guests, and for a while there are long exchanges of salutations, while tiny cups of coffee are sipped, and the more they enjoy it, the louder they smack their lips. Bitter coffee is generally offered and is served with only a sip at the bottom of a very small cup, while when sweet coffee is made, the cups are filled to overflowing. This, as will be readily seen, has a symbolical meaning "May bitterness be little and sweetness abundant."

AN INGENIOUS INSULT

Traveling with a friend some years ago, we were thus entertained. Entering the guest-chamber, we noticed that the occupants were unusually quiet and that one man had no turban on. It was whispered to us that this man, who was a stranger, had been robbed the night before by one of the men of the village who had a notoriously bad reputation, even among his own people. The victim had appealed to the elders of the town. Without a word, coffee was prepared.

As we were foreigners, they made sweet coffee for us, thinking we would not like the bitter, and filled our cups full, while the bitter kind was passed to all the rest in little doles; but to the man suspected of robbery a full cup was served. This was such an insult that he flew out of the room; a fight ensued, his house was searched and the goods recovered, and the stranger again donned his headgear, which was among the things that had been stolen.

As they thus sit chatting and drinking coffee they also smoke. Each man carries a leathern pouch of tobacco from which he rolls his own cigarettes or fills a long-tubed water-pipe or nargheli.

Little preparation is made for the midday meal. Some hot bread, a plate of fried eggs, another of curdled milk, or a dish of fresh butter with a pile of fine sugar on top, suffices. This meal is for the guests alone.

A FEAST FOR THE STRANGER

The person whose turn it is to give the supper does not start preparations till the flocks come home in the evening, when a fatling is slain, cut into pieces, and boiled as a stew in a great kettle. Another large pot of rice is cooked.

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All the men of the village now slowly congregate at the guest-chamber, each throwing down on the coat, spread for this purpose, a couple of thin loaves of bread that he has brought with him.

When all are assembled, the pile of bread is torn up into small pieces and placed in large wooden bowls. Over this, in each bowl, a large pile of rice is put and the meat on top, while a liberal supply of the gravy is added.

Sitting on the floor, first the guests, with the older and more important men, fall into circles around the bowls, and before partaking each one says Bismallah (in the name of Allah), to drive away the genii. With the aid of the thumb and first two fingers, great balls of rice and soaked bread are made, which are dexterously popped into the mouth.

The food is eaten very hot, and it is surprising how much one man can consume when at such a feast and how little it takes to sustain him ordinarily.

As each set finishes eating they wash their hands, water being poured on them by a servant, as we read of in Old Testament times. Then they drink coffee and smoke until time to retire, when beds are spread on the floor for the guests, some of the villagers remaining with them, sleeping in their coats. The party usually leaves the village early the next morning.

The guest-chambers are not for women; so, if a man is traveling with his family, he does not go to this regular reception place, but waits about the village until some one passing invites him into his house. This happens today just as in the case of the Levite of old who was traveling with his concubine and servant from Bethlehem-judah, and was entertained at Gibeah by the old man from Mount Ephraim who found them waiting in the street of the city.f

CONCERNING FAMILY LIFE

Children in the peasant family are always welcome, girl babies sometimes excepted. The father prides himself on his boys, and even the mother prefers them, and, when questioned as to the number of her offspring, she will invariably say * 2 Kings 3: II. Judges 19: 15-21.

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that she has five children and two girls, or as many as the case may be.

Not to have a boy is a great hardship to the family and is especially felt by the mother, for failure to have a son may become the cause of her divorce or her husband's excuse for marrying again. This feeling is hard to understand, since they look upon a girl as a profitable possession, for a would-be husband must pay a comparatively handsome price for her. The boy, on the other hand, is a greater expense, and his wife and wedding are costly affairs. The only explanation is that their great aim in life is to perpetuate the name of the father.

To be polite the fellah, in speaking of a pig, dog, donkey, or anything out of good taste, invariably says, b'eed 'annak. meaning, "Be it far from you!" So, also, when a girl or woman is spoken of, they often say, "Be it far from you!"

Although women are thus looked upon as something inferior, still when they have become well advanced in years and are perhaps the grandmothers of large families, or have signalized themselves by some special attainment, they are frequently the object of the respect and reverence of the younger women and of the men as well (see page 265).

The woman may never call her husband by his first name, but "O father of Ahmed," or whatever the eldest son's name may be, which indeed is the name by which he is generally known.

In naming the first son it is customary to give him the name of his grandfather on the father's side; therefore, even before a youth is married he will often be addressed as the father of Ali, or Mohammed, or Suleiman, as the case may be. The first daughter is usually named for the grandmother, again on the father's side.

The wife likewise takes the name of her first-born son. The husband, speaking of her, especially to men, will never say "my wife" or mention her first name, but will say either "the mother of Ahmed," or "my family," "the relative in my house," "the forbidden," or "the daughter of my uncle."

