 and disfigured. He loved us still, because we are 
 His own children. Don't you think that the little 
 lost Damascene girl was thankful when she reached 
 her home, and was loved and kindly treated by 
 father and mother and relatives and friends ? And 
 ought we not to be very thankful when Jesus brings 
 
294 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 US home, and calls us " dear children" and opens the 
 gate of heaven to us ? 
 
 This story of the lost Damascene child»calls to my 
 mind a little song which the Maronite women in 
 Lebanon sing to their babies as a lullaby. The 
 story is that a Prince's daughter was stolen by the 
 Bedawin " Arabs, and carried to their camp. She 
 grew up and was' married to a Bedawin Sheikh and 
 had a little son. One day a party of muleteers came 
 to the camp selling grapes, and she recognized them 
 as from her own village. She did not dare speak to 
 them, so she began to sing a lullaby to her baby, 
 and motioned to the grape-sellers to come near, and 
 when the Bedawin were not listening, she would 
 sing them her story in the same tone as the lullaby. 
 
 THE LULLABY. 
 
 Sleep, baby sleep ! a sleep so sweet and mild, 
 ... Sleep, my Arab boy, my little Bedawin child ! 
 
 ^ate.seUers\ Once I was a happy girl, 
 
 grape sellers ) ^^^ ^^.^^^ Abdullah's daughter . 
 
 Playing with the village maids. 
 
 Bringing wood and water. 
 
 Suddenly the Bedawin 
 
 Carried me away ; 
 
 Clothed me in the Aba robe 
 
 And here they make me stay. 
 Sleep, baby sleep ! a sleep so sweet and mild. 
 Sleep, my Arab boy, my little Bedawin child ! 
 Aside Ye sellers of grapes hear what I say. 
 
 I had dressed in satin rich and gay. 
 
 They took my costly robes away, 
 
 And dressed me in Aba coarse and grey. 
 
 I !iad lived on viands costly and rare. 
 
 And now raw camel's flesh is my fare. 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 
 
 29s 
 
 Sleep, baby sleep ! a sleep so sweet and mild, 
 Sleep, my Arab boy, my little Bedawin child ! 
 
 Aside Oh seller of grapes, I beg you hear. 
 
 Go tell my mother and father dear, 
 That you have seen me here to-day. 
 Just by the Church my parents live, 
 The Bedawin stole me on Thursday eve. 
 Let the people come and their sister save. 
 Let them come with warriors bold and brave, 
 Lest I die of grief and go to my grave. 
 
 The grape-sellers theri go home, and the warriors 
 come and rescue her, and take her home. 
 
 We will stop here a moment and make a pencil 
 sketch of this Arab camp, but we must be very care- 
 ful not to let them see us writing. They have a 
 great fear of the art of writing, a superstitious idea 
 that a person who writes or sketches in their camp, 
 is writing some charm or incantation to bring mis- 
 chief upon them. I once heard of a missionary who 
 went to an Arab village to spend the night. The 
 people were all Maronites, and grossly ignorant. He 
 pitched his tent and sat down to rest. Presently a 
 crowd of rough young men came in and began to in- 
 sult him. They demanded bakhshish, and handled 
 his bedding and cooking utensils in a very brutal 
 manner, and asked him if he had any weapons. He 
 bethought himself of one weapon and began to use 
 it. He took out a pencil and paper, and began to 
 make a sketch of the ringleader. He looked him 
 steadily in the eye, and then wrote rapidly with his 
 pencil. The man began to tremble and slowly re- 
 treated and finally shouted to his companions, and 
 
296 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 off they all went. Shortly after, they sent a man 
 to beg Mr. L. not to cut off their heads ! Their 
 priests teach them that the Protestants have the 
 power of working magic, and that they draw a man's 
 portrait and take it with them, and if the man does 
 anything to displease them, they cut off the head of 
 the picture and the man's head drops off! Mr. L. 
 sent them word that they had better be very careful 
 how they behaved. They did not molest him again. 
 Here we are near Tripoli, at the Convent of the 
 Sacred Fish. What a beautiful spot ! This large 
 high building with its snow-white dome, and the 
 great sycamore tree standing by this circular pool of 
 crystal water, make a beautiful scene. What a crowd 
 of Moslem boys ! They have come all the way from 
 Tripoli, about two miles, to feed the Sacred Fish. 
 They are a gay looking company, with their red, 
 green, blue, yellow, white and purple clothes, and 
 their bright red caps and shoes, and some of them 
 with white turbans. They come out on feast days 
 and holidays to play on this green lawn and feed the 
 fish. The old sheikh who keeps this holy place, has 
 great faith in these fish. He says they are all good 
 Moslems, and are inhabited by the souls of Moslem 
 saints, and there is one black fish, the Sheikh of the 
 saints, who does not often show himself to spectators. 
 There are hundreds if not thousands of fish, resem- 
 bling the dace or chubs of America. He says that du- 
 ring the Crimean war, many of the older ones went 
 oflF under the sea to Sevastopol and fought the Rus- 
 sian infidels, and some of them came back wounded. 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 
 
 297 
 
 The people think that if any one eats these fish he 
 will die immediately. That I know to be false, for I 
 have tried it. When the American Consul was here 
 in 1856, his Moslem Kawasses caught several of the 
 fish, and brought them to Mr. Lyons' house. We 
 had them cooked and ate them, but found them 
 coarse and unpalatable. That was sixteen years ago? 
 and we have not felt the evil effects yet. 
 
 This poor woman has a sick child, and has come 
 to get the Sheikh to read the Koran over it and cure 
 it. The most of the Syrian doctors are ignorant 
 quacks, and the people have so many superstitions 
 that they prefer going to saints' tombs rather than 
 call a good physician. There is a Medical College 
 in Beirut now, and before long Syria will have some 
 skilful doctors. I knew an old Egyptian doctor in 
 Duma named Haj Ibrahim, who was a conceited fel- 
 low. He used to bleed for every kind of disease. 
 An old man eighty years of age was dying of con- 
 sumption, and the Haj opened a vein and let him 
 bleed to death. When the man died, he said if he 
 had only taken a little more blood, the old man 
 would have recovered. I was surprised by his com- 
 ing to me one day and asking for some American 
 newspapers. I supposed he wished them to wrap 
 medicines in and gave him several New York Tri- 
 bunes. A few days after he invited us to eat figs and 
 grapes in his vineyard and we stopped at his house. 
 He said he was very thankful for the papers. They 
 had been very useful. I wondered what he meant, 
 and asked him. He showed me a jar in the corner 
 13* 
 
298 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 in which he had dissolved the papers into a pulp in 
 oil and water, and had given the pulp as medicine to 
 the people ! He said it was a powerful medicine. 
 He supposed that the English printed letters would 
 have some magic influence on diseases; 
 
 One of the Moslem lads carries a short iron spear 
 as a sign that he is going to be a derwish. Dr. De 
 Forest once found himself surrounded in a Moslem 
 village by a troop of little Moslems, each of them 
 with an iron-headed spear in his hand. A Moorish 
 Sheikh, or Chief, had been for some two years teach- 
 ing the Moslems of the place the customs of their 
 holy devotees, and in consequence all the boys had 
 become derwishes, or Moslem monks. He was a 
 shrewd old Sheikh. He knew that the true way to 
 perpetuate his religion was to teach the children. 
 He had taught them the Moslem prayers and pros- 
 trations, and to keep certain moral precepts. How 
 glad we should be if these boys would come and sit 
 down by us while we talk to them of Jesus ! There 
 they come. See how their eyes sparkle, as I speak 
 to them. They have never heard about the gospel 
 before. But I must speak in a low tone, as the old 
 Sheikh is coming and he looks down upon us as infi- 
 del dogs ! Perhaps some of them will think of 
 these words some day, and put their trust in our Di- 
 vine Saviour. 
 
 Many of the people seem to think that the mis- 
 sionary's house is like the Cave of Adullam, where 
 David lived, (i Sam. xxii : 2) when " every one 
 that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 
 
 299 
 
 and every one that was discontented, gathered 
 themselves unto him." It makes it very hard to 
 deal with the people, to have so many of them come 
 to us with improper motives. They come and say 
 they love the gospel and want instruction, and have 
 endured persecution, when suddenly you find that 
 they want money, or to be protected from punish- 
 ment, or to get office, or to get married to some im- 
 proper person, or something else that is wrong. 
 
 Once a sheikh from Dunniyeh in Lebanon came 
 to Tripoli, and declared himself a Protestant. He 
 was very zealous, and wanted us to. feel that he was 
 too good a man to be turned away, as he was wealthy 
 and of a high family. He was armed with a small 
 arsenal of weapons. He had a servant to carry his 
 gun and pipe, and came day after day to read books, 
 and talk on religion. He said that all he needed 
 was the protection of the American Consul, and then 
 he would make his whole village Protestants. We 
 told him we could have nothing to do with politics. 
 If he wanted to become a Christian, he must take up 
 his cross and follow Christ. He said that was just 
 what he wanted to do, only he wished to benefit the 
 cause by bringing others to follow Him. He seem- 
 ed very earnest, but there was something dark and 
 mysterious in his ways, and we were afraid of him. 
 Now the Arabs have a proverb, " No tree is cut 
 down but by one of its own limbs" i. e. the axe han- 
 dle, and we thought a native only could understand a 
 native, so we took the famous convert around to see 
 Yanni. He went into Yanni's office, and Mr. L. and 
 
300 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 myself sat out in the garden under the orange trees. 
 After a few minutes Yanni called out, " Come in, be 
 preferred, your excellencies ! I have found it all out. 
 I understand the case." We went in and climbed 
 up upon the platform, "next the desk in the office. 
 The Maronite candidate for the church sat smiling, as 
 if he thought he would now be received at once. 
 Yanni went on, " I understand the case exactly. 
 This man is a son of a Sheikh in Dunniyeh. He is 
 in a deadly quarrel with his father and brothers 
 about the property, and says that if we will give him 
 the protection of the American Consulate, he will go 
 home, kill his father and brothers, seize all the prop- 
 erty, and then come down and join the church, and 
 live in Tripoli ! " We were astounded, but the brutal 
 fellow turned to us and said, " yes, and I will then 
 make all the village Protestants, and if I fail, then cut 
 my head off! " We told him that if he did anything 
 of that kind, we would try to get him hung, and the 
 American Consulate would have nothing to do with 
 him. " Very well," said he, " I have made you a 
 fair offer, and if you don't accept it, I have nothing 
 more to say." We rebuked him sharply, and gave 
 him a sermon which he did not relish, for he said he 
 was in haste, and bade us a most polite good morn- 
 ing He was what I should call an Adullamite.' 
 
 A Greek priest in the village of Barbara once 
 took me aside, to a rgtired place behind his house, 
 and told me that he had a profound secret to tell me. 
 He wish.ed to become a Protestant and make the 
 whole village Protestant, but on one condition, that I 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 
 
 301 
 
 would get him a hat, a coat, and pantaloons, put a 
 flag-^taff on his house, and have him appointed Amer- 
 ican Consul. I told him the matter of the hat, coat 
 and pantaloons he could attend to at but sHght ex- 
 pense, but I had no right to make Consuls and erect 
 flagstaffs. Then he said he could not become Pro- 
 testant. 
 
 In 1866, a man named Yusef Keram rebelled 
 against the Government of Lebanon and was captur- 
 ed and exiled. The day he was brought into Beirut, 
 a tall rough looking mountaineer called at my house. 
 He was armed with a musket and sword, besides 
 pistols and dirks. After taking a seat, he said, " I 
 wish to become Angliz and American." " What for," 
 said I. " Only that I would be honored with the 
 honorable religion." " Do you know anything about 
 it?" " Of course not. How should I know ?" "Don't 
 you know better than to follow a religion you know 
 nothing about ?" " But I can learn." " How do 
 you know but what we worship the devil ? '' " No 
 matter. Whatever you worship, I will worship." I ' 
 then asked him what he came for. He said he was 
 in the rebel army, was captured, escaped and fought 
 again, and now feared he should be shot, so he 
 wanted to become Angliz and American. I told him 
 he need have no fear, as the Pasha had granted par- 
 don to all. "Is that so?" " Yes, it is." On hearing 
 this he said he had business to look after, and bade 
 me good evening. 
 
 But you will be tired of hearing about the Adul- 
 lamites. If those who came to David were like the 
 
302 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 discontented and -debtors who come to us, he must 
 "have been tired too. So many suspicious characters 
 come to us, that we frequently ask men, when they 
 come professing great zeal for the gospel, whether 
 they have killed anybody, or stolen, or quarrelled with 
 any one ? And it is not always easy to find out the 
 truth. If fifty men turn Protestants in a village, 
 perhaps five or ten will stand firm, and the rest go 
 back, and frequently all go back. 
 
 But the rain is coming down and we will hasten 
 to the Meena to Uncle S.'s house, where we can rest 
 after this wearisome and hasty journey from Safita. 
 For your sake I am glad that we took comfortable 
 bedding and bedsteads with us. It costs a few pias- 
 tres more to hire a baggage animal, but it is cheaper 
 in the end. At one time I was going on a* hard 
 journey, and I thought I would be economical, so I 
 took only my horse and a few articles in my khurj or 
 saddle bags, with a little boy to show me the road 
 and take care of my horse. When I reached the 
 village, I stopped at the house of a man said to be a 
 Protestant. He lived in the most abject style, and I 
 soon found by his bad language towards his family 
 and his neighbors that he needed all the preaching 
 I could give him that evening. There was only one 
 room in the house, and that was small. By nine 
 o'clock the mother and the children had laid down 
 on a mat to sleep, and the neighbors who came in 
 were beginning to doze. I was very weary with a 
 long ride on a hot August day, and asked mine host 
 where I should lie down to sleep. He led me to a 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 
 
 303 
 
 little elevated platform on the back side of the room, 
 where a bed was spread for me. The dim oil lamp 
 showed me that the bed and covering were neither 
 of them clean, but I was too weary to spend much 
 time in examining them, and after spreading my lin- 
 en handkerchief over the pillow, I tried to sleep. But 
 this could not be done. Creeping things, great and 
 small, were crawling over me from head to foot. 
 There was a hole in the wall near my head, and the 
 bright moonlight showed what was going on. Fleas, 
 bugs, ants, (attracted by the bread in my khurj,) and 
 more horrible still, swarms of lice covered the bed, 
 and my clothing. I could stand it no longer. 
 Gathering up my things, and walking carefully across 
 the floor to keep from stepping on the sleeping fam- 
 ily, I reached the door. But it was fastened with an 
 Arab lock and a huge wooden key, and could only 
 be opened by a violent shaking and rattling. This, 
 with the creaking of the hinges, woke up my host, 
 who sprung up to see what was the matter. I told 
 him I had decided to journey on by moonlight. It 
 was then one o'clock in the morning, and on I rode, 
 so weary, that when I reached Jebaa at ten o'clock, 
 I was obliged to go to bed. I did not recover from 
 the onset of the vermin for weeks. 
 
