The Dickinson press., 1884-10-18
Bathing and BluHinr.
Corr. New Haven Courier and Journal.

L OSAA' AVN AhNe courier and j journal
Bathing in the muddy Jordan is
merely nominal enjoyment, and never
cleansed anybody yet that I know of
except Capt. Naaman. Bathing in the
Dead Sea is dangerous to the eyes and
mouth; if you have any cuts or sores on
your body, exceedingly unpleasant.
But bathing in Galilee by moonlight I
am prepared to vote q success. The
convent where we stopped at Tiberias
abuts upon the lake near one of the
beaches most frequented by modern
Rebekahs. On both of the nights
which we passed on the lake shore we
took occasion to prove this. Only
one thing marred the perfect ENJOYMENT.
and that was the nature of the beach.
which was pebply instead of sandy. It
was evidently o rare treat for the Re-
bekahs to witness our abolutions,
as they increased rapidly in num-
bers when it became noised about
town that "real white men" were in the
water, and they tarried obviously lonoer
than was necessary in order to fill their
jars. They would come close to us. re-
mark "Marhabar" (the universal
Arabic salutation, signifying "welcome~
n then utter as We answered back
courteously "Marhabar teen" c'Wel-
come to you, also.~ As 1 have init.
mated, we only held the boards there
for two nights, but I am confident that
our audiences would have comprehend
ed oil the people in the region about il
we had remained a week. The second
night an incident occurred which serves
admirably to illustrate Arab not
BedouiD character. A man threw a
stone at us from the beach after our
audience of maidens had reluctant
" retired. "Don't mind it," said
Mr.. Floyd: ';he's trying to pick
up a fuss with US after a character
istic fashion. Let him go the end of his
rope" Pretty soon another stone fol-
lowed. and then another and another.
the last in rather dangerous proximity
to us. At this MIR. Floyd said the time
was ripe, and, going up out of the water,
stood on the beach facing the missile
thrower and the crowd of allies which
had by this time gathered about the
latter. Advancing %brusquely, he then
demanded in Arabic: "Impudent brute,
who are you, I'd like to know" "He,s
o great sheik," chorused the crowd.
and you don't want to touch him, OF
we'll make you sorry.' every we'll"
said MIR. Floyd, Gin ready to fight
the whole crowd of you, though naked
and unarmed. Many a time I've ami
inflated a dozen men at once, all strong
Ell than any of you, and Tn just itching
to make mincemeat out of YOU
babies. Lookw and with a stick he
rapidly drew a circle around the spot
where he stood. "The first man who
crosses that line I'll grind to pow
der!" A moments silence followed and
then the leader skunk Off, followed by
his brave cohorts. One OIL two remained
behind to try and patch up q truce by
pretending that the "g-r-e-a-t shiek"
was only a mad man, but Mr.. Floyd was
too familiar with Arab tricks to swal-
low that. and told them he'd rather
they'd throw stones than to try to make
him out a fool by passing off such a finn
sy explanation upon him. OF course, it
was all done by neal of bluff, and we
had a hearty laugh afterward to think
how rid%iculously absurd it was for one
naked man to face q semi-armed crowd
in this way. MIR. Floyd's last words
were: Great heavens! Why, your sui
tan would not dare to treat me in this
way!"