T. E. Lawrence to Mrs Rieder

Hotel Deutscher Hof
Beirut,

August 11. 1911.

Dear Mrs Rieder

[23 lines omitted] What I wanted for the donkey boy was a history book or a geography which should be readable and yet Arab. I cannot give him such productions as those Miss Holmes uses, since nothing with a taste of 'Frangi' shall enter Jerablus by my means. I have no wish to do more for the boy than give him a chance to help himself: 'education' I have had so much of, and it is such rot: saving your presence! The only stuff worth having is what you work out yourself. With which last heresy please be content a while. I will (probably...) write from England.

Yours sincerely

T.E. Lawrence.

[3 line postscript omitted]

Note: Frangi - European