 I have known missionaries to travel without beds, 
 tents or bedsteads, and to spend weary days and 
 sleepless nights, so as to be quite unfitted for their 
 great work of preaching to the people. If you ever 
 grow up to become a missionary, I hope you will live 
 as simply as you can, but be careful of your health 
 
304 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 and try to live as long as you can, for the sake of the 
 people you are working for, and the Lord who sends 
 you forth. It is not good economy for a missionary 
 to become a martyr to studying Arabic, or to poor 
 food, or to exhausting modes of travelling. One can 
 kill himself in a short time, if he wishes, on missionary 
 ground, but he could have done that at home with- 
 out the great expense of coming here to do it, and 
 besides, that is not what a missionary goes out for. 
 He ought to live as long as he can'. He should have 
 a dry house, in a healthy location, good food, and 
 proper conveniences for safe travelling. 
 
 How pleasant it is to hear that sweet toned bell ! 
 Let us climb up to the roof and read the inscription 
 on it. " jFrom little Sabbath School Children in 
 America to the Mission Church in Tripoli, Syria." It 
 was sent in 1862 by the children in Fourth Avenue 
 Church, New York, and in Newark, Syracuse, Owego, 
 Montrose and other places. 
 
 The Moslems abhor bells. They say bells draw 
 together evil spirits. We are not able yet to have a 
 bell in Hums, on account of the Moslem opposition. 
 They do not use bells, but have men called Muezzins 
 stationed on the little balconies around the top of 
 the tall minarets, to call out five times a day to the 
 people to come to prayer. They select men and 
 boys with high clear voices, and at times their voices 
 sound very sweetly in the still evening. They say, 
 " There is no God but God." That is true. Then 
 they add, ''and Mohammed is the Apostle of God," 
 and that is not true. As the great historian Gibbon 
 
I 
 THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 305 
 
 said ; these words contain an " eternal truth and an 
 eternal lie." 
 
 The Moslems are obliged to pray five times 
 every day, wherever they may be. At home, in 
 their shops, in the street, or on a journey, whenever 
 the appointed time arrives, they fall on their knees, 
 and go through with the whole routine of prayers 
 and bodily prostrations. One day several Moslems 
 called on us in Tripoli, at the eighth hour of the day 
 (about 2 o'clock P. M.), and after they had been sit- 
 ting some time engaged in conversation, one of them 
 arose and said to his companions, " I must pray." 
 They all asked, " Why? It is not the hour of pray- 
 er." "Because," said he, "when I went to the 
 mosque at noon to pray, I had an ink-spot on my 
 finger nail, and did not perceive it until after I came 
 out, and hence my prayer was of no account. I 
 have just now scraped it off, and must repeat my noon 
 prayer." So saying, he spread his cloak upon the 
 floor, and then kneeling upon it with his face to- 
 wards Mecca, commenced his prayers, while his com- 
 panions amused themselves by talking about his 
 ceremonial strictness. One of them said to me, 
 " He thinks he is holy, but if you could see the 
 inside of him, you would find it black as pitch ! " 
 He kept his head turned to hear what was being 
 said, and after he had finished, disputed a remark 
 one of them had made while he was praying. Such 
 people worship God with their lips, while their hearts 
 are far from him. 
 
 Moslems have a great horror of swine. They 
 
306 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 think us barbarians to eat ham or pork. In Feb- 
 ruary, 1866, the Moslems of Beirut were keeping 
 the Fast of Ramadan. For a whole month of each 
 year they can eat and drink nothing between sun- 
 rise and sunset, and they become very cross and irri- 
 table. In Hums, some Moslems saw a dog eating a 
 bone in Ramadan, and killed him because he would 
 not keep the fast. They fast all day and feast all 
 night. Ramadan is really a great nocturnal feast, 
 but it is hard for the working people to wait until 
 night before beginning the feast. During that fast 
 of 1866, a Maronite fellah came into Beirut driving 
 a herd of swine to the market. Now of all sights in 
 the world, the sight of swine is to an orthodox Mos- 
 lem the most intolerable, and especially in the holy 
 month of Ramadan. Even in ordinary times, when 
 swine enter the city, the Moslems gather up their 
 robes, turn their backs and shout, " hub hub," " hub 
 hub," and if the hogs do not hasten along, the " hub 
 hub," is very apt to becorne a hubbub. On the 
 28th of that holy month, a large herd entered Beirut 
 on the Damascus road. The Moslems saw them, 
 and forthwith a crowd of Moslem young men and 
 boys hastened to the fray. A few days before, the 
 Maronite Yusef Keram had entered the city amid 
 the rejoicings of the Maronites. These swine, whom 
 the Moslems called " Christian Khanzir," should 
 meet a different reception. Their wrath overcame 
 their prejudice. The Maronite swine-drivers were 
 dispersed and the whole herd were driven on the 
 run up the Assur with shouts of derision, and pelted 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 
 
 307 
 
 with stones and clubs. " You khanzir, you Maron- 
 ite, you Keram, out with you ! " and the air rang 
 with shouts mingled with squeals and grunts. I saw 
 the crowd coming. It gathered strength as it ap- 
 proached Bab Yakoob, where the white turbaned 
 faithful rose from their shops and stables to join in 
 the persecution of the stampeding porkers. " May 
 Allah cut off their days ! Curses on their grand- 
 father's beard ! Curses on the father of their owner ! 
 Hub hub ! Allah deliver us from their contamina- 
 tion ! " were the cries of the crowd as they rushed 
 along. The little boys were laughing and having a 
 good time, and the men were breathing out wrath 
 and tobacco smoke. Alas, for the poor swine ! 
 What became of them I could not tell, but the last 
 I saw, was the infuriated crowd driving them into 
 the Khan of Muhayeddin near by, where one knows 
 not what may have happened to theni. I hope they 
 did not steal the pork and eat it " on the sly," as 
 the Bedawin did at Mt. Sinai, who threw away the 
 hams the travellers were carrying for provisions, and 
 declared that their camels should not be defiled 
 with the unclean beast ! The travellers were very 
 indignant at such a loss, but thought it was too bad 
 to injure the feelings of the devout Moslems, and 
 said no more. What was their horror and wrath 
 to hear the next night that the Bedawin were seen 
 cooking and eating their hams at midnight, when 
 they thought no one would see them ! 
 
 Do the Syrian people all smoke ? Almost all of 
 them. They speak of it as "drinking a pipe," 
 
308 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 " drinking a cigar," and you would think that they 
 look upon tobacco as being as necessary to them as 
 water. Old and young men, women and even 
 children smoke, smoke while they work or rest, while 
 at home or journeying, and measure distances by 
 their pipes. I was travelling, and asked a man how 
 far it was to the next village. He said about two 
 pipes of tobacco distant ! I found it to be nearly an 
 hour, or three miles. The Orientals spend so much 
 time in smoking, that some one has said " the Mos- 
 lems came into power with the Koran in one hand, 
 and the sword in the other, but will go out with the 
 Koran in one hand and the pipe in the other!" 
 
 Here we are on the sandy beach. What myriads 
 of sea shells, and what beautiful colors they have. And 
 'here are sponges without number, but they are worth- 
 less. There on the sea are the little sloops of the 
 sponge fishers. They are there through the whole sum- 
 mer and the fishers dive down into the sea where the 
 water is from loo to 200 feet deep, and walk around 
 on the bottom holding their breath, and when they can 
 bear it no longer pull the cord which is tied around 
 the waist, and then their companions draw them up. 
 They do not live long, as it is very hard and unnatural 
 labor. Sometimes they are killed by sharks or other 
 sea monsters. One of them told me that he was 
 once on the bottom, and just about to pick up a 
 beautiful white sponge, when he saw a great monster 
 with huge claws and arms and enormous eyes com- 
 ing towards him, and, he barely escaped being de- 
 voured. At another time, the men in the boat felt a 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 
 
 309 
 
 sudden jerk on the rope and pulled in, when they 
 found only the man's head, arms and chest on it, the 
 rest of his body having been devoured by some great 
 fish or sea animal. The sponges grow on rocks, 
 pebbles or shells, and some of them are of great 
 value. It is difficult to get the best ones here, as 
 the company who hire the divers export all the 
 good ones to Europe. 
 
 PART V. 
 
 Word has come that there is cholera in Odessa, 
 so that all the Russian steamers going to Beirut will 
 be in quarantine. It will not be pleasant to spend 
 a week in the Beirut quarantine, so we will keep our 
 baggage animals and go down by land. It is two 
 long days of nine hours each, and you will be weary 
 enough. Bidding good-bye to our dear friends here 
 and wishing them God's blessing in their difficult 
 work among such people, away we go ! Yanni and 
 Uncle S. and some of the teachers will accompany us 
 a little way, according to the Eastern custom, and 
 then we dismount and kiss them all on Jjoth cheeks, 
 and pursue our monotonous way along the coast, 
 sometimes riding over rocky capes and promontories 
 and then on the sand and pebbles close to the roaring 
 surf. 
 
 See how many monasteries there are on the sides 
 of Lebanon ! Between Tripoli and Beirut there are 
 about a hundred. The men who live in them are 
 
3IO THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 called monks, who make a vow never to marry, and 
 spend their lives eating and drinking the fruits of 
 other men's labors. They own almost all the valua- 
 ble land in this range of mountains for fifty miles, 
 and the fellaheen live as " tenants at will'' on their 
 estates. When a man is lazy or unfortunate, if he 
 is not married, his first thought is to become a monk. 
 They are the most corrupt and worthless vagabonds 
 in the land, and the day must come before long, 
 when the monasteries and convents will be abolished 
 and their property be given back to the people to , 
 whom it justly belongs. 
 
 We are now riding along by the telegraph wires. 
 It seems strange to see Morse's telegraph on this 
 old Phenician coast, and it will seem stranger 
 still when we reach Beirut, to receive a daily morn- 
 ing paper printed in Arabic, with telegrams from 
 all parts of the world ! 
 
 In July, a woman cam6 to the telegraph office in 
 Beirut, asking, "Where is the telegraph?" The 
 Clerk, Yusef Effendi, asked her, " Whom do you 
 want, the Director, the Operator, or the Kawass ? " 
 She said, " I want Telegraph himself, for my hus- 
 band has sent me word that he is in prison in Zahleh 
 and wants me to come with haste, and I heard that 
 Telegraph takes people quicker than any one else. 
 Please tell me the fare, and send me as soon as 
 possible ! The .Effendi looked at her, and took her 
 measure, and then said, " You are too tall to go by 
 telegraph, so you will have to go on a mule." The poor 
 ignorant woman went away greatly disappointed. 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 311 
 
 Another old woman, whose son was drafted into 
 the Turkish army, wished to send him a pair of new 
 shoes, so she hung them on the telegraph wire. A 
 way-worn foot traveller coming along soon after took 
 down the new shoes and put them on, and hung 
 his old ones in their place. The next day the old 
 lady returned and finding the old shoes, said, 
 " MushuUah, Mohammed has received his new shoes 
 and sent back his old ones to be repaired." 
 
 The telegraph has taught all the world useful 
 lessons, and the Syrians have learned one lesson 
 from it which is of great value. When they write 
 letters they use long titles, and flowery salutations, 
 so that a whole page will be taken up with these 
 empty formalities, leaving only a few lines at the 
 end, or in a postscript, for the important business. 
 But when they send a telegram and have to pay for 
 every word, they leave out the flowery salutations, 
 and send only what is necessary. 
 
 The following is a very common way of beginning 
 an Arabic letter : 
 
 " To the presence of the affectionate and the 
 most distinguished, the honorable and most inge- 
 nious Khowadja, the honored, may his continuance 
 be prolonged! " 
 
 " After presenting the precious pearls of affec- 
 tion, the aromatic blossoms of love, and the increase 
 of excessive longing, after the intimate presence of 
 the light of your rising in prosperity, we would say 
 that in a most blessed and propitious hour your 
 precious letter honored us," etc. 
 
3 1 2 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 That would cost too much to be sent by tele- 
 graph. Precious pearls and aromatic blossoms 
 would become expensive luxuries at two cents a 
 word. So they have to be reserved, for letters, if 
 any one has time to write them. 
 
 Here we come to the famous Dog River. You 
 will read in books about this river and its old in- 
 scriptions. If you have not forgotten your Latin, 
 you can read a lesson in Latin which was written 
 here nearly two thousand years ago. There you can 
 see the words. 
 
 Imp. Caes. M. Aurelius 
 Antoninus Pius Felix Augustus 
 Par. Max. Brit. Max. Germ. Maximus 
 Pontifex Miaximus 
 Montibus Imminentibus 
 etc. etc. 
 
 This Emperor Marcus Aurelius, must have cut 
 this road through the rocks about the year 173 A. 
 D. But there is another inscription higher up, with 
 arrow-headed characters and several other tablets. 
 They are Assyrian and Egyptian. One of the As- 
 syrian tablets was cut by Sennacherib 2500 years 
 ago, and one of the Egyptian by Sesostris, king of 
 Egypt, 3100 years ago. Don't you feel very young 
 and small in looking at such ancient monuments? 
 All of those men brought their armies here, and 
 found the path so bad along the high precipice over- 
 hanging the sea, that they cut a road for their horses 
 and chariots in the solid limestone rock. Just think 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 
 
 313 
 
 of standing where Sennacherib and Alexander the 
 Great passed along with their armies ! 
 
 What a steep and narrow road ! We will dis- 
 mount and walk over this dangerous pass. It is not 
 pleasant to meet camels and loaded mules on such a 
 dizzy precipice, with the high . cliff above, and. the 
 roaring waves of the sea far below ! It is well we 
 dismounted. Our horses are afraid of those camels 
 carrying long timbers balanced on their backs. Let 
 us turn aside and wait until they pass. 
 
 Seeing these camels reminds me of what I saw 
 here in 1857. I was coming down the coast from 
 Tripoli and reached the top of this pass, in the nar- 
 rowest part, just as a caravan of camels were coming 
 from the opposite direction. I turned back a little, 
 and stood close under the edge of the cliff to let the 
 camels go by. They were loaded with huge canvas 
 sacks of tibn, or cut straw, which hung down on 
 both sides, making it impossible to pass them with- 
 out stooping very low. Just then I heard a voice 
 behind me, and looking around, saw a shepherd 
 coming up the pass with his flock of sheep. He was 
 walking ahead, and they all followed on. I called to 
 him to go back, as the camels were coming over the 
 pass. He said, "Ma ahlaik," or "don't trouble 
 yourself,'' and on he came. When he met the cam- 
 els, they were in the narrowest part, where a low 
 stone wall runs along the edge of the precipice. He 
 stooped down and stepped upon the narrow wall, 
 calling all the time to his sheep, who followed close 
 upon his heels, walking in single file. He said, 
 14 
 
314 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 " tahl, tahl," " come, come," and then made a shrill 
 whirring call, which could be heard above the roar- 
 ing of the waves on the rocks below. It was won- 
 derful to see how closely they followed the shepherd. 
 They did not seem to notice the camels on the one 
 side, or the abyss on the other side. Had they left 
 the narrow track, they would either have been trod- 
 den down by the heavily laden camels, or have fall- 
 en off into the dark waters below. But they were 
 intent on following their shepherd. They heard his 
 voice, and that was enough. The cameleers were 
 shouting and screaming to their camels to keep 
 them from slipping on these smooth rocks, but the 
 sheep paid no attention to them. They knew the 
 shepherd's voice. They had followed him before, 
 through rivers and thickets, among rocks and sands, 
 and he had always led them safely. The waves 
 were dashing and roaring on the rocks below, but 
 they did not fear, for the shepherd was going on be- 
 fore. Had one of those sheep turned aside, he 
 would have lost his footing and been destroyed and 
 thrown the whole flock into confusion. 
 
