New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1890-09-03
An ALGERIAN ANUKM YMA.

Drdhl1il, Mofdecal! NO matter, ne
was a Jew-Mordeciawill be sufficient.
He lived in the Troisieme- Batalllon-d'
Antique, in the Jewish quarter, and I
was captain in the Second Zouaves.
can still see his little dwelling, with
its low, vaulted door, thick, solid,
and studded with nails in strange de-
signs, it's white walls pierced with oc-
casoinal and heavily barred windows,
those STANCE walls of Africa which
calmly stare at each other across the
narrow streets and incline at the top
until they almost meet And I re-
member him also as / saw him first,
in his little shop among his goods ex-
posed for sale, busting his babouches
and velvet slippers, ornamented with
jeweled buckles, pearls, and golden
braids.
Slippers, however, we're not all his
shop contained He was IN omni-
merchant, and you found in his stock
everything that you did or did not
want, from the ferule of a cast-off
cane to gems of rarest value. A
strange acquaintance for me to have
made, and it came about through an
adventure, defense, rather, of this
Jewish merchant, whom rascal was
seeking TO defraud of his money.
Briefly, Mordeeai was moved to graft
itude, and the next morning, as
souvenir, bestowed upon me a Kabyle
gun, beautifully inlaid withivory and
pearl. ..."
From that day was as one of the
family; they ran at my coming, and
called upon me always to admire the
thousand-and-one odds and ends
which the Jew was constantly pur-
chasing from all quarters, and from
which was always expected to take
my choice. Naturally, since he liked
me so much, it ended in my liking
him a little, for friendship, like love,
is certainly contagious. Matters
were in this shape, when one morn
ing, as [ strolled in the Rue Rationale
with a group of comrades, the Jew
met us, and stopped me to describe a
cargo of valuables which had Just
arrived for him from Mequinez, and
which he wished me to see immedi-
ately. [ would do so, I promised
him, so soon as dinner was over, and
giving him a hand-shake, I was
about to rejoin my comrades, when
carriage passed us, the horses
going at gallop, shining for a mo-
ment in the sunlight-then gone like
q flash. "..
We all turned with cry ofadmira-.
tion-every one, that is, save Nor
decai the Jew. A sudden pain in
my hand recalling his presence to me,
/ wheeled, to find him pale as piece
of linen, sweat pearling his brow, his
fingers gripped upon mine, and his
eyes following, with a gaze of flame,
the vehicle which had just gone by,
and in which reclined a woman
whose beauty had brought from us
that cry Of admiration.
"What is it?'' 1 cried. dismayed
at his appearance; "what is it-are
you ill?'
ell? no" he began; then, with
a groan and a Hebrew word-a curse,
doubtless-he whirled about and fed
like a mailman in the opposite
direction from the vehicle
"And you didn't know her?' Will
aret demanded, as L rejoined my
comrades, still talking of this beau
tiiul woman whose carriage was not
yet lost in the distance; cor didyou
not see who it WASP"
"No," I responded, "and I scarcely
saw her before she was gone"
'What! you really didn know her?
She is the-but what do you call him,
the Jew you were talking to a
moment ago? Mordecai? Well, she
is Mordecai's daughter!'''
Daughter? Impossible! he has
never mentioned that he had one!''
ut is the truth, all the same. She
is his daughter, and there is a story
attached which will relate to you,
as we finish our cigars. Nothing ex-
traordinary, but still story, and
short.
Give years ago. continued Will
aret, ''this woman was the most
beautiful ornament of the fathers
shop, and clothed in that elegant
Jewess-costume which displays so
perfectly the curves Of the body. Tall
and slender as you see her today,
and with long lashes shading her
eyes, she was as lovely as ..houri es-
capped from a Mahommedan paradise.
Whether she was adored among her
kind and kindred ] leave you to i'm
agine. She was Sarah, Judith, Rachel,
in one, and truly an object of wor-
ship to her RATHER, who daily thanked
his God for having blessed him with
a child so beautiful.
"Well, Constantine, like all other
NJ =,