The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-05-20
GEORGE AIDE m PASTRIES NEW WITH 0NE7M
WITH SOMETHING ABOUT
THE WONDERFUL HASSIM

ebony walking stick Show him your
/ best goods and let the price be fair or
never more shall I bring customers to
/ your vile shop. (TO the crowd jOst-
ling in upon us)-Stand back Do not
crowd upon the honorable gentlemen
! from America
! Dealer Showing an ebony stick with
/ a badly carved handle of bone, sup
/ posed to be ivory)-Ah, see! Yes Vera
good Stick!. It is nOt2 Vera cheap.
T I docking at it coldly and shaking
/ my head as if i'm Misrepresentation
much?
/ DeaIer-verra cheap; only twenty
/ shillings.
/ Hassim-Wha-atl lie rushes upon
/ the dealer, smites him on the chest
/ with his open hand and then tries to
I choke him.) On, dog Oh, uncIean an
F imaI, Twenty shilling CTo us)-ComeI
+ Let US go away. He is. bad man.
/ Comet
+ Dealer Centreatingly)-You make me
/ offer. How much you. give 2.t,.---.
/ Hassim-Oh, child of darkness! Oh,
/ crawling crocodile! You are. trying
/ to cheat high-bOrn visitors.
Dealer .tcringingIy)-How much you
+ give? 49,.
/ Hassim. (to me)-Come. I will speak
with you alone. Gle leads me away
B itbIl the tIOWu anu ldthS 10 me IN "a
husky twhisDer.) This man is bad man.
/ Do not pay him twenty bob. No one
/ IS looking You slip the money 10 me
and I will buy it for fifteen ~.
Now, fifteen lShillihgs is 1915 In real
money, and The stick is worth a! dollar
at the most teEtravagant valuation. so
l say to Hassim, Are YOU i'm on this2F
He does not understand. but he looks
at me as if hurt or disappointed, and
then says, I try to get it for ten.
Wait here
Then I catch him by the slack Of the
blue gown and say that I viii not give
fifteen piasteTs-seventy-fi cents. He
says it viii be useless to offer such a
small SUM. as the ivory comes FROM the
elephant and hunters must search
many days to find the elephant and
then carry the tusk forty-seven thou
sand miles across the burning desert
to sell 1t to the dealer i'm AsSiUt So I
tell him TO stand back and l will ne
Sotiate in my own behalf So I break
through the crowd and offer three shiI-
lings- The dealer says. 4 am a ruined
man. but no matter-take it along for
eight" Then HaSSim elbows his way
back to the scene of trouble and helps
10 cOmpliCate matters. He curses the
dealer in Arabic and says to me i'm 4
side whisper that he has succeeded in
buying the stick for seven shillings 7
OlLtI Nv % make a tDIl8 Story SNORT
after using UP IS worth of time and So
worth of vocal energy, I buy the stick
for SIX shlllings, and when I return To
the boat the head steward exhibits one
just like it which he bought for two.
This faTcicaI grand stand" play was
repeated every time we stopped TO puT-
chase some trifling SpeCiment of native
junk. One of the best performances Of
the afternoon involved a mysterious
trip up a narrow alley and into a tum-
Ble-dOWn house, where HaSsim eXhib-
ited 10 US four SqUalng infants polka
dotted with flies and richly encrusted
with the soil Of their native land. Al
though all four of the children seemed
to be of about the same age. he as
sUred us that they belonged to him. and
we, being unfamiliar with the customs
of Egypt, were not prepared to contra
dict him. He said it was customary
for visitors to give a small present to
each of the children, or, better still. we
could give the money to him and he
would hand it to them later
We shall remember Hassim He sur
rounded his cheap trickeries with such
glamOT of oriental ceremony and
played his part with such a terrific
show of earnestness that he made the
afternoon wholly enjoyable. When we
arrived a the landing he and the driver
had a verbal war and then he took me
aside for another heart to heart talk.
The driver is a child Of evil" said
he I tTemble with rage! He is de-
handing fifty piasters. Do not pay
him fifty. Give the money to me and
viii say to him, Take forty or moth
mgr
The drivers legal fare was twenty
piasteTs- Finally we paid him twenty
five. Everybody was satisfied. Then
we paid Hassim for his services and
sent presents to his four simultaneous
children, and the last we saw Of him
ne was making a bee line for the bazar
to collect his commissions.
The decorative tail piece Of this chap
ter is my name in Arabic.