 You know why I have told you this story. You 
 know that Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He said, 
 " My sheep hear my voice, and I know them and 
 they follow me." Wherever Jesus leads it is safe for 
 us to go. How many boys and girls there are who 
 think they know a better path than the one Jesus 
 calls them to follow. There are " stranger" voices 
 calling on every side, and many a child leaves the 
 path of the Good Shepherd, and turns aside to hear 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 315 
 
 what they would say. If they were truly lambs of 
 Jesus' fold, they would love Him, and follow Him in 
 calm and storm, and never heed the voice of stran- 
 gers. 
 
 I was once travelling from Duma to Akura, high 
 up on the range of Lebanon. It was a hot summer's 
 day, and at noon I stopped to rest by a fountain. 
 The waste water of the fountain ran into a square 
 stone birkeh or pool, and around the pool were sev- 
 eral shepherds resting with their flocks of sheep and 
 goats. The shepherds came and talked with me, 
 and sat smoking for nearly an hour, when suddenly 
 one of them arose and walked away calling to his 
 flock to follow him. The flocks were all mixed to- 
 gether, but when he called, his sheep and goats be- 
 gan to raise their heads and start along together be- 
 hind him. He kept walking along and calhng, until 
 all his flock had gone. The rest of the sheep and 
 goats remained quietly as though nothing had hap- 
 pened. Then another " Rai," or shepherd, started 
 up in another direction, calhng out in a shrill 
 voice, and his sheep followed him. They knew their 
 shepherd's voice. Our muleteers were talking all the 
 time, but the sheep paid no attention to them. They 
 knew one voice, and would follow no other. 
 
 We will now hasten on to Beirut. You will wish 
 to see the Female Seminary, and the Sabath School 
 and the Steam Printing Press, and many of the 
 Beirut Schools, before we start to Abeih again. 
 
 Here is the Female Seminary. There are a hun- 
 dred girls here, studying Arabic reading and writing, 
 
3l6 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 geography, arithmetic, grammar, botany, physiology 
 and astronomy, and a few study English, French and 
 music. But the great study is the Bible. I am afraid 
 that very few schools in America have as much in- 
 struction in the Bible, as the girls in this Seminary 
 and the Sidon Seminary receive. You would be 
 surprised to hear the girls recite correctly the names 
 of all the patriarchs, kings and prophets of the Old 
 Testament, with the year when they lived, and the 
 date of all the important events of the Old and New 
 Testament History, and the Life of Christ, and the 
 travels of the Apostle Paul, and the prophecies 
 about Christ in the Old Testament, and then recite 
 the whole Westminster Assembly's Catechism in 
 Arabic ! I have given out one hundred and twenty Bi- 
 bles and Hymn Books as rewards to children in the 
 schools in Beirut, who have learned the Shorter Cat- 
 echism perfectly in-Arabic. 
 
 Five years ago there was a girl in the school who 
 was once very rude and self-willed, and very hard to 
 control. She had a poor bed-ridden brother who 
 had been a cripp)e for years, and was a great care to 
 the family. They used to carry him out in the gar- 
 den in fine weather and lay him on a seat under the 
 trees, and sometimes his sister would come home 
 from the school and read to him from the Bible, to 
 which he listened with great dehght. Not long after 
 this he died, and his sister was sent for to come 
 home to the funeral. On reaching home she found 
 a large crowd of women assembled from all that 
 quarter of the city, shrieking and wailing over his 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 317 
 
 death, according to the Oriental custom. When A. 
 the httle girl came in, one of the women from an 
 aristocratic Greek family was talking in a loud voice 
 and saying that it was wrong for any person to go 
 from the house of mourning to another house before 
 first going home, because one going from a house ol 
 mourning would carry an evilinfluence with her. A. 
 listened and then spoke out boldly before the sev- 
 enty women, " How long will you hold on to these 
 foolish superstitions? Beirut is a place of light and 
 civilization. Where can you find any such teaching 
 as this in the gospel.? It is time for us to give up 
 such superstitions." The old woman asked, " Where 
 did that girl learn these things ? Truly she is right. 
 These things are superstitions, but they will not die 
 until we old women die." It required a great deal of 
 courage in A. to speak out so boldly, when her own 
 brother "had died, but all felt that she spoke the 
 truth, and no one rebuked her. 
 
 Near by the house of A. is another beautiful 
 house surrounded by gardens, and ornamented in the 
 most expensive manner. A little girl from this fam- 
 ily was attending the school in 1867. Her name was 
 Fereedy. She was a boarder and the best behaved 
 girl in the school. One day during vacation, her moth- 
 er came to Rufka and said, " What have you done 
 to my little daughter Fereedj; ? She came home last 
 Saturday with her sister, and at once took the whole 
 care of the little children, so that I had no trouble 
 with them. And when night came she put her lit- 
 tle sisters to bed and prayed with them all, and then 
 
3l8 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 in the morning she prayed with them again. I never 
 saw such a child. She is like a little angel." The 
 mother is of the Greek sect, and the httle girl was 
 only twelve years old. 
 
 And here is a story about another of the 
 superstitions of the fellaheen, and what a little girl 
 taught the people about them. This little girl named 
 L. went with her father to spend the summer in a 
 mountain village, where the people had a strange 
 superstition about an oak tree. One day she went 
 out to walk and came to the great oak tree which 
 stood alone on the mountairi side. You know that 
 the Canaanites used to have idols under the green 
 trees in ancient times. When L. reached the tree, 
 she found the ground covered with dead branches 
 which had fallen from the tree. Now, wood is very 
 scarce and costly in Syria, and the people are very 
 poor, so that she wondered to see the wood left to 
 rot on the ground, and asked the people why they 
 did not use it for fuel. They said they dared not, as • 
 the tree belonged to Moses the Prophet, and he pro- 
 tected the tree, and if any one took the wood, they 
 would fall dead. She said, " Moses is in heaven, 
 and does not live in oak trees, and if he did, he is a 
 good man, and would not hurt me for burning up old 
 dry sticks." So she asked them if she might have 
 the wood ? They said, " yes, if you dare to take it, 
 for we are afraid to touch it." So she went to the 
 tree and gathered up as much as she could carry, and 
 took it home. The people screamed when they saw 
 her, and told her to drop it or it would kill her, but 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 319 
 
 on she went, and afterwards went back and brought 
 the rest. She then talked with the ignorant women, 
 and her father told them about the folly of their su- 
 perstitions, and read to them in the Bible about 
 Moses, and they" listened with great attention. 
 I have often thought I should like to go to that vil- 
 lage, and see whether the people now leave the dead 
 branches under Moses' oak, or use them for fuel du- 
 ring the heavy snow storms of winter. 
 
 PART VI. 
 
 Here we are, home again at Abeih. Here are 
 Asaad and Khahl, and several others. I asked Khalil 
 one day to write out for me a list of all the games the 
 boys play in Abeih, and he brought me a list of 
 twenty-eight different ones, and said there were many 
 more. 
 
 I. The first is called Khatim or the Ring. A 
 boy puts a ring on the back of his hand, tosses it 
 and catches it on the back of his fingers. If it falls 
 on the middle finger, he shakes it to the forefinger, 
 and then he is Sultan, and appoints a Vizier, whom 
 he commands to beat the other boys. Then the 
 boys all sing, 
 
 Ding, dong, turn the wheel. 
 
 Wind the purple thread : 
 
 Spin the white and spin the red, 
 
 Wind it on the reel : 
 
 Silk and linen as well as you can. 
 
 Weave a robe for the Great Sultan. 
 
320 . THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 II. Killeh. Like the game of shooting marbles. 
 
 III. Owal Howa. The same as leap frog. 
 
 IV. Biz Zowaia. Cat in the corner. 
 
 V. Taia ya Taia. All the boys stand in a row, 
 and one in front facing them, who calls out Taia ya 
 Taia. They all then run after him and hit him. 
 He then hops on one foot as if lame, and catches one 
 of them, who takes his place. 
 
 VI. El Manya. Hig tig. 
 
 VII. Bil Kobbeh. A circle of boys stand with 
 their heads bowed. Another circle stand outside, 
 and on a given signal try to mount on the backs of the 
 inner circle of boys. If they succeed they remain 
 .standing- in this way ; if not, the boy who failed 
 must take the inside place. 
 
 VIII. Ghummaida. Blind-man's-buff. 
 
 IX. Tabeh. Base ball and drop ball. 
 
 X. Kurd Murboot or Tied Monkey. A rope is 
 tied to a peg in the ground, and one boy holds it 
 fast. The others tie knots in their handkerchiefs 
 and beat him. If he catches them without letting 
 go his hold on the rope, they take his place. 
 
 XI. Shooha or Hawk. Make a swing on the limb 
 of a tree. A boy leans on the swing and runs around 
 among the boys, until he catches one to take his place. 
 
 XII. Joora. Shooting marbles into' a joora or 
 hole in the ground. 
 
 XIII. Khubby Mukhzinak. "Pebble pebble." 
 One boy goes around and hides a pebble in the hand 
 of one of the circle and asks " pebble, pebble, who's 
 got the pebble." This is like " Button, button." 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 32 1 
 
 Then there are other games like chequers and 
 " Morris," chess, and games which are used in gam- 
 bling, which you will not care to hear about. 
 
 Sometimes when playing, they sing a song which 
 I have translated : 
 
 I found a black crow, 
 With a cake in his maw, 
 I asked him to feed me, 
 He cried caw, caw. 
 
 A chicken I found 
 With a loaf of bread — 
 I asked him to feed me, 
 He cried, enough said. 
 
 And an eagle black 
 With a beam on his back 
 Said from Egypt I come 
 And he cried clack, clack. 
 
 So you see the Arab boys are as fond of plays 
 and songs as American boys. They have scores of 
 songs about gazelles, and pearls, and Sultans, and 
 Bedawin, andGhouls, and the " Ghuz," and the Evil 
 Eye, and Arab mares and Pashas. 
 
 A few days ago a Druze, named Sheikh AH, 
 called upon me and recited to me a strange song, 
 which reminded me of the story of " Who killed 
 Cock Robin," and " The House that Jack built." In 
 some of the Arab villages where fleas abound, the 
 people go at times to the tennur or oven, (which is 
 like a great earthen jar sunken in the ground,) to 
 shake off the fleas into the fire. The story which I 
 have translated goes thus : A brilliant bug and a 
 noble flea once went to the oven to shake off the 
 14* 
 
322 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 ignoble fleas from their garments into the fire. But 
 alas, alas, the noble, flea lost his footing, fell into the 
 fire and was consumed. Then the brilliant bug 
 began to weep and mourn, saying, 
 
 Alas, ! Ah me ! ' 
 
 The Noble Flea ! 
 While he was thus weeping, 
 And his sad watch keeping, 
 A glossy raven overhead, 
 Flew swiftly down and gently said, 
 Oh my friend, oh brilliant bug. 
 Why are you weeping on the rug? 
 The bug replied, O glossy raven. 
 With your head all shorn and shaven, 
 I am now weeping, 
 And sad watch keeping, 
 
 Over, Ah me ! 
 
 The Noble Flea. 
 The raven he. 
 Wept over the flea. 
 And flew to a green palm tree — 
 hxL&m.%rve\, dropped a feather, , 
 
 Like snow in winter weather. 
 The palm tree said my glossy raven. 
 Why do you look so craven, 
 Why did you drop a feather. 
 Like snow in winter weather? 
 The raven said. 
 The flea is dead ! 
 I saw the brilliant bug weeping. 
 And his sad watch keeping, 
 
 Alas, Alas, Ah me ! 
 
 Over the Noble Flea. 
 Then the green Palm tree. 
 Wept over the noble flea. 
 Said he. The flea is dead ! 
 And all his branches shed I 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 
 
 The Shaggy Wolf he strayed, 
 To rest in the Palm tree's shade ' 
 He saw the branches broken. 
 Of deepest grief the token, 
 And said, Oh Palm tree green. 
 What sorrow have you seen ? 
 What noble one is dead, 
 That you your branches shed ? 
 He said, O Wolf so shaggy. 
 Living in rocks so craggy, 
 I saw the glossy raven. 
 Looking forlorn and craven. 
 Dropping down a feather. 
 Like snow in winter we'ather. 
 He saw the brilliant bug weeping. 
 And his sad watch keeping, 
 
 Alas, Alas, Ah me ! 
 
 Over the Noble Flea ! 
 Then the Wolf in despair 
 Shed his shaggy hair. 
 Then the River clear and shining. 
 Saw the wolf in sorrow pining, 
 • Asked him why in sad despair. 
 He had shed his shaggy hair ? 
 Said the Wolf, Oh River shining, 
 I in sorrow deep am pining. 
 For the Palm tree I have seen, 
 Shedding all his branches green. 
 And he saw the glossy raven. 
 Looking so forlorn and craven. 
 As he dropped a downy feather. 
 Like the snow in winter weather, 
 He saw the brilliant bug weeping. 
 And his sad watch keeping, 
 
 Alas, Alas, Ah me. 
 Over the Noble Flea ! 
 Sadly then the shining River, 
 Dried its waters up forever. 
 Then the Shepherd with his sheep. 
 
 323 
 
324 T'HE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 Asked the River once so deep. 
 What great grief, oh shining river. 
 Dried your waters up forever ? 
 Said the River once so shining, 
 I in sorrow deep am pining. 
 Since I saw the wolf's despair, 
 "When he shed his shaggy hair. 
 For the Palm tree he had seen. 
 Shedding all his branches green. 
 And- he saw the glossy raven. 
 Looking so forlorn and craven, 
 As he dropped a downy feather, 
 ' Like the snow in winter weather 
 He saw the brilliant bug weeping, 
 And his sad watch keeping. 
 
 Alas, Alas, Ah me ! 
 
