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KASSAB FAMILY H I STORY
by
Aelyas Kassab
�PROLOGUE
wr iters of h i storical events or r ecords o f
important persons are not necessarily creat ive wr i t er s .
Many h i stori cal events and many inc idents o f the lives o f
important people though they may b e un i ntere s t i ng mus t b e
recorded , and the good wr iters must u s e the i r bes t
t alents to so portray the ir sub j ect ' s quali f i cat i on that
the reader ' s interest may be reta i ned .
I am not a wr iter , creative or otherwi s e .
I
have undertaken the task of wr i t i ng the h i s tory o f the
Kas sab f amily in general and my branch i n part icula r , at
the request o f s everal members o f i t , s ince I am the
oldest member .
Whether it will be interes t i ng or not ,
they are the j udges .
A . Kassab
2
�The family t ree o f the Kas s abs had its roots in
the long ago . Careful search o f the archives o f the
Patr iarchate of the Greek Orthodox Church i n D amascus
revealed that one Jacob Kassab , who was the seed o f thi s
tree , was born i n that c ity in 1 7 20 .
He w a s educated i n
the schools o f that Church and became a well known
merchant .
He was marr ied and had f our boys ;
f ollowed i n h i s f ather ' s footsteps .
and had three boys .
one , Nami ,
He , too , was marr ied
The oldest , Elyas , was born i n 1 8 1 4 .
Th i s boy had a very interes t i ng career .
When h e was
twelve years o f age , h i s father died and he was sent to
his uncle in Cairo , who was a well known merchant and who
pledged to look a fter h im .
About th is t ime , Mohammed Ali , a n Alba n i a n
s oldier , acceded t o the pashalic o f Egypt , then under the
rule of the ottoman Turks , and under h i s s o n ,
I br a h im
P a sha , part of Arabia and the Sudan were annexed t o
Egypt .
I n 1 8 3 1 I brahim began the conquest o f Syr i a ; h i s
forces routed the Turk i sh Army , and Syr i a w a s ceded t o
I brah im o n the condition of t h e payment o f t r i but e .
These men brought galvanic prosper ity to Egypt ; and i n
the i r d e s i r e t o improve the educati onal status o f the
country , I brahim Pasha dec ided to send young men at
government expense to Europe and elsewhere , t o s tudy and
be tra ined in arts and sc ience and in craf t s and trades
s o that they would return and become the future teachers
3
�and leaders o f the country .
Elya s ,
( son of Nami , grandson o f Jacob ) ,
w i sh ing to go , wrote an applicat ion , and not know i ng what
to do , decided to deliver it in person to I brahim P a sha .
H e sought the palace and awa ited at the door for the
emergence o f that dignitary on his way to the mosque to
attend the Fr iday a fternoon prayer .
He wa s long in
c om i ng and Elyas got very t ired from wa i t ing ; he s at on
the steps and was soon fast asleep , with the applicat ion
i n his hand close to h i s breast .
When the Pasha emerged ,
h e s aw the sleeping lad ; he called t o one o f h i s a ides
and ordered h im to awaken the sleeper and br ing h im over
t o him .
Elyas bowed respect fully and pres ented h im with
the applicat ion .
After look ing it over , the Pash a was
a s to n i shed and s a id ,
" Do you really want to go? "
" I surely do , " the lad repl i ed .
" You shall go , " the Pasha a s sured h im .
Elyas spent s ix years in I t aly study ing arts
a nd s c ience a s well a s the cra ft o f mak ing gla s s .
Return ing to Egypt , he began to teach . After a while , the
pol i t i cal s ituat ion began to change and he gave up
t each i ng and dec ided to travel in Europe and A f r i ca
trad i ng in a var i ety of merchand ise .
of that and resolved to
Dama scu s .
He s oon got t ired
return to his former home in
He embarked on a Turk ish steamer .
On h i s way ,
war was declared between Greece and Turkey , known a s the
4
�War o f I ndependence .
A Greek war ves s el attacked h i s
steame r , k i lled many of the pas sengers and crew , and he
wa s one o f those who were taken pr i s oner .
When the
capt a i n d i scovered that he wa s Greek Orthodox and could
speak many languages , he asked h im to r ema i n w ith the
s h ip as a n interpreter , but he refused .
The Capt a i n gave
h im all h i s belong ings and s et h im free at the port o f
S idon .
There he heard about an English lady ,
from the
party then in power in England , by the name o f Lady
Stanhope , who needed an interpreter to replace the one
she had becaus e he was charged with a cr ime .
her ; she liked h im and h ired h im .
He s ought
After a season , one o f
h i s f r i ends told h im that an envious person f als ely
accused h im of having done someth i ng against the Lady ,
wh i ch a ngered her .
He became worr ied and fled t o
Constant inople , and from there he went to Europe .
He
then returned to Damascus wear ing a wh ite cloak , like an
Egyp t i an colt .
He marr ied the s i ster o f Dr . Jubran
K a s s a b who bore h im a son , Salim .
years old , h i s mother d i ed .
When the boy was f ive
Elyas then marr i ed M i r i am ,
the daughter o f J i bran Abo- Shaar .
F ive boys carne f rom
that union : Abdo , George , John , I skander and M i chael .
Elyas taught I talian to important men in the government
service and other noted men , Chr i s t i ans a s well as
Moslems .
He also taught class ical Arab i c in the s chool
of the Greek Orthodox Church o f Damas cus .
5
He also
�practiced s imple medic ine on the s ide , a th i ng that he
had learned in Egypt .
He died in D ama scus i n 1 8 6 9 , a s a
r e sult of a k i ck o f a horse .
Elya s ' s eldest son , Salim was born i n 1 8 3 9 .
h i s father took care of h i s early education t each i ng h im
bes ides Ara b i c , I talian , English and French .
Later he
stud ied at the Rus s ian school , prepar i ng for the
p r i e sthood .
I n that school , there was a f amous p r i e st ,
Father Joseph Haddad , who wa s an expert of anc i ent Greek
language .
Two doctors , Eli smith and Cornelius Van Dyke ,
o f the American Congregat ional Church were engaged i n the
translat ion of the Holy Scr iptures and they s ought the
a s s i stance of Father Haddad in the r ev i s ion o f the proof
sheets .
Th i s fact caused the priest to study the B ible
and to encourage the students to d i scu s s reli g i ou s top i c s
i n h i s presence .
I n order to do that , he r es orted t o
relig i ous debates and s elected three top i c s :
S alvat ion by f a ith alone
I nterces s i on of Sa ints
Prayer for the Dead .
H e s elected Salim Kassab to take the s ide of the
Protestants and chose another s tudent to d e f end the
p o s i t ion of the Greek Orthodox Church and he gave the
debaters a fortn ight to prepar e .
Salim spent the t ime
d iligently searching the Scr iptures .
He def ended the
f irst propos i t i on and challenged the other two .
6
As a
�r esult o f h i s study he d i s covered that the teach i ng o f
the Church was not i n accord with the S cr ipture s and
there f ore , he could not cont inue in the prepara t i on f or
the Greek priesthood .
On leaving the s chool , he was
e ngaged by two m i s s ionaries , Drs .
Lans ing and Crawf ord ,
who had opened s chools in Dama scus , t o teach them Ara bi c .
Th i s contact w ith the protestant m i s s iona r i e s helped h im
t o r emove any doubts in h i s mind about the r ightn e s s o f
the protestant beli e f s and h e le ft the Greek Church and
j o i ned the miss ionar ie s .
Just be fore the massacre o f 1 8 6 0 , he
accompan i ed Dr . and Mr s . Crawford to Yabrood a s the i r
t eacher in Arab i c ; they had intended to open a s chool f o r
boys .
The Greek church leaders urged the people t o
oppose t h e proj ect and have n o dealings with them
whatsoever .
Even the ir ne ighbors shunned them and would
turn away as they pas sed by . However , there wa s no
r e s ident med ical doctor in the c ity and that gave the
mi$s iona r i es a good opportunity to help the s i ck , to
f reely g i ve medi c ines and vaccinate the babi e s .
Naturally th i s k i ndnes s made them many fr iends among the
non-Chr ist ian section of the populat ion , a fact that
s aved the ir lives when the d i sturbances broke out in
the ir locality .
7
�Removal to B e i rut and F ir st Meet ing w ith Mrs . B owen
Thomps on :
As a consequence of the d i s turbances o f 1 8 6 0 ,
the M i s s i onary S chools in Dama scus d i spersed for a t ime ,
and Dr . Rob inson and Dr . Crawford a sked Salim K a s s a b to
accompany them to Be irut .
One day they showed h im a
letter f rom Mrs . Bowen Thompson ,
an English lady , who
answered the c all to help the homeles s and d e s t i tute
w idows i n Lebanon , and came to B e i rut to help .
She had
a sked for a nat ive a s s i stant to teach her Arab ic and help
her in her work .
Dr . Robinson and Dr . Crawf ord gave a letter of
r ecommendat i on and introduct ion ; and Salim called on Mrs .
Bowen Thompson one day in September 1 8 6 0 .
That day
marked more than a milestone in h i s career ; i t proved to
be an epoch in h i s l i f e .
letter of introduct ion ,
When he called and showed the
it was grac iously rece ived ,
and
h e was taken in at once .
The very f irst th ing he had to do wa s to
t ranslate a very touch ing letter o f sympathy s ent by
s everal widow-ladies in Great Brita in , and addr e s s e d to
the i r s i ster widows in Syr ia and Lebanon .
Hundreds of re fugees came together from all
parts of the country , and a meeting was called to rece ive
the mes s age from the widows in Great Brita i n addr e s s e d to
the w idows in Syr i a and Lebanon .
8
Salim Ka s sa b read the
�mes s age on that memorable occa s i on , and it brought balm
t o the bru ised hearts o f the poor , homeles s w idows and
r e fugees .
A large quant ity o f cloth arr ived for the
poor , and Mr s . Thompson began a sewing clas s .
More than
s eventy women j o ined and wh ile help ing to sew the
clothes , they began to learn how to read and wr i t e and to
hear the message o f the gospels .
Where s adness and g r i e f
had preva iled , peace and serenity began to r e ign among
the older r efugees .
That helped to reli eve the immed iate
need o f the older people .
To care f o r the children , who
could not be le f t at home , was the next problem .
could not j o in the ir mothers in the i r clas s e s .
They
So Mrs .
Thompson provided them with a teacher , who conducted h i s
cla s s e s in tents p itched in the yard .
From g i ving employment to the elders ,
organ i z i ng schools for the children , Mrs . Thompson
organ i z ed v i s itat ions to the slums ,
cottages and crowded
khans herself , ably ass i sted by Salim Kas s ab , carryi ng
clothi ng ,
food and med i c ine to the helples s wretches
l iv ing in them . Many a day he had to s it up , a s she d i d ,
t i ll one in the morn ing ,
the
daily gr i nd .
and r i s e at f ive a . m . to begi n
The ir hearts were in the reli e f work .
Mrs . Thompson had intended to rema i n s ix months
only in Syr i a , but a s the work grew so rap idly , and the
s chool flour i shed ,
she came by degrees to th i nk o f
s ettling in Be irut , and eventually s h e did , plac i ng a
9
�heavy part o f the burden on the shoulders o f S alim
K a s s ab .
Thus started the schools that came t o b e known
as the B r i t i sh syr ian Miss ion Schools in B e i rut , and a
comm ittee wa s formed in England known a s the Br i t i sh
Syr ian M i s s i on .
10
�Arr ival o f Mr . Mentor Mott Accompanied by Mrs . Mott and
M i s s Lloyd (S i sters o f Mrs . Thompson)
About the end of 1 8 6 2 , Mr . and Mrs . Mentor Mott
and M i s s Lloyd came to Beirut and , perceiving the
magn i tude of the work , they became instantly i nterested
and threw themselves wholeheartedly into the work .
Mr Mott , having pr ivate means , bought s ome land
adj o in i ng the I nst itut ion started by Mrs . Thompson and
bu i lt " La Ma i son"
( now the Lycee Franca i s ) wh i ch became
the center of benevolence , hosp itality and Chr i st i an
i nf luence .
The need for teachers being great , Mrs . Mott ,
a s s i sted by Salim Kas sab , took in a f ew g irl boarders
w ith a v i ew to train ing them a s teacher s .
Mrs . Thompson
gave i n-person instruct ion in English , and Salim K a s s a b
i n Arab i c a n d other branches o f learn ing .
Opening o f Branches in "Be irut
As children cont inued to come in great numbers
to the I ns t itute ,
it was found necessary to e s tablish a
s eparate school for the boys , and for many years was the
only Protestant Boys School , where S alim Ka s s a b a s sumed
heavy dut ies as a teacher and as manager of the s chool .
Many o f its pup ils later went to the Syr ian Protestant
College and became masters , doctor s , newspaperme n ,
pharmac i st s , etc .
11
�The S chool for G i rls became too large and the
Engannon I nfant School was opened in the immediate
ne ighborhood with a roll of two hundred includ i ng s ome
poor bli nd boarder s .
I n 1 8 6 3 , a ragged school , called " Olive Branch"
was opened near the sea .
I t wa s soon f illed , and shone
for th irty year s , a solitary light i n the nor thwes t s ide
o f B e i rut .
I n 1 8 6 3 , the Moussa itbeh S chool was opened on
the south s ide of Beirut .
I n 1 8 6 6 , the Ashra f ieh School was opened i n the
ea stern quarter of B e i rut .
I n 1 8 7 2 , E s - Sayf i School was opened i n the
northe a s t s ide of Beirut .
The S chool for the Blind was then opened by Mr .
Matt , wh i ch later became absorbed by the B r i t i sh Syr ian
M i s s ion .
I n the autumn o f 1 8 6 3 ,
i n response t o urgent
appeals from the widows , who , a fter peace wa s r e stored to
the country , had returned to the ir homes i n Ha sbayah ,
praying for open ing of a school , a s chool was opened in
Moukhtara at the spec ial insi stence o f s itt Jumblatt ,
w i f e o f S a id Bey Jumblatt .
s itt Na z eera Jumblatt became
one of the f irst pup ils of this School , and she stood
f ir st in her clas s .
Later she became the f avor ite o f her
grandmother who willed to her all her property .
12
�I n 1 8 6 8 , the School at Zah l eh wa s f ounded ,
later a schoo l was opened in Moa l laka .
13
and
�School in Dama scus
Wh i l e so many schoo l s wer e b e i ng f ounded in
Lebanon , none were opened in Dama scus unt i l 1 8 6 7 .
I n 1 8 6 7 , dur ing a v i s i t to h i s nat ive c ity ,
S a l im Kassab was d i stressed on compar ing how much was
b e i ng done for Lebanon with the tota l neg lect o f
D amas cu s .
So he set about it , and got seve r a l l e a d i ng
Greek Orthodox gent lemen and others from the other
C ommun i t i e s i n Damascus , to s ign a p et i t i on t o Mrs .
Thompson for a G i r l s Schoo l .
The petit ion was s igned and
s e a l ed by forty - f ive lead ing c i t i z ens of the c ity ,
and
S a l im Ka ssab promptly ma i l ed it to Engl and where Mrs .
Thompson had gone for a rest .
The answer was prompt:
" wa i t in Dama s cus , I am coming , " and she d i d come , where
she was enterta ined by the Greek consu l
( whose daughter
was educated in Beirut at the I n s t i tute )
other s ,
and f i fty
includ ing the Greek Orthodox p r i e s t s .
Dr . N a s i f
Meshaka and the Amer ican Consu l , and one o f the most
d i�t i ngui shed Protestants in Damascus l ent h i s
a s s i stance .
So in 1 8 6 8 , S a l im Kassab accompan i ed Mr s .
Thompson to Damascus for the f inal arrangement s .
She
(
rented a suitab l e house near the Greek Church ,
and
start ed the work with s i xty pup i l s .
The work wa s remarkab ly success ful ; and i t was
dec ided to hold a pub l i c examinat ion .
14
The schoo l room
�be i ng sma l l , the British Consu l procured f r om a Mos lem
E f f en c i a f ine mans ion , and invited a numbe r of prom i nent
c i t i z ens , the Va l i and Sar iaskar of the Vi l ayet .
The day was memorable - the crowds i n the
street so immense that f i fty gendarmes had t o marsha l the
avenue to the mans ion .
Every ava i l ab l e p lace was packed
- veranda s , ba l conies and even the ba lustrades on the
hous etop .
Day by day app l icat ions came in , and the school
had to be tran s ferred to the northern part of Damas cu s in
the Chr ist ian Quarter .
The cont inued success l ed to the open i ng o f
another schoo l f o r the Druz e boys i n the Ma idan s outhern end o f Damascu s .
Soon the Schoo l had two
hundred pupi l s .
The work grew rap idly to such propor t i ons that
the Comm ittee in London summoned Sa l im Kas s a b to Engl and
to p lead f or more funds for more spa c i ous accommodat i ons .
He. embarked from Beirut in January 1 8 7 1 ; v i s i ted
Scot land , and spent over s ix months ho ld ing pub l i c and
drawing-room meet ings in var i ou s loca l it i e s , and he
succeeded in ra i s ing three thousand pounds S te r l ing f or
the proj ect .
I n 1 8 7 6 , he wa s aga in summoned to Eng l a nd t o
p l ead t h e cause o f the Brit i sh syr ian M i s s ion gener a l ly .
15
�Schoo l at D e i r E l Kamar
When D e i r el Kamar was rebu i l t , and the peop l e
returned to the i r new homes , many pet i t i oned for a
s choo l .
One was opened to meet the urgent demand s ;
but
no sooner wa s it organ i z ed , and the pup i l s began to
a s s emb l e , than strong opposit ion was aroused and Daud
P a sha , the f irst Muta s s a r i f of Lebanon , ordered i t
c l osed .
An appeal wa s made to the B r i t ish Ambas sador at
Constant inop l e , and another to the Comm ittee i n Eng l and ,
who prompt ly communicated with the M i n i ster o f State .
I t s o happened that Su ltan Abd e l Az i z was i n
London at the t ime , and when din ing o n e eve n i ng w ith the
Lord Mayor of London , h i s Sadr A ' z am rose to respond to a
toast , and s a i d that H i s Maje sty the S ultan wa s grea t l y
i nterested in encourag ing the open ing o f schoo l s , a n d was
g iv ing fu l l l i berty to European M i s s i onar i e s in h i s
dom i n i ons .
Whereupon , Lord Beacons f i e ld , B r i t i sh Pr ime
M i n i ster , stood up and s a id:
" We r ejo ice t o hear of H i s
Majesty ' s good intent ions toward h i s subject s , t o whom we
are bound by h i stor i c and commerc i a l f r i endsh ip:
but we
regret to learn that some of h i s o f f i c i a l s do not c arry
out h i s w i shes , " referr ing to Daud Pasha ' s act ion .
The Grand V i z i er trans l ated thes e words to H i s
Majesty the Su ltan , who was much concerned , and i nqu i red
who the o f f i c i a l was , and wa s told Daud Pasha had c l o sed
the Br i t i sh School at De ir el Kama r .
16
A prom i s e o f
�i nqu iry and reparation was immediate ly g i ven .
As a
r e s u l t D aud Pa sha cal l ed on Mrs . Thompson and S a l im
Kassab at the Schoo l in Be irut .
" What have you done ? " he a sked in Eng l i sh .
" D id you accu s e me to the Su ltan about the Schoo l ? "
Thompson answered:
Mrs .
" I t wa s not I who accused your
Exce l lency , but the B r i t i sh Pr ime M i n i ster , a f te r I had
l a id the matter be fore our committee a s I was o b l igated
to do . " D i scus s i on f o l l owed , and Daud Pasha invited them
t o be h i s guests for a f ew days at B ' tedd i n ,
at the
conc lu s i on o f wh ich v i s i t he promi sed to accompa ny Mrs .
Thompson and S a l im Kassab to Ain Z e j a lta , and that " with
a pub l i c demonstrat ion so that a l l Lebanon m ight b e
impressed . "
And he did , and at Ain Z eja lta a Scho o l was
opened .
17
�The V i s it o f H i s Roya l H ighness The Pr ince o f Wa l e s
(Later K i ng Edward VI I )
I n 1 8 6 2 , H i s Roya l Highnes s v i s i ted B e i rut ,
com i ng f rom Jerusalem over land . He was rece ived at the
Br i t ish Schoo l , where S a l im Kassab conducted h im a round
the p l ace .
As a consequence of h i s v i s it ,
and the deep
i nterest wh ich he took in the we l fare o f the B r i t i sh
Schoo l s ,
Sultan Abde l Az i z granted a F i rman - THE F IRMAN
OF 1 2 8 3 A . H . .
The I mper i a l wr it reached Mrs . Thomps on i n the
summer of 1 8 6 8 , permitt i ng her to open schoo l s i n
d i f f erent parts of syr i a , and ca l l i ng on t h e author i t i e s
n o t o n l y to protect but t o a id the undertak ing .
I n 1 8 6 8 , Mr . Mott and S a l im Kassab opened a
s choo l i n Tyr e .
I n 1 8 7 6 , a schoo l wa s opened in Baa l beck .
Bes ide h i s work with the M i s s ion ,
c e l ebrated scho lar . He spoke Arab i c ,
Turk i sh ,
I ta l ian and Greek .
S a l im was a
Eng l i sh ,
French ,
He trans lated many books
f r om f ore ign languages to Arabic s o that they could be
used in the schoo ls ; he wrote many other s ; he co- authored
the Arab ic-Eng l ish dict ionary w ith Dr . George Hamman .
He
was a great preacher and a much sought -after speake r .
He
was mar r i ed to Fomia Banna from Dama scus and had f our
boys and three g i r l s .
One o f the boys d i ed in i n fancy .
The o ldest Ami n and h i s two brothers graduated f r om the
18
�Amer ican Un ivers ity of Be irut .
Ami n opened a department
store in B e i rut and was j o ined later by h i s two brothers .
Sa l im s erved the Miss ion and h i s country f or
over forty years ,
and one morn ing at the ope n i ng s e s s ion
o f the s choo l , he was of fer ing the morn ing praye r ,
he uttered t h e words ,
and a s
" Lord , Make u s a lways r eady t o meet
Thy Face , " he s lumped and f e l l and h i s s p i r i t entered the
presence of h i s Lord .
noth ing cou ld be done .
Severa l doctors were s ummoned but
Beirut wa s shocked:
h i s funera l
was very impre s s ive for he wa s loved and respected by
Chr i st i ans , Mos l ems and Dru z e s .
Note:
-
B irthdays of S a l im ' s Ch i ldren ;
1 8 7 3 ; S e lma , Oct .
S ept 18 8 2 ; Az i z ,
Deaths:
Amin , Apr i l 2 3 ,
1 8 7 5 ; Shukr i , Jan . 2 8 ,
1 8 8 0 ; Najl a ,
Sept 1 8 8 4 ; Mar i e , Apr i l 18 8 6 .
S a l im , Feb 19 0 7 ; Fom i a , Mar .
Shukr i , Mar 1 9 3 6 .
19
19 2 2 ;
�ABDO KASSAB (1 8 4 5 - 1 9 1 8 )
Abdo , who was the o ldest son o f E lyas ' s second
marr i age ( to M i r i am ) , a l s o ha lf-brother to S a l im ,
and the
f ather of th i s wr i ter , was born in Damas cu s in 1 8 4 5 .
His
e a r ly educat ion wa s i n the school o f the Greek Orthodox
Church to wh i ch the fam i ly be longed .
h e l earned the weaving trade .
Leaving the schoo l ,
When he was f i ft e e n years
o ld a mas s acre of the Chr ist ian popu l at i on took p l ace in
Syr i a and Lebanon .
Thousands of men , women and ch i ldren
were k i l led and the ir homes and property burned .
