For
an instant her large timid eyes are upon you; in an instant they
are shrouded again, and there comes a blush so burning, that the
frightened girls stay their shrill laughter, as though they had
played too perilously, and harmed their gentle sister. A moment,
and all with a sudden intelligence turn away and fly like deer, yet
soon again like deer they wheel round and return, and stand, and
gaze upon the danger, until they grow brave once more.
"I regret to observe, that the removal of the moral restraint
imposed by the presence of the Mahometan inhabitants has led to a
certain degree of boisterous, though innocent, levity in the
bearing of the Christians, and more especially in the demeanour of
those who belong to the younger portion of the female population;
but I feel assured that a more thorough knowledge of the principles
of their own pure religion will speedily restore these young people
to habits of propriety, even more strict than those which were
imposed upon them by the authority of their Mahometan brethren."
Bah! thus you might chant, if you chose; but loving the truth, you
will not so disown sweet Bethlehem; you will not disown or
dissemble your right good hearty delight when you find, as though
in a desert, this gushing spring of fresh and joyous girlhood.
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