The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1875-08-12
The Cafe in Turkey.
SAYS a foreign correspondent:

Says foreign correspondent:
Imagine room about dozen feet
square, arched and whitewashed, en-
circled by a wainscot about six feet high,
and species of divan covered with
straw mating. In the middle-and this
is the most elegant point of detail-a
fountain of white marble throws up
stream of water which falls again in va
rious streams and clouds of spray. In
corner burns furnace, over which the
coffee is made, cup by cup, as required, in
little brass cottee-pOts capable of holding
but a single cup To the walls are at
tached shelves laden with razors, near
which hang several elegant little pearl
mounted mirrors in which the customers
can see whether their boards are arranged
to their taste, for in Turkey every cafe is
also BARRIERS shop, and while 1 smoke
my chibouque and sip my coffee in comes
a fat Turk with parrots nose and a lean
Persian with an eagles beak to have
their boards dressed; while young Greek
in front of me is pomading his mustache
and painting his eyebrows, which he had
equaliZed by means Of small pair of
pincers. The idea is prevalent that &C
cording to the rule of the Koran the Turks
absolutely prescribe all images" and
regard the products of the plastic
arts as works Of idolatry; but although
this is true in principle it is not
vigorously sustained, and the cafes are
decorated with all sorts of prints of the
oldest choice and taste, without appear
ing at all to scandalize the orthodox Mus
sulman. Turkish taste takes French
prints and forms grotesque combinations.
Sirens swim at the side Of steamboats, and
the heroes of Schah- Nameh brandish
their battle-axes above the old soldiers of
the Empire. 1t is delightful to take, in
these cafes, after fatiguing walk through
the streets, a tiny cup of their dark and
turbid coffee, brought to you by Il black
eyed yOungster on the tips of his fingers,
more truly refreshing than any iced drink
which you could obtain. To the cup of
coffee is usually added a glass of pure
water, which the Turks drink before and
the Franks after; and there is character
istic anecdote current on this very subject.
A European who spoke the Eastern Ian
guage perfectly, wore the Mussulman cos
tune like native, and had acquired the
bronze complexion of the climate was,
nevertheless, recognized as Frank in a
little, obscure Syrian cafe, by a ragged
Bed0uin, incapable, certainly, Of dis
covering a fault in the pure Arabic
dialect of the detected forei gner. by
what have you discovered me to be a
Frank" said the European, as much an
noyed as Theophrastus, when called
" stranger" by green grocer in the mar
rket at Athens, because he had misplaced
SaEaecent. You drank your water after
;y0pr coffee, replied the Bedouin. Every
one Carries his own tobacco-bOx, the cafe
supplying only the chibouque, the amber
mouth-piece Of which is incapable of re-
tanning any impurity from use, and the
nargile, a complicated apparatus, which it
would be rather difficult to lug about with
you. The price of the cup of coffee is
twenty paras, or one penny farthing; and
if you give piastre, or two pence half
penny, you are quite magnificent person.
The money is dropped into a box pierced
with q hole IA regular child's money-box)
whichfsq laced near the door. Although
in Turkey the first beggar in rags who
comes i'm Sees himself on the divan beside
the most stmptuously dressed Turk with
out eliciting any sign of aversion or dis
pleasure from the latter, certain classes
lave, nevertheless, their habitual places of
resort, and the 6 Cafe of the Marble Fount-
ain:,, situated between Serai- Boumou and
the Mosque of Yeni-Djami, is one of the
most fiequented Of all the town.