the
literature of the present day is felt in a marked degree. They are more
than the luxurious fancies of the Arab's mind, for they vividly set
forth the love and hate, the craft and hypocrisy, the courage and
revenge of his race. Moreover, they portray in a truly dramatic manner
the innermost life and thought of the Moslem, while they captivate the
senses by a magnificent panorama of exquisite banquets, lovely
characters, charming gardens, and beautiful palaces.

The country and the descendants of the race that created these masterly
storiettes are surely worthy of careful consideration. A region that is
the birthplace of a religion claiming nearly two hundred million
converts scattered all over the world must possess a special interest.

We are apt to look askance at everything Arabic as bordering on
ignorance and savagery; but if we study the past of this alert race we
shall find a profusion of historical side lights that are valuable; we
shall also find in Arabic literature much to admire. The Arab is poetic
and delights in imagery. There are Arabic poems dating back one thousand
years before the Christian era that for beauty of thought, vigor, and
polish are equal to those produced by any nation and in any age.

In the Middle Ages the Arabs led the world in commerce, exploration,
art, science, and literature. The secret of their successful conquests
was not in the number of their soldiers but in the courage inspired by
the Muhammadan religion. Death has no terrors for the fanatical Moslem,
for to him it is the vestibule of paradise where the pleasures of earth
await those who fight in the holy cause.

By nature the Arab is active, vivacious, and keen-witted. He is proud of
his lineage, earnest, and hospitable. The mother not only takes care of
the home but educates the children; and, strange as it may seem to the
outside world, illiteracy is practically unknown to Arabia.

To the Arabic race we are indebted for our knowledge of arithmetic, and
many of the principles of algebra and geometry. The pendulum, the
mariner's compass, and the manufacture of silk and cotton textiles were
introduced into Europe by the Arabs. They claim to have used gunpowder
as far back as the eleventh century. In the year 706 paper was made at
Mecca and from there its manufacture spread all over the western world.
To them we owe many of the useful arts and practical inventions which
were later brought to perfection by other nations.