O man with the forelock tossing, Thy speech is very choice. The love of thee o’ercame me! My strength cannot [resist]. The love of thee o’ercame me; May the Lord of Heaven establish thee. O graceful one, wear thy robe With the knot turned behind. O beautiful, O father of Shôrâ, Thy cheeks are as crystal. Thy love into my very heart Dug [its way] and made a pit. O beautiful, holder of a handkerchief, Thy signs burned my very heart. O beautiful, I am not thy equal; Thy price is that of precious wood. I’ve never seen so excellent among the Arabs, O beautiful one of sweet manners. Thy breast is as the tablet of the Khaṭîb; O that fate would bestow thee on me! Thy breast is as the tablet of the Khaṭîb; Upon it are the letters unknown. Thou causest me worriment and suffering, Thou who art to me unlawful. [Illustration: A RÂM ALLÂH MATRON AT HER OWN DOOR (From the collection at the Semitic Museum, Cambridge, Mass.) ] CHAPTER IX THE LIFE TO-DAY AS ILLUSTRATED BY ACTUAL VILLAGES Such tourists as have a student’s interest in addition to a desire for mere sightseeing will find the value of their Palestine visit doubled if they will allow some days for visiting villages. If one will go in as quiet and unobtrusive a way as possible, and with the aid of an introduction to some householder of the village, one will be able to learn much. Certain of the missionaries in Jerusalem as elsewhere devote themselves to itinerating among the villages and are fully acquainted with conditions of which it would be well for a novice to be informed. The village of Râm Allâh is one of the most satisfactory places accessible from Jerusalem for the purpose of seeing well-developed Syrian village life. It is ten miles north of Jerusalem and is now reached by an excellent carriage road. It is one mile from the much smaller village of el-Bîreh, which lies on the main carriage road from Jerusalem, northwards toward Nâblus (Shechem). This slight remove from the main line of tourist travel, its considerable size and the superior intelligence of its inhabitants have joined to produce a good, wholesome sample of a native village, neither so metamorphosed as some of the larger places nor so squalid and degenerate as many of the smaller villages.