The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-03-10


CAD about. In mornings drive, we
meet literally hundreds Of carriages con-
tanning tourists On the seat oeSlae
every driver is q guide, squawking parrot
history. At the next great exposition,
the concession known as 1.-THE Streets
Of Cairo" should have a tourist feature
Cairo IS more French than Eng
r1sh, although the English control it,
having won 1t by what statesmen call
diplomacy. Most of the signs are IN
French. and the chairs and tables in
front of the cafes remind you Of
Paris.
The fine mosque within the walls of
the citadel was built by Mehemet Ali,
the George Washington of Egypt.
GU may recall that the sultan of
Turkey formerly maintained a lot of
fayorites here, known as the Name
lukes, and that Mehemet Ali rebelled-
and cut off their heads. Then he took
after the sultan. and might have cap
tured Constantinople had not the other
powers interfered Mehemet Ais
tomb is in the mosque and the present
khedive goes there to pray.
Styles change at the hotels. I re-
member when it was fashionable to
drink vine with dinner. Now the
custom is to drink whisky and soda
The steamships set the fashion for
hetels; on the Persia" at dinner
noted whisky and soda at nearly
every plate, and no wine. The Eng
lsh. who are becoming greater ad-
nireFs of whisky and soda every day,
are negleeting stout and 'alf and 'alf.
as result They say the great mis-
take Americans make is drinJ king
whisky straight, instead of dfluting if
with soda 1t seems to me, however,
that the American high bali Is only
another name for whisky and soda.
At the csbazg~a1, T,.7... 80, ~
guest orders more than oatmeal, eggs,
toast and coffee for brea kfast he IS
charged extra He is, however, al
lowed bread and butter. and orange
laarnalade; On all the steamships,
ana at all the big hotels, orange mar
malade is considered very delicious.
although I cannot learn to like it
Another thing do not like about the
steamships and the big hotels their
manner of serving salt, which is placed
on the table in little glass dishes.
When you want salt YOU transfer II
TO your plate with a little silver sDoon
prefer salt shakers. such as Ayres
DIos. ana Eginger Bros OF Atchi-
son, put on their tables.
Ia Egypt you see an unusual num-
Der OF men who have something the
matter with their eyes: usually the
eLouDle Is, one eye is out You also
See d great many humpbaGks and little
men who would be known in america
as ponies Every time I see a one
eyed man, I think of the old. old story
OF -FOUR men who were playing poker.
one or the players had but one eve and
ne was suspected of cheating. ssThere
IS cheating going on at this table, an
other of the players said. Il name no
names, and cast no reflections, but If
he does it again, viii knock his other
eye OUT
Speaking of old stories reminds me
taat nearly killed an Englishman with
one the other day. On the Persia
In the dining saloon, I sat beside Mr.
Walker, chief Of the weather bureau
IN India, and. one day he was expressing
surprise at the shocking head lines
printed by some of the American news
papers SO L told him the old, old story
Of the Chicago Times head writer, who
put this impious heading over an ac-
count Of hanging: ''Jerked to Jesus
They say an Englishman never laughs
af a joke. unless he tells it himself, cut
MI Walker laughed so uproariously
over the Chicago Times incident as 10
create a disturbance in the dining room.
High life at the Gheziren Palace
Motel Dressing gong at T:30 p. m,
dinner at 8. That Is, the hotel MANAGE
ment tries to induce the guests to come
into the dining room at s, to engage in
the table d'hote dinner, but they never
accomplish It; the din, er never really
begins until S:15, when the orchestra
AT the end Of that time, the guests re-
pair TO the great assembly room, with
its white marble stairway, and wait I'M
til Turkish coffee is served. Every
guest is dressed for dinner, and most
of them are homely. in spite of their
good clothes. The Turkish coffee is
served by Egyptian walters dressed in
feZ caps and red coats. Most Of the
gentlemen smoke While the coffee is
being served and a good many OF the
women Join them. The orch eStra Is
composed of eleven uniformed men,
and occasionally a selection is applaud
ed by the guests. The Turkish coffee
is made in the Assem- bly, room, over
spirit lamps; the coffee is ground into
a powder and served very sweet and
thick, without cream. The orchestra
plays all evening. but after an hour,
the hOmely guests begin to wander out.
When L reached my room tonight it
was 10 o'clock.
Think Of that sort of a programme
for man accustomed to dinner at
o'clock. and to going to- bed at
O'Clock! But there is nothing else to
do; you fall into the ways of those
around YOU. At Bombay at the fine
Tai Mahal hotel I began dressing for
dinner, because all the other guests did
1t. continued the habit On~the fine
ship Persia and keep it up in3
Cairo at the fine Ghezireh Palace no.
tel, because every man in the dining
room wears a dinner coat, white shirt,
and the other accessories.
This is what is known as high life,
and It goes on all over the world wher-
ever tourists are found.
Saturday, February 9.
desire to make a sweeping apology
for these travel notes I do not intend
tn en- as learned; simply as a brief rec
ord of the impressions of a man hurry
ing around the world. The little his
tory I quote is probably inaccurate, as
have not looked into a guide book
since starting. The one joy 7 ind in
the trip is in looking at the panorama
as It unfolds itself
was much interested this morning
in seeing the procession of country
people coming into Cairo. This is
some sort Of feast day. and the coun-.
try people were coming in to worship,
or danca 7 DO not know which On