 Over the Noble Flea ! 
 Then the Shepherd in sorrow deep, 
 Tore the horns from all his sheep , 
 Sadly bound them on his head. 
 Since he^lieard the flea was dead. 
 Then the Shepherd's mother dear. 
 Asked him why in desert drear. 
 He had torn in sorrow deep. 
 All the horns from all his sheep, 
 Sadly bound them on his head. 
 Just as though a friend was dead ? 
 Said he, 'tis because the River, 
 Dried his waters up forever. 
 Since he saw the Wolfs despair. 
 When he shed his shaggy hair, 
 For the Palm tree he had seen. 
 Shedding all his branches green. 
 For he saw the glossy raven. 
 Looking so forlorn and craven, 
 As he dropped a downy feather, 
 Like the snow in winter weather. 
 He saw the brilliant bug weeping. 
 And liis sad watch keeping. 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 325 
 
 Alas, Alas, Ah me ! 
 
 Over the Noble Flea ! 
 Mother sad began to cry. 
 Thrust her needle in her eye ; 
 Could no longer see her thread, 
 Since she heard the flea was dead 
 Then the Father grave and bland 
 Hearing this, cut off his hand ; 
 And the daughter, when she hears. 
 In despair, cuts off her ears ; 
 And through the town deep grief is spread, 
 Because they heard the flea was dead. 
 
 THE NURSERY RHYMES OF THE ARABS. 
 
 Who is that singing in such a sweet plaintive 
 voice in the room beneath our porch ? It is the Sit 
 Leila, wife of Sheikh Abbas, saying a lullaby to her 
 little baby boy, Sheikh Fereed. We will sit on the 
 porch in this bright moonlight, and listen while she 
 sings : 
 
 Whoever loves you not. 
 
 My little baby boy ; 
 
 May she be driven from her house. 
 
 And never know a joy ! 
 
 May the " Ghuz" eat up her husband, 
 
 And the mouse her oil destroy ! 
 
 This is not very sweet language for a gentle lady 
 to use to a little infant boy, but the Druze and 
 Moslem women use this kind of imprecation in 
 many of their nursery songs. Katrina says that 
 many of the Greek and Maronite women sing them 
 too. This young woman Laia, who sits here, has 
 repeated for me not less than a hundred and twenty 
 
326 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 of these nursery rhymes, songs for weddings, funeral 
 wails, etc. Some of the imprecations are dreadful. 
 
 They seem to think that the best way to show 
 their love to their babies, is to hate those who do 
 not love them. 
 
 Im Faris says she has heard this one in Hasbeiya, 
 her birthplace : 
 
 O sleep to God, my child, my eyes, 
 
 Your heart no ill shall know ; 
 
 Who loves you not as much as I, 
 
 May God her house o'erthrow ! 
 May the mosque and the minaret, dome and all, 
 On her wicked head in anger fall ! 
 May the Arabs rob her threshing floor. 
 And not one kernel remain in her store. 
 
 The servant girl Nideh, who attends the Sit Leila, 
 thinks that her turn has come, and she is singing, 
 
 We've the white and the red in our baby's cheeks. 
 In pounds and tons to spare ; 
 But the black and the rust. 
 And the mould and the must, 
 ■For our neighbor's children are ! 
 
 I hope she does not refer to us for we are her 
 nearest neighbors. But in reality I do not suppose 
 that they actually mean what they sing in these 
 Ishmaelitic songs. Perhaps they do when they are 
 angry, but they probably sing them ordinarily with- 
 out thinking of their meaning at all. 
 
 Sometimes snakes come down from the ceilings of 
 these earth-roofed houses, and terrify the people. 
 At other times government horsemen come and drag 
 them off to prison, as they did in Safita. These 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 
 
 327 
 
 things are referred to in this next song which Nideh 
 is singing : 
 
 If she love you not, my boy, 
 May the Lord her life destroy ! 
 Seven mules tread her down, 
 Drag her body through the town ! 
 Snakes that from the ceiling hang. 
 Sting her dead with poison fang ! 
 Soldiers from Damascus city. 
 Drag her off and shew no pity ! 
 Nor release her for a day, 
 Though a thousand pounds she pay ! 
 
 That is about enough of imprecations, and it 
 will be pleasanter to listen to Katrina, for she will 
 sing us some of the sweetest of the Syrian Nursery- 
 Songs. 
 
 Sleep, my moon, my baby sleep ! 
 The Pleiades bright their watches keep. 
 The Libra shines so fair and clear. 
 The stars are shining, hush my dear ! 
 
 There is not much music in the tunes they sing 
 to these words. The airs generally are plaintive 
 and monotonous, and have a sad and weary sound. 
 
 Here is another : 
 
 My boy, my moon, I bid you good morrow ! 
 Who wishes you peace shall know no sorrow • 
 Whom you salute, his earth is like heaven. 
 His care relieved, his sin forgiven ! 
 
 She says that last line is extravagant, and I 
 think as much. The next one is a Moslem lullaby. 
 
 O Lord of the heavens, Knowing and Wise, 
 Preserve my Ali, the light of my eyes ! 
 Lord of high heaven. Compassionate ! 
 Keep my dear boy in every state ! 
 
328 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 This one is used by the women of all the sects, 
 but in all of the songs the name is changed to suit 
 the name of the baby to whom the mother is singing : 
 
 Ali, your eyes are sleeping, 
 But God's eyes never sleep : 
 Their hours of lonely weeping 
 None can forever keep. 
 How sweet is the night of health. 
 When Ali sleeps in peace ! 
 Oh may such nights continue, 
 Nor ever, ever cease ! 
 
 Among all the scores of nursery songs, I have 
 heard only a very few addressed to. girls, but some 
 of these are beautiful. Hear Katrina sing this one : 
 
 Lulu dear the house is bright, 
 With your forehead's sunny light ; 
 Men your father honor now 
 When they see your lovely brow. 
 If father comes home sad and weary. 
 Sight of you will make him cheery. 
 
 The " fuller's soap " mentioned in Malachi 3 : 2, 
 is the plant called in Arabic " Ashnan or Shenan," 
 and the Arabs sometimes use it in the place of soap. 
 The following is another song addressed to a baby 
 girl: 
 
 Come Cameleer, as quick as you can. 
 
 And make us soap from the green " Shenan,' 
 
 To bathe our Lulii dear ; 
 
 We'll wash her and dress her. 
 
 And then we'll caress her. 
 
 She'll sleep in her little sereer. (cradle) 
 
 This song is sung by the Druze women to their 
 baby girls : 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 329 
 
 Your eye is jet black, and dark are its lashes, 
 Between the arched brows, like a crescent it flashes ; 
 When painted with " kohl " 'tis brighter by far, 
 Than the full-orbed moon or the morning star. 
 
 The following is supposed to be addressed by a 
 Druze woman to her neighbor who has a daughter of 
 marriageable age, when she is obliged to veil her face : 
 
 Hide your daughter, veil her face. 
 
 Neighbor, do not tarry : 
 
 For my Hanna is of age. 
 
 Says he wants to marry. 
 
 When I asked about his choice. 
 
 Said he was not needy : 
 
 But that if he ever wed. 
 
 He thought he'd like Fereedy. 
 
 The next one is also Druze and purely Oriental : 
 
 Two healths, one health. 
 
 Four healths more ; 
 
 Four sacks of sesame seed, 
 
 Scattered on the floor ; 
 
 Pick and count them one by one. 
 
 Reckon up their number ; 
 
 For every seed wish Hassan's health. 
 
 Sweetly may he slumber ! 
 
 The Druze women delight in nothing so much as 
 to have their sons ride fine horses : 
 
 My Yusef, my cup of sherbet sweet. 
 
 My broadcloth red hung over the street. 
 
 When you ride the blood mare with sword and pistol. 
 
 Your saddle is gold and your stirrups crystal. 
 
 Katrina says that this little song is the morning 
 salutation to baby boys : 
 
330 
 
 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 Good morning now to you, Little boy ! 
 Your face is like the dew. Little boy ! 
 There never was a child, so merry and so mild, 
 So good morning once again, Little boy ! 
 
 This song is sung by the Druze women to their 
 babes : 
 
 O Sparrow of Paradise, 
 Hush him to sleep ? 
 Your feathers are " henna." 
 Watch him and keep ! 
 Bring sleep soft and sweet 
 Upon your white wings ! 
 For Hassan the pet 
 And his mother who sings ! 
 
 The apples of Damascus are noted throughout 
 Syria, though we should regard them as very poor 
 fruit : 
 
 What's he like ? If any ask us. 
 Flowers and apples of Damascus ; 
 Apples fragrant on the tray, 
 Roses sweet with scent of May. 
 
 ' Laia says that the next one is sung by the Druze 
 women to their baby boys : 
 
 I love you, I prize you, and for you I wish, 
 
 A hundred oak trees in the valley ; 
 
 A hundred blood mares all tied in the court. 
 
 And ready for foray or sally. 
 M ount your horse, fly away, with your scarf flowing free. 
 The chiefs of the tribe will assemble ; 
 Damascus, Aleppo, and Ghutah beside. 
 At the sound of your coming will tremble. 
 
 Nejmeh says that the Bedawin women who come 
 to Safita, her native place, often sing the following 
 song: 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 331 
 
 Come little Bedawy, sit on my lap, 
 
 Pretty pearls shine in your little white cap. 
 
 Rings are in yovir ears, 
 
 Rings are in your nose. 
 
 Rings upon your fingers. 
 
 And "henna '' on your toes. 
 
 They use the " henna " to dye their hands, feet 
 and finger nails, when a wedding or festive occasion 
 occurs in the family. 
 
 Katrina recalls another little song which she 
 used to sing to Harry : 
 
 Welcome now, my baby dear. 
 
 Whence did you come ? 
 
 Your voice is sweet. 
 
 What little feet ! 
 
 Make yourself at home ! 
 
 Nideh, the Druze girl down stairs is ready with 
 another song. She is rocking little Sheikh Fereed 
 in his cradle, and says : 
 
 In your cradle sleep my boy, 
 Rest from all your labor ; 
 May El Hakim, heaven's God, 
 Ever be your neighbor ! 
 
 It makes me feel sad to hear a poor woman pray- 
 ing to a man. This El Hakim was a man, and a 
 bad man too, who lived many hundred years ago, 
 and now the Druzes regard him as their God. But 
 what difference is there between worshipping Hakim 
 as the Druzes do, and worshipping Mary and Joseph 
 as the Greeks and Maronites do. Laia says the 
 Maronites down in the lower part of this village sing 
 the following song : 
 
332 THE WOMEN OF THE ARARS. 
 
 Ililia, HiUfi, Hallelujah ! 
 
 Come my wild gazelles ! 
 
 He who into trovible falls 
 
 On the Virgin Mother calls ; 
 
 To Damascus she's departing. 
 
 All the mountain monks are starting. 
 
 Come my priest and come my deacon, 
 
 Bring the censer and the beacon, 
 
 We will celebrate the Miss, 
 
 In the Church of Mar Elias ; 
 
 Mar Elias, my neighbor dear. 
 
 You must be deaf if you did not hear. 
 
 Sit Leila sings : 
 
 I love you my boy, and this is the proof, 
 
 I wish that you had all the wealth of the " Shoof," 
 
 Hundreds of costly silken bales, 
 
 Hundreds of ships with lofty sails, 
 
 Hundreds of towns to obey your word. 
 
 And thousands of thousands to call you lord ! 
 
 Katrina is ready to sing again : 
 
 I will sing to you, 
 
 God will bring to you. 
 
 All you need, my dear: 
 
 He's here and there. 
 
 He is everywhere. 
 
 And to you He's ever near. 
 
 People say that every baby that is born into the 
 world is thought by its mother to be better than 
 any other ever born. The Arab women think so too, 
 and this is the way they sing it : 
 
 One like you was never born. 
 One like you was never brought ; 
 All the Arabs might grow old, 
 Fighting ne'er so brave and bold. 
 Yet with all their battles fought. 
 One like you they never caught. 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 
 
 333 
 
 Im Paris asks if we would not lilce to hear some 
 of the rhymes the Arab women sing when playing 
 with their children. Here are some of them. The 
 first one you will think is like what you have already 
 seen in " Mother Goose." 
 
 Blacksmith, blacksmith, shoe the mare, 
 Shoe the colt with greatest care ; 
 Hold the shoe and drive the nail. 
 Else your labor all will fail ; 
 Shoe a donkey for Seleem. 
 And a colt for Ibraheem. 
 
 Sugar cane grows luxuriantly in Syria, and it was 
 first taken from Tripoli, Syria, to Spain, and thence 
 to the West Indies and America. But all they do 
 with it now in Syria, is to suck it. It is cut up in 
 pieces and sold to the people, old and young, who 
 peel it and suck it. So the Arab women sing to 
 their children : 
 
 Pluck it and suck it, the green sugar cane, 
 
 Whatever is sweet is costly and vain ; 
 
 He'll cut you a joint as long as a span. 
 
 And charge two piastres. Now buy if you can ! 
 
 Wered says she will sing us two or three which 
 they use in teaching the little Arab babies to " pat " 
 their hands : 
 
 Patty cake, baby ! Make him dance ! 
 May his age increase and his years advance ! 
 May his life like the rock, long years endure. 
 Overgrown with lilies, so sweet and pure ! 
 
 And now the Sit Leila is singing again one of the 
 Druze lullabys : 
 
334 ^^^^ WOMEN OF THE ARABS. t 
 
 Tish for two, Tish for two ! 
 
 A linen shirt with a border blue ! 
 
 With cloth that the little pedler sells, 
 
 For the father of eyes like the little gazelles ! 
 
 Your mother will weave and spin and twine, 
 
 To clothe you so nicely O little Hassein ! 
 
 Do you hear the jackals crying as they come up 
 out of the valley ? Their cry is like the voice of the 
 cat and dog mingled together, and Im Paris knows 
 some of the ditties which they sing to their children 
 about the jackals and their fondness for chickens : 
 
 You cunning rogues beware ! 
 
 You jackals with the long hair ! 
 
 You ate tip the chickens of old Katrin, 
 
 And ran away singing like wild Bedawin. 
 
 It is not pleasant to have so many fleas annoying 
 us all the time, but we must not be more anxious to 
 keep the fleas out than to get the people in, and as 
 the fellaheen come to see us, they will be likely to 
 flea us too. Safita is famous for fleas, so no wonder 
 that Nejmeh knows the following song of the boys 
 about fleas : 
 
 I caught and killed a hopping flea, 
 His sister's children came to me : 
 One with drum my ears did pierce. 
 One was fluting loud and fierce. 
 Then they danced me, made me sing. 
 Like a monkey in a ring. 
 Come Deeby, come I pray, 
 Bring the Doctor right away ! 
 Peace on your heart feel no alarm. 
 You have not had the slightest harm. 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 
 
 335 
 
 I^aia is never at a loss for something new, and I 
 am amazed at her memory. She will give us some 
 rhyming riddles in Arabic, and we will put them into 
 English as best we may. The first is about the Ant : 
 
 'Tis black as night, 
 But it is not night : 
 Like a bird it has wings, 
 But it never sings : ^ 
 It digs througli the house, 
 But it is not a mouse ; 
 It eats barley and grass. 
 But it is not an ass. 
 
 Riddle about a gun : 
 
 A featherless bird flew over the sea, 
 
 A bird without feathers, how can that be ? 
 
