8
THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN, PORTLAND, SEPTEMBER 15, 1907.
BY FRANK G. CARPENTER.
HAVE just , returned from a visit
to the . biggest university! of the
. Mohammedan world. It has more stu
dents than any of our colleges, and
twice as many as either Harvard, Tale
or Cornell. It has, all told, over 9,000,
and Its professors number 240. Its
students come from every country
where Mohammedans flourish. , There
are. hundreds here from India, and
come from Malaysia and Java. There
is a large number from Morocoo and
'also from Algeria, Tunisia and Tripoli.
There are Nubians as black as your
,'hat, Syrians and Turks as yellow as
'rich Jersey cream, and boys from
southeastern Europe with faces as fair
our own. mere are long-gowned,
nrbatned Persians, fierce-eyed Af
Whanletans and brown-skinned men
pom the Sudan and from about Kuka,
iBornu and Timbuktu. The students
kre of all ages from fifteen to 75,
nd some have, spent their lives in the
fcollege. '
A Mighty Mohammedan Force.
This university has been in existence
or almost a thousand years. It was
(founded A. D. 988, and from that time
to this it has been educating the fol
lowers of the Prophet It is today
perhaps the strongest force- among
these people in .Egypt Ninety-two
E-er cent of the inhabitants of the Nile
alley are Mohammedans and the. most
the native officials have been' edu
cated here. There are at least 35,000
men in the public service among its
(graduates,- and the Judges of the vil
lages, the teachers In the mosque
schools, and the Imans or priests who
serve throughout Egypt are connected
with it. . They hold the university in
the highest regard, and an order from
"4t professors would be as much. If
iiot more, respected than one from the
Jthedlvlal government
' The education in this university is
Vialmost altogether Mohammedan. Its
"curriculum Is about the same as it was
-' t thousand years ago, and the chief
students are the "Koran and Koranic
law, together with the sacred tradi
tions of the religion and perhaps a llt-
t' grammar, prosody and rhetoric.
- "Within the past few years there have
,been attempts to extend its sphere, and
It now has thirteen government pro
cessors, but their teaching Is done out
side the university itself. A number
of the professors are also teaching in the
government schools connected with the
mosques of the Egyptian villages, but
even there the Koran takes up half the
This university has been in existence ISfrSVt SWffl Vjjj Jildi LjS I ) J, V
Stor almost a thousand years. It was ISi 4 ! , : FX A ?-, .l !f W ,7 i , 4,T: J -t fCT"- V - $ 71 - I ' ?J
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i ; oHy 1 1 I .;ifr; til A f r i - -t , - r ri
- 1 bju 111 r 4--J
1 ' V '
1 11 - irv flr 0Js4 XZATfZ.
' time and religion is far more important
"than science.
... -, t. How Egyptians Study Their Bible.
. . . -
..' Indeed it is wonderful how much time
these Egyptians spend on their bible. The
Koran is their primer, their first and sec
. end reader and also their college text
' book. As soon as a baby is born, the
.' , " . call to prayer is shouted in its ear, and
when it begins to speak its father first
-teaches it to say the creed, which runs
somewhat as follows:
, . "There is no Ood but God; Mohammed
' . is the apostle of God," and also "Where
fore exalted be God, the king, the truth I
There Is no God but be! The lord of the
glorious throne."
When the boy reaches 5rfr 6 he Btarts
. to the mosque school, and there squats
; down, cross-legged, and sways to and fro
as he yells aloud the texts of the Koran.
"- He studies the alphabet by- writing with a
black brush texts on a slate of wood or
tin. and he pounds away from year to
. year committing the Koran to memory.
' There are now more than 200,000 pupils in
the Egyptian schools, of whom a majority
- are under 13 years of age. By a recent
''' '" census it was found that over 60,000 of
these boys could recite a good part of the
- v. Mohammedan bible, and that 4600 had
t . memorized the whole from beginning to
end. Another 4500 ware able to recite one-
" half of it from memory, while 3800 could
correctly give three-fourths of It. When
"' it Is remembered that the Koran con-.-
: tains 114 divisions and in the nelghbor-
l hood of 80,000 words. It will be seen what
this, means. I venture that there are not
"-JJ 4000 children in the United States who
m can reel oft the New Testament without
1 looking at the hook, and that with our
I vast population we have not 50.000 boys
I 4 who can recite even one book of our
" ' Bible from memory and not mispronounce
a word.
