The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1880-05-27
The Unfortunate Khedive.

| Inc OnlOTlunate hneulfe.
The ex-Khedive of Egypt is in an I'M
happy state of mind. BY care and in
/ dustry, accompanied by large outlay,
he succeeded while in Egypt in collect
T ING a very fine harem. 1t was especially
rich in what our art critics would call
. choice examples of Circassia and
/ Georgia, and it included the best speci-
mems of Egyptian, Turkish and Syrian
/ girls, besides a small amount of select
/ French moral bric-a-brac. When, in
compliance with the enthusiastic desire
of his fellow-cOuntrymen and the for
! eign CJnsuls the Khedive abdicated, he
took his nsrem and such valuables as he
could lay bis hands on and went to Ma
! pies, intending to live a quiet lite OF
study and meditation, surrounded by his
harem and his portable property. "a
At Naples his troubles began. The
Government rented him fine palace
-popularly known as the FavOrita--on
the shore of the bay and at the foot of
Vesuvius, where he took up his resi-
dence and arranged his collection of
wives in a series of pleasant rooms.
1t formed decidedly the best collection
of the kind that any Italian city had seen
since the days of the Roman Empire,
and the eX-Khedive was naturally
proud of it. Before very long, however,
he found that a harem cannot be kept
together so easily in Naples as in Cairo.
The windows of the palace were not
latticed, and the ladies of the harem
could not be prevented from looking
out at the people in the street. Neither
was it practicable to prevent stray ltal-
ians from seeing an occasional wife at a
window. The eunuchs did their best to
keep the harem in subsection, but their
efforts were unavailing, and before the
eX-Khedive had occupied his palace
many weeks he was compelled to notice
that his harem was gradually growing
smaller.
He at once spoke about it to the chief
eunuch, and demanded to know if sew
eral of his wives were not missing. The
eunuch maintained that beyond the
usual loss of wives by the wear and tear
incidental to dressing, no losses had
occurred. The ex-Khedive could not
be thus deceived. He was confident
that seven or eight of his best wives
had vanished, and although, owing to
the want of trustworthy catalogue,
he could not prove that he was right.
he resolved that no more losses should
occur without his knowledge.
A careful watch soon showed the leak
in the harem. Every night a throng of
handsome young Italians would appear
under the windows of the palace. and a
few wives would Jump into their arms.
In this way a constant drain of wives
was in progress, and the alarmed eX-
Khedive saw that unless it could be
stopped he would soon be left wifeless.
The Italian Government showed itself
cold and heartless. When appealed to
by the ex-Khedive it explained that
there was no law under which an Ital-
ian could be beheaded for having in his
possession one of the eX-Khedive' 5 wives
or the latter prevented from jumping
out of the window In these circum-
stances he decided to take severe meas
ures, and ordered his entire harem to
be tied together by the ankles and
chained to post. To his great dismay
he found that his servants had been cor
rupted by civilization, and were unwill-
inc to obey orders that would bring
them into difficulties with the italian
police. They fiatly refused to lay ille-
gal hands upon Single ankle, and the
ex-Khedive sadly realized that he was
living in free and Christian country.
There was nothing for him to do but
to sit up at night and watch his family.
He walked up and down the corridors
of the palace, bursting into room
whenever he heard a noise, and Occa-
sionally catching a wife in the act of
climbing out of the window. But this
could not last. The want of sleep soon
told upon him. Moreover, his wives
resented his conduct in watching them,
and whenever he put his head out of
the window, the Italians that stood be-
low in the street watching for wives,
and making bets as to who would catch
the next one, addressed dSrespectful
language to him. Thus he was forced
to see his harem melting away. Day
after day he would walk through the
rooms in which he had arranged his col
lection and note how many valuable
specimens were missing. One day it
would be his most costly Circassian who
had left him, taking all her back hair
with her, and another day it would be a
favorite Egyptian who had gone, after
solemnly piedging herself never to leave
her lord and master. At last it became
more than the exrKhedive could bear.
When no less than tifty-seven valuable
wives had been lost, the eX-Khedive
abandoned the palace and fled to Rome,
leaving the remnants of his once unique
harem behind him.
1t is said that the five wives which he
left at Naples viii probably prove faith
full to him, as they are the most unattrac-
tive of the lot, and have hitherto failed
to find any Italian whowOuld consent to
take them. The eX-Khedive, however,
has expressed the opinion that he does
not care what becomes of them. He
has definitely given up the profession of
a wife-collector, and he is now living at
a Roman hotel as single man. Per-
haps he will try to console himself by
collecting postal stamps or other OBJ
iects less elusive than wives. Mean
while the young Neapolitan dandy no
longer blocks up the street in front of
the Fayorita Palace, and his recent ath-
letic sport of catching the ex-Khedive's
wives as they threw themselves from
the windows is at an end.-N. Y. Times.
- Diet OF he Chinese.