The
s l aughter was terr ible and the Chr i st ians woul d have been
c omp letely wiped out , had they not been r es cued by a
God- s ent d e l iverer in the person o f Em ir Abde l e l Kader ,
a n Algerian Pr ince who , a fter f ight i ng the French Armi � s ,
was e x i l ed to Damascus where he wa s l iving with h i s
ret inue o f a hundred men .
shout ,
When he heard the Mos l em mob
" Deem , Deem Mohammed , " f o l lowed by ,
butcher them , p lunder , burn ,
" K i l l them ,
leave not one a l ive , " he
orpered his men to rescue the h e l p l e s s Chr i s t i a n s and
take them to his palace .
Hundreds were re scued , h i s
p a l ace was f i l l ed with refugees , Europeans a s we l l a s
nat ive s , and when no more could be accommodated there , he
ordered that the fug i t ives be taken to the great c a st l e ,
1 2 0 0 0 o f a l l ages and sexes , where he protected them and
fed them .
When the mob saw that they were b e i ng
f rustrated from accomp l i shing the ir devi l i sh act ,
20
they
�threatened Abde l e l Kad ir h imse l f .
Hear ing that the mob
was com i ng , he ordered that h i s charger be s a dd l ed whi l e
he put on h i s armor and h e lmet and ordered h i s men t o do
the s ame .
As the mob approached , he drew h i s sword
and
s ingly charged into the ir midst .
" Wretches , " he shouted ,
" i s th i s the
way you honor your Prophet? May h i s cur s e s be
upon you .
Shame on you !
Shame !
Y ou t h i nk you
can do as you p l ease with these Chr i st i an s ?
N o t a Chr ist ian wi l l
brothers .
I g ive up !
They are my
Stand back or I w i l l g ive order to
my men to f i re . "
The crowd d i spersed .
Not a man of that crowd wou l d dare
r a i se h i s arm aga inst that renowned champ ion of I s l am .
A l l honor to that nob le man !
H i s deed o f mercy and
human ity became known throughout the c iv i l i z ed wor ld and
a l l the ru lers of Europe sent h im tokens and letters o f
a cknowl edgement .
The Pres ident of the un ited states s ent
h im
, a beaut i f u l pair of gold-mounted r evo lvers proper ly
inscr i bed a s a present .
Elyas and the members of h i s f ami ly e s c aped the
ma s s a cr e through the kindness of a Mos l em f r iend , who
r i sked the wrath of the mob and brought them t o h i s home
and , when the s ituation qu ieted a l ittle , took them t o
t h e Cast l e wh ich wa s protected by t h e forces o f P r ince
Abd e l -Kad i r .
21
�When order was restored , Abdo went back t o h i s
weaving trade but not for long .
Short ly a fter h i s f ather
d ied , Abdo as sumed the respons i b i l ity of car ing for h i s
f am i ly o f h i s mother and four brothers . F i nding that the
i ncome f rom the j ob o f weaving was not suf f ic i ent t o meet
the needs o f the fam i ly , he dea l t in s i lk f iber and
opened up a grocery shop .
But the resu l t was not much
better than be fore , so he dec ided to make a comp lete
change .
Thi s dec i s ion was no doubt i n f luenced by the
a s soc iat ion o f h i s h a l f -brother S a l im with the B r i t i sh
M i s s i on ,
and the m i s s i on ' s work in char ity and educat i on .
He took a j ob a s a caretaker of the M i s s ion ' s propert i e s
and a purcha ser o f a l l the supp l i es that t h e s choo l s
needed .
He a l s o taught in the schoo l f or the b l i nd ,
wh i ch was newly opened .
The work of the Miss ion i n Dama scus was
d i r e cted by a B r i t i sh lady who came from a we l l-t o-do
f ami ly .
She was very reserved ,
and un l ike the members o f
th� Ame r i can M i s s i on , kept her s e l f a l oof f r om a s s oc i a t ing
w ith the natives .
She opened a scho o l for g i r l s , a
bu i ld i ng cons ist ing o f two separate house s connected by a
corr idor ; one sect ion wa s used for c l a s srooms and the
other for l iv ing quarters for hers e l f and the teachers .
She be l onged to the Church of Eng l and and she changed one
of the rooms to a chap e l where r e l ig ious services were
observed .
22
�There was among the teachers a young woman who
was educated in the M i s s ion scho o l in Ha sbaya .
One " day
Abdo was supervi s ing some repa ir work i n the t eacher s '
He s aw the g i r l and it was l ove at f ir s t
quarters .
s ight ; he wa s sure that it was rec iprocated .
When he
went home that even ing he to ld his mother about her , but
h i s mother told h im that it wa s a pass ing wh im and to
f o rget her .
Abdo saw the g i r l aga in a f ew days later and
he was sure of h i s attract ion to her .
When he t o l d h i s
mother that thi s i s the g i r l that h e wanted t o marry and
no other , h i s mother remonstrated ,
saying
" But my dear son , you know noth ing about the
g i r l or her f am i ly except that they are
Protestants .
You know that our church f r owns
on that re l igion ; cons ider what my brothe r , the
Archb i shop of the diocese of Dama scus w i l l say
when he hears what you are go ing to do .
wi l l hurt h im terr ibly .
It
There are many g i r l s
who w i l l b e g l ad t o marry you .
G ive t h i s
not ion a f ew more weeks of thought .
I w i l l f ind
a jewe l of a g i r l , you ' l l see that what I am
te l l ing you is the w i se th i ng to do to keep
harmony in the fam i ly . "
" Mother , " he s a id ,
" I t i s she and nobody e l s e .
I ' l l rema in s ing l e i f I g ive her up and w i l l
put the blame on you .
23
What ' s th i s idea o f
�Orthodox , Catho l i cs and Protestant s ; they a l l
wor ship the same God .
jewe l of a g ir l ; she ,
No , mothe r ,
she i s a
and nobody e l se . "
When Abdo was convinced that the consent of the
fami ly was not forthcoming , he asked the Chap l in of the
M i s s ion to marry them .
After the
He wa s g l ad t o do s o .
ceremony , Abdo took h i s bride to h i s home and ca l led h i s
mother saying ,
" Here mother ,
I ' ve brought a daughter . "
H i s mother accepted with res ignat ion not be ing a b l e to do
I t took only a few days t o convince h i s
otherw i s e .
mother that her son was r ight with h i s cho i c e and that he
did not do her just ice ; that the near future wou l d prove
it .
Mar ita soon became a beloved and l ov i ng daughter .
I n a few days she entered into the l ife of the fam i l y and
made herself so usefu l that a l l members of the fami ly
were convinced that Abdo had chosen w i s e l y .
tak i ng on the many dut ies of the househo l d ,
B e s ides
she helped
her husband with his work in the M i s s i on v i s i t i ng the
s i�k and help ing the needy .
She was not used to t h i s
strenuous work and with the corning o f a baby , s h e became
i nd i sposed .
The doctor from the M i s s ion suggested a change
from the su ltry heat of Damascus .
The M i s s ion
recommended " B ludan" where the M i s s ion had bought a p iece
of land and bu i lt some houses for the use of the
m i s s iona r i es to es cape the humid heat of Dama scu s .
24
Abdo
�acted on h i s advice .
He went to B ludan and rent ed a
l arge room from N i c o l a Ma s r i wh ich was used a s a s itt ing
as we l l a s a l iv ing r oom .
cooked on the veranda .
There was no k itchen ; they
They did not have to worry about
the weather because it does not r a i n �ur ing the s umme r
s e ason .
I n a f ew days they began to see a change i n
Mar ita ' s hea lth , s o much f o r the better that i t convinced
Abdo that the M i s s ion was r ight .
S o he bought a p ie c e o f
ground adj o in ing the M i s s i on ' s property w ith the hope
that when his f i nance s permitted he wou ld bu i ld a hous e .
They enj oyed a p l easant summer and r eturned home greatly
r e f reshed .
The family was p l easantly surpr i s ed at the
improvement in Mar ita ' s health and was g l ad t o know that
they were p l anning to have a home there .
25
�ABDO KASSAB - AGE 72
�B ludan
B ludan , a v i l lage in the Ant i -Lebanon Mouht a i n s
about th i rty mi l e s from Damascus ,
leve l .
i s 4 5 0 0 feet above s e a
I t i s a v i l lage of about three hundred persons o f
m i xed r e l i g ious b e l i e f s - Mos lems , Catho l ic s ,
orthodox .
and Greek
They l ive harmonious ly with each other . The i r
homes a r e bu i lt o n the s ide of the h i l l s .
The sty l e i s
d i ctated by the weather for i n winter they a r e e nt i r e ly
bur i ed i n snow .
The average home i s a l arge r oom d i vided
i nt o a l iving and a ut i l ity room to store the g r a i n s ,
d r i ed vegetables and fruit , nuts and pre served meat s , a l l
Fortunately for them , they can l ive a
f o r . winter use .
great part o f the year outs ide .
B ludan ' s weather dur ing
the thr e e months of summer i s dry and pract i ca l ly
c l oud l es s ,
and at dawn it i s a joy to see the sun r i s e in
the morn i ng and touch the mountain top then des cend
s l owly downward to bathe the va l ley be l ow .
And i n the
even ing i t i s a breath-taking scene to see the s ame sun
r ecede s l owly
unt i l it disappeared in the sky and watch
a s the stars one by one beg in to take the i r p l ace ,
myr iads o f them .
Because of the c learness o f the
atmosphere they s eem so near danc ing in the sky that the
o n looker f ee l s that he can touch the Great D ipper .
I ndeed , a think ing person cannot help but be f i l led w ith
awe and wonder and he f inds h ims e l f exc l a im ing w i th the
p s a lm i st " The heavens dec lare the g l ory o f God and the
26
�f irmament showeth H i s hand iwork . "
Qu ietnes s then
descends on the sou l s of the wear ied men ,
f o l l owed by
r e fresh i ng s l eep .
The l ot of the Bludanese f armer was very hard
due to B l udan ' s weather .
Dur ing the months o f June ,
July , and August there i s no rain ,
and the farmer h a s to
depend on irr igat ion , but the f ew spr i ngs e i ther d im i n i sh
i n quant i ty or become dry a ltogether .
O ften because o f
t h e drought , he l o s e s the fruit of h i s hard l abor .
There
are two or three sma l l springs above the vi l l age , whose
waters are jo ined and each farmer i s a l lotted his share
accordi ng to the s i z e of the l and that he owns . D i sputes
occur when one takes more than his a l l otted share , but on
the who l e they managed to get a l ong .
Thi s l ack o f water supp ly necess itated hard
work to be ab l e to r a i s e wheat and corn and barley .
At
harvest t ime they f o l lowed the same methods o f reap ing
the crops a s was used by the ir fore fathers ages ago : they
carr i ed the crops to the thresh ing_f loor and spread them
in c ir c l e s .
A heavy board about s even by f ive ,
r e i nf orced on the unders ide with a s e r i e s o f f l i nt stones
s e t in the wood , wa s h itched to a pair of oxen ; a per son
s it s on the board and dr ive s round and round over the
spread sta lks unt i l the gra in is separated from the
chaf f .
Then wa it ing for a f avorab l e bree z e , he w innows
the ma s s and the cha f f is b l own as ide from the g r a i n .
27
�T h i s in turn i s gathered and washed , d r i ed and stored for
the f ami ly ' s use .
The cha f f i s a l so stored for the
a n ima l s ' f ood dur ing the winter season .
f am i ly ,
Usua l ly each
i n the spr ing , buys a young sheep and f attens it ,
o ftent imes forced feeding unt i l it gets s o f a t that i t
can h a r d l y move .
Then , a t the end o f summer ,
it is
k i l led and cooked with its r ich fat and preserved i n
conta iners for the use o f the f am i l y dur ing w inter .
They a l so sun-dry vegetab les , nuts and fru i t s ; r a i s i n s
and honey sUbst itute for sugar .
Not having any pub l i c
ut i l it i e s , they are forced to me lt the snow that
somet imes bur i e s the v i l l age into water for themse lves
and the ir catt l e .
They use wood and dry catt l e dung for
h e a t i ng and , when ava i lable , kerosene for l ight ing .
Many
houses have l ooms ; the women spun the wool into yarn and
wove it into c l oth wh ich in turn was s ewn i nto garment s .
The ir s was a pr imit ive l i f e ; very f ew could read or
wr i t e .
A sheik , appointed by the government sett l ed a l l
s imp l e d i spute s .
They had no schoo l s unt i l the M i s s ion opened an
e l ementary schoo l ; education wa s unknown .
They spent
the i r t ime , when they were not needed i n the farm or
f i e ld , d i scu s s ing and tak ing care o f things that were
vital for the i r surviva l .
They were good people ; they shared the i r j oys
and the i r sorrows and when a f am i ly had a d i f f icult j ob
28
�t o be done , they were ready to help .
Though they
d i ffered in the i r re l ig ious be l i efs , b e i ng h a l f of them
Mos l ems and the other half Greek Orthodox or Catho l i c or
The
Chr i st i ans , they seemed to l ive in comp l ete harmony .
Mos l ems had a sma l l mosque and the Chr i st ians two sma l l
churches .
The i r common meet ing p l ace was a sma l l p i ec e
of l and in t h e center o f the v i l l age where t h e r e was a
spr i ng of water from wh ich the commun i ty drew i t d r i nk ing
water .
I n the spr ing of the fo l lowing year , my father
rented the s ame rooms , Mother ' s brother who was an
exce l l ent bu i lder arrived from Zahleh , and they bu i lt the
hou s e wh ich wa s of two stor i e s , each with three r ooms
w ith a l ong veranda , from s ide to s ide .
The hous e
occup ied a sma l l part of the land l eaving a good s i z e
p i ece of ground for a garden .
I t wa s fortunate that a
sma l l brook meandered through the property mak i ng i t
p o s s ible t o have a garden o f vegetab l e s , o r f l owers .
wa s at once p l a nted .
It
A large copper cau ldron was p laced
in the garden and it was a lways fi l l ed with water from
the brook for the use of the fami ly ' s washing and
bath i ng .
Water for dr inking had to be brought from the
ain .
Wh i l e the house was be ing bu i lt in 188 3 , the
third boy of the fam i ly but the s ixth ch i ld , f i r s t s aw
the l ight of day and took the first breath of the coo l
29
�pure a i r o f B ludan wh ich gave me l i f e and made me a l over
of that spot even to thi s day .
The f am i ly was st i ll
My mother ' s mi lk wa s
l iving in the r ented rooms.
i n su f f ic i ent and I began to lose we ight .
A wet nurs e wa s
f ound f or me and very soon I began t o gain we i ght .
Soon a fter , the house wa s r eady for occupancy
and the fami ly moved in .
My f ather was so p l ea s ed that
he bought several p ieces of land , some deve l oped and some
not , and he h ired a caretaker to take charge of both
property and hous e .
That was very important for the
house needed someone to shove l the snow f rom the roof and
f r om the veranda .
My father was to supp ly the nece s sary
t oo l s and seed and the caretaker to share ha l f the
r e s u lt .
For two years , thi s worked we l l then one day ,
I braheem , the caretaker had a mul e and he was tak i ng him
t o gra z e in one o f the f ie lds .
l ik e smoking .
On the way I br aheem f e l t
He t i ed the reins o f the mu l e t o h i s a rm
a n� began to ro l l a c igarette .
As i t happened , they were
p a s s ing a lane w ith heavy bushes on both s ides .
Suddenly
s ometh i ng rushed by wh ich so fr ightened the a n ima l that
he darted and began to g a l l op .
I braheem wa s thrown to
the ground and the mu le dragged his v i c t im on the rough
terr a i n for quite a d i stance .
Fortunate ly , I braheem wa s
not s e r i ou s ly injured , but enough to stop work ing for a
t ime .
My father h i red another caretaker but he was not
30
�r\
s a t i s factory , and another with the s ame r e s u l t .
After
two years o f d i sappo intment s , he rea l i z ed that to make a
succes s o f the undertak ing he would have i t g ive i t h i s
personal attent i on .
Th i s wa s not p o s s i bl e .
First of
a l l , h e cou ld not give up h i s work a t the M i s s ion ,
and
aga i n , he was not a farmer ; so it was wi ser for h im to
s e l l the property and get rid o f the worry .
And he d i d .
When the fami ly heard the news , they objected
strenuou s ly ; they cou ld not be l i eve that he wou ld s e l l
the house without t a lk i ng i t out with them .
But f ather
t r i ed to convince them that it wa s a l l for the best and
they wi l l st i l l be able to go to B ludan as they had done
previous ly .
That winter was very s evere and f ather kept
remind i ng them that he was not worr ied about who wa s
g o i ng to shove l the snow from the roof of the hous e .
That f o l lowing Spr ing , a tragedy struck our
f am i ly .
My o lder brother Two feek was f e l led w ith scar let
f ever ; he gave it to me and to Najeeb .
we�e conf ined each to a room .
med i c a l sk i l l d i d not save him .
The three o f us
Twof eek had i t very bad ;
He was my f ather ' s
f avor ite chi ld ; and f ather wou ld not be reconc i l ed .
fami ly spent the hot'summer in the c ity .
The
Father rea l i z ed
that he had made a mi stake in s e l l ing the house and he
to ld the f am i ly that he wou ld bu i l d them another hous e .
True to h i s word , he bought a p i ece o f ground adjo i ni ng
the other s ide o f the Miss ions ' s property and t o l d mother
31
�to get r eady . Th i s t ime , he deeded it i n mother ' s name .
Mother did not hes itate ,
for a s soon a s the
weather permitted , she and her brother went to B ludan and
began w ith the bu i lding .
The lot was a l it t l e f arther
f rom the v i l l age , adjo ining John Ph i l l ip ' s hous e .
It had
no brook and there fore was not suitable for a garden ,
but
it was h igh ground with no obstruct ion f rom any s ide .
It
w a s a two story house with sta irway o n the out s ide .
There were three rooms on the f irst f l oor , the roof o f
these made up the f l oor of the veranda and jo i ned the
The roof o f
wa l l o f the three rooms of the second s tory .
those rooms was supported by f ive stone columns , wh i ch
made up f ive archways in the front and one on each s ide .
I t wa s a beaut i fu l hous e .
The unus ed port ion o f the l and
was c leared of rocks and terraced so that i t was pos s ib l e
t o have a garden .
I n the f o l lowing years twins were born and were
named Braheem and Kah l i l .
Mother l iked the name
( chosen
f r�m the B ib l e , the Old Testament , where i t says in the
Arabic Vers ion ,
Kha l i l o f God . ) "
" And Abraham was the fr iend of God ,
( the
Kha l i l was about a year old when he
contracted a s evere case of scarlet f ever .
The house was
quarant i ned with the other chi ldren in it , and
consequent ly the four boys got the d i s ease as we l l .
Only
the doctor from the Miss ion was a l l owed to enter the
house to render help to our str icken fami ly .
32
But with
�a l l h i s help Kha l i l , the fri end of God , the beaut i fu l
baby , returned t o h i s Maker . The recovery o f the other
'
f our ch i ldren tempered the loss of the boy .
Short ly
a fterward , the last ch i ld of the fam i ly , a g i r l named
Wadad was born .
Mother worked very hard in des igning and
bu i ld ing the house . She loved B ludan .
s imp le peop le
She l oved i t s
and they loved h e r and brought h e r a l l
the i r troub les and she pati ent ly l i stened t o them and
coun s e l ed them .
I t was very fortunate for us that my f ather was
a s s o c i ated with the B r i t i sh M i s s ion ,
for the M i s s ion had
e s t ab l i shed good e l ementary as we l l a s k indergarten
s choo l s for boys and g i r l s .
So natura l ly Abdo ' s ch i ldren
wou ld go there for the ir education a s soon as they
reached schoo l age .
Though the scho o l s wer e estab l i shed
by the M i s s i ons , the teachers were nat ives ; they taught
the three Rs as we l l as the sc iences in Arab i c .
The
s tudy of the B ib l e a s we l l as the Eng l i sh language wa s
o b l igatory .
They taught what was needed for entrance to
c o l lege .
My brother Wadea became very f r i end l y dur ing
the year w ith h i s Eng l i sh teacher who was go i ng to
America and who promi sed h im that if he , too , wanted to
go to Amer ica , he wou ld help h im .
So when he f in i shed
that year , he told my father that he would l ike to go to
33
�Ame r i ca .
My f ather strenuous ly obj ected and i t took the
urgent p l eading of my mother to get father ' s consent ( see
Wadea ' s memo irs ) . Wadea l e ft for Amer ica .
I was s ix years o ld when my brother l e f t for
Ame r i c a and I was sent to the M i s s ion s choo l for boys' .
We started with the pr imary a s we l l a s the s econdary
r eaders wh ich contained stor ies from the B ib l e and as the
course advanced ,
severa l pas sages were requ i red t o be
c omm itted to memory .
Arabic grammar , h i story and
geography were later added and mathema t i c s was e spec i a l ly
stres sed .
Eng l ish , with an I r ish brogue , was the
spec i a lty of one of the miss i onar ies ; French and Turk i sh
I
were e l ect ive and were taught outs ide schoo l hour s .
was not a br i l l i ant student , j ust l ike the average boys .
I think that the fear of pun i shment f rom father he lped me
make the grade .
Meanwh i l e ,
d i f f iculties .
in Amer ica , Wadea wa s having h i s
T imes were bad , jobs were scarce and he
had no previou s preparat ion for any k ind o f work .
His
f r i end t o whom he had wr itten from Dama scus was then
l iving i n Chattanooga , Tennessee , and Wadea ,
a fter
landing i n New York , went d irect ly to that c ity where the
only j ob ava i lable was in a stee l f oundry .
Th i s type of
work was very hard on one who had not had any exper i ence
with phys ical work , but he could not be a chooser .
He
took the job hop ing that someth ing better wou l d turn up .
34
�Un f ortunat e ly , t imes did not improve .
The ear ly years o f
1 8 9 0 were years o f depres s i on , and he not o n l y d i d hot
f ind better k ind of work , but even h i s foundry c l osed and
he was f orced to return to New York where he had s ome
Syr ian f r i ends .
H i s l etters back home were cheerfu l ,
f u l l o f admirat i on for the country and its peop l e , but
m i xed w ith fee l i ng of d i s appo i ntment that he cou l d not
s end a port ion of his earning home to h e lp f ather w ith
the expenses o f a large fami ly .
I n New York , a merchant in the l ine o f l inens
and embro ider i e s , whom he had known in Dama scu s , gave h im
on cons i gnment a satch e l fu l l o f goods and t o l d h im to go
and try h i s fortune .
f ather ' s advice .
He immed i ately wrote home a s k i ng
My f ather had made i t a sacred r u l e to
w r i t e to him each week and he numbered the l etters s o
that Wadea wou ld know i f any were l o s t in trans i t .
Wade a
d id the s ame and kept the family i n formed o f a l l h i s
movements .
ad�ice ,
Father ' s letters were f u l l o f devot i on and
" Remember , Son , don ' t do anythi ng that d i sgraces
yourse l f or your fami ly .
We are praying God t o s ave you
f r om a l l the temptations in the land of your s ojourn . "
Mother ' s l etter were a l s o fu l l of trust that her son
wou l d a lways g ive heed to what she had t r i ed to inst i l l
i nto h im:
the love of truth , honesty , and the f a ith i n
God .
Wadea l e ft New York with h i s s atche l and
35
�t rave led south ,
stopping f irst at Princeton and
Ph i lade lph ia w ith very l ittle succe s s .
Rea l i z i ng that
th i s type of work is better adapted to the suburbs than
to large c it i es , he cont inued south and stopped i n
Chester , Pennsy lvan ia .
He went to the post o f f ice to
wr ite a card to s end home , and wh i le he was stand i ng at
the desk writ ing it , a middle-aged lady stopped at the
same desk to address a letter .
