The times., 1900-12-24

, tafns the perfumed water is made Of white
glass without any decoration. The tube
is plain and devoid of ribbons and tassels
| The braZier is of dark metal holding
| about half an ounce OF the weed
| When 1t is brought from the inside room
| TO q guest the water within is fresh. the
| bowl is filled, and in the little braZler ADORE
the bowl is a piece of glowing charcoal.
| The attendant places it on the floor near
| the customer and with a quiet bow offers
! him the mouthpiece The latter bows in
! turn. polishes the mouthpiece with his
hand, a handkerchief or servietre, places
! il between his lips. and inhales vigorously.
! In moment the empty space in the bottle
above the water is filled with blue smoke,
! and in another moment dense volumes are
coming from fhe smokers lips and nos
| trils. Only a careless man permits the
tobacco to go out. Every guest seems TO
maze it point to draw slowly but stead
lily until the last fibre of the Latakia,
Rumelia, or Odessa leaf has been con-
vcrted into vaDor.
There is nothing siolid in the Arab. He
talks like Frenchman using every mus
Gle OF his face, and even of his body. to
express his thoughts He does not GRIM
ace nor gestieulate; the movements are
almost imperceptible, and are delightfully."-
natural and effective. The language is, OF
course, patois, which varies according
TO the place from which the speaker
comes. Nevertheless it retains the sono-
rous and rhythmic character of the pure
language of Mecca and Medina The voices
in the main are baritone and basso. tenors
and tTebles being conspicueusly rare. They
are pleasant to hear, and the room, when
hIled with guests, has a certain musical
quality from their conversation which ap-
peals pleasantly to the ear. Games are
always going on. Some are our own pas
times of checkers. chess. and backgam-
mon, and others are Eastern and have no
name in English.
Upon the walls are pictures which are
nightmares. The proprietor apologies
for them whenever he notices an Ameri-
can gazing upon them. They are very
bad he says. "They belong to an Italian.
Arabs have no pictures, and If you look
at these, you will understand why Arabs
have none. The man who was here before
was an Italian, and he leave them and
keep them to make some bright color On
the wall. Oufi but they are very bad
Yussouf has a brown-eyed wife and two
black-eyed children. The wife looks ex-
actly like the woman at the we'll SO often
painted and engraved for the delectation
of Bible students. The children are full
of life and health. / complimented him
upon the Oldest child very pretty boy.
The father drew himself up proudly and
good man. He shall go TO American
school, study for more than eight years.
He shall know everything which the
American schcvls can teach. He will be
great American and not a poor Arab.
/ had no schools and most of my people
had no schools; bit here everybody have
schools, and tnat is why We who have chill
dren like this country 1 think l make
one son a doctaire and one lawyaire. II
do my far will very great AZ La 6 -
There is no doubt That the American
leayen is working in the stronghold of
Islam as well as in the nearer territories
of Europe. There are croakers among
Arabs, as in every ether community. |
There is one in the Egyptian cafe. As he !
sips his coffe and inhsles the smoke from |
the narghile he mutters his reflections to |
all who viii listen: This is a good city |
fer business, but bad one for happiness; |
the people rush and push. while in Alex
andria they lounge and lie in the sun.
They dress in black. and are always going |
10 a funeral. but at home they are in red |
and blue and all the colcrs of the flowers,
20 that the street is alive and beautiful.
Il is cold and wet here. and have cough |
and rheumatism; but there the sun is
bright, and the warm breeze from the
VI Mediterranean tells you TO close your eyes
while il sings into your ears. The churches
here ring bells and disturb you when you
want TO think. while there you only hear
The friendly voice of the muezzin from the
miBaret. Here there are no friends, but
1nly acGuaintances; there they are all
friends and kind companions. Down the
street is the bay. which is grey like
STEEL but ct home down the street is the
sea, and it is blue, like the heavens. Here
hey have cars and engines, and there We
nave horses. donkeys, and camels. Here
svery old house is torn down and The city
oday changes in a night: there the houses
ire as old as the country, and some of the
more aged than Solomon and
Abraham. New York Evening Post