 A beautiful bird which I admire. 
 
 With wooden feet and a head of fire ! 
 
 Riddle on salt : 
 
 O Arab tribes, so bold and gay, 
 
 What little grain have you to-day ? 
 
 It never on the trees, is seen, 
 
 Nor on the flowers and wheat so green. 
 
 Its source is pure, 'tis pleasant to eat. 
 
 From water it comes that is not sweet. 
 
 Though from water it comes, and there's water in it. 
 
 You put it in water, it dies in a minute. 
 
 The door has opened down stairs, and some of 
 Sit Leila's friends have come to see her. The mo- 
 ment they saw the little baby Fereed, they all began 
 to call out, "Ism Allah alayhee," " The name of Allah 
 upon him." They use this expression to keep off 
 the Evil Eye. This superstition is universal through- 
 
336 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 out Western Asia, Northern Africa, and exists also 
 in Italy and Spain. Dr. Meshaka of Damascus says 
 that those who believe in the Evil Eye, " think that 
 certain people have the power of killing others by a 
 glance of the eye. Others inflict injury by the eye. 
 Others pick grapes by merely looking at them. 
 This power may rest in one eye, and one man who 
 thought he had this power, veiled one eye, out of 
 compassion for others ! The Moslem Sheikhs and 
 others profess to cure the evil eye, and prevent its 
 evil effects by writing mystic talismanic words on 
 papers, which are to be worn. Others write the 
 words on an egg, and then strike the forehead of the 
 evil eyed with the egg." 
 
 Whenever a new house is built, the workmen 
 hang up an egg shell or a piece of alum, or an old 
 root, or a donkey's skull, in the front door, to keep 
 off the evil eye. Moslem women leave their children 
 ragged and dirty to keep people from admiring them, 
 and thus smiting them with the evil eye. They 
 think that blue eyes are especially dangerous. 
 
 They think that the name of God or Allah is a 
 charm against evil, and when they repeat it, they 
 have no idea of reverence for that Holy Name. 
 
 Here is a terrible imprecation against a woman 
 who smites with the Evil Eye : 
 
 May her hand be thrust in her mouth, 
 And her eyes be burned in the fire ! 
 The blessings of Mighty God, 
 Preserve you from her ire ! 
 
An Arab Ploughing. 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 337 
 
 Nideh sings 
 
 Upon you the name of Allah, 
 Around you Allah's eye ! 
 May the Evil Eye be blinded, 
 And never harm my boy ! 
 
 It is ten o'clock at night, and Katrina, Laia, 
 Wered, and Handumeh say it is time to go. Handu- 
 meh insists that we come to her wedding to-morrow. 
 Amin will go with them to drive away the dogs, and 
 see that no wolves, hyenas, or leopards attack them 
 by the way. 
 
 PART VII. 
 
 The boys of Abeih are early risers. What a 
 merry laugh they have ! What new song is that 
 they are singing now ? 
 
 There has been a shower in the night and Yusef 
 and Khalil are singing about the rain. We say in 
 English " it rains,'' but the Arabs tell us what " it " 
 refers to. They say " The world rains,'' " The world 
 snows," "The world is coming down," "The world 
 thunders and lightens." So you will be able to tell 
 your teacher, when he asks you to parse " it rains," . 
 that "it" is a pronoun referring to "world." Hear 
 them sing : 
 
 Rain, O world, all day and night. 
 We will wash our clothing white. 
 Rain, O world, your waters shed. 
 On my dear grandmother's head. 
 1'? 
 
338 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 The sun shines out now, and Khalil says the 
 " world has got well" again, so he sings: 
 
 Shines the sun -with brightest beam 
 On the roof of Im Seleem ; 
 Now the bear will dance a reel, 
 On the roof of Im Khaleel. 
 
 The roofs of the houses are low and flat, and on 
 the hill-sides you can walk from the street above 
 upon the roof of the houses below. I once lived in 
 a house in Duma in which the cattle, donkeys, and 
 sheep used to walk on our roof every evening as they 
 came in from pasture. It was not very pleasant to 
 be awakened at midnight by a cow-fight on the roof, 
 and have the stones and dirt rattling down into our 
 faces, but we could get no other house, and had to 
 make the best of it. You can understand then 
 Khalil's song: 
 
 The sun is rising all so bright 
 Upon the Pasha's daughter : 
 See her toss the tassels blue, 
 As her mother taught her. 
 Turn the oxen on the roof 
 Of the village priest ; 
 He will kill them one and all, 
 And give the poor a feast. 
 
 The boys seem to be in high glee. They all 
 know Handumeh and her betrothed Shaheen 
 Ma'ttar, so they are swinging and singing in honor 
 of her wedding. 
 
 But the time has come for the wedding, and we 
 will go over to Ain Kesur, about a mile away,' and 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 339 
 
 join in the bridal procession. As we come near the 
 house we hear the women inside singing. They 
 have been dressing the bride, and after she is dressed 
 they lead her around and try to make her dance. 
 Perhaps they will let us see how she is dressed. 
 Her head is covered with a head-dress of pink gauze, 
 embroidered with gold thread and purple chenille, 
 and ornamented with pearl beads and artificial 
 flowers, and over all a long white gauze veil trimme'd 
 with lace. Her ear-rings are gold filigree work with 
 pendant pearls, and around her neck is a string of 
 pure amber beads and a gold necklace. She wears 
 a jacket of black velvet, and a gilt belt embroidered 
 with blue, and fastened with a silver gilt filigree 
 buckle in the form of a bow knot with pendants. On 
 her finger is a gold ring set with sapphire, and others 
 with turquoises and amethysts. Her dress is of 
 brown satin, and on her arms are solid gold bracelets 
 which cost 1400 piastres or fifty-six dollars. You 
 know Handiimeh is not a rich girl, and her betrothed 
 is a hard working muleteer, and he has had to work 
 very hard to get the money to buy all these things, 
 for it is the custom for the bridegroom to pay for 
 the bride's outfit. The people always lay out their 
 money in jewelry, because it is easily carried, and 
 easily buried in time of civil wars and troubles in 
 the land. Shaheen's brothers and relatives have 
 come to take her to Abeih, but he is nowhere to be 
 seen. It would not be proper for him to come to 
 her house. For weeks she has not been over to 
 Abeih, except to invite us to her wedding, and when 
 
340 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 Anna asked her on what day she was to be married, 
 she professed not to know anything about it. They 
 think it is not modest for a bride to care anything 
 about the wedding, and she will try to appear un- 
 willing to go when they are ready to start. The 
 women are singing now : 
 
 Dance, our bride so fair. 
 
 Dance and never care ; 
 
 Your bracelets sing, your anklets ring. 
 
 Your shining beauty would dazzle a king ! 
 
 To Damascus your father a journey has made, 
 
 And your bridegroom's name is Abii Zeid. 
 
 And now the young men outside are dancing and 
 fencing, and they all join in singing : 
 
 Dance, my dancer, early and late. 
 Would I had like you seven or eight ; 
 Two uncles like you, blithe and gay, 
 To stand at my back in the judgment day 1 
 
 And now the young men, relatives of the bride- 
 groom, address the brother of the bride, as her father 
 is not living, and they all sing : 
 
 O brother of the bride, on a charger you should ride ; 
 
 A Councillor of State you should be ; 
 
 Whene'er you lift your voice. 
 
 The judgment halls rejoice. 
 
 And the earth quakes with fear 
 
 From Acre to Ghuzeer. 
 
 And now the warlike Druzes, who are old friends 
 of Shaheen and his father, wish to show their good 
 will by singing a wedding song, which they have 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 341 
 
 borrowed from the old wild inhabitants of this land 
 of Canaan : 
 
 O brother of the bride, your mare has gnawed her bridle, 
 Run for the blacksmith, do not be idle. 
 She has run to the grave where are buried your foes. 
 And pawed out their hearts with her iron shoes ! 
 
 But the time has come for the procession to 
 move, and we go along slowly enough. The bride 
 rides a mare, led by one of Shaheen's brothers, and 
 as we pass the fountain, the people pour water under 
 the mare's feet as a libation, and Handumeh throws 
 down a few little copper coins to the children. The 
 women in the company set up the zilagheet, a high 
 piercing trill of the voice, and all goes merry as a 
 marriage bell. When we reach the house of Shaheen, 
 he keeps out of sight, not even offering to help his 
 bride dismount from her horse. That would never 
 do. He will stay among the men, and she in a sep- 
 arate room among the women, until the hour of the 
 ceremony arrives. 
 
 But the women are singing again, and this time 
 the song is really beautiful in Arabic, but I fear I 
 have made lame work of it in the translation : 
 
 Allah, belaly, belaly, 
 
 Allah, belaly, belaly, ^ 
 
 May God spare the life of your sire. 
 Our lovely gazelle of the valley ! 
 
 May Allah his riches increase 
 
 He has brought you so costly a dowry ; 
 
 The moonlight has gone from his house. 
 
 The rose from his gardens so flow'ry. 
 
342 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 Run away, rude men, turn aside, 
 
 Give place to our beautiful bride : 
 
 From her sweet perfumes T am sighing, 
 
 From the odor'of musk I am dying. 
 Come and join us fair maid, they have brought you your dress, 
 Leave your peacocks and doves, give our bride a caress ; 
 Red silk ! crimson silk ! the weaver cries as he goes : 
 But our bride's cheeks are redder blushing bright as the rose. 
 Dark silk ! black silk ! hear him now as he sings : 
 But our bride's hair is black, like the raven's dark wings ; 
 With the light of our eyes with our Handiimeh sweet 
 No maid of the Druzes can ever compete. 
 She is worth all the wealth of the Lebanon domain, 
 All the vineyards and olives, the silk worms and grain. 
 And no maids of the Christians can with her compare 
 Tho' shining with pearls and with jewels so rare. 
 
 The house is now crowded full, the men being 
 all in one room with Shaheen, and the women in the 
 other room, and the court with the bride Handumeh. 
 One of Shaheen's brothers comes around with a 
 kumkum, and sprinkles orange flower water in all 
 our faces, and Khalil asks us if we wish the ceremony 
 to take place now? We tell him that he must ask 
 the bride and groom. So Abu Shaheen comes into 
 the court with the old priest Eklemandus, as Sha- 
 heen's family belong to the Greek Catholic sect. 
 Handumeh is really a Protestant, and Shaheen has 
 nothing to do with the priests, but the "old folks" 
 had their way 'about it. A white curtain hangs 
 across the court, and the bride stands on one side, 
 with her bridesmaid, and all the women and girls, 
 and on the other side is the priest with Shaheen, 
 and all of the men and boys. Then candles were 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 343 
 
 distributed, and lighted, and the old priest adjusted 
 his robes and began to read the marriage service. 
 An assistant stood by his side looking over his 
 shoulder, and responding Amen in a loud and long 
 drawn voice. At length the priest called out to him, 
 " A little shorter there on those Amens. We don't 
 want long Amens at a wedding ! '' This set the 
 whole crowd laughing, and on he went reading pas- 
 sages of Scripture, prayers and advice to the bride 
 and bridegroom in the most hasty and trifling man- 
 ner, intoning it through his nose, so that no one 
 could understand what he was saying. While he 
 was reading from the gospel about the marriage at 
 Cana of Galilee, a small boy, holding a lighted can- 
 dle, came very near burning off the old man's beard, 
 and he called out to him, '' Put out your candle ! 
 You have tormented my life out of me with that 
 candle." This raised another laugh, and on he read. 
 Then he took two rings, and drawing aside the cur- 
 tain, placed one on the bride's head, and the other on 
 the bridegroom's head, pronouncing them man and 
 wife, and then gave them each a sip of wine and the 
 ceremony was concluded, all the men kissing Sha- 
 heen, and the women Handumeh. Refreshments 
 were then served to the guests from the village, and 
 a dinner to those from other villages. In the even- 
 ing there assembled a great company in Shaheen's 
 house, and the hour was given up to story telling. 
 Saleh, whose brother married Shaheen's sister, will 
 begin with the Story of the Goats and the Ghoul. 
 Once there was a Nanny Goat, strong and power- 
 
344 ^-^^ WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 ful, with long and strong horns, and once upon a time 
 she brought forth twin kids, fair and beautiful. One 
 was named Sunaisil, and the other Rabab. Now 
 the Nanny Goat went out every morning to tie pas- 
 ture, leaving her twin kids in the cave. She shut 
 the door carefully, and they locked it on the inside 
 through fear of the Ghoul, for her neighbor in the 
 next house was a Ghoul who swallowed little chil- 
 dren alive. Then at evening when she came home, 
 she would stand outside the door, and sing to her 
 twin kids this little song : 
 
 Hearken now Sunaisil, 
 
 Come Rabab my dear : 
 
 Open to your mother. 
 
 Never, never fear. 
 
 She has sweet milk in her udder, 
 
 Tufts of grass upon her horn ; 
 
 She'll give you both your supper, 
 
 And breakfast in the morn. 
 
 The little twin kids would know her voice, open 
 the door in gladness, and eat a hearty supper, and 
 after hearing a nice story from the Anziyeh, (for so. 
 their mother was called), drop off to sweet sleep. 
 
 Now all things went on well for some time, until 
 one day the Ghoul neighbor being very hungry for 
 a supper of twin kids, came to the door of the cave 
 and tried to push it open. But it was too strong for 
 her, so she went away in perplexity. At length she 
 thought she would sing to them the very song, 
 which the Nanny Goat sang to them every evening 
 on her return, so she sang it : 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 345 
 
 Hearken now Sunaisil, 
 
 Come Rabab, my. dear, etc., etc. 
 
 and when they heard this song, they opened the* 
 door with gladness to eat their supper, when sud- 
 denly the Ghoul sprang upon them with her huge 
 mouth open, and swallowed them both down at once. 
 She then shut the door and fastened it as it was be- 
 fore, and went on her way. At evening the Nanny 
 Goat came home with milk and grass for her twin 
 kids' supper, and knocked at the door and sang: 
 
 Hearken now Sunaisil, 
 
 Come Rabab my dear, etc., etc., 
 
 as usual, but no one opened the door. Then she 
 knocked and sang again, and at length she gave up 
 all hope of their opening the door, and butted against 
 the door with her horns and broke it open. She 
 then entered the cave but there were no twin kids 
 there. All was still. Then she knew that the 
 Ghoul had eaten them. So she hastened to the 
 house of the Ghoul, and went upon the top of the 
 house, and began to stamp and pound upon the roof. 
 The Ghoul, hearing the stamping upon the roof, 
 called out, whosoever stamps on my roof, may Allah 
 stamp on his roof! The Nanny Goat replied, I am 
 on your roof; I, whose children you have eaten. 
 Come out now, and we will fight it out by butting 
 our heads together. Very well, said the Ghoul, only 
 wait a httle until I can make me a pair of horns like 
 you. So the goat waited, and away went the Ghoul 
 to make her horns. She made two horns of dough 
 IS* 
 
346 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 and dried thSm in the sun until they were hard, and 
 then came to " butt " with the goat. At the first 
 ^ock, when the goat butted her with her horns, the 
 horns of dough broke all to pieces ; then the goat 
 butted her again in her bowels and broke her in 
 twain, and out jumped Sunaisil and Rabab, frisking 
 and leaping and calling out "ya imme,'' oh, my 
 mother, Oh, my mother ! The Ghoul being dead 
 they had no -more fear, and lived long and happy 
 lives with their mother the Anaziyeh. 
 
