Eastern times. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1846-1857, 1854-08-17
Sfliseellanp.
From Dickens Household Words
A Turkish Auctioneer.


fusion under little craggy shed just ouside
the town. was attracted thither by the
shouts of a Turk, with stentorian voice
who was running about in state of great ex-
citement, stopping persons in the street to in.
sist on their examining the articles which he
carried in his hand. He was the auctionee,
of the place and | followed him into the
crazy shed as student Of manners. There
was considerable crowd Of those greasy,
dlngy persons, who seem to have an abstract
love Of secondhand goods, and who have al
ways appeared to me to be evoked by the auc-
tloneers of all countries like familiar spirits.
This resemblance, however, borne by this
crowd to similar people in England, Is mere
ly personal. 1t is confined to the length and
sharpness of nose among the buyers to an
air of unpleasant sleekiness about them, with
a strong smell of bad tobacco; and to a pre-
vailing odor Of the damp and fustiness of small
streets. There the likeness ends. In Britain
sale by auction is plain business-ike,
twlce-two-are-four sort of affair in Turkey il
is source of pleasurable excitement for a
whole city. 1t furnishes the inhabitants OF
the place with conversation topic Of more
than usual liveliness and interest. Il also
gives them delightful excuse for laying or
lounglng about in the sun doing nothing.
which is never-ending entertainment to an
oriental.
1t is proper to mention that the Turkish
auctloneer Is by no means so august and dig
nifed person as with u.s. He is not the
sovereign lord and autocrat of the sale-room ;
ne is the servant of popular and rumbustical
assembly. Before have well had time to
settle myself upon stone, and light cigar,
| observe that he has returned three times
from sally TO sell the same cracked pipkin.
and three times he has been thrust back by the
e .l.--i '4I.svIIs 81 vut.-IIeG a
reasonable offer for it. Somebody in the
shed bids for it at last, and the delighted auc
tioneer, with most villainous wink at me, is
preparing to hand over the unsaleable pipkin
to the somebody in question, when the same
remorseless knuckles, as usual, are thrust
of his neck. Our friend, thus goaded, makes
another excited bolt out of the shed, and, next
moment, is heard shouting about the cracked
pipkin again, in the same furious manner as
that which first attracted my attention. The
somebody who was disposed to become a pur-
chaser looks rather disconnected | suspect he
is not thoroughly broken in at auction but
nobody else pays any further attention to the
proceedings for the present. In fact, all seem
to be rather glad to have got rid of the auc-
toneer than otherwise, probably in the hope
that the festive occasion may be prolonged un-
til a late hour. So they sit down and light a
great number of paper cigars as a necessary
preliminary to the discussion Of the news of
the day. Their conversation is composed
merely of coffee-house politics and their neigh
boris business. Woe 20 the Costaki, or Nj
kolaki who does not happen to be present !;
the character of that Costaki or Nikolaki is
handled with a ferocity which makes one
ears ting and listen attentively for one
pleasant thought or kindly expression for
one plain, sensible idea, or healthy view OF
anything talked about, in vain.
Presently the auctioneer returns. While
the majority of his customers are wrangling,
he has silly disposed of the pipkn to the
customer who first bid for it and think an
other roguish wink at the purchaser signifed
that he should expect con-sid d-er-a-tion for
himself at convenient season. After this
sale of the pipkih-the only thing disposed Of
yet-the auctioneer desires little repose, and
squatting cross-legged on the bankrupt's coun-
ter, sends for nargilly, and joins in the gen
eral discourse. The whole company then pre-
sent picture Of oriental manners sufficiently
striking and characteristic. They have en-.
tirely forgotten why they assembled together
and are idling away their time in that sloth.
fulness which is the root of all evil, and from
which spring, certainly, nine-tenths of theil
national disasters. Lazy louts of boys begin
to sneak in and out mysteriously and to pull
about the things of the ruined man. l fee
very much disposed to trip up one young gen
tleman, whose pockets are fuller than they
should be, with the crook Of my walking
stick. But | am by no means sure that he il
not the son or brother of somebody present
or in league with the auctioneer, or the bank
rupt, or the principal creditor, or one Of the
primates of the place.
For the rest begin to understand also thai
the auctioneer is not likely to resume his la,
bors for the present. The talk will 90 on til
dinner-time; then the takers will disperse
Tomorrow is the Greek feast of the Forty
Martyrs; next day is the Turkish Sabbath
(our Friday J the day following is the festi
val Of St. Somebody; the next is Saturday
the Jewish Sabbath, then comes Sunday; no
body likes to do anything Sunday; nobody
likes to do anything particularly on Monday
while Tuesday and Wednesday are both saints
day. On Thursday everybody will stay a
home SOLDERING, and then again follow tn,
three Sundays! BY which time know YER,
we'll that everybody will have forgotten al
about the sale, just as much as IL il had bee
an affair Of the last century. Should they re
member it, am not quite clear that the matte