one-eyed veiled women approaching on the roadway is a most weird and grewsome sight. A Druze funeral is the occasion of A DRUZE WOMAN IN NATIVE DRESS and as each delegation appears, go to meet it, each one with a handkerchief in his hand raised above his head, and waved in rhythmical time to a doleful funeral dirge. When the two companies reach the open space, they form in opposite ranks, and, at a signal, a series of appropriate salutations and questions and expressions of regretful concern (all in concert, because regular set forms) are called back and forth. Then the visitors take their places with the other companies that have arrived before them. It is a noteworthy sight, often hundreds of white-turbaned sheiks and Ukkâl and Ajarvid sitting in longextended rows beside the stone fences, or pacing back and forth in companies, reciting dismal dirges in concert. When a specially distinguished arrival is expected, the open bier is carried upon the shoulders of willing bearers and is surrounded by a white-turbaned throng. Generally toward the close of the day the interment occurs. In perfect silence all the men, from sheiks to lowliest peasants, follow the bier to the vault. The women flock to the nearest housetops and wave their last farewells. At the burial-place some portions of the Koran are read by Druze Ukkâl (dissemblers to the aloud. a large attendance from all the neigh- last!), and also the will is read boring country. When a Druze sheik or Juweyyid dies, word is carried by voluntary messengers to all villages within a radius of a day's journey. Thereupon representative delegations from each place appear as soon as possible. The residents of the village where the death has occurred gather before the house or (better) in the open market-place, After the ceremony the visiting. guests are invited to the different houses, and on the following day return to their work. This custom of honoring the dead by sending delegations (often from long distances) consumes much time. Yet so religious are the Druzes that even in the height of harvest season they grudge nothing of the time thus spent. The tombs of several of the most distinguished and venerated Druze Ajarvid have become shrines, visited frequently for religious reasons. Wax candles and presents of gold and silver are sometimes left as votive offerings. The shrine of the Ameer Saeed Abdullah Tnooh, at Abeih, is adorned with beautiful lamps wrought in brass and inlaid with silver. This sainted Akil, who died in 1480, is the boast and glory of the Druzes. Marriage customs are largely in accord with prevailing Oriental ideas. Among the Druzes the girl to be married has more voice in the matter than in the Moslem sect. When a young man desires to marry, he informs the father of the girl of his choice. If the father favors the match, he consults his daughter's wishes. Very rarely does she raise any valid objection, tho no girl is married absolutely against her inclinations. Since the strict Druze customs forbid courtship, and a young lady has little or no opportunity to become personally acquainted with eligible young men, it is evident that she must depend upon her father's judgment in the matter. When the preliminaries have been arranged satisfactorily, the suitor sends presents of clothing and jewelry as a pledge of good intentions. On the marriage day a simple ceremony takes place, not in the presence of the bride or groom, consisting of the drawing of a contract, signed by the chief Ukkâl of the district, together with a few other witnesses, to the effect that the bridegroom agrees to bestow upon his bride a certain sum of money. This paper the bride's father retains, and collects only upon divorce. The reading of this, with a few passages from the Koran, constitutes the wedding ceremony (with neither bride nor groom present!). The bride is then led to her husband's house, where he gains the first sight of his wife's face. He takes the opportunity merely to catch one glimpse of her charms and then returns to his male friends to spend the evening with them. He remains perfectly calm and silent, tho the room may resound with clapping of hands and dancing. Far into the night the measured clap-clap, clapclap of the circle of men is continued, as an accompaniment either to songs or dancing. Cigarettes, narghilehs and Arab coffee are served, and felicitations of all kinds, couched in the choicest and most flowery Druze Arabic, pour in upon the happy man. For a number of days after this ceremony the groom must be prepared in all rigidity of facial expression to receive the congratulations of friends and their wishes for a long and happy life. The position of woman among the Druzes approaches more nearly to the Christian standard than among the other sects,-Moslems, Metarvileh, Nusaireyeh. In religion a woman may rise to the heights of sanctity. A Druze is obliged to esteem his wife fully on an equality in all respects. There is no plurality of wives, tho divorce is common. But a woman, once divorced from her husband, may never return to him. The ceremony of divorce is the acme of simplicity. The husband merely says, "I think you would better return to your father's house," or the woman on her part expresses it as a wish, and her husband replies, "Very well; go." Both parties are free to marry, without any of the stigma attaching to a Western divorce proceeding. In case of a divorce the wife's property is treated according as the blame is attached to the husband or the wife. Druze women are as a rule attractive in appearance. Their complexion is remarkably light and clear. This fact has led some to surmise that the Druzes are Teutonic in their earliest origin. They are straight and wellformed in figure, and are quite as adept in the use of compliments and flattery as the men. They enjoy the opportunities afforded for social intercourse at funerals and weddings,nor does it make much difference which of the two it is. They are very friendly with the foreign ladies, and female teachers in Mission employ. WORK AMONG THE WOMEN OF ARABIA BY MRS. S. M. ZWEMER, BAHREIN, ARABIA According to Moslem tradition the tomb of Eve is situated at Jiddah, on the west coast of Arabia, and is one of the places of pilgrimage on the way to Mecca. American women, too, are the descendants of Eve, but how different is our position, how infinitely higher than that of the guardians of her tomb. We have the benefits of an enlightened civilization, the outcome of Christianity; they inherit the superstition and degradation of a stagnant and sterile civilization, the product of a retrogressive religion. More than half the population of Arabia are women, as the men are frequently killed in war and private feuds. The women are degraded and despised, but at the same time their influence is almost boundless in their limited sphere. What the mother says or does is noticed and followed by the children, who are the fathers and