Evening star., 1933-08-13


subject of servants supplies just that
touch of nature which makes the whole
world kin. When I have been talking
about my life in the land of the Pha-
raohs, for example, have observed that
some stray remark of mine about my
domestic staff has kindled the light Of
interest in eyes that were rolling upward
with boredom; and therefore I offer no
apology for making this my present
theme. Like illnesses and operations, it
has an almost universal appeal.
What happens in Egypt, of course, is
outside the scope of everyday expert
ence in the West; yet servants are serv-
ants wherever they be, and certain of
their qualities as that of smash
ing things with a light heart-are COM
mon to the whole species.
On the carefree banks of the Nile,
must explain, any one of the higher
officials stationed in provincial town
has far more native servants in his
household than he would ever dream of
employing if he himself had to foot the
bill; but, fortunately, an easy going gov
eminent makes him a liberal allowance
for the maintenance of its dignity in
far-away places, and he is usually re-
sponsible for the wages only of his per-
sonal servant, his cook and boy or two.
kAY own sun-bathed, sleepy-looking
w residence at Luxor, with its tree
shaded outhouses and stables and its
paradise of garden going down to the
river, always seemed to be full of blue
or white robed people dreamily wander
ing about like all Gods chirun in
heaven. Some of them I did not even
know by name, and to this day have
no idea what they we're doing-if any,
thing; but in general they contributed
to the drowsy air of peace which char
acterized the place and which was very
welcome when I came in, hot and tired,
from my work.
There were two or three languid and
rather Biblical-looking doorkeepers-
men who, in accordance with the old
Egyptian custom, sat all day on a
bench at my gates, yawning and
scratching themselves or talking in tired
monosyllables to friends who came and
sat all day on a bench with them to
while away the long, long hours. When
ever passed through the gates they all
stood up, and this, apparently, was their
only function.
At the front door of the house itself
there was a black cherub of Nubian
boy who wore kind of white cassock
with red band around the waist and
had a red fez on his head, gold ring
through the top of one ear and his
fathers enormous boots lashed to his
feet. His job was to dust with feather
brush the shoes of anybody entering the
clean, whitewashed hall; but he often
wandered away or else fell asleep in
his chair, and woke up only in time to
give ones heels belated flick.
He was called ADD '-el-Aziz, but he was
50 often either missing or in a dead
sleep that used to call him Abd'-el-
As-Was.
Inside the house there was my pussy
footed personal servant, Hassan-a sort
of butler-valet- dressed in Zouave
jacket, an embroidered vest and baggy
Turkish trousers, which is the regular
uniform of his calling. He was ghost
like and silent parsonage, of a religious
turn of mind, who used to go up onto
the fiat roof of the house two or three
times a day to say his prayers. looking
toward Mecca in the East and prostrat-
ing himself with such devotion that his
forehead was gray with the dust of the
floor when he returned to his duties.
To assist him there was a man who
hoated around in white, and did house.
maids work with the detached air Of