Page 19 - Neglected Arabia Vol 2

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NEGLECTED ARABIA 9

healthy moral life and a high conception of uprightness. Our teachers
arc such that the boys need not search about for models to pattern after
W.th spoken word and spoken lives these teachers daily minister to the
wants of the eager Arab boy. He lives in an open, aboveboard, Christian
atmosphere, free to think as he wishes, unhindered in asking as many
questions as he likes and constantly learning the value of clean living
and clean thinking. What a contrast this strikes to the sordid atmos­
phere of his home and the intrigue of public life! That boys grow
mentally, spiritually, and morally as truly as a flower grows under the
lunshine and rain is proof enough that the system works.
The products of our school meet Iraq’s greatest need. Iraq is woe-
fully lacking in moral fibre. Although the Turk has left, streams of
political filth still How from the pools of corruption at Baghdad to the
remotest village of the land. We hear many eloquent speeches burning
Up with the desire for independence yet all of them failing to recognize
the sine qua non of government by the Iraq people, namely, moral fibre.
So our school is making an inestimable contribution to the future of
Iraq. The boys are taught that true patriotism does not consist in
passionate pleas for a false patriotism, but much rather in irreproachable
character.
With seemingly everything turned against the Arab buy—the curse of
Mohammedanism, the low plana of hotua life, ceunutnle despair, and luck
of Ideals In public and prlvuta life—the power of the school is felt in the
turd* of one of our leading students, "This school, Sahib, is the light
of my life I” When one has the privilege of gleaning the out-workings of
die Arab boy’s amazing mind and listening to his ready command of his
marvelous language, he cannot but feel that there is a great hope. When
buys each day are brought in contact with a living Christ, not only
through Bible courses, but through history, physics and playground work,
me know that our labor will not be in vain. Mr. Van Ess is constantly
amazed at the fine spiritual perception shown by the boys as they take
part in his regularly conducted Bible Forums. Much could be written
ibout this aspect of the work would space permit. It is one of the most
encouraging aspects of the whole school curriculum.
And what more shall I say for the time will fail me if I tell of the
challenging life of one of the boys who last fall responded to the claims
j 0f Jesus Chrsit; of the Boarding School and a boy who came to us hard
1 ind hopeless, yet who now testifies that the school has made him an
* -Adamy,” that is a person with a personality; of the Laboratory with
j fine equipment given by the Arab friends of the school in recognition
r of the fine work being done in the community by our school; of the
Ijncoln Literary Society with its fine spirit of fellowship and high ideals;
o( the Arabic Literary Society where boys display such ease of delivery
j coupled with lofty thought; of the White Dove Track Team; of over-
' jo^ht hikes—and all the rest which are part of the curriculum of the
I American School for Boys in Basrah.

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