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Article ' THE TWO JEWS OF MESHID. Page 1 of 12 →
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' The Two Jews Of Meshid.
' THE TWO JEWS OF MESHID .
PAK NOBILB FEATB" * J ! I . ON the ei'ening of a burning day in the summer of 1841 , two JBAA ' of Meshid might have been seen sauntering , Avith the
peculiar slow stately grace of Orientals , CIOAVII the Char Chouk , or great bazaar of the city of Kabul . The Char Chouk , as every one knoAvs , was the very pride of the city ; it was a longstreet , arched overhead as a shelter from the fierce rays of the sun , ancl inhabited chiefly by shopkeepers from Hindustan , whose reliance on British power to protect them had induced
them to risk their property and lives witliin reach of the grasping ancl unscrupulous Afghan . Varied were the groups that thronged the Char Chouk , ancl represented the races which people the hills ancl valleys of Afghanistan . There was the handsome and warlike Kazilbash ; the Kandahari , with his hair " like the hair of women" flowing clown on either side to his
, girdle ; the native of Hazara , Avith his square Tartar-like features and small tAvinkling eyes —¦ mere peepholes for the roguery of his nature to spy through ; the sturdy Ghiljye , son of a thief— " both by father ' s ancl mother ' s side , "—short and
powerful , with reddish beard and shaggy hair , his face the colour of brickdust , and his turban and clothes worthy of the most unclean saint ever canonized , staring—with the stare of ignorance ancl Avonder , but not of stupidity—at Avhat seemed to him the wondrous riches of the place , which , when afterwards recounted in his