Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1874-04-08
Greeting a Missionary.

DR.. Charles ). Robinson adds the fol-
lowing incident to a discussion of Arabian
Profanity in .Scribner'S for March:
Perhaps it is only the part Of candor for
me to state why have so much feeling in
this connection. l was betrayed on one
occasion into a most shameful indi>cretion
We started for the usual touri>t-trip
through the Holy Land. four Christian
women. three ministers of the gospel. one
Sundav->chool teacher and a theological
student; all of Us. of course. perfect pat
terms of prOpriety in our poor way. We
were hardly out of the beautiful orchards
of ,Jaffa. on our way to Upper Bethoron.
the first day of tent-life, before Mohammed
shouted Iulldh to the beasts that bore u>,
the CRY strained to the very top of his
voice. to urge them forward
Now we had been trying. modcstly. and
by sundrv little ingenuities of our own. t.
exhilarate the horses spirits. having a
vague notion that they might be Arabian
it seems they were But we had long
since become convinced that they did not
understand the English language at all.
The " chrrup." the - click even the
get mp of ordinary courtesy to high
bred animIls of our own land. made
lllAllt iii NitiI b''siA u
French makes in Paris But the moment
Achmed shouted IulIah. and black
Abdullah. the cook. repeated il. and our
brilliant servant-boy. Ha>San. re-echoed
il (and at the same moment deftlv SHE'D :,
persuasive stone at the leader, all the
cavalcade pricked up their ears. and start
ed into Il profound enthusiasm for a. much
as two minutes; then. of course. it all had
H..
present gain and hopeful comfort in under
standing we had dis overed what WAS the
thing to do in depressing aXi encies.
s., f,,r thirty days we all rode on. AMI
vociferated Iullah whenever things GOT
dull As we neared Beyroot oh. how
wearied man and beast, and Mohammed'>
steed living down dead Just beyond Sidon,
we caught a far glimpse of the author
of this new volume. DIR. JesSup himself
coming forth on horseback to meet us
If ever mortalS We're glad to see dear
friend, we were glad to see him then.
We could not consent to be tame under
such Il welcome. Two or three of Us
knew him at distance. Up went hat and
hand. and handkerchief to greet him as he
cantered on. Then we pat forth every
effort to come on in >tile. Oh, if these
iaded beasts would only comprehend the
position, We whipped them and spurred
one happy man had a spur alas We
shouted Iuildh, like so many agitated In
dians. We all shouted TMldh. all the
horse-arabic we knew. till the Syrian all
quivered. Then we swung our green sun
umbrellas like faded banners. and scream
ed louder and louder. All this in honor OF
the missionary.
But it became evident he was not pleas
ed. For he stopped short; he put up botf
his hands; he waved them deprecatingly
something was wrong. Yet all that eX-
cellent man said then was, 30. friends
please stop saying T~iah!" And VT
did.
But we never recall our mastery ap
proach to Beyroot that hot noon without
an ignominous sense of profane failure
Dr. Jessup has told us since. with hush
ed voice. that he never, before or since,
SAW such u platoon of whoopng- swearing
troopers entering the town, as we were
And SO it may be understood we made
that dragoman learn a lesson. who had
taught US to 90 disappearing unconscious
ly. men and women, all the way through
Palestine!