mothers of to-morrow. The social condition of the Arab woman is greatly inferior to that of the man, and in many cases she is thought less of than a good donkey or other useful animal. Her ignorance is dense, she is steeped in superstition, her conscience is petrified, her mind blighted and affections debased; there can be no sweet family life where a wife is only one of four, and at any time may be divorced and plunged into a life of immorality. The children are untrained, because the mother is only a child and likewise untrained. The little ones grow up in a demoralized atmosphere, where deceit and lying are fine arts and unclean conversation is considered very clever in a child. The wife is not expected to be a companion to her husband, except in so far as she ministers to his needs. The daily life of the household is one round of circumvention and intrigue. Do these women need the purifying and saving influence of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? There are many opportunities for presenting the Truth to the women and children of Arabia. In the Zenana, in the villages, the school, hospitals and dispensaries, and at the public well, where women congregate, there is often an opportunity for a quiet talk. In ten years of work for women in East Arabia we are not able to count a large number of open conversions. One woman was baptized with her three children, but she did not inspire others to follow her. The women are fearful and timid of any new idea, especially in religion. Some seem to grasp the truth, and many have compared the two religions by their fruit, loudly praising the superiority of Christianity, but they are not yet bold enough to forsake all and follow Christ. The result of Christian work done. in a Christian way has, however, broken down fanaticism. The medical work will often remove the fear and timidity of a whole village and in place of a rebuff a cordial and hospitable reception and a patient hearing for the new teaching. In the homes the women are ready to listen to Bible stories and sometimes ask us to pray and sing; in not a few houses a warm welcome awaits the missionary where a few years ago only hatred and contempt were accorded a Christian because of his rejection of Mohammed as the prophet. The women who read are afraid to read much of the Bible, as they fear its power over their wills; but in spite of this, many copies of the Gospel have been sold or given to Moslem women who may read God's word in secret. In the daily clinic an old patient will often make the message clearer to a newcomer and many words of appreciation are spoken as they hear the story of God's love as revealed in Christ. This may not sound very encouraging because of the lack of conversions and baptisms, but we who have watched the slow growth, in this most difficult and stony field, heartily thank God for the break of dawn in the thick darkness. There is a large field of work for thoroughly qualified lady doctors; suffering womanhood awaits their skill, dying souls need the message of love which they alone could bring. There are many open doors for young women as teachers and evangelists, who will give their time and skill to train the young and teach them to lead clean, wholesome lives, and to carry the light into homes darkened by superstition and sin. It already has cost lives to do this work and no doubt it will cost more before the building is seen above ground, but the work is hopeful and the Mohammedan, world must give way to the Kingdom of Christ. When Garibaldi, in 1849, drew up his ragged troops before the walls of Rome, he turned to them and said something like this: "Fellow soldiers, I have nothing to offer you but hunger and cold and death, but he who loves his country will follow me." And they followed him to a man. Love was the motive; nothing else would have prevailed. Christ is still saying: "Lovest thou Me?" TWENTY-THIRD ANNUAL CONFERENCE, CLIFTON SPRINGS, N. Y. As an object-lesson in present day missions few gatherings are equal to those of the International Missionary Union. This year the attendance was not as large as sometimes, but the interest was not less, nor the value of the testimony. A wellknown editor recently admitted to the writer that he was becoming dubious of the value of missionary work as at present conducted, at least in some fields. He seemed to think that what ought to be done was for the missionaries to go to a country, organize a few churches and then pass on, leaving them to work out the problem of evangelizing the fields, with an occasional subsequent visit from the modern apostle, to advise and encourage them. That editor and others of like view would do well to come into close touch with such a company of missionaries as gathered in the Tabernacle of the Clifton Springs Sanitarium, morning, afternoon and evening. They would learn more about the actual conduct of missions today than by reading books for a year or by conference with a certain type of Oriental to whom the preaching of the Cross is even worse foolishness than it was to the Greeks of Paul's time. The first thing, probably, that would strike them is the absence of the denominational spirit. Undoubtedly there has been too much of this in the past, and it has not been yet entirely eliminated, but it is a constantly decreasing factor. At no time in the history of missions. have the workers presented so united a front; at no time has there been so little mutual jealousy, so little emphasis upon points of difference; such hearty presentation of agreement. As the various fields were presented, it was usually impossible to infer the speaker's denomination or attitude on theological or ecclesiastical matters. One of the speakers, with a smile, said that so far as he could see they might all be in the employ of his own board. The whole atmosphere of the platform, and particularly of private conversation, was: One Lord, one faith, one work; and if occasionally there appeared to be two baptisms, the difference was one of degree, rather than of kind. Perhaps a still more significant feature was the evident trust in the substantial power for growth and wise development in the native churches. This appeared in the references to all the fields, but was most noticeable, as was natural, in the discussion in regard to Japan, where the movement for an Independent Japanese Church is so preeminent. Without ignoring the evident dangers of such a movement and, in some cases, its unfortunate manifestations, it was recognized as really a sign of health and vigor, to be welcomed rather than deprecated, guided rather than opposed. The dominant thought was that the "foreign" element in the work must necessarily, and most appropriately, be transient, at least so far as leadership is concerned. The missionary must decrease, the native church must increase. This does not mean that the foreign missionary's work is anywhere near complete. There is a |