- . The Mohammedans revere- their bible
quite as much as we do ours. While It is
being read they will not allow it to He
upon the floor, and no one may read or
touch it without first washing himself. It
is written in Arablo, and Its style is
considered a model. They believe that
- it was revealed by God to Mohammed,
.. . and that It "is eternal. It was not
written at the first. , but was entirely
committed to memory, and it is in
that way that it is still taught to a
large extent I understand that the
b v.i : - ! s y- v -5 v'. - - 1 y , i'il5 I f&.4- .J
-x x rfr1 , , fhq't.- I .J i ' IT? . J
jry roars' ; &&?o2&
present Khedive can recite the -most
of it During my Interview with his i
father, Tewnk Pasha, he told me that
he could begin at the back and by
memory alone recite the Koran clear
to the front. The Better classes of
Mohammedans have beautiful copies of
this book. They have some bound !n
gold with the texts Illuminated, and
the university here has a collection of
fine editions which is looked upon as
one of its greatest treasures.
Nine Thousand Bald Heads.
This famous Mohammedan university
is situated in the heart of business
Cairo. When I rode to it today on my
donkey I passed through a mile or so
of covered bazars, thronged with tur-
baned men and veiled women and
walled with shops in .which long
gowned Egyptians were selling goods
and plying their trades. The univer
sity is known as . the Mosque of El-
Azhar. which is one of the oldest
masques of Cairo. It covers several
acres, and the streets about it' are
largely taken up with Industries con
nected with, the university. One of the
bazars is devoted to bookselling and
bookbinding, and another to head
dressing. Every Mohammedan has his
head shaved several times a week, and
in this college there are 9000 bald
headed students. The scholar who
would appear here with our ordinary
college football cut would not be ad
mitted. The students wear turbans of
white, black or green, and there is not
a hair under them except on the top
of the crown, where a little tuft may
be left, that the owner may be the
more easily pulled Into heaven.
My way went through this street of
the barbers. There were a number of
them working on the heads of the stu
dents. The banbers made them kneel
down to be shaved, and I saw one or
two lying with their heads In the laps
of the men twho were shaving them.
The barbers used no paper, wiping
the shavings on the faces of their vlo
tlms Instead. At the end they gave
the head, xace and ears a good wash
ing.. -.s I approached the entrance of the
university I saw many young, : long
gowned, turbaned men, with their books
under their arms, standing about and
some carrying manuscripts in and out.
Each student has his shoes in his hand
when he enters the gates, and I was
made to put on a pair of slippers - over
my boots before I went In." The slippers
were of yellow sheepskin and a turbaned
servant tied them on with red. strings.
Mohammedan Stndents at Work.
Entering the gate, I came into a great
stone-flagged court, upon which the
study halls of this university face. The
court was surrounded by arcades upheld
by marble pillars, and In the arcades and
in the Immense rooms Deyona were thou-
sands upon thousands of students. They
sat in groups on the floor, listening to
the professors, who were lecturing on
various subjects, swaying back and forth
as thex eaiur out their words of wisdom.
the groups were studying alojjd,
and altogether the confusion was as great
as that at the Tower of Babel when the
tongues of the builders were changed.
There were at least 6000 men, all talking
at once, and some, It seemed to me, were
shouting at the tops of their voices. I
had many unfriendly looks as I made my
way through the mass, and narrowly es
caped being mobbed when I took snap
shots of the professors and students at
work under the "bright sun which beat
down upon the court. The inmates of this
school are among the most fanatical of
the Mohammedans, and I have since
learned that the Christian who moves
among them is in danger of personal vio
lence. I spent some time in this university,
going from hall to hall and making notes.
