The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1880-06-09

We had to cross the river Litaay, (the
ancient Leontes) near its mouth on our
way to Sidon, and there had an adven-
ture which came near ending my travels
very abruptly. AS we approached the
Litany for more than half a mile we OBJ
served that the sea was discolored with
its muddy water, made turbid by recent
rains. 1e taiEa e7ia slt
jIor-r An Adventure
| rode very carefully into the river, not
meaning to run any risk, but merely to
ascertain its depth close to the shore, in
tending to return if the water came up to
my stirrups-but II had not gone five yards
before my horse stepped off bank into a
depth, 1T may be, of forty feet. The river
had cut a channel in the sand, and was
rushing on to the sea which was not more
than fifty yards distant. 1 took in the
situation at glance, and knew that un-
less could turn the head of my horse up
the stream i would be swept out into the
sea. l succeeded in doing this, and urged
him up against the bank. He made an
effort to climber up, and got his fore feet
on the shore, but the treacherous sand
gave way and he fell back again. The
second time he was more successful, and
after gallant struggle succeeded in get
ting out. | never saw more frightened
company than my friends on the shore.
They knew that they were utterly pow
erless to assist me, and did not believe
could possibly escape. | sent our drago-
man forward to overtake the muleteer
who had charge ofmy luggage changed
my clothes at the road side and received
no harm from the adventure. like 60
ing to sea, but after this experiment
must say l do not fancy going to sea on
horseback.
Our tents are always sent on in ad-
vance, and that night when we arrived at
Sidon
we were not particularly pleased to find
that our man had pitched them in an old
Mohammedan graveyard. The tombs
were all about us, with tar6a1as carved on
the head stones, and Inscriptions in Ara
bic. One of the teachers Of the Mission
School called to see us and brought us
courteous invitation to visit the institu-
tion. The Rev. Mr. Eddy was absent
from Sidon at the time, but his sister,
Miss Eddy, received us cordially and con
Quoted us through the building. Late as
1T was, the girls were still in their school
rooms, not for recitation but for study,
and we found them busy in preparing
the lessons for the next day. Miss Eddy
permitted us to ask them some questions,
and we were much pleased with the
promptness and accuracy of their replies.
| had inspected two of these Mission
Schools for girls in Egypt, two in Pales-
tine, q will see others in Constantinople)
and here was another in Phenicia doing
its benign work The girls of these
schools are not only instructed in the
elementary branches of Christian edu-
cation, but are taught to cook and make
their own clothes, to keep their persons
and their rooms neatly, and after the
training they receive from the intelligent
Christian ladies who have charge of them.
even when they leave school, they can
never return again to the barbarous hab-
its OF their Egyptian, Syrian, and Turk
lsh homes For obvious reasons it is quite
as important that the young women of
these lands should receive a Christian
education as that the young men should
be so trained, and so far as making an
impression on the Mohammedan popula-
tion is concerned, it seems to be conceded
that the work must commence with the
young, and that christian schools are the
best instrumentality.
Our last days ride from Sidon to Beirut
was hard one. For three days we had
Journeyed along the shore of the Medi-
terranean, and had greatly enjoyed the
change from the rocky hills of Palestine
to the Ph@nician ea-beach, but on this
last day the sand instead of being firm
permitted the horses to sink above their
fetlocks at every step, and mingled with
the sand were innumerable loose stones
which made the road almost impractica-
bic at times SO that when Beirut came in
sight we hailed the prospect of the rest
and refreshment we were sure to find in
that most delightful of all the Syrian
coast cities M d. H.