Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1895-03-21
A MOSLEM MISSIONARY.
What He DID for an America,
Boy In Egypt.

The old Egyptian cemetery at AS
Stout Is desolate, sandy tract Of land,
with = desert stretching away on either
hand. Each grave Is furnished with
double grsvestones, placed as seats for
the two recording angels, Munkar and
Nekir. After death, say the Moham-
medans, the soul stays with the body
for four-and-twenty hours During
this time II Is questioned by the spirits
who descend, one bearing the book for
the good, the other that for the evil
deeds Of the departed. When the an
swers are noted they rise, with the vol
umes, TO the throne Of Allah and, &C.
cording to their contents, the soul d
rewarded or punished.
The tombstones ut first stand side BY
side, but In the loose sandy soil they
soon sink and lean apart at various an
giles. No flowers grow there; no wom-
On would even dream Of coming To
plant any there Such as II was, how
ever, 1t had visitor in the person Of
an old, blind bcggar Ibrahim had
not always been poor and forlorn. lie
had once been prosperous dragoman
wearing gorgeous apparel and earning
much backsheesh by guiding English
and American tourists through his ma
tive land. Now he was dependent
upon the charity Of those pious bellev-
crs who daily distributed bread to the
needy from the doors Of the mosque
lbrahim loved the graveyard. lie
felt more ut home there than In the
town OF the living outside its walls. So
many Of his old friends were here.
They were all gone into the other world
some in battle with the Dcrbcrs or the
sudanee, some from old age, some by
pestilence, some by famine, which ever
waits TO devour the fellah when, BY
chance, the Nile fails to give susten.
ance to his poor little strip Of arabic
land Only he was left Of all his gem
Grafton. lie loved to wander from
one stone 10 another. Occasionally
he stopped to recall the past,
to hold an imaginary conversation
with some shade, to give some
piece Of news and fancy its effect
upon the visionary audience. lie would
often 40 home quite cheered and re.
freshed by the companionship and feel
Ing less lonely. One only, and he the
dearest, was absent. Whether he lay
beneath ocean waves, or under drifting
Libyan sands, or in q far-oN country,
lbrahim never knew; but it was his
only son, his flrstborn child, be whose
birth had been hailed with much re-
joicing. The ceremonies had been OBJ
served In due form-the household fes-
tiyal on the seventh day, when the
sweetened water was dropped in the
baby's mouth to give 1t q pleasant fore
taste of life's gifts, the forty bowls Of
water poured upon It's head upon the
fortieth day. The lad had been put
under the care Of wise fakir and
carefully instructed in the faith Of FL.
Islam; but, in spite Of everything he
had proved renegade, idle and worth.
less; even, 1t was whispered SO vile as
to learn from Christians to drink the
forbidden fiery waters which destroy
not only the body but the soul Us well,
Yes, there was no doubt that he was
bad son, and, when he finally ran away
with caravan Of wandering Bedawin,
the bazar felt that fate had dcalt
kindly with Ibrahim. hut be himself
thought otherwise, for his soul yearned
after his troublesome child; and even
now, after SO many long years, his
works Of supererogatlon, his observance
Of extra hours Of prayer besides the
ordained five, his visit to the Well, or
tombs Of saints, his offerings Of ostrich
eggs In the mausolcums and scraps
Of cloth fastened to the surrounding
trees, were always performed with the
hope that they might somehow benefit
that son, for whose sake, when the
trump Of lsralll should sound, he him
self would be content TO fall from the
razor bridge Of El-Sirat into the abyss
below, provided only the soul Of his
boy might be borne across to rest be-
meath the shade Of trees with the
hours of Paradise. To his deceased
wives, nine in all, he seldom gave o
thought, but for Ais sake, soourgcd
his poor worn back and stood for hours
in the bro!ling sun; for Ali he reused
himself to pray at midnight. lie III
ways made one Of the blind men who
walked behind o bier to chant the
creed while the boys followed to sing
the "Hlshrych," the poem Of last
Judgment, and the mourning women
walled behind. And he loved to listen
to the burial prayer: 20, Allah! for
give our living and forgive our dead.
Pardon those who are present and
those who arc absent"
On the afternoon In question the old
man felt more weary than usual. In
his wanderings through the bazaar he
had, by chance, hearl Of y certain
stranger who lay i'll at miserable
hosiery on the outskirts OF the town.
lie had staggered III, no one knew
from what place, late one night in
dazed and sunstrucls condition and had
speedily grown too Ill to make himself
Ineligible. lie was young, and evil
IDENTIFY Frank OF some sort, but there
were none but natives In Assiout duc-
ing the hot season Of September, and
no one 10 look after t sick stranger,
especially as there seemed probability
that he might be suffering trMn chol-
era. So old lbrahim felt his way into
the mud hut one baking afternoon to
sit by the sufferer, to give hirn water
md keep away the terturing flies
From that hour he tended him eaHtluR-
ally. In his long intercourse with
Anglo-Saxons he had grown wise ii
their speech, and he knew that The
wandering accents were American.
lie sat patiently, through long broh-