The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1909-12-29
Buying Rugs in Cairo.
A Rich American as an easy Mark

Writing of THE Passing of the An
tique Rug" in the January Century,
John Kimberly Mumford tells this
story:
1T Is beyond question cheaper to
buy in America your rug and the in
genious tale that goes with it than to
wait until you visit Constantinople or
Smyrna or Cairo or Tihis. They are
much more skilful and insinuating
over there; they have the advantage
of local color and environment, and
your common sense is under the spell
of the East to begin with
Here is an incident to illustrate. A
party of rich Americans arrived in
Cairo one day several winters ago on
yachting trip, and passed week
or more in sightseeing. One of them
had just finished a palatial house not
far from New York, and throughout
Europe had bought marbles and
bronzes, woodwork ad velvets, for 1t
with lavish hand. The journey to
Cairo was made in order to secure
rugs. What happened is best told in
the words of dealer in the bazaar
from whom 1 had 1t:
There was a fellow in our con-
cern," he said, "who was always buy
ing Nightmares, and I had to work
myself black in the face to get rid of
them. The week before the Ameri-
cans came. this chap had taken in a
shocking bad pair of I<irmans, enor-
mously big, new, and to my mind, ut
tirely unstable. When the head of
the house saw them, he held up his
hands and shouted, Get rid of those
things for a hundred pounds to the
first person who'll buy them
$50 l rolled them up and put them
one side, intending TO send them to a
commission man in the bazaar to un-
load. Next morning in came Money
bags from New York, with his whole
company He said ne wanted to see
| the best carpets ! had. and he saw
them. ! turned the place inside out.
| Nothing pleased hini. for the reason
that / made the common mistake of
showing him too much. He thought
had something hidden away, so he
winked me over into one corner and
told me who he was. Now said
he,e I want you to timber up. /
want the best, and | don't mind price
| II L get Wnul SUITS me.
"I was in despair, for l had actu-
ally shown the man every carpet !
had All of sudden I thought of
these two freaks baled away the day
before. / almost laughed in his face,
but finally l pulled my mouth down
and began salaaming and asked him
why in the world he hadn't told me
who he was in the beginning; then /
shouldn't have wasted his time and
abused his patience so.
HE grinned triumphantly i
thought you had Them he said.
"'But,' said l, 1T will take a little
! time to get at them, and / must ask
you and your friends to wait patient
| ly.'
"They waited, and I tell you for
the next half hour the men around
that shop earned their pay. We
went upstairs and unrolled those two
rugs. We had a great big curtain
of green plush which we hung
| against the wall Then we pressed
the carpets out and put them up
against the curtain. That, you know,
is worth so per cent. to the looks.
Then we adjusted the lights, and
stationed men all around to look as
solemn as worshipers. Nobody was
to speak above a whisper, and every
man was to murmur, 'Mashallah! at
appropriate intervals.
When everything was ready, ush-
cred the customers up and on tiptoe
led them In. There is no doubt about
II; the effect was fine. At first every
body was still. 1t was like church. I.
"'Ah!' said the great man, that
is what / came for. l knew you
had them. You needn't tell me the
price; just send them to the yacht
at Alexandria
"That night went up to the no.
| tel where they were stopping and
got his check for 10000 francs for
the pair. And that wasn't the best OF
1t. / had got into my stride then,
and while he was busy annexing the
Kirmans, had the porters bring up
seven of the carpets he had refused
downstairs, and showed them In that
dim, religious light, unrolled them
as If they had been sacred, and
sighed soulfully every now and then
He bought the whole seven, and to
the day Of his death fully believed
that l was the original wizard OF
| the East :"