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SPORT, POLITICS, AND SOCIETY IN THE MIDDLE EAST
 DANYEL REICHE
TAMIR SOREK
(eds)

Sport, Politics, and

Society in the Middle East

3
 3
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers
the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by
publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University
Press in the UK and in certain other countries.
Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison
Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America
© Danyel Reiche and Tamir Sorek and the Contributors, 2019

First published in the United Kingdom in 2019 by

C. Hurst & Co. (Publishers) Ltd

All rights reserved. No part of Publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval

system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in
writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by license, or
under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization. Inquiries
concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights
Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above.

You must not circulate this work in any other form

and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer
A copy of this book’s Cataloging-in-Publication Data
is on file with the Library of Congress.

ISBN 9780190065218
 CONTENTS

Acknowledgements vii
About the Contributors ix
List of Illustrations xiii

Introduction Tamir Sorek and Danyel Reiche 1

1. Mapping the ‘Sports Nahda’: Toward a History of Sports in the
Modern Middle East Murat C. Yıldız 11
2. Football’s Role in How Societies Remember: The Symbolic Wars
of Jordanian–Palestinian Football Dag Tuastad 41
3. Hapoel Tel Aviv and Israeli Liberal Secularism
Tamir Sorek 55
4. Qatari Female Footballers: Negotiating Gendered Expectations
Charlotte Lysa 73
5. Sportswomen’s Use of Social Media in the Middle East and
North Africa (MENA) Nida Ahmad 93
6. The World Cup and Freedom of Expression in Qatar
Craig L. LaMay 107
7. Turkish Sports: Lost in Politics? Cem Tınaz 123
8. Developing a National Elite Sport Policy in an Arab Country:
The Case of Lebanon Nadim Nassif 147
9. Legacies of Mega-Sporting Events in Developing Countries:
A Case Study of Lebanon Danyel Reiche 165

v
 CONTENTS

10. The Business of Sports in the Gulf Cooperation Council Member

States Simon Chadwick 183
Notes 205
Index 263

vi
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This volume is the product of two working group meetings held under the aus-
pices of the Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) at
Georgetown University in Qatar. We would like to thank Mehran Kamrava,
Director of CIRS, and Zahra Babar, Associate Director for Research, for initiat-
ing and guiding this project. We would like to also thank Suzi Mirgani,
Managing Editor at CIRS, whose support and advice in the editing process was
tremendously helpful. We also benefited from the assistance of the staff at
CIRS: Elizabeth Wanucha, Jackie Starbird, Islam Hassan, Misba Bhatti, and
Sabika Shaban. In addition to the authors of the chapters in this volume, we
would like to acknowledge the contribution of the following scholars to this
project: Mahfoud Amara, Ferman Konukman, Nnamdi Madichie, Monèm
Jemni, and Betsi Stephen. Finally, grateful acknowledgment also goes also to the
Qatar Foundation for its support of research and other scholarly endeavors.

vii
 ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS

Nida Ahmad is a PhD student at the University of Waikato in New Zealand.

Her research examines the digital lives of Muslim sportswomen and how they
use social media to represent aspects of their identities. Ahmad has co-
authored a number of publications, including ‘SDP and Action Sports’, in
Routledge Handbook of Sport for Development and Peace (2018) with Holly
Thorpe and Neftalie Williams; ‘Youth Sport in the Middle East’, in Routledge
Handbook of Youth Sport (2015) with Holly Thorpe; ‘Youth, Action Sports
and Political Agency in the Middle East: Lessons from a Grassroots Parkour
Group in Gaza’, International Review for the Sociology of Sport (2013) with
Holly Thorpe; and ‘Transnational families in Armenia and Information
Communication Technology Use’, International Journal of Communication
(2013) with Katy Pearce and Janine Slaker.
Simon Chadwick is Professor of Sports Enterprise and Director of the Centre
for Sports Business at the University of Salford (UK). He is also Professor of
Eurasian Sport and Director of CESI (Centre for the Eurasian Sport Industry)
at emylon, based in Shanghai (China). Chadwick is currently engaged in work
examining the links between sports sponsorship and soft power; the industrial
development of sports in the Gulf region; China’s quest to become a leading
football nation; the phenomenon of transnational sports fandom; the role
social media plays in sport; and the way equity in sports brands is built
through experiential marketing.
Craig L. LaMay is a journalist, an Associate Professor at Northwestern
University in Evanston, Illinois, and currently Associate Professor in
Residence at Northwestern University in Qatar. He is author, co-author, or