In one section I found a class of blind
boys who were learning the Koran, and
I am told that they are more fanatical
The Personal Recollections of John L. Sullivan
The Big Fellow's Idea of What's the Matter With the Country In Financial Matters.
v BY JOHN I SULLIVAN.
i HIS time of year always reminds me
of the flsht I had with Frank Her-
aid, of Philadelphia, which was
finally pulled off 21 years ago the ISth of
this month, After I had chased him from
New Tork to Pittsburg. I poliBhed Her
ald off In two rounds, making short work
of him after I got him inside the ropes,
but he sure led me a dizzy race before
I cornered him and made him put up his
hands and take what was coming to him.
James Gordon Bennett was so struck on
Herald (probably because Herald's name
was the same as Bennett's paper) that he
wanted to bet $5000 that Herald could
wallop any man in the world. Herald
was boosted as the man who was to put
me to. the bad. and a lot of people were
beginning to believe It. I finally got a
match with Herald, but the cops stopped
it, and Herald's crowd took a train for
Pittsburg Intending to cop out some glory
by taking the stage and claiming I was
afraid to meet him. I got wind of them
taking fhe train, and I was on another
train, an hour later, for Pittsburg. By
jsynming things along, after my arrival
In the morning, Tom Hughes arranged
things for us to meet that night in Alle
gheny City, In the rink.
The smashing that Xgave Herald in the
two rounds made him easy for Joe Lan
non later on. and Joe's defeat of Herald
was the reason why Lannon was matched
to fight Jake Kllrain in a hotel In Water
town, Mass.. the following March. Jake
put Lannon out in 11 rounds, and this
victory made a lot of rainbow-chasers
think Jake was to be my master. But
all the guessing went wrong.
Tips to the Author of the "Double
Cross."
Philadelphia Jack O'Brien is going to
write a play called the "Double Cross,
and he's going to show up all the things
that made the preliminaries in a faked
flsht That's what Jack says, and thera-.
than any of the others. In another place
I saw 40 Persians listening to a professor.
They were sitting-on the ground, and the
professor ' himself sat on the floor with
his bare feet doubled up under him. I
could see his -yellow toes sticking out of
his black gown. He was lecturing on
theology and the students were attentive.
Another class near by was taking down
the notes of a lecture. Each had a sheet
of tin, which looked as though it might
have been cut from an oil can, and he
wrote upon this In ink with a reed style.
The letters were In Arabic and I could
not tell what they meant. '
I looked about me in vain for school
furniture such as we have at home. There
was not a chair nor a table In the halls;
there were no maps nor diagrams and no
scientific Instruments. There were no
libraries visible and the books used were
mostly pamphlets.
There is no charge for tuition and the
i fore It may not be true. But he ought to
be able to get all the actors in the right
I places In a play of that kind, for he
1 knows, if anybody does. He might en-1
gage that celebrated actor, Jim Corbett
for the star part, with Kid McCoy as
the faithful friend and Joe Gans as the
soubrette, and some of the promoters for
heavy villains. Jack himself wift shine
best taking the money at the door, for
he don't play unless he hitches up with
the mazooma.
For a wind-up to the play all the fakers
and get-rich-qulck fighters might be
dumped Into a tank, and it would sure be
popular. If the drink Is made plenty wet
and deep. But I'd advise the victim of
the double cross to keep quiet for a while
and give the sporting publio a chance to
forget some things. He's made a long
meal ticket out of the easy marks that
have been falling for loaded dice and he
ought to let it go at that for the present
O'Brien must be suffering from the heat
if he thinks he can get any more big
wads without earning them. His best
play Is to nail what he has, and not go
wasting it trying to stage a fake.
The sport are hep to the shady side
of the boxing game and he can't get
them to stand and deliver any more
unlesB he chloroforms them, " and that
Ksn't so easy as he Is doping It out to
himself.
"Tried for a Third Term," Said
Roosevelt..
I made a jump from Louisiana to Utah
a few weeks ago and part of the trip was
made brisk by three millionaires, who
damned Roosevelt by the hour. They
threw the iron into Teddy gay and hearty,
ail right because he'd been putting the
heavy foot on some of their graft I got
lugged into the conversation because the
President is a friend of mine, and I didn't
think these millionaire guys had him
sized right.
