The streets certainly were both
quiet and beautiful, as I looked upon them in the clear moonlight of ten
o'clock at night, an hour when honest people in the country are, for the
most part, asleep. I entered the handsomest of the hotels, and
registered my name in a bran-new book on the clerk's counter.
Name.
Residence.
Destination.
_Prof. D.G. Brown,
N.Y. City.
Lecture in Tyre_.
'Beautiful evening, sir,' said the clerk, who was also the landlord, but
not also the bar-tender and the hostler.
'You are right, sir,' said I; 'it is truly a lovely evening. I have
rarely seen moonlight so beautiful. Indeed, such were the beauties of
the evening, that I have positively been tempted so far as to walk over
here from Sidon this evening, leaving my baggage to follow me in the
morning.'
'Ah! lectured in Sidon perhaps?'
'Well, ah! um! yes; that is, I intend to do so, but unforeseen
circumstances induced me to relinquish that purpose. Sidon is very
small.'
'Yes, sir, small place. Never heard of a lecture, or any kind of a
performance, there before. Fact is, they're a hard set over to Sidon,
and the place is better known by the name of Sodom around here.'
I felt much encouraged at hearing this; for, to tell the truth, my
cogitations as I tramped over the rough road between Tyre and Sidon had
been anything but cheerful.
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