ix
 ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS

editor of several books, among them: Measures of Press Freedom and Media
Contributions to Development: Evaluating the Evaluators, with Monroe Price
and Susan Abbott (Peter Lang, 2011); Institutional Failures: Duke Lacrosse,
Universities, the News Media and the Legal System, with Howard Wasserman
(Ashgate, 2011); Inside the Presidential Debates, with Newton Minow
(University of Chicago, 2008); Exporting Press Freedom: Economic and
Editorial Dilemmas in International Media Assistance (Transaction, 2006);
Journalism and the Problem of Privacy (Erlbaum, 2003); Democracy on the Air,
with Ellen Mickiewicz, Donald Browne, and Charles Firestone (Duke, 2000);
To Profit or Not to Profit: The Commercial Transformation of the Nonprofit
Sector, with Burton Weisbrod (Cambridge, 1998).
Charlotte Lysa is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Culture Studies and
Oriental Languages at the University of Oslo. Her academic interests include
politics and society in the Middle East and North Africa. She is currently
researching female football participation in the Arab Gulf monarchies. Lysa
published an article about Qatar and the World Cup in Babylon—Nordic
Journal of Middle Eastern Studies in 2016, for which she won the Babylon
prize for young researchers; ‘The Banality of Protest? Twitter Campaigns in
Qatar’, with A. Leber in Gulf Affairs: Identity & Culture in the 21st Century
Gulf (2016); and ‘Women’s Sports Programs are Challenging Saudi Arabia’s
Gender Divide’, with A. Leber in Gulf Affairs, special issue, ‘Gender (Im)
Balance in Gulf Societies’ (Spring 2018).
Nadim Nassif is Assistant Professor and Academic Advisor of the physical
education major at Notre Dame University–Louaize, Lebanon. His most
recent publications include: ‘World Ranking of Countries in Elite Sport’,
Rivista Di Diritto Ed Economia Dello Sport (2018); ‘Factors behind Lebanon’s
Difficulties Achieving Success at the Olympics’, The International Journal of
the History of Sport (2017); and ‘Elite Sport Ranking of the “International
Society of Sports Sciences in the Arab World”: An Accurate Evaluation of all
Nations’ Performances International Sports Competitions’, Athens Journal of
Sport (2017).
Danyel Reiche is an Associate Professor of Comparative Politics at the
American University of Beirut (AUB). He graduated with distinction from
Leibniz University Hannover and joined AUB in 2008 after working as a
Visiting Assistant Professor at Georgetown University. Reiche published
Success and Failure of Countries at the Olympic Games in 2016 with Routledge.
His peer-reviewed articles have been published in area study journals, such as

x
 ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS

International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics and Journal of Energy Policy,
as well as in broader oriented journals, such as Third World Quarterly and The
Middle East Journal. Professor Reiche has also been invited to write op-eds for
leading international newspapers such as Washington Post and Spiegel Online
and has been frequently interviewed and quoted by major media outlets such
as Le Monde and The Wall Street Journal.
Tamir Sorek is Professor of Sociology at the University of Florida. His studies
focus on the intersection of culture and politics, especially in the fields of
nationalism, collective memory, and sport. In his work, Sorek bridges the gap
between quantitative studies and qualitative humanistic scholarship. He is the
author of Arab Soccer in a Jewish State (Cambridge University Press, 2007),
Palestinian Commemoration in Israel (Stanford University Press, 2015), and is
currently completing a biography of the Palestinian poet Tawfiq Zayyad to be
published by Stanford University Press in 2020. Sorek’s scholarship has been
published worldwide in multiple languages, including French, Arabic,
Indonesian, Turkish, and Hebrew.
Cem Tinaz has been Director of the School of Sports Sciences and
Technology at Istanbul Bilgi University since 2015, and a board member of
the Turkish Tennis Federation since 2009. He authored “Policies for
Naturalisation of Foreign-Born Athletes: Qatar and Turkey in Comparison,”
with Danyel Reiche, in International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics
(2019); “Football in Turkey,” with Emir Güney and Ahmet Talimciler, in
Routledge Handbook of Football Business and Management (2018);
“Globalizing a Brand through Sport Sponsorships: The Case of Turkish
Airlines and its Sport Marketing Efforts,” in Routledge Handbook of
International Sport Business (2018). Tinaz was awarded a 2016/2017
Advanced Olympic Research Grant by the IOC Olympic Studies Centre, for
the project “Examining Positive Outcomes of Unsuccessful Olympic Bids.”
Dag Tuastad is Senior Lecturer in Middle East Studies at the University of
Oslo, where he led the New Middle East Project, and currently heads the Rebel
Rule Project. Tuastad’s academic interests include political culture, power,
resistance, and politics as seen from below. His publications include: Palestinske
Utfordringer (Palestinian Challenges) (Cappelen Damm, 2014), and authored
“‘A Threat to National Unity’—Football in Jordan: Ethnic Divisive or a
Political Tool for the Regime?” The International Journal of the History of Sport
(2014); “From Football Riot to Revolution: The Political Role of Football in
the Arab World,” Soccer and Society (2013); “‘State of Exception’ or ‘State in

xi
 ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS

Exile?’ The Fallacy of Appropriating Agamben on Palestinian Refugee Camps,”

Third World Quarterly (2017); “The Violent Rise of Palestine’s Lost
Generation,” Middle East Critique (2017); and “Nationalist Patriarchy, Clan
Democracy: How the Political Trajectories of Palestinians in Israel and the
Occupied Territories Have Been Reversed,” Die Welt des Islams (2017).
Murat C. Yıldız is Assistant Professor of History at Skidmore College. He
specializes in the cultural and social history of the modern Middle East. Yıldız
is currently working on a book manuscript that focuses on the development
of a shared sports culture among Muslims, Christians, and Jews of late-nine-
teenth- and early-twentieth-century Istanbul. His work has appeared in the
Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication, the Cairo Papers in Social
Science, the Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies, and the ​Arab Studies
Journal. He is an Assistant Editor for the Arab Studies Journal, a peer-
reviewed, multidisciplinary research publication in the field of Arab and
Middle East studies.

