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 When Moslems Listen/^ ;the Gospel V^ov 
 
 BY I. LILIAS TROTTER DAR NAAmA,(E£j /BIAR ' ALGIERSk y , I f"} 
 
 MEN to whom we have access may be divided into four classes : 
 1. Those who are receiving or Irave, received JErench edu- 
 cation and are more or less developing the Effendi type .as 
 schoolmasters, etc. We do not aim at rdachin^ these, ourJrwSn 
 of another mission can do so, much more e^c1;]^ly v tMn, / weoeW. 
 
 2. The Arabs educated on their own lines. WxtK^^^^j^a is f 
 the class that loves arguing by the hour, we come into™confact chiefly 
 at our winter station of Tozeur,* where we have a worker especially 
 fitted for this task. The student men and lads come in groups, and 
 are met on their own ground and taken to God's Word in breaking 
 their defences; with strong emphasis laid on the nature of sin, and 
 the need for atonement, which Islam passes over in silence. The 
 literature used here is that supplied by the Nile Mission Press. 
 
 3. The ordinary country Arabs such as we meet in the markets 
 and in visiting. These are poor readers and need for the most part 
 colloquial tracts in lithographic script. Mohammedan minds run 
 naturally in the line of metaphor — stories are dear to their hearts 
 and grasped and remembered better than abstract teaching. We 
 have just prepared this booklet on Psalm 51, believing that their 
 first great need is that grace should bring their proud natures to 
 the point, U I have sinned." 
 
 4. The mystics, whose brotherhoods reign supreme in the reli- 
 gious teaching of many of the inland districts, especially among the 
 oases of the Desert. We are making just now a special study of 
 their standpoint and their needs, for we feel that their wide influ- 
 ence has been unrecognized, and but little has been done to meet 
 them. 
 
 Boys may be roughly separated into two classes: 
 
 1. Those of the interior, whose education is divided between 
 the primitive Koranic teaching of the old village sheikh and that 
 of the new Government school, where they learn the elements of 
 French, etc. For these we have issued bi-lingual tracts. 
 
 2. The town lads for the most part can read in French alone, 
 and that with some measure of intelligence, as their education is 
 carried on thoroughly. 
 
 Both for town and country boys we find a leverage in their love 
 for color and design. They ask no other reward for attendance at 
 the classes than to be allowed to stay an hour after, squatting on 
 the ground before their benches and painting or chalking " expres- 
 sion work" on the lessons, outlined for them on a manif older. These 
 
 * On the edge of the desert in South Tunisia. 
 
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designs pasted in a book for each boy becoijfc their own and serve to 
 recall the teaching. " 
 
 Women and girls are almost wholly illiterate, and can be dealt 
 with only on the simplest lines of teaching. We point out lessons 
 that women may learn from their daily work, believing that here 
 again we may follow our Lord's method with the people of a like 
 eastern race — " Without a parable spake He not to them." 
 
 We have in our minds for the immediate future a following out 
 of the Arab use of music as we see it in the chanters who frequent 
 the street corners. Dr. Percy Smith is at work on metrical Psalms 
 and other passages in rhymed prose. We hope that our men work- 
 ers will be able to use these in chanting them to native airs, or 
 better still European tunes, adapted by the Arabs themselves into 
 the native setting. The men employed in colportage find in markets 
 and cafes that when controversy is inclined to arise in these public 
 places, a quiet hearing can at once be regained by beginning to sing. 
 We have found for years past that this plan also holds good among 
 the women. In village work where they crowd round the visitor too 
 full of curiosity to listen intelligently, a simple chorus or Bible 
 words chanted, will grip them and bring instant quiet, and will be 
 remembered in a touching way through the months of silence that 
 lapse before the next visit. 
 
 A Paeable foe Men - — Lost iist the Sahaea 
 In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. 
 
 They say that there were once two brothers, named El Tahir 
 and Abd-el-Cadir, and they lived in the mountains. And it came to 
 pass on a day among days that there came to them news from a 
 far-off town in the Sahara, where there lived one of their relations. 
 And the news was that their relative was dead, and he was the 
 master of wealth, and had left them an inheritance. 
 
