quested him to induce me to go; so an evening was fixed upon, and we went. We found the Governor and about twenty Moslem gentlemen, in their richest embroidered costumes, assembled in the drawing-room, at the Dutch Vice-Consulate, where we were received by Signor Vegetti and his aged father and mother. The antechamber was crowded with servants and lantern-bearers.
The piano had been tried in turn by nearly all the guests, and they said, "We can not make it speak the same language which you cause it to speak, O lady!" I handed to them some pieces of music, saying, "Could you do so with the help of these?" It was very amusing to hear their exclamations, and to observe the surprise with which they watched my fingers, especially when they found that I looked all the while at the book before me. They are accustomed only to see small and portable musical instruments, and they wondered at my command over one so large. They said, "The laborers at harvest-time do not work so hard or move their hands so quickly." They seemed to be more struck with the rapidity with which the keys were touched than with the sounds which were produced, till I played their national anthem, "AbdulMedjid." Then they all seemed roused, and a clear-voiced singer, the Sims Reeves of Hâifa, came forward immediately and sang. The rest of the company joined in chorus. One of the Beks seemed to appreciate music so much that I told him that if he would buy a piano for his wife I would teach her the use of it. He said, "O my sister, our women are not capable of learning their heads are made of wood—it would be as easy to teach donkeys as to teach them."
By degrees nearly every one in the town became familiar with the sounds of the piano, and it gave rise to many very pleasant soirées. This was the dawn of a new era in the history of the little European colony at Hâifa, and music and singing were cultivated with energy.
I was very busy in the mean time putting our house in order, after my long absence from it. Katrîne, my old