xii
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Figure 1: Egyptian students performing gymnastics exercises for

Italy’s King Vittorio Emmanuel III and Queen Elena dur-
ing their trip to Egypt.
Source: ‘Al-hafla al-riyadiya al-kubra li-wizara al-ma‘arif bi
munasiba tashrif hadrati sahibi al-jalala malik wa malika
Italiya,’ al-Abtal, 4 March 1933, p. 4. 12
Figure 2: The wrestling team of the Young Men’s Muslim Association
( Jam‘iyat al-Shubban al-Muslimin).
Source: Al-Abtal, 11 March 1933, p. 22. 19
Figure 3: Basketball game at the American University on Cairo’s
Field Day.
Source: American University of Cairo Archive, Box 5,
Athletics and sport—1920s–1980s—Sports day. 23
Figure 4: The ‘physical training’ section of al-Abtal.
Source: ‘Al-Tarbiyya al-Badaniyya,’ al-Abtal, 4 February
1933, p. 10. 24
Figure 5: Anwar Ahmad on the cover of al-Abtal.
Source: Al-Abtal, 25 February 1933. 26
Figure 6: Egypt’s early-twentieth-century football star Hussein Higazi.
Source: Al-Sayid Faraj, Kabtin Masr: Hussein Higazi
(Cairo: al-Majlis al-A‘la li-Ri‘ayat al-Shabab, 1961). 27
Figure 7: Full two-page article in Spor Alemi (The World of Sports)
about the institutionalization of sports in the Istanbul
Girls’ High School.
Source: ‘İstanbul Kız Lisesi’nde Spor,’ Spor Alemi, 3 March
1926, pp. 10–11. 28

xiii
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Figure 8: Photos of athletes from Egypt and ‘sister regions’ (al-aqtar

al-shaqiqa).
Source: Al-Abtal, 28 January 1933, p. 20. 30
Figure 9: Signed photograph of al-Sayid ‘Abd al-Wahed that he gifted
to al-Abtal.
Source: Al-Abtal, 11 February 1933, p. 18. 31
Figure 10: Advertisement for Istanbul’s ‘sporting mağazası’ (sporting
store).
Source: Spor Alemi, 19 April 1922, p. 10. 32
Figure 11: ‘How do Europeans know Turks?’
Source: ‘Avrupalılar Türkleri Nasıl Biliyorlar?’ Spor Alemi,
8 February 1922, p. 2. 37

xiv
 INTRODUCTION

FROM SPORTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST

TO MIDDLE EASTERN SPORTS

Tamir Sorek and Danyel Reiche

Sports in the Middle East have become a major issue in global affairs: Qatar’s
successful bid for the FIFA World Cup 2022 (won in a final vote against the
United States), the 2005 UEFA Champions League Final in Turkey’s most
populous city Istanbul, the European basketball championship EuroBasket in
2017 in Israel, and other major sporting events, such as the annually staged
Formula 1 races in Bahrain and Abu Dhabi, have put an international spot-
light on the region. In particular, media around the world are discussing the
question of whether the most prestigious sporting events should be staged in
a predominantly authoritarian, socially conservative, and politically conten-
tious part of the world.1 The influence of sports in the Middle East extends
beyond the region: professional sports clubs around the world have signed
sponsorship deals with Middle Eastern airlines, and stadium-naming rights
have also been signed with those companies. Major football clubs like Paris
Saint-Germain Football Club and Manchester City have been bought by
investors from the Gulf–Qatar and Abu Dhabi, respectively.
The growing visibility of Middle Eastern sports has only recently attracted
the attention of scholars. Although some sporadic academic studies appeared

1
 SPORT, POLITICS, AND SOCIETY IN THE MIDDLE EAST

as early as the 1980s, we can identify the beginning of a ‘wave’ of scholarship

in the mid-1990s, which intensified in the early 2000s. These studies were
mostly socio-historical, sociological, and anthropological, and they tended to
focus on the particular dynamics of certain countries, including Egypt,2
Turkey,3 Iran,4 Yemen,5 Israel/Palestine,6 and Jordan.7 While more recent
scholarship continues similar patterns, and extends to cover new countries,8
since 2010 we may also identify the addition of two new trends. The first is
related to the power shift in international sports towards Middle Eastern
countries, with the awarding of mega-sporting events to countries such as
Bahrain, Qatar, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. As a result, in the
2010s more scholarship appears to be focused on business, management, and
policy.9 The second trend is the contextualization of various case studies
related to specific countries within a broader regional frame. Numerous vol-
umes on sports in the Arab world, Middle East, or MENA (the Middle East
and North Africa),10 and particularly about soccer,11 have been published
since 2012. This volume is part of both emerging trends, but with its own
particular characteristics.
First, following Abbas Amanat’s question, ‘Is there a Middle East?’,12 we ask
‘is there a Middle Eastern sport?’ In other words, beyond the aggregation of
case studies, can we identify common regional dynamics typical for the
Middle East? This volume, therefore, emphasizes the interdependence
between regional patterns and local developments in particular countries. For
example, chapters in this volume identify common patterns in the historical
developments of Middle Eastern sports, illustrate the common experience of
Muslim female athletes throughout the region, analyze the diverse effects of
regional mega-sporting events on Lebanon, and outline common trends in the
sport business in the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states.
Second, the contributors to this volume share a common understanding of
Middle Eastern sports as a contested terrain, where struggles over resources,
meanings, and identities are constantly taking place, and there is no inevitable
outcome for these struggles. We demonstrate the role sports play in the battle
over social memories related to the Palestinian–Bedouin divide in Jordan, or
over competing definitions of ‘Israeliness’ among Israelis with different
approaches to religion, as well as different ethnic and class backgrounds. In
Lebanon, mega-sporting events have been playing an indirect role in struggles
over the definition of Lebanese national identity, as well as the degree to
which this identity is embedded in the broader Arab world.
These struggles are also related to the various roles sports can play in soci-
etal change in the Middle East. While a major goal of policies aimed at pro-

