BaSBBSaaaBSSS.
UK Assyrian girl In a man worshiper.
When one hears It Mid of on American girl
that she " worships hr husband " It Is re
garded as a pretty pastime.
When It Is said of nn American Syrian
girl It Is but the expression of what Is a part
of her Ineradicable religion. Worship of her
husband, and, In fart, of all the men of ht-i
family she clings to together with the gods of her fore
fathers tmiong new ideals and customs thrust upon her in
(i strange land.
The Syrian worshiper at the domestic shrine Is not like
the familiar and typleal wife of thp submerged tenth who
iippears In the police court to plead mercy for the brute who
Iwats her. Often fair even as a wife, as K girl she has the
wmdrous biauty and grace which Is the heritage of her
sunny land, and of which even the poverty of her squalid
surroundings cannot rob her. Often, too, she has an Intel
ligence fur surpassing the men of her race, which she gains
as a wage earner.
In spite of this she practices a marital homage and de
votion which Is Inadequately expressed by the word "wor
ship," as a part of her self-imposed creed, to forsake which
would result In a loss of caste which Is far dearer than her
soul,
Hut although the Syrian wife or maid gives deference
and deprecating service to her husband and lover, she does
not In the least underestimate her own charms. She Is the
greatest of dirts and Is at all times conscious of the beauty
of her dark eyes and ((learning teeth and shining hair -which,
by the way, remains beautiful and retains Its i.hinlng
quality In the midst often of squalid poverty. All the do
mestic service which she hurries to do for whatever man
comes In, whether It la her father, her brother, or a stranger,
she does with graceful gestures that make It the oppor
tunity of nil other which she has for displaying her charms.
Make a Religion of Hospihlity.
Hospitality offered to the stranger under his roof Is al
most a rel.glon with the Byrian householder, although to
bt the "stranger" Is a difficult matter. Except among her
on people the young Byrian girl Is kept In haremlike se
clusion. Then- Is one way only In which the curious Amer
lesn can M t into one of these homes, and thut Is In the
solse of a buyer.
To do this requires some foititude, as most of the slender
Assyrian population, which invariably huddles together as
closely as possible In the American city, Is wretchedly poor.
" Half numbers " and upper stories abound, and you may
no only stumble up a dark stairway worn to the point of
giving beneath your weight, but you may shudder at having
onj of the older, dark vlsaged women, who suddenly thrust
their heads out of the ne.irby doorways to see who It Is, dart
out and clutch you in a well meant effort to show you the
way. Never mind. When you get to the top you may be
received by a delicately pretty girl, who talks good English
In a voice more musical than your own, and who ushers
you Into a fairly clean little room with the air of a princess.
Here and there, among these people, will be found one
who Is well to do and who keeps a grocery or a general
store, which keeps him from following the example of his
countrymen who, when Mch enough, move to better quar
ters. As a prospective purchaser from the store, about
which you will have to make Inquiries as It Is absolutely
undlscemllrle to the sight or to any of the other senses
you will be asked into the living room of the family, where
the merchandise will be brought In to you.
Richest Man Rules the Colony.
There are probably already thrte or four men In, come
to do business with the patriarchal storekeeper, who, as the
richest man In the colony, Is known as the " sheik." A
woman or two of the neighborhood may have come in to
visit the daughters, who are all pretty, but who show .
enough difference In type and complexion to Indicate at least
more than one wife In the venerable sheik's past. If you
are a man you will be qffered a seat by the youngest daugh
ter of the house, who In the meantime will prepare to stand
herself, If there are not enough seats to go round. If there
are still some lucking soma of her women guests will get
up also, as . the Syrian . girl, as she expresses it herself,
" respects men too much " to ever sit when they are standing.
If It is a woman who comes in she is asked her name
and Introduced to the other women with an elaborate cere
mony, which recalls the fact thut it Is not well to forget
any of the ceremonies if one would be popular with peoples
of the orient. The men In the meantime sit together at one
side of the room, entirely oblivious of the woman callers,
3333 333 3333353333 333333
&r J fed, bPBHS wm
- girl's family." she says, and, although he never sees h.
alone, he knows If she likes him. Then the parents con
to see her parents and they drink coffee together. Tin
after they are engaged they may go out alone together one.
perhaps twice, to the theater. When the Syrian girl Is nttou:
to be married she wears all her bracelets and her Jewelry
and has gathered around her all of her prettiest thing.