"You sports ought to get out and live
with the real people a while and find out
what they are thinking about," says I to
the hot coal and iron barons., "The man
poor and the rich are on much the same
level. Many of the undergraduates are
partially supported by the university, and
it is no disgrace to be without money.
Some of the students and professors live
In the university. They sleep In the
schoolrooms, where they study or teach,
lying down upon the mats and covering
themselves with blankets. They eat
there, and there- are peddlers who bring
in food and sell it to them: Their diet is
plain, a bowl of bean soup and a cake of
pounded grain, together with a little gar
lic or dates, forming the most common
meaL Such food costs but little, but to
those who are unable to buy the univer
sity gives food, 900 loaves of bread being
supplied without charge to needy stud
ents every day.
As I passed through the halls I saw
some of the boys mending their clothes,
and others spreading their wash out in
the sun to dry. They did not seem
with the dinner-pail knows you people
have- been throwing it into him from
every point of the compass, and he don't
care a hurrah If every resident of Wall
Street has to sell his devil wagon and
bathe In water Instead of champagne for
a while. In fact, he likes to see you peo
ple squirm, and when you say Teddy is
guilty, he says Teddy is the man for
him."
"You've got to get nearer the common
people than you do looking at them, out
of parlor car windows, to know what's
happening in this counrty," says I. "and
until you get next to them you're sure go
ing to be in wrong and bad. There's got
to be a new deal, and BxOBevelt is wise
to what's got to be, and he's got a few
laps ahead of you folks."
"You don't think Roosevelt will run
again, do you?" one of the barons asked
me. .
"The answer to that is what Teddy said
to the editor of a paper in Indianapolis
when he got the returns from the Fltz
Jeft fight. 'Poor Fitz, he tried for a third
term.' "
What's the Matter With TJs.
The trouble with the whole country is
that everybody that has a look-in to cor
ner some money wants to pinch all there
is outside the mint All kinds of busi
ness have gone crooked. There's crooked
fighting, crooked booze' and all kinds of
crooked stuff put up for the publio to eat
and get the stomach ache. The fellows
that run the stock market have put their
own game so far on the blink that since
Lawson peached they may have to get
down to plain porch-climbing to pull oft
a living.
Take the booze business as a sample of
how the little man gets shook down.
Twenty-flve years ago you never heard
(ft anybody getting sent to the crazy
house from drinking. Nowadays It's a
common thing to hear of somebody going
off his nut for fair because he can't stand
the stuff. It's because they take a few
cents' worth of carbolic acid and red
pepper, shake it up in 60 gallons of rain
ashamed of their poverty and I saw much
to admire.
'The professors serve for nothing and
support themselves by teaching In private
houses or by reading the prayer at the
mosques. It is considered a great honor
to be a professor here; and the most
learned men of the Mohammedan world
are glad to lecture in the El-Axhar with
out reward. In fact the only man about
the Institution who "receives a salary la
the president who has 10,000 plasters a
year. .This seems much until one knows
that the piaster Is only. 6 cents, and that
It takes this many of them to make $500.
I asked as to the government of the
university, and was told that it had a
principal and under professors. All stu
dents are under the direct control of the
university, and if they misbehave outside
its walls the police hand them over to the
collegiate authorities for punishment The
students are exempt from military serv
ice, and it is said that many enter the
Institution for this reason alone. There
seem to be no limitations as to age 'nor
as to the time one may spend at the col
lege. I saw boys between 6 and 8
studying the Koran- in one corner of the
building, and gray-bearded men sitting
around a professor In another. The most
of the scholars, however, are from 18 to
22, or of about the same age as our col
lege students at home.
Education in Egypt.
This university, has but little to do with
the great movement of modern education
which is now going on in Egypt It is
rather religious than educational, and the
live, active educational forces outside it
are two. One of these is the United
Presbyterian Church and Its mission
school, of which I will write later, when
I visit their college at Asslout about 300
miles farther up the Nile Valley, and the
other Is the government, directed by the
British, who are collecting the taxes and
administering all matters of importance
in Egypt today. In addition to these
there are about 1000 schools supported by
the Copts, who, by the way, are the most
Intelligent of the native population.
