The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1893-09-29

many OF visitors. "A white girl who had
q trfnkee stand in the village was put
ting her through her pacey. 1rma, so
she was called, had been doing some.
thing naughty. The white girl looked
her stFaight in the eye, wobbled her
head menacinRly, shook her finger and
said, Shame yourself, shame yourselfl"
As quick as lightning little Miss 1rma
gave an exact imitation. The pupils
English was 40 good az the teachers.
It was q faithful reproduction In silhou-
cite. Turning suddenly and seeing me
looking at her through the only specta.
cles Ihave in the world, she snatched
them off quicker than you could say
Jack Robinson. Fortunately she drop
ped them. they did not break, and my
eYse were saved to SEQ other siRhts.
Miss 1Ema would get on very well in
this coantryif her family were to re-
main here, but her father wishes to go
back to his own land; possibly because
he left there three wives and much
progeny. The little wila he has with
him pinched tho leg 81 my practical
friend to attract his attention, handed
him pail Containing her week wash,
motioned TO him to lift II over little
fence for her, aud laughed heartily
when be gallantly complied with her
request. Now we know that coquettry
was before civilization was.
The women in the Dahomey village
do the work, as they do at home, where
they have also done much Of the fight
ing. Theya are expert mjllers, grinding
the grain as 1T has been ground from
time immemorial by rude peoples and
doing 1t very expertly. They squat on
the ground, 10y the grain on a fat stone
and with an oval stone push the grain
from them them with two hands. One
crushing seems to do the work, and
then another portion Ia pushed forward.
The principal articles OF diet in the viii
lage seem TO be chicken, a simple kind
Of bread in balls dipped in some sort OF
tomato. sauce. Men and women sit on
tho ground, dip with their fingers into
q common vessel, work the big lump
into the mouth with two fingers and q
thumb, and. these they snck dry before
dipping in again, probably in compli-
ment to the company. A hospitable
Dahoman invited US TO partake OF his
frugal meal, and that was my friends
time Tor being hungry; but for some
reason he declined tho polite invitation
and said to me in confidence that he
would wait until we reached the Great
White Horse Inn. The king was dining
at the same time, and We stopped to
look at him and to admire his royal mp.
petite, but he extended no invitation to
join him. He had a tin plate all to
himself, cheap knife and fork, and
used the top OF a box for table. His
noble Gourtiers sat about him on the
floor, filling themselves astLe other viii
layers were doing. A forward fellow,
who may have been the prime minis
tor, reached up occasionally aud appro-
priated something from his royal mas
tors table, and did not lose his head.
He may have ring in the kings nose.
1t is said that the king of DahOmey
was in high dudgeon when he found
that he could not cut off few heads
daily during his soiourn at the fair, in
order to illustrate the royal customs.
This story may DO doubted, for the
heads that fall at the nod of tho Daho-
man monarch are usually the heads of
captives. OF course he might have
conscripted someiof his people to per-
senate captives and keep him from be-
coming homesick. His majesty the king
wears moro bracelets, but no more
clothing, than any'of his subjects and
manages knife and fork with skill if
not grace. Heis not the rip-roarer that
he and his predecessors have been, for
IKE guns II not the precepts of ciyiliza-
ton have brought him down and mold
him there.
My companion saysit is time to go
over to the typhoon near the Spanish
caramels and see the historical, allie
goncal and pdregorical display of
floats. Z. c. b. Il.