I t happened that a l l the
pens were out of order and see ing her d i l emma he
ventured ,
" Excuse me ,
I see that you only want to addr e s s
a l etter , may I o f f er you my pen? "
The l ady w a s greatly
surp r i s ed as she looked over at his card and f ound that
i t was not wr itten in Eng l ish , and she s a id as she
accepted the pen ,
" Thank you very much , and by the way
wha t k ind of a l anguage is th i s that you are wr i t i ng ? "
He rep l i ed that it was Arab i c .
" Oh , that i s the language
of the Arabian Nights , " she s a id .
" Y es , " he rep l ied .
"And i s that where you came from? "
" Ye s , " he s a id .
" And what are you doing here ? " she a sked .
Though he was not interested in thi s
conver sation h e thought that i t might produce a s a l e ; s o
he gave her a br ief resume of h i s movements . Then she
s a id ,
" How interesting , young man ; my f ather and s i ster
l ive not far from here , " and g iving h im her name and
address she cont inued ,
" When you get through wr it ing ,
36
�stop to see us , we might be interested . " He thanked her
and s a id that he wou ld stop in the ear ly a fternoon .
The
f a ther ( Mr . o ' Ne i l l ) and the two women inqu ired a bout the
country and its peop l e and a fterward bought s ome l i nens
and sent h im to some of the ir f r iends who l ikew i s e d i d
the s ame .
When Wadea returned to thank h i s new f r i ends
for the i r he lp , the father s a id ,
" Whenever you are i n the
ne ighborhood be sure to stop to see us . "
Wadea went as far south a s Wash ington ,
at B a l t imore and many towns in-between .
stopp i ng
He f ound that
the expenses of trave l and hote l s was more than the
p ro f it from the goods s o ld .
So he dec ided t o return to
New York and look for someth ing better .
On h i s way , he
stopped to ca l l on h i s new fr iends i n Che ster .
One o f
the s i sters s aw d i sappo intment o n h i s f ace and s a i d ,
" You
s eem to be a nice inte l l igent young man , why are you
wast i ng your t ime with th i s k i nd o f work? "
" I can ' t f ind anyth ing better , " he r ep l ied .
"Why don ' t you study some profe s s ion? "
" I t i s a strange coinc idence , " he rep l i ed .
"I
j us t rece ived a l etter from my father suggest i ng that I
s tudy dent i stry , because we have no graduate dent i st s in
D amas cu s ; but I have no means and I don ' t know how to go
a bout i t . "
" Come on , " she sa id ,
" I ' l l take you to my
dent i s t and he w i l l gu ide you and g ive you a l l the
37
�necess ary information . "
Fo l lowing words with act ion ,
she took h im· to
s e e her dent i st , Dr . S . B l a i r Luckie , who encouraged h im ,
gave h im a l l the inf ormation and prom i sed to be h i s
He a l s o gave him a l etter o f introduction to
p r eceptor .
the dean o f the Phi lade lphi a Dent a l C o l l ege .
The
f o l l ow i ng day Wadea went to Phi lade lph i a , had an
i nterv i ew with the Dean , and wa s accepted a s a student .
Through the e f f orts o f the O ' Ne i l l s , a loan o f money was
arranged from a f r i end of the ir s , an Eng l i s h l ady .
happy and grateful man returned to New York ,
The
s ett led h i s
account with h i s merchant f r iend and d i d some odd j ob s
unt i l the approach of the schoo l term .
He returned t o
Che ster and h i s fr iends adv i s ed h i m to rent a room i n
P h i lade lph ia near the col lege , whi ch he did .
Wadea kept h i s fam i ly informed o f a l l what had
taken p lace and corre spondence kept up between the
K a s s abs in Damascus.·and the O ' Ne i l l s i n Che s te r .
My
. -mo.t her- , recogn i z ing the great servic·e and a f f ec t i on that
the O ' Ne i l l s bestowed on her son , sent them a warm
i nv i ta t i on to v i s it the fam i ly .
They accepted the
i nv i ta t i on and promi sed to do so a fter Wadea ' s
graduat ion .
I n the meant ime , two traged ies took p l ace ,
f i rst Sam O ' Ne i l l , the fathe r , took s i ck .
He was quite
o ld and Wadea nur sed him for weeks but he d i d not r ecover
and actua l ly d i ed in Wadea ' s arms . The other tragedy was
38
�my mother ' s death .
She was only forty - two ; but e i ther
due to hard work or to g iving b irth t o too many children ,
she d i d not survive a ga l l bl adder attack .
S o now the
fami ly had a terr i f i c b l ow ; Mother ' s death l e f t the
f am i ly w ith a prob l em that was d i f f i c u l t t o s o lve F a reedeh , Asma , Ade l e , Ae lyas , Naj eeb ,
and the baby Wadad , e l even months o l d .
deso late .
S amee , Braheem ,
Father was
But mother had rai s ed her daughters we l l ,
for
Fareedeh at once as sumed the re spons i b i l ity o f a mother
and we carried on .
She was w i se and s t r i ct ; she had
f a ther ' s back ing , and we obeyed her .
Father was heart
broken , and though urged , he would not r emarry .
The
o ldest s i ster took charge , became the mother of the
househo ld .
She wrote to the O ' Ne i l l s and asked them to
break the news to Wadea .
I n the ir l etter o f sympathy ,
they suggested that the ir promi sed v i s i t be cance l ed ; but
f ather as we l l as my s i ster wrote and begged them to
c orne .
A f ew weeks a fter Wadea ' g graduat�on ,
arr ived in Dama scus .
th� three
The lad ies enj oyed the l i f e in the
or i enta l c ity , espec i a l ly the o ld h i st or i c a l s ights :
Street ca l l ed Stra ight , the p l ace where st . Paul was
converted ; the wa l l from wh ich he escaped , the Great
Mos que and the ba z aars .
They then toured Jeru s a l em ,
Bethl ehem , Jordan and the other sacred p l aces .
Wadea brought them to B ludan .
39
Then
For three weeks , they
the
�raved over the p l ace .
They loved the s imp l e l i f e o f the
v i l l agers wh i ch reminded them of the l i f e of the peop l e
o f the B ib l e . They got t o know each member o f the f am i ly
and i t was then that they to ld my f ather and me that i f
ever I wanted t o corne to the united states , there was a
horne for me .
I wa s thirteen years o ld when my brother
graduated and r eturned horne with the O ' Ne i l l s .
do i ng f a i r ly we l l in schoo l ,
I was
I had two years more to go .
The s ituation in the country was unsett l ed ; the Mo s l ems
were wary .
Syr ia wa s then under Turk ish ru l e .
were a Mos l em nat ion .
The Turks
They had no l ove for the
Chr i st ians , and they were undu ly upset because of the
presence of the fore ign nati ona l s and the i r apparent
s upport to the Chr ist ian community .
And to make th i ngs
wor s e , the Greek Government attempted to s e i z e Crete , an
i s l and be long ing to Turkey .
War f o l l owed .
Thi s made the
Mos l ems more demonstrat ive aga inst the Chr i s t ians .
Ru�ors reached the c ity that the Greek forces had
d e feated the Turks .
Father and I wer e in the bus iness
s e ct i on , which was predominant ly Mos l em ; the news spread
qu i ck ly .
Al l the merchants began to c l ose the ir shop s ;
the Mos l ems gathered in the streets and were extreme ly
ag itated ; some shouted that they wou l d revenge .
Father
and I hurr ied home and locked and bar r i caded the door .
Father having gone through the Mas s acre
40
o f 18 6 0 f eared
�The f am i ly sat together , soon shout i ng i n the
the wor st .
street f i l led the a i r ; this cont inued through the night
with no one going to s l eep .
I n the morning c r i e r s went
through the streets shout ing that the rumor s were f a l s e
a n d that the Chr i st ians had nothing to fear .
I t was an
exper i ence not to be forgotten ; for though the danger had
p a s sed for the moment , the Chr i st ians f eared that the
troub l e with the Mos lems could start at the s l i ghte s t
p rovoca t i on .
About th is t ime , the M i s s i on f e l t that a schoo l
f or Mos lem g i r l s should be opened in the Mos l em quarters
of the c ity .
A l arge house suitable for a schoo l a s we l l
a s for l iving quarters for the teachers was rented .
Fema l e teachers were s e l ected with great care .
wa s app o i nted a s principa l .
My s i ster
Unfortunately , there wer e no
f ac i l it i e s for cook ing and the fam i l ies o f the teacher ,
twice a week , prov ided the teachers with the ir mea l s .
I
wa s a s s igned th i s duty and I a lways dreaded the trip to
the s choo l for I was insu lted by boys p lay ing in the
streets w ith the shout of " Here comes the Chr i st i an p ig , "
or " What ' s your cross made of , " and on seve r a l occa s i ons
s tone s were hur l ed at me . I a lways w i shed for the t ime to
come when I wou ld leave th i s c ity for a freer country .
I had no troub le in schoo l and on graduat ion I
rece ived my cert i f icate and a l etter from the p r i nc ipa l ,
Abdo Kahee l , addres sed to my father , wh ich s a i d that I
41
�d i d very we l l in schoo l , that I had an " exce l l ent " in
mathema t i c s and was ready to go to a scho o l o f h i gher
l e a r n i ng .
D ad . "
I handed the se to my father and s a i d " Here ,
Dad read the l etter and s a id ,
" I am very p l ea s ed . "
Then he handed them back to me and s a id ,
" Now what do you
want to do? " I s a id that I didn ' t know . Then he s a i d ,
" You have two courses from wh ich to dec ide : one to be
apprent i ced to some craft here in the c i ty ; the other i s
t o g o t o Amer ica ,
c o l l ege . "
for I cannot a f f ord t o send you to
I rep l i ed ,
" Dad ,
I have a l ready dec ided ,
I
You know , Dad , the l ad i e s
wou l d l ike to go to America .
who came here with my brother t o l d m e that i f I ever
l iked to come to Amer ica , they have a home for me . "
Then
h e s a i d , " That ' s very good , your brother has written me
that when you f in i sh schoo l here , he wants you to go to
Ame r i c a .
Get ready then , though i t wi l l be very hard for
me to part with you . "
The next f ew days were very busy gett i ng me
r e?dy to make the tr ip�
As it happened Unc l e George was
r eturn ing to Be irut from a fam i ly v i s it and it wa s
dec ided I woul d accompany him ,
mak ing the trip .
saving my father from
When the day arrived for me to leave
home , my f ather took me to the sma l l room wh i ch wa s to
the l e f t of the court and we went in and he shut the
door .
" You know , Ae lyas , " he s a id ,
42
" I t i s go ing to be
�very hard for me to let you go ,
been of great help to me .
you .
f o r you have
I am g o i ng to m i s s
You are going to be very f a r away f r om
I want you to a lways
me , but not from God .
remember your her itage .
I want you to be
honest , truthfu l , f a ithfu l , dependable and
industr ious . Now I want you to prom i s e me that
you wi l l not smoke , dr ink , or keep bad
company . "
" Father ,
I wi l l do my very be st . "
He then kne lt and asked me to do the s ame and he prayed
f e rvent ly ending with ,
God . "
" I ' l l leave you to the mercy of
When he f in i shed ,
the tears in h i s eyes .
I looked up to h i s face and s aw
I never forgot that face and it
br i ng s tears to my eyes when I th ink o f i t .
We l e ft on June 9 ,
by t r a i n .
18 9 9 ,
Bes ide my satche l ,
for B e i rut trave l ing
I had to carry a b lanket ,
a p i l l ow and two tins , one ha l f ga l lon each f i l l ed w ith
ap� icot preserve as a present to my brothe r . Cous in
Ameen , who was a merchant in Be irut was to make a l l the
arrangements for my trip .
After spend i ng a week or s o at
Unc l e ' s hous e , Ameen and I went to Thomas Cook and S ons
t o buy the t i cket to New York . The agent in charge was a
f r i end o f Ameen and he s a id that I d i d not have to pay a
f u l l fare , that I wa s sma l l enough to be c l a s s i f i ed f or
one-ha l f .
The f u l l fare was f i fteen pounds ster l i ng
43
�wh i ch my f ather had given me .
So I p a i d s even and
one -ha l f and kept the others with my l it t l e change .
I
was trave l ing steerage to Marse i l les , thence by t r a i n to
B o l ogne , France , and then third c l a s s to New York .
t i cket was for transportation only ,
My
j ust for a p l ace on
deck .
I t was summer and there was no need for a state
room .
A l s o it d i d not provide mea l s from B e irut t o
Marse i l le s .
My Aunt packed a large ba sket for me .
It
was fu l l o f sandwiches and fruits o f a l l k i nd s and she
s a id that if she f i l l ed it more it wou ld spoi l .
Wh i le we were wa i t ing to embark a group o f
three young men came with the i r luggage ready t o s a i l .
They introduced themse lves to Ameen and me ; two f r om
Lebanon and the third from Damascus .
The Dama s cene
turned out to be from a we l l known f ami ly to Ameen .
They
were going to New York and had the s ame k i nd of t icket a s
I had .
After chatting for several minute s , Ameen a sked
them to . take me , wh ich they promised to do . M inut e s
l a� er , the steamer shr ieked -its horn _ for the p a s sengers
t o get aboard .
We were the last to board ,
for the
s a i lors had to c l ose the doors to the hold wh i ch was to
be our rest ing p l ace .
I
boarded the steamer " Portuga l "
o f the Mes s ager i e Mar i t ime and l e ft B e i rut for my f uture
home .
For a wh i l e we stood by the ra i l ing s i l ent ly
watch ing the ship l eave the land , uttering not a word but
wonder ing whether we wou ld tread that s o i l aga i n .
44
�We were awakened f rom that trance by the purser
ask i ng for our t i ckets .
me ,
When I handed him mine , h e ' a sked
" How old are yoU? "
" F i f teen , " I sa id .
lI y ou can ' t trave l on ha l f fare , " he s a i d .
He then l e ft me and co l l ected the t i ckets o f the other
p a s s engers .
Very soon a fter , he returned and demanded
the other seven and one-ha l f pounds .
I s a i d that I am
te l l i ng him the truth ; that was a l l the agent a sked me to
pay .
He s a id that he wa s sorry and wou ld have to put me
o f f at the next stop of the ship at Ha i fa .
that he was r ight and I paid h im forthwith .
l e f t me ,
I rea l i z ed
After he
I stood for a moment mot ion l e s s , no doubt a
p icture of despa i r , wonder ing how I could get to New York
with hardly any money .
and s a i d ,
Suddenly a man stood bes ide me
"Are you Aelyas Kas sab? "
I said ,
" Yes , how d i d you know? "
He rep l ied that he wa s t a l k i ng to my cou s i n
whom he knew very we l l . H e s a id that h i s name w a s Fuad
S a l l oum , that his brother was the m i n i ster o f the Church
in Damascus to wh ich our fam i l y be longed ; that though he
wa s not from Dama scus he knew of the f am i ly ; that Ameen
had a sked him to look a fter me .
I told him my s tory and
he a s sured me that he had p l enty of money and that it was
at my d i sposa l .
f r iends .
From that moment we became very good
He wa s going to San Franc i sco on bus in e s s and
45
�h e i ntroduced me to h i s group .
We got a l ong very we l l .
For a l ittle wh i l e the steamer f o l l owed the
shore l ine and we watched the scenery , then i t veered
The
away and we began to look about our surround i ngs .
c lo sed doors of the hold were our staterooms for the tr ip
and we p l aced our luggage there .
As the even i ng
approached , we opened our baskets and had our supper and
as the l ights d immed we rol led our s e lves in our b l anket s .
The steamer was very steady , we were soon a s l eep .
Very
e a r ly in the morning we were awakened by the s a i l or s who
t o l d us that they have to open the ho ld because we were
approaching Ha i f a and they have to unl oad some
merchand i s e .
I n mov ing my luggage ,
I d i scovered that
dur ing the night someone had gotten away w ith my basket
of prov i s i ons , which
meant that I wou l d be without
provi s i ons un l e s s I supp l ied mys e l f at Ha i fa .
I
comp l a ined to the Purser who a s sured me that i t mus t be
one of the passengers and that they wer e not respons i b l e .
Th�t taught me a l e s son to be more - carefu l .
I n Ha i fa we
r ep l e n i shed our needs and in the even ing we r esumed our
j ourney toward Marse i l les , pass ing through the stra i t s o f
Mes s ina ; I can never forget the s ight o f Mt . Vesuvius
w i th the smoke be lch i ng from its cone .
Further on the weather changed , a bad s torm hit
u s and it was dangerous for us to rema in on deck .
The
o f f icers were afraid that we might be inj ured or swept
46
�i nt o the sea ,
ship .
so we had to go down into the hold o f the
I t was a bad exper ience ,
for there were an ima l s
After the second day ,
there and the stench was terr ib l e .
the sun shone brightly and we were g l ad to get on deck
aga in .
We arr ived in Mars e i l les wi thout any further
troub l e .
We were met by the agent of the company who
s o ld us the t i cket Marse i l l e s -New York .
He hust l ed u s
through customs and immigration without d i f f i cu l ty and
took u s to a s econd c l a s s hot e l where we were to stay
t i l l the next morn ing , then by tra i n to Par i s for a f ew
hour s , then to Bologne and the White star L i ne steamer
for New Y ork .
The passage wa s long and t i r ing and f u l l
o f expectat ion o f putting our feet o n the s o i l o f the
l and of the free .
However we were a l it t l e worr i ed ,
becaus e wh i le in Par i s we had heard that many imm igrants
were b e i ng returned because of eye troub l e or l ack of
funds .
We had to take our chance .
As we approached New
Y o�k the morning was most beaut i f u l .
As we entered the
harbor we were ama z ed at the t a l l bu i ld ings but we were
l ook i ng for something greater and when we saw her bathed
in sun l ight with the torch in her hand up l i fted
' heavenward our tears were not spared .
The steamer
cont inued to E l l i s I s land where the immigrants
d i s embarked .
Wh i le we wa ited for the examina t i on by the
I mmigration and customs o f f i c ia l s ,
47
I a sked my f r i end
�S a l l oum to loan me f ive pounds wh ich he g l ad l y d i d .
I
gave him my address in Chester and he gave me h i s in
Ca l i fornia .
The Custom and Immigra t i on examinati ons were
both sat i s factory and we were led in groups to d i f f e rent
parts of the bui ld ing and were separated f rom each other .
Our l e ader with an o f f icer ' s cap and i n s ign i a on h i s l e ft
a rm a sked me my name and dest inat ion and he led me t o a
s e a t i n a large room and said ,
" Your train doesn ' t l eave
unt i l nine o ' c l ock . Don ' t leave th i s p l ace unt i l I come
back .
Do you understand? "
I s a id that I under stood , but
my brother wou ld be wa it ing for me on the dock . When he
understood my story , he said it was too late now and that
it was better for him to put me on a train f o r Chester .
Aga i n he s a id ,
" Don ' t leave unt i l I come . "
I t began to get dark and I began to get hungry .
On the other s ide of the stat ion , wh ich wa s a l arge room ,
I s aw a fruit stand and I wa lked there to get someth ing
t o eat .
The owner , recogn i z ing that I was a n a l ien l ike
hi�s e l f ,
soon got my f u l l hi story and a s he began to put
the s e l ected fru it in the bag .
He suggested that s ince
Che ster is a day away that I had better supp ly mys e l f ,
wh ich I d i d ,
and not only for one day .
seat I gorged myse l f with the fruit ,
Return ing to my
At a quarter to
n ine , the o f f icer came ; he lped me with my l uggage and as
I boarded the train I heard h im te l l the conductor that I
was a stranger and to be sure to put me o f f at Chester .
48
�I was put in a seat near the exit door o f the car .
After
the train pul l ed out of the stat ion , the conductor c ame
c o l l ec t i ng t ickets .
He punched the t i cket and KEPT I T .
I d i d not say anyth ing and be ing exhausted and with the
ro l l ing o f the train ,
I f e l l dead a s l eep .
At twe lve
o ' c lock sharp , the whee l s ground to a stop . The tra i nman
shook me to wake me up ; but I wou ldn ' t move .
I s a id I
was go i ng to Chester and that Chester was a day o f f .
Conductor came and when he heard what I was say ing ,
The
said ,
" Come on , young f e l low , I can ' t hold th i s t r a i n any
l onger . "
He caught me by the c o l lar o f my coat and
k i cked me down the steps with the trainman f o l l ow i ng w ith
the luggage . with a loud voice ,
I cr ied ,
" G ive me my
t i cket ! "
As the train pu l l ed o f f , the stat i o n master
came out to c lose the stat i on for the n ight .
He saw me
stand i ng and had heard me shout out . He s a i d to me ,
" What ' s the matter ?
Where do you want to go? "
I rep l ied
th�t I wanted to go to Che ster , PA . , and he got my
t i cket .
He s a id .
" Th i s i s Chester . "
See ing me
i ncredu lous , he took me around the stat ion and showed me
the s ign on the wa l l .
Now he s a id ,
Where do you want to go? "
" Th i s i s Chester .
I told him that I was
expect ing my brother to meet me and the rest of the
story .
He a sked me my brother ' s name and where he l ived .
I t o l d h im .
He looked at my luggage and he s a id ,
49
"We
�c an ' t go there tonight , you better stay with me ton i ght
and we ' l l see in the morning what we can do . "
to the t i cket o f f ice .
So we went
He spread a mattr e s s on a l arge
tab l e for hims e l f and I stretched on the f l oor .
I was
phy s i ca l ly and menta l ly exhausted and soon fast a s l eep .
I n the n ight nature cal l ed ,
so a s I was look ing f o r the
door to go outs ide , he awoke and led me out s ide to the
r e s t room .
We hardly went back to s leep aga i n when h e
a l arm went o f f f o r t h e f ive o ' c l ock tra in ; t h e o f f i c e
mus t b e open .
When he opened the door , he saw a
huckster ' s wagon , he cal led to the dr iver to stop , and he
t o l d him to " Take th i s stranger to O ' Ne i l l ' s at 18 0 0
Prov idence Avenue .
He has a brother l iving there . "
The
huckster s a id " I know them , " and with that he put my
l uggage on the wagon and I sat bes ide h im .
We d i dn ' t get
a warm we l come when hear ing the doorbe l l wa s rung ; M i s s
L i z z ie opened the second f loor window and shouted ,
" What
are you r inging the be l l for . so early in the morn i ng ? "
My. brother who was l iving on the third f l oor on hearIng '
the n o i s e , opened h i s window and when I saw h im ,
shouted " Wadea " and ran to
door .
I
meet h im as he opened the
What a meet ing !
I t was the last s aturday o f July ,
18 9 9 , that
marks the arr iva l at the horne of my f r iends , the
O ' Ne i l l s .
I thought that I wa s in a dream .
I cou l d
hardly be l i eve that I had at l a s t reached t h e Prom i sed
50
�Land .
My brother woke me up by saying ,
o f f , " and turning to me he cont inued ,
" I have a day
" F ir s t of a l l �
we ' l l g ive you a bath for you certa i n ly need i t ; then
we ' l l have a cup of c o f f e e ; then we ' l l go and have a h a i r
c u t for y o u need that too , and then some c lean c l othes
and then we ' l l l eave you to rest for a wh i le . "
I n Chester , Saturday was a g a l a n ight .
A l l the
stores were open . The O ' Ne i l l s had a mi l l i nery store on
Edgmont Avenue ,
in the bus iness sect i on o f Chester .
Usua l ly very l itt l e bus ine s s wa s done ; most ly w i ndow
shopp ing or v i s i t ing fr iends .
As it happened , two
f r i ends dropped in for a soc i a l v i s i t , and of cour s e ,
was introduced .
One of the lad ies wa s a teacher ,
I
and
when I began to t a lk , she smi l ed becaus e o f my I r i sh
brogue ( what l ittle I spoke I had learned f rom the I r i sh
M i s s iona r i es in Dama scus ) .
