Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-01-23
A BIT OF ALIEN LIFE.
Customs Of the Far Rsst May ,. sssa
in New xsdsrAka1orienta1
Dslissaeias.a
ON tn. New York coRness,., Aaver.i..r.

From the New York CoMmesgial Advertiser.
Around the cornsf ,fr1m tho hustle Of
Wall street and thu Changing Of gongs Of
Broadway. Just one step distant from the
rattle Of the elevated trains you win md
the village OF Ali esh-Shsmal. 1t IL 20 ac-
cessible that no one, not OF the tribe ever
goes to 1t. Here 1t Is that the descendants
Of the Phoenicians live, with a few Bedou-
ms and a few Jerusalem Christians. As
you turn into Beyrout avenue, which Is
called Washington street by the people who
do not live on it. you leave America behind
you In Battery Park and you enter Syria.
You breathe another atmosphere alto
gether: II isn't the altar of roses scent of
the oriental bazaars. nor yet the couchee-
couchee music of the various pseudo streets
Of Cairo, yet it Is something suggestive,
made up Of shop windows embiazoned with
Arabic inscriptions, OF coffee houses with
out bar attachments, Of street urchins with
shaver skulls and of a hundred other oddi-
ties. In the first place. the street is quiet
and Clean West of it is the river 'front.'
with its steamship docks, it's surface cars
teamsters. stevedores and their correspond
ing saloons. East Of it is the 9th avenue
elevated and Broadway, confusion, hurry
noise. Lower Washington street never
throbs with this fever. Those who live
along it have the blood of fatalist ancestors
running through their.vens. They are all
more or less tentmakers, and doubtless
think, with Omar, that
A Jug of wine, a loaf of bread and thou
Sitting beside me in the wilderness
All, that were Paradise enough,
Real Coffee.
The virus Of getting ahead" has not as
yet done much ravage In their ranks. In
the artificial atmosphere in which they live
there are no artificial wants; they eat to
live, and they work just enough to satisfy
their appetite. The men go to Malouf's and
sit down to cup Of real coffee-a diminutive
cup filed with the unstrained essence OF
mocha liquor that would have inspired
Balzac, and which costs about 8 cents.
And the Hafgslehs are brought In The
glass receptacle Is placed on the floor at the
feet of the smoker. filled half full with
water perfumed with essence Of orange
blossoms; on the stopper. perforated so as
to allow the passage Of the smoking tube
the Turkish tobacco. which has been soaked
in water, is packed loosely, and above 1t a
little cube of ignited charcoal Is placed.
The nargileh Is ready: a few preliminary
puffs, few bubbles and the smoke ascends
the plant stem.
Syrian Shops.
The amateurs of oriental delicacies who
patronize the 9TH avenue shops should visit
the Syrian grocers of Washington street
Not only will they find the pistache nougat
of Palmyra, and the, Damascus almond
paste, but odd glass bracelets, molden
with incrustatiors in colored crystals; little
Turkish vests covered with arabesques in
gold and silver; cushion covers Enthusiastically
embroidered in silks; artistically blended;
hammered brass vessels, with verses of the
Koran inscribed upon them; Syrian furni-
ture with mother-of~pearl incrustations;
the Mohametan fez, with gorgeous designs
In gold and ornamentedo tassel, etc, &c.
Upon the shelf behind THE counter Is the
glass jar that contains nenna, greenish
powder of the f1neness of -four. The olive
skinned daughters Of Syria owe their
damask cheeks to its generous application.
and the rosinegs of their finger tips can be
traced to the same source!
When a marriage occurs in Little Syria
the bride dyes both her hands to the wrists
with henHa; the groom contents himself
with bleaching the little finger Of his right
hand. In the same shops you Will find old
chiseled brass lamps, with cupoIas and
minarets and Ottoman erescents; here also
are rugs, real ones. some OF them, and Beh
Lailawa. The latter Is a Syrian petit fous,
made with ermiceili hoTey and Give OIL ~ =