Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1888-06-09
A HOME In ALGIERS.
A GLIMPSE OF QUIET COUNTRY
LIFE AMONG THE MoORS.


Tea and Cake
The road TO Tikserian winds over the
smiling green hills of the Sahel. among
fields and vineyards and white Arab
houses, and descends at last through q
deep rocky ravine to an old Mo irish aque-
duct, thrown boldly with gray arches
across the bottom Of the valley. We pass
under the aqueduct with its moldering
round arches. on one of whose grim stones
some Spanish Christian slave carved long
ago the dim and half oblitsrated inscrip-
tion, "Ano 1885," we turn aside for a mo-
ment to the gray Moorish village that
clings to the hillside, with its tumble
down houses and its open air cafe, where
Arabs loll at ease in picturesque attitudes.
propped on bare elbows, and discuss our
personal appearance with evident frank
ness; we drink from the cool water Of the
ancient marble fountain. that invariable
accompaniment of all North African ham
let's; and then we continue our way on
foot by rocky path, bordered with as
phodel and the tiny blue Sicilian iris, to
the Arab house itself. in whose hospitable
courtyard we mean to drink the national
beverage under cool portico The villa
tleman in Algiers. who comes out here
only for his summer villeggiatura, and
we have obtained his leave today TO de-
scend upon it in force. to the evident sur
prise, delight and amusement of its ami
able little horde of Kabyle caretakers.
Nothing we have seen in Algiers has
been quite SO genuinely native as this,
and nothing at first sight has so unre-
Il. Z he villa
through an outer farm yard. which leads
by an arched doorway to the actual arcaded
court yard of the house. Opening this
door. delicious native picture bursts at
once upon our sight Through the half
circle OF the arch we see in front of us q
tiled floor. oyershadowed by ancient,
gnarled orange trees; a central marble
fountain, bubbling up and overfowing
with limpid water into a cool basin; an
Arab home of antique, fiat rooted archi-
lecture. set on one side. with its open
colonnade of daintily sculptured pillars
occupying the other. and In the midst of
all. lighting it up with their graceful
presence and free ease Of movement, a
pretty group of FIVE assorted Ksbyle peas
ants. Two were old women. still 1.-THE
and active. with uncovered faces and
tattooed foreheads. One was q mother in
the prime of life. with her 2-year-old baby
in her brown arms. and one was young
girl of extraordinary beauty. well built
and high stepping, round of arm and rich
of bosom as Greek statue 1t was the
Orient at home; we paused and looked and
admired it silently. The men were absent;
cannot honestly say we missed them.
That Kabyle baby. in particular. was
perfect little model He toddled about
the court yard in his naked feet. he had
shuffled off his wee slippers in far cor
ner. with tiny burnous thrown around
his fat. small body and miniature cowl
over his round little head. as quaint and
comic human figure as ever have seen
in the course of many wanderings. We
asked leave by paDtomime 10 light our
etna and make our tea under the shade of
the colonnade, and our kabyle hostess,
catching readily at our meaning, accorded
her permission with friendly smile. The
handsome girl. going out into the front
yard, lighted a fire of sticks hastily with
her beautiful hands. and set to work in a
tiny little cabin of kitchen to prepare us
a sort of griddle cake in o round pan.
while the baby stood by with his big.
grave eyes, and seemed no more afraid of
the Christian intruders than of his own
friends in the court yard close by. Mean
while the old women also busted them
selves to make US bowl of the national
dish. cous cous. sort of porridge pounded
from the semolina of hard wheat.
The Kabyle women do not veil their
faces, like the Arabs. nor are they afraid
of strangers; on the contrary, our beauti
ful friend who was making the griddle
cake seemed distinctly TO understand the
civilized European art of flirting. She
blew the fire from time 10 time with her
own pretty lips. and then turned round to
us those languid large eyes of hers as if
to demand our instant admiration: she
allowed the wind TO rustic open the haik
that covered her full neck, and then gath
cred it together coquettishly with twist
of her fingers. yet not so tight as quite to
prevent it from revealing to us every now
and again the statuesque perfection OF her
lovely shoulder She was light as q
Christian and almost blue eyed. Gen
seric and his Vandals, said the ethnolo-
gist of our party. don't know myself, |
only know for certain she was well
favored and bonny lass Of ~hatever ex-
traction. Aryan or Semitic.
By and by the kettle boiled, and We sat
down ON the edge of the old tiled floor,
with the water gurgling at us in the
marble basin. and drank our four cups OF
5 o'clock tea under archways that then.
for the first time, no doubt, made ac-
auaintance with the SAVIOR of our British
beverage. Our Kabyle baby friend tod
died up and eyed our cake askance with
curious and eager eyes; we gave him a
piece and he ran back to the house
with it, but, whether on religious or di-
gestive grounds | know not, loud cry,
exceedingly western in note. shortly an
nounced that his cruel mother had taken
it away from him. We appeased him
with a small bit of bread and ham, which
no rule of the Prophet seemed to forbid.
After tea we held high palaver at the
door; the Kabyle women displayed their
iewelry. and took US over their house. from
the porch with its look out. where the
Moorish women made sure they might
venture forth unveiled into the court, to
the fiat roof with its splendid view over
hill and ravine and aged cluster of waving
palm trees.
The pretty Kabyle girl followed us tim
idly up the stairs. but fled coquettish,
when we turned and looked at her. into
dark side chambers Even the staircase
had its dado of rich titles, and the best
bedroom was q miniature museum OF
Oriental domestic architecture. We went
down once more and pressed five francs
into our hostess dusky hand. She took
1t with a graceful outer show of reluctance,
and signified by psntomine her undying
regret that we couldn't wait to taste their
CONSCIOUS But we had seen it pounded,
and we fed that ordeal Time excused
us. The pretty girl peeped out at us
archly from a doorway as We left. and the
2-year old Kabyle in the cowl and hood
stared after us long with inquiring eye:
till Don Quixote and the cake basket faded
away forever from his horizon in the dis
tance. Pail Mall Gazette.
According TO insurance statistics mor'
fires are extinguished by the use Of pail.
of water than by all other means.
That tired feeling, so subtle and yet S
overpowering, is entirely overcome b