“Daughter be of good comfort,
Thy faith hath made thee whole,
Go in peace!”

THE CHILDREN’S CHAPTER.

PART I.

Abeih, Mount Lebanon, Sept., 1872.

My Dear Son Willie:—­

It is now eight years since you left Syria, and you were then so young, that you must have forgotten all about the country and the people.  I have often 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 mothers 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.

When he comes in, he says, Subah koom 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 forehead 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 they look with horror on our 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.