p. 5

5

It was a filthy, ill-smelling, unventilated street, and we were glad to learn how the people lived in the houses which looked out upon it. We found the rooms spotlessly clean. All were similarly furnished. On one side was a long divan upon which visitors were invited to sit. Along their walls were long cushions, about four inches thick and upon these the family sat with crossed legs. Soft rugs were upon the floor and in a corner a large pile was covered neatly with a clean, embroidered white cloth. This, it was explained, was the the bedding which was spread upon the floor at night. In one room, the father, mother and seven children lived and slept. The only article of what we should call furniture was a much used cradle which held a babe in swaddling robes. A string of beads and miscellaneous small articles hung over the head and had the important mission of keeping off 'the evil eye'.
In this house a daughter-in-law had been a pupil in an American mission school and spoke English...