ry scanty. Some know the Moslem form of worship with
its prostrations and genuflexions. Most of them know the names of the
chief prophets, including that of Jesus Christ, and believe that
Mohammed's intercession will rescue them from hell. I once asked a rich
Moslem lady what was woman's portion in paradise, but she did not know.

Does this little description stir your pity? Are we to leave these, our
sisters, alone to their fate? To suffer not only in this life but also
in the life to come? If you saw their daily life, and knew the peace of
God yourself, I think you would want to do something to cheer them, by
telling them Christ loves them too, and that there is a great future
before them in Him and His Gospel.

XIV

MOHAMMEDAN WOMEN IN SYRIA

Syria is one of the countries bound down by the heavy chain which
Mohammedanism binds on the East. The weight of this chain presses most
heavily on that which is weakest and least capable of resistance, and
that means the hearts of the women who are born into this bondage.

There are probably from 1,200,000 to 1,500,000 Mohammedans in Syria, and
this estimate also includes the sects of the Nusairiyeh (the mountain
people in North Syria), the Metawileh, and the Druzes, who, though
differing in many ways from the true Mohammedans, are yet classed with
them politically. When the word "Christian" is used in this chapter it
should be understood as distinguishing a person or a sect which is
neither Jew, Druse, or Mohammedan, and does not necessarily imply, as
with us, a true spiritual disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Our purpose is to show the condition of the Mohammedan and Druze women
in Syria to-day as far as it has been possible to ascertain the facts
which have been gleaned from those most qualified to give them. From a
casual survey one may very likely come to the conclusion that
conditions in Syria are better and the lives of the women brighter than
their co-religionists in other Mohammedan lands. There are happy homes
(or so they seem at first sight) where there is immaculate cleanliness,
where the mother looks well after the ways of her household and her
children, is ready to receive her husband and kiss his hand when he
returns from his work, where there is but one wife, and a contented and
indulgent husband and father. When you come to look more closely you
will find in almost every case that more or less light has come into
these homes from Christian teach