Los Angeles herald., 1909-06-06

tense feeling, and it must be respected
The exercises begin with the singing
of a hymn in English, one of the
adapted psalms sung in United Presby-
terian churches in America. The sing
ing is conducted by an American wo-
man teacher, and she has taught her
charges to sing well. Then there is a
prayer in English, and then brief ad-
dress on some subject of morals or
sanitation, which is usually delivered
in Arabic. After another song the boys
and girls troop out in different direc-
tions to their classes.
Nine tenths of the boys wear their
red tarbooshes, or fezes, in the true
oriental fashion, indoors and out. -Four
hundred of them in a schoolroom hav-
ing every other appearance of a school
in Kansas City presents a striking
spectacle. The boys are nearly all
dressed in the conventional European
costume save for the red tarboosh. The
girls, on the other side of the red cur
TAIN are dressed in every conceivable
variety of costume known to twenty
centuries of the motley east, from the
simple one-piece slip of the ancients to
a copy of the latest Partisan mode for
young girls. They are not yelled in
school, and there isn't the slightest OBJ
lection, apparently, to foreigners and
men teachers seeing their faces.
There are fewer Mohammedans among
the girls than among the boys, the
prejudice against the education of
women being stronger in the ranks of
Islam. But in the past few years the
Mohammedan girls have been coming
in stronger force, and the Americans
have succeeded in inducing many
wealthy Moslems to send their daugh-
ters to boarding school. This is prob
ably the most radical departure in GUS
oe.fSn. .1F
Egypt.
There are many teachers and native
workers in the employ of the mission
who devote their time to the harems,
going from one house to another, teach
ing the women Of the harem to read,
and, of course, giving them the Bible
and other Christian literature. The
women do not desire emancipation from
the harem. life which would be worse
than death to an American woman, but
they are interested in the education
which gives them a stronger hold upon
their husbands. For that reason the
hearem work is quite prosperous.
Very few converts to Christianity
come from the body of Islam. The
American mission ministers have bap-
tized about 100 Mosems in the past
few years, but the progress is very
slow. Mohammedanism is the only
eastern religion which has not yielded
to the efforts of evangelical Christian
missionaries to any marked extent.
Among the Copts and other religious
bodies the church work of the American
mission has succeeded wonderfully.
There are sixty organized Presbyterian
congregations and 244 preaching sta
tions. There are 10000 native members
of Presbyterian churches, and -forty-six
native ordained ministers. The native
Presbyterians contributed $4,000 last
q o,.f Of hn 11niCGinn
work. The church work has been much
more successful in upper Egypt than
in the delta. Many wealthy men in
upper Egypt have allied themselves
with the missions, and there is one ma
tive Presbyterian millionaire who
makes liberal donations each year to
both church and educational work.
Within a few years the Presbyterian
church in Egypt will be entirely self
supporting.
The medical work of the mission is
the cause of bringing many people into
touch with the educational and re-
ligious departments. Five hospitals are
maintained in various parts of the
country trained physicians and nurses
are in charge, visits are made to the
homes and villages, and free clinics are
held for the treatment of the milder
diseases. The national curse of Egypt
tails make a speciality of treating sore
eyes The Moslem women are so much
in fear of the evil eye that they Will not
wash their babies faces, or brush off
the flies, for fear the children will be-
come so beautiful that they will attract
the evil eve Therefore half the people
in the street have but one eye each,
and the totally blind are legion.
The women physicians and nurses are
taking the gospel of sanitation into the
harems where a man physician might
not enter, and where every illness mas
been treated only according TO the dlc-
tates of some ancient superstition. Ana
all the time these medical missionaries
are urging the people to wash the chill
dren's faces, and warning them of the
danger of dirt. 1t seems hopeless
task to attempt to divorce these people
from squalor and filth, but the eftort Is
being bravely made by these devoted
Americans.
Young boys from the American
schools are preferred in employment Dy
business men, and young girls from the
American schols are eagerly sought lot
wives. Men from the American college
find ready employment with the gov
ernment or in professional capacltles.
Egypt recognizes the good done by tne
American mission in it's treatment OF
the alumni of the American schools.
Americans. of whatever faith or re-
ligious belief cannot fail to be proud OF
the truly American accomplishments OF
this mission.
Copyright, 1909, by Frederic j. Haskin)
Tomorrow-Twentieth Century Egypt'
VIII Waters of the Nile.