On this big round earth there are all sorts of countries and peoples. Men
walk on it on every side just like flies crawling over a watermelon and
they do not fall off either. On the next page you can see how they travel
all around the world; some in steamships, some in carriages or on horses,
some in jinrickshaws and some in the railway coaches. In Topsy-turvy Land
they have no railroads and not even waggon-roads or waggons. A horse or a
camel or a donkey is used for passengers and the camel caravan is a
freight train.
Or if you wish, the camel is a topsy-turvy ship which sails in the sand
instead of in the water. It is called the ship of the desert. The masts
point down instead of up; there are four masts instead of three; and
although there are ropes the desert-ship has no sails and no
rudder--unless the rudder be the tail. When the ship lies at anchor to be
loaded it feeds on grass and the four masts are all snugly tucked away
under the hull. In Arabia you generally see these ships of the desert in a
long line like a naval procession, each battleship towing its mate by a
piece of rope fastened from halter to tail! But not only is the mode of
travel strange in Topsy-turvy Land, even the time of the day is all upside
down. When the boys and girls of America are going to bed the boys and
girls of Arabia are thinking of getting up. As early as four o'clock by
western time the muezzin calls out loud from the top of the minaret (for
Moslem churches have no steeples and no bells) to come and pray. Arabs
count the hours from sunrise. It is noon at six o'clock and they breakfast
at one; at three o'clock in the evening all good boys and girls are
asleep.
[Illustration: MODES OF TRAVEL.]
In Topsy-turvy Land all the habits and customs are exactly opposite to
those in America or England. For instance when a boy enters a room he
takes off his shoes but leaves his hat on his head. I do not know whether
we should call it a _hat_, however. His hat has no rim and is not made of
felt or straw, but is just a folded handkerchief of a large size and
bright colour with a piece of cord to hold it wound round his head--a sort
of a hat in two pieces. The girls go without shoes but carefully cover
their pretty (or ugly) faces with a black veil.
At home you eat with a spoon or use a knife and fork. Here the Arabs eat
with their fingers; nor do they use any plates or butter dishes, but a
large piece of flat bread serves as a plate until it is all eaten. So you
see in Arabia the children not only eat their rice and meat but their
plates also. You read a book from left to right but in Arabia everybody
begins at the right-hand cover and reads backward. Even the lines read
backward and in Arabic writing there are no commas or capitals and the
vowels are written not next to the consonants but stuck up above them.
_Potato_ in Arabic would be written with English letters this way:
O A O
T T P
Can you read it?
In your country a carpenter stands at his bench to work, but here they sit
on the ground. With you he uses a vise to hold the board or stick he is
planing; here he uses his bare toes. With you he _pushes_ the saw or,
especially, the plane away from him to cut or to smooth a piece of wood,
but in Topsy-turvy Land he _pulls_ his tools towards him. Buttons are on
the button-hole side and the holes are where you put the buttons. Door
keys and door hinges are made of wood, not of iron as in the Occident. The
women wear toe-rings and nose-rings as well as earrings and bracelets.
Everything seems different from what it is in a Christian country.
One strange sight is to meet people out riding. Do you know that the men
ride donkeys side-saddle, but the women ride as men do in your country?
When a missionary lady first came to Bahrein in Eastern Arabia and the
boys saw her riding a donkey they called out: _"Come and see, come and
see! The lady has no feet!"_ Because they saw only one side of her. Then
another one called out and said: _"Yes she has, and they are both on this
side!"_
[Illustration: EUROPEAN VISITORS ON DONKEYS.]
Another odd custom is that Arabs always turn the fingers of the hand down
as we turn them up in beckoning or calling anybody. Many other gestures
seem topsy-turvy as well.
In your country boys learn the lesson of politeness--ladies first; but it
is not so over here. It is _men first_ in all grades of society; and not
only men first but men last, in the middle, and all the time. Women and
girls have a very small place given them in Topsy-turvy Land. The Arabs
say that of all animal kinds the female is the most valuable except in the
case of mankind! When a girl baby is born the parents are thought very
unfortunate. How hard the Bedouin girls have to work! They are treated
just like beasts of burden as if they had no souls. They go barefoot
carrying heavy loads of wood or skins of water, grind the meal and make
fresh bread every morning or spin the camel's hair or goat's hair into one
coarse garment. They are very ignorant and superstitious, the chief
remedies for sickness being to brand the body with a hot iron or wear
charms--a verse from the Koran sewn up in leather or a string of blue
beads, which are supposed to drive away evil influences.
How very thankful girls should be that in all Christian lands they have a
higher place and a better lot than the poor girls and women of Arabia! For
the greatest contrast is the religion of the inhabitants of Topsy-turvy
Land. That is all upside down too. The Lord Jesus teaches us to pray in
secret not to be seen of men; we are to go quietly alone and tell God
everything. But Mohammed, the prophet of Arabia, taught his followers to
pray openly on any street corner, or on the deck of a ship, in public,
just like the Pharisees whom Jesus condemns. And when these people fast,
as they are supposed to for a whole month, they do not really go without
food, but each day at _sunset_ they begin to eat in larger quantity than
usual!--because they think by such fasting to gain favour with God and do
not know that to fast from sin and evil habits is the fast God wants.
Another thing very sad in this land of Topsy-turvy is that there are no
Sunday-schools--they do not observe our Sabbath--and the boys and girls do
not have bright Sunday-school lesson leaves or a picture-roll. They spend
Sunday and every other day in learning all the evil they see in those that
are grown up. Poor children! They have never heard the sweet words of
Jesus, "Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them not: for of
such is the kingdom of God." We tell you all this about them that you may
pray for them that God may soon send more missionaries to preach to them
these precious words. We want you all by prayer and offerings to help put
a silver lining in the dark clouds of their lives.
The other chapters in this little book will tell you more about the land
and its people and as you read them do not forget to pray for them.
If you are faithful and true, always shining for Jesus, your bright light
will reach as far as dark Arabia, and will help to turn that land of
Topsy-turvy right side up. When joy and gladness will take the place of
sorrow and sadness, and ignorance give way to the knowledge of the Truth.
In one place in the Bible it tells how to make these topsy-turvy lands
right side up again. Do you know where that is? Acts 17:6-7. "_These that
have turned the world upside down are come hither also ... saying that
there is another King, even_ JESUS."