The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-12-12
STORY Of The
ENCHANTED RUG
Man From Peoria Tells Of a
Strange Dream
HAD A STRANGE VISITOR
Shows That Everything in ARABIAN
Nights" Is Not Tommyrot, as Is
Generally Supposed by the
More IncreduIous. 8IgiE

From the st. Louis Globe Democrat.
Say" Inquired the passenger from Pc
ORA, @aid any Of you fellows ever read
book called The Arabian Nightsr"
A smile went around the smoking COM
partment. and there were as many mods
as there were heads to answer. There
was also a sudden Frightening OF eyes
and a brushing OF oobwebs from long
unused memory cells.
And do you recoIiect" pursued the
parson from Peoria, "how some of those
old buffers would rise up In the air an
60 sasshayin' across the country like an
airyplsne2"
Rscoliect the enchanted carpet9 or
course they die. Wasn't it-but the Peo-
ria man was talking again
II used to think" be was saying. that
everything in that book. inoludir the
carpet, WAS all tomnyrot; but somethin'
happened to me little while back that
makes me think that maybe-pernaps-
possihiy-well It's gettin' SO nowadays a
fellow don't really know what to believe
amt it?"
It certainly is agreed the red-headsd
man in the corner; but IL you've got
anything new and up to date about pas
senger carpets we'd like mighty well to
hsar about it"
Honestly" said the Peorian, pushing
back his hat and scratching his head. 1T
don't know whether it is or 1t amt Fact
o the matter, I've never been able to
settle 1t IN my own mind whether 1 saw
what I saw or-but I'll tell you about It
and you can do your own fgurin.
I'VE Hve-that is to say, me and nv
wife-live In little three-room fat one
o those places whare you have to climb
over the foot O. the bed to get into It. OF
courfe in home like that you can't do
much In the way o. furnishin'. We
haven't got any grand pianos, or mission
sloeooa-ds or any space-kilers of that
Kind, but we've got one thing that my
wife sets a good deal of store by and
that's rug. It amt any of your COM
mon two-ply Brussels rugs that you buy
from saede-oolored man at the front
door. It's high art rug, my wife says
Looks like 1t might "a been used as a
door mat or somethin' for 100 years or So
but I guess it cost a whole lot more
money than It's worth, though I amt SO
euue about that. either Ny wife values
It st anywhere from 500 to $1,000. depend
In on who she's talkin' to, but, matter
OF fact sne don't know any more about
1t than do. for a rich uncle OF hers sent
1t from New York for a weddn present,
and they took of the price ticket It's
covered all over with curlycues of one
KIND or another. and to my mind It don't
hold candle TO a rag carpet but NV
wife says-well. you all know that there's
no acocuntin for r woman's taste. The
oern things always turnin' up at the
edges and gettin' tangled up In my feet
But it's artistic. all right.
MY wife's got sister who lives out
IN the country. Every once in so often
she comes in to make rs a visit. and
have to give up my side of the one bed
TO her You can't entertain company In
tnree-room fiat without somebody get
tin the worst of it. and our house It's
always me. About the middle of last
July, Maria-that's my sister-in-law's
name-dropped in on one OF her regular
ten-day calls. AS usual, 7 had to sleep
any old place I could find. We've got a
SOFA, but it's padded In knots and about
as comfortable to rest on as a cobble-
stone pavement In Chicago. Then there's
the dinin room table; but you can't have
separate dinin' room in a three-roon
nat end our kitchens go small we can't
pun out the table full length and my legs
THE first night Maria was with us last
summer 1t was good and not. l tried the
SOFA, then l tried the table, and then
grabbed pillow and stretched out on
that rug l was tellin' you about It
wasn't any too soft, but after SO long a.
time vent to sleep. And had a dream.
thought l was asleep on that rug Just
as l really was, and a man with a long
black beard and pink kmono and a
green what-you- may oall-it--one O. these
big. round, cushion-shaped hats like they
wear In the pictures of Arabs and such
people--turban? Maybe that's It. dunno.
Anyway, that's what he had on, and he |
didn't say word. but he politely rolled |
me off of that rug and then he dropped |
down on his knees on 1t and commenced |
hammerin' his head against the floor. He |
Kept that up for about an hour II |
seemed. and then he got up shook his |
INST at me end went away through the |
ceiltn'. When l woke the next mornin'.
10 an behold. that rug was wadded I'D on |
one side o. the room and was on the |
other side, with both feet in the fire.
place.
We'll, sir, you wouldn't believe 1t. but
l had that same dream for five nights.
one right after another. | got tired o.
pein' kicked off the mat that way right
In my own house an quit tryin to sleen
on the rug. couldn't do anything but |
take cat maps on the sofa. but l stuck to |
II until Maria went home, and I didn't
have any more calls from the man with
the green hat
Along about month after that INV
wife went down into the country to nav
a sort of return visit to her sister 7
told her to stay long as she wanted |
to and eat all she could while she was |
there, so as to get even and from the |
way she looked when she came back 7 |
guess she did. But one night while she
was gone was walking down the street
when who should l see comin, TOW. -