The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-06-26

tistorica1 evidence that the collection o1 stories now called the Arabian Nights existed in Persia before 94S. The coiee- lion suffered somewhat by addition ana subtraction in the course of the centuries ,,ntil it finally took it's present form in Carlo in 145O. A peculiar thing about the Ara bian Nights" stories is that there IS no moral about them-in fact, in an un- expurgated edition they are decidedly i'm rnoral-they deal with no problem, play 1lpon no deep human emotions. They are simply stories. yet so skillfully and naturally constructed and so interestingly told that one is almost tempted to be- lieve the legend of their origin-that the Sultan to whom they were first told list ened to them for . a thousand and one nights and was so Interested that he for got to consign the lady-reciter to the bowstring and the sack, as he had in tended.
 A II BABA was a better natured per
 "A son than his brother Cassim, and 4 \ more generous. But he sadly lacked discrimination in the matter of marriage Cassim married a rich wife and Ali a poor one When the father of the brothers died he left his little estate to be divided evenly between the two broth CTS, but All Baba, choosing a wife with no property whatever, the couple soon used up what little money Ali had in herited, and the good-natured, improvi- dent fellow was obliged to support his wife and himself by cutting wood in the forest which lay at some distance outside the city, peddIng the fagots from door to door on the backs of three asses, his sole wealth. His house was poor and his food was coarse and scanty, but Ali never complained. was always obisng and al ways ready to share his crust with the needy So far from being enyious of the good fortune of his brother Cassin, Ali took no little pride in his rich relative and, likely as not, bragsed about him to his cronies.
 It is very hard, as a rule, to make use of our rich relatives-they are wary and suspicious lot-but at least we can always brag about them to our less fortunate companions and thus get little reflected light from them whether they like 1t or not Cassims wife brought him a fine house, a shop and a storehouse, besides considerable other improved real estate, and Cassim being a good man of business and not overparticular as to how he "got hisy as long as he got 1t was now become one of the richest men in Bagdad, and often deplored the fact that his brother Ali Baba had "so little business in him." while Mrs Cassim patronized her sister ln-law outrageously and was always fling Ing her own wealth In Mrs. Alfs face, as 1t were but never any of it into her lap. If rich relations are of use to poor ones. so poor relations are always of use to rich ones. They serve as a perpetual re- hinder of our own superiority; keep us keyed up to a proper self-esteem. Whats the use of wealth if we have no poor rela- tives or poor neighbors to make envious by its display? MT. and Mrs. Cassim had a rare opportunity in their poor re- lations-and they improved 1t.
 Things were in this happy condition when one day as Ali was working as usual in the forest gathering his fire wood he saw a cloud of dust rising from the road which ran across the plain to the forest near where he was at work. As the cloud came nearer he made out that the dust was raised by a numerous company of horsemen. and though thieves were not very plentiful in that region there were some outlaw bands roaming about and All thought it the part of pru- dence to climb a tree and hide himself until the horsemen had passed by. He selected leafy tree, the foliage of which quite concealed him, and was congrat- ulating himself upon his security when, to his dismay, the cavalcade drew rein immediately beneath his hiding place. Peepng cautiously down he saw 3s well mounted and well armed robbers, led by a fierce looking captain superbly mounted upon a coal black stallion.
 The robbers dismounted, took the brides from their horses heads and proceeded to tie on nosebags filled with grain. They had evidently travelled far and had paused to bait their horses. AS soon as the horses were fed All Baba thought they would pass on. But to his further aston ishment, each robber took from his sad de great bag, which. from the apparent weight thereof, Ali conceived must be llltQ WilH SlNcl UT BOld Iut iODOSib bi marching up to the front of a great rock near the tree in which Ali was concealed the chief paused and then said in a voice of command, Open, Sesame." Immedi ately a door, which had seemed before part of the solid rock, flew open and the robbers entered the cave which was dis closed beyond it. The door closed after them and Ali waited a long time before they came out again.
 At length the door flew open again and out marched the 40 thieves. The captain stood by the portal until all of his mer had passed out and then commanded Shut Sesame" The door flew to once more and there was the appearance of solid rock. Ali was pretty well frightened '~End did not dare to descend from his hid ing place until some time after he hac seen the band disappear below the horizon as they rode over the plain. When he wa. assured that the robbers were really gon, that they had not forgotten something and would come back after it-he climbed down and went to examine the rock Al had fair amount of curiosity, and i must be allowed that what he had seer and heard was enough to arouse the leas inquiring mind to spirit of investigation What was 1t that the captain of the rob bers had said? "Open, Sesame!" Ali pro nounced the words, and at once the rock, door flew open. He peered in, and hi. breath was taken away by the gitterinf vision which met his eyes.
 He had expected to only a darl cave Instead he behed gorgeous, rock hau,o apartn1ept liohted from, a rounf