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274 NOTICES OF BOOKS.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
^ Ragged Life In Egypt. By M. X*. Whatel...
mud steps through a hole cut in the centre , and which gives light and air to the dens beneath .
Neither must the curious street-cries be forgotten . The early morning was broken by the milk-womanwith her " Haleeb wa
, laban ! " followed by sellers of parched peas , sugar-canes , & c , each with their own peculiar call . It seems , women sell the raw
produce , but manufactured articles are reserved to the men . Thus , the seller of sweetmeats is usually a manwho goes calling out in
the name of the Prophet / " comfits / " , As we read of Miss _Whately's efforts for the establishment of
schools , our thoughts naturally revert to another lady , who first successfully instructed Moslim girls : Madame Luce of Algiers . A
detailed account of her labours has appeared in the English Woman ' s _JounnrAii , _* and visitors at the International Exhibition
may remember a stall in the Algerine Court , filled with , articles made by her pupils ; specimens of beautiful needlework , combined
with much ingenuity of construction . Madame Luce opened her schoolso far back as 1845 . After encountering no ordinary
diffi-, culties , she at length obtained the tardy countenance of the French Government , awakened to the importance of educating the native
women , as a means of civilizing their newly acquired territory . More than a thousand girls have received instruction in the school .
In 1860 , it numbered 150 scholars , and Madame Luce still continues to be the respected superintendent of this most useful
work . But to return from this digression . Prophets of evil were not
wanting , and Miss Whately was assured by one and all , that Moslim girls would not come to school ; Copts might , but the Mahommedans
never . She writes : — all " Perp The lexed , but Syrian not famil in despair who , the little ied room the lower was part made of read the y house in spite ( and of
whose . eldest poor girl , though y but thirteen occup , was to be my sole teacher and nail assistant ) , few took a lively interest in the affair , and their children helped to
up a prints , and texts in Arabic , the latter written out . fair , by the father rovided , for ( n the othin purpose more . was A needed work-basket to beg was in with stocked benches , and and alp tables habet- bein cards
unnecessar h p ow to procure y for them g E was gyptian the problem school ) . . " All was read , y except the pupils g
But the problem was solved , and our authoress opened school with nine scholarsincreased the next day to fourteen . The
dulness of the alphabet , was lightened by a singing lesson , but not till the work-hour arrived , did the children show any real interest in
their tasks . When each little brown middle finger was decorated with a new thimblethe delight of the scholars was shared by their
, mothers , who came to watch proceedings and to encourage their children by gifts of raw carrots and similar dainties . The school
progressed , yet new difficulties had to be overcome . One was of a
* Madame Luce of Algiers . Vol . VII ., _Kfos . 25 , 37 , and 47 .
274 Notices Of Books.
274 NOTICES OF BOOKS .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Dec. 1, 1862, page 274, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01121862/page/58/
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