Everything which belongs to her is brought out and shown
at the wedding.
J .
Husband Does All the Shopping.
"After she Is married her husband buys for her what
Is necessary. A Syrian woman dous not take her husband s
money and give him a little, as the American women do."
she adds with a scornful 'gesture. "She obeys Iter lm .--band.
Bhe never, never what Is It you cnll It? 'calls Iht
husband down!" No Syrian woman would be considered tit
to associate with who would call her husband down. She
also touches her hand to her breast when she first sees In i
husband or father to show submission to him.
"The Syrian girl marries the man whom her father picks
out for her. If she liked one man and her father wanted
her to marry another he will not make her do it, but If she
is a true daughter she will do as her father wishes her to.
anyway.
" One of the first things which the man docs who conies
to woo a girl Is to look into her kitchen. If her kitchen Is
clean he thinks It will be a happy marriage. When she Is
once 'engaged,' as the Americans call It, the lover sets the
time far away if he thinks he may be making a mistake, so
that he can change his mind, nut he sets It near If he is wi ll
satisfied. Generally It Is only a short time between the be
trothal and the marriage."
Sometimes the devotion of the Syrian to her husband will
go to the length of her taking care of him. She can cajole
with a cleverness that makes her a successful peddler, and
the husband to whom she does homage has degenerated so
sadly since the days when his forefathers gleamed In co
horts of gold and purple that too often when he Is married
lie depends upon Ills wife's deft arts for his support.
Afraid Americans Will Divorce Them.
But If an American lover, In all the glory of his Amer
ican manhood, lured on by the prospect of a beautiful and
worshiping wife who woull not " call him down," should
brave the squalid poverty of the Syrian quarter and run
the gantlet of Its wooing customs In order to get one of
Its belles, the chances are that he would not succeed. There
is one great and terrible barrier that stands in the way of
her taking an American husband. It is the divorce court. .
Divorce means to her the crowning disgrace of womanhood,
and the American husband, in spite of his many known ad
vantages, is supposed to have too great a fancy for getting
Into matrimonial difficulties and settling them In this way
to be considered a safe match.
t If a Syrian wife so far forgets her religion as to quarrel
With her husband and comes home to her father she is
ordered to go back to him. This she must do, no matter
who has been at fault, except In a case of one kind. If she
married against her own choice nnd according to the will of
her father, and her husband treats her cruelly, she may come,
home and live though she is not divorced. But' if she has
h
i f
and with their hats on still smoking the Turkish pipes which
the hostess prepares for them.
This task done, and after explaining apologetically that
Syrian nen do not take off- their hata as Americans do, the
hostess sets herself to miking Turkish coffee. For this she
gets out " half cups " so tiny that they would make any
pluy dishes of the prese.it day look life slie. Though .she
arranges only eight of them on a tray, she throws Into a
strange little long handled brass pot of shining brightness
both Inside and out four large tablespoonfuls of finely pow
dered coffee. When the kettle bolls she fills this up with
perhaps a pint of water and holds It over, the coals while
.siic watches It boll up. When the first foam rises on the
top she deftly skims off a teaspoon ful of It, which she puts
in with the sugar which la already In the bottom of each cup.
" That Is the best of the flavor," she explains, as she holds
It until it bolls up twice again In the same way, when she
puts In a drop of cold water, and it Is done. " Tou must
never have a cover on the pot," she ?ays also; " it steams
it and spoils the flavor." With this the' pretty Syrian
gracefully fills her cups .and passes her tray to themen
first. . I ' i
When, however,, ft tiext guest lot honor you i receive
yours-, it is worth waiting for. It Is more dAlclous than
anything you ever had In. your life. The hostess: explains
that the cup Is not full because, 'if It should, be' made full
enough to ever by any chance slop over. It would mean a
deadly affront to the guest. She also explains that the few
little coffee grounds which, are mixed dellclously with the
sugar In the bottom OH the otherwise amber clear liquid
should be there because they help the flavor.