2
 INTRODUCTION

moting sports in the Middle East is international recognition,13 to what extent

can sports also contribute to changes within the region? In most Middle
Eastern countries sports participation is much lower compared to that in
other regions of the world, which has had severe consequences on the health
of the population, with obesity becoming a major problem, particularly in the
Arabian Peninsula. Does the interest in hosting mega-sporting events, and
using sports as a promotional tool, also lead to improved promotion of sports
at the grassroots level? Since sports in the Middle East has traditionally been
considered a masculine sphere,14 are women in sports gaining acceptance?
And are sports such as football, which are considered to be masculine arenas,
becoming more popular and accepted among girls and their families?
The Middle East is not a homogeneous group of countries: there is political
stability in some countries while others are facing civil wars. Most Middle
Eastern countries are Muslim-majority countries, but some also have large
Christian populations, as well as other religious minority groups. Arabic is the
most widely spoken language in the Middle East, but there are also other
languages spoken, such as Turkish, Persian, Kurdish, and Hebrew. What most
Middle Eastern countries have in common is their colonial legacy and com-
plicated present-day relations with the West. In addition, most of them share
a low ranking on indexes tracking gender equality, as well as on those tracking
democracy and press freedom.15 Can mega-sporting events awarded to Middle
Eastern countries contribute to societal reform, and can they positively affect,
for example, freedom of expression? While such a scenario is possible, this
volume rejects the romantic and deterministic idea that sport always contrib-
utes to societal improvement. Nonetheless, it does highlight specific case stud-
ies where this is indeed the case, for instance the empowerment of women in
particular circumstances and under particular conditions.
As this book shows, the state assumes different roles in various Middle
Eastern sports sectors. In wealthy Middle Eastern countries such as Qatar, and
in emerging market countries such as Turkey, the state plays a central role in
the sports sector. A challenge discussed in the volume is how the private sector
must grow to assist governments in meeting the ambitious visions and targets
for sports. For states such as Lebanon with weak—and some might even
argue, failing—governments, the challenge is different: to fight corruption
around mega-sporting events, especially regarding the allocation of sports
budgets. They also need to develop a more strategic approach that gives some
guidance to stakeholders in order to meet targets such as increased sports
participation and elite sport success.

3
 SPORT, POLITICS, AND SOCIETY IN THE MIDDLE EAST

This book is the product of a research initiative conducted by the Center

for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) at Georgetown University in
Qatar. In 2017, CIRS invited the contributors to this book as well as other
experts in the field to attend two working group meetings in Doha focused on
‘Sport, Society, and the State in the Middle East.’ All participants contributed
to the review process and provided feedback on the drafts of this edited vol-
ume. The final group of contributors was carefully selected, and includes some
of the most renowned experts in the field. The selected contributions cover a
broad range of Middle Eastern countries, although some nations are more in
focus than others. Two chapters (Lysa and LaMay) entirely, and another chap-
ter partly (Chadwick), focus on Qatar, largely because of the growing interna-
tional interest in the country ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, but also
because Doha hosts multiple international universities and is relatively easy to
access for most researchers from all over the world to conduct their studies.
Similarly, there are two contributions focusing on sports in Lebanon (Nassif
and Reiche), a country with both strong academic and sporting traditions.
Although great effort was made to identify scholars working on all major
Middle Eastern countries, and to include them in the two working group
meetings that ultimately led to this edited volume, not all countries could
be included. For example, there is no chapter in the volume that deals exclu-
sively with Egypt or Iran. However, Murat Yıldız’s chapter provides an
overarching regional history of sport, and dedicates extensive attention to
these two countries.
The volume is thoroughly interdisciplinary, and integrates different aca-
demic disciplines from the humanities and social sciences, including business,
cultural studies, communication, history, journalism, sociology, sports man-
agement, and political science. The ten chapters of this book offer original,
in-depth, theoretically grounded, and richly empirical chapters. The contribu-
tions rely on diverse research methodologies, ranging from ethnographic
work, surveys, and in-depth interviews to reviews of government files and the
growing body of academic literature and media articles on sports in the
Middle East.
The first part of the book (chapters 1 to 5) considers sport a contested
terrain, where various struggles over meaning, resources, and rights, are
fought. The book begins with a historical overview. Some popular discus-
sions give the impression that sport is something new to the Middle East, or
that it is no more than a Western import. Competitive organized physical
activities, however, have been known in the region for centuries, long before

