The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1884-10-24
Bathing and Blufing.
Corr. New Haven Courier and Journal.

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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 a success. The
convent where we stopped at Tiberias
abuts upon the lake heal 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 wat pebply instead of sandy. It
was evidently q rare treat for the Re-
bekahs to witness our abolutions,
as they increased rapidly in mum
bers when it became noised about
town that real white men" we're in the
water, and they tarried obviously longer
than was necessary in order to fill their
jars. They would come close to us, re-
mark "Marhabar" (the universal
Arabic salutation, signifying "%welcome~
and then utter as we answered back
courteously "Marhabar teen" ("Wel-
come to you, also.") As I have init
mated. we only held the boards there
for two nights, but I am confident that
our audiences would have comprehend
ed all the people in the region about il
we had remained a week. The second
night an incident occurred which serves
admirably to illustrate Arab mot
Bedouin) character. A man threw a
stone at us from the beach after our
audience of maidens had reluctant
ly 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 Mr.. 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
a great sheik," chorused the crowd,
"and you don't want to touch him, OF
we'll make you %sorry." Every WELL"
said Mr.. Floyd, Tin ready to fight
the whole crowd of you, though naked
and unarmed. Many a time I've ami
Inflated q dozen men at once, oil strong
er than any of you, and Tn just itching
to make mincemeat out of you
babies. Look!" and with a stick he
rapidly drew a circle around the spot
where he stood. "The first man who
srosses that line I'll grind to pow
derl" A moments silence followed and
then the leader skunk off, followed by
his brave cohorts. One or two remained
behind to try and patch up a truce by
pretending that the great shiek"
was only mad man, but Mr.. Floyd wa.
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 ofsuch finn
sy explanation upon him. OF course, it
was all done by means of bluff, and we
had a hearty laugh afterward to think
how ridiculously absurd it was for one
naked man to face a semi-armed crowd
in this way. Mr.. Floyd's last words
were: Great heavens! Why, your sui.
tan would not dare to treat me in this
way!" n