will rather surprise and amuse your Excellency. Children, especially daughters, are excluded from society until they are thoroughly educated, and considered by their parents fit to make their début. You may visit and dine continually at a house, without being aware that there are any children under the same roof. When young, they are kept almost exclusively in the nursery, under charge of a governess and nursery-maids. When old enough to go to school, they are sent off to these establishments, rarely coming home, except in cases of sickness or for the holidays, and even then they are seldom permitted to dine at the same table, or keep the same hours as their parents when there is company. Fancy a Syrian mother being separated from her children for months, and not seeing them, though easily within reach; knowing that her sons, if disobedient or naughty, have no mercy to expect from the schoolmaster, no sparing of the rod, or of heavy tasks either; and that their daughters may be going supperless to bed, for some trivial offence against the schoolmistress, whilst she, the mother, is supping sumptuously. If you tell them that this seems unnatural and cruel, their reply is, that they went through it themselves; but you will barely credit what I write, when I tell you, that there are many instances where mothers of young families, seldom see or inquire after their offspring more than once a day, sometimes not so often; and even sometimes they go out of town for a week or ten days, leaving these troublesome incumbrances to the tender mercies of a nursery-maid. What would our mothers have said, if any one had suggested to them, that it would be best to place us under the care of servant-maids? Would they ever have tasted food before they knew that we were served, or rested till
they had wrenched the cane from the hand of the schoolmaster, torn his beard, and carried us away home?
“However great the Western Europeans are, they cannot, in general, be said to possess that attachment and love which binds and links most oriental families together. I must here mention that beards are at a sad discount in England; moustaches hooted at, or only used by military men. Alas! for the reverence paid to the long beards of Syria. The possessors of such in this country would be set down as Jews; they are considered inconvenient, unsightly, and not reckoned as contributing to cleanliness. I knew a Frank in Syria, a hakeem, whose flowing beard was the admiration of all beholders; his patients used to seize it and make him swear by it, that he would do his best to cure them; and as for the damsels, happy was she that could make him vow fidelity to her, on the strength of his beard. Well, your Excellency, I met this hakeem in the streets of London. I knew him not; but he recognised me and spoke to me. The cruel razor had been at work, and his face was as smooth and beardless as the newborn babe. I asked him what had caused him to commit such an act of insanity, and he told me that, when he first landed, the children in the streets hooted, pelted him, and cried out ‘Halloo Moshes!’ and so, for quietness’ sake, he was obliged to submit his beautiful beard to the hands of a ruthless barber. In England no one wears beards. Bishops are beardless; Cadis are beardless; lawyers, hakeems, even the solicitors—wonderful indeed! but what is still more wonderful and absurd is, that these great men wear long curly wigs, which vastly resemble the sheepskins worn by our buffoons and tale-tellers.
“Young ladies in this country are devotedly attached to handsome uniforms; and fine uniforms are devotedly attached to handsome fortunes as well as faces. Sometimes young officers elope with heiresses worth millions of money, whereas the officer, perhaps, has nothing but a gay uniform and a good-looking face and figure to shew: but in all cases, young ladies are very fond of red and blue coats; and an officer in the guards is irresistible. Even the beadle, that is, the Indilaft, is an object of admiration to the lower classes, as he struts about in his gold-laced cocked-hat and uniform.