My brother asked her where I
shou l d app ly for information about my schoo l ing .
She
o f fered to take me to the super intendent ' s o f f ic e t o see
wher e I wou ld f it . . True to her prom i s e , she took me .
The super intendent tried to talk to me ,
answer inte l l igently .
but I cou l d not
I rea l ly did not under stand h im .
He gave me the ninth grade books and said ,
" Look them
over and come back later , and I wi l l see wher e you f it
in . "
For the f irst three weeks ,
mys e l f to do anyth ing .
I cou l d not br ing
My brother was in h i s o f f ice , the
51
�O ' Ne i l l s were in the ir store ,
supposedly to study .
and I was l e ft a l one
I was home s ick ; I yearned f or "
B ludan and the free l i f e .
I wou ld open the books ,
l o ok
at the pages but my mind wou ld f ly back to what I wou ld
have been do ing in the mountains .
Then one day , my
brother saw me a s leep over the books and he s a i d ,
" Now
the honeymoon is over , when you are t i red from s tudy i ng ,
I want you to make your s e l f use ful around the hou s e ,
in
the o f f ice and the garden ; remember you came here t o make
s ometh ing of yourse l f . "
That was very good f o r me ; i t
kept m e busy and took my thoughts away from home .
My
brother and the ladies were very good to me and t r i ed to
he lp me in every way pos s ib l e .
My brother taught me some
of the mecha n i c s of l aboratory work ,
such a s sett ing
teeth and po l i sh i ng p l ates .
At the end of August ,
and ,
sad to say ,
I took an exam i nat ion
I f a i l ed in every subj ect not because I
d i d not know the answers to the que s t i ons but because I
d i d not understand the questions .
said ,
The superintendent
" I ' m sorry that I can ' t put you in the n inth grade ;
you wi l l have to go to the e ighth grade . "
f i fteen year o ld boy in the grammar grade .
humi l iated .
Imag i n e a
I was
But th i s turned to be a b l e s s ing in
d i sgu i s e ; becaus e due to the k i ndne s s of three t eachers
who spent a great deal o f t ime correct ing my Eng l i sh and
exp l a ining to me the rud iments of grammar , they kept me
52
�hours a fter schoo l reading a l oud and correct i ng my
pronunc i a t i on .
I made so much progre s s that by the end
of the s choo l year , I asked the Super i ntendent to loan me
the books of the n i nth grade so that I cou ld study them
dur ing the vacation and take an exam inat ion in the f a l l .
P erhaps I cou ld skip the ninth grade . He did , and I was
succes s fu l .
I did the same thing at the end of the
second year ; borrowed the books for the e l eventh grade
and in the f a l l I sk ipped the e l eventh and was adm itted
t o the twe l fth grade .
A ca l l from my father was s o
urgent to earn some money t o help my brother s that I
dec ided not to f in i sh the twe l fth grade but to try t o
t a k e t h e examinat ion for entrance to t h e denta l
department of the Un iver s ity of Pennsylvania .
matr i cu l ated in October ,
I
1 9 0 1 for a f ive year course
wh i ch led to both degrees o f dent i stry and med ic ine .
It
was f ortunate that I d i d becaus e in 1 9 0 2 the dent a l
course a l one was increased t o four years .
The . s cho o l fee
o f one hundred and f i fty do l lars was paid by my brother ,
f or wh i ch I c l eaned h i s o f f ice every day and d i d h i s
l a boratory work .
Dr . K irk ,
When I s igned the reg i ster , the dean ,
shook my hand and s a id ,
you to the f am i l y of our schoo l . "
' Dr . Kas sab , I we l come
I f e lt so proud .
I did not f ind the pract ica l part o f the cours e
d i f f icult thanks to the fact that for two y e a r s I had
been he lp ing my brother in the l aboratory ; but not
53
�previous ly having had any chemi stry ,
that cour se ,
I wou ld have f a i l ed
I am sure , had a good f r i end not coached me .
I wa s s o exhausted that my good fr i end , Dr . Preston ,
recommended that for the present , I not cont i nue w ith the
med ica l cours e .
I f e l t that he wa s r ight , that I should
d e l ay f o r a year .
After graduation in June 1 9 0 4 and
p a s s ing the state Board examinat ion ,
my shingle next to my brother ' s .
I was g lad t o hang
My o f f ice was a
s creened part of h i s laboratory with crude furn i sh ings
and only the neces sary instruments for a beg i nne r .
Fortunat e ly ,
I could borrow what I needed f rom my
brothe r .
with the many l etters o f congratu l a t i on f r om my
f ather and s i sters for having attai ned the degree o f
Doctor o f Denta l Surgery , came letters t o Wadea s ay ing
that i t was t ime for h im to return home and br ing the
O ' Ne i l l s with h im ; that he was ready for mar r i age ; that
Aelyas can take care of his o f f ice wh i l e he was away ;
that there was a wonderful g i r l teach ing in the M i s s i on
s choo l who they want h im to meet ; that unc l e S a l im knew
her f r om the t ime she was a l ittle g i r l ,
and that she was
a wonderful catch .
My s i ster ' s l etters to the O ' Ne i l l s wer e very
i n s i stent that they shou ld accept the invitat ion and come
w ith Wadea , and renew the f r i endship .
The l etters were
s o warm that Mary O ' Ne i l l dec ided to accompany Wadea and
54
�they l e ft f or Damascus .
I took charge of the o f f ice wh ich was l ocated
at 8 0 2 Edgmont Avenue , a two room space divided i nto two
parts ; one for operat ing and recept ion and one for
l aboratory .
I n due t ime , we rece ived the che e r f u l news f r om
Dama scus that the f o lks were enj oying the ir v i s it ; that
Wadea had met the young lady , Sara Ha j j ar ; that she was
the dream g i r l of h i s l i fe .
They had spent t ime i n
B ludan enj oy ing the beauty of nature ; but more enj oy i ng
e ach other and they f e lt sure that i t was the Supreme
Power that brought them together and they dec i ded to make
it f o r l i f e .
28 ,
1905 .
They were marr ied at Souk - e l -Gharb ,
S ept
After the wedd ing , the coup l e spent the i r
honeymoon tour ing Lebanon wh i l e Mary O ' Ne i l l trave l l ed to
Engl and to v i s it with some f r iends ; later j o in ing the
mar r i ed coup l e on the ir way home .
The good event made Wadea and me r ea l i z e that a
chpnge must be made ; Wadea could not rema i n l iv i ng at the
O ' Ne i l l s and I could not rema in occupying h i s o f f ice .
The s o l ut i on :
the bu i ld ing next door , 8 0 4 -8 0 6 Edgmont
Avenue , was for s a l e .
Wade a bought it and changed the
f ront o f the bu i lding into two o f f ices , each with an
operat i ng room , a recept ion room for both and a
l a boratory .
These were on the second f l oor .
Wadea
occup ied the rest of the bu i ld ing except the f ir s t f l oor
55
�wh i ch was rented for bus i nes s .
Now we were organ i z ed :
Wadea renewing h i s relationship with h i s p a t i ents ,
!
w ith
bu i ld ing a pract ice , the O ' Ne i l l s with s e l l i ng the i r
bus ine s s , and Sara with tak ing care o f the house and
prepar ing for the coming of her f irst baby .
Hardly had we got set when we had to go New
York to meet Braheem . Father wrote that the lad wa s not
do i ng we l l at school and he thought that the change w i l l
he lp h im ; a f ew months l ater , Naj eeb f o l l owed ; h e had
tr i ed a year at the American Un ivers ity o f Be i rut and wa s
not sat i s f i ed .
So he dec ided to try Ame r i c a .
He took a
bus iness course o f one year in the high schoo l i n Che ster
and then went on to New York .
He worked for a l it t l e
wh i l e with George Kas sab ( no re lation )
in the embro idery
bus ine s s ; he l iked the manu f actur i ng end better ,
went to Made ira and then to F l orence ,
Italy ,
so h e
and
estab l i shed a center for mak ing embro ider i e s and l a c e s .
Later on he estab l i shed the f i rm " Ka s sab Bros " and took
with h im h i s brother Braheem and h i s nephew Far i d Haddad .
He d i d very we l l ; however , Wor ld War I I k i l led the
embro idery bus iness . He then went to Egypt to see i f he
could do anything there .
He met and mar r i ed Leoni Trak ,
a d i stant re lat ive o f the Kassabs and had two ch i ldren , a
boy named Albert and a g ir l , Lorra ine , who d i ed i n her
teens .
Naj eeb took s i ck in B e i rut with c irrhos i s o f the
l iver and the doctors in Be irut adv i s ed him to come to
56
�Ame r i c a for treatment wh ich he did .
The d i s e a s e was we l l
advanced , neverthe l e s s a n operat ion was per f ormed f r om
wh i ch he apparent ly recovered .
He returned to B e i rut ,
but a f ew months l ater , the d i sease r eturned and he d i ed
in the 1 9 5 0 ' s .
Braheem ' s arr iva l worr ied us for h e had not
f in i shed h i s prel iminary education at the M i s s ion s chool
and he was not anxious to cont inue i t here .
Unw i l l i ng l y
h e went to schoo l at our ins i stence , but at t h e e n d o f
t h e schoo l year h e did not p a s s the course a n d h a d t o
repeat it .
H a l fway through the year ,
the p r i n c i p a l o f
the schoo l not i f i ed u s that the lad was not do ing we l l
and that he better f ind work to do .
B raheem wanted to hear .
That was j us t what
He started to work i n Chester in
a wood sawing factory , but he did not l ike that j ob ,
wa s too d i rty .
it
He went to New York and worked with
N a j e eb in the embro idery trade .
After a short per iod of
t ime , they l earned that Funcha l , Made ira , was the home
wh�re laces and embro idery were made ,
so Braheem went to
Funcha l and started in bus ine s s , manu f actur ing and
sh ipp ing to Naj eeb in New York .
He did very we l l .
Dur ing Wor ld War I I , the i s land lacked e l ectr i c ity ,
so
Braheem began t o make candles and supp l i ed the i s land .
He l oved Funcha l and made it h i s home .
He mar r i ed late
in h i s l i f e C l ara , a Portuguese gi r l , and had two boys ,
Alexander and Edward .
He died from cancer in 1 9 8 2 .
57
His
�w i f e , C l ara , d i ed from a heart attack wh i l e on a v i s it to
the U . S . A .
He had
sami came to America a fter Naj eeb .
f in i shed his prel iminary education i n the M i s s ion
Schoo l s , he d i d not want to go to the Co l l ege i n B e i rut ,
and father dec ided that America was the best p l ace for
h im .
We persuaded h im to go to schoo l here ,
month ' s t r i a l , he dec ided to go to work .
t o be emp l oyed .
but a fter a
He d i d not want
He wanted to be h i s own bos s .
He took a
j ob rep a i r ing t ires and when we saw that he made a
success at it we he lped him open a shop in our bu i ld i ng .
For a wh i le he d i d very we l l .
Then t ires began to
improve so much that it was not pay ing ,
a nother l ine of work .
exper i ence in bus iness .
so he changed to
He went to New York to get s ome
We had in our o f f ice a young
l a dy f r om Med i a , Matt i e C l evenger , work ing for us as an
a s s i s tant with whom Sami was fr iendly .
f r om New York the two were married .
When he c ame back
I t was a per f ect
match and they took over s i ster Ade l e ' s bus iness i n our
bu i ld i ng , 8 0 6 Edgmont Avenue ,
that interested ladies .
bus ine s s to Med i a .
for the s a l e of art i c l e s
They eventu a l ly moved the
They made a good l iving and were a
very happy coup l e but not for long .
Sami became s i ck
with cancer ; he wa s operated on but without succes s .
Now that a br i e f account o f the l ives o f my
brothers has been noted , we ' l l go back to the year 1 9 0 9 .
58
�Ma i l f r om home was .very d i stress ing ; f ather began wr i t i ng
how lonely he wa s ; that he m i s s ed the boys ; that he gave
up h i s j ob with the Miss ion , and that he d i d not f e e l
we l l , and that h e wanted t o s e e me .
He kept wr i t i ng that
he cou l d not see any reason why I d i dn ' t go back home ,
get mar r i ed and open an o f f ice in Dama scus where I am
My answers were not
needed and be c lose to him .
s a t i s factory .
So h i s wr iting style changed ,
about his phy s i ca l cond i t ion :
now mostly
that he had been examined
by two doctors ; that he had ga l l stones wh i ch mus t be
r emoved by surgery ; that he wa s sure that he wou l d not
surv ive ,
and that he wanted to see me before he d i ed .
So
I dec ided to go home for three months .
I
packed my persona l belong i ngs and my denta l
i nstruments hop ing to be ab l e to do some work f o r my
f o lks and left late in September on the North German
L l oyd s teamer " Be r l i n " for Nap les ,
connect ion there on the steamer ,
I t a ly , and made
" Pr i n z He inr i ch , " for
A lexandr i a , Egypt , hop ing to make connect ion there on the
Khed i ve Lines for Beirut . But though the steamer was
r eady ,
I cou ld not get aboard because they told me that
a l l the staterooms were occup i ed .
When I protested
say ing that my ticket ca l led for a stateroom on the ship ,
they s a i d that the only th ing they had wa s a p l ace in a
two bed room with another pas senger .
I accepted and no
s ooner that I embarked that the steamer l e f t and the be l l
59
�rang for lunch .
I left my luggage i n the room and went
After lunch , the pas senger s went up t o the
for lunch .
Wh i l e wa i t ing , a man c ame up
promenade deck for coffee .
carrying a sma l l tray on wh ich was a c o f f ee pot and a few
sma l l cups .
He was dressed in or ient a l garb .
He went
d i r ect ly to a gent lemen s itting on a cha ir watch i ng the
crowd and of f ered him a cup .
I nstead o f tak ing i t , the
gent l emen brought the carr i er directly to me and s a i d ,
" You are the gent l emen who wa s a s s igned to my room ,
I
w i l l not take the coffee un l e s s you share i t w ith me . "
S o I took the cup saying ,
" I am honored , S i r , thank you . "
Dur ing that afternoon and the f o l l ow i ng day other f avors
such a s or ienta l sweets or fru its were served by h i s men ,
but a lways o f f ered to me f i rst .
The evening o f the last
n i ght on board , we were stand ing on the ra i l i ng watch ing
the Lebanese shore , and he a sked me about the po l it i c a l
s itua t i on in Be irut .
I told h im that I had been away
f r om the country for several years , and he changed the
sub j ect . About ten o ' c lock ,
that on the morrow ,
I begged to be excused saying
I was go ing to meet my f o lks who were
com i ng to meet me and I had better retire .
could not s l eep .
I n my room ,
Long a fter midnight , the l ight was
turned on and a s he came in he s a id ,
" I am sorry that I awakened you . "
" That ' s a l l r ight , " I s a id .
" I ' m not a s l eep
for the excitement i s too much for me . "
60
I
�" I am very nervous for the morrow ; I am Abido ,
the out l aw from B e i rut , " he s a id .
" I have been
exi led from Be irut with the threat that shou ld
I r eturn , I wou ld be t aken stra ight to j a i l .
But they can ' t do that to Abido .
Don ' t you see
my henchmen? They are a l l armed and we have a
group coming out o f B e i rut to meet u s w i th
boats .
We have a rope f a stened at the stern o f
the ship and be fore the ship reaches t h e port
of Be irut , they w i l l come out to meet u s and we
wi l l go down on the rope to the boat s . Woe be
to h im who tr ies to stop us . "
H e unbuttoned h i s coat and there shined two revo lvers at
the h i lt . Need l e s s to say , there was no further s leep for
e ither o f us nor further comment .
We j us t r e c l i ned on
our beds t o awa it the break o f day .
I must have do z ed ,
f o r the deep b l owing o f the horn o f the s h ip brought me
to l i f e .
I rushed up to deck j ust i n t ime to see the
bo.a t s coming out with men and women com ing to the ship to
we lcome and rece ive the passengers a s the ship cou ld not
approach the shore .
with
Among the boats ,
I recogn i z ed one
my f ather , s i ster , cous in Shukr i , and a he lper who
was to take care of my luggage through customs .
After a
b r i e f per iod Shukri and I went to the stateroom t o get my
l uggage but there was no s ign o f any luggage ther e .
We
rushed up to the purser and told him our story and the
61
�f irst thi ng he asked wa s ,
" D id you have your room
l ocked? " The answer was no , and he s a id ,
r e spons i bl e . "
He cont inued ,
" We are not
" Hurry and look f or them in
the customs , you might catch the thi eves . " We hur r i ed but
were stopped by an o f f icer and told to go to the p a s sport
o f f ice for ident i f icat ion .
When we told him o f our l o s s
a n d begged for permiss ion t o g o and search , he permitted
us to go .
But i t wa s a l l in va i n .
My cou s i n asked i f I
had a companion and I told h im the s tory of Ab ido .
s a id ,
He
" Ab ido wa s pardoned by the sultan a f ew days ago ,
i t wa s i n the newspaper . "
Ab i do ' s house .
We took a cab and went to
We found the house was fu l l with
we l l -w i shers .
When Ab ido saw me , he rushed to grasp my
hand and s a id ,
" I didn ' t di e l "
c ongratulatory words ,
After a few
I asked a bout my luggage of wh i ch ,
o f cours e , he had no knowledge ,
and ca l l ing one o f the
men who were with us , we l earned that a l l the luggage
that was in the cabin wa s brought s a f e ly horne , wh i ch o f
course inc luded mine .
We thanked them for the i r troub l e
and for saving us from hav ing to go through customs .
Natur a l ly I didn ' t go back to check my pas sport .
Whe n an
o f f icer from the Immigration carne to the Kassab Brother ' s
store to check on the incoming stranger he was told that
h e wa s a relat ive of the fami ly and that he wi l l only be
here for a short v i s i t .
I was so worr i ed about my f ather and h i s t a lk
62
�about an opera t i on that the very next day I took h im to
h i s doctor who , a fter a thorough examinat ion , a s sured me
that my f ather had a case of ga l l stones wh ich cou ld be
taken care of with med ication and that no operat i o n was
neces sary .
My f ather was not sat i s f ied becaus e he s a id
that h i s doctor in Damascus had s a id that h i s p a i n i n h i s
back wou l d not b e cured without a n operat ion .
sat i s fy myse l f ,
S o to
I took h im to that c ity . Dr . McK inon , who
was the M i s s ion ' s doctor and a o ld f r iend of my f ather ,
t o l d me ,
" Your father wi l l not be s at i s f i ed unt i l he gets
a n operat i on . He i s in good shape .
s ometh ing t o do .
What he needs i s
My advice to you i s to get h im
s ometh ing to occupy h i s t ime . "
I t was good advice ,
f or
my f ather had begun to comp l a i n short ly after he had
g iven up his work the M i s s ion .
Ad j o ining our garden in f ront of the house in
B ludan , there was a v ineyard ( karm ) wh ich I thought would
be a very important add i t io'n to our property .
My f ather
thought it wou l d be wonderful but it was too expens ive .
I a sked ,
" How much do you think it i s worth? "
s a i d that the owner wanted one hundred pounds .
My f ather
I said ,
" Don ' t you th ink that wou ld be better than an operat i on? "
I can st i l l see the smi l e on my f ather ' s f ace when I
said ,
" You go over to B ludan tomorrow and buy i t . "
The
karm wa s bought and deeded in my name .
The next prob l em wa s where to spend the w i nter .
63
�B ludan was out o f the question for i t was too c o l d , and
D ama scus p o l i t i ca l ly was not s a f e .
B e i rut wa s the p l ace .
We dec ided that
We rented an apartment wh i ch was
supposed to be furni shed , but it had only b a s i c furn i ture
and we were obl iged to bring from B l udan our bare
neces s i t i e s .
t ime .
Though we were crowded , we had a very good
I apprec i ated every minute that I spent w ith my
f a ther .
I had l eft home as an immature boy and returned
a mature man and I could talk to h im a s an equa l .
I knew
f r om the nearly s ix hundred l etters that he had written
to us in America that my father was o f an unusua l
character - honest , truthfu l ,
was generous yet thr i fty .
l oving and unse l f i sh .
I cou ld now under stand why the
B ludanese loved him and wou ld swear by Abu Wadea .
was working ' on h i s teeth ,
When I
and would hurt h im a l it t l e , he
wou ld l ook up to me and say ,
r evenge ? "
He
" Ar e you tak ing your
I wou ld rep ly , ' " O f cours e .
How e l s e could I
have kept order? "
The t ime for my departure approached ,
a l l owed myse l f three months .
I had
I had a wonde r f u l vacat ion ,
and my mind was at ease about my father .
Now back to my
o b l igat i ons .
B idding my s i ster Fareedeh goodbye she s a i d ,
"I
have been th ink i ng that s i nce you have never been to
P a l est ine , and s ince you are s o interested in Sunday
s choo l work , I th ink that it wou ld be good for you to go
64
�I s a id ,
and see i t . "
" That ' s a very good s ugge s t i on ,
I
sha l l do i t . "
The s teamer ' s f irst stop was Ha i f a .
I got o f f
and surpr i sed my unc l e I skander , stayed w ith h im f o r the
r e s t of the day and the f o l l owing day took the t r a i n to
Jerusa l em , a three hour drive .
I entered the coach and
got the best seat next to a window ,
for we were g o i ng
through B ib l e c ountry and I wanted to study the s c enery .
I had w ith me the maps that I had bought i n Ha i f a .
S oon
the coach began to be f i l led with p a s s enger s and
present ly a man with f l owing robes and a green turban ( a
s ign that he had made the hadj to Mecca )
me and greeted me with " A l s a a l am Alykum . "
t ickets were c o l l ected ,
survey them .
sat down next to
After the
I took out the maps and began to
My seat mate l ooked over and s a i d ,
you are a tour i st .
speak good Arabic . "
" I s ee ,
I thought you wer e an Arab s ince you
I rep l i ed that I was Arab , that I
had not seen th i s part o f the c ountry before , and that I
was g o i ng to v i s i t Jerusa l em .
you f r om? "
Then he asked ,
" Where are
I r ep l i ed that I was f rom Dama s cu s but that I
had gone to Ame r i ca .
" Oh , " he s a id ,
" I am f r om D amascu s
a n d mak i ng a bus iness trip to Jerus a lem . "
The
conversat ion qu i eted for a l ittle wh i l e so I turned to my
maps .
But not for long .
s a id .
" I s i t a s wonderful as they say? "
" T e l l me about Ame r i c a , " he
He kept ask ing
one quest ion a fter another and I rea l i z ed that i t wa s no
65
�u s e , the part o f the country that was o f interest to me
had passed by , so I fo lded the maps .
f o r a minute .
a sked h im ,
said ,
We wer e now s i lent
I thought that I had o f f ended h im .
So I
" Now t e l l me something about your s e l f . "
He
" I am a Mu l l ah and I be long to the great mosque of
D amascu s ; I have made my visit to the Holy Mecca and I
dec ided to pay my respects to our Holy Shr ine i n
Jeru s a l em . "
" We l l , " I s a id ,
" We a r e then o n the s ame
m i s s i on . "
It was gett ing towards noon and he took out o f
h i s pocket a sma l l package saying ,
" I am hungry . "
I
could see that i t had a loaf o f bread , chees e , and
o l ives , and saying ,
" B i sm E l ah Alrahaman Alraheem , " he
p a s sed the package to me .
s ay ing ,
I thanked h im ,
" You must break bread with me . "
sma l l p i ece and he s a id ,
but he ins i sted
So I took a
" Now we are brothers . "
I n a few
m inut e s a fter that we approached the stat ion , and as he
descended the steps of the car , he turned to me and s a id ,
" M.' a e l S a lameh . "
After s ecur ing my lodg ing and with map i n hand ,
I toured the important p l aces of Jeru s a l em and
environment and I took the l etter of introduct ion that my
unc l e had wr itten .
