Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-04-26

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floor and portion of the walls are intact,
The firepot, made of bricks, Is perfectly
good and shows the marks of fire.
Almost every day~new~ tablets were dis
covered. and as these are the books of an
cient Babylonia, they are considered of the
highest value. From them may be learned
much of the business and the social life of
ancient times. Here are contracts between
bankers and farmers for loans, marriage
contracts and the documents of the entire
life of highly civilized people, who lived
5000 years OF more ago.
Strenuous Days.
One of the exciting incidents of the time
is thus told by Mrs. Haynes: Just about
sunset one Sunday I was sitting in the
court of our house, while Mr.. Haynes was
busy with his accounts, when 1 heard a
commotion outside, but before I realized
that 1t really meant something a barehead-
ed Arab, with his face all covered with
blood from cash in his head, staggered
into the court and dropped down almost
at my feet. l rushed upstairs after Mr..
Haynes who went at once to the door to
prevent other Arabs from coming in. Sew
eral. however. had followed the wounded
man in. and the whole party was scream
ing and gesticulating as if each one were
wildly determined that Beg should hear
his side of the story only.
In the meantime the frantic efforts Of
the man to get up and get at Abad ell Mo-
manned told US that be was the man who
had done the deed. The Turkish commits
Sioner tried to arrest Abad. but I refused
to let him go, and in trying to protect him
pushed the commissioner with such force
that he tumbled over backwards. DR..
Haynes afterwards settled the matter sat
fsfactorily, but this is only one of the try
ing experiences to which his wife was eX-
posed. few weeks later she had trouble
with the cook. DR.. Haynes reproved him,
and in serving the tea that night he brought
up on the tray, besides the tea, Bible and
large butchers knife. This was an open
threat to do violence. and it is not sur
prising that Mrs. Haynes did not sleep well
that night. On the next morning the cook
sent away.
One night DR.. Haynes and his wife were
awakened at midnight by an awful din.
They found that the daughter of one of the
Workmen had died, and the mourners had
assembled to weep and wall with the moth
err All of the women clapped their hands
on their breasts and walled in chorus:
our daughter Is gone; where have you
put her? What have you done with her?
l want to go with her. She was a chaste
and comely maiden with long and flowing
locks" The mother gave expression to her
grief in the form of divers and many loud
screams. howls and walls. She repeatedly
called upon her husband, saying: Your
daughter is gone, and you will soon go to
her. What have l to live for? Whom to
make bread for etc
When the first of the grain was harvested
in May little pile of the new grain was
spread on the ground and a man, with
three or four women and several children,
tramped round and round in circle, two
walking abreast, and all singing their har-
vest song. The threshing of the grain is
done in the most primitive fashion. The
stacks of grain, having been placed on level
pieces of ground, q man drove donkeys
oxen and cows together around and around
the stacks, tramptng out the grain as it was
pulled from the stack by the helpers 1t was
noticeable that, although the animals stoop-
ed down to snatch some of the grain, none
OF them was muzzled, according to the Bib
lical Injunction: Thou shalt not muzzle
the OK when he treadeth out the corn"
How the Library Was Found.
1t was a mistaken idea to think that the
desert is always oppressively warm. 1t is
true that often during the warmer weather
the thermometer reaches IS by six in the
morning and climbs to 10 by noon, but
the winds that sweep over the desert are
frightfully chilling in winter, even though
the temperature be not very low. The men
shiVer in the trenches, and it is necessary
to select protected spots If the director
would not be cruel. In fact, it was due
to this consideration on the part Of Dr.
Haynes that the most important discovery
OF the campaign was made, that of the
thousands of tablets constituting what is
supposed to be an ancient priestly library
exposed mound where they We're uncovering
the court of columns, and were taken to
what had been called Tablet Hill, because of
the large number of tablets found there in
earlier campaigns. They had hardly begun
TO dig before the great library was discov-
cred. The $4,000 tablets were not arranged
neatly on shelves, but buried pell-mell in
the sand.
1t was not until the campaign was al
most a year old, after more than one mar
row escape from the treacherous attacks
or neighborfng tribes of Arabs that the
triumph of the campaign, and for that mat
Ter or the entire excavation of Nippur,
was reached by the discovery Of the now
famous library. Almost an entire month
was required for the removal and packing
OF the tablets, which had to be taken out
OF the ground one by one with the great
est care, SO as to avoid all danger of in
jury. AT the end of that time there were
l6O cases of tablets, the richest a~chaeol-
oglcal treasure ever found in any one place
at one time, ready to be shipped to the
Imperial Museum at Constantinople. to
which everything must by law be sent 1t
was most unfortunate that the archaeolo-
gtsts Of the expedition, DIR. Hilprecht. one
OF the most expert deciphers Of ancient
Assyrian alive, had been DELAYED in Mar
settles, and did not arrive until a month
after the last tablet had been packed aWay
so that we do not yet know the character
OF the tablets. The arrival of Dr. Hill
precht was almost the signal for closing
the campaign, which lasted a few weeks
longer, and then came the preparations
for the return homeward.
There were last visits to friendly she,llhs,
ana the gathering of as MANY pre,ious
mementoes as could be taken away. As
Mrs Haynes looked for the last time at
the excavations she acted as IL she were
parting from old friends. The greeting Of
the W6rkmen had always been a source of
pleasure, and it was to be heard of
no more. Instead there was the waiting Of
the women and children as their white
Irlend went away and many a call to re-
turn She had come to them with some
thing of trepidation, but she went away
with feeling of genuine affection for
good, though lowly people, who would long
remember her, the only white woman they
mad ever known, one whom they had
learned to respect, and in many instances
to love.