 And thereupon they left all in their village, and mounted their 
 mules, and journeyed to a village on the edge of the Sahara, and 
 thought to find a caravan and journey with it. But when they en- 
 quired about the time of the caravans, they found it was still two 
 months of the time of their leaving. And in the evening of that day 
 they found a Bedouin in the Cafe, and he said to them, "I can guide 
 you, for I know the easy road where there are good wells, and, 
 moreover, I have two camels, and skins to hold the provisions, and 
 also I have a waterskin, and with me ye have nothing to fear." But 
 he lied to them, for he was from another part of the Sahara and 
 knew nothing of the way, only he thought to consult his own head 
 about it. And they agreed for the price of the journey and gave him 
 the deposit, and sold their mules and bought provisions and set forth. 
 
 The first day all was well, and they drank freely of their water- 
 
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skin, and the Bedouin told them that the next day in the evening 
 they would come to a well with good water. But when they arrived, 
 with their waterskin empty, they found this well salt, and it only 
 raised their thirst. And when they rose next morning the Bedouin 
 said to them: "Make yourselves manful, for tonight there is another 
 well before us." And they filled their waterskin with salt water 
 and went on till the twilight. And before they arrived at the well 
 they met a flock of goats and asked the goatherd about the well, and 
 he said to them, "Have a care, this well has sometimes water and 
 is sometimes dry, and I have just come from it and found no water 
 in it. ' ' And they slept in want, and only a very little water remained 
 to them, only enough to keep them from dying of thirst. And they 
 cried against the Bedouin, and asked him concerning the next well. 
 And he said to them that the well in front would have cold water 
 and good; but he lied to them, and he himself began to fear, for he 
 only thought himself in the right way, and now doubt came to him. 
 And in the evening they all rejoiced, for they saw from afar the 
 landmark of the well, and fastened their hearts on arriving and 
 drinking. But this well was choked and abandoned, for there had 
 fallen into it in the spring a young camel, and they could not draw 
 it out, so the people had choked the well with stones and sand. And 
 as for El Tahir and Abd-el-Cadir, their souls nearly left them from 
 the greatness of their thirst, and they began to dispute with the 
 Bedouin, and said to him, "Wherefore hast thou betrayed us and 
 brought us into this extremity f" but he was silent to them, and 
 in the night the Bedouin arose and fled with the camels without El 
 Tahir and Abd-el-Cadir hearing anything, for they were nearly dead 
 with fatigue and thirst. And when they awoke they found themselves 
 alone, without provisions or water. But still they did not despair, 
 and went on again in their road, thinking to meet someone. But 
 they were in the regions of the dunes, and had only gone two hours 
 when they lost their way. And soon they arrived on the top of a 
 dune, and Abd-el-Cadir cried "Praise be to God!" for they saw 
 beneath them a level place among the dunes, and in it a pool of 
 water glittering in the sun, with palms on its brink. But they were 
 only mountaineers, and did not know the Sahara, and they went 
 down quickly from the dune to quench their thirst, but the pool 
 disappeared from before them, for it was a mirage, and they found 
 only dry sand, and the palm trees were only bushes of white broom. 
 
 And Abd-el-Cadir said, "Oh my brother, take my counsel, it is 
 better for us to return on our road, it may be that we shall find 
 water before we die." 
 
 But El Tahir answered and said to him, "Let us take heed lest 
 we perish in returning, for we have tried those wells and we have 
 found them dry; even if we should reach them we should still find 
 
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them the same; my heart tells me to go on farther." But Abd-el- 
 Cadir would not continue on the road, and began to return on his 
 path, and to follow back his own footsteps. And El Tahir went for- 
 ward on the path with all the strength that remained to him till he 
 left the dunes behind him, and found himself again in the desert — 
 a stony waste, and he was nearly fainting with the power of the heat. 
 And suddenly there came from afar the sound of a flute, and he told 
 himself that it was untrue, and said — "This is the sign of death." 
 But soon he knew that it was in truth the flute of a shepherd who 
 was feeding his sheep in that place, and El Tahir contented his heart, 
 for where there was man and sheep there must be water. 
 
 And he began to call with all his strength, for he could go no 
 farther. And at once the shepherd came running to. him, and saluted 
 him and asked after his welfare. And El Tahir answered and said 
 to him: "Oh my son, I am dead, I have lost my way, and can find 
 no water." 
 
 And the lad said to him: "Oh man, yonder is the road, and 
 water is near." And El Tahir leant on him, and they both turned 
 towards the East, and soon they came to a well-marked road, and 
 they followed it to a hollow where there were some bushes, and under 
 a rock was a spring of pure water. And El Tahir tasted, then washed 
 himself, and began to drink little by little, and his spirit came back 
 to him with the -cold water, and he became as a new man. 
 