I gave it to h i s f r iend and he was
very p l ea s ed to do someth ing for unc le .
He showed me the
Mosque of Omar and the el Aks a and exp l a i ned t o me the i r
h i stories and the stages o f rebu i lding .
66
He then took me
�downstairs and showed me the Chamber o f Prayer .
v i s it was very instruct ive .
The
There was one p l ace l e f t on
my map and I dec ided to v i s i t Bethl ehem .
I h ired a
donkey even though the d i stance was not very far .
There
were many tour i s t s f rom my hot e l who were go i ng by bus .
The owne r of the donkey pra i sed the anima l t o be very
good and everyth ing was a l l r ight when I started .
But
when I d i smounted , he started to retreat towards home and
i n t ime I caught h i s br id l e .
No matter how hard I
pu l led , he had the better o f me ,
so I l et h im go and I
cont i nued wa lking towards Bethlehem .
How impress ive i s
the exterior o f the Church o f the Nativ ity ; and how deep
a n impress ion is left on your memory when you l ook at the
grotto where the Baby Savior was born .
There were others
b e s ide me at that sacred spot but no one had power to say
a word .
On the way ,
returned .
The owner reached to pay me back ,
d i d that to you too? "
it . "
I stopped to s e e i f the a n ima l had
I said ,
" Keep it ,
say i ng ,
"He
it was worth
I wa lked s lowly back to the c ity med itat ing on j us t
what h a d happened .
I saw a crowd mov ing s l owly ,
for
every l ittle wh i l e they wou ld get on the ir knee s and
chant someth ing that I could not understand .
They were
Rus s ian p i lgr ims recit ing the stations of the cross .
f o l l owed s l owly to the Church o f the Holy Sepu lche r .
I
I
had been there the day before but what I had gone through
67
�today put me in an ent i r e ly d i f f er ent sp ir i t .
I t has been s a id and j us t ly that there are many
more things yet to be d i scovered in Pa l e s t i ne than what
a lr eady has been uncovered , and that a person cou l d spend
h i s who l e l i f e i n the ir pur suit but without succe s s .
I
wa s g l ad that I took my s i ster ' s advice and c ame over .
I
s aw in a f ew days so many thing s that took me back
thousands of years in h i story .
For now ,
I j ust wanted
to expe r ience the same f e e l ing that one on my fr i ends had
as he stood on Mount O l ives and ga z ed at the expanse o f
Jerus a l em before h im , with the sun bathing t h e go lden
cup o l a o f the temp l e and re f l ect ing its rays w ith an
imprint which one can never f orget .
have t h a t exper i ence today _
I hoped that I wou ld
O f cour s e ,
the tour i s t and
the p i lgrim are shown many p l aces and told many stor i e s
wh i ch c o u l d n o t p o s s i b l y be genu ine or true , wh i l e others
are probably genu ine .
True , too , mountains a nd h i l l s of
themse lves cannot change , bu i ld ings and other s i tes
cr.e ated by the hands o f man do change . Mount Z ion or Mt .
Mor i a do not change , but the bu i ld ings constructed on
them do change .
David .
One p l ace that i s genu ine i s the Tomb of
Today there i s a mosque on the s ite .
Not only i s
Dav id bur i ed there but a l s o h i s son S o l omon and others o f
t h e good anc ient kings o f I srae l .
Th i s mosque i s near
the C loenacu lum , the upper room where the Lord had h i s
l a s t supper with h i s d i sc ip l e s .
68
There was a mosque bu i lt
�over the tomb with a wide door and a passage t o another
court l ead ing to the mosque . I s aw the door opened and
the passage lead ing to the s econd door .
Just a s I moved
to enter the mosque I was rough ly stopped by two a rmed
men who c a l l ed me " the cursed p ig . "
I am sure that I
wou ld have been s everely beaten or ser iou s ly i n j ured had
not a man with f l owing robes and a turban i nterfered .
ca l l ed to them to stop and to me " I cht i fee . "
He
Though my
knee s began to shake , I managed to d i s appear .
I t was the
h a j j i who wa s my seat mate on the tra i n from Ha i f a to
I wanted to wa it to thank h im , but I was
Jerus a l em .
shaken with fear and thought that it wou ld be wiser to
comp ly with his order to disappear .
I managed to f i nd
the narrow wind i ng street to reach my l odg i ng s .
I
must have l ooked fr ightened ,
at the desk o f the lodg ing house sa id ,
f o r the c l erk
" You ' re sure ly
l ucky because they could have been very rough w ith you .
There are only two persons who are not mos l ems who have
s een i n s ide the mosque .
One is the Prince o f Wa l e s ,
and
the other Ka i s er Wi lhe lm of Germany by a spec i a l order
from the Sultan .
But s ince you didn ' t go i n you are in
no danger . "
Just before sunset ,
I ventured out t o get a
l a st look at Jerus a l em from the top o f Mt . O l ives .
Though the v i ew wa s magn i f icent with the rays o f the sun
b l a z i ng on the cupola of the temple ,
69
I did not get the
�f e e l i ng that my f r i end had previou s l y descr ibed .
Howeve r ,
the words of the Lord came to mind and I f e l t
mys e l f say ing ,
" Oh , Jerusa l em , Jerusalem .
Thou that k i l l e st
the prophets and stone st them wh ich are sent t o thee ;
How often wou ld I have gathered thy chi ldren together
even as a hen gathers her chickens under her w ings , and
ye wou ld not .
Behold , your house i s left unto you
d e s o late . "
I t was the t ime to be back to my work ,
took the tra in back to Ha i f a .
so I
The f o l l ow i ng day I l e f t
by steamer f o r Al exandr ia , then Genoa , Par i s ,
c r o s s ed the
E ng l i sh Channe l to London , Southampton , New York and
horne .
The fo lks were happy to we lcome me ,
espec i a l ly
Wadea , because he was anx ious to get r i d o f my p a t i ents .
I d i d not waste any t ime , becaus e the s ervice that my
pat i ents had rece ived from Wadea wa s j ust enough t o t ide
them over unt i l I returned .
I was g l ad to get t o work
f or I had a good restfu l vacat ion .
At that t ime my s i ster Ade l e f in i shed her
tra in ing a s a nurse and carne over expect ing to f ind work ;
but she cou ld not because her diploma was not r ecogn i z ed
i n th i s country ,
To be e l ig ib l e wou ld requ ire a year ' s
s tudy here in Amer ica .
Ade l e d i d not want to do that
becau s e her hea lth wa s not good enough ,
so rather than
s e e ing her idle , we suggested open ing a sma l l store and
70
�start i ng in bus iness .
She was del i ghted .
We rented a
sma l l shop oppos ite the Young Women ' s Chr i st i an
A s s o c i a t i on and stocked it with art i c l e s that were o f
i nterest to women .
Naj eeb he lped her by s end i ng a fu l l
Ade l e wa s very
l in e o f embro ider ies from New York .
She cou ld kn i t and embro ider and
c l ever w ith her hands .
she taught many of her customers .
She d i d quite we l l .
Not long a fter Ade l e l e ft home , my f ather ' s
letters began to show s igns of lone l iness , yet he stopped
a s k ing the boys and me espec i a l ly to come f o r a v i s i t .
I t turned out that dur ing the short war ,
I ta ly-Turkey , he
was v i s ited by an agent from the gove rnment demand i ng why
Ae lyas and N a j eeb Kassab did not re spond when they were
c a l led t o serve in the army .
My f ather rep l i ed that the
boys had l ong ago gone to America and proba b l y d i dn ' t
The agent s a i d that he had
know a nyth ing about it .
better arrange to pay for a sUbst itute or e l s e the boys
wou l d be cons idered AWOL .
Father ' s l etter showed that he
was greatly d i sturbed . I wrote h im not to worry , that we
were now both Amer icans and that it wou ld take more than
the Turks to get us .
I
added that s i nce he was a l one
there was no reason why he wouldn ' t come to pay u s a
v i s it , that he wou ld see not only u s ,
but h i s
grandch i ldren and th i s great country . T o prove our
s i ncer ity that a l l expenses were guaranteed , Wadea and I
enc l o s ed the pr ice o f a t icket .
71
To our great surpr i s e he
�wrote that he wou ld come a fter he attended to some
important th ing s .
We cont inued ins i st ing week a fter week
that we were wa i t ing to hear the news that he had set the
date and when no f avorable answer came ,
say ing ,
" Dad ,
I wrote h im
I never knew you to go back on your word . "
H e rep l i ed that he wou l d f i n i sh h i s work i n ten days and
that he wou ld go to Beirut and buy h i s t i cket and be on
h i s way .
Th i s cheered us a l l . Unfortunately ,
soon
therea fter , we had a l etter f rom cou s i n Ameen say ing that
he took f ather to buy the t i cket from Thomas Cook and
Sons whos e o f f ice wa s on the shore s ide fac ing the sea .
I t was a very stormy day and the waves were h igh ,
str iking the stony wa l l .
When my f ather s aw that he
changed his mind , and noth ing could change it .
Father
was terr i f ied of the water from a bad expe r i ence he had
a s a chi ld .
H i s unc l e N i ck who l ived in D j oun i eh , took
f ather out to teach him how to swim .
Somehow f ather
s l i pped f rom his care and nearly drowned and ever s ince
h e. dreaded the s ight of the sea .
Ameen s a id ,
not use , arguments were to no ava i l . "
his r e fusa l to go .
" There was
He wa s adamant in
My f ather wrote begg ing us to excuse
h im , that it was beyond his contro l . He p l eaded with me
to come say ing that it had been a long t ime s i nce I had
had a vacation and that l i fe wa s too short and that he
wanted to see me before he d i ed , etc .
Wadea a l s o
e ncouraged me and promi sed t o take care of my pract ice
72
�and to l ook a fter M i s s Mary , who had had a stroke .
I
dec ided to make the trip .
I l e ft New York by steamer f o r London where I
spent about a week see ing the s ights .
There were two
t h i ngs that I wa s anx ious to see : the Rosetta stone , and
the anc i ent manuscr ipts in the London Museum .
I a lso
wanted to pay my respects t o the memory o f Char l e s
D i ckens i n Westminster Abbey .
I had a very p l easant
v i s it . w ith Mr . B . W . Mat z who wa s then the secretary of
the D i ckens F e l lowship .
He o f f ered to show me the s ites
and s ights immorta l i z ed by D i ckens .
I did not accept
say ing that I wou ld impos e on h i s t ime and I thanked him
j us t the s ame .
He corresponded with M i s s Mary a lmost
every week .
Par i s was then next on the s chedu l e .
the Channe l without gett ing s i ck .
I crossed
I had a great surp r i s e
when I went t o v i s i t our dear fr iend George Mossaw i r ,
whose brother marr ied my cous in S e lma .
He told me that I
had j ust m i s sed my brother Naj eeb who was on h i s way to
F l orence ,
Italy .
He a l s o told me that Unc l e I skander
with Cous in Az i z were a l s o in Par i s on the ir way to
Constant inop l e and Be irut , and that my s i ster with her
husband were spend ing the ir honeymoon i n Par i s in an
apartment near the Arc de Triomph .
Az i z and I v i s ited
with my s i ster and her husband for a short wh i l e , then
got l odg ings nearby .
Unc le and cou s i n were spend ing j ust
73
�two days in Par i s and were then l eaving for
Constant inop l e via the or ient Expre s s .
My t icket to
B e i rut was via the Med i terranean , and at my unc l e ' s
ins i stence , I canceled my t i cket and j o ined them on the
train .
He even paid the d i f f erence in the fare .
We l e ft Par i s in the morning for Vienna ,
stopped only to change engines , then on to B e lgrade
cros s ing the Alps through the S imp lon Tunne l .
As we
moved from one country to another , we showed our
pas sports .
The train had only one s l eeping berth
unoccup i ed and we a l lotted it to Unc l e I skander .
Az i z
and I passed the t ime e i ther in our seats or walk ing i n
t h e corr idor .
When we reached the Austr ian border , the
conductor accompanied by an Austrian pol iceman checked
our pas sports .
Just bef ore go ing to s l eep Unc l e I skander
r ea l i z ing that at each border he was go ing to be awakened
for th i s f orma l ity , showed the conductor where he p l aced
the p a ssport and begged him not to wake h im .
Everyth i ng
went we l l unt i l we reached the Turk i sh border .
Unc l e ' s surpr i s e , there wa s no passport .
s a id ,
To
The o f f icer
" I am sorry , Mi ster , we ' l l have to deta in you . "
Unc l e charged the conductor with tak i ng it .
s a id to Unc l e ,
f o l l owed .
" Come with me . "
The o f f icer
He l ed the way and we a l l
Unc l e didn ' t te l l us that one of h i s customers
w ith whom he wa s do ing bus iness wa s coming to meet him .
74
�When he m i ssed h im at the gate o f the stat ion , he began
to ask and look for h im .
He surmised that i t might be
pas sport troub l e . As he entered the o f f ice , he shouted ,
" What are you do ing here ? " " Someone stole my p a s sport , "
r ep l ied my unc le , and turn ing to the conductor , h e
cont inued ,
" You s aw it an hour ago . "
turned t o the conductor and s a id ,
my fr i end l ike that .
Unc l e ' s f r i end
" I t is a shame to treat
You must produce the pas sport th i s
a fternoon or e l se I ' l l hold you accountab l e .
S ir . "
Come on ,
They never bothered looking at our pas sports .
Th i s was good for me ,
for I entered the country
un i de nt i f ied .
We stayed in I stanbu l long enough for Unc l e to
f in i sh his bus iness wh i l e Az i z and I exp l ored the
beaut i f u l c ity and then we boarded the steamer Portuga l ,
the s ame steamer that f i fteen years before took me on my
l ap o f the j ourney to Amer ica .
Greek i s l ands of the Aegean Sea .
c la s s ,
We s a i l ed through the
We were trave l ing f irst
so I took Unc le and Az i z and showed them how I
trav e l ed on th i s steamer " on deck " and I wanted t o show
them how they put us in the ho ld o f the ship ,
but a s we
went down the steps Unc l e cou ld not stand the stench and
came back up .
We had a very warm we lcome i n Be i rut , mo st
members o f the f am i ly came out in boats to greet us .
pas sport prob l em caused troub le aga in .
that I must not show mine ,
The
Every one dec ided
in fact my father took it away
75
�from me .
Our d i stant relat ive by marr i age N i c o l a
Mos s aw i r s a id ,
" Leave it t o me ,
then gave m e h i s t i cket ,
I c a n hand l e i t . "
"Admi t one , " and s a i d ,
He
" That
w i l l take care o f you , and I ' l l manage to get out . "
then told Ameen to look a fter our luggage .
He
Fortuna t e l y
everyth ing worked out a l l r i ght .
The next f ew days , we had the prob l em o f where
t o spend the summer .
I t was the midd l e o f July 1 9 1 4 and
the wor ld wa s a s t i r with the news of war .
I ndeed we had
seen s igns of i t a s we trave led here from P ar i s ,
for at
every stat i on we saw sold iers on and around the stat ion
i n group s , earnestly talk ing with worr i ed faces
apparent ly d i scuss ing the threat of war .
Ameen who had
an entree to the Eng l ish papers reported that the t a l k
about w a r was preva lent everywhere .
H i s op i n i on was that
we shou l d rent a place in Lebanon c l ose to B e i rut where
i n case o f troub l e we wou ld be safe .
I n case o f war ,
B e i rut was not s a f e because in 1 8 6 1 the Great P ower s
f orced the Turks t o free Lebanon , but the agreement
exc luded B e i rut .
We rented a large house in Bhamdoun in
the Lebanon Mountains large enough to accommodate our
f am i l y wh ich inc luded s i ster Asma and her two ch i ldren ,
Ameen and f am i l y with Shukr i , Az i z and Mar i e .
spar s e ly furn ished but f a ir ly comfortable .
I t was
That wa s a
good arrangement for Ameen and h i s brothers were a b l e to
go down to the ir work in the morning and return for
76
�s upper and a cool night ' s s l eep .
We had hoped t o spend a
beaut i fu l vacat i on together , but a l a s our hopes were
shattered by the dark c louds of war .
August f irst ,
On Sunday n ight
I was awakened at midnight by cous i n Ameen
who had arrived f rom Be irut with the awful news that war
was dec lared and that a l l exits from B e i rut were b l ocked
by the a rmy .
Ha l f awake , I j umped f rom my bed and s a i d ,
" I must l e ave at once . "
He s a id ,
" Wake up , Ae lyas ,
and talk rat i o na l ly .
Y ou
can ' t go down to Be i rut for you wi l l be caught
at once .
I j ust arrived f r om the c ity and the
pol ice are a lready at the border s .
Now give me
a l l the checks , dra fts on Thoma s Cook and S ons .
I am go ing back now so that I w i l l be at Cook ' s
o f f ice where they wi l l cash them for me .
It is
better t o be on the s a fe s ide . "
He took them and went down and cashed them .
And what a w i s e thought that wa s for the banks c l osed
that day and hard cash was unava i lab l e .
How the f am i ly
wou ld have suffered that summer had Ameen not ca shed the
checks !
When the news spread , everybody who could get
out of Be irut was on the way to Lebanon and the roads
were c l ogged with vehicles and with pede s t r i ans carry ing
t h e i r be long ings .
where to go .
They squatted on the road not knowing
They j ust wanted to be away from under
77
�But soon it was announced that the
Turk i sh ru le .
government had abrogated the Cap itu lat ion wh i ch had made
Lebanon free and that now Lebanon was under Turk i sh ru l e .
I t was a l s o announced that a l l men o f m i l i tary age shoul d
regi ster in the army and those who p r e f e r n o t to s e rve in
the army wou ld be excused. by pay ing for a sUbst itute .
For a wh i le nobody paid any attent i on to these orders
be l ieving that Lebanon wa s a free state and that the
Tur k i sh author ities wou ld not dare put the i r f oot on
Lebanon ' s so i l .
But they soon saw the Turki sh po l ice
a round and they began to f l ee to the mounta ins .
My
cous ins , because of the i r bus ine s s in Be irut , p a i d the
f e e and they were ab l e to go through the cordon of p o l i c e
w i thout any d i f f iculty .
When the government found that very f ew obeyed
the ca l l for regi strat ion ,
searching the houses .
it started a program o f
When the searchers wou ld show up
a nywhere , watchers wou ld sound the a larm and thos e who
were e l i g i b l e wou ld disappear .
Naj eeb and I twi c e l e f t
o u r beds at n ight and sought re fuge in a house that had
j us t been searched .
Thus went our summer ; had it not been f o r the
war we wou ld have had a very de l ightful vacat i on ; now the
worry was how to get out . Everybody wa s g i v ing advice ,
for examp l e , work on a boat that s a i l s between D j oun i eh
and Cypress .
About the f irst o f October Ameen c ame up
78
�f rom B e i rut and s a id ,
steamer ,
" I have good news for you .
Sphinx , o f the Message r i Mar it ime ,
and is l eaving in two days for Franc e .
The
is i n B e i rut
I t i s go i ng t o
stop at D j oun ieh and maybe you c a n board her there . "
So
N a j eeb and I went to D j oun i eh with brother - in - l aw S a l eem
Haddad and wa ited .
Sure enough the Sph inx came a l ong
f o l lowed by a Turk ish gunboat and both anchored .
There
were many peop l e bes ides us wa i t ing t o board her , but
b e f or e any one could reach the ship a sma l l tug boat with
a po l i ceman and two gendarmes came a shore and announced
that no one who didn ' t have a Lebane s e pas sport wou l d be
a l l owed to board the ship .
they got on .
Few peop l e wer e lucky and
After loading the cargo , the ship l i f ted
anchor and s a i led .
How disappo inted we were ! Ameen was
p lann ing a trip for us to Cyprus whe n he heard that the
Sph inx wa s mak i ng a trip to D j oun i eh aga i n t o p ick up a
cargo the same a s before .
Th i s t ime S a leem Haddad , who
used to l ive in D j oun ieh and who worked there as the
sup e r i ntendent of a mi l l mak ing f l our , knew the boatman
qu ite we l l and thought that he might be a b l e to get u s
on .
We were at D j ouni eh on the appo i nted day and the
s ame scene happened as before .
Sa l eem went up to the
boatman he knew from before and s a i d to him ,
are my peop l e .
p a s sport .
" Look , these
They are Amer icans and have an Amer i can
They a l so had an exit v i s a to l eave Lebanon . "
Tak i ng an Eng l i sh sovere ign from h i s pocket he cont i nued ,
79
�" I ' l l g ive th i s to you i f you can get them on that s h ip . "
The boatman ' s eyes got big when he saw the gold c o i n and
he s a id ,
" Do they have a Lebanese pas sport?
You know
that no one can board the ship without it . "
r ep l i ed ,
" I f they had Lebanese pas sport s ,
o f fer you th i s c o in . "
r ight ,
I ' l l go .
us he s a i d ,
I wou ldn ' t
Hassan the boatman rep l i ed ,
"All
I have noth ing to lose , " and turn ing to
" Leave it a l l to me .
you understand?
S a l e em
Don ' t say a word , do
G ive me your passports . "
w ith
trep idat i on , we went a l ong and when we reached the boat
Has san shouted ,
" Good morn ing . " There were no answer .
Then Hassan s a i d in a qu i et moderated vo ice ,
A l ikom , " to wh ich he go the usua l rep ly ,
"Al S a laam
" Wa A l i kom Al
S a laam . " Hassan got c l oser and then handed over the
p a s sports and s a id ,
" Ya Seed i , the s e two young men are
Amer icans and here are the ir pas sports . " The o f f icer
r ep l i e d ,
" None but Lebanese can leave . "
" I thought that they cou ld go .
Hassan answered ,
They even showed me the ir
e x.it permit . " " They don ' t know what they are talk ing
about , " s a id the o f f icer .
" Li sten to me , " begged Ha ssan ,
" For God ' s sake and our Holy Prophet , they a s sured me
that they were r ight and they showed me the exit permit .
Just l ook at it p lea se .
Wa l l ah i ,
I haven ' t made a Bara
for so long and my chi ldren cry every day that I go home
w ithout a loaf of bread . "
Th i s wa s s a id wi th such a
broken down vo ice that the o f f i cer took one f rom me and
80
�a s he opened i t , h i s back wa s to the sun and a s the sun
h it the sheet ,
I cou ld see that the s e a l was on top o f
the page wh ich indicated that the o f f icer d i d not know
a ny European language and h i s attempt at read i ng was only
a sham .
But he started asking me ,
" Who are you , what ' s
your name , where are you from , where are you g o i ng , " to
wh i ch I made no answer .
He opened my brother ' s p a s sport
and a sked the s ame quest ions with the s ame result .
Meanwh i l e Hassan was talk ing very rap idly ,
ch i ldren have not eaten .
" For days my
May God s end us some money .
Our prophet b l e s sed thos e that fed the hungry ; b l e s s ed
and promi sed them long l i fe , " and as he saw the o f f icer
f o ld Na j eeb ' s passport said ,
Rash i d .
" My name i s Hassan abo
Ask for me , everybody knows me . "
w i th that the
o f f icer pointed us towards the ship .
None o f the three of us s a i d a word unt i l we
were far away from the boat , then my brother a sked ,
d i d you do it? "
it.
" How
Hassan s a id that the last sentence d id
I s a id noth ing unt i l I he ld the ra i l i ng and put my
f oot on the step of the ship for I knew then that I was
on a French ship and Unc le Sam was back ing me up .
N a j eeb ,
I told
" There is a book cal l ed P i lgr im ' s Progr e s s ,
ma in character i s a man cal led Chr i st i an .
its
He was
trave l ing on the road of l i fe with a big bund l e o f h i s
m i sdeed o n h i s back , and o n h i s way , h e saw the face o f
Chr i s t and as h e looked a t it that heavy bund l e f e l l o f f
81
�Now I am l ike him .
h i s back .
