The plague in India is still raging fiercely, and every one is feeling
very grave about it.

Europe is so afraid that it will spread, that the greatest care is being
taken to quarantine all people who have come from India.

All letters and merchandise are carefully fumigated, and they say that in
Italy the authorities are so frightened that they fumigate the people, as
well as their clothes and baggage.

So serious is the situation, that the Sultan of Turkey has issued an order
forbidding the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca.

The European Ambassadors in Russia and Persia are begging the rulers of
those countries to forbid pilgrims to pass through their lands, or to
embark from their ports.

You will understand what a very serious order this is, when you realize
that the pilgrimage to Mecca is a part of the religion of every Moslem,
and that about seventy thousand pilgrims go every year.

In all religions, there is some special ceremony or service that people
must attend if they wish to be considered children of God.

With the Moslems or the followers of Mohammed, it is necessary that once
in their lives they make the pilgrimage, or hadj as it is called, to
Mecca.

It does not matter how many thousand miles of sea or land must be crossed