There are times when the simplicity of the Egyptian becomes annoying. Indeed there are occasions when these irresponsible ways lead to terrible crimes, for which the hangman’s rope is none too severe a punishment. A tragic story of this kind was told me a year or two ago in Upper Egypt. Three young peasants wished to play a practical joke on an unpopular villager, who was for the moment believed to be absent from home; and they decided that the most amusing plan would be to enter his house and make hay with his goods and chattels. They therefore went at dead of night to the place, and made an examination to ascertain the easiest manner of forcing an entrance. In the back wall they discovered that several bricks were loose, and by removing these a hole was made of a size sufficient to permit of a child crawling through. With many suppressed giggles they returned to their own dwelling place and secured the services of a little girl about nine years old who was related to one of their number. They then hurried back to their victim’s house, and telling the girl that she must open one of the doors or windows from the inside, they pushed her through the hole. Now it so happened that the unpopular gentleman had returned from his travels and was asleep within the front chamber; and very soon the little girl appeared at the hole in the wall, calling to her companions to pull her back again as quickly as possible. At that moment the owner of the house awoke, and, hearing the noise, rushed into the back room. There he saw in the semi-darkness the figure of the girl struggling to escape through the hole, and promptly he seized her by the legs and began to pull. The practical jokers on the other side of the wall, realising what was happening, grabbed the girl’s head and also began to pull. “Allah!” said one of them. “He’ll drag her in and recognise who she is, and then he’ll have us up for burglary.” “Pull!” gasped another; “he’ll get her!” “You’ll pull her head off if you’re not careful,” said the third. “O well, she’s only a girl,” answered his companion. They now each had a hand upon the unfortunate child’s head and throat, and with a mighty tug they pulled her through the hole. They then picked up the limp body and raced back to their own home. “Well, well,” panted one, as they sat once more in safety, “that was a narrow squeak!” “Poor little girl!” said the second. “She was a comely lass!” “Ah me!” sighed the third. “But we’ll give her a good funeral to-morrow.” Their alternate laughter and tears presently attracted the attention of other members of the family, and soon their crime was out. During an epidemic of cholera some years ago orders were sent to the native authorities in the villages to “isolate” any cases of the illness which might be detected. An English official, happening to visit one of these villages a short time after this order had been issued, asked the head man whether any cases of cholera had occurred among his people.