“It may of a truth be said of the English, that they strive with each other in their efforts to oblige a stranger, and heap civilities and attentions upon him. With them it is a matter of earnest regret that any foreign friend should find cause of complaint against any of their countrymen. One great advantage that we Syrians possess, is the very fact of coming from the Holy Land. Say to an Englishman, of whatever grade, ‘I am a Syrian,’ and he will immediately know how to appreciate your worth, and the excellence of your country; he will talk to you of Hebron and many other towns with unabating pleasure; and the reason is, that, from his infancy upwards, with him Syria has been a familiar household word; as a lisping infant, he has read at his mother’s knee of King Solomon and the cedars of Lebanon. At school, his prize-essays have been about Jerusalem; and if, mayhap, he is a poor man, unable to write or read, still, from the pulpit, he has long been accustomed to hear of the great patriarch, the prophets, and the kings, of Israel, the temple of Solomon, and other marvellous facts so intimately linked with his creed; the scene of all which was Syria and the Holy Land. Though most true that it
is not an easy matter to cultivate the acquaintance of an Englishman, still, when you do once become acquainted with him, and are well known to him, then you are his friend in the true acceptance of that term, and you continue his friend for life, whether you remain in England or go abroad (I have found this by experience). Moreover he takes a pride in introducing you to his own circle of acquaintances, and endeavours, in concert with them, to promote your best interests and welfare; he abides by you as your friend during your absence, and if anything should reach his ears derogatory to your character, his best energies are brought into play; he sifts the matter thoroughly, hushes the voice of calumny, or exposes the infamy of the calumniator; and if perchance you are guilty in his opinion of any breach of etiquette or a misdemeanour, he weighs the matter maturely in his own mind, and is as ready to correct and reprimand, as he is to overlook the offence, and set it down to the score of your being a stranger, and necessarily uninitiated in the strict etiquette of the land.
“The English do a good action solely from a wish to do good, and from no other earthly inducement. I am now speaking of Englishmen as individuals, for, when acting in numbers, I must confess I do not hold so high an opinion of them. This is proved by the many companies continually advertised and puffed up before the public, but which are nothing more or less than a hoax to catch the unwary, invented by unprincipled men, of which I myself have more than once been the dupe.”
CHAPTER XIV.
LIFE, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS OF SYRIA.
An addition to the family of a Syrian man is always an event looked forward to with the greatest anxiety, more especially in cases of a first child. The mother secretly prays and hopes that it may be a son; so does the father, but he seldom alludes to the subject. When the propitious event takes place, no hakeem, except of late in extreme cases, since the introduction of European medical men, is ever called in. Such a thing would be considered highly indecorous and improper. Dyâhs (midwives) [233] are plentiful in Syria, and these females are ready at a moment’s notice. If the result be a son, then the whole household is overjoyed, and the husband is besieged by friends and acquaintances, all anxious to outvie with each other in wishing him joy, and in hoping that the newly-born son may live to prove his comfort and support in old age. If, however, a daughter be born to the family, it is looked upon rather in the light of a misfortune than otherwise. The husband looks as if he were quite ashamed of himself, the subject is seldom if ever broached, and if any of his intimate friends allude to the matter, they do it with the view of consoling the father. The usual form of expression in such cases is,
“She that has brought a daughter will bear a son,” “Inshallah! if it be the will of God.” Soon after birth the child is wrapped in swaddling clothes, and is at once nourished by its own mother. Wet nurses are almost unknown, and are only employed in cases of death or great debility. The care of attending upon the mother devolves upon the female relatives; but the women in my country are usually so strong and robust that little attention is required. No muffling of knockers—no strewing of straw in the streets—no doctor anxiously expected—no dosing of both parent and child. Amongst the peasants and lower classes in particular, the women are so hardy that it is by no means an uncommon event for a mother, four or five hours after her accouchement, to be seen propped up with cushions, busily engaged in mending or making baby-linen. On the fourth day after her confinement, the Kanum or lady is expected to receive the visits of her acquaintances and friends, both male and female; and for this occasion a brand new coverlet usually handsomely worked in silk, has been prepared. Propped up by pillows and covered with farooa, she receives lying-in state visits. Her visitors do not remain long, but during the whole of the time they are complimenting her on the fortunate event; and the new-born is paraded round, and gazed at, and admired; but no one dares to praise him without commencing with “Mashallah!” “God be praised for it!” This custom of visiting the mother proves clearly that the usages which existed in the time of our blessed Saviour, when the wise men from the East came to look upon the newborn babe, and brought with them offerings, continues up to the present day, each friend or acquaintance bringing or sending his or her offerings.