er what the prophet Isaiah (42:3) said, "a bruised reed shall he
not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench." This is quoted in
Matt. 12 of our Lord Jesus. The word flax means _wick_. It is "fetileh"
in Arabic, and this is just what Im Hanna has been doing. She saw the
wick smoking and flickering, and instead of blowing it out and quenching
it, she brought the oil flask, and gently poured in the clear olive oil
and you saw how quickly the flame revived. So our Lord would have us
learn from Him. When the flame of our faith and love is almost dead and
nothing remains but the smoking flickering wick, He does not quench it,
and deal harshly with us, but he comes in all gentleness and love and
pours in the oil of His grace, and then our faith revives and we live
again.

PART III.

Here come some little Bedawin gypsy children. One is laughing at my hat.
He never saw one before and he calls me "Abu Suttle," the "father of a
Pail," and wonders why I carry a pail on my head. The people love to use
the word Abu, [father] or Im, [mother]. They call a musquito Abu Fas,
the father of an axe. The centipede is "Im Arba wa Arb-ain; "The
mother of forty-four legs." The Arabic poet Hariri calls a _table_ the
"father of assembling;" _bread_, the "father of pleasantness;" a _pie_,
"the mother of joyfulness," _salt_, "the father of help," _soap_ the
"father of softness;" Death is called by the Arab poets, "Father of the
Living," because all the living are subject to him.

After breakfast we will start for Safita. You see that snow-white dome
on the hill-top! and another on the next hill under that huge oak tree,
and then another and another. These are called Nebi or Ziarat or Wely.
Each one contains one or more tombs of Nusairy saints or sheikhs, and
the poor women visit them and burn lamps and make vows to the saints who
they think live in them. They know nothing of Christ, and when they feel
sad and troubled and want comfort they enter the little room under the
white dome, and there they call, "O Jafar et Tiyyar hear me! O Sheikh
Hassan hear me!"

This is just as the old Canaanite women used to go up and worship on
every high hill, and under every green tree, thousands of years ago, and
these poor Nusairiyeh are thought to be the descendants of the old
Canaanites.

Here come men on horseback to visit that "ziyara." Up they go to the
little room with the white dome, and all dismount. The old sheikh who
has charge, comes