 And when he had found himself, he thought of his former com- 
 panion, and asked the lad to go with him; so the lad put the sheep 
 in the charge of his little brother, and they returned with haste on 
 the path till they came to the choked well, and there they found 
 Abd-el-Cadir stretched on the ground, and they thought he was sleep- 
 ing, but a sunstroke had smitten him and he was dead, and El Tahir 
 alone finished the journey and received the inheritance. 
 
 The Interpretation" 
 
 Oh my brother, thou desirest to receive the inheritance of 
 Heaven, and for this cause thou has sought those who should shew 
 thee the road, but thou hast done as did Abd-el-Cadir and El Tahir, 
 and hast followed those who themselves knew not the way, and they 
 have guided thee to well that are salt and dry and choked, and all 
 they have promised thee of good has disappeared from thee as the 
 mirage disappeared from the travellers. 
 
 Thou hast tried the well of Fasting, but it has not satisfied thy 
 thirst for righteousness, and in the Little Feast* thou didst find 
 thyself worse than in Sahara. And the Pilgrimage thou hast found 
 a dry well, for it did not change thy heart or thy conduct. And thou 
 hast tried the wells of Prayer and Good Deeds and "Witnessing," 
 
 * The "Little Feast" is at the conclusion of Ramadhan, the month of fasting. 
 
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 but thou hast not found in them the water of God's pardon, and His 
 power and His peace. 
 
 And yet thou dost act like Abd-el-Cadir, and dost return to 
 these wells and dost again expect to find blessing in them. 
 
 Beware, 0 my brother, for these wells are still as they were 
 before, and the time is passing for thee, and Heaven is still far off. 
 Go forward till thou dost find the Fountain of Life, which is Jesus 
 the Messiah. And this Spring is in this moment not far from thee, 
 for now in thy journey God has caused thee to meet with us, the 
 followers of Christ. 
 
 We are poor and despised, like the shepherd lad, but if we have 
 not the things of this world to offer thee, we can shew thee the 
 Fountain of Life, for we have drunk of it. 
 
 Come with us and drink thou also, and find Life Eternal. It is 
 written in God's Book that Jesus the Messiah is as rivers of water 
 in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. And 
 He says to thee, "Let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will, 
 let him take of the water of life freely.". . . .Leave the dry wells 
 that thou hast trusted in till today, and turn to the Fountain that 
 God shows thee. 
 
 "The Gift of God is Eternal) Life through Jesus Christ Our 
 Lord." Amen. 
 
 A Paeable foe Women — Heavenly Light on Daily Life 
 The Lesson of the Loohing-Glass 
 
 Wherever there are women there are looking-glasses, from the 
 Sherifa with her great mirror framed in carving and gilding, to the 
 tent of the Bedouin women, who wears a little leather-covered disc 
 among her many ornaments. 
 
 For all women want to see what they look like — what they look 
 like to other people. And they know that the mirror gives to their 
 view what they themselves would never see — the form and the tint 
 of their features and the drapery of their headgear. 
 
 So far the mirror goes, no further; it can only picture the 
 outer person. But there is another mirror that can shew thee thy 
 inner person. That mirror is the Holy Book. In a mirror of glass 
 thou canst see thy face as thy neighbor sees it, but in the Word of 
 God thou canst see thy heart as Good sees it. 
 
 Our earthly mirrors sometimes shew things that make us sad. 
 A woman may think her face still young and fair; but her mirror 
 shews the wrinkles and grey hairs that have begun to come. It tells 
 her the truth. 
 
 So also God's Word tells us- the truth about our hearts, that is 
 to say that they are not good as we like to think them, but bad be- 
 fore Him. 
 
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For instance, thou thinkest perhaps that thou canst gossip all 
 day long, without harm. See how that gossip appears to God. He 
 says, ' ' In the multitude of words there wantest not sin. ' ' Every idle 
 word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the 
 day of judgment. 
 
 It may be, in thy mind are thoughts of pride, despising thy 
 neighbor. Look in the mirror of God: He says, "He that despiseth 
 his neighbour sinneth." 
 
 It may be that thy heart harbors hatred against another, thou 
 sayest, "I do well to be angry." Look once more in God's mirror 
 and see how this hatred looks to him : ' ' He that hateth his brother 
 is a murderer." 
 