 Did you notice how the little boys listened to 
 Saleh's story of the Goats and the Ghoul? This 
 story is told by the mothers to their little children, 
 all over Syria, in tlje tents of the Bedawin and in 
 the ■ houses of the citizens. One of the women, 
 named Noor, (i. e. Light), a sister of the bridegroom, 
 says she will tell the children the story of the Hamam, 
 the Britta, the Wez, and the Hamar, that is, of the 
 Dove, the Duck, the Goose, and the Donkey, if all 
 will sit still on the floor. So all the little boys and 
 girls curl their feet under them and fold their arms, 
 and Noor begins : 
 
 Once the Dove, the Duck, the Goose, and the 
 Donkey joined company and agreed to live together. 
 Then they took counsel about their means of living, 
 and said, how long shall we continue in such distress 
 for our necessary food ? Come let us plough a piece 
 of ground, and plant each one such seeds as are 
 suited to his taste. So they ploughed a piece of 
 ground and sowed the seed. The Goose planted 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 7,47 
 
 rice, the Duck planted wheat, the Dove planted 
 pulse, and the Donkey planted barley, and they 
 stationed the Donkey on guard to watch the grow- 
 ing crop. Now when the seeds began to grow and 
 flourish, and the Donkey looked upon it green and 
 bright and waving in the wind, he arose and ate it 
 all, and then went and threw himself into a ditch near 
 by. Then came the Dove, the Goose, and the Duck 
 to survey the growing crop, and lo and behold, it was 
 all eaten up, and the ground was red and barren. 
 Then said they, where is the Donkey whom we set 
 on guard over our crop ? They searched near and 
 far, and at length they found him standing in the 
 ditch, and they asked him where are the crops we so 
 carefully planted and set you to watch ? Then said 
 the Donkey, the Bedawin came wfth their flocks of 
 sheep and pastured them on our crops, and when I 
 tried to resist, they threw me into this ditch. Then 
 they replied, it is false, you have eaten it yourself. 
 He said, I did not. They said, yes, you did, for you 
 are sleek and fat, and the contest waxed hot between 
 them, -until at length they all agreed to make each 
 one swear an oath " by the life of the Lake," which 
 was near at hand, and whoever swore the oath, and 
 sprang into the Lake without falling, should be de- 
 clared innocent. So the Dove went down first and 
 said : 
 
 Ham, Hanij Ham, I am the Dove Hamam, 
 
 Ham, Ham, Ham, My food is Ihe plain Kotan, (pulse). 
 
 Ham, Ham, Ham, If I ate the growing crop, 
 
 May I suddenly throw it up 1 
 
348 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 May Allah tumble me into the Lake, 
 And none any news of me ever take ! 
 
 Then the Dove leaped into the Lake, and flew 
 to the limb of a tree on the shore, and was proved 
 innocent. 
 
 Then the Duck went down and said : 
 
 But, But, But, I am the Butta Duck, 
 
 But, But, But, My food is wheat and muck ; 
 
 But, But, But, If I ate the growing crop. 
 
 May I suddenly throw it up ! 
 
 May Allah tumble me into the Lake, 
 
 And none any news of me ever take I 
 
 So the Duck leaped into the Lake, and then flew 
 to the limb of a tree on the shore and was proved 
 innocent. 
 
 Then the Goose went down and said : 
 
 Wez, Wez, Wez, I am the Goose and the Wez, 
 
 Wez, Wez, Wez, I eat Egyptian riz, (rice), 
 
 Wez, Wez, Wez, If I ate the growing crop. 
 
 May I suddenly throw it up ! 
 May Allah tumble me into the Lake, 
 And none any news of me ever take 1 
 
 So the Goose leaped into the Lake and then flew 
 to the limb of a tree on the shore and was proved 
 innocent. 
 
 Then the Donkey went down and said : 
 
 Hak, Hak, Hak, I am the Donkey Jack, 
 
 Hak, Hak, Hak, I barley eat by the sack ; 
 
 Hak, Hak, Hak, If I ate the growing crop, 
 
 May I suddenly throw it up 1 
 May Allah tumble me into the Lake, 
 And none any news of me ever take 1 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 349 
 
 Then the Donkey leaped boldly into the Lake, 
 id down he fell, and his feet stuck fast in the mud 
 id mire. Then his three companions, seeing him 
 oved guilty of the crime, flew away and left him 
 
 his fate. Then the Donkey began to " bray " for 
 ercy, and called at the top of his voice : 
 
 Whoever will help me out of this plight. 
 May eat my tail at a single bite I 
 
 The Bear heard the braying, 
 
 And without long delaying. 
 
 He answered by saying : 
 
 Long eared Donkey will you pay. 
 Every word of what you say ? 
 If I save you by my might. 
 Will you stand still while I bite ? 
 
 The lying Ass lay still. 
 
 And answered, " Yes, I will." 
 
 The Bear then gave a fearful roar. 
 And dragged the Donkey to the shore, 
 And said, I saved you from your plight. 
 Now stand still. Donkey, while I bite I 
 
 He said : Wait Bruin till I rest, 
 
 And " smell the air " from East to West, 
 
 And then I'll run with all my might. 
 
 And turn my tail for you to bile ! 
 
 Then Bruin took him at his word, 
 Away he went swift as a bird. 
 And called out, now Bruin, I will rest, 
 I'll smell the air from East to West, 
 I'm running now with all my might, 
 I've " turned my tail " for you to bite ! 
 
 The Bear resolved in grief and pain. 
 
 He'd never help an Ass again. 
 
 Abu Habeeb, who is just about to enter the ed- 
 ge, has a story which all the Arabs know, and lo\ e 
 > hear. It is called ; 
 
350 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 The Lion and Ibn Adam, that is, the Lion' and 
 Man, the son of Adam. 
 
 Once there was a Lion who had a son, and he 
 always charged him, saying, my son, beware of Ibn 
 Adam. But at length the old Lion died, and the 
 young lion resolved that he would search through 
 the world and see that wonderful animal called Ibn 
 Adam, of whom his father had so often warned him. 
 So out he went from his cave, and walked to and fro 
 in the wilderness. At length he saw a huge animal 
 coming towards him, with long crooked legs and 
 neck, and running at the top of his speed. It was a 
 Camel. But when the Lion saw his enormous size and 
 rapid pace, he said, surely, this must be Ibn Adam 
 himself So he ran towards him and roared a fear- 
 ful roar. Stop where you are ! The Camel stopped, 
 trembling with fear of the Lion. Said the Lion, are 
 you Ibn Adam ? No, said the Camel, I am a Camel 
 fleeing from Ibn Adam. Said the Lion, and what 
 did Ibn Adam do to you that you should flee from 
 him ? The Camel said, he loaded me with heavy 
 burdens, and beat me cruelly, and when I found a 
 fit chance, I fled from him to this wilderness. Said 
 the Lion, is Ibn Adam stronger than you are? Yes 
 indeed, many times stronger. Then the Lion was 
 filled with terror, lest he too should fall into the 
 hands of Ibn Adam, and he left the Camel to go his 
 way in peace. After a little while, an Ox passed by, 
 and the Lion said, this must be Ibn Adam. But he 
 found that he too was fleeing from the yoke and the 
 goad of Ibn Adam. Then he met a Horse running 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 
 
 3SI 
 
 fleet as the. wind, and he said, this swift animal mu3t 
 be the famous Ibn Adam, but the Horse too was 
 running away from the halter, the bridle the spur or 
 the harness of the terrible Ibu Adam. Then he 
 met a mule, a donkey, a buffalo and an eleyhant, 
 and all were running in terror of Ibn Adam. The 
 Lion thought what terrible monster must he be to 
 have struck terror into all these monstrous animals ! 
 And on he went trembling, until hunger drove him 
 to a forest to seek for prey to eat. While he was 
 searchingthrough the forest, lo and behold, a Carpen- 
 ter was at work cutting wood. The Lion wondered 
 at his curious form, and said, who knows but this 
 may be Ibn Adam ? So he came near and asked, him 
 saying, Are you Ibn Adam ? He replied, I am. 
 Then the Lion roared a fearful roar, and said, pre- 
 pare for battle with the Lion, the king of beasts ! 
 Then Ibn Adam said: What do you want of me ? 
 Said the Lion, I want to devour you. Very well, 
 said the Carpenter, wait until I can get my claws 
 ready. I will go and take this wood yonder, and 
 then I will return and fight you. If you kill me, eat 
 me, and if I conquer you I will let you go, for we 
 the sons of Adam do not eat the flesh of wild beasts, 
 nor do we kill them, but we let them go. The Lion 
 was deceived by those artful words, for he had seen 
 the Camel and his companions running away, and he 
 thought within himself, now, if Ibn Adam did real- 
 ly eat the flesh of beasts, he would not have let the 
 Camel and the Horse, the Buffalo and the Mule es- 
 cape into the desert. So he said to the Carpenter, 
 
352 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 very well, I will wait for you to take the wood, and 
 return with your claws. Not so, said the Carpen- 
 ter, I am afraid that you will not wait for me. 
 You are a stranger, and I do not trust your word. 
 I. feaf you will run away before I return. Said 
 the Lion, it is impossible that the Lion should run 
 away from any one. Said the Carpenter, I cannot 
 admit what you say, unless you will grant me one 
 thing. And what is that, said the Lion. The Car- 
 penter said, I have here a little rope. Come let me 
 tie you to this tree until I return, and then I shall 
 know where to find you. The Lion agreed to this 
 plan, and the Carpenter bound him with ropes to the 
 tree until he and the tree were one compact bundle. 
 Then the Carpenter went away to his shop, and 
 brought his glue pot, and filling it with glue and pitch 
 boiled it over the fire. Then he returned and be- 
 smeared the Lion with the boiling mixture from his 
 head to the end of his tail, and applied a torch until 
 he was all in a flame from head to tail, and in this 
 plight the Carpenter left him. Then the Lion roared 
 in agony until the v/hole forest echoed the savage 
 roar, and all the animals and wild beasts came run- 
 ning together to see what had happened. And when 
 they saw him in this sad plight, they rushed to him 
 and loosed his bonds., and he sprang to the river and 
 extinguished the flames, but came out singed and 
 scarred, with neither hair nor mane. Now when all 
 the beasts saw this pitiable sight, they made a cove- 
 nant together to kill Ibn Adam. So they watched 
 and waited day and night, until at length they found 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 353 
 
 him in the forest. As soon as he saw them, he ran 
 to a lofty tree, and climbed to its very top, taking 
 only his adze with him, and there awaited his fate. 
 The whole company of beasts now gathered around 
 the foot of the tree, and tried in vain to climb it, and 
 after they walked around and around, at length 
 they agreed that one should stand at the foot of the 
 tree, and another on his back, and so on, un- 
 til the upper one should reach Ibn Adam, and 
 throw him down to the ground. Now the Lion, 
 whose back was burned and blistered, from his great 
 fear of man demanded that he should stand at the 
 bottom of the tree. To this all agreed. Then the 
 Camel mounted upon the Lion's back, the Horse 
 upon the Camel, the Buffalo upon the Horse, the 
 Bear upon the Buffalo, the Wolf upon the bear, and 
 the Donkey upon the Wolf, and so on in order, until 
 the topmost animal was almost within reach of the 
 Carpenter, Ibn Adam. Now, when he saw the ani- 
 mals coming nearer and nearer, and almost ready to 
 seize him, he shouted at the top of his voice. Bring 
 the glue pot of boiling pitch to the Lion ! Hasten ! 
 Hasten ! Now when the Lion heard of the boiling 
 pitch, he was terrified beyond measure and leaped 
 one side with all his might and fled. Down came 
 the pile of beasts, tumbling in confusion, the one 
 upon the other, and all lay groaning bruised and 
 bleeding, some with broken legs, some with broken 
 ribs, and some with broken heads. But as soon as 
 the clamor of their first agony was over, they all 
 
354 "^HE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 called out to the Lion, why did you leap out and 
 bring all this misery upon us ! The Lion replied : 
 
 The story's point he never knew. 
 Who never felt the- burning glue ! 
 
 Monsoor, who has just been to Damascus, says 
 that if he can have another pipe, and a cup of Arab 
 coffee, he will tell the story of the famous Jew Ru- 
 faiel of Damascus. So he begins : 
 
 The story of Rufaiel, the rich Jew of Damascus, 
 and the Moslem Dervish. 
 
 Once there lived in Damascus a rich Jew named 
 Rufaiel. He had great wealth in marble palaces and 
 rich silk robes, and well stored bazaars, and his wife 
 and daughters were clad in velvets and satins, in gold 
 and precious stones. He had also great wit and cun- 
 ning, and often helped his fellow Jews out of their 
 troubles. Now the Pasha of Damascus was a Mo- 
 hammedan, who had a superstitious fear of the holy 
 Moslem Dervishes, and they could persuade him to 
 tax and oppress the Jews in the most cruel manner. 
 In those days there came to Damascus a holy Der- 
 vish who had long, uncombed black hair, and although 
 he was a vile and wicked man, he made the people 
 believe that he was a holy saint, and could perform 
 wonderful miracles. The Pasha held him in great 
 reverence, and invited him often to dinner, and when 
 he came in, he would stoop and kiss the Dervish's 
 feet ! And what was most wonderful of all, the Der- 
 vish left Damascus every Thursday night after bid- 
 ding the Pasha farewell, and journeyed to Mecca 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 
 
 3SS 
 
 and returned in the morning and told the Pasha all 
 the Mecca news and what he had seen and heard. 
 This he did every week, though all wise men laughed 
 at him, and said he only went out of the City Gate 
 and slept in the gardens of Damascus ! 
 
