The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1877-02-28
rom you, and may your own goods bo bless


ed"
Next morning selim, having provided him
self with basket and turned his money into
small change, set out for the villages Wher-
ever he saw Chickens running about, he would
call out
Ho you that have eggs to sell. IIo |
such an one, have you eggs to sell ~
And those who had eggs answered, Come
this way"
II the eggs offered for sale were small no
would say
"Oh me, how small they are these are
surely pigeons eggs and what may you be
asking for these -
eve are selling them at seven for a pias-
ter" they would say.
"What do you mean by seven for a plasters
Don't you know that eggs like these are sell
ing at eight for plaster in town, and we have
oil the trouble Of carrying them? q"
And 50 he would conclude bargain at nine
for plaster.
Or II the eggs were larger he would shake
them, hold them up to his eyes before the sun
and declared them to be bad. and so forth, till
the bargain would be concluded at eight for a
plaster.
| But when the price came to DO paid, there
would sometimes be an egg wanted to COM
! plete the even tale, or he would not have
small change to make the account exact and
as Selim could not write, he would leave the
balance to be settled tomorrow or the next
day when he should again come round.
BY mid-afternoon he had nearly filled his
basket and emptied his bag of money, and
found 1t time to retrace his steps that he
might reach home by sunset. And SO, as he
went along the road, he began to go over the
items of outstanding accounts, muttering to
himself as follows iis
"The woman at the well has to give me
one egg the black woman behind the mill
has to receive five paras the keeper on the
khan owes me two eggs HABIT Mustapha re-
ceived two piasters in advance, y and so on.
going over the whole days transactions.
AT the door of his house his wife met him
with the sa;utation: tSsi ri
"welcome, welcome please God you have
prospered." ~ A.5
To which he replied, God is kind and
depositing his basket he prepared for supper.
During supper he recounted to her al his
proceedings and, when the table was remov-
cd, instead of taking down his tambourine as
usual, he proceeded to lay out his eggs and ar
range them for the market, and take stock of
his money.
There are SO many eggs" he said, "let
as see what they have cost me. At the first
village paid three piasters less quarter
say three-then two and-a-half three and
two-and-a-half make five-and-a-half five-and-
a-half and neutrality-suspicious. one, for
there was quarter before--how much is
that ? six-and-a-half and then two-and-a-
half--say two, because half plaster remains
due-eight and-a-hal
And so on he went for long hour, count
ing up the sums spent in the different villages,
checking himself and revising his calcula-
tions, till his head became quite confused,
and he said, "Uph what an account is
this I" 81 a s :.
The neighbors wondered that night wheth-
Or there was sickness in Selim's house, be-
cause there was no sound of music as usual,
and the light was seen burning till far in the
night. Selim sat long at his account and the
last thing his wife heard as she dropped of to
sleep was; es1i tAekttA
eggs at nine for plaster, how
much is that two piasters and an egg short
twenty-five eggs at eight for q plaster, how
much is that three piasters and an egg ov-
err" 4s G
Even after he did get to sleep, his dreams
were Of his days business for his wife was
Weakened hearing him mutter ssis
"Seven-and-t hree-quarters' and three less
fifteen paras how much is that ?"
So, when he got up in the morning, yawn-
ing and rubbing bis forehead, he said to her
my cousin, II this is the way to be rich,
1t is certainly not the way to be happy.
think we were better Off before"
!" 1t may be" replied his wife, who had
had poor nights rest herself.
So he determined with her full consent, to
wind up this egg business, and stick to his old
habit Of earning his daily bread.