QUEER SIGHTS
"WOULD you like to go shopping with me?" said Esther's mother, the next
afternoon. "I must buy some things you children will need to carry with
you on your visit."
Esther and Miriam jumped up from their play. They were always ready to
go shopping. They liked to see the pretty things in the shops.
Esther's mother had made herself ready for her walk by fastening a
bright red shawl over her head. She never wore a hat or a bonnet, as do
her American sisters.
"We will go to the market first," she told the children. "I wish to buy
some fruit."
It was quite a long walk, but there was so much to see on the way,
Esther and Miriam did not think of that.
"Do see that drove of donkeys," exclaimed their mother, after they had
entered one of the principal streets. "They are laden with goatskins
filled with water, I suppose. Listen, children! Their Arab driver is
calling to them."
"O-ar! o-ar! derak! derak!" sounded the driver's voice.
A small boy running down a byway mimicked the Arab.
"O-ar! o-ar! derak! derak!"
"See that solemn old camel," said Esther. "He is laden with stones. They
must be very heavy. Poor old fellow! I don't blame him for growling at
his master for trying to hurry him up."
"His growl rattles so, it seems to come from his inmost stomach," said
the mother, laughingly.
"Baksheesh! baksheesh!" yelled a beggar sitting cross-legged against the
wall of a house. The man was ragged and dirty. He held a tin pail before
him. Kind-hearted people had dropped money, fruit, and vegetables into
it as they passed by.
"There are many poor people of our own faith here in the city," said
Esther's mother, as they went on their way. "They really suffer for lack
of food. That man is a Turk. It may be that he is really as poor as he
looks, and needs all the help he can get. But it is quite possible he
has a comfortable home, and only begs because it is an easy way of
getting a living."
"Look, mamma, at that woman of Bethlehem," said Miriam. "I know her by
the dress."
Miriam pointed to the dark blue robe. Stripes of bright red, mixed with
gold, reached down the sides. The sleeves were large and long, and
trimmed in the same way. The woman's white veil hung down from a tall
cap.
"How heavy her cap must be," said Esther. "It is like a crown."
"All the coins she owns are sewed on her cap," answered the mother. "It
tells every one just how rich she is."
"I don't see how she does her work if she wears that robe all the time,"
said Miriam. "The sleeves are so large, I should think they must be in
the way."
"She probably ties them together behind her. I have been told that is
the way. She can use them as pockets."
"I don't see how men ever get used to carrying such big loads," said
Esther.
She pointed to two porters who were bent nearly double. Their loads were
strapped upon cushions fastened on their backs, and held in place by
straps around their heads.
[Illustration: A WOMAN OF BETHLEHEM.]
"Each of those men must have almost as much of a load as a camel
carries," said Esther's mother. "It seems almost impossible, but it is
true. It is a hard life, a very hard life."
While she was speaking they entered the market. The eyes of the little
girls were kept busy looking at the many different things of interest.
There were Arabs in charge of camels laden with melons, grapes and figs.
There were women selling vegetables, and at the same time taking care of
their babies. There were patient donkeys longing to be freed from their
loads of goods which their masters were trying to sell.
"Mamma, mamma!" whispered Esther. "There is a baby gazelle in the basket
on that woman's head. It is even smaller than the one I saw at
Rebecca's. I suppose she is trying to sell the little thing."
"Look at the woman beside her," said Miriam. "She looks very tired. I
suppose she has walked several miles from her own village with her
baskets of fruit. Her baby boy sits on her shoulders, crowing and
laughing at every one who passes by."
"Come, children. We will go now to some shops where I must buy things
not sold here," said Esther's mother.
She led the way out of the market and they entered a crowded street.
There were Turks in their flowing robes, Arabs, Armenians, Syrians, and
Jews. Almost all were gaily dressed, and many of them were handsome. The
Arabs were either barefooted, or else they wore red or yellow slippers.
"They lift their feet as though they were passing over a desert," said
Esther to Miriam, as they went by some Arabs.
[Illustration: A STREET IN JERUSALEM.]
"I should think they would suffer from the heat," answered her sister.
"Their heads look so big, I'm sure they have two or three caps under
their turbans."
"Perhaps they think the more clothing they wear, the better the heat
will be kept out," said their mother, who heard what they were talking
about.
"Here is the shop I was looking for. We will go in."
She led the way into a sort of cave cut into the soft rock. It was a
dark, dingy little place. There were shelves around the sides of it. In
the middle was a sort of counter, where the storekeeper sat with his
goods around him.
As Esther's mother entered, he slowly took his pipe from his mouth and
stopped his gossiping with a friend who sat outside on the pavement. He
was in no hurry, however. He acted more like a king on his throne than a
trader who had to sell cloth for a living.
"Yellow plush, is it?" he asked. "Ah! I have some beautiful, beautiful.
It is the very thing."
But his customer was not easily satisfied, and after she had finally
picked out the piece she wished, there was a long talk about the price.
Both were satisfied at last. The plush was cut off and wrapped up, and
the storekeeper was left to his own pleasure.
Esther's mother still had some errands to do, so they visited several
other stores. They were not all in caves, however, but most of them were
small and dark.
At last, everything needed was purchased and the lady and children
started homeward.
"Look at the sky," said Esther. "Isn't it beautiful to-night?"
The sun was almost setting. The clouds were turning a rosy red. They
were so bright that the city itself seemed to share in their glory.
"Jerusalem the Blessed!" said Miriam, in a low voice.
"There is papa. We are late about getting home and so is he," said
Esther. "Now we can have his company."
Her father had already seen his wife and the girls, and was smiling at
them.
It was a warm evening, yet he wore his fur-trimmed, round velvet hat
over the tight-fitting cap that never left his head in the daytime. A
long lock of hair hung down on each side of his face, as it always did
after he was dressed for the day.
"Bless you, my little ones," he said, as Esther and Miriam each seized a
hand. "Now tell me what you have seen while you were shopping."
The children chattered as they do everywhere in the world. They
described the market and the people, the camels and the shopkeepers.
"We were coming to your store when we found how late it was. Then we
thought it would be closed, and you on your way home. And so you were,"
said Esther, laughingly.
By the time the children had reached their own door, they were so tired
they thought only of bed and sleep. They were even too tired to care
about their supper.
"But you must not slight your night prayer," said their father, soberly.
Esther's and Miriam's eyes winked and blinked a good many times before
they got through the prayer.
"It never seemed so long before, except when I was sick," Esther told
her adopted sister, when they were at last stretched on their beds.
"And, do you know, Miriam," she added, sleepily, "I believe Solomon
doesn't always repeat it all. He says our people have so many prayers he
gets tired of them sometimes. Isn't that dreadful?"
But Miriam was already sound asleep, and did not answer.