he world had far better not do it at all, than not do it
well."

"And see how the sheik's eyes are fastened on this slave! I have
noticed it the whole evening. During the recital of the stories, his
look was fixed on the young slave's face. It evidently pains him to
part with him."

"Do not think that of the sheik. Do you think the loss of a thousand
tomans would pain him who every day receives three times that sum?"
asked the old man. "But when his glance falls sorrowfully on the young
slave, he is doubtless thinking of his son, who languishes in a strange
land, and whether a merciful man lives there who will buy his freedom
and send him back to his father."

"You may be right," responded the young merchant, "and I am ashamed
that I have been looking at only the darker and ignobler traits of
people, while you prefer to see a nobler meaning underlying their
actions. And yet, taken as a whole, mankind are bad; have you not found
it so, old man?"

"It is precisely because I have not found it so, that I love to think
well of people. I used to feel as you do. I lived so thoughtlessly,
heard much that was bad about people, experienced much that was wicked
in myself, and so readily began to look upon humanity as made up of a
poor lot of creatures. Still, I chanced to think that Allah, who is as
just as wise, would not suffer so abandoned a race to people this fair
earth. I thought over again what I had seen and what I had experienced
in my own person, and behold! I had taken account only of the evil and
had forgotten the good. I had paid no attention when one had performed
a deed of charity; it seemed quite natural when whole families lived
virtuous and orderly lives; but whenever I heard of something wicked or
criminal, I stored it away in my memory. Thus did I begin to look about
me with clearer eyes. I rejoiced when I found that the good was not so
rare a quality as I had at first thought it. I noticed the evil less,
or it made less impression on my mind; and so I learned to love
humanity, learned to think well of people. And in my long life, I have
made fewer mistakes in speaking and thinking well of people, than I
should have made if I had looked upon them as avaricious or ignoble or
ungodly."

The old man was interrupted here by the steward, who said: "Sir, the
Sheik of Alessandria, Ali Banu, has remarked your presence here with
pleasure, and invites you to step forward and take a seat near him."

The young men