The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1913-01-23


a marvellous sweetness out of the desert, sheet
ing the spread encampment with silvery veil.
It is wonderful sight The camels seem twice
their natural size among the piled-up fodder Lit
tie fires spring up, built over stones. Voices are
low; noises lie down one by one-braying OF
donkeys, gurgling grunts OF camels, bleating OF
goats and kids soon to be sacrificed. Groups
gather closely round the fires, for the night air
nips Coffee is made in tiny china cups. and the
gauht heads of the camels thrust forward over
the very shoulders of their owners. They chew
and chew and chew. Those dark bundles In the
sand lying apart by themselves, are men already
asleep. wrapped from head to feet in sheets OF
black and blue and white and yellow. No one
treads on them. The bare feet go silently to and
fro, picking their way SO carefully. And every
where dark faces CLEAN in the moonlight, eyes
flash like stars and white teeth shine.
Little visits are paid from group to group.
bearded fellow with face of night enters cir
Gle where all are seated round the fire and cofee-
pot Are you happy?" II am happy because OF
your existence" "Coffee?" handing him cup
Coffee for ever' as he sips it slowly. We out
siders watch and stare and question, yet get no
nearer to them Centuries lie between. Their
courtesy is perfect They accept a cigarette. light
ing 1t with flint and steel, offering the latter as
a present that may not be refused. The young
man, playing his reeds SO softly to group OF
listeners, hands them over to an admirer who
has praised tnem, WIN FleaSe dcCepL IneA AOin
me-" Behind In the sand, men are praying on
their knees towards Mecca. Sing to US, kindly, '
asks an Englishman, who knows Arabic, of an
other man. The singer is shy, but only requires
coaxing, and when the Englshman suggests
certain song the other hesitates. ut is not
pleasing that should sing such song before
gentlemen and ladies'" "They don't understand
a word" But l. cannot do it. Whether they
understand or no, find it not pleasing" And.
after this lesson in sweet delicacy, between the
verses of song he finally chants, always this
question: Does my voice please you, o gentle.
mani" Yet these are merely fellaheen, the peas
ant toilers of the delta, who accompany the great
Bedouin pilgrimage to the Desert Tomb OF Abou
Seria, Father Of Speed, one of Mahomet's gen.
erals . And after midnight one or two OF
them rise quietly and resume their journey. "Our
camels travel better in the nighttime" OF they
CO. with their donkeys, goats and children, carry
ing all they possess In this world with them. The
unmeasured desert swallows them No sound
comes back They vanish in the moonlight as
softly as they came One thinks of that Bedouin
who loved an Englishman. and paid him the
great honor Of taking him home. Il will show
you my home" he said, and they travelled three
days and nights across the desert. Beneath a
limestone boulder he pointed to the ground Nov
you are in my home he said proudly, and with
the stately dignity OF great prince Of the desert
his feet. 1t was summer, a tent unnecessary;
the wife and focks were away. This square foot
of sand in the enormous wilderness was home.