That big bund l e o f worry
has f a l len o f f our backs , may i t never return . "
Up on deck , we found a f ew pass enger s who had
gotten on ear l ier in the morning and they congratu l ated
u s when they heard our story . When the ship f in i shed
load ing its cargo ,
it returned to B e i rut and ear l y i n the
a f t ernoon the passengers from B e irut began to embark .
We
kept watch ing to see i f someone perchance m ight have our
l uggage ,
for our brother - i n - l aw Sa leem had agreed that a s
soon a s he s a w us go ing to the ship , he wou ld return to
B e i rut with our luggage and g ive it in trust for s omeone
t o g ive it to u s .
As it turned out , my aunt a nd her
daughter who had spent the summer in Lebanon and who were
now returning to cairo g l adly accepted the j ob .
A l l the
conversat i on among the passengers was about the upheava l
i n Lebanon and the good fortune of thos e who were a b l e to
l eave .
We arr iVed in Alexandr ia in good t ime and we
t o.ok the train to cairo .
Aunt i e ins i sted that we go home
and stay with her , that she had a spare room ,
wou l d accept no refusa l .
and she
Our prob l em now wa s how t o
reach London where there wa s a committee for stranded
Ame r icans .
The banks in Ca iro were c losed and Aunt i e
hardly had enough cash t o take care o f her d i r e needs .
Then I r emembered that f ive years ear l i er , the bank o f
C a i ro c l osed its doors and a student who w a s study i ng
82
�dent istry at the Univer s i ty of Pennsy lvan i a was u na b l e to
pay the t u i t i on for the second s eme ster o f the year a nd
wou ld not have been able to cont inue h i s cour s e had not
the Dean of the scho o l told him ,
" There is a countryman
of your s prac t i c ing in Chester .
Go s e e h im , he m i ght be
a b l e to help you . "
He carne and I he lped h im .
h i s o f f i c e in Cairo and went to see h im .
s tory and he s a id ,
" My dear Kas sab ,
your k indness to me .
I l ocated
I told him my
I ' l l never f orget
You know that the banks are c l o sed
and I don ' t have loose cash , but I ' l l not s e e you
stranded .
Come w ith me . "
we entered a store .
owner ,
We wa lked a short d i s tance and
After introduc ing me , he s a i d to the
" G i ve me a pound ( Egypt i an ) . "
" Ar e you cra z y? "
My fri end s a id ,
have t ime to argue .
I am serious ,
H i s f r i end rep l i ed ,
" Come on now ,
I don ' t
I am in a hurry . "
He
got h i s pound . He tried the same on another store w ith
the s ame resul t .
A l l that a fternoon , he went from p l ace
t o p lace , begg ing from some .
Fina l ly he r a i sed the
required amount o f f i fteen pounds .
He wanted to take me
around the c ity but I re fused saying that t ime was very
short and that I wanted to go and t e l l my brother who wa s
i nqui r ing about steamer ' s schedu l e s .
I prom i s ed that I
wou l d send h im the money as soon a s I reached Ches ter ,
and I inv ited h im to v i s i t me in America .
Naj eeb found out that the f irst ship reach ing
London wa s the Wh ite star L iner Pers i a wh i ch was
83
�s chedu led to depart in two on three days depending on
when i t arr ived f rom Austra l i a , and that if we wanted to
t rave l on her we wou ld need c l earance from the B r i t i sh
Embassy .
The author ities there were very g l ad to s e e us .
They kept asking us in deta i l about the s ituat ion i n
B e i rut .
We told them a l l that we knew . Having rece ived
our c l earance and a permit to leave Cairo , we went by
t r a i n to Port S a id and wa ited .
The Per s i a wa s a l it t l e
late because s h e had to change h e r cours e s evera l t imes
i n order to escape from the German r a ider " Emden . "
Because she was late , she did not tarry l ong .
I t was
crowded but we got on and need l e s s to say we were very
anx i ou s when the Persia cont inued to change her course
through the Med i terranean .
we r eached G ibra ltar .
However , out m inds e a s ed when
The weather was bad enough t o make
us s ea s i ck when we s a i l ed through the Bay of B i s cay .
When we reached the Eng l i sh Channe l , our m inds wer e eased
when we saw two minesweepers gu iding us through the mine
f i€ lds . Ha l fway through the channel we cou l d s e e f l a shes
of l ight .
The Germans were then bombarding Antwerp .
We
docked without any d i f f icu lty and wa lked stra i ght to the
Y . M . C . A . of wh i ch I wa s a member .
free f oot of space .
f a r and near .
There was hard l y a
It was crowded w ith s o ld i er s f r om
After a thorough search I located the
s ecretary and begged for accommoda t i ons showing h im my
i nternat i ona l Y membership .
He s a id ,
84
" Doctor , you can
�s e e f o r yourse l f . "
When he saw our d i s appo intment and
how weary we were , he s a id ,
" You come with me , " and
tak i ng me by the hand wa lked j ust a l it t l e f r om the Y and
knocked at a door .
door , he s a id ,
When a middle aged l ady opened the
" I want you to g i ve t h i s man and h i s
brother she lter f or the night .
f r om abroad . "
She s a id ,
They have j us t l anded
" I am p leased to . "
and I had a wonderful night ' s s l eep .
Both N a j eeb
I n the morning I
a sked her i f we cou ld stay unt i l we f ound p a s s age abroad .
She s a id a s long as you care to .
I thanked her and was
re l ieved when she said that she did not want t o be p a i d
unt i l we were ready to l eave .
I had very l it t l e money ,
j us t one pound and two sh i l l ings .
We had break f a s t at
one of the cha in restaurants , two s o f t bo i l ed egg s and a
cup o f tea for n ine pence each . Our next prob l em was
get t i ng cash f or we cou ld do nothing w ithout i t . S o we
s ought the help of the committee f or the a id of stranded
Ame r icans .
Hearing my story , the c lerk handed me two
l arge sheets to f i l l out .
I s a id ,
" Why do I have to do
a l l th i s and put you to a great dea l of troub l e whe n I
have money in the bank but you won ' t l e t me get hold o f
it?
I don ' t want you t o loan m e anyth ing .
do is to cable for it . "
regu l a t i ons . "
I rep l i ed ,
He s a id ,
A l l I want to
" That ' s against the
" We l l then ,
if you think that I
am a spy I ' l l g i ve you the name of my bank and let the
comm i ttee cable for me at my r i sk and expense . " He s a i d
85
�that he would go and ask .
I gave him my name and that o f
t h e bank with t h e requested amount o f f i fty pound s .
went t o ask and r eturned with a hope f u l reply ,
'
He
" Come
tomorrow and we ' l l l et you know . " On the morrow there was
no news but the day a fter he s a i d ,
is the money . "
What a r e l i e f !
" You are lucky , here
We went stra i ght away to
Thoma s Cook ' s o f f ice and found that the only ship o f
Ame r ican regi stry was the st . Paul wh i ch was t o s a i l
three days hence .
We booked pas sage . I t was a one c l a s s
s h i p and be ing o f Amer ican regi stry w a s s a f e f rom the
German ra iders .
That done we got accommodat i ons i n the
Strand P a lace Hote l , then on to the Y where we thanked
the s ecretary , then we paid our hostes s .
Next was a
f irst c l a s s restaurant f or a good mea l .
Our trip on the st . Paul was without a ny
i nc ident , neverthe l e s s we were very happy to s e e the
Statue of L iberty in New York and the we lcome at the
dock .
N a j eeb rema ined in the c i ty and prom i s ed to f o l low
a s. s oon a s he took care of some important bus ine s s .
Back home to Chester , to a loving and w a i t ing
pract i c e , and to a country fearful of gett ing embr o i l ed
i n the great war .
Pres ident W i l son was do ing h i s best to
keep u s out of i t even though the German submar ines were
p l ay i ng havoc with our sh ipp ing .
But when the l iner
Lus itan i a wa s torpedoed with heavy loss of human l i f e ,
W i l son ca l l ed the German ambas sador �nd gave h im the
86
�d i sm i s s a l order ,
and we were in the war .
I was beyond
the dra f t age but my f r i end Dr . Lucki e and a f ew others
vo lunteered with me to look a fter the drafted men ' s teeth
and g ive them the needed service .
After the war we
rece ived the thanks of the President and Congre s s for our
services .
Short ly a fter the war two th i ng s o f importance
happened to our fami ly .
Sara ( Wadea ' s w i f e )
left for
B e i rut to pay a v i s i t to her f ami ly , a n d M i s s Mary
s u f f ered a heavy stroke wh ich para l y z ed her l e ft s ide .
We had a hard t ime managing her because she was very
heavy .
I n a few days her speech returned to norma l , but
she was par a l y z ed on the left s ide f rom her shou lder
down .
I was l iv i ng with them then at 8 0 2 Edgmont Avenue ,
whi le our o f f ices were at 8 0 6 Edgmont Avenue , and i t was
d i f f icu lt for me to leave my o f f ice when I wa s needed for
he lp .
As I recorded previous ly , Wadea ' s bu i ld ing ,
bes ides our o f f ices , �ad three l arge and thre e sma l l
apartments .
One of the l arge ones was d irect ly across
the ha l l from my o f f ice , so we moved and occup i ed i t .
Years be f ore , when Miss Mary wa s in London ,
she had
v i s ited the f am i ly of Char les Dickens and was introduced
t o h i s son who wa s then the pres ident of the D i ckens
F e l lowship .
On her arr iva l back home she organ i z ed a
branch o f th i s society wh ich was the f irst branch o f the
She had a genu ine i nterest
F e l lowship in North Amer ica .
87
�i n th i s F e l l owship , she kept a l l the records and m inute s
o f t h e meet ings .
Even with her para lys i s ,
of a l l contacts with London .
she took care
Fortunate ly she cou l d u s e
her r ight hand s o she could h e l p her se l f , but tak i ng care
of her in bed was very hard on her s i ster so we got h e lp .
Y e a r s be fore the s i sters adopted a young g i r l , Joseph ine ,
who had no relat ives and who in t ime was marr ied to a
baker , James Sweeny .
w i th u s .
She volunteered to come and stay
I t was very fortunate for u s because a short
wh i le later E l i z abeth caught a cold .
Wh i l e her doctor
was treat ing her , he went away on a f i sh i ng tr ip w i thout
t e l l i ng us whom to ca l l in case of emergency nor d i d he
ask someone to look a fter his pat i ents wh i le he was away .
When we were able to get a subst itute , the cold had
deve l oped i nto a case of pneumon i a f r om wh i ch E l i z a beth
d i d not survive .
S ince she had been both the hous ekeeper
' and the cook , our prob lem doubl ed .
S o we asked Josephine
" t o br i ng her husband and l ive with u s .
They agr e ed and
they stayed with us unt i l Mary d i ed .
One morning a s I was operating my secretary
said ,
" There i s a gent l eman to see you . "
the wa it ing room to see .
YMCA in Chester .
s a id ,
He sa-id ,
I went out to
He was the secretary o f the
" I s George any r e l at i on? "
" Yes , he i s my unc l e , why do you a sk? "
I
He s a i d ,
"I
don ' t know the gent l eman , but I rece ived th i s l etter from
h i m wh i ch conta ins not very good news .
88
I am very sorry
�t o t e l l you that your f ather , your s i ster ' s husband
S a l eem and h i s daughter Wadad pas sed away dur ing the war ,
and he thought that th i s was the best way to break the
news to you . "
I thanked him for h i s words o f sympathy
and I told him that I fu l ly appreciated how d i f f icult i t
w a s for him to d e l iver th i s mes sage .
D i scus s ing th i s with the rest of the fami ly , we
a l l r ecogn i z ed how d i f f icult it must have been for my
s i ster to bear a l l the sUf fer ing dur i ng the war trying to
get the nece s s it i e s of l i f e even though we were send i ng
her a s t ipend each month .
We did not know whether or not
she wa s even rece iving the money !
I n f act , a s we l e arned
a fterwards , she was receiving deva lued Turk i sh money .
A l l o f u s agreed that somethi ng must be done , that i f she
were w i l l ing to come here with her f am i ly , that one of us
wou l d a s s ume the respons ibi l ity o f go i ng and br i nging her
over .
Th i s cou ld not be done unt i l peace was dec l ared
and trave l ing permitted .
On November the s eventh the
r eports c ircul ated that the arm i s t i ce wa s s igned and I
be l ieve that no one , yes , no one , could adequately
descr i be the j oyful excitement that took p l ace . Every
man , woman , and chi ld l e ft what they had been do ing a nd
took to the streets wh ich were crowded with veh i cu lar
tra f f ic o f every description creep ing between a ma s s o f
humanity .
r ing i ng ,
The no ise , oh , the noise , church be l l s
f actory wh i stles shr i eking , nearly everybody
89
�with a t i n pan and a s t i ck trying to outdo the other in
mak i ng a greater volume o f sound . Add a l l th i s to the
shout i ng of the mu lti tude and you may have a f a i nt idea
of the j oyful exp los ion emanat ing from the breasts of the
mu l t i tude at the ending of the war .
After a f ew hours of th i s ,
i t suddenly ended a s
i t began when i t w a s announced that t h e news was
prematur e .
But not for long .
On the e l eventh the
armi st i ce wa s con f i rmed , the ce lebration renewed but on a
sma l l er s c a l e .
And what a re l ie f !
At the peace tab l e Turkey was d i smembe red , her
provinces in A s i a , Syr ia , and Lebanon were a l l otted to
F rance under a twenty year mandate , wh i le P a l e s t i ne and
Trans j ordan were l ikew i s e a l lotted to Eng land a l so under
a twenty year mandate .
That left Constant inop l e in
Europe a s a cap ita l with a sma l l state .
B e i rut wrote ,
My f ami ly in
" You never need to fear the Turks anymore .
We want you to come over for we need you . "
There was the
p r.o b l em of my s i ster and her fami ly , and the house i n
B ludan .
After f ather ' s death , i t was l e ft without a ny
one to take care of it , and th i eves ransacked it and
carr i ed o f f a l l unfastened things .
d i s cu s s ions ,
After long
it was dec ided that I shou ld go and try to
s ett l e things .
I t was not unt i l September 1 9 2 0 that
through the e f fort o f Dr . E . C . Kirk o f the Univers i ty of
Pennsy lvan ia , who had some good contacts in Washington ,
90
�that I rece ived a pas sport and a v i s a .
bad t ime for me to leave my practice ,
Though i t was a
I neverthe l e s s ,
dec ided to make a qu ick trip .
I arrived in Be irut around S eptember 2 0 , we had
a j oyful but sad meet ing , and I soon l earned the deta i l s
o f my father ' s and ni ece ' s deaths .
I t was dur ing the
i n f luenz a ep i demic , the fam i ly was in B ludan where there
wa s no med ica l h e lp of any kind , and the war wa s near i ng
the end .
The Br i t i sh had routed the Turks f r om Syr i a and
P a l es t i ne and they were advanc ing towards Damas cu s .
My
n i ece had a cold wh ich turned out to be an attack o f the
f lu .
My father had heard that Genera l Al l e nby was
p a s s ing ahead of his troops through Z ebdan i , about f ive
m i l es and drop of twenty f ive hundred feet be l ow B ludan .
Not havi ng any veh icular transportat ion , he wa lked .
The
day was hot and hum id and when he returned he was
c omp l ete ly exhausted . He went to see the s i ck g i r l and
when he saw her cond i t i on , he went to his r o�m and
s tr etched out on his bed .
A short wh i l e later Asma went
to h i s room to ask h im to come and he lp with her
daughter , but she could not wake him .
Asma r ea l i z ed that
s ometh ing was wrong and she went to the v i l l age t o summon
help but none would come , for they were a f r a i d o f
catching the f lu .
An o ld man from Damascus who was
summer i ng in B ludan came to her rescue , but no one could
do anyth i ng . The girl d i ed in the night , and my f ather
91
�the next morning .
The bur i a l was a problem ,
was no funeral director nor any caskets .
f o r there
Father had s ome
p l anks in the house wh ich were used to make two caskets
and s ome men f rom the v i l lage dug a grave i n the garden
and bur ied them there .
My s i ster never got over that
shock .
The next th ing we d i scussed was what wou l d be
the best thing for my s i ster and her ch i ldren .
O f course
we conc luded that f in ish ing the ir education i n Ame r i ca
was best ,
and that we shou ld go as soon as pos s ib l e and
not wa ste any precious t ime .
About B l udan we agreed that
I shou l d go to see what cond i t i on it was i n , app o i nt a
caretaker ,
and have h im report to my s i ster Fareedeh .
I
went t o B ludan and f ound the house to be i n poor shape .
The windows and doors were broken , and th i eves had
unsucc e s s fu l ly attempted to burn i t .
I had the p lace
c l eaned and put in shape .
We dec ided to rema in in Be i rut because we could
nO.t spend the t ime in B ludan .
The weather was turn i ng
c o l d s o I spent the t ime between the three s i ster ' s
househo lds .
Natural ly the conversat i on turned to my
getting marr i ed .
s o hard to p lease?
They wanted to know why I d i dn ' t , was I
Weren ' t there any e l ig i b l e g i r l s ?
My
answer was e i ther that I was too busy w ith f am i l y a f f a i rs
o r that I hadn ' t found the right one .
Now they i n s i sted
that I not delay any longer and that I must not r eturn to
92
�Ame r ica s ing l e .
They made a l i st o f many o f the i r
f r iend ' s g i r l s a n d whenever we met at d inner or s oc i a l
gather i ng s the conver sat ion was ,
" Th i s one i s not pretty .
Th i s one i s too t a l l or too short .
Th i s one h a s a
b eaut i fu l vo ice and s ings in the cho ir .
c o l l ege graduate and so on . "
That one i s a
One night Kha l e e l Khoury
with h i s w i f e and two daughters came over to v i s i t the
fami ly and we brought out some p ictures that we had taken
on a t r i p the week be for e .
The gir l s j o i ned in the
conversat i on and were quite free in the ir d i s cu s s ion .
It
wa s a very p leasant evening and when they l e f t , Ameen
s a id ,
" What ' s the matter with one of the s e g ir l s ? " I s a i d
t h a t there was noth ing wrong with them , the prob l em wa s
me . Maryanna s a id ,
them .
" There i s a great dea l the matter with
One i s going to be married soon and the other i s
s ought a f ter b y a wea l thy merchant f r om South Ame r i ca ,
a nyhow she i s supposedly engaged to her cou s i n . "
said ,
Ameen
" I ' l l f ind out tomorrow , Kha l e e l is my t a i l o r , and
i s. on the s e s s ion of the church . "
mus t be very interested .
a j oke ,
'!Ameen , you
I have been tak i ng a l l t a lk a s
I have a lot to look a fter .
l ook a f t er now .
I s a id ,
I have the f am i ly to
Forget it . " Ameen rep l i ed ,
never let you go back s ingle .
" I ndeed I ' l l
That ' s f ina l . "
I t was gett ing c l ose to- the hol idays and I was
anx ious to get home , but s i ster Asma and her f ami ly were
not ready .
I t wa s d i f f icult for them to c l o s e the house
93
�and d i spose of the many things that were not go i ng w ith
her .
I kept begg ing them to make haste . Meanwh i l e I
began to th ink o f the prob lem o f transportat ion .
We were
now f ive and to trave l f irst c la s s wou ld be very
expens ive , so I dec ided to go s econd c l as s to Mar se i l l e s ,
s econd c lass to Le Havre , and thence f irst c l a s s to New
York .
I did not have the neces sary cash s o I cab l ed my
bank in Chester to send me more money .
But another
d i f f i cu lty arose at the trave l agency ; name l y that s ince
Asma ' s ma id was i l l iterate , cou ld not even wr ite her name
in any language , they could not guarantee that she wou ld
b e adm itted to the Un ited states ,
r e turn fee for her return .
that I had to post a
When my s i ster heard that
there was a chance of not having her ma id , Le i l a ,
adm itted , she changed her mind about go ing .
We let the
matter rest f or the t ime be ing .
Chr istmas was upon us .
church .
I t centered around the
s i ster Fareedeh was the hos t e s s in the cho i r ,
Sal eh Nucho was the organist and cho irmaster , and the
cho i r sang spe c i a l mus ic for the Chr i s tmas service and
for a cantata .
The cho ir had s evera l rehears a l s and o f
course s i ster Fareedeh took m e a long .
I got to know the
member s very we l l , and I a lways had a wonder f u l t ime .
Th i s s ame crowd wa s having a Watch N ight service for the
new year to wh ich I was spec ia l ly i nv ited .
I t was he ld
in a home of one of the members and the Khoury g i r l s were
94
�there .
By spe c i a l request at 1 1 : 5 5 I was a sked to say a
f ew words b idding the o ld year good-bye and to we l c ome
the beginning of the new year .
I mus t have done pretty
we l l for I heard about it later on .
When it was t ime to
l e ave the group dec ided that if the morrow was c l ear and
warm , they wou ld take a long h ike in the country .
The
group was carefree , and as soon as they were i n the
country , s ang and carr i ed on .
and j o i ned in the fun .
I ta lked with every one
Pass ing a r a i l road track , one o f
t h e g i r l s cha l lenged me t o s e e who cou l d w a l k f arther o n
the tracks .
s a id ,
She f a i led .
Then one o f the Khoury g i r l s
" Let m e try , " and she won .
" No wonder , she is a good dancer . "
the v i ctor ious girl asked me ,
The def eated g i r l s a id ,
Later on the way horne
" I hear that you are a very
c l ever dent i s t , what makes gums bleed? "
I r ep l i ed
because the teeth are not c lean , I then a sked ,
your gums b l eed? "
c le an i ng them . "
c leaning .
She s a id ,
I said ,
" Y e s , and I am a l l the t ime
" I don ' t mean that k ind o f
The teeth can have a depo s it on them that you
cannot c l ean with a brush , and if it s tays on ,
d e stroy your teeth .
She s a id ,
thank f u l . "
" Why , do
i t wi l l
Do you want me to look at them? "
" I f it is not too much troub l e , I ' l l be very
I s a id , " We l l , tomorrow I ' l l be at my
cous in ' s o f f ice at Bab Edr i s e ,
i f you can come around
n i ne thirty I ' l l be g l ad to see you . "
She c ame and I
f ound a perf ect set of teeth with no s igns o f decay but
95
�w ith p l enty o f tartar .
I SLOWLY sca l ed and po l i shed them
and I mus t say that I was sorry when the j ob was
f in i shed .
She warmly thanked me and l e ft .
I was very
much impre ssed with her and I had a fee l i ng towards her
that I had never had for any g i r l be f or e .
That even i ng I
t o l d my exper i ence o f the day and Ameen s a id ,
B a e t ik , d i dn ' t you grab her? "
" Yu r i b
Then he s a id that h e
ta lked to h e r f ather who s a i d that t h e e l der daughter was
engaged and soon to be married but the younger one was
f r ee .
The f ather a l so s a id that the g i r l wa s f ond o f
her f irst cou s i n who was qu ite s i ck with tubercu l o s i s and
that she went to see h im and read to h im f requent ly .
He
a l s o s a id that the a man from South America asked him for
her hand and his reply was that it wa s up to the g i r l and
that the g i r l had turned the o f fer down .
rested there .
B e i rut .
The matter
But it did not rest with the peop l e o f Ra s
The rumor wa s that the gir l had g iven up on her
cous in and was go ing to marry the r ich Ame r i can .
g ir l ,
Poor
for two weeks she wou ld not go out o f the house .
I n the meant ime my Unc l e I skander had brought a car over
f r om Amer ica ( a Chand ler ) and Raj a Ra i s had come f rom
Ha i f a to B e i rut to c l ear it from customs and dr i ve it to
Ha i fa .
When he tr i ed to drive i t in B e i rut , not hav ing
dr iven a car be fore , he decided to h i re a chauf f eur
i nstead and he invited me to go a long say ing ,
good company and you w i l l visit your unc l e . "
96
" We ' l l be
So I
�agreed .
