Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-11-16
AWslTTTo 4 MoHzsaE5AN MOSQUE.
How Daring Wuman Succeeded in En-
terkng, Though She s1ad No Slipper.

How a Daring Wunan Succeeded in En-
terLng. Though She HAD No Slipper.
A commission has been appointed by the
present government whose duty is the
preservation of the monuments of Arabian
art; occasionally, therefore, in a mosque
one finds scaffolding in place and general
dismantlement. One can only hope for
the best-in much the same spirit in which
one hopes when one sees the beautiful old
front of st. Marks, Venice, gradually en-
'roached upon by the new raw timbers.
But in Cairo, at least, the work of rapair-
ing goes on very slowly; 800 mosques,
probably, out of the 400 still remain I'M
touched, and many of these are adorned
with delicate beauty which is unrivaled.
lknow no quest so enchanting as search
through the winding lanes of the old
quarters for these gems of Saracenic taste,
which no guide book has as yet chronicled,
no dragoman discovered. The street is so
narrow that your donkey fills almost all
the space. Passers by are obliged to fiatten
themselves against the walls in response to
the oriental adiurations of your donkey
boy behind: "Take heed, o maidr" Your
foot o chiefp' Presently you see NINA
ret somewhere, but it is not always easy to
find the mosque to which it belongs, hid
den, perhaps, as it is, behind other build
lngS IN the crowded laDrynth.
AT length you observe a door with dab
or two of the well known Saracenic honey
comb work above it; instantly you dis
| mount. climb the steps, and look in. You
are almost sure to find treasures, either
fragments of the pearly Cairo mosaic, or a
wonderful ceiling, or gilded Kufc Told
Arabian text inscriptions and arabesques,
or remains of the ancient colored glass
| which changes its tint hour by hour. Best
OF all, sometimes you find n space open to
the sky, with fountain in the center, the
whole surrounded by arcades of marble
columns adorned with hanging lamps Tor
| rather with the bronze chains which once
carried the lamps), and with suspended os-
trich eggs-the emblems of good luck.
| One day, when my donkey was making
| his way through dilapidated region,
came upon a mosque so small that it
| seemed hardly more than base for its eX-
| Quisite minaret, which lowered to an I'M
usual height above it. OF course | dis
mounted. The little mosque was open, but
as 1t was never visited by strangers it pos
seSsed no slippers, and without coverings
| of some kind it was impossible that I'M
| sanctiiied shoes, such as mine should touch
| its matted floor; the bent, ancient guardian
| glared at me fiercely for the mere sugges-
| ton. One sees sometimes in the eyes of
old men sitting in the mosques the original
| spirit of Islam shining still. Once their re-
| hgion commanded the sword; they would
like to grasp it again if they could.
| 1t was suggested that the mating
| might, for a baksheesh, be rolled up and
put away, as the place was small. But the
stern old keeper remained inflexible. Then
the offer was made that SO many piasters
| ten chat is, fifty cents)-would be given
| to the blind. Now the blind are sacred in
| Cairo; this offer, therefore, was success
full; all the mating was carefully rolled
and stacked in a corner, the three or four
Moslems present withdrew to the door
and the unbeliever was allowed to enter.
She found herself in temple of color
which was incredibly rich. The floor was
of delicate marble, and every inch of the
walls was covered with q mosaic of por-
| phyry and jasper, adorned with gilded in
scriptions and bands of Kufic text; tie tall
pulpit, made of mahogany colored wood,
was carved from top to bottom in intricate
designs and ornamented with odd little
plaques of fretted bronze; the sacred niche
was lined with alabaster turquoise and
cleaning mother of pearl; the only light
came through the thick glass of the small
windows far abore, i'll downward fIllin.
rays of crimson, violet and gold. The old
mosaic work of the Cairo mosques is com
posed of small Plates of marble and of
mother of pearl arranged in geometrical
designs; the delicacy of the minute cubes
employed, and the intricacy of the pat
terms are marvellous; the color is faint.
Unless the turquoise has been added; but
heglitter of the mother of pearl gives the
whole an appearance like that of jewelry.
Upon our departure five blind men were
found drawn up in a line at the door, 1t
would not have been dif1icult to collect
fifty.-Constance Tenimore Woolson in
Harper's.