The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1897-08-07
RUFUS SANDERS.
MUsTAPHA GOES TO SCHOOL
Curious Procession That Attends q
Moorish BOY on the First Day.
ECopyright. 1871

Moorish BOY on the First Day.
copyright, 1871
Until Mustafa was five years old,
he had lived with his mamma with
the two other wives and with their
black slaves and attendants, in the
harem, or woman's part, of his fathers
big house in Tangier.
We would hardly call it a house at
all, since it is all out of doors, Build
q high wall on four sides of a square.
and a two-story piazza all round the
square on the inside, and you have .
pretty fair idea Of a Moorish house.
The high wall keeps the wind away,
and the sun shines down into the
square court where the fountain phys
all day long, and the birds splash their
wings in the spray, finging it overjthe
beautiful tiled floor, and the orasnge
trees scent the air; SO that it isl mot
such IN unpleasant place after all.
When it was cold or rainy, Mus %fpy
like. everyone else in1tha halise. sin ply
put on more clothing, so that he 10 ked
like a small round ball of cloth, with a
baby head peering out Of the TO Is at
the top.
Mustafa was a pure-blooded Mo \, as
proud of his long linesof ancestd as
any American or European boy Nbuld
be. And as none Of these ance skors
had ever been negroes or, indeed, my
thing but Moors, he was as white and
fair of complexion as any boy With
black hair ever is in any country. ms
sisters had beautiful fair faces, too,
but because they were girls their finger
nails were already, at three and tour
years old, dyed red; and their hair was
colored with henna SO that it was a
rich golden brown.
But Mustafa FL Hadri, son OF Mus
tafa, was not to see so much Of his sis
ters hereafter, for he was now five
years old and the time had come when,
by old Moorish custom, he was to go to
school. By old custom, too, the first
day in school was made a great cele-
bration. 1t was quite an impressive
day to Mustafa, and one that he will
long remember.
Early in the morning he was arrayed
in his finest gelaba, or hooded robe,
and after a breakfast of coffee, sweet
biscuits and dates was lifted to the
back of a ~splendidly ornamented horse,
whose embroidered saddle cloth almost
swept the ground. Quite a little pro-
cession was then formed. A number
of the sultan's soldiers had been hired
for the ceremony, and they, too, were
all dressed in their best clean white
gowns and turbans. A few of the sol
diers led the procession; Mustafa came
next, his fat little legs sticking straight
out o each side, his pudgy fists grasp
ing the high pommel Of the saddle,
which was covered in the Moorish
fashion with red cloth. Behind, in a
long line-for the street was
came ustafa's father and q large num-
Der of his friends, the principal mer-
chants and officers of the town. The
rest of the soldiers brought up the
rear.
In this order Mustafa and his escort
rode through all the principal streets
of the town, everyone singing and
shouting at the top of his voice. Final
ly they came to the great open market
place just outside the southern gate of
the town, and there the soldiers drew
up in two long lines and had a noisy
sham battle. squirting their horses Wild
ly toward each other, shouting fierce
cries and firing their guns with reck-
less waste of powder. Finally the
whole procession drew up at the door of
the school, adjoining a mosque, and
Mustafa was lifted downfrom his horse
and taken in.
After that day Mustafa went to school
in very much the same way as other
boys do, but he did not have the same
lessons that American boys learn. He
seems to have spent most of his time
sitting cross-legged fiat on the floor and
singing the verses Of the Koran till he
had learnt many of them by heart; but
as no Christian is ever allowed to 60
into Mohammedan school, it is not
easy to say what else is OF is not taught
there.