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NOTICES OF BOOKS. 275
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...
novel character . Miss Whately was believed to foe a slave-owner in disguise . A matron aged fifteennamed Shoh ( the ardently
beloved , ) had been , from the commencement , , one of her , best scholars ,
but" Poor Shoh was not fortunate in a mother , as I soon discovered . We were engaged in singing one day , the children beginning to get some notion when of a tun an e , ug and l Shoh blear ' s -eyed hearty old , thoug woman h somewh walked at in unmusical with an voice extremel , joinin dirty g us ,
child , of two years y , old , on her shoulder . Having dep , osited him on the y floor , she squatted down and began to make her observations . These visitors were Shoh ' s mother and her youngest brother , for they were a very
numerous family . When we ceased singing , the old woman began to talk , and I gathered from her voluble speech that more children would attend school if the mothers did not fear that we should carry them off to England .
" I exclaimed indignantly against the idea of being engaged in a kidnapping transaction , ' Listen , O woman 1 We have girls plenty in our country — -more girls than we want . Why should we take yours ?'
of " the Shoh lad presentl y's own y ' int bint erposed ocht , , as or suring sister her 's daug mother hters that —so she little had , seen and p pretty ictures , and nice ! * She want yoursindeed ! ' pointingrather scornfullto her
young countryfolk , who really , , if clean and neatl , y clad , would have y , looked quite as well , in their way , as any set of English children , though we had no desire to carry them away ! "
p Others feared the evil eye , and objected to soap and water , sometimes even g'oing * so far " as to daub the forehead of a pretty or
highly-valued child with soot , in the idea that this diverted the power of the envious glance they dread . "
In a short time the school flourished , then the attendance mysteriously fell off . Alas ! the tales about kidnapping had found
credence with the mothers , and others as probable had been generally receivedso our authoress was obliged to set about recruiting
, her forces . Choosing the early morning , ( for the hot season had come , ) Miss Whately and her little Syrian teacher threaded their
way about the Rookeries of Cairo . By dint of earnest persuasion , and a little bribery in the shape of promised thimbles , they
succeeded in gathering * together a sufficient number of recruits . ; " When we returned home , pretty well heated and tired ( though
it was scarcely yet ten o ' clock ) an incursion of bright-eyed , wild , untamed little creatures soon followed usand rushed into the
school-, room , in a body , to prove the success of the effort . " They were promised a treat if they came regularly and behaved well , and of
this little festivity , we have a graphic account in the chapter entitled " A School-treat in Cairo . "
By six in the morning all were ready , attired in gala costume . Some sported trousers made of bright printone or two displayed
, jackets with tarnished gold embroidery , while all wore veils , indispensable even to the peasant . There was but one drawback to the
_general gaiety , and that was the group of little boys who , with wistful eyes , stood watching their more fortunate sisters .
mix " It boy was s and impossible girls in school , with — and ference to include to M them oslim in p the rejudices ' picnic and , ' equall habi y ts so , — to
Notices Of Books. 275
NOTICES OF BOOKS . 275
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Dec. 1, 1862, page 275, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01121862/page/59/
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