 Now the Dervish was a great enemy of the Jews. 
 He hated them, cursed them, spat upon them, and 
 called them infidel dogs, and he persuaded the Pa- 
 sha to increase their taxes fourfold. Their sufferings 
 now became very great. They had to sell their 
 houses and furniture to pay the heavy taxes, and 
 many were beaten and thrust into prison. So the 
 leading Jews in their distress came to Rufaiel, and 
 begged him to go to the Pasha and obtain relief for 
 them and their families. He said he would think 
 about the matter. So after they had gone, he called 
 the chief jeweller and pipe maker of the city, and 
 ordered them to make a long pipe of exquisite work- 
 manship, with a stem of rosewood carved and inlaid 
 with pearls, a bowl of pure gold set with diamonds, 
 and a mouth-piece of gold and amber. Then he went 
 one day to call on the Pasha, and made him a present 
 of this elegant pipe, the like of which had never been 
 seen in Damascus. The Pasha was greatly pleased 
 and ordered all in his presence to retire that he might 
 enjoy the society of Rufaiel, the munificent Jew. 
 Then Rufaiel turned to the Pasha and said, " may 
 your Excellency live forever ! I have brought you 
 this pipe as a faint token of my high esteem and af- 
 fection, but I am filled with deepest sorrow that it is 
 not perfect." " Not perfect ? " said the Pasha. " In 
 
356 'SHE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 what respect could it be more perfect than what it 
 is? " Said Rufaiel, "you will notice that between the 
 amber and the gold of the mouth-piece a little ring 
 is wanting. This ring was the very gem and excel- 
 lence of the pipe. It was cut from the Black Stone 
 of the Kaaba in Mecca, and has miraculous properties. 
 But when the pipe was brought from Mecca, the ring 
 was left with Mustafa, the jeweller, who is ready to 
 send it by the first fit opportunity." " Alas," said the 
 Pasha, " but how can we send for it now ? The Pil- 
 grim caravan has gone, and there will be none again for 
 ayear.'' "Oh," said Rufaiel, "this is easily arranged. 
 To-day is Thursday, and to-night the hojy Dervish 
 will go to Mecca and return to-morrow morning. Your 
 Excellency need only command him to bring the 
 black ring, and before this time to-morrow the pipe 
 will be complete in its beauty and excellency." "El 
 Hamdu Lillah ! Praise to Allah ! It shall be done! " 
 So when Rufaiel had gone, the Pasha summoned the 
 Dervish, and told him of this wonderful pipe which 
 had come to him from Mecca, and that it only need- 
 ed the black ring to make it absolutely perfect, and 
 that he was hereby commanded on pain of death to 
 bring the ring from Mecca before Friday at the hour 
 of noon prayer. The Dervish bowed most obeisantly 
 and retired black in the face with rage and despair. 
 But it occurred to him at once that none in Damas- 
 cus but Rufaiel could have purchased such a pipe. 
 So he left the City Gate, called the Bab Allah, or 
 Gate of God, at sunset, bidding his friends farewell, 
 and walked away in the gardens until night came on 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 
 
 357 
 
 Then, at the sixth hour of the night he returned by 
 another gate, and crept along to the door of the 
 mansion of Rufaiel. The door was opened, and Ru- 
 faiel received him with great politeness. The Der- 
 vish fell on the floor and kissed his feet and begged 
 for his life. Said he, " give me that black ring which 
 belongs to the Pasha's pipe, and we will be friends 
 forever ! Ask what you will and it shall be done to 
 you. Only give me this ring." Said Rufaiel, " you 
 have ruined my people with oppression, and now do 
 you ask a favor?'' "Yes,'' said the Dervish, "and 
 you shall have any favor you ask." So Rufaiel thought 
 to himself a moment, and then said, " I ask one thing. 
 Do you obtain from the Pasha an order on all the tax 
 collectors of Damascus, that when any Jew shall say, 
 I am one of the Seventy, the collector shall pass him 
 by, and no tax ever be demanded of him." "Done," 
 said the Dervish, and embracing Rufaiel, he bade him 
 good-night. Then in the morning he hastened in at 
 Bab Allah, and presented the ring to the Pasha, who 
 was so delighted that he granted his request, and 
 orders were given that no tax should ever be collect- 
 ed from any Jew who should say " I am one of the 
 Seventy." Then Rufaiel assembled all the Jews of 
 Damascus, and bade them say to the tax-gatherers 
 whenever they came, " I am one of the Seventy." So 
 the Jews had rest from taxation, all the days of 
 Rufaiel. 
 
 Saleh Bu Nusr, one of the best men in Mount 
 Lebanon, and the father of Khalil, who brought us 
 the list of Arab boys' games, has already told us the 
 
358 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 story of the Goats and the Ghoul, and he says that 
 the savory odor of the egg plant being cooked for 
 the wedding guests, reminds him of the story of the 
 Badinjan or Egg Plant. 
 
 Once there was a great Emir or Prince who had 
 a very abject and obsequious servant named Deeb 
 (Woli). One day Deeb brought to the Emir for his 
 dinner a dish of stewed badinjan, which pleased the 
 Emir so much that he complimented Deeb, and told 
 him that it was the best dinner he had eaten for 
 months. Deeb bowed to the earth and kissed the 
 feet of the Emir, and said, " may God prolong the life 
 of your excellency! Your excellency knows what is 
 good. There is nothing like the badinjan. It is the 
 best of vegetables. Its fruit is good,^ its leaf is good, 
 its stalk is good, and its root is good.. It is good 
 roasted, stewed, boiled, fried, and even raw. It is 
 good for old and young. Your excellency, there is 
 nothing like the badinjan." Now the Emir was unu- 
 sually hungry, and ate so bountifully of the badinjan 
 that he was made very ill. So he sent foj Deeb, and 
 rebuked him sharply, saying, " you rascal, you Deeb, 
 your name is Wolf, and you are rightly named. 
 This badinjan which you praised so highly has al- 
 most killed me." " Exactly so," said Deeb, " may 
 your excellency live forever ! The badinjan is the vi- 
 lest of plants. It is never eaten without injury. Its 
 fruit is injurious, its leaf is injurious, its stalk is nox- 
 ious, and its root is the vilest of all. It is not fit 
 'ajell shanak Allah,' for the pigs to eat, whether 
 raw, roasted, stewed, boiled or fried. It is injurious 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 
 
 359 
 
 to the young and dangerous to the old. Your ex- 
 ceDency, there is nothing so bad as the badinjan ! 
 Never touch the badinjan ! " — " Out with you, you 
 worthless fellow, you Deeb ! What do you mean 
 by praising the badinjan when I praise it, and abu- 
 sing it when it injures me ? " "Ah, your excellency," 
 said Deeb, " am I the servant of the badinjan, or the 
 servant of your excellency? I must say what pleases 
 you, but it makes no difference whether I please the 
 badinjan or not." 
 
 The wedding party is now over, and the guests 
 are departing. Each one on leaving says, " by your 
 pleasure, good evening ! " The host answers, " go in 
 peace, you have honored us.'' The guests reply, 
 " we have been honored, Allah give the newly mar- 
 ried ones an arees,'' (a bridegroom). They would 
 not dare wish that Shaheen and Handumeh might 
 some day have a little baby girl. That would be 
 thought an insult. 
 
 We will walk up the hill to our mountain home, 
 passing the fountain and the great walnut trees. 
 Here comes a horseman. It is Ali, who has been 
 spending a month among the Bedawin Arabs. He 
 will come up and stay with us, and tell us of his ad- 
 ventures. He says that the Sit Harba, the wife of the 
 great Arab Sheikh ed Dukhy, taught him a number of 
 the Bedawin Nursery Songs, and although he is weary 
 with his journey, he will repeat some of them in Arabic. 
 
 They are all about camels and spears and fighting 
 and similar subjects, and no wonder, as they see 
 nothing else, and think of nothing else. 
 
360 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 To-morrow is the feast day, 
 We've no " henna " on our hands ; 
 
 Our camels went to bring it. 
 
 From far off distant lands ; 
 
 We'll rise by night and listen. 
 
 The camel bells will ring ; 
 
 And say a thousand welcomes 
 
 To those who " henna" bring. 
 
 And here is a song which shows that the Bedawin 
 have the same habit of cursing their enemies, which 
 we noticed in the Dr^ize luUabys : 
 
 On the rose and sweetest myrtle, 
 May you sleep, my eyes, my boy ; 
 But may sharpest thorns and briars. 
 All your enemies destroy 1 
 
 AU says that one of the most mournful songs he 
 heard in the desert was the following: 
 
 I am like a wounded camel, 
 I grind my teeth in pain ; 
 My load is great and heavy, 
 I am tottering again. 
 My back is torn and bleeding, 
 My wound is'past relief, 
 And what is harder still to bear. 
 None other knows my grief! 
 
 The next is a song which the people sung in the 
 villages on the borders of the desert. By " the sea" 
 they mean the Sea of Galilee : 
 
 My companions three. 
 Were fishing by the sea ; 
 The Arabs captured one. 
 The Koords took his brother. 
 In one land was I, 
 My friends were in another. 
 
"Ho, Every one that thirsteth I' 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 36 1 
 
 I was left to moan. 
 
 In sorrow deep and sad, 
 
 Like a camel all alone, 
 
 Departing to Baghdad ; 
 
 My soul I beg you tell me whether. 
 
 Once parted friends e'er met together ? 
 
 The Bedawin have as low an idea of girls as the 
 Bedawin in the cities, and are very glad when a boy 
 is born. Sometimes when the Abeih girls are play- 
 ing together, you will hear a little girl call out, " it 
 is very small indeed. Why it is a little wee thing, as 
 small as was the rejoicing the day I was born ! " 
 But hear what the Bedawin women sing when a boy 
 is born : 
 
 Mashallah, a boy, a boy ! 
 
 May Allah's eye defend him I 
 
 May she who sees and says not the Name, 
 
 Be smitten with blindness and die in shame ! 
 
 How would you like to live among the Bedawin, 
 and have a dusky Arab woman, clad in coarse gar- 
 ments, covered with vermin and odorous of garlic and 
 oil, to sing you to sleep on a mat on the ground ? 
 
 Hasten my cameleer, where are you going ? 
 It is eventide, and the camels are lowing : 
 My house in a bundle I bear on my back, 
 Whenever night comes, I my bundle unpack. 
 
 The next is a song of the pastoral Arabs : 
 
 Hasten my guide and lead us away. 
 For we have fought and lost the day ; 
 To the well we went all thirsty and worn, 
 The well was dry ! and we slept forlorn. 
 16 
 
362 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 The Bedawin came in battle array, 
 Attacked us all famished at break of day, 
 And took all our camels and tents away ! 
 
 Death enters the Bedawin tents as well as the 
 palaces of kings and the comfortable homes of the 
 people in Christian lands. But what desolation it 
 leaves behind in those dark sorrowing hearts, who 
 know nothing of the love of Jesus and the consola- 
 tions of the gospel. This is a funeral song the poor 
 Bedawin women sing over the death of a child : 
 
 Oh hasten my camel, begone, begone. 
 
 Oh haste where your loved ones stay : 
 
 There weep and lament. There my " spirit" is gone. 
 
 Is gone to a night without day : 
 
 Oh Star of the Morning, thou Star of the day, 
 
 And Star of the Evening, both hasten away, 
 
 And bring me a balm for my wounded heart. 
 
 For 1 from my child, my " spirit " must part. 
 
 Soon may the " day dawn, and the day star 
 arise " in their dark hearts, and Jesus the " Bright 
 and Morning Star " be their portion forever ! 
 
 The next song is about the pilgrimage to 
 Jerusalem. Thousands of Greeks, Armenians and 
 Cathohcs go to Jerusalem every year to visit the 
 " Holy Places," and get a certificate of the pardon 
 of all their sins. The Greek Patriarch performs 
 a lying imposture called the Holy Fire every year 
 at Greek Easter, by lighting a candle with a match in- 
 side a dark room, and declaring that it is miraculous- 
 ly lighted by fire which comes forth from the tomb of 
 Christ ! So the poor Greek woman sings to her child : 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 363 
 
 Oh take me on a pilgrimage, 
 
 Jerusalem to see : 
 
 The Tomb of Chr-ist and Holy fire, 
 
 And Hill of Calvaiy : 
 
 And then I'll to the Convent go, 
 
 Ask pardon for my sin : 
 
 And say, my Lady, now forgive. 
 
 And comfort me again. 
 
 The next is really beautiful, and is good enough 
 for any mother to sing to her child. It is a morning 
 song: 
 
 Praise to Him who brings the light. 
 
 And keeps the birds in darkest night . 
 
 God is merciful to all, 
 
 Rise ye men and on Him call ! 
 
 Allah praise in eveiy lot, 
 
 He keeps you and you know it not. 
 
 And this one too, about the little worms, is curi- 
 ous enough : 
 
 Praise to Him who feeds the worms, 
 In the silent vale ! 
 Provides their portion every day. 
 Protects them in the dangerous way. 
 No doubt they praise Him too, and pray. 
 In the silent vale ! 
 
 When our good friend Yusef, whom we saw in 
 Safita, asked the Nusairiyeh women to repeat to him 
 their nursery rhymes, they denied that they had any. 
 They were afraid to recite them, lest he write them 
 down and use them as a magic spell or charm against 
 them. When a child is born among them, no one 
 is allowed to take a coal or spark of fire from the 
 
364 THE WOMEN OF THE AKABS. 
 
 house for a week, lest the child be injured. They 
 always hang a little coin around the child's neck to 
 keep off eruptions and diseases from its body. 
 
 You must be weary by this time, after Handu- 
 meh's wedding and the story telling and the Beda- 
 win songs. Let us retire to rest for the night, thank- 
 ful for the precious Bible, and the knowledge of 
 Jesus Christ. You are safe indeed in the hands of 
 God, and need not fear the Ghoul nor the Bah'oo. 
 Good night. 
 
 Such is life. Yesterday a wedding, and to-day a 
 funeral. Do you hear that terrific wail, those shrieks 
 and bitter cries of anguish? Young Sheikh Milham 
 has died. The Druze and Christian women are gath- 
 ered in the house, and waihng together in the most 
 piteous manner. It is dreadful to think what suffer- 
 ings the poor women must endure. They do every- 
 thing possible to excite one another. They not only 
 call out, " Milham, my pride, my bridegroom, star of 
 my life, you have set, my flower, you have faded,'' 
 but they remind each other of all the deaths that 
 have occurred in their various families for years, and 
 thus open old wounds of sorrow which time had 
 healed. Yet they have regular funeral songs, and 
 we will listen while they sing in a mournful strain : 
 
 Milham Beg my warrior. 
 Your spear is burnished gold : 
 Your costly robes and trappings, 
 Will in the street be sold. 
 " Where is the Beg who bore me ? " 
 I hear the armor crying — 
 Where is the lord who wore me ? 
 I hear the garments sighing. 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 365 
 
 Now Im Hassein from Ainab bursts out in a loud 
 song, addressing the dead body, ai'ound which they 
 are all seated on the ground : 
 
 Rise up my lord, gird on your sword. 
 
 Of heavy Baalbec steel ; 
 
 Why leave it hanging on the nail ? 
 
 Let foes its temper feel ! 
 
 Would that the Pasha's son had died. 
 
 Not our Barmakeh's son and pride 1 
 
 Then Lemis answers in another song in which 
 they all join : 
 
 Ten thousands are thronging together. 
 The Beg has a feast to-day ; 
 We thought he had gone on a visit, 
 But alas, lie has gone to stay. 
 
