The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1910-03-23

young Arab miss, with just two big
brown eyes peeping through a fold
of her head-dress, and with heavy,
solid silver anklets as clumsy as a
ball-and-chain, asked me: Are there
not some women in your far-off land
who would be glad If it were the Gus
tom there for women to wear veils?"
| laughed aloud-another indiscre-
ton, from their view point-and said
1 could recall one or two such. my
sister," said the yelled Miss" was
once walking through the bazaar,
when the wind blew her Yashmak
aside. Some rude desert Bedouins,
who were passing on their camels,
caught glimpse of her face, and one
cried: Allah be praised for the Yash-
max of the Harem (woman).'
Think of Wenatchee, with every
good looking woman in town hiding
her face behind a drop curtain,"
The men would take the first train
LOT spokane or CASHMERE.
AS I said, they're doing business
in the same old way in Bagdad, just
as they did in the days of the Ara
bian Nights, when Harouno Err Ra-
schid and his favorite wife Zobeida
strolled out together for merry
evening in the coffee houses The
shops hold just as many wonders.
No lady-killing floor-walkers, no
moving stairways or ''Pompeiian
ROOM luxuries greet the buyer of
wares in the Bagdad bazaars; here
are no super-civilized seductions of
the Yankee department store type.
But all around passes moving pic
ture" show of quaint and curious in
terest. Alexander the Great, Herod-
otus. and all tho early kings of Baby
Ion We're familiar figures in the ba-
zaars Of these early Mesopotamian
towns One can almost imagine old
Nebuchadnezzar sauntering up to a
corner cigar stand in Bagdad, care
lessly playing the B. G. slot machine,
and asking innocently for election
news from the Pharoah campaigns in
Egypt. King Solomon, wise as he
was, is reputed to have spent lot
of money foolishly in Bagdad, buy
ing knick-knacks for the capricious
Queen of Sheba.
Last night I ate a goose for din
ner; it had been trapped by ingenious
Arabs among the ruins of the old
Garden Of Eden, south of Bagdad. 1t
was a lineal descendant, I have no
doubt, of the silly web-footed birds
who waddled about in Ewes poultry
yard, before she and Adam got them
selves disliked and had to move.
Where Arabs Buy and Sell.
The Old Testament tells graphic
tale of how men wrought, bought and
sold in the old days of Babylonia.
But If you would see for yourselves
just how men like Peter, James and
John made their living, come with
me for an early morning walk
through the busy crowded bazaars of
this world-old town. This man, cross
legged On a pile of nets, is 81 years
old, and pulls heavy seine through
the swift, turbulent Tigris every day.
He sells giant fish, and gives one
fifth of all he makes to the govern
ment, as 1.-THE. Europe's progress in
the past few centuries has made but
little change in the towns of Arabia.
Bagdad's native quarter has done the
same things in the same way for 1000
years. II "Sinbad the Sailor" should
come back today, l imagine this old
spear-maker, fashioning by hand the
head of murderous Bedouin lance,
might greet the Adventurous and
Gifted Liar thus: Hello, SIM what
new devilment have you been into?
Want a good spear? Here's one just
your style-11 feet long, with point
so sharp you could slip it clear
through a Gerat AUX before he knew
it. I saw that scuttle of diamonds
that came up from your pirate island
last week. Fine stones-one bigger
than a cocoanut"
The streets are bare 10 feet wide,
arched over on top with brick, or
mud cakes laid on mats and poles,
to shut out the awful, soul-destroying
heat of summer-sometimes 125 or
100 Fair
Along each side are the stalls, or
booths At night they lock them up,
with doors made of nail studded slabs
fastened with ponjerous locks and
keys a foot long.
In galleries leading off from the
main aisle work the artisans and
craftsmen. Here are over 800 shoe
makers, hammering away on red and
blue leathered boots. Beyond are
the fancy belt-makers, and then a
Fee merchant (though most fezzes
ere now made in Austria). Then we
reach the booths of those who vend
spears, swords and other cutlery OF
the battlefield. And everyone we
meet wears the red shoes, the toes