The sweetest and brightest and best,
When the dear little children of every clime
Shall crowd to His arms and be blest."




VII

DATES AND SUGAR-CANE


This is the sweetest chapter in the book. The pictures are enough to make
one's mouth water and give one an appetite for Arabian dates. I do not
suppose there is a boy or girl in England or America that has not eaten
the fruit of the Arabian palm tree; but how many of you know the taste of
sugar-cane?

In many parts of Arabia, especially at Busrah and along the river Tigris,
you can see the sugar-cane sellers sit by the wayside and dispose of this
Arabian stick-candy to the boys and girls in exchange for coppers. The
woman in the picture has chosen the shelter of a date tree and beside the
tall bundles of cane she has oranges for sale as well. The sugar-cane is
cut into pieces and sold "by the knot"; that is, by the length of the
stick from one knot to the next. It is not expensive and I have seen even
the very poorest children suck their cane on the way home as happy as
sugar can make them. The sugar-cane is a kind of grass but it grows to
twice the height of a boy and is over two inches in circumference. The
stems are smooth, shining and hard on the outside, but inside they are
porous and the pores are full of sugar sap. The sugar-cane first came from