[p.236] but it is not the pride which makes a man too proud to do “dirty work.” My predecessor did not remark their scurrility: he seems, on the contrary, rather to commend them for respectability in this point. If he be correct, the present generation has degenerated. The Meccans appeared to me distinguished, even in this foul-mouthed East, by the superior licentiousness of their language. Abuse was bad enough in the streets, but in the house it became intolerable. The Turkish pilgrims remarked, but they were too proud to notice it. The boy Mohammed and one of his tall cousins at last transgressed the limits of my endurance. They had been reviling each other vilely one day at the house-door about dawn, when I administered the most open reprimand: “In my country (Afghanistan) we hold this to be the hour of prayer, the season of good thoughts, when men remember Allah; even the Kafir doth not begin the day with curses and abuse.” The people around approved, and the offenders could not refrain from saying, “Thou hast spoken truth, O Effendi!” Then the bystanders began, as usual, to “improve the occasion.” “See,” they exclaimed, “this Sulaymani gentleman, he is not the Son of a Holy City, and yet he teacheth you—ye, the children of the Prophet!—repent and fear Allah!” They replied, “Verily we do repent, and Allah is a Pardoner and the Merciful!”—were silent for an hour, and then abused each other more foully than before. Yet it is a good point in the Meccan character, that it is open to reason, it can confess itself