Often in the dispensary the doctor is exhorted to do his utmost or to break through some rule because the patient is a _Seyid_, and they are incredulous and rather shocked when they are told that an ordinary patient’s pain is just as great as a _Seyid’s_, and that all must be taken in their turn. Another result of this doctrine of works of merit, or _savābs_, as they call them, is that even when a Muhammadan seems straight and honest and altogether a good fellow you cannot entirely trust him, because he has so many good works to his credit that he feels a few sins do not matter, they are more than paid for beforehand. A Persian’s idea of what is a _savāb_ is sometimes curious. Prayers, fasting, pilgrimages, and the reading of the Quran are, of course, all considered works of merit. Marrying your father’s brother’s daughter is a _savāb_, though there is no particular merit in marrying your father’s sister’s daughter or your mother’s brother’s daughter. Some Persian women inquired one day what each of three missionaries living together ate for breakfast, and hearing that two had eggs, while the third had not, they nodded at each other, as much as to say, “I told you so,” and remarked, “It is a _savāb_. She wants to get a higher place in Heaven.” Giving money to beggars is always considered a _savāb_, but it is considered a greater _savāb_ on Thursday than on any other day. Friday is the Muhammadan holy day, and they call Thursday “the Eve of Friday,” and on Thursday the beggars all call out as you pass, “It is the Eve of Friday; give me a copper.” The grown-up beggars generally, but not always, sit by the roadside begging, but the children run alongside of you and are often very persistent. There are nearly always beggars at the gate of any town, asking those who are starting on a journey to give them an alms, and so secure safety on their journey. If Jericho was anything like a Persian town it was most natural that our Lord should find one blind beggar as He went into the town (St Luke 18, v. 35), and one or two more as He came out by another gate (St Matt. 20, v. 30), and that they should address Him in almost exactly the same language. Begging is often a very paying occupation, for so many people feel that they have sins to make up for, that the cry, “Give me a copper. It will be a _savāb_,” is a difficult one to refuse, especially if the copper is only worth a farthing. So well does begging pay that on more than one occasion the mothers and wives of well-to-do tradesmen have been detected in old _chādars_ begging in the streets and at houses. The difficulty of recognising a woman who is completely covered up with a black _chādar_ makes disguise easy.