4
 INTRODUCTION

the Western colonial enterprise.16 Still, it is true that the codified and stand-
ardized versions of modern global sports as we know them today were
imported to the Middle East in the late nineteenth century—soon after
their codification in Western countries.
The representation of modern sport as a ‘Western’ institution is the origin
of the first tension we discuss. In the opening chapter, Murat Yıldız traces the
activities of educators, government officials, sports club administrators, stu-
dents, club members, editors, and columnists who helped turn sports into a
regular fixture of the urban landscape of cities across the Middle East.
Furthermore, these actors frequently saw themselves as agents of Western
modernity, and, in this capacity, they aspired to turn the physical activity from
‘fun’ into a broader project of training, disciplining, and educating the self.
His chapter highlights the tension between these two interpretive poles, and
how it is related to the construction of the West vs. East dichotomy. Yıldız’s
chapter is also a response to the rapidly growing study of the history of sports
in various Middle Eastern countries, and questions whether we can talk about
a shared and distinct history of sports in the Middle East. Based on press
research and integration of secondary sources, the chapter traces the emer-
gence and spread of team sports and physical exercise throughout the urban
centers of the Middle East from the late nineteenth century until the 1930s,
and demonstrates that there were important shared discursive and institu-
tional features across the region. The chapter shows that the tension between
sports as fun and sports as a disciplinary tool is by itself an important charac-
teristic of Middle Eastern sporting history.
The next two chapters deal with struggles over the definition of collective
identities. Dag Tuastad analyzes football’s role in how societies remember.
Based on several phases of ethnographic work over two decades, the chapter
demonstrates how football constitutes a dominant arena for battles over
national social memories related to the Palestinian–Bedouin divide in Jordan.
Social memory processes in football arenas represent two related social phe-
nomena. First, collective historical memories are produced. Second, during
football matches, with their symbolic and physical confrontations, these col-
lective memories are also enacted and embodied. Palestinian–Jordanian
encounters on the football field have been especially important in this context,
and have served as a stage for reprocessing and embodying the memory of the
1970 civil war. For Palestinians, as a stateless ethno-national group that lacks
the formal national institutions to preserve a national past in the form of
museums or archaeological preservation, football, and particularly the Wihdat

5
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
The Project Gutenberg eBook of The
sailor's home
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States
and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the
United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where
you are located before using this eBook.

Title: The sailor's home

Or, the girdle of truth

Author: A. L. O. E.

Release date: March 19, 2024 [eBook #73200]

Language: English

Original publication: United Kingdom: Gall & Inglis, 1875

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE

SAILOR'S HOME ***
 Transcriber's note: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is
as printed.

"You seem to be weary, my friend," said Mr. Curtis,

the vicar of Colme, stopping courteously to speak to a sailor,
who was seated on the stump of a tree at the side of the
pathway.
 THE SAILOR'S HOME;
OR,

The Girdle of Truth.

BY

A. L. O. E.

AUTHORESS OF "THE CLAREMONT TALES," "THE YOUNG PILGRIM,"

"THE COTTAGE BY THE STREAM," "HARRY DANGERFIELD,"
"GLIMPSES OF THE UNSEEN," ETC., ETC.

GALL & INGLIS.

London: Edinburgh:

30 PATERNOSTER ROW. 6 GEORGE STREET.

 CONTENTS.

CHAPTER

I. COMING HOME

II. SPEAKING OUT

III. THINKING IT OVER

IV. PUT TO THE QUESTION

V. THE LAME SQUIRREL

VI. A STORM

VII. THE FOOTPRINT

VIII. THE SCHOOL-ROOM ADDRESS

IX. CLEARING UP

The Sailor's Home;

OR,

THE GIRDLE OF TRUTH.

 CHAPTER I.
COMING HOME.

"You seem to be weary, my friend," said Mr. Curtis, the

vicar of Colme, stopping courteously to speak to a sailor,
who was seated on the stump of a tree at the side of the
pathway. It was a glowing day in August; the air was hot
and sultry, and dust lay thick on the road.

Ned Franks, the sailor, rose on being addressed, and

touched his glazed hat, on which appeared the badge of the
anchor, surmounted by a crown, which showed that he had
belonged to the Royal Navy. He was a fine stalwart-looking
young man, scarcely thirty years of age, with sunburnt
cheek, and thick curling hair; and as Mr. Curtis met the
glance of his clear blue eye, the clergyman thought that he
had never looked upon a face more manly or pleasant.

"I've walked twenty miles, sir, since sunrise," said

Franks, glancing at the bundle which he had been carrying
on a stick across his shoulder, and which was now resting
against the stump from which he had risen. "But I'm nigh
port now, I take it, if yonder's the village of Colme."

"Are you going to visit it?" asked the vicar.

"I'm going to drop anchor there for good, sir," answered

the tar. "I've a sister—a step-sister I should say, living
yonder; she and I are all that are left of the family now, and
I'll make my home with her, please God."
 "Surely you are too young to give up the navy, my
friend. Idleness would be no blessing to a fine strong lad
such as you seem to be; you may have many years before
you yet of good service to the Queen."