The chauffeur s a id that the d i stance to B e i rut
wa s a bout n inety m i l e s and because the car was new , h e
wou ld n o t dr ive it f aster than th irty m i l e s per hour .
So
we started and everyth ing all r ight unt i l we r eached the
outs k i rt s of S idon .
The car started mak ing a n o i s e ,
and
the chauf f eur examined it but s a id that he could not f ind
anyt h i ng wrong , but that he suspected that a spr ing wa s
broken .
He crept into S idon and fortunately there was a
garage c l ose by .
Thorough examinat ion showed that irideed
the car had a broken spr ing , but the make o f car had
never be f or e been seen in S idon , so the cha u f f eur s a i d
that he must r eturn t o B e i rut t o get a rep l acement spr ing
i f perchance he could f ind one .
.. {\
that n i ght .
We stayed in the inn
O f cours e there were no beds i n the i nn but
we d i d not mind .
We stayed up l i stening to the r a i n .
The cha u f f eur succeeded in f i nding a part and he r eturned
with the post .
I t took them unt i l sunset to f ix the car
but the dr iver wou ld not take the r i sk to cont inue to
H a,i f a ,
lest we have more troub l e , so we had to stay t i l l
the f o l l owing morn ing . The go ing was a l l r ight t i l l we
r eached Makourah where the road we were f o l l owing a l ong
the coast suddenly shifted landward and after about a
m i l e i t became soft from the ra in o f the previ ous n ight .
As we were wonder ing whether to cont inue or turn back , we
f e l t ours e lves go deeper .
A l l e f f orts to move u s ,
even
w ith us go ing into the mud and pushi ng , proved u s e l es s .
97
�We dec ided that one of us wou ld go back to S idon f o r
Just be fore the chauf feur started , a bedou i n came
he lp .
by ,
l e ad i ng h i s came l to Ha i f a .
f o r he lp .
agreed ,
We stopped h im and a sked
He s a id that i t wou ld cost u s a gu i ne a .
We
so he t i ed a heavy rope to the bumper and t o l d
t h e chau f f eur to get in the c a r and at a g iven s igna l for
h im to start the car .
At that instant a sudden no i s e so
f r i ghtened the came l that he gave one leap so quick that
you cou l d not see anyth ing except the rope .
The bedou in
w ith a curse started chas ing a fter h im and we never saw
h i s shadow from our tear - f i l led eyes .
We sat there
wa i t ing and presently the ma i l truck with three f i ne
d r iven horses came along and the dr i ver stopped .
s a id ,
He
" I don ' t have t o a sk , " and unh i tched h i s horses and
in a b r i e f moment had set us free .
He a s sured u s that we
wou ldn ' t have any further troub l e , that the indentat i on
i n the road was due to a l itt l e brook that c r o s s ed by .
We o f f ered him gratu ity but he refu s ed say i ng ,
s a.l ameh . "
"M' a el
The road turned towards the coast aga i n and
a bout a m i le from Ha i f a it turned towards the l and again .
The chauf f eur took the turn say i ng that th i s was a short
cut and wou ld save us t ime .
We soon reached a stream and
d i d not want to go through but the cha u f f eur s a i d ,
i t i s only inches deep .
t imes . "
with that ,
" Oh ,
I have gone through i t many
from a good d i stance away , he put on
f u l l speed ahead and ha l fway into the stream the water
98
�c ame over the hood and found us s itt i ng in the stream
w i th water comi ng from the sea for i t was f u l l t ide .
We
gave h im a look and each one gathered or rather grabbed
h i s luggage and got into the water to swim t o the beach .
Raj a rushed to the br idge and sent word to h i s f ather to
hurry a l ong w i th men and horses to pu l l us out .
In a
short t ime there were horses and men pu l l ing the car out .
They took the car to c lean and dry and we wa lked t o the
house to bathe and change c l othe s .
I v i s ited with my unc l e for two days and went
with h im to h i s off ice and it was there that I heard and
s aw a great deal o f the I srae l i -Arab conf l ict .
The
unrest was brewing about the inf lux o f Jews , the buy ing
of the l and and the underse l l ing of Jews o f n e a r l y
everyth ing to undercut the non-Jew i sh s t o r e s and p u t the
owners out o f bus ines s .
Unc l e , now having a new car , had s ome bus in e s s
i n N a z areth and wanted m e to g o a l ong , but I wanted t o
r eturn to Be i rut to see what had gone on .
But Unc l e
i n s i sted and I s a id i f it w a s o n l y f o r a d a y or two , I / l l
go .
N a z areth was not very far from B e i rut .
We l e f t the
next morn ing a fter breakfast and by ten o l c l ock Unc l e had
transacted h i s bus iness and we were moving t oward the
market p lace .
The car attracted onl ookers and who d i d I
s e e amongst the crowd but Soumaya .
my eye s .
99
I could hardly be l i eve
�" M i s s Khoury , what are you do ing
here ? "
" P le a s e don ' t ca l l me Miss Khoury , ca l l me
Soumaya . "
" Soumaya it sha l l be , "
I s a id .
" I am v i s it ing my s i ster , she i s look i ng over
the p lace where she is go i ng to l ive ,
she i s
going t o be marr ied in Apr i l . "
" Corne on , " I s a id ,
" I want you to meet my
I took her and introduced her to our
unc l e . "
" How long are you stay ing here , " I
group .
asked .
" Just a few days t i l l my s i ster gets her work
done .
Her intended has a pharmacy not far from
here .
I think that you must know him .
He i s
the cho irmaster and organ i st o f our church .
H i s name i s Sa leh Nucho .
How long are you
stay ing? "
" I carne with my unc l e from H a i f a , " I s a i d .
"
He comes here very frequent l y on bus ine s s .
Th i s morn ing , I had noth ing to do s o I thought
I ' d accompany h im for the r ide and I was lucky
to f ind you here .
D id you run away from the
gos s ip ? "
" I sn ' t it dreadful , " she rep l ied .
" Don ' t take it too serious l y , " I s a id .
" Oh , " she s a id ,
" You don ' t know the peop l e o f
100
�Ras Be irut .
I hope that you don ' t m i nd i t .
Just to change the subj ect , how l ong are y ou
stay ing? "
" I was p l ann ing to go back w i th my unc l e but i f
you ' d l ike m e t o stay I ' l l b e glad to stay
unt i l tomorrow , " I answered .
" Come l et us go see S a l eh , " she s a i d .
Sa l eh asked me i f I had ever been in N a z areth
b e f ore .
When I s a id that th i s was my f irst v i s it , h e
s a id to Soumaya ,
" Take the gent l eman t o the t o p o f the
h i l l and show h im the view from there . " On the way she
spoke a great deal about her s e l f and about how they a l l
s u f f ered dur ing the war but the fam i l y managed t o keep
her and her s i sters and brother in the Ame r i can and
Prus s ian schoo l s .
She was now teach i ng priva t e l y the
ch i ldren o f a mus l im fam i ly French and danc ing .
She kept
ask i ng a bout me and why I never marr ied , and espe c i a l ly
don ' t want to .
I s a id that I did not have the t ime ,
th,at f am i ly a f fa irs and prob lems inter f ered , and that the
r ight g i r l hadn ' t come a long .
be l i eve that .
h e r e now . "
" We l l , " I s a id ,
She s a i d that she cou ldn ' t
"Maybe the r i ght g i r l i s
W e reached the top o f the h i l l , t h e scene was
beaut i fu l , but who was looking at the scene at that t ime l
The next day I left for Be irut , stopp ing at
Ha i fa to see Unc le who only a sked ,
" I s a l l we l l , " to
wh ich I shook my head and he i n s i sted that I must qu i ckly
101
�r eturn .
I n B e irut , the word went out that both
p r i nc ipa l s o f the Kassab and Khoury fam i l ie s were out o f
A l s o , the
t h e c ity and the gos s ip was hotter than ever .
money had arr ived from Chester , my s i ster was reconc i l ed
t o the chance that Le i la may not be admitted ,
s o there
w a s no reas on for further delay . On the way t o the o f f ice
i n the morn ing , Ameen said ,
"I know how I can k i l l that
gos s ip and frustrate its originator s . "
He rep l i ed ,
" By gett ing marr i ed ,
I a sked ,
of cours e .
o f m e I can ' t s e e what ' s hold ing you back .
I s a id ,
never f ind a better girl . "
" How? "
For the l i f e
You w i l l
" I am sure that you
are r ight . "
As we approached the Kassab department store we
s aw a man carry ing a l arge f i sh wh ich he had j us t caught
and had f or s a l e . Ameen ca l l ed h im and s a i d ,
" I f you w i l l
c l ean t h i s f i sh and wrap it neat ly f or a g i ft ,
it from you .
my store . "
You must be qu ick though ,
The man was off .
I ' l l buy
and br i ng i t to
Ameen turned t o me and
s a.i d ,
" Now you hurry to the Ha i f a bus and take the
f i sh with you as a g i f t to Soumaya and don ' t
come back s ing l e !
What more can I do for you?
I thought that you Amer icans were made of f ire
not i ce , as the man comes w i th the f i sh you go
and don ' t argue .
For God ' s sake , prove that
you are a man of action . "
102
�After that t i rade , I could not do �nything but
go s e e Soumaya .
Ha i f a .
I thought o f h i s words a l l the way t o
Unc l e poured more o i l on the f ire by hand i ng me
the keys to the car and say ing ,
" Good luck .
t o s e e you back empty handed . "
In N a z areth ,
f am i ly in the k itchen c leaning f i sh ,
I don ' t want
I f ound the
for they had been to
Lake T iber ias the day before , and S a l eh , a good f i sherman
had caught some o f the famous var iety that they c a l l
" Far ideh . "
When they saw what I had i n the package they
cou l d hard ly be l i eve it .
I s a id that I wanted to s how
that I cou ld catch f i sh , too .
S a leh s a id ,
enough food for the rest of the week .
"We have
We are g o i ng t o
h a v e f i sh f o r breakfast , d inner , and supper .
i t f r i ed , baked , gr i l led ,
of it .
We ' l l have
in s a l ads , and we ' l l make k ibbe
Just why did you do that Ae lya s ? "
I s a id that I
hoped that the young ladies l iked f i sh , to whi ch S oumaya
s a i d that she j ust loved f i sh , that her father was a
f i s herman too , and that she he lped him eating but not
c l.eaning them . For two days we had a lot o f fun w i th the
f ish .
After l unch that a fternoon we drove out t o s e e
T iber i a s , the l ake that I ta lked about so much in my
Sunday school c lass .
I yearned to take a bath in i t , but
that was out of the quest ion .
I j ust took o f f my shoes
and stock ings and rol led up my trousers to the knees and
when the rest o f the group saw that , they f o l l owed suit .
We bathed in lake T iber ia s ! When we returned horne I s a id
103
�t o S oumaya ,
" Let ' s leave the lovers a l one and let tis
e n j oy that scene aga in from the top o f the h i l l . " They
a l l approved , a good idea .
Alone with Soumaya I s a id ,
" I wanted to take th i s opportun ity to te l l you
what ' s on my mind . I am sure by th i s t ime you
know how I fee l .
I am thirty s ix years o l d , I
am a dent i st , I have never l ooked upon a g i r l
with idea of marr iage , though I had h a d many
opportunities . I am not r ich , though everybody
here says that I am .
I have a very good
pract ice but I have a good many
respons ibi l it ies , you see some o f them here .
But in Chester , I have a respons i b i l i ty t o a
s i ck o ld woman . "
I cont inued by te l l ing her about our r e l at ions
with the O ' Ne i l l fami ly .
I told her a bout a l l that she
should know about our l i fe in Chester a nd then I s a i d ,
" I s there anyth ing e ls e that I can t e l l . ·you? "
She l ooked
a t. me w i th her beaut iful eyes but s a id noth i ng .
I wa ited
a f ew s econds , then I s a id ,
" I understand .
I t i s not f a i r to expect an
answer now , you have not known me l ong .
Think
it over carefu l ly and when I s e e you aga i n ,
hope that you w i l l have a smi l e for me .
I
Come ,
let ' s go back , I must return to Ha i f a tonight
and tomorrow to Be irut . "
104
�-----"-- - ���
BROTHER AND S ISTER
AELYAS AND ADELE
KHOURY S ISTERS
NAJIA AND SOUMAYA
�In B e i rut , they were
so soon .
surpr i sed t o s e me back
I gave them a good report o f my t r ip and s a id
that I was sure that it wou ld have been cons ummat ed had
it not been f or the s ituat ion here .
Meanwh i l e , we
r e c e ived word that a big storm was rag i ng at sea and we
dec ided to wa i t t i l l it blew over .
We got our t i ckets
f rom B e irut , to Alexandr i a , to Marse i l les , t o Par i s , to
Havre , and then to New York .
But Ameen s a i d ,
" Do you mean you wi l l go w i thout getting
marr ied?
How do you know that the girl w i l l
wa i t for you?
foo l i sh .
I think that you are very
stay , take my adv i ce .
care about this storm?
storm ,
What do you
I f you get marr ied , the
in a few days w i l l be forgotten . "
" I was not thinking about mys e l f ,
I was
think i ng about the f e e l ings o f the g i r l and her
fami ly , " I s a id .
" We l l then , make no f inal dec i s i ori unt i l you
know how she feels . "
Two days l ater , Ameen told me that he was t a lk i ng to the
g i r l ' s father who told him that the g i r l was back horne
and that she was very unhappy about my dec i s ion to l e ave .
I s a id ,
r e p l i ed ,
" D id you ask h im how she fee l s about it? "
He
" She sa id that those peop l e had better f ind
s ometh i ng more important for them to do .
She wou ld t e l l
Ae lyas her s e l f when she wou ld see him next . "
105
�When I met her , she was a l l smi l es and s a i d ,
" Knowing how anxious you were to l eave for
Amer ica , I regretted that I d idn ' t make mys e l f
c lear about the gossip that i s going on .
I f it
hurts you persona l ly or a n y o f t h e K a s s a b
fami ly , of course l et ' s part a s f r i ends .
But ,
i f you think that -it hurts me or my f am i l y ,
then they can drink the s ea . "
with that she . . . . . . . . . . . . .
And w i th that ,
I sett led the matter by say ing ,
ready for the day as soon as possib l e .
" Let ' s
Asma and her
f am i ly are ready . "
" Ameen , " I s a id when I saw him ,
" I want one
more f avor from you . I want your help i n the s e l ec t i on of
the r ing .
" Come on , " he sa id ,
b e l i eve my ears .
" You are j ok ing , I cannot
There i s a re lative i n the f am i l y who
i s a j ewe ler , he ' l l help us . "
We sought h im , he s e l ected
the d i amond wh ich he set in a p l at i num r ing .
Then we
s topped to see Kha l e e l and a sked h im if he wou ld g ive us
t h i s b le s s i ng to whi ch he rep l i ed that he wou l d not only
g ive u s his b l e s s ing but that he wou ld be very proud to
ca l l me his son .
Soumaya loved her r ing and we p l anned
to have the wedd ing in two weeks .
Two days later , on Sunday we l earned that my
cou s i n Farid who had been s i ck had had a r e l ap s e .
Ameen took me a s ide and s a id ,
106
So
" I want to t e l l you that
�T
should anyth i ng happen to Farid , accord ing t o our
customs , your wedd ing wou ld have to be postponed for at
l e a st a month .
f e e l i ng s . "
You wouldn ' t want t o hurt your fami ly ' s
I s a id ,
" O f cour se not . "
Ameen cont i nued ,
" My advice to you i s to get marr ied at once . "
I s a id
that I was wi l l i ng , but how about S oumaya? I a sked her
and she s a id that i f I was ready , so was she .
Ameen and
I then took a cab and went to the Amer ican Consu l a t e to
see about a pas sport for Soumaya .
We l earned that i f the
Consul o f f i c iated , the Consulate wou l d recogn i z e the
marr i age and g ive us a pas sport immed iately .
However , we
a l s o l earned that s ince the consul was away , they wou ld
a l s o recogn i z e the s ignature o f Dr .
marr i age cert i f icate .
? i f i t were on the
Dr . ? s a id that he wou l d be g lad
t o o f f i c i ate and wou ld be with u s at Ameen ' s hou s e at 8
p . m.
We hurr i ed back to the house to get ready and at
e i ght o ' c l ock on May 1 5 ,
19 2 1 ,
in the presence of both
f am i l i e s and a few guests gathered i n Ameen ' s l iv ing
r o.om , the knot wa s t i ed in a s imp l e Protestant service .
The marr iage cert i f icate was s igned by the m i n i ster and
w i tnessed by some of the company .
We then had
r e freshments and loads of congratu l a t i ons .
S oon the
company l e ft and we found our s e lves a l one , Ae lyas and
S oumaya , husband and w i f e .
Unbe l ievab l e !
no t ime for rej o i cing , we had a lot t o do .
But there was
P i ctures for
the pas sport had to be ready ; and a s we had made no
107
�prov i s i o n on where to spend the night , Soumaya went home
for a much needed s l eep and I stretched out on a couch
too exc i ted t o s l eep reviewing the events of the past
twenty hours and planning for the immediate future .
I n the morning Soumaya and I met the Consu l who
congratul ated and wi shed us j oy and happ ine s s and i s sued
us the pas sport .
Soumaya then returned home and I went
t o the Burj and reserved a car to take us the f o l lowing
morn i ng to H a i f a .
Then I went to the o f f i ce o f the
Mes s ag e r i e Mar i t ime and bought six t i ckets on the Sph inx
wh i ch was s a i l ing the fol lowing week from Be irut t o
Mar s e i l le stopp i ng a t Alexandr ia .
The p lan was that
s i ster Asma w ith her ch i ldren and Le i la wou ld l eave on
the Sph i nx and that Soumaya and I wou ld go to Ha i f a and
spend a f ew days at Mt . Carme l and N a z a reth and return to
Ha i f a where we wou ld trave l by tra in to Alexandr i a and
j o i n them on the Sphinx .
We had no troub l e l eaving
B e i rut except the sad feel ing of leaving the · f ami l y a fter
g i.v i ng them so much trouble .
When we assured them that
we wou l d be back soon , they f e l t reconc i led .
spoke to each other .
Soumaya was weep ing and kept i t up
unt i l we were outs ide Be irut ' s bounda r i es .
s a id ,
We hardly
Then S oumaya
" I am not cry ing a ltogether for sadne s s , but for my
good luck at being with you . "
I said ,
" I t i s rea l ly wonderful that now we c l a im each
other when a few weeks ago we did not even know
108
�each other .
I think that i t was God ' s goodness
to me that in all the years in Amer ica ,
many g i r l s both in my pract ice ,
I met
in my c la s s in
the Sunday schoo l , and var ious societ i e s ,
I
never looked on a g i r l with the idea o f
marr i age .
Yet , here on the f irst n ight when I
was showing you the p i cture s , someth ing kept
you in my mind .
I t was so sudden , but
wonderful , and I hard ly even knew you .
I feel
that I got m y reward f o r mak ing the trip , and
much more .
I am now in a dream and I don ' t
want to wake up . "
The chauff eur was an exce l l ent dr iver , he knew
the way and he covered the ninety m i l e s in three hour s .
My unc l e rej o i ced when he saw u s and when he l earned of
our p lans , he immed iately reserved us a room at Mr .
Carme l and put h i s car at our d i spos a l .
We were very sad
t o f ind my aunt quite s ick , but my unc l e s a i d ,
" I don ' t want you to go to the house now
because I know that you are t ired .
Take my car
and go to your hote l , for they are expect ing
you .
us .
road ,
When you are rested you can come to see
You won ' t have any troubl e f ind ing the
it is stra ight up the mountain and the
hot e l is r ight there .
Congratu lations ! "
109
I l ove your w i f e .
�I d id a s I was told and we f ound the
arrangement exce l lent .
· We spent thre e
never-to-be - forgotten days , I forgot a l l t h e troub l e s and
a nx i e t i e s
of the past few weeks and I restocked the
e nergy that I knew I wou ld need for the rema i nder o f the
j ourney t o the U . S . A .
On our last day , I s a i d to S oumaya ,
and surpr i s e Naj la and Sa leh in Na z areth . "
" Let ' s go
We parked our
car and wa lked up toward the pharmacy a nd there was S a leh
try ing to open the door .
He looked at u s with
unbe l i eving eyes and s a id , " When d i d you get here?
have j ust left to go to Be irut . "
You
I said ,
"We are going , but not to B e i rut . Come S a l eh
and k i s s the bride . "
" What , " he s a id , " I don ' t b e l i eve i t . "
" Don ' t open the p lace , " I s a i d .
" Let ' s go see
Naj l a . "
Naj l a couldn ' t be l ieve it e i ther .
through a fu l l exp lanat ion and - S a Teh s a i d ,
sur e ly do act fast ! "
We had to go
" You Amer i cans
Then the conversat ion turned to h i s
d e s i r e t o l eave Naz areth and g o t o the State s .
no chance for improvement here .
l i f e is very hard .
" There i s
The town i s dead and
I don ' t mind work ing hard , but one
l ikes to see some results . "
We d i scu s s ed the s i tuat i on
pro and con and we conc luded that they wou l d s tudy the
prob l em and wr ite me .
I p l edged to do my very best to
110
�" You have a home in Amer ica , shou l d you
h e l p them .
dec ide t o come , " I said .
After a very p l ea sant v i s it and a s ad f arewe l l ,
we drove back t o H a i f a .
A l exandr i a .
And the next day we departed to
The Sphinx had j ust arr ived that morn i ng .
We boarded her and found Ameen , Asma , and Asma ' s f am i ly
wa i t ing f or u s .
After a few hour s , Ameen l e f t u s a s h i s
s h i p w a s s a i l ing for Italy .
The Sph i nx was very crowded
and the accommodat ions poor but we arrived at Mar s e i l l e s
w ithout any troub le . W e d i d not tarry , w e took c a b s t o
the r a i lroad stat ion and l e f t l a t e that even i ng for
P ar i s , arr iving early the next morning .
We were s o
t ired , exhausted , and dirty from the smoke o f the tra i n
that when w e a sked for accommodations at a f irst c l a s s
hote l , they c l a imed that they were fu l l .
s ec ond .
S o at the
We were accepted at the th i rd try .
When I was
regi ster i ng I exp l a i ned to the c lerk that we had j ust
c�me by tra in from Marse i l l es and that I wanted a good
s upp ly o f hot water for wh ich I was w i l l i ng t o pay .
" Ou i , ou i Mons i eur , j e comprend . "
I told the folks t o
wash and put o n their best dresses which w e a l l d i d , and
I am sure that the help was aston i shed to s e e the change .
Early the next morn ing , they woke up anxious to
see the s ight s o f Par i s and I s a id ,
" Pa r i s has many
wonderful s ight s , some we can see by go ing w ith tour s ,
s ome by bus ,
but a good many of them we mus t go by f oot .
111
�Now I propose that the f irst thing that we do i s to hunt
a for a good shoe store and provide ours e lves w i th good
w a l k ing shoes , " an idea to wh ich a l l subscr i bed but it
I had a lready a sked at the
was e a s ier said than done .
desk in the hote l for such a store .
i n , they could not be f itted .
stores w i th the same result .
But when they went
I took them to other
F i na l ly around noon , they
thought that they made a good choice .
But I doubted it
and I think that they made the cho ice out o f shame a s i t
turned out later .
So we conf ined our s ight s e e i ng and
they j ust got a fa int idea o f Par i s .
We left that beaut i fu l city for Havre and the
U. S . A.
Our cross ing the At lant ic was unusua l ly good .
We
were trave l ing f irst c l ass and the accommodat i ons were
good a lthough the steamer was sma l l in compar i son to the
b i g l iners .
a day or two .
harbor .
S oumaya was not seas ick , but s i ster was for
We were on deck when we entered N ew Y ork
The fam i ly was ama z ed at the s ights , the ta l l
bu.i l d ing and they were solemn when I exp l a ined to them
what the Statue of L iberty meant not only to Ame r i cans
but a l so to the who le wor ld .
our Water loo .
Soon we l anded and faced
The fam i ly and I presented our pas sports
and we were admitted w ithout any troub l e , but when Le i l a
handed hers with the word " I LLITERATE " on it , the
examiner asked her name wh ich she s a id wa s Le i la , then he
gave her a penc i l and sa i l ,
"wr ite it down , " and o f
112
�course she couldn ' t .
He then gave her a paper and s a id ,
" Read t h i s , " and of cours e she cou ldn ' t .
Then he ca l l ed
me and s a id ,
" Th i s woman cannot be admitted .
D idn ' t they
te l l you that ? "
" Ye s , they did but somet imes they make
except ions , " I s a id .
" I am sorry , I cannot make any except ions ,
p lease step a s i de . "
" What must I do now , " I a sked .
" She must be returned un l e s s you s ign a notice
that she w i l l appear before the imm igrat ion
court and have her case heard . "
H e gave me a forma l not ice that s a i d she was to be
deta i ned unt i l her case was heard .
When Asma heard th i s
she began t o cry and s a y that s h e shou ld have never come .
I s a id ,
" Let us go home and talk the matter dver and
dec ide what to do . After talk ing with Le i l a we a s sured
her that she would be a l l r ight and that I wou ld see her
soon .
Then a guard took charge of her and we left f or
the r a i l road stat ion .
meet our train .
I t e l ephoned home and told them to
I had expected a warm wel come and s o i t
w a s but i t was tempered with sadne s s , f o r Asma could
t h i nk o f noth ing but Le i l a and how she wa s far ing .
m i nd was a l s o on what to do .
I d i d my best to show pr ide
and happ iness in introducing my bride .
113
My
I must say that
�she was wonderful and spoke with each one a s though they
were o l d f r iends .
I was very worr ied that i f s omet h i ng
should happen to Lei la , I wou ld hear about i t a l l my
l ife .
I rea l ly be l i eved Asma when she s a id that she
wou ld go back .
I had a close f r i end in Ph i l ad e lph i a who
I thought cou ld help me .
and he s a i d ,
So in the morni ng I ca l l e d h im
" Sure , come on . "
I went to Ph i l ade lph i a to
see h im and told h im o f our troub l e .
He took me t o s e e
another mutua l f r i end who had an o f f ice in t h e s ame
bui ld ing and s a i d ,
is in troub l e .
" Barney , here is our f r i end Ae lyas who
You must help h im ,
Barney S amu e l s was the
I know that you c an . "
head o f the Republ ican party in
Ph i l ade lph i a and the mayor of Ph i l adelph i a .
Pat i ent ly
hear i ng my story , he ca l l ed his secretary and s a i d ,
" Get
me the Department of Labor in Wash ington and t e l l h i s
s ecretary that Barney wants t o talk t o h im . "
I n a f ew
m inute s , the secretary was on the phone .
" J im , " said Barney ,
and so am I .
" I know that you are busy
I have a dear f r i end here that
has some troubl e with New York Immigra t i on .
They are deta in ing a member o f h i s fami l y and
threatening to deport her .
I am send i ng h im to
you and I want you to do what you can do for
h im .
When can you see h im? "
" I ' l l see h im tomorrow afternoon at two o ' c l ock
here in my o f f ice in the Department .
1 14
Just g ive
�h im your card . "
)
I went home w ith a word o f cheer but not f or I O g ,
for
Miss Mary who had had s everal strokes wh i l e I w s away ,
and who had been unconsc ious for two days , was gett i ng
weaker .
I f e l t that there wou ld have to be a change in
our hou s ing arrangements , but I decided to l eave that
unt i l we found out what would be Asma ' s dec i s i on shou ld
Le i l a b e refused admittance .
The f o l lowing day , I took the tra i n to
Washington and at two o ' c l ock I wa s at the Secretary ' s
o f f ice and found the gent l eman wait ing for me .
He
rece ived me grac iously and asked me how l ong I had known
Mr . S amue l s .
" Long enough to ca l l h im Barney , " I s a i d .
" We l l , that ' s qu ite a wh i l e .
Now te l l me your
story . "
I to ld h im the story in deta i l and when I was through he
said ,
" Now t e l l me somethi ng about the woman hers e l f .
How i s it that you didn ' t teach her to read or
wr i te ? "
"My s i ster Asma p icked her from a hosp ita l and
she t r i ed her best to send her to s choo l , but
it was a l l in va in ,
" We l l ,
" I exp l a ined .
I don ' t know what we can do .
very str ict . "
115
The l aw i s
�" We l l , " I said ,
" I t i s too bad that the l aw
cannot bend a l itt l e and s e e the huma n i ta r i an
s ide o f a case .
Here th i s woman w i l l h ave to
go back to the ghetto and I am a fr a i d that she
wou ld not last long . "
" I s she Jewish , " he asked .
" Ye s , " I answered .
" We l l , that ' s d i f f erent .
I think that she may
be admitted on the p l ea that she s eeks
pol it ical asy lum .
I sha l l recommend that and
you w i l l hear from us .
Remember me to Barney . "
I thanked h im and told h im that he earned the ever l a st ing
gra t i tude o f my s i ster and her fami l y .
I a l so s a i d that
I wou l d d e l iver h i s best wishes to Barney .
" G ive me your
t e l ephone number and I ' l l get in touch w i th you
d irectly , " he s a id .
The fam i ly re j o i ced to hear the
news , but not for long , for three days later , Barney
c a l led to t e l l me that Le i l a wa s deported be f ore her case
was heard .
Our worry returned for we cou l d not conce ive
how she cou ld make it .
Our pat i ence was rewarded one day
when we heard that she had arr ived in Be i rut s a f e l y and
that she wou ld soon be on her way back .
was back .
I n due t ime , she
She cou ld not t e l l us any deta i l s of her
t r i p s . She did what the o f f i c i a l s told her and had no
troub l e whatsoever .
The honeymoon was over .
116
I t was t ime to
�cons ider our s ituat ion . As a newly
married man , due to
c i rcumstances over wh ich I had no contro l ,
I rea l i z ed
The bu i ld ing next to our
that I had neg l ected my br ide .
o f f ice had an o l d house whi ch we f ixed up for my s i ster
and her fami ly .
We intended to move her into our
bu i ld i ng a s soon as we could get one o f the apartments
free .
As I stated before ,
abroad w ith the O ' Ne i l l s .
f ac t now ,
I l ived there before I went
M i s s Mary was very s i ck ,
in
in a coma and w e had J o and J im a s
housekeepers . I t wasn ' t a cheer ful p lace f o r a stranger ,
s o i n our bui ld ing there was a sma l l apartment who s e
l e a s e w a s about t o exp ire .
I went to the renter and I
s a id that our fam i ly had increa s ed and that I wanted h im
t o move .
I
s a id that I wou ld pay h im one hundred do l l ar s
i f he moved be fore h i s l e a s e exp ired .
He moved and
S oumaya and I were a lone for the f irst t ime and we were
s o happy .
Poor th ing , she never thought that she wou ld
g o through so many prob lems .
One thing that I can s ay i s
that never d i d I hear a word o f comp l a int .
She a lways
s a id that it w i l l be a l l r ight and don ' t worry .
worr i e s do come .
But
Miss Mary went to g l ory a fter s i x years
o f s i ckne s s due to a stroke .
She was a wonderful person ,
a true mother to me and my brother .
and was a great reader .
works of Charles Dickens .
She had a good mind
She knew thorough ly a l l the
She organ i z ed the f irst branch
of the D i ckens Fel lowship in the un ited states and was
117
�i t s s ecretary unt i l she was incapac itated .
r e l i g i ous Catho l i c .
The d i scus s ion before she was s ick
was e ither about the church or D i ckens .
no chance w i th her , but on r e l igion ,
by saying ,
She w a s a
On D i ckens I had
she wou l d a lways end
" That God promised to be with h i s church , " and
that wou l d end the d i scus s ion .
And be f ore g o i ng t o bed
she a lways s a i d ,
I am a lways pray i ng for
" We l l , my boy ,
you to see the l ight . "
Now that Le i l a was back and s i ster Asma was
s ett l ed in the house next door with her two ch i ldren
attending Chester High Schoo l , Commerc i a l Department of
Commerce , and we were n i cely housed i n the l arge
apartment at 8 0 2 Edgmont Avenue , two important th i ng s
happened . First and f oremost , my dear S oumaya was w i th
ch i ld .
The other was a l etter from S a l eh say i ng that
a ft er a thorough d i scu s s i on with Naj l a and other s , they
c ame to the conc lus ion that h i s stay i ng in N a z areth was a
waste o f t ime , that the bus ine s s was gett i ng wors e da i ly
i nstead o f better .
He a l so asked my op in ion concerning
h i s coming to Amer ica .
I rep l i ed that I was not i n a
p o s i t ion to adv i s e , that i f h i s intent ion in coming was
to practice his profes s ion , accord ing to Pennsylvania
l aw , he would have to go to scho o l here and take a
refre sher cours e in a recogn i z ed Amer ican c o l l ege before
he wou ld be granted a l i cense to pract i ce .
S oumaya a nd I
wou l d help them a l l that we could and they could stay
1 18
�with u s unt i l they got on the ir feet ,
mus t be the irs .
but the dec i s ion
Correspondence went back and f orth
between us for s everal weeks ,
and f i na l ly they came .
S a l eh gave up the idea o f f o l l owing h i s pro f e s s i o n and
s tarted to look f or work . He got a j ob at Sne l l enberg ' s
department store in Phi l adelph i a , but a f ter a f ew weeks
t r i a l dec ided that th i s k ind o f work was not f or h im .
We had some f r i e nds who owned a sma l l mi l l that made
stock ings and the m i l l wa s idle because the manager had
qu i t .
They wanted to s e l l it because they d i dn ' t have
the t ime to look after i t , so my brother and I dec ided to
buy it and let S a leh run it .
S a leh went f or s evera l days
t o the f actory and stud ied how the machines operated . He
was succes s fu l in mak ing very good stocking s ,
good f or the trade .
in f act too
But they were too expens ive , they
cou l d not compete with the cheaper k ind and the quant ity
produced was too sma l l to make a prof i t .
m i l l and took a loss .
We s o l d the
Then S a leh ' s very c lo s e f r i end , a
c la s smate , David Z agha , come to Phi l adelph i a dur i ng the
S e squ i centenn i a l Expos it ion w ith goods that attracted
v i s itors to the f a ir such as or i enta l rugs , bras sware ,
etc .
He needed someone to help h im ,
r i ght person .
the fair .
so S a leh was the
He stayed with David t i l l the c l o s i ng o f
David was encouraged to ope n a store i n
Ph i l ade lph i a and h e put Sa leh in charge .
After a s e a s on
S a l eh bought the bus ine s s from him and made a great
119
�success of it .
He later moved the bus in e s s t o s outh 2 0th
street .
The Khoury fo lks in Be irut wrote u s and a sked
i f we cou ld f ind someth ing to do for Moun ira and the
a nswer was we don ' t know t i l l she come s .
stayed w i th us for a wh i l e ,
She came and
she tried to work for me but
she did not l ike thi s country and f e l t very l one ly for
her f r i ends in Be irut .
Kareemeh and Fouad came .
She returned t o B e i rut .
Then
Fouad worked f or a wh i l e w i th
S a l eh and then he tried New York c ity but f ina l ly l anded
a good j ob in Washington with the government .
Our l i fe went on an even kee l unt i l October
2 6th when Soumaya presented us with a cho ice baby boy ,
Wadea .
H i s coming comp l eted our mar r i ed l i f e and made u s
d o u b l y happy .
Soumaya came home from the hosp ita l w i th a
nurs e , Mar ian Spencer .
I was very g l ad to forgo the
f ir s t p lace in the attent ion of Soumaya , on the other
hand ,
I added my own ef forts to see ing that the proper
rule s and regu l at ions were observed .
When Wadea reached the age o f two and one ha l f ,
we fu l f i l l ed the promise that we had made to the Khourys
in B e i rut by send ing Soumaya and Wadea to spend a f ew
months w i th them .
w i th the baby ,
I was to meet them l ater . Soumaya ,
left in Apr i l 1 9 2 5 , s a i l ing on a
Med iterranean tour skirt ing many of the ports of North
Africa to Beirut without chang ing the s teamer and was
120
�I j o i ned them leaving
w e l c omed by the folks in Be irut .
by steamer in May of the same year .
Just be fore I left Chester ,
I contacted Mr .
Peter N o l an , a f ine bu i lder and persuaded h im t o bu i ld me
a hous e .
We had a drawing of a type o f hou s e that we
wanted , w ith the ki nd of stone , the number o f rooms , and
the k i nd o f roo f , etc .
I s a i led on the f ir s t o f May
before the foundation was dug .
in the bu i lder .
sad
I had s o much conf idence
When I reached Be irut ,
I l earned that
news that Marr iana , Soumaya ' s mother , was i l l w i th a
m a l i gnant diseas e .
The house in B ludan was vacant and we
dec ided to occupy it for the summer .
I t wou ld have been
a grand vacat ion were it not for our l oved one ' s i l lness .
B e f ore we went to Bludan , our baby ,
month s o l d , was not we l l .
i n f e cted tons i l .
two and one h a l f
He was suf f er ing from a badl y
A s it happened , t h e surg ica l c l i n i c i n
t h e Univers ity ' s hosp ita l w a s c l osed , a n d o u r doctor , who
was to do the operat ion
suggested that rather than wa i t
for t h e hosp ita l to open , that w e have the operat ion
perf ormed in his c l i nic in S idon .
I had s o much
conf i dence in h i s ab i l ity that we agreed .
drove to S idon and had it done .
Right away we
We spent that n i ght in
the doctor ' s home and we were back i n Be irut the next
day .
From that day on , Wadea began to improve .
At the end of September , there was a steamer
g o i ng d i rect to New York from Be irut .
12 1
We took a tour on
�I t s topped s evera l t imes on its way t o d i s charge
it .
p a s s engers and loads of merchand i s e .
I t was a l ove ly
We arr ived in Providence at the end o f S eptember .
tour .
We took the even ing tra in to Chester and arr ived around
m i d n ight .
The f o lks were at the Che s ter stat i o n t o meet
us and as they drove toward horne brother Wade a s a i d ,
moon is fu l l ,
" The
let us show the fo lks the ir new horne . "
So
they stopped and I could hard ly be l i eve my eyes when I
s aw i t .
in ,
I t l ooked so beaut iful that Soumaya wanted to go
but she had to wait unt i l the morn ing .
I t was a very
p le a s ant surpr i s e for both of us when we went through the
ha l l i nt o the l ight rooms downsta irs and up sta irs .
We
were s o surpr i s ed that I ca l l ed the bui lder and a sked h im
t o meet me at the bank with h i s bi l l , wh ich he d i d .
s a id ,
He
" Here are the actual b i l l s that I have spent for
mater i a l and labor .
very s at i s f ied . "
Add to them ten percent and I ' l l be
He was and I was more than sat i s f i ed
and I p a i d h im with thanks .
We l ived i n that hou s e with
comfort from 1 9 2 5 to 1 9 6 9 when we moved to Wa l l ingf ord .
When one raises a fam i ly w i th ch i ldren , one
mus t expect s ome surpr i se s and some shocks .
Work ing in
a n o f f i c e on Edgmont Avenue , I was hurriedly ca l led out .
My son Wadea was cross ing the street on h i s way to take
h i s mus ic les son when he was run over by a l ight car and
had h i s l eg broken be low the knee .
The dr iver carr ied
h im home and gave h i s mother a very bad shock .
122
The only
�way that I could qu iet her was by a s sur ing her that I was
g l a d that it wa sn ' t one of h i s front teeth .
She wou l d
n o t be l i eve that unt i l I sa id that in s i x or s even weeks
h i s leg wou ld be a s good a s ever .
I f he had a broken
front tooth , he wou ld have troub le w ith it the rest o f
h i s l i f e , and I was r ight .
Edd i e gave us two shocks :
one by f a l l ing from h i s h igh cha ir and crack i ng the bone
under the l e ft eye wh ich hea led without leav i ng any s car ,
and the other by f a l l ing from our cherry tree and
break i ng h i s arm .
For a wh i le ,
our l i fe went on
Our chi ldren gave us no troub l e i n the cour se
norma l ly .
o f the i r educat i on .
They a l l went through the grades in
a sat i s f actory manner .
The great worry came with the approach o f Wor ld
War I I .
Wadea was of m i l itary age for the s ervice and he
r e g i stered .
accepted .
He app l ied for the Air Force , but wa s not
He e nded up a s a paratrooper .
No one can
apprec iate a parent ' s anxi ety when they g ive up the i r
chi ldren for nat iona l service .
They put up a n app earance
of nat i onal pride that they too have ch i ldren who are
s e rv i ng the ir country but inwardly , they curs e a l l those
who caused or had anything to do with br ing ing about the
conf l i ct .
Hus bands usua l ly put on a courageous face to
ease o f the worry of the ir wives , and the w ive s usua l ly
take on knitt ing or some unusua l exerc i s e to h ide the
f ir e of anxi ety wh ich burns within the ir breast .
123
We were
�no except i on .
Of course with the pass ing o f t ime ,
coup led w ith the good news from Wadea that he was
enj oy i ng the tra in ing with his budd i e s , gave u s a l it t l e
comfort , but not f o r long .
Th i s t ime , they were g iven a
fur l ough before they were s ent abroad .
Even though we
knew that th i s was coming , we reso lved to show no worry
or concern but to make the v i s i t a s p l easant a s p o s s i b l e .
There was no use to say that we succeeded , I can only say
that we tr ied .
Wade a he lped for he showed no concern .
From that t ime on , the most prec i ou s th i ng that
we rece ived was ma i l that wou ld g ive us the j oyous news
that he was a l l r ight .
One even ing we rece ived two
l etters from the Ph i l ipp ine s .
The f irst began s ometh ing
l ik e th i s ,
" I am wr iting from the hosp ita l .
you rece ived my last letter .
I hope that
I cou ldn ' t t e l l
you in deta i l then about our acc ident , s o I ' l l
t e l l you now .
For some reason the a irp lane
fe l l , was wrecked , sever a l budd i e s were k i l l ed .
I got by with an inj ured back , was put i n this
hosp ita l , but I am now up and around .
soon b e di scharged .
I will
That i s the truth , don ' t
worry . "
We then opened the other letter , the one in wh ich he
wasn ' t a b l e to descr ibe the accident .
Had h i s second
l etter been d e l ayed , or lost , it wou ld have g iven us a
124
�m i s erab l e and anxi ous t ime .
Our son Edd i e , be ing three years younger , d i d
not have to enter the service t i l l t h e last y e a r o f the
war .
He was a s s i gned to the Merchant Mar ines and s erved
between th i s country and South Amer ica . How thank f u l to
God that he spared them both for u s .
But our j oy was tempered w i th sadnes s because
our l oved An i s Khoury ( Soumaya ' s broth e r ) d i d not come
back .
A l l dur ing the war we had the hope that we wou ld
hear from h im , but it was not to be .
An i s had come from
B e i rut where he had stud i ed dent i stry at the Univers ity
of Be irut .
He came to th i s country and started t o
pract ice i n New York .
He thought that it wou ld be h i s
advantage t o s erve i n the armed force s . -
H e was accepted
and a s s igned to the med ical s ervice . We were never sure
what happened then .
We were told that he and four other
o f f icers were sent overseas on a secret m i s s ion and the i r
p l ane was never heard from aga in .
For weeks they
s earched the seas , pass ing ships , and a l l i s l ands c l o s e
t o where they thought they went down , but w ithout ava i l .
After a period , they not i f ied u s that they must j udge h im
a s " Lost at S ea . "
125
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Wadea and Aelyas Kassab Memoirs
Subject
The topic of the resource
Autobiography
Portraits
Description
An account of the resource
<h4>Biographical/Historical Note</h4>
<p>Wadea Kassab was born in Damascus in 1872 to an Orthodox family connected to British and American Protestant missionaries. Wadea immigrated from Syria to the United States in 1889, moving to Chattanooga, Tennessee, where a former teacher of his had settled. He first worked in a stove factory and later became a molder in a factory making brake shoes for the railroad. After leaving the factory, he spent several years working on a farm, peddling fancy goods, and doing other miscellaneous jobs. During this time, he built relationships with Americans, including the O’Neill family of Chester, Pennsylvania. Wadea graduated from dental school in Philadelphia in 1895 and practiced dentistry in Chester. He began taking care of the O'Neills, who had financed and encouraged his dental career.</p>
<p>Aelyas (Elias) Kassab, Wadea’s younger brother, was born in Bloudan, Syria in 1883. Aelyas followed Wadea to the United States in 1899. After completing high school in Chester, PA, he also attended dental school and practiced dentistry at Wadea’s office. </p>
<p>Both brothers married women in Syria and brought them to the United States. In 1905, Wadea married Sara Hajjar, who had been educated at an English boarding school and was teaching at a mission school for Jewish children in Damascus prior to her marriage. In 1921, Aelyas married Soumaya Khoury of Beirut, Lebanon. The Kassab brothers both raised their families in Chester. Aelyas continued the brothers' dental practice while Wadea attempted a career in real estate; when this failed, Wadea rejoined the dental practice. Wadea died in February 1972, and Aelyas in October 1987. The brothers are both buried in Pennsylvania.</p>
<h4>Scope/Content Note</h4>
<p>This collection contains a photograph of Wadea and Aelyas Kassab and two typed manuscripts: “Memoirs” by Wadea Kassab and "Kassab Family History” by Aelyas Kassab. The manuscripts offer insight into the social fabric and workplace challenges faced by early immigrants.</p>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Aelyas Kassab
Wadea Kassab
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Family of Wadea and Aelyas Kassab
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Moise A. Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
The donor retains full ownership of any copyright and rights currently controlled. Nonexclusive right to authorize uses of these materials for non-commercial research, scholarly, or other educational purposes are granted to Khayrallah Center pursuant to U.S. Copyright Law. Usage of the materials for these purposes must be fully credited with the source. The user assumes full responsibility for any use of the materials.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1954-1958
Language
A language of the resource
English
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Processed by Khayrallah Center staff. Collection Guide content contributed by Linda Jacobs and Claire A. Kempa and updated by Allison Hall, 2023 November.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
KC 0035
Access Rights
Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies.
This digital material is provided here for non-commercial research, scholarly, or other educational purposes pursuant to U.S. Copyright Law.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
kc0035_003
Title
A name given to the resource
Kassab Family History
Subject
The topic of the resource
Autobiography
Description
An account of the resource
This manuscript by Aelyas Kassab is a history of the Kassab family and a biography of Aelyas's own life. It begins with Aelyas's grandfather Elyas Kassab, born in 1814, and traces the family through the 19th century
particular attention is paid to the life and career of his uncle, Salim Kassab. After this family history, Aelyas gives an autobiographical account of his own life, from his childhood in Syria to his 1899 immigration to the United States to join his elder brother Wadea, finish his education, and join his brother's dental practice in Chester, Pennsylvania.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Aelyas Kassab
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
The family of Aelyas Kassab
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Moise A. Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
circa 1958
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
The donor retains full ownership of any copyright and rights currently controlled. Nonexclusive right to authorize uses of these materials for non-commercial research, scholarly, or other educational purposes are granted to Khayrallah Center pursuant to U.S. Copyright Law. Usage of the materials for these purposes must be fully credited with the source. The user assumes full responsibility for any use of the materials.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Text/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
1950s
Biographies
Genealogy
Immigration
Medical
Pennsylvania
World War I
World War II