The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1891-11-25
N An geYpTlsN APARTMENT HOUSE


Interesting scenes in a Lodging Place in
the City of Cairo.
The two rooms nearest us belonged to
III Azhar students. so MustaDaa. sald
He could speak no English, bat he i'm
parted the inforAatioilIn Arabic to our
tiragommt. Seeing that we were more
interested IN the general scene than in
his red jugs, Mustapha left the Ass;out
ware to IL tate, and lighting a cigarette
seated hllnssN on the railing with dis
engaged mir, as much as to say: 1--WE
more Hoi womenl But it's nothing to
me-
One OF the students was evidently an
ascetic. His room contained piles Of
books and pamphlets. and almost moth.
ing else. His one rug was spread ont
close to the front in order to get the
light, and placed upon it we saw his
open inlIstand, his pens and a page OF
freshly copied manuscript. Whsn we
asked where he was, Mustapha REPLIED
thag he had gone down to The fountain
to wash himself, 50 that he could say his
prayers.
The second chamber belonged to a
student Of another disposition; this ex-
trayagant Young man had three rugs:
clothes hung from pegs upon his walls
and ne possessed an extra pair Of lemon
colored slippers; in addition we saw
cups and saucers upon a shelf Only
two books We're visible, and those were
put away in corner; instead Of books
he had flowers; the whole place was
adorned VITA them; pots containing
plants in full bloom We're standing on
the floor round the walls of his largely
| exposed abode, and We're also drawn up
IN two rows in the passageway outside,
where he himself, sitting on q mat. was
| sewing. His blossoms We're SO cav that
involuntarily we smiled Whereupon
he smiled too, and gave us salan.
Opposite the rooms Of the students
there was large chamber almost en-
tirely filled with white bales. like small
cotton bales; in niche between these
high piles an old man kneeliug at the
threshold was washing something in
large earthenware tub Of a pink tint.
His body was bare from the waist up
| ward, and as he bent over his task his
short chest, with all the ribs clearly
| visible, his long brown back with the
| yertebre OF the spine standing out, and
ms lean, seesaWing arms looked skeleton
ike, while his head, supported on
small wizened throat, was adorned with
! such an enormous bobbing turbau. dark
green in hue, that it rese1nbled vegeta-
ton OF some sort--a colossal cabbage.
Directly behind him, also On the thresh.
old, squatted a large gray baboon whose
| countenance expressed a fixed nissan
rhropy.
Every now and then this creature
who was secured by long loose cord.
assembled slowly to the top of the bales
| and came down on the other side, facing
his master. He then looked deeply into
the tub for several minutes, touched the
| water carefully with his small black
hand, Withdrew it and inspected tho
palm, and then returned gravely, and
| by the same roundabout way over the
bales, to resume his position at the door
sill, looking as il he could not under
stand the folly of such unnecessary and
| silly toll,
| In another chambera large very black
negro, dressed in pure white. was seated
upon the floor, with his feet stretched
| out in front Of him, his hands placed
stifly on his knees, his eyes staring
straight before him. Hewas motionless;
he seemed hardly to breathe.
what is he doing" | said to the
! dragoman.
He? Oh, he berry good man; he
pray"
In a chamber next to the negro two
grave old Arabs were playing chess.
| They We're parched upon one Of those
Cairo settees which look like square
! chicken coops. One often sees these
seats in the streets, placed for messen-
| gers and porters. and for some time l
| took them for actual chicken coops. and
! wondered why they were always empty.
Chickens might well have inhabited the
one used by the chess players. for the
/ central court upon which all these cham
bers opened was covered with q layer of
| rubbish and DIRT several inches thick,
! which contained many Of their feathers.
Constance Fenimore Woolson in Har-
! per's.