"I shall never serve the Queen again, bless her!" replied
the young sailor, with a touch of sadness.

And Mr. Curtis then, for the first time, remarked that
the left sleeve of Ned's blue jacket hung empty.

"But I don't look to be idle, sir," continued Franks, in a

tone more cheerful, "Bessy will have my bit of a pension for
the mess and the berth, and I'll see if I can't make myself
useful in some way or other—go errands, or maybe try the
teaching tack; anything would be better than lying like a log
on the shore."

"Teaching?" repeated the clergyman. "What are you

able to teach?"

"Not many things," replied the sailor, with a smile,

"reading, 'riting, 'rithmetic, and not much of them neither;
but I like a book when I can overhaul one, and I usually
make good way with the younkers."

"I well believe that," said Mr. Curtis; "I doubt not that
you've many a good sea story to tell, and stirring adventure
to relate. I see," he continued, "from the badge on your hat
that you've served in the 'Queen;' I daresay that you lost
your arm by a Russian ball from a Sebastopol battery," and
the vicar looked with interest at the young seaman,
picturing him at the post of duty amidst the smoke and din
of a fight.

"No, sir," replied Ned, frankly; "I smashed my arm on

shore, stumbling down an open cellar on a starless night."
 Mr. Curtis slightly raised his eyebrows, and there was a
little less interest in his manner as he inquired, "And who is
the sister with whom you are to live?"

"Bessy Peele, sir; she's a widow in these parts."

"I know her," said Mr. Curtis, rather drily; "she lives in
the thatched cottage yonder, whose chimney you can just
see over these trees. I hope that she may make you
comfortable," he added.

"It's not much, sir, that I want," said the sailor: "a dry
berth, a wholesome mess, and a welcome, he who gets that
may be thankful, whether on sea or on shore."

"I shall call and see you," said the clergyman, kindly,
"and have a little talk with you on other matters than those
which concern but this passing life."

"I shall be heartily glad, sir," replied Ned, again

touching his glazed hat; "it's well to have some one to teach
us how to steer 'twixt the rocks and the shoals."

"I hope that we have both the same port in view," said
the clergyman.

"I hope so," answered Ned Franks, cheerfully; and as

the vicar bade him good day, he turned in the direction of
his new home.

Mrs. Peele's cottage stood a little retired from the dusty

high road, being divided from it by a bit of waste ground, on
which some pigs were feeding. The ground was overgrown
with nettles and straggling briars: the dwelling was of mud,
with a roof of thatch, green with lichen and moss, under
which, as under heavy overhanging brows, peeped two dots
of windows like eyes. The door stood open, and within Ned
caught sight of his sister engaged in washing.

Mrs. Peele was a tall bony woman, with a habitual

stoop, clad in a rusty black dress, with a cap which was
rustier still. Broad lines of grey streaked her hair, and Ned's
first feeling was that of painful surprise at the change which
years had made. He did not stop, however, to dwell on the
past.

"Holloa, Bessy! Don't you know me?" he exclaimed, as

he quickened his pace, and the next minute Mrs. Peele had
run out, with her bare arms covered with soap-suds, to
welcome her younger brother.

She was followed by a lad about ten or eleven years of

age; a sharp, wiry boy, whose pointed upturned nose, quick
little black eyes, and restless manner, somehow suggested
to the sailor's mind the idea of a weasel. Ned shook him
heartily by the hand on hearing that this was his nephew
Dan; and, with a heart glowing with pleasure at being once
more in a home, the seaman entered the cottage
accompanied by the Peeles.

"Now, Dan, you take your uncle, and show him his
room, while I wring these out, and get a bit of something
ready for dinner," said Bessy. "I hardly looked for you so
early, Ned," she added, addressing herself to her brother.

"I was up with the lark," answered the sailor.

Dan, looking up with curiosity in his keen small eyes

towards the stranger, whom he scarcely yet ventured to call
"uncle," led the way to the back of the cottage, where was a
kind of garden—if a place could deserve that name where
nothing but sickly cabbages seemed to grow, with a full
crop of chickweed and groundsel between. A small wood-
house adjoined the cottage, and over this was a little loft, to
be reached by a rough sort of ladder.

"We're to go up the hatchway, are we?" said Ned,

mounting the ladder with a lightness and rapidity which
surprised his nephew. He had to stoop his curly head low as
he passed through the entrance, the door of which
appeared never to have been intended to fit, since even
when shut it admitted as much light as the small one-paned
window of greenish glass, with a thick knob in the middle.
The loft was very small, with walls unpapered, and rafters
uncovered; a dirty mattress lay on the dirtier floor, and a
musty scent pervaded the place.

"I can't say much for the berth," thought Ned; "it's not
big enough to swing a cat in, and doesn't look as if the
planks had ever been holystoned. I must set things a little
ship-shape. Bessy, poor soul, has enough to keep her busy
with her washing; I must try if I can't make my one hand
do the business of two."

The man-of-war's seaman, accustomed to spotless

cleanliness and neatness, looked around on the miserable
den with a mixture of disgust and good humour.

