The Washington critic., 1888-03-31

The acclamations accorded us by
our friends, the peddlcrs and cripples.
as We filed one by one Into the court
yard of the Mediterranean Hotel, after
our hard days backing and filling,
were all very rousing and deserving
Of record in their way, but they didn't
begin to compare either in shrillness
or intensity with the yelps they emit
ted when our toes greeted the tender
parts of their shins, and our fingers
affectionately entwined their wind
pipes. We were in q very hu-
morous mood, and the limbing
of q few Arabs before dinner
was calculated to afford us ex-
cellent amusement as we'll as increase
our appetites. The little manager,
observing our playfulness, recipro-
tcated by hopping around as lively as
In monkey on hot bricks and falling
Eill over himself two or three times in
pis haste to set before us a'
suMPrUous SPREAD. a.f.
In fine, in few minutes things had
commenced to assume such q go-ahead
gaspoct that Il was difficult to believe
we were, of a verify, sitting i'm the
Y original Mediterranean Hotel. BY
( the time dinner was piped not single
peddlef or cripple was in sight. Not
appreciating our humor, they had
limpingly betaken themselves TO
scenes far beyond our gaze.
Our meal was comparatively quiet,
one little incident only serving to mar
its serenity. This little incident,
though commonplace enough in our
everyday experiences, filed at least
one breast with indignation. 1t came
about this way: One of the gentlemen
becoming impatient for second sup
ply OF mutton-chops, sang out as loudly
as his lungs would allow him for more,
whereupon another gentleman, not
considering this mode of procedure
correct, and thinking at the same time
to cool the ardor of the chop-yelling
gentleman, seized q soft-boiled
egg from off the table and delib-
erately aimed it at his head.
II missed the chop-yeller, how
ever, and lodged in the eve of
the chief cook, who. at that moment
was entering the room with large
dish of chops in his hands. To at
tempt description yof the unlucky
dhief cook, who, by the way, was q
Jerman, at this juncture. confess is
,Deyond my power. To see him grope
r his way to the table, dig his starboard
Il eye out, which was completely bunged
up with the egg, utter ''Mein Gott'
n and offer to do battle with any
man in the crowd would have
made that morose monarch Henry
Beauclerc, smile had he lived to
see him, even though she never
smiled again." In addition to having
his face painted he had dropped the
j dish, thereby scattering chops and
gravy in every direction around the
floor, and in some cases down the fell
lows' backs. Water, however, being
plentiful, he soon removed all traces
of the egg from his face and was once
more restored to good humor by an
explanation and an invitation to cool
|, his coppers by splicing the main brace.
J Toward 8 o'clock we retired to our
virtuous pallets, and for about ten
minutes drank in the strains of
soUL-INsPIRING sERENADE.
The giver of this treat was a jackass
who lodged somewhere around the
>heighborhood, and, who evidently
wished to win our regard by exercis-
4 ing the magnificent lungs with which
< nature had endowed him. The
echoes Of that enchanting music, as it
reverbrated through silent Jerusalem,
and floated on the cool night air,
might have been heard in "The
Mosque of Omar" and / certainly
think l am but paying just tribute to
that donkey's capabilities when say
4 that his performance was, by long
Y odds, the finest of its kind have ever
Y heard. Like many other excellent
achievements, however, it did not win
universal APPRECIATION Many of the
more "rambunctious' If ] may so
! call them-of my shipmates threat,
Y ened to hunt up the sacred animal
q forthwith and wreak summary ven-
geance on him; but | am not goin' to
go back on my old favorite, Sir Rob-
:. eft L.. Estrange, who has declared
A imphaiiealy that there are braying
n lmen in the world as well as sbraying
Il Asses.
M am happy to state in connection
!b with this incident that ourfour-footed
N entertainer was left undisturbed- mo
because the desire to molest him. had
" III tbC rtiEiittSI uCSTtC dDuttu, Dul Dt'
cause the flesh was weak because, ia
short, sleep, which had so often
sealed our eyes and rocked our brains
sin the cradle Of the rude, imperious
SURGE asserted its supremacy, and
substituted snorts and barks for the
late mellifluous heehawing. The last
utterance / remember to have heard
on that nightwas arequest from some
III onp 10 come one else that he would
''for the lords sake" oil his nostrils
M FRENcHy's EscAPADE.
X In the morning, bright and early,
we awoke, and half-cracked Freuch-
man distinguished himself by falling
into the "Pool of Hezekiah, large
reseryoir situated underneath our
bedroom windows. 10 man of less
excitable temperament the loss of a
x pair OF trousers would not, more or
+ less, have amounted to much, but that
Ehc--the self-elected oracle of the u
rs. s. uinnebaug-should roam bare
Elegged through the city of Jerusalem
{ fproved an outlook too significant to
he horne by his .high-strung nerves.
He had, before retiring, divested him
self OF these important appendages and
kafter swishihg them through a
Hub Of water "ter remoof de
Nstanes of dc days trayleen aroun' /"
\ las he said-but which we knew to
uhave been occasioned by his spilling a
4sNdish of 'lIalhygo', mutton over him
A self in Ab-din-ab-ba restaurant--he
j VwIung them out, and like Mr.. Mid
khipman Easy hung them on one of
= he window sills to dry, expecting,