Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1886-06-25

pealing to the charity of passers by
they adopt certain method of appeal
and under no circumstances do they vary
from thir self imposed programme.
Almost all dervishes at the commence
ment of their career of mendicancy make
eccentric vows of some kind, to the con.
ditions of which they rigidly adhere. On
the left We pass a dervish who made a vow
many years ago never to apply comb OF
shears to his hair or beard. and never 10
wash his face or change his clothes. As
may be well imagined, there is nothing
stylish about his appearance. He looks
more like a wild man of the
cave epoch than ninteenth-century
human.
One morning l strolled down this street
/ and missed this attractive specimen from
his accustomed place. For several days
he was absent from his post. Was he i'll
or dead or gone away: l wondered. But
no, the old fellow was soon found at his
post again, crying his Hulk, hulk" at
! passers-by as though no interval of alb
/ Sence had occurred.
/ About month from now he will absent
/ himself for another week" says my COM
/ paniOn: I'm the course OF Il month or six
weeks he saves a few keranS above the
tritle needed for his support; he then re-
| tires to some quiet spot and spends a
week in smoking opium or bhang Indian
hempb and drinking arrack When his
last shaki is spent he reappears at his old
post, looking pale end haggard from the
effects of his debauch-that is, he would
look pale if you could see beneath the
dirt. Begging and starving for month
so as to debauch for a week is the sum
list Of HI h,lA
some day he will leave his post here and
never turn up again"
AN overdose of opium, suppose"
No; you couldn't overdose him with
opium. He's been smoking all the opium
and all the bhang he could get hold of
for the last twenty years. that's chiefly
what gives him that wild look about the
eyes. Oh no: he'll just hand in his checks
like all the rest of US have to sooner or
later"
Somebody will take pity on the poor
devil and shovel a few spadefuls of dirt
over him then, | suppose, and nobody
else will know what has become of him"
a person would naturally conclude
that would be the end of him, Judging
from his appearance and mode of life
now" replies my friend. But no. the
dervishes all belong to some order or
other among themselves; they have sort
of free masonry among themvelves;
every one of these wretched mendicants
and debauches pay small proportion of
their collections to chief; yon vermin
is considered a holy person, and will
get a burial befitting holy man when he
dies
A little further down the street we come
to another picture; he is not a dervish,
and is comparatively respectable both i'll
manners and appearance. He is a middle
aged man with one leg, lost when Il boy
through the bite of scorpion; he looks
well-fed, and i'll chilly weather is muffled
up warm and comfortable III d faded blue
dressing-gown over other things, the cast
off garment of some patron. Thinking
to do charitable action. an English tele-
graphist once offered this person the
position of gate porter at 10 kerans
month (current wages. "Sahib," he re-
piled, Il have family to support, and |
can't afford to accept the position; | earn
30 kerans a month by begging This
man never. under any circumstances, So
licits aims by word of mouth: his stock in
trade Is his appearance of respectable
neediness, and a well assumed expression
of shamefacedness, as though ashamed to
have to subsist on charity. He isn't
ashamed, though; a Persian doesn't know
the sensation of shame, he is simply ac-
ting for the consideration of 30 kerans a
month, which he obtains from passing
fereughis. who toss him coin occasion
ally as a reward for his seeming modesty
and his unobtrusiveness approaching this
in contrast to the numbers who incess-
antly worry them with their importuni-
ties.