The reason for this is that a man marries his first cousin in preference to any

one else, and in fact she cannot marry another if he wants her. Gauged by our conception of the subject, the women are rigorously ruled by the men; still the men feel that in these days the women are becoming too independent, as what follows will illustrate.

ESSA'S LAMENTATION

Only yesterday Essa, who tends the vineyard of a friend near the village of Sharafat, lying between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, was heard thus complaining to another:

I

"Oh! my master, when I was young used to rule my family' with a hard heart, for her ways did not please my mother, and I used to beat her much. My father, may God have mercy upon him, often said to me: My son, these are the days of women, and if you so treat your wife you will not be able to live with any woman. Their ways are perverse, but you cannot change them. The days of men are passed.'

"In former days, my master, a woman would not dare to go to her father's house or that of a neighbor for a visit without first getting her husband's consent, and much less would she think of addressing her husband before people. If he happened to be in the village guestchamber with the men and she desired to call him, she would say to some man sitting by, Tell him to come,' and sometimes, to amuse ourselves, the man would inquire, Who?; to which she would repeatedly answer only, he,' for modesty would prevent her mentioning his name or saying 'my husband'; but now my woman calls me 'Essa' in the midst of the village and I hold my peace.

"Women formerly, when passing men on the road, would cover their faces with their hands and keep their eyes on the ground; but now when we meet them they are not shy, so we men keep our eyes on the ground until they have passed.

"A common saying among the women used to be, 'O Preserver, protect me from my husband's displeasure!' Now

*This expression is always used when speaking of a deceased relative or friend, while when mentioning an enemy or evil person they say, “May God not have mercy upon him!"

From time immemorial the task of furnishing the village with water has fallen to the lot of the women, who can be seen morning and evening returning from the stream or well with their water-pots on their heads. In exceptional instances the men bring the water on the backs of donkeys and camels, as shown in the picture.

it is reversed and we men say, 'O Pre‘O server, protect me from my wife's displeasure!' Women never in former times were seen riding, but today it is a common sight to find a woman astride of a donkey, and the other day I met one so mounted, and she was even singing aloud until she caught sight of me."

THE BIRTH OF THE BABY

When the fellah or peasant child is born, its tender skin, without being washed, is rubbed with olive oil and salt. For seven consecutive days it is re-oiled, and when a week old gets its first bath and is again oiled, and each week until it is forty days old the bath is repeated. In some localities they consider it unsafe to bathe it before it is forty days old. Into the little eyes they put drops of liquid tar, and when two days old begin the periodical application of kohl. This is a dye used to blacken the eyelids of not only babies, but of women and sometimes also men, and is considered both beautifying and beneficial to the eyesight. They believe the tar to be a preventive of weak eyes, and that a child who has not been salted will develop into a weakling.

How old a custom this salting is can be seen from Ezekiel's reproachful words to Jerusalem: "And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all." "*

Swaddling clothes like those of Bible times are still in use. A small shirt is the only real garment put on, around which may be wrapped some old rags, care being taken to keep the arms tightly pressed against the sides.

A cap, perhaps decorated with a blue bead or some charm to keep off spirits and the evil eye, completes the apparel (see page 314).

When one looks at a child, before admiring it or speaking of it, in order to avert a calamity, one must say Bismallah (in the name of Allah), or "May Allah encircle you!" or "May the evil eye be frustrated!"

Mortality among the babies is great and is not to be wondered at, for in view

Ezekiel 16: 4. † Luke 2:7.

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of the rough treatment they receive, it becomes a question of the survival of the fittest.

HOW THE BABY IS CARRIED

In the Judean mountain districts a cradle is often kept for the baby while at home, and a sort of small hammock is used to carry the child around in when out-of-doors. The mother when going to work in the fields will be found with this hammock, called hiddil in Arabic, on her back suspended by a rope which passes across her forehead, often with nothing indicating that life is in it except an occasional squeal from one end.

It is a common sight when passing through the bazars to find a baby in this sling hung on a small nail or on the lock or bolt of a turned-back shop door, while the mother sits in the street behind the basket of produce she is selling, seemingly unmindful of her child's hazardous position.

When in the fields she erects a tripod of sticks, from which she suspends the hammock, and she protects it from the rays of the sun by covering it with one of her garments.

In the Samaria district and along the plain of Sharon a crudely decorated wooden cradle is the fashion and is carried by the mother on her head wherever she goes.

We cannot refrain from narrating a story heard from an eyewitness.

THE GENII CAPTURE A BABY. A TRUE
STORY

A woman of Abou Shoushey, waking up late one morning and picking up the cradle in haste, started off for the harvest fields.

She had no more than entered the narrow path between the stretches of standing grain when she felt her babe leap from the cradle on her head and heard it glide rapidly through the wheat.

Terror stricken and trembling, she screamed for help, calling to the men to pursue the genii that had taken her babe.

Abou Shoushey is ancient Gezer, which was given by Pharaoh as a dowry to his daughter when she married King Solomon.