Egypt was very illiterate when the
British took hold of the administration,
and even now not more than six or seven
per cent of the natives can read and
write. The desire for learning is increas
ing, however, and the system of common
schools which has been Inaugurated is
being rapidly developed. There are now
over 10,000 schools in the oountry with
something like 20.000 teachers andrhaps
250,000 pupils. There are a nuffber of
water and call It a barrel of whisky.
Can you beat that game?
The boxers have got Into the swing
with the rest of the business men, and"
the Jails are not getting all that ought
to be coming to them. I'm not doing any
preaching, but I will give this tip, that
unless we take the swift flop to the old
way of doing things you might as well
try to preserve snowballs in the warm
place as to expect the small man to-smile
and look pretty while he's taking the
packages that are being handed to him.
Strong Praise for American Firemen
I was walking down Broadway, New
York, one night with Colonel Blake, the
West Pointer, who was at the head of a
part of the Irish Brigade in the Boer
War, when a lot of fire trucks came along
on the Jump. Blake grabbed me over the
edge of the sidewalk to see the proces
sion dash by.
"These firemen In New York, Boston
and some other large cities," says' Blake,
"catch my eye every time. I've seen ar
tillery go into action over in South Africa,
where there are some of the best horse
handlers in the world, but the American
firemen do go to a fire in a way that just
stirs my blood."
I consider that one of the best compli
ments that has ever been paid to our
American firemen, and they ought to
know it Colonel Blake was a Texan, he
was at West Point and in the regular
cavalry, and he's seen some Indians and
Boers ride for their everlasting lives. Yet
he put our firemen up with the best of
them.
I was glad to hear this compliment from
such a noted fighter as Blake, and the
reason I'm writing it is for the firemen to
read it and throw out their chests a lit
tle. Colonel Blake was no hot-air mer
chant and what he said struck me as a
very remarkable conclusion for him to ar
rive at knowing all the rough riding he
had done In the Indian and. Boer Wars.
When the American firemen get such tes
timonials as the above, Idvlse them to
paste them up where they can see them
once in a while.
Moose Attacks a Horse.
Kennebec Journal. '
Three young men from .Milltown,
near Calais, went out Into the coun
try districts recently to spend the day
and left their old horse standing under
r r a ;n k
CARPENTER
TELL aUEER
J TUDIE5" IN A
COLLEGE WHERE
THE TEACHER
WORK WITH
OUT PAY
private schools, several normal schools
and also schools devoted to special train
ing. In the last few years . a system of
technical education has been inaugurated,
and the Government now has model
workshops at Boulac and Asslout It has
a school of agriculture here at Cairo, a
school of engineering and schools of law
and medicine.
The Village Schools.
An important movement has been th .
introduction of modern studies into the
village schools belonging to the Moham
medans. These were formerly, and axe to
some extent now under the University of
El-Axhar. They were connected with the
mosques and were taught by Moham
medan priests. They were supported by
the people themselves, and also by a Mo
hammedan religious organization known
as the Wak, which has an enormous
endowment There are something Ilk
10,000 of these schools here and there over
the lower part of the Nile Valley, and
they had an attendance of something Ilka
200,000. They taught little more than the
Arabia language, the Koran and reading,
writing and arithmetic. Lord Crome
wanted to bring these schools under the
Ministry of Public Instruction and intro
duce modern studies. He tried to
force the teachers to come under him.
but the refused. He then offered to give
every mosque school that would come in
an appropriation of 60 cents for every boy
and 75 cents for every girl, and this has
apparently solved the problem. The vik
lage schools are rapidly adopting modern
methods.
Already 6000 of them are subject to
the irovernment and within & short time)
they will all be under the Immediate
direction of its educational department
At present It Is necessary to handle
them carefully and to make the religi
ous studies among the most important
Now, the half of each school day is
set apart for the study of the Koran
and the precepts of Islam, and I am
told that such of the Mohammedan
scholars as do well are more likely tot
get appointments under the govern
ment than If they were Christians or
Copts.
