The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1898-11-06
MEHMED'S LUCK.

Mehmed Agha was one of the most
shiftless and useless of the refugees
from Bulgaria who came to Con-
stantinople after the Russian war made
that region a Christian country He
was strong in build, he was good look
ing and he seemed fairly intelligent
But do what he would he could find
no steady work At almost amy hour
of almost any day his bright yellow
Waistcoat and crimson girdle CLEANED
| among the shadows of the diney coffee
house by the carriage stand at Besnik-
fash. For there he lounged away his
time, waiting for something to turn up.
AT night he wrapped himself dD his
| brown homespun cloak and slept on
| one of the coffee house benches, barely
| tolerated by the coffeehou keeper,
because he, having been a refugee him
| self, knew the pitiful bitterness OF the
| refugees lot. How Mehmed lived no
one knows. He was never seen to eat.
| and people looked at him askance, as
| though he had mastered the chame-
| Icons secret At last Mehmed'5 long
and patient expectancy was justified
Something did turn up, and from that
moment the mans character as well as
his life was revolutioniZed.
| What turned up was a very simple
and pleasing solution of his difficulties.
| One day the stout and jolly old imam
! of the parish received a visit from
Melek Hanum, a buxom widow living
| nearly opposite the little coffee-house
| by the carriage stand. She held her
| white veil nodestly over her face, and,
| with a certain amount of hesitation
and incoherency, she asked the aston
| iShed old gentlemen to obtain for her
| the hand of Mehmed, the refugee, IN
marriage She explained that, being a
| lone woman, she needed a husband. and
that Mehmed Agha being a good-looh-
ing man, who had nothing in particular
to occupy him, she fancied that he
might have been destined by fate for
the vacant post in her house. of
course it will amount" she said. ITO
my doing everything for him, but then
the poor fellow needs to have some Ole
take care of him.
The good imam had not quite that
right of disposal of Mehmed Agha' $
hand, which Melek Hanum seemed to
ascribe to him. Nevertheless, as pastor
of the parish, he had more than once
performed similar favors for anxious
and hopeless ones. He therefore saw
no reason to refuse to act as wooer of
Mehmed for the widow, and, thanks to
his wise diplomacy, match was quick
ly arranged,
Not long after the marriage Melek
Hanum casually remarked to her hus-
band that she knew how to make very
good beurek pastry cakes. There is
| "a
not go out early in the morning and
sell my beurek cakes on the streets.
People will buy them for breakfast. and
we shall make on them at least enough
to pay for our COAL This seemed UNI
improbable sense Thus Menmed
Agha became a beurekji rising early
every morning, and peddling the
toothsome cakes from house to house
in a little tray slung about his neck
The profits reconciled him to the in
convenience Of regular duties
After the trade in pastry cakes had
become an established and successful
enterprise, Melek Hanum one day hail
ed her husband with new proposal
"Oh, Mehmed, soul of my SOUL" she
said 1T is no shame to work, if we
can get money in that way to pay the
just told me from their window that
Yusuf, the school porter, has gone
away He is to be stableman at Kia-
mil Pasha's. Run quick to the imam
and ask him to let you be school por-
ter. Your beurek cakes are sold off
long before it is time to take the chill
dren to school. You might do this work
as we'll as not"
The imam was kindly disposed, and
SO the next day, after selling his beu-
rel1s, Mehmed Agha began his new du-
ties, gathering up all the little chill
dren of the quarter and taking them
and their dinner tins, under his pro-
tecting shadow, to the school.
After few weeks there came again
a day when the good imam knocked at
the door of the little house opposite the
coffee shop and called for Mehmed
Agha. May God give you endless
days" said he. "A man whom l put
into the Bezestan as broker has died
If you like / can get you the place. Per-
haps' you might make a little money
out of the business"
Before Mehmed Agha had a chance
to answer a gentle voice from behind
the screen where Melek Hanum had
taken refuge on the arrival of the imam
said: Certainly, Mehmed, you ought
to take this position. Fortunately, the
Bezestan does not open until the mid
die of the forenoon. You will not have
to hurry at all after taking the children
tol school. 1t is not every day that you
CAM get a chance to take up a business
| which will pay the rent of the house. -
Needless to say, Mehmed Agha became
| a BezeStan broker. Every day after
selling his beurek cakes and taking the
children to school he hurried over to
IStamboul, and spent three or four hours
| in perambulating the bazars; now
with a watch, or again with copper
kettle, or perhaps an amber cigarette
holder in his hand, for all to see while
he cried aloud the amount of the last
bid, and accepted new ones. He sue
ceeded pretty well, for the Bezestan
merchants liked his looks and his man
ner of talking, and gave him plenty of
| opportunities to make his commission.
One evening when Mehmed Agha re-
| turned from STEAMBOAT he found his
wife in a state of great excitement.
| Hamid, the night Waterman Of the dis
trict, was an old man. He had now
been taken sick again, and had been
forced to acknowledge that he could no
longer perform the duties of his office.
1t is a. rare chance for you, Mehmed,''
said Melek Hanum. Il have told the
imam to recommend you to the Cap
tain of the guard for the place. The
work Will not interfere with your other
business, and it will bring us in at least
enough to pay for our Clothes