The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1905-08-11

Ing up taat will let no foreigners With
a pocketbook escape.
1t took us an hour to so through the
harem, and il was more like going
through the quarters of the working
women Of n home laundry in the tene.
ment district of a large city, than a
comic opera, as we had been led to
expect by what we had read Of harems.
When We wen into the harem | think
dad was going to insist On having the
women dance for him, while he sat on
a throne and threw kisses at the most
beautiful ONE in all the world, but
before we had got around all the box
stalls | think if any of them had start
ed to dance dad would have stampeded
in a body,
We finally got back to the great mar
bic room. where the sultan was sleeping
in a stuffed chair, surrounded by his
staff, and one of them woke him up, and
he asked dad what he thought of the
home life of a crowned head, and dad
said it beat anything he had ever seen,
and he should recommend to his govern
men that the harem system be adopted
in America, and actually the sultan
seemed pleased. He said as an evidence
of his love for America he wanted to
present to the president, through dad. 50
OF his wives, and il dad wouldindlcate
where he wanted them delivered, they
would be there, Johnny on the spot, or
words to that effect.
At first | thought dad would faint
away, but | whispered to him that II
would be discourteous to decline a pres
ent, after giving the sultan a gold mine,
and that may be the Old mar would DO
SO mad, if he declined tie wives, that he
would tie stones to our legs and sink
us in the ~Bosphorous, 50 dad rallied and
said, on behalf Of his government, he
would accept the kindly and thoughtful
gift of his highness, and that he would
cableffor a wal vessel to take the wives
to his own America, and he would notify
the sultan when to round them up and
load them on the vessel,
Well, sir, | do not know what possessed
me to make a scene. before we got out
Of the presence Of the sultan, but it all
came to me sudden, like an Inspiration
comes to a poet. had been eating some
fruit that | bought in a paper bag, and
when | had eaten the last of 1t, | won
dered what | would do with the bag, and
then | thought what fun it would be to
blow the bag up. and suddenly bust it,
when all was still. So | bowed up the
bag, so 1t was as hard as a bladder, and
tied a string around the neck, and
waited. | did not think how afraid
everybody in these old countries il of
bombs, or | never would have done it,
honestly.
The sultan was signing some papers.
and looking out Of the corners of his
eyes. to see If anybody was present who
was suspicious, and dad was getting
ready TO make a salam, and back out
of the presence Of the ruler OF Turkey,
when | got behind some of the officials
who were watching the sultan. and | laid
my paper bag on the marble floor, and
1t was as still as death, and all you
could hear was the scratching of the
pen, when / jumped up In the air as
though | had a fit, and yelled allah
and came down with my whole weight
on the paper bag, and Of all the STAN
pedes you ever saw. that was the worst.
You know what a noise II makes TO
bust a paper bag. Wen, this was the
toughest old bag / ever busted. and II
sounded like a cannon fred down cellar
somewhere, and the air was full Of dust,
and before | could get up the sultan had
tipped over the table and run yelling
into another room, praying 70 "Allah,'
and all the staff had lit out for tall tim
Ter, and there was nobody left but dad
and the unique and myself. and the
unique took dad by the arm and started
for the door. and we we're fred out.
AS | went out Of the room | looked
around. and there was a Turks head
sticking out Of every door, to see how
many had been killed by the bomb, and
as We got out doors. dad said Nov we
have to get out OF Turkey before night. or
we die. Me for Egypt, boy, II we can
catch a boat before we are drawn and
chartered So here goes for Cairo,
Egypt. Your only,
HENNERY.