"I'll rub up the bull's eye," he said, "and get that door to
fasten with something better than a piece of old rope; and
I'll try to knock up a bit of a shelf in that corner, for I've a
few books in that bundle of mine. We'll soon have all right
and trim as a captain's cabin!"

Ned Franks was to find that other things in his new

home required setting to rights as well as his loft, and that
there are spots and stains harder to rub out than those on
his walls and floor.
 "Why don't you keep that garden in trimmer order?"
asked the sailor, as he descended the ladder, followed by
Dan. "You might grow enough of potatoes and cabbages in
yon slip to supply your mother half the year."

"I've not a minute's time," answered Dan; "I look after

Sir Lacy Barton's cows."

"Lacy Barton!" repeated Ned. "Why that's the name of

one of our middies."

"Sir Lacy has a son in the 'Queen' as I've heard."

"What are you saying about Sir Lacy?" asked Bessy

Peele, catching the sound of the name, as her brother and
Dan re-entered the kitchen.

"That he has a son aboard my old vessel the 'Queen.'"

"That's a piece of luck for us!" cried Bessy, pausing in

her occupation of cutting rashers from a fine large piece of
bacon. "He's our landlord, is Sir Lacy Barton, and he's
thinking of pulling down our cottage to build the new school
in its place, and I'm mighty anxious to be in his favour. 'Tis
a lucky chance that you've come, and can tell him all about
his son."

"That depends on what I've to tell," answered Ned, with

a smile; "in some cases, it's 'least said soonest mended.' I
hope that none of the family will come to question me about
young Mr. Barton—" and the frank face of the sailor
expressed more than his words, as he remembered the
doings of the most worthless youth on board of the man-of-
war.

"Well, if you was asked, you'd say something pleasant I

hope," observed Bessy.
 "I could not say what was false," answered Ned.

The words were simple enough, but the decided tone in

which they were uttered, made Bessy exchange glances
with her son. The boy shrugged his shoulders slightly, and
something like a smile rose to the corners of his lips. The
very straightforwardness of the sailor made him appear
strange to those who had long mistaken cunning for
wisdom, and low deceit for sharpness.

CHAPTER II.
SPEAKING OUT.

The table was spread with food, homely but abundant,

steaming bacon and greens.

"A twenty miles' walk must have made you ready for
your dinner, Ned," said Bessy, as she seated herself at the
table, and a well-filled plate was soon before each of the
party.

"Why, uncle, what are you waiting for?" asked Dan,

surprised that the hungry sailor did not at once begin his
meal.

"Bessy," said Ned, quietly, "do you say grace, or shall

I?"
 Again mother and son exchanged glances. As no answer
was given, Ned, in few words, thanked God for His mercies
through Christ. This was no mere form with the weather-
beaten sailor, who found himself in haven at last, after the
tempest and the fight, the hardships and perils of a sea life,
and was thankful to God for mercies greater than
preservation through all these.

"I'm afraid," said Ned, looking with a good-humoured

smile at his plate, "that a maimed Jack-tar such as I am,
must signal for assistance even at the mess."

Bessy had for the moment forgotten her brother's

condition; she had not realised the constant inconvenience
which must follow the loss of an arm. Ned's misfortune did
not, however, appear in the least to weigh down his spirits,
and he chatted merrily through dinner-time, talking over old
days, and then making inquiries as to what hope there
might be of his getting such employment as might suit a
one-armed man.

"I've heard as how Mr. Curtis, our vicar, is looking out

for some one to help with his school," said Dan.

"I think that it must have been your parson who hailed
me on my course here," observed Ned.

"He's rather an oldish man, bald, with a little limp in his

walk," said Dan.

"That's he!" cried the sailor. "He talked to me friendly

enough, and asked me how I had lost my arm."

"And what said you?" inquired Bessy.

"The truth, of course, that I was lubber enough to

stumble down into a cellar at night."
 "Oh! Ned, he would think that you were drunk,"
exclaimed Bessy.

"I'm afraid that he did," said Ned. "I could see in his
face that I'd let myself down a peg in his good opinion."

"Oh! Uncle, what a chance you lost!" cried Dan, his

black eyes twinkling slily under his shock of rough hair. "If
I'd been you, I'd have told such a tale, how I lost that arm
boarding a thundering big ship, or saving an officer's life, or
doing some desperate deed! You'd have been a reg'lar hero
in Colme; they'd have been getting up a subscription for
you, and Mr. Curtis would have clapped you into the place of
teacher at once! 'Twould have been the making of you, it
would!"

"Dan," said Ned, laying down his fork, and looking

steadily at his nephew across the table, "do you know what
a lie is?"

The boy was taken aback by the sudden question, and

his eyes sunk under the gaze that was fixed upon him.

Receiving no answer, the sailor went on—"A lie is a

mean thing—a senseless, a wicked: a habitual liar is a
sneak, a coward, and a fool!"

"A fool! I don't see how you can make that out,"
muttered Dan, who was secretly not a little proud of his
cunning, and who thought the name of fool a great deal
worse than that of knave.

"It's easy enough to make out," said Ned; "a liar is a

fool as regards this life; for, look ye, he's sure to be found
out afore long, and a good character is worth more than
anything that he could get in exchange for it. Is it nothing
to be trusted, is it nothing to be able to look any man in the
face?"