When you are. having your second- cup of coffee the
hostess sits down- to explain about the marriage customs
of the Syrlun women. " The young man can come to see the
persisted In taking a husband of her own fancying, and then
trouble comes, no matter what her husband does, her fathur
will Insist that she go back to live with him. She has
been a headstrong daughter and she must at all cost ullay
the suspicion which will now follow that she is not a good
wife.
C333S3SS3SSSSS33333SSS53S333e333SSS33S3SSSSSSS3S3SSS5S'
3T o insi.
FLOATING THEATER FOR RIVER TOWNS.
1, 000 J'JIO TO GRAPHS.
DOGS DANCE THE CAKEWALK
. , V"! ( l t. i r :
J -.iff iU
. ... - , T'T' T T ' ' . ' .
ill!! s
11
.J -
r
1
v - 1.
;J t 4' It f , v .
- " im i i
I!
This is a floating theater which plies on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. It ties u;i
to a dock and the people of the town come aboard and witness a two hours' performance
It touches many towns where the people never see uny other theatrical performance.
MERRY METHOD.
ST A 7ESMEN.
1
ft J
rll ft
A Waukegan (111.) photographer keeps-thl
nnlma? in his gallery to accommodate peopli
who want to be photographed with- a dog
He has been photographed 1 imhi times.
MARKED BALLOTS.
X . t
: ?T-'
ui l-'iiri:, iiiL- populariL ol toe caivt v. .i iu i.- N.i.ioaii'd. ano at t lie ul '" uitj'm'u'.itc Tiufls
a dog trainer has taught her pets to dunce with her, as shown ubove.
SHE FIGHTS FOR CZAR.
A -Ki.im to the St. hauls l'ost-Dispatch
c- 1 1 uis t most of the Missouri k glelatorj
r- t their feet nn their di sks.
These are some of the crows um d In mark
ing Australian-ballot in New York to prove
that votes were delivered us bought.
ARMLESS MAN DRIVES FAST HORSE.
I In an old fashioned arithmetic recently re
published the multiplication tallies were II
.untiated by plcturen und iliyinea like thix:
" 5 lilllea ri are Ml,
$he' tall aa any Mr tree."
if
1! I
...it -'y
L .-in.,., i , - ' -V' - w. -:
7
." ' ' f sl
.i.m. ,,i m V 5.
j-' A-
1 1 7
A j '
An armless man who drlvea a fust horae. Mr. E. P. Latham la a cltlxen of Burton, O.
Michel Nlcolalewltch, one of the women iu their In Iiigconnectedwith tlie huge
fighting un auidiera in the UukhIuii uruiy. arnokestack.
633333SS33S3533S333S3333
TO BECOME SLIM. RIDES A BULL. Jj J t
II. I ISV . .'J.asJSTr' LW ' --'1 w
I 1 I I L ai -.- Ma) ktf ' I
l 1 1 5,. i ;
Move up and down like tM. The more I ;
limes you dio It a doy the. sooner you williget I'nilke most bulls, this nne at nrvan i. l 7 '
I rid Of your fat. will pt Vmlt u boy to ride upon Its back. J
nrOE r n i r s- r r r a x ri I
The clever way In which a furniture man made a dettk out of an old pluno. Jl' '
- -r PICKANINNY'S DRESS. OUTDOOR CHESS. H
tmuLui &f?m -Mm- M
Wflp -feiiufca -v
Here is a drawing of a Uttle pickaninny. At ;-' .
Highest chimney In America. It Is located "r '" " "" " e-e . 1 (11
n New Jersey and stands WIS feet high. The ma1, rlul: Cu out the.e pieca of cli. ck and I he men of 1 utiia live more outdoors than J Jl f
nhoto also shows the amall chimney prior nt Into the white space shown In the drawing. I. It Is not uncoinmen to see them pUying A f I
I HO WiilLD Bia-c a w v c no wain to imi ivj uimo.i, j i runic tniin MVUlllf Kalllcf Oil lliU V, I 1
flllfcd ill wltb th clieckM. tr--i, irr-rinK u fr u nhow to iMtnly, I 1
11
. . . ' 31..
iSrasaVajirWsawsawasJfajBBaiBBWisBSB " "
