Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-04-22

father and fell in two pieces" .'Phewr'
"Ah." emit the listeners. That is great
but | know of some greater deeds, says
another. Sometimes they spend the even
ing singing their tribal, chivalrous songs
and talking divers domestic sub1ects,
About 10 o'clock the coffee pot is put in the
ditch and the second coffee prepared ana
passed, after which the guests take thelr
leave.
Always Attend Funerals.
The gatherings of villagers at funerals
are very large. The entire population or
the village above the age of fifteen is ex-
pected to attend. At such gatherings men
and women do not mingle together. There
are always two places provided, one for
ZACH sex. The women surround the corpse
and do most of the mourning and waiting
and the men spend the time discussing sub
jects pertaining to life and death. As soon
as q person dies the news is communicated
to the villagers with all SwiftneSS. Women
hurry first to the bereaved home and men
come in large companies a little later.
When the relatives of the deceased see a
number of men coming they stand in line
to receive them. 1t is not good manners to
say Good morning to the bereaVed be-
fore expressing ones sympathy to them.
SO when people come they stand in line fac
ing the relatives of the dead and all to-
gether say. Our mind is with you in this
bereavement; may you he kept safe; may
the dead be a sacrifice for the pro}ongation
of your lives; it is extremely grievous to us,
but it is the will of Cod This is the short
est form of expressing sympathy at a fu-
neral said with the right hands flying from
their breasts to their heads and back in
quick succession and answered in the same
manner by the relatives of the dead. After
this they say Good morning" all together
and exchange How are you, &c. Under
takers are not found in Syria excepting in
the large cities. The neighDors with the
nearest relatives take charge of the corpse
and there is no emhalming. When a person
dies a carpenter is called to take the meas
ure of the corpse and make "taboot'-a
kind of a casket. The law requires that the
dead be buried after tWenty-four hours
from the time of death and not sooner, but
this law is seldom obeyed. A few days ago
a woman died in this village in the early
morning and was buried at noon of the
same day. They bury in vaults in this part
of the country.
Few Hotels in Syria.
Hotels, restaurants or boarding houses
are seldom found in SYRIA. and outside of
some large cities or some historical places
of worldwide fame are entirely unknown
Before leaving the United States I took
an estimate of the volume of business
transacted in a little Michigan town of
l-op iiiIdqtanIS. lis name Is SOreDcl, and
L mention ii here so that those who know
the town will not think 1 took for an illus
tration railroad or manufacturing center
in the high swell of its BOOM" The
amount of business done in that little Mich
isan town in one year. according to q care
full estimate which made reached the sum
of s4So,GOO, and l learned from the officials
of the two banks established in the village
that the business done in each bank
amounted to about S2ODGGO. making a total
of $SSO,0O. During the war with Spain
gathered the number of papers sold in the
village every day. 1t never fell below iO0
copies. When a battle was expected it
went over TOO.
But Little Business.
Bitatir which clings to the side of a small
mountain like swallows nest, is double
the size of the Michigan village in question
The other day. while sitting with some of
the chief men of the town." 1 questioned
them infinitely concerning the business
transacted within its limits. In this mu-
deriah there are five other towns and in
none of them is there a store of any kind
Bitatir is the market for all the ,nuderiah
The amount of business done in this nicely
situated town reaches the sum of t3. 900. or
$1,000 annually. In the town there is not
bank, school or a newspaper. and of
course none of its $500 inhabitants ever
heard of a reading circle. Seven copies of
a newspaper published in BeyrOut City are
distributed to subscribers in town every al
ternate day by a muleteer. the only float
ing literature of any kind in the commu-
nifty.
The influences which kept the Syrians
behind the marching hosts in the field of
civilization are more than | can enumerate
here, and some of them no mortal dares put
on paper in this part of the world. The
fact that modern history does not contain
the names of Syrians who lived as rulers of
men and cOnquerOrs of fortune Is not that
they have no minds, but that their minds
are largely in the raw, natural state. and
their environments always widen the
cfasm between the stimulating influences
of education and these raw minds