Topsy-Turvy Land | Page 9

are made, she will instantly correct them.

She is a peculiar looking girl and she is not pretty. Her clothes consist
of cast off garments given her by others. Her head is generally covered
and wrapped up in a black muslin veil; then she has an abba or Arabian
cloak of very green-black cashmere; then under that a many coloured
garment called a thobe; it is square in pattern with armholes and sleeves
nearly a yard wide. The ends of these wide sleeves are deftly taken and
thrown over the head to form a sort of tight-fitting cap. Underneath this
garment is a kind of dressing gown with tight-fitting sleeves. Such is
Fatimah's wardrobe. She wears no shoes, not even sandals. Would you
like to walk in the hot sand with no covering for your feet?
Sometimes I visit the school where Fatimah teaches the smaller girls A,
B, C. It is a topsy-turvy school indeed. The object seems to be to make
as much noise as possible; the pupils sit on the floor with a small stand
or trestle (like a saw-buck!) in front of each one to hold their Korans
out of which they read. The first pupil begins a sentence at the top of
his, or her, voice and then in a sort of refrain it is taken up by all the
others. The teacher sits outside the school very often sewing or
preparing a meal or entertaining visitors; for the schoolhouse is an
ordinary mat hut dwelling. If however a pupil makes a mistake in
reading she hears instantly and corrects it.
When the hours of prayer come around (the Moslems you know pray
five times a day) lessons are dropped. One day I called at the school at
the time of afternoon prayer. All the children had run down to the sea,
to wash their faces and hands and feet, so as to be quite pure outwardly,
when repeating Mohammed's prayers.
In the accompanying picture of a Moslem boy praying you will see
what those forms are and how much form there is to go through. Blind
Fatimah stood with her hands clasped, looking upward with those
sightless eyes, her lips moving. Then she fell on her knees, with the
little, thin hands spread out; then she bowed down until her forehead
touched the earth, continuing in that position for a little time; then she
got up, and with another upward look and motion of the lips, the
devotions were ended.
[Illustration: HOW A MOSLEM BOY PRAYS.]

I prayed there, too, that her eyes might be opened to see Jesus as her
own Saviour, and that she might know Him as the Son of God, and not
merely as one of the many prophets mentioned in the Koran. It seemed
such a sad sight to see this blind child, doubly blind because her
religion is false, and she is resting on a false hope.
She always listens when I tell her, or read to her about God, and Jesus
Christ the Saviour. And if you would help together by your daily
prayers, perhaps soon God will give the answer. Would it not be
blessed for you and me if some day blind Fatimah should have opened
eyes; not to see the date groves, and the sea, and the beautiful sunsets
of Bahrein, but far more--to see Jesus' face and to follow Him by
leading others to Him?
"For thousands and thousands who wander and fall, Never heard of that
heavenly home; I should like them to know there is room for them all,
And that Jesus has bid them to come. I long for the joy of that glorious
time, The sweetest and brightest and best, When the dear little children
of every clime Shall crowd to His arms and be blest."

VII
DATES AND SUGAR-CANE
This is the sweetest chapter in the book. The pictures are enough to
make one's mouth water and give one an appetite for Arabian dates. I
do not suppose there is a boy or girl in England or America that has not
eaten the fruit of the Arabian palm tree; but how many of you know the
taste of sugar-cane?
In many parts of Arabia, especially at Busrah and along the river Tigris,
you can see the sugar-cane sellers sit by the wayside and dispose of this
Arabian stick-candy to the boys and girls in exchange for coppers. The
woman in the picture has chosen the shelter of a date tree and beside
the tall bundles of cane she has oranges for sale as well. The sugar-cane
is cut into pieces and sold "by the knot"; that is, by the length of the

stick from one knot to the next. It is not expensive and I have seen even
the very