 Then they all scream, and tear their hair and beat 
 their breasts. Alas, they have no light beyond the 
 grave. Who could expect them to do otherwise? 
 The Apostle Paul urges the Christians " not to sorrow 
 even as others which have no hope ! " This is sorrow 
 without hope. The grave is all dark to them. How 
 we should thank our Saviour for having cast light on 
 the darkness of the tomb, and given us great conso- 
 lation in our sorrows! Here comes a procession .of 
 women from Kefr Metta. Hear them chanting: 
 
 I saw the mourners thronging round, 
 I saw the beds thrown on the ground ; 
 The marble columns leaning. 
 The wooden beams careening, 
 
366 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 My lord and Sheikh with flowing tears, 
 I aslced what was its meaning? 
 He sadly beckoned me aside. 
 And said, To-day Tny son has died ! 
 
 Then an old woman, a widow, who has been re- 
 minded of the death of her husband, calls out to 
 him : 
 
 Oh, Sheikh, have you gone to the land ? 
 Then give my salams to my boy. 
 He has gone on a long, long journey, 
 And took neither clothing nor toy. 
 Ah, what will he wear on the feast days. 
 When the people their festal enjoy? 
 
 Now one of the women addresses the corpse : 
 
 Lord of the wide domain. 
 All praise of you is true : 
 The women of your hareem, 
 Are dressed in mourning blue. 
 
 Then one sings the mother's wail : 
 
 My tears are consuming my heart, 
 
 How can I from him bear to part. 
 
 Oh raven of death, tell me why. 
 
 You betrayed me and left him to die ? 
 
 Oh raven of death begone ! 
 
 You falsely betrayed my son ! 
 
 Oh Milham, I beg you to tell, 
 
 Why you've gone to the valley to dwell? 
 
 From far, far away I have come, 
 
 Who will come now to take me back home ? 
 
 Then rises such a wail as you never heard before. 
 A hundred women all screaming together and then 
 grasping the hands and feet of the corpse, while the 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 367 
 
 men are coming to take it away. The women hug 
 and kiss the corpse, and try to puU it back, while the 
 men drive them off, and carry it out to the bier. 
 Some of the women faint away, and a piercing 
 shriek arises. Then you hear the mother's wail 
 again. 
 
 Then one sings the caU of the dead man for help: 
 
 Oh ransom me, buy me, my friends to-day, 
 
 'Tis a costly ransom you'll have to pay. 
 
 Oh ransom mCj father, whate'er they demand, 
 
 Though they take all your money and houses and land. 
 
 And another sings his address to the grave-dig- 
 gers: 
 
 Oh cease, grave-diggers, my feelings you shock, 
 
 I forbade you to dig, you have dug to the rock ; 
 
 I bade you dig little, you have dug so deep ! 
 
 When his father's not here, will you lay him to sleep \ 
 
 Then a poor woman who has lately buried a 
 young daughter begins to sing : 
 
 Oh bride ! on the roofs of heaven, 
 Come now and look over the wall : 
 Oh let your sad mother but see you, 
 Oh let her not vainly call ! 
 Hasten, her heart is breaking,' 
 Let her your smile behold ; 
 The mother is sadly weeping, 
 The maiden is still and cold. 
 t 
 
 The Druzes believe that millions of Druzes live 
 in China and that China is a kind of heaven. So an- 
 other woman sings : 
 
368 THE WOMEN OF THE ARABS. 
 
 Yullah, now my lady, happy is your state ! 
 
 Happy China's people, when you reached the gate ! 
 
 Lady, you are passing, 
 
 To the palace bright, 
 
 All the stars supassing, 
 
 On the brow of night ! 
 
 And now the body is taken to be buried, and the 
 women return to the house, where the wailing is 
 kept up for days and weeks. They have many oth- 
 er funeral songs, of which I will give two in conclu- 
 sion : 
 
 Ye Druzes, gird on your swords, 
 
 A great one is dead to-day ; 
 
 The Arabs came down upon us, 
 
 They thought us in battle array, 
 
 But they wept when they found us mourning, 
 
 For our leader has gone away ! 
 
 The next is the lament of the mother over her 
 dead son : 
 
 The stm is set, the tents are rolled, 
 Happy the mother whose lambs are in fold ; 
 But one who death's dark sorrow knew. 
 Let her go to the Nile of indigo blue, 
 And dye her robes a mourning hue ! 
 
 And now, my dear boy, our Syrian journey is 
 ended. You have seen and heard many strange 
 things. Whatever is good among the Arabs, try to 
 imitate ; whatever is evil, avoid. Perhaps you will 
 write to me some day, and tell me what you think 
 of Syria and the Syrians. Many little boys and 
 girls will read this long letter, but it is your letter, 
 
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 
 
 369 
 
 and I have written it for your instruction and amuse- 
 ment- 
 
 May the good Shepherd, who gave His Hfe for 
 the sheep, lead you beside the still waters of life, and 
 at last when He shall appear, may He give you a 
 crown of glory which fadeth not away ! 
 
 THE END. 
 
INDEX, 
 
 Arabs of the Jahiliyeh, i 
 
 Arabs of Kinaneh, 2 
 
 Arabic Proverbs, 3 
 
 Arnman, Michael, ig, gg 
 
 Asin Haddad, lOi 
 
 Abu Selim, 138, 260 
 
 Abu Mishrik, 148 
 
 Aleppo, 151 
 
 Asurel Jedid, 168 
 
 American Seminary Abeih, i6g 
 
 Anazy, 182 
 
 Arthington, Mr., 181, 184 
 
 AH, 184, 359 
 
 Amount of Instruction, 57, 78, 81, 
 
 AbduUa Yanni, 220 
 
 Aintab, 88 
 
 Abu Asaad, 2/4, 276, 283 
 
 Abu Isbir, 281 
 
 Arab Camp, 295 
 
 Adullamites, 298 
 
 Arkites, 262 
 
 Abu Hanna, 263 
 
 Asaad Mishiik, 233 
 
 Burying Alive, i 
 
 Birth of Daughter, 28, 236 
 
 316 
 
 B'hamdun, 03, 121 
 Bliss, Mrs. Dr. 104 
 Booth, Wm. A., 105, io6 
 Bird, Rev., 47, 48, 50, 58, 115 
 Bistany, Mr. , 126, 134, 158, 300 
 Bedr, Rev. Yusef, 148 
 Belinda, 149 
 Bedawin Arabs, 180 
 British Syrian Schools, 
 Beattie, Rev., 41 
 Bird, Mrs., 50 
 Beit Beshoor, 274 
 Bells, 304 
 Bedawin Songs, 360 
 
 Carabet Melita, 62, 65, 67, rs3 
 
 Cheney, Miss, 74, 81, 97 
 
 Carruth, Miss, 104 
 
 Calhoun, Mrs., 79 114, 197 
 
 Crawford, Mrs., 204 
 
 Church of Scotland Schools for Jewish 
 
 Girls, 214 
 Carabet, Bishop Dionysiiis, 49 
 Convent of the Sacred Fish, 396 
 Camels, 245 
 
 (370) 
 
 Divorce, 14, 27, 29, 37 
 
 Druze, 20 
 
 Dodds, Dr., M 
 
 De Forrest, Dr., 23, 33, 73, 75, 134, 29 
 
 Dales, Miss, 204 
 
 Department of Women's Work, 219 
 
 Dodge, Dr., 50 
 
 Dodge( Mrs., 50, 52, 53 
 
 Dog River, 312 
 
 El Khunsa, the poetess, 4 
 
 Education of Girls, 18, 19 
 
 Everett, Miss, 103 
 
 Early Age of Marriage, 117 
 
 Eddy, Mr., 151 
 
 El Hakem, 331, 22 
 
 Evil Eye, 336 
 
 Female Prayer-Meeting, 56, 74 
 Ford, Mr., 126, 151, 156 
 French Lazarist School, 169 
 Francis Eflfendi Marrash, 91 
 Fast of Ramadan, 306 
 I Fuller's Soap, 328 
 
 Funerals, 316, 364 
 
 Female Seminary, Beirut, 222, 315 
 
 Fruits, 255 
 
 Fisk, Rev. Pliny, 47 
 
 Greek School Suk el Ghurb, 169 
 Ghubrin Jebara, 173 
 Godell, Mrs., 50 
 Games, 319 
 Greek Priests, 259 
 Godell, Dr., 47, 48 
 
 Houris, 10 
 
 Hala of Abeih, 39 
 Hammud, 39 
 Hums, 140 
 Hassan, 1^8 
 Hicks, Miss, 206 
 Howe, Fisher, 76, 80 
 Haj Ibraham, 297 
 
 Ishoc, 149, 263 
 
 Irish - American United Presbyterian 
 
 Mission in Damascus, 204 
 Ishmaelitic Songs, 326 
 Imprecations, 326 
 
INDEX. 
 
 371 
 
 Johnson, Miss, 97 
 Jacombs, Miss, 08, 225 
 Jackson, Miss Ellen, 104 
 Jenan, 136, 162, 165, 191 
 Jennen, 136 
 Jeneineh, 136 
 Jesuit School Ghuzir, 169 
 Job, 229 
 
 Khozma Ata, 33, 75 
 Katrina Subra, 93, 95 
 Koukab es Soubah, 33, 126 
 Koran, i, 2, 11, 126, 297 
 Khlalil Effendi, 167 
 Khlalil Ferah,286 
 King, Dr. Jonas, 47, 48 
 
 Latakiah Boarding School, 42 
 Loring, Miss Sophia, 104 
 Luciya, Shekkur, 114 
 Lyde, Mr., 38, 39 
 Lying, 284 
 Lullaby, 294 
 Letters, 311 
 Lokunda, 242 
 
 Moslem Paradise for Women, 10 
 
 Moslem Idea ofWomen, 12, 17 
 
 Moulah Hakem, 22, 33r 
 
 Massacres of i860, 24, 95, 196, 286 
 
 Marriage Ceremony of Druzes, 25 
 
 Marie, 43 
 
 Maronites, 45 
 
 Mason, Miss, 97 
 
 Meshakah, Dr., ri8 
 
 Miriam the Aleppine, 15 
 
 Modern Syrian Views, 158 
 
 Moslem Schools, 168, 253 
 
 Miss Taylor's School Moslem Girls, s 
 
 Methak en Nissa, 21 
 
 Metheny, Dr., 40 
 
 Manner, 265 
 
 Missionary Stations, 249 
 
 Miriam, 279, 282 
 
 Monasteries, 309 
 
 Marriage, 338, 117,143 
 
 Mohamm,ecf ed Dukhy, 182, 189. 246 
 
 Naman, King of Hira 3 
 
 Nusairiyeh, 35 
 
 L W( 
 
 omen, 38 
 
 Nusairiyeh 
 Nejon, no 
 Naame Tabet, soi 
 Nowar, 286 
 Nursery Songs, 325 
 Names, 242, 244 
 
 Othman, 2 
 
 Okkal, 24 
 Oukid el Arab 46 
 
 Poetesses of Arabs, 6 
 
 Position of Woman in Mohammedan 
 
 World, 7 
 Prussian Deaconness' Institute BeirCt, 
 
 2g6 
 Post, Dr., 29 
 Praying, 305 
 Parsons, liev. Levi, 47 
 
 Qualifications for Missionaries, 53 
 
 Rakash, the Poetess, 6 
 
 Rufka, Gregory, 60, 97, 99, 102, 138, 175, 
 
 277 
 Resha, no 
 Rah eel, 120 
 Kuella Arabs, 184 
 
 Sa Saah, 3 
 
 Schwire, 10 
 
 Sheikh Owad, 16 
 
 Sheikh Said el Ghur, 19 
 
 Sheikh Khottar, 31 
 
 Sheikh Mohammed ed Dukhy, 182, 189, 
 
 246 
 Sheikh Aiub el Hashem, 288 
 Sitt Abla, 30 
 Syrian Christianity, 46 
 State of Mission in 1828, 49, — 1834, 51, 
 
 53—1841, 55—1846, 57—1852, 75—1864, 
 
 lOI, 
 
 Seclusion of Oriental Females, 52 
 
 Sada Gregory, 18, 61, 70 
 
 Superstitions, 77, 317, 318, 336 
 
 Sada Barakat, 84 
 
 Stanton, Miss, 98 
 
 Sada el Haleby, 84, roo, 115 
 
 Sara Bistany, loi, 136 
 
 Smith, Dr., 50, 127 
 
 Sarkis, Mr. Ibraham, 127 
 
 Sulleba Jerwan, 142 
 
 Sara Huntington ]3istany, 157 
 
 Sitt Mariana Marash, 162 
 
 Sitt Wustina Mesirra, 165 
 
 Schools of Syria, 169, 171 
 
 Sitt Harba, 183, 185, 359 
 
 Safita, 277, 285, 302, 334 
 
 Seven Arbitrary Pillars of the Law, 22 
 
 Suggestions to Friends of Missions, 224 
 
 Sidon Female Seminary, 225 
 
 Saad ed Deen, 67 
 
 Sphere and Mode of Woman's Work, 
 
 218 
 Syed Abdullah, 288 
 Swine, 306 
 
 Story of the Goats and the Ghoul, 343 
 Story of the Haman, Britta, etc, 346 
 Story of the Lion and Ibn Adam, 350 
 Story of the Jew Rufaiel, 354 
 Story of the Badinjan 
 Shepherds, 313 
 
372 
 
 Swearing, 240 
 Soum el Kebir, 260 
 Smith, Mrs., 17, 50, 120 , 
 Syrian School-Houses, 235 
 
 Tribe of Temin, 3 
 Triangle of Solomon, 36 
 Temple, Miss, 97 
 Thomson, Dr., 48, 100, 123 
 Thomson, Mrs. Emilia, 104 
 Tod, Mrs. Alexander, 122 
 Thompson, Mrs. Bowen, 208 
 Thompson, Mrs., 50 
 Telegraph, 310 
 Tilden, 33,54,60 
 
 Van Dyck, 31, 107, 117, 127, 172 
 Val^e Set on Woman s Life, ig6 
 
 Wahidy, 19 
 
 Women s work, 1820 to 1872, 45 
 
 Wortabet Salome, 49, 64 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 I Whittlesey, Mrs. A. "L., 74, 78 
 I Watson, Mrs., gfi, 204 - , 
 Women's Boards of Missions, 107 
 Whiting, Mri.j 31, 57i 6-j, 125 
 Wilson, Rev. D. M., 83, 142 
 1 Werdeh, 156 
 
 Woi-iabet, Rev. John 262 
 I Whiting, Rev,, 50, 58, 61 
 
 Waly, 291 
 1 Wortabet, Gregory, 49, 51 
 I Williams, Miss Rebecca, 52,55 
 
 Yusef Jedid, 40 
 Yusef Ahtiyiih, 278, 281 
 yanni, 237, 254, 256, 289, 300, 309 
 Yusef Keram, 301 
 
 Zarifeh, the Poetess, 6 
 Zeyarens, 37, 268 
 Zahara, 39 
 ^arify, no 
 Zahidyf 287 
 
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 19 
 
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 NGLISH Catalogue of Books (The) Published 
 
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List of Publications. 23 
 
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24 Sampson Low and Co.'s 
 
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28 Sampson Low and Go's 
 
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