Female Education.
The girls of Egypt are beginning to
go to Bchool. For a long time it was
hard to persuade their parents to send
them either to the government schools
or private schools, but of late some of
the native educated women have been
given places as teachers and many girls
are now preparing thomselves for
school work. Other parents are send
ing their daughters to school to give
them a good, general education, as the
educated boys want educated women
for wives. There are at present some
thing like 2000 girls" schools, with an
attendance of over 13,000 girl pupils.
A movement is now going on to es
tablish village schools for girls, and
the time will come when there will be
girls' schools all over Egypt and the
Mohammedan women may become edu
cated. Bemyrolent Egyptians.
We are apt to think that the only
kind of charity Is Christian charity.
I find that there is Mohammedan char
ity as well, and that many of the richer
Moslems give money toward education,
and other such things. I have spoken
of the endowment of the El-Azhar Uni
versity, which is almost entirely of
this nature. Some of the village schools
are aided by native charity, as are also
some high schools. In 1903 Mahmounl
Suleiman constructed, at his own cost,
and endowed liberally, at Abou-Tlg. an
industrial school in which are taught
weaving, carpentry, blacksmlthing and
turning. That school has now ninety
two pupils, all of whom, are receiving
their training free of charge. The
khedlve has an industrial school with
200 pupils on his private estates, and
there is a Mohammedan benevolent so
ciety at Alexandria, which has raised
50.000 for an industrial school there.
That school will accommodate over 500
pupils, and It has now an endowment
of about $4000 per year. One of ths
princes of the khedlve's family la start
ing a similar school In the Behera
provinces, and the towns of Fayoum
and Benl-Suef are raising money for
industrial schools. There is also talk
of a national university along modern
lines, to be supported by the govern
ment. This is favored by many of ths
leading Egyptians, and Lord Cromer
has advocated it in his report of this
year. It is stated that this university
will be absolutely scientific and liter
ary, and that Its doors will be wide
open to all desirous of learning, Irre
spective of their orgln or religion.
the shade jf the whispering pines
while they communed with Naturs
some little distance away. They were
startled by the neighing and snort
ing of their steed, and upon reaching
the spot where the animal was tied
they witnessed an exciting encounter
between a bull moose and the horse.
The monarch of the forest Just hap
pened along and found the horse en
croaching upon his domain and very
naturally resented the intrusion. He
made a run for the unfortunate steed
and a bow on collision was almost a
sure thing when the old horse's fight
ing blood got up, and instead of wait
ing to be rammed like a fishing-boat
In a fog he stood upon his hind legs
and caught the bull moose a swat fair
upon the nose with both forefeet.
Both animals sat down suddenly to
think the matter over, the moose from
the surprise of the shock and the
horse because he lost his balance, and
it would doubtless have gone hard
with the latter, which was encumbered
with the harness and rigging, had not
the young men set upon the forest
king with yells just as he was about
to resume the attack upon his helpless
adversary. Anyone who remembers
the noise which a Milltown man is
capable of making when out for a
good time will pardon the moose for
his sudden and undignified retreat
Human Hair Imbedded In Oak.
Greenfield find.) Dispatch to New York
Herald.
After four two-Inch boards had been
taken off an oak log at James Webb's
sawmill, a walnut peg, an inch in diam
eter and a foot long, was found, which
reached the heart of the big log. where.
It la estimated, it had been driven, prob
ably 75 years ago. At the end of the peg
was a coll of black hair, long and silken.
Old people of the neighborhood are of ths
opinion that the coil of hair was placed
there In accordance with a prevalent cus
tom of pioneer times. This custom pro
vided that when a man and wife coald
not get along or agree, instead of sep
arating, as in these days, the neighbors
cut a lock of hair from the head of each.
A hole was then bored in a thrifty tree .
and the locks of hair were driven to the
heart by a walnut pin. After that it was
believed the couple would live happily
ever after.