 Look, 0 my sister, in this mirror that tells thee the truth, and 
 quickly thou wilt see that thou dost need a Saviour. 
 A Parable for Boys — The Caterpillar That Changed His Mind 
 
 One day in the spring I went into the garden to see how the 
 vegetables were growing, and I rejoiced to see the cabbages. Their 
 leaves were green and tender and one among them was more green 
 and tender than its brothers. 
 
 As I looked at it I saw a caterpillar very small and green like 
 the leaves. I knew that that caterpillar though small was very 
 wicked, and that he would get more wicked every day, but I did not 
 kill him because I had heard that God the Creator could do a won- 
 derful thing, and change even ugly greedy worms into beautiful 
 creatures of blessing. 
 
 I went every day to look at that caterpillar, and I saw that he 
 ate and grew and ate and grew, and became so fat that several times 
 his skin became too tight and split, but he was not ashamed, for he 
 always had another skin underneath. He ate great holes in the tender 
 leaves, and the poor Cabbage cried: 
 
 "Enough, O Caterpillar! you are destroying me!" "No mat- 
 ter," said the Caterpillar, and crawled on to another leaf, and in 
 the evening all that remained of that leaf was the stalk and the veins. 
 
 So the Caterpillar went on thinking only about himself, and not 
 caring how much harm he did so long as he could eat. He became 
 bigger and more wicked every day, until the poor Cabbage had no 
 leaves left. 
 
 I looked at the fat Caterpillar and at the Cabbage stalk and I 
 said, "Does God the most High really love that wicked worm and 
 will He in truth change it and make of it a creature that will bring 
 glory to Him?" 
 
 Even as I spoke I saw the Caterpillar descend the Cabbage 
 stem. "Oh Son of Evil!" I said, "Thou hast spoilt one cabbage, 
 and now thou art going to devour another." 
 
 But I was surprised to see the caterpillar go away from the 
 
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 cabbages and crawl up the trunk of a tree where there were no 
 tender leaves for him to eat. 
 
 The next day I found him resting quietly in the same place. Then 
 I said, ''In truth God the Creator has spoken to the wicked cater- 
 pillar and is beginning to do a wonder in him. ' ' 
 
 I watched the caterpillar every day, and saw him slowly change. 
 I cannot tell you how, but his color faded, and in a few days the long- 
 fat worm became short and thin, and his form was quite changed. 
 For many days he lay hidden in a crevice of the tree-trunk, and all 
 the time a work of God was going on in him. 
 
 At last, one day of sunshine, the caterpillar's crevice was empty, 
 and a white butterfly was on the tree-trunk closing and opening its 
 wings. God the Powerful above all things had changed the Cater- 
 pillar into a Butterfly. He had made it a new creature. Old things 
 were passed away, all things had become new. 
 
 The white butterfly flitted over the garden and all the flowers 
 were glad when they saw him. They cried, ' ' Come 0 Sister, precious 
 to us, come and taste our honey!" 
 
 The butterfly went among the flowers and gently entered his long 
 tongue into their cups of honey, and as he went from one to another, 
 he took with him life and fertility. 
 
 He visited the yellow cabbage flowers and fertilized them, and 
 that year there was a larger harvest of cabbage seed than ever before. 
 
 The butterfly rejoiced in the sun and the flowers and the honey, 
 and was ashamed when he remembered his caterpillar life. He came 
 one day on that bit of cabbage stalk all spoilt, and thought to him- 
 self, "It was I who did that, I just longed to devour the whole. "Why 
 is it that the longing has all gone! Somehow I could not make up 
 my mind now to take another mouthful, all the longing has gone 
 away. I have turned into a new creature." And he praised God 
 the Compassionate who had changed him and blessed him and made 
 him a blessing. 
 
 0 my brothers, in truth many of you are like that Caterpillar. 
 You only seek to please yourselves, and in pleasing yourselves you 
 bring grief and pain to your parents, and you lead other boys into 
 Satan's road, but you say, "No matter! I must enjoy myself." 
 
 Listen, 0 my brothers! You art precious to the Lord your 
 God who created you. He has a great purpose for you. 
 
 He who changes Caterpillars into Butterflies also changes the 
 sons of evil into sons of goodness, and blesses them and makes them 
 a blessing. He can change your whole heart till all the wanting to 
 do wrong has gone out of it. And this is the work that He works 
 by the Hand of Jesus Christ our Lord, who has come to redeem us 
 from our old nature and make all things new within us. See if He 
 will do this for thee, my brother. Amen. 
 
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American 
 Christian Literature Society 
 for Moslems.