Page:Domestic Life in Palestine.pdf/342

Rh where even the dogs were sleeping, as if overcome by the heat and light. We turned to the left and passed a walled-up archway, once the entrance to an ancient mosque. We skirted the back of the Armenian convent, and thus reached the Jewish quarter, and were very soon knocking at the school-house door, over which there was a well-engraved Hebrew inscription.

While we waited for admittance, I looked up at the windows. Two were square, unsheltered openings; a third jutted far out from the wall, and through its quaint and fanciful wooden lattice we could see bright and rare flowers; the fourth was a large, square oriel window, supported by a stone bracket, and protected by an iron balcony. A crowd of happy-looking children were peeping from it. One dark-eyed little creature had a red cloth tarbûsh on the back of her head, and a rose in her black hair. The others wore soft muslin kerchiefs of various colors, tied tastefully on their heads.

We entered the door, crossed a small court, and were led up an open staircase on to a terrace, the low, broad walls of which were converted into a garden. Flower-pots had been imbedded in the masonry, at regular distances, along the top of the parapets. Thus a sort of floral battlement was formed, and produced an excellent effect; for the plants were kept nearly all of the same size and hight. The rose-bushes, pinks, and cloves, in full flower, contrasted well with the dark-leaved myrtle, the cape jasmine, and the white walls.

We were politely received in this court by a Spanish Jewess, who conducted us into a light, cheerful room, containing animated groups of girls, varying in age from seven to fourteen, perhaps. I counted thirty-one children; but the full number usually assembled there was thirty five. Eight forms and a double row of desks gave quite a European character to the room, and the raised, pulpit-like seat of the teacher indicated order and authority.

The girls were nearly all engaged at needle-work, and