St. Mary's beacon., 1858-07-01


morning. Knowing them 30 well, ] took him
in az the garden entrance, the way always
q, myself. We heard somebody laugh, a loud,
merry laugh, and-oh, what fright was in
there she was up in q peach-tree. Ny
brother turned his head away. and walked on
very fast she pelted peaches at him, then got
on III the tree, alsd w;uld have run after hps
/ III Lad not stopped hers AMI here p88f
DhulIa fairly cried, "What can my brother
do?s
DfSxER PARTT At THE HAREM-At the
entrance Of the dining room stood two Arab
| slaves, richly attired. To each lady, as she
entered, one OF these held beautiful silver
bowl, while the other poured rosewater over
her hands from vase of the same richly chased
material. Two little slave girls presented fine
napkins, the ends embroidered in gold, on
which we each shook the roSewater from our
| fingrrs. The dining room was a most luxuri-
Gus apartment, close latticed, for it looked into
the streets Of Stambonl, but cheerful and rich
aud crimson divans and carved and painted
flowers on walls and ceiling
! all had been done To make the cage beara-
bic. Ria Pachas harem is, am told one of
the most "fashionble," which accounted for
seeing European dining table, adorned with
handsome ccntre4piece. and four beautiful
vases Of flowers and fruit, after the French
! fashion. The dinner service was of rare and
beautiful china the silver knives and forks
were extremely handsome; the serre:i deli
catey fine; the flowers cxquisitely arranged.
and mingled with oranges and lemons, in the
Eastern fashion; the slaves were standing
round, three or four deep. awaiting our slight
est xign we felt still more III the land Of
dreams.
First of all they placed 70 each guest spark
ling water-buttle and glass. Then fine china
plate containing fiat roll of a kind Of rye
bread, called secmel, quite new and warm,
and covered with small seed, which
! Ilst being a canary or linnct, | objected to.
Fhen soup was scrved-a great novelty in a
iaarenl: it was most exccllcnt-chirken and YER
inicelh. Then came a dish of pilauf, of chick
En- AMI rice, done brown. sat ncxt to the
| chief wife, ON her right hand: as the slave
held the dish she pointed out the incest pieces
brggisig of nee to take them. The fair Circas-
siau 1t opposite to me. ! was curious to see
If they really seemed to like the modern inno-
vati,sh of knives and forks.
For the first few minutes they used them
evidently trT clo did, bJt the 9ireee-issrI
beauty, falling to secure The particular piece o:
chicken she coveted with q troublesome fork
and spoon. <lrcw those incompetent auxiiaEies
down, and grubbcd successfully, and to her
entire satisfaction, with her fingers. She then
looked at me and laughed; and showing me
how to take piece of bread between my fin
gers, begging US to eat a la 1urque which they
were all doing themselves, fast and furious,
and, t. please them, we accordingly picked IL
| few chicken bones with onr fingers.
We had all three been enchanted with the
fair Circassian, as have told you-with her
beauty, her winning. yet lofty manners, and
exquisite grace we had seen her smoke, and
admired her still we had even forgiven her for
loving the ba-barous noise in the concert OF
music ;" but TO sec her lick her fingers up t.
the last joint after each diSh-to see her lick
her favorite tortOiseshell spoon bright after
successive, and never to be believed enormous
platcfliS of sweet pancakes daubed with hon
ey, aud tarts too luscious for the Knave ot
Hearts-this was too much for Venus herself
to have done with impunity, we were perfectly
disenchanted long before the feast was over.
The rest were not SO bad excepting "Mad
| Listun," who might rs we'll have had trough
at once) but we began to feel rather sick after
the first few dishes were dispatched, and the
animal passions of some of the ladies began t.
be reused by their favorite sweets ard lellics
which they tore to pieces with their fingers
and threw down their throats in large Jumps.
The jester waited at table, presenting the
principal dishes with Jokes which caused bursts
0f laughter from the ladies' and the slaves in
attendance, who seem perfectly at home, and
nn very free and easy terms with their mis-
tresses, notwithstanding their complete sub
mission to them. The jester was a wild and
most extraordinary looking woman, with an
immenSity of broad humUr and drollery in her
| face. We thought it quite as we'll that we
could not understand the jokes at which the
fair Crcasian. between the intervals of licking
her fingers and spoon, and popping tit-bits ON
our plates, laughed so complacently, and
which sometimes obliged the Arabs and eu-
nuchs at the door 20 dive under the arras to
conceal their uncomfortable fits Of mirth.
FLORENCE NIGHrISGALE-But by-and-by
the drawing doors are thrown open, aud the
ambassadreSs enters. smiling a kind and gra-
ciouS welcome. Behind her are her daughters;
by her side tall, fashionable. naughty beaa-
ty. could not help thinking how beautiful
she looked but the next instant my eyes wan
dered from her cold unamiable face TO a lady
modestly standing on the other side Of Lady
Stratf1rd. At first / Thought she was a nun,
from her black dress and close cap. She was
not introduced, and vet Edmund and looked
at each ether at the same momcLt to whisper,
"It is Miss Nightingalef'
Yes, it was Florence Nightingale, greatest Of
all now in name and honour, among women.
I assure You that was glad not to be obliged
70 speak Just then, for felt quite dumb as
looked at her wasted figure and the short
brown hair combcd over her forehead like a
EchiId's, cut 50 when her lie was despaired of
| from fever but short timeago. Hcrdress, as I
! have said. was black. made high to the tlrrat,
Its oliy ornament being large enamelled
brooch, which looked to me like the colOrs of
regiment sfirmcmtcd with wreath Of lau-
rel. no doubt some greatful Offering from our
incn. To hide the close white cap little, she
had tied white Grape handkerchief over the
back Of it, only allowing the bOrsler of che lace
% be seen and this gave. The nun-Gike appear
ance which Ersa struck CSe on her entering the