The St. Johns herald., 1892-03-17
LIFE N ASSYREA.
Quai1tly Dc3cr:5aI by a Native
 Of That Land.
Girls Eoug;at and Sol for Camel; and sI1cep-Caea2aes of tae I'roJ- ucts Of 7;aturo an1
 Iahor.

Hen live on six cents day ia Assy-
 ria. Ass7rian woma-.. after one hun
 dred years Of Christian labor, are
 bought and scld; arc made to work
 with oxen Gt the Flov. and have as
 little liberty as in the days Of Cadmus.
 Men who pay six dollars q day to live
 and the ladies who ride to shops in
 victorias thought over these things Gs
 they left the Lincoln Park CongreGa-
 tional church the other night. says the
 Chicago Herald. Amen Rasi, born on
 Mount Lebanon, told these things in
 broken ElS' 'ish. Amen Rasi is tall,
 handsome Assyrian with Q skin a3 rich
 as the cinnamon silks made at the foot
 of the mountaia on " .ich he was born. He looked into t,2c curious, bright eyes of girls and toi them that. had they been born Assyrtans, in Assyria, they could not go upon the streets unless their faces were concealed; that they could neither receive nor make a call among women without their husbands con-
 sent, and that if at any time, even by accident. they were sen by any man or in any way recognized one, no one
 would marry them. He said that once two couples, 2 tall mn and a tall
 woman and Q short nan and . short
 woman, stood before 2 priest to be wed.
 The priest placcd the tall man and the tall wcrnan ard the short man and the short woman together and none of the four knew whether 1t was right or not, neither of them knowing the other. But the parents hastily objected and placed tho tall man by the short woman and the short nan by the tall woman, as that was the way of the contracts.
 Then Mr. Rasi shcwedho these con- tracts were made. He left the pulpit and presently @ man wrapped Up in rich Assyriaa rairent went up and sat upon the foor 4Tr. Rasi came back and sqaattcd beside him. q would very much like" he said, ''for . girl who is yours to be wife to my son Isaac" T would be h0nored," re- turned the man, with very unmis- talzable American accent. ''Iow many have you?" ''Thrce." ''IIow much years have thcy?' One is fifteen, one twenty and one tyenty-ive." Don't talk to ne about the twenty-five, nor the twenty; they are never fit to mar ry. How much do you charge for the little cne?" Hive camcls, four horses, three sheep and fifty dollars" ''Dah! buy one hundred women for so mucA.' But not little ones" "Gh, I think so.' 'iFcll, you can't have mine for cent less" T pay" Bat even len I5a2c did not get the little one, because a few minutes later Ilr. Rasi returned as anotbcr nan. and by doubling the price aocGrcd the gil for his son Jacob.
 Then Amen Easi looked at young men whose patent feathers cost them seven dollars and told them that people il As5ysia paid fifty cents for q suit of clothes. The colaoa people, he said, paid twenty-five cents q day for house rent, tIrce celt3 for twenty-five pounds of c255are aHi fo-cr ccu3s for fifty pounds of turaips. Fifty loavcs of bread were turned o2t at 9 baking and men 7o.ac,i.2c5 Gto four and five tt meal. lie waited for r-oIcnt, and then turn ing to blackboard behind ha said: They arc Go biz" acI he drew cir cle that wcaId iHclo5c a Thanksgiving platter.
 Speaking Of Assyrian cities he said th2t when n the gardens Of Sidon the rain fall upon the orange and lcmcn trees and knocked tllc fruit upon the ground a hundred could be purchased for five cents. lie saidthat ii Damascus there gre GIG hundred and thirty thou sand NolaI11lc1@ns, one hundred and fifty thousand Clri-t:ans and five thou sand Jews. h thc city there is . bcild- ing haunted " John the Daptjst's riost. The door of the room in which 1e is sGia to h2vc been behcadcd is ncvcr opened. Tie Iohammcdan5
 ay that once long ago some one opened t aGd tle Bapei5t'5 blood flowed ont over the city to a depth cf five inches. It was tic custom for worship CTS to leave t,ici1' shoes outside the ta.11;c. There were sometimes three -i 1aur hundred pairs standing in q TOW, ,ad tl2o poorer people hurried through ltcir T.t.ycvs Erat and tiicn carefully
 elected the finest footwear in the row, thereby iliustratirg the great clever ae1s of tle / fssyriaEs,