The Savannah morning news., 1901-10-13
ADVENTURES OF Mr.. AND MRS.
JIMMIE, SISTER BEE AND ME.
How We ShOpped From Cairo to
London.
By Lillian Bell.

How We Shopped From Cairo to
London.
BY Lillian Bell.
In Athens we bought nothing modern,
but found several antique shops with
Byzantine treasures, also silver orna-
ments, ancient curios, more beautiful
than anything we found in Italy, and
ancient brass sacred candlesticks of
the Greek church, which bore the test
of being trans planted to an American
setting.
In truth, some of my richest expert
ences have been in exploring with jim
mic tiny secondhand shops, pawnshops
and dark, almost squalid corners,
where, amid piles of rubbish, we found
some really exquisite treasures. Mrs.
Jimmie and Bee would have been
afraid they would catch leprosy if they
had gone with us on some of our ex-
petitions, but Jimmie and l trusted in
that Providence which always watches
over children and fools. We often en-
countered shopkeepers who spoke a
language utterly unknown to us, who
understand not one word of English,
and with whom we communicated by
writing down the figures on paper
which we would pay or showing them
the money in our hands. Perhaps we
were cheated now and then-in fact,
in our secret hearts we are guilty.
sure of it, but what difference does
that make
When you get to Cairo, it being the
| jumping off place, you naturally see
the most curiousadmixture of stuffs for
| sale that mind can imagine, but after
having passed through the first stages
of bewilderment you soon see that
| there are only a few things that you
| really care for. For instance, you can't
resist the turquoises. If you go home
from Egypt without buying any you
| will be sorry all the rest of your life,
! nor ought you to hold yourself back
| from your natural leaning towards
| crude ostrich feathers from the ostrich
! farm, and to bottle up your emotion at
seeing uncut amber in pieces the size
| of a chunk of coal or a lump OF chalk
is to render yourself explosive and
! dangerous to your friends. Shirt studs,
! long chains for your viniagrette or
your FAM cuff buttons, antique belts
of curious stones, carved ostrich eggs,
| jeweled fly brushes, carved brass cor
| fee pots and finger bowls, cigar sets
of brilliant but rude enamel, to say
nothing of the rugs and embroideries,
are some of the things which L defy
you to refrain from buying.
AS you go up the Nile your shopping
becomes more primitive. On the mud
| banks at the stations at which your
boat stops Arabians, Nubians and
| Egyptians sit squattings on the caked
mud with their gaudy cloths, brilliant
embroideries and rugs piled around
them, all within arms reach. Here, also
you must bring your guile, which l
have described, into play.
1t may be that at Assuan, near the
first cataract. l really got into some
| little danger. 1 never knew why but in
the bazars there 1 developed an awful
and Unsuitable desire to make a COM
plete collection of Abyssinian weapons
of warfare. For this purpose one day
| got on my donkey, and taking with me
| only a little Scotchman, who wore, be-
| sides his goggles, a green veil over his
| face, we made our way across the sand
to the bazars of Assuan.
These bazars are all under one roof
on both sides of tiny streets. and
through these aisles your donkey is
| privileged TO go, while you sit calmly
On his back, bargaining with the cross
| legged merchants, who scream at you,
| thruSting their wares into your face,
and if you attempt to pass on they stop
your donkey by pulling his tail. On
this particular day l left my donkey
at the door and made my way on foot.
| Perhaps 1 was careless and ought to
have taken better care of my Scotch
| man. because he was so little and so
far from home, but regret to say that
lost him soon after 1 went into the
bazaar and didn't see him again for
three hours.
Never shall forget those three hours.
| Bee says my tastes are low ,Nand truth
compels me to admit that Ifeasily get
on terms of intimacy with the common
herd. l got about thirty of these jar
| gon speaking merchants so excited with
| my spirited method of not buying what
they wanted me to that a large Eng
lishman and a tall, gaunt Australian,
| thinking there was a fight going on,
came to where I sat drinking coffee,
and found that the screams, the gestic-
ulations, appeals to Allah, shifting of
foreheads, brandishing of fists and the
| general uproar were all caused by a
| quiet and we'll behaved American girl
sitting in their midst while no less
than four of them held on to her skirt,
twitching it now and then to call at
tention to their particular howl of re-
sentiment. The Englshman rescued
me, loaded my purchases on to my
donkey boy and found my donkey for
me, beside which, sitting patiently on
the ground and humbly waiting my re-
turn, 1 found my little Scotchman.
| | was so grateful to Jimmie for the
King Arthur that he gave me at Inns
bruck that I decided to surprise him by
| something really handsome on his
birthday. When we got to Paris there
| seemed to be an epidemic of gun
metal ornaments set with tiny pearls,
diamonds or sapphires. OF these 1 no.
! ticed Jimmie admired the pearl stud
ded Cigar cases and match safes the
most, but for some reason / waited to
make my purchase in Lonron.
When we got to London Bee and I
! started cut and searched everywhere,
but found that all gun-metal articles
in London were either plain or studded
with diamonds. We couldn't find a
! pearl. FINALLY, in one shop, I ex-
planned my search to a tall, heavy
man, with hay-colored side whiskers.
His whiskers irritated me quite as
much as the fact that he hadn't what
| l wanted. Perhaps my hat annoyed
him, and he finally permitted his irri-