CHAPTER VI.

NUSSOOH'S INTERVIEW WITH ULLEEM, HIS

SECOND SON.

THAT same afternoon, when he had returned from prayers, Nussooh asked for his second son, Ulleem. He had just come back from college, and when he had changed his dress he waited on his father.

"Well, my boy," said Nussooh, "I hear you are working hard for your examination."

"Yes, Sir; the half-yearly examination is coming on, and I have several books to revise; but I am sorry to say I can't work at home, for the people who come to see my elder brother make too much noise. I generally study at a friend's house."

Nussooh betrayed his annoyance, but let the matter pass; and presently said in a serious tone:

"And are you preparing for the great examination?"

"There is plenty of time for that," replied Ulleem; "I have to get over this one first.'

"Is the time fixed, then?"

"Oh yes, it is always just before the Christmas vacation."

"Ulleem, you don't understand my question; I am thinking of the Great Day of Account. Is not that a great examination ?"

"Indeed, Sir, it is. It is the hardest examination of all."

"And have you prepared for that, my son?"

"No, Sir, I have not thought of it."

"And why?" continued his questioner.

"I know no reason, except that one is apt to take such things easily." And then the boy added with some hesitation: "Perhaps, too, the absence of religion in my own family has been a cause of my neglect."

"That is true," replied his father; "and the fault is mine. I have purposely asked you these questions, that I may take the earliest opportunity of acknowledging my folly and forgetfulness as a father.”

"Oh! father, the fault is my own. God gave me reason enough to understand that this life would not last for ever, and that it ought not to be passed in eating and drinking, like the lives of animals, without a thought of religious duties."

In some astonishment at his son's reply Nussooh remarked:

"I see that you are no stranger to the subject of religion, and yet I never took the pains to teach you. Surely they teach you nothing about religion at the college?"

"No, father. I read the Koran through like a parrot, when I was first at school; but the Persian books we read, so far from being religious, were immoral. About the time when I was reading the Bahari-dānish a Missionary used to preach in the bazar in Chandni Chauk, and often gave away books to the bystanders. Indeed some of my school-fellows took them, and generally tore them up for kites or covers for their lesson books. I thought I would get one too; and one day I joined the crowd which was listening to the Missionary with this intention in my mind. The people were disputing with him and got very angry and impatient, whereas he had not a wrinkle on his forehead. Presently some boy called out an opprobrious epithet, and this turned the tide in the Missionary's favour, for when the bystanders wanted to chastise the boy he said, 'My friends, don't hurt him; the word he used may mean a "pearl," and perhaps that is what he meant !' I, as well as the rest, was charmed with the Missionary's ready forbearance; and his opponents soon afterwards went away with the remark that, whatever his religion was, he

• The name of the chief street in Dehli.

was a good man. When the crowd thinned at the conclusion of his discourse, he observed me lingering, and, divining my wish, asked if I wanted anything. I told him I should like to have a book, and, after I had chosen a nicely bound one from his box, he said I might have it if I could read it, adding that he would like to hear me read the book I was studying at school. The day's lesson was so full of nonsense and indecency that I hardly dared read it aloud before the crowd, but I managed to stammer through a few lines. He stopped me and said, very kindly and seriously, 'I am sorry I asked you to read that trash. If you will take my advice you will throw the book away. It is not only immoral, but contrary to the teaching of your creed as a Musalman.' And, curious to say, the bystanders

agreed with him.

"When I got home I read the book which the Missionary gave me. It was the life of a holy man, written in easy Urdu; and I liked it very much. I learned for the first time something of my responsibilities as a human being, and the duty of sympathy with my fellows especially attracted my attention. Anyhow, I said good-bye to the Bahar-i-dānish from that day forward; and though my school-fellows and the Munshi himself came for me, I refused to go to school any more. At that time you were in the Deccan. As illluck would have it, I was out one day, and my elder brother spied the book. He wanted some paper to

make squibs for the Shab-Barāt,* and, when he saw what the book was, tore it up for the purpose. When I complained, he and his friends told me I had no business with such books, and asked if I meant to turn Christian. But it struck me, if Christians followed the teaching of that book, they could not be so bad as they were painted. However, some time after this I entered the Government College, and was engaged in other matters."

Nussooh, who had listened with great attention to this story, remarked:

"There is no doubt some opposition between the doctrines of Islam and Christianity, but then no two religions have so much in common. The Koran speaks well of Christianity and its professors, and their Gospel is held to be the word of God. The Musalman may lawfully eat and intermarry with the Christian, and the alienation which now characterises their relations is not sanctioned by the canon law. religious books could hardly have benefited you more than the Missionary's volume. But you said just now you had learned sympathy for others from its maxims. Tell me, have you ever put this teaching into practice?"

The best of our

The "Night of Record" is the 15th of Shaban (8th month), on which the actions of mankind for the coming year are supposed to be registered. Mahomed enjoined his followers to keep awake, and the observance of this order is aided by the noise of fireworks.