Dan was at the moment uneasily peering down at the

crumbs on the floor.

"Would a man not be called a fool who should put to sea

in a vessel whose timbers were all rotten, however gaily
painted she might be, or however fine a figure-head she
might carry? She must be stove in when the first storm
came, she must soon show that she was not seaworthy."

Ned had spoken with the fiery energy of one who, as he

often owned, carried "too much gunpowder in his cargo;"
but his tone softened to quiet earnestness as he went on.

"And if we come to speak of another world, my lad,

what shall we say of the folly of lying, whatever the
temptation to do so may be? Was it without reason, think
you, that St. Paul, when telling how a Christian man should
be armed to fight against the devil, bade him first be 'girt
about with truth.' * Why, we couldn't so much as set a foot
in the golden city without it; you've heard what's said in
God's Word of that matter; outside, shut out of glory, in
company with murderers and idolaters will be 'whosoever
loveth and maketh a lie'! † The devil himself is the father of
lies, ‡ such as make them, follow him; and they who
choose their portion with him are fools, whatever the world
may give, or whatever the world may call them!"

* Eph. vi. 14. † Rev. xxii. 15. ‡ John viii. 44.

There was silence in the cottage for several minutes

after Ned had ceased speaking.
 Dan attempted no reply, but finished his dinner in
somewhat sulky reserve; then appearing suddenly to
remember that he had to look after the cows, the boy rose
and slunk out of the place. Dan did not, however, go in the
direction of the fields, but into the village to play at pitch-
and-toss with Tom and Jack Mullins, and to tell them
wonderful stories of his sailor uncle, who was, he said, a
first-rate fellow for fighting, and polished off Russians as
fast as they might knock down ninepins, but who had a
ticklish temper to deal with, flaring up like fire at a word.

CHAPTER III.
THINKING IT OVER.

"You took Dan up sharp, brother," said Bessy, as her son

quitted the cottage.

"Maybe I did," answered Ned, frankly. "I'm trying to

keep down that hot temper of mine, but there's nothing
stirs it up like anything of deceit, and it gets in a blaze afore
I'm aware. There was something in the lad's looks more
than his words, that made me fancy him one of those who
don't see clearly the difference atween truth and falsehood,
and who get amongst the shoals almost without knowing it.
I wanted to show him the beacon lights set in the Bible to
warn us off them, that's all."

"Ah! Dan's quick enough at lying," said Bessy, with a

sigh. "I can't believe a word that he says. Many and many's
the time I tells him, 'Dan, with all those fine stories of
yours, you'll get into trouble at last.'"

"And don't you tell him," said Ned, "that God hears, and
marks down, and that 'every idle word that men shall
speak, they shall give account thereof in the Day of
Judgment'?" *

* Matt. xii. 36.

"Oh! I'm not one of your saints that likes religion

brought in at every turn," said Bessy, peevishly. "'Tis all well
enough to go decently to church on Sundays: and dear
me!" she exclaimed, suddenly interrupting herself, and
starting up from her seat. "If that is not Mrs. Curtis coming
over the green! That woman is always taking one
unawares."

And, with a quickness which astonished the sailor, Bessy

whisked off the dish from the table, flung an old shawl over
the large piece of bacon from which the rashers had been
cut, and stowed away a heap of damp linen which she had
been washing into a cupboard.

"She's in a mighty hurry to tidy the room for the lady,"

thought Ned, "but it doesn't look a bit neater than before."

Just as Bessy had finished her hasty preparations, Mrs.

Curtis, a small, delicate lady, very simply but neatly
dressed, tapped at the door of the cottage, and entered.
Bessy was all smiles and curtsies; she dusted a chair and
placed it for her guest, hoped that she had not been
troubled by the heat of the day, and asked after "the young
masters and misses," like one who took an affectionate
interest in the well-being of the family.
 "I am glad to see your brother here," said Mrs. Curtis,
courteously bending her head as the sailor respectfully rose
at her entrance.

"Ah! Yes, poor fellow!" exclaimed Bessy. "He's my only

brother living, and as long as I have a crust, he shall be
welcome to share it. We must all care for one another,
ma'am, as our good minister told us last Sunday in his
beautiful sermon."

"It would be but fair," thought Ned, "if Bessy gave the
lady a notion that I pay for this half-crust with the whole of
my pension."

"It's but a poor home that my brother has come to,"

continued Bessy, whose voice, in addressing the
clergyman's wife, had a plaintive drawling tone, quite unlike
that in which she usually spoke. "I have been wanting
much, ma'am, to speak a word or two to you or to Mr.
Curtis."

"My husband told me that he intended to call here

soon," said the lady.

"Ah! How glad I am even to see his blessed face. Ah!

What I owe him," cried Bessy, heaving a long sigh, as if to
express by it gratitude too deep for words. "But what I was
a-going to say, ma'am, was, that I hopes as how Mr. Curtis
will be good enough to put me again on the widows' list for
the loaves. I've really such a hard pull to live, I don't know
how we can get on without it;" and there was another long-
drawn sigh.

"Ha!" thought the indignant sailor. "The gratitude was

for favours to come."