the Gospel.
Marriage in the East is so generally a matter of bargain and sale, or of
parental convenience and profit, or of absolute compulsion, that young
women have little idea of exercising their own taste or judgment in the
choice of a husband.

This was new doctrine for the city of Heliogabalus, and, as was to be
expected, the news soon spread through the town that the next evening a
marriage ceremony was to be performed by the Protestant minister, in
which the bride was to have the privilege of refusing the man if she
wished. And, what was even more outrageous to Hums ideas of propriety,
it was rumored that the brides were to walk home from the Church _in
company with their husbands_! This was too much, and certain of the
young Humsites, who feared the effect of conferring such unheard-of
rights and privileges on women, leagued together to mob the brides and
grooms if such a course were attempted. We heard of the threat and made
ample preparations to protect Protestant women's rights.

The evening came, and with it such a crowd of men, women and children,
as had never assembled in that house before. The houses of Hums are
built around a square area into which all the rooms open, and the open
space or court of the mission-house was very large. Before the brides
arrived, the entire court, the church and the schoolroom, were packed
with a noisy and almost riotous throng. Men, women and children were
laughing and talking, shouting and screaming to one another, and
discussing the extraordinary innovation on Hums customs about to be
enacted. Soon the brides arrived, accompanied by a veiled and sheeted
crowd of women, all carrying candles and singing as they entered the
house. We took them into the study of the native preacher Sulleba, and
after a reasonable delay, we forced a way for them through the crowd
into the large square room, then used as a church. My brother and myself
finally succeeded in placing them in a proper position in front of the
pulpit, and then we waited until Asaad and Michaiel and Yusef and Nasif
had enforced a tolerable stillness. It should be said that silence and
good order are almost unknown in the Oriental churches. Men are walking
about and talking, and even laughing, while the priests are "performing"
the service, and they are much impressed by the quiet and decorum of
Protestant worship.

The two brides were closely veiled so that I could not distinguish the
one from the other. Ibrahim