The mass of the Mohammedans are nervously afraid of entrusting the knowledge of reading and writing to their wives and daughters, lest they abuse it by writing clandestine letters to improper persons.

"Teach a _girl_ to read and write!" said a Mohammedan Mufti in Tripoli to me, "Why, she will _write letters_, sir,--yes, _actually write letters_! the thing is not to be thought of for a moment." I replied, "Effendum, you put your foot on the women's necks and then blame them for not rising.

Educate your girls and train them to intelligence and virtue, and then their pens will write only what ought to be written.

Train the hand to hold a pen, without training the mind to direct it, and only mischief can result." "_Saheah, saheah_," "very true, very true," said he, "But how can this be done ?" It has begun to be done in Syria.

From the days of Mrs.Sarah L.Smith to the present time, Moslem girls have been taught to read and write and sew, and there are many now learning in the various American, British and Prussian schools.