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home. Think what babyhood and childhood must be when passed amid surroundings such as these! Not to be envied are the children of this metropolis of the Oued Rirh. No wonder that in later years they find a comfort in the fatalism of the Moslem creed. There is a great work here for the missionaries of medicine if not for those of religion. Ridiculous superstition prevents fond parents from brushing away from the inflamed eyelids of their children the swarms of flies that cluster there. These flies thus become the messengers of disease and pain; the germs of ophthalmia are thus thoroughly disseminated; and total blindness results with shocking frequency. To many of these children the dazzling glory of the desert day will soon be nothing more than the blackest night.

CONTENT WITH HIS CRUDE TOYS

THE DRAGOMAN OF THE HOTEL

Barbarous indeed are many of the medical practices of these people. The barber is also the doctor, and the remedy for all the ills that flesh is heir to

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