Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-12-29
OLD WORLD ECHOES.
PROPOSED LADY GUIDE CORPS
FOR CITIES.
Kismet-"Where the Crystal Rays OF
the Ruby Shine"-Perspiring
Angcls-The Last Chord
Written for the RECORD UN1oN.l

not reflected in the minds Of their wiser
countrymen, to whom these petty victories
are only one degree less exasperatiug than
defeats. Victories, like foggings, should
be fraught with a moral, otherwise they
are lost on those on whom they are in
ficted. The religious temperament of
the Arab fanatic renders it impossible
that he should ever draw wisdom from the
series of defeats to which conflict with the
British arms has thus far exposed him.
Disaster is powerless to daunt the dervish
who sees in the death-trench passport to
Paradise which he will not hesitate
10 take. Unrehective and unreason-
ing, the Bodouin of the desert
has no conception of lost cause,
but ascribes defeat or victory to the immut-
able will of Allah. "Kismet' is his
motto, the spirit of which Will sustain him
in conflicts Of the most unequal proper
tions. These victories of the British in
Egypt are as morally useless as they are
materially costly. Pacifcation and settle
ment never follow on their heels, and the
frequency with which they have to be
iterated, proves the utterly unconquerable
character of the tribes who bear the brunt
of them. Until England will recognize
the expediency of Withdrawing her troops
from the desert, she will experience per-
petual occurrences of these idiotic Skin
mishes, which far from rejecting glory on
her arms, only demonstrate the folly of
employing them in such unworthy fields.
The ruby mine syndicate promises to be
as great scandal as the salt syndicate,
whose monopolistic tendencies have del
uged its directors with flood of newspa-
per opprobium. These mines. acquired
by conquest from the Burmese by the Brit
ish, were conceded to a syndicate to work
for five years, at the annual rental of
100000. Atthe head of this syndicate is
the great Bond-street ieweler, Mr.. Streeter,
who, what between his pearl fleets and his
diamond mines, is the greatest gem col
lector on earth. At the time the conces-
sion was granted three years ago. there
appeared to be no flaw in the lease which
the Niceroy Of India gave with the mines
Now, however, the latters right to
lease them at all has been impugned
by the home Government and not salts
fed with quashing Lord Dufferin's conces-
sion, the India Office has called for tenders
for the absolute purchase of the mines
Naturally the Streeter syndicate thinks it
has been most shabbily treated, and its
agent, Captain Patton, is now agitating the
lobbies Of the House of Commons in favor
of Justice being done his employers. The
former enjoys the distinction of being the
champion pigeon shot of the world, and
recollecting that the pigeons blood is the
shade of color to which the rays of the
true ruby correspond, the Captains famil-
iarity with the former may explain his
connection with the latter.
Our knowledge of the habits and dimen-
sions of angels gains sensible additions by
some recent answers returned to questions
put TO Turkish school-boys at a COMPETE
tive examination recently held at Constan-
tinople Of the wrong answers returned
to the several questions, we have no in
formation, but of the right answers, the
following, which give the clue to the
queries which ELECTED them, are edifying.
The number of angels who, in the irrey-
erent language of Little Brooches, find
their occupation in 'loafng around the
throne" is stated by the Moslem school
boy to be million. The stature of the
arch-angel is rathervaguely given as reach
ing from "the depths of the sea to the
highest of the seven heavens" Expert
ments in celestial anthropometry demon
strate the distance from that angels |
ear to his eye to be "a matter |
Of three days journey at least" |
Ii this mighty being perspires sin
gle drop of perspiration exuding from
his angelic cuticle is enough to cause a |
delugel" Incidentally we learn in the !
course of this examination paper, that
every good Moslem has thousand angels |
to do his chores and seventy hours. The |
latter are clad in seventy vestments, but of |
such diaphonous texture that their hearts |
areseen shining through them "like the star
Aldebaran." In the Turkish paradise |
there are no regular mealing arrangements, |
the Mosiem, when he is hungry, having |
merely TO summon one of numerous |
cooked birds which fly about the place, |
and whose special mission is to administer |
TO the palate of the true believer "When |
the latter has ate his fill the bird flies |
away" Competitive examination in Tur- |
key must be shon of all it horrors when it |
busies itself with such congenial themes as
these.
do not seew why the corps of lady guides |
shortly to be organized in London, might |
not be initiated in cities like San Fran
cisco and Sacramento with all the success |
which is prophesied for it in the English |
capital. The aim of this association is to |
supply lady guides TO country visitors who,
from their ignorance of urban ways, be-
come the easy dupes of sharp but unprin-
cipled townspeople. Local topography
would, of course, be the department of
knowledge in which the lady cicerones
would be expected to shine most conspicu-
ously. But, besides this, there would be |
more congenial branches of the industry
where the abilities Of needy but talented
gentlewomen might find employment |
Thus the Lady Guide Association of Lon
don proposes to furnish Interpreters, store
guides, art gallery guides, church guides,
as well as the equally useful but
less technically educated "walking di-
rectories." On what terms these fair
dragomans are hired depends good deal
on the sort of ability for which the hirer
enlists their services. The Parsee noble
man, not able to speak word of English,
would, We surmise, have to pay higher
figure to the young lady who would trans
late into his own tongue the inscription
on mummy case than would Mrs. Pigs
wash for the service of mentor whose
easily acquired store and hotel character.
Admission to the guide corps depends on
the possession of the necessary knowledge,
which, as it is mostly typographical and
linguistic, can be readily ascertained by
uiUd yOce examination | shall wait with
Impotence the announcement of the incor-
poration-of this movement in London, for
that there is room for similar one in the
crowded thoroughfares of San Francisco
and Sacramento. no one who is familiar
with them can doubt
The year is in his death throes, and of
these Old World Echoes, the present is the
last to reverbrate from the keyboard of
1883. In Hedging them, my aim has been
to furnish a racy commentary on such old
world happenings IS might reflect their
interest in the minds of readers of the
RECORD UNION. Neither in point of lin
cage or time can we divorce ourselves from
that old world sto k from which each
American derives his best strain. The
fact that we have outgrown the parent
tree should not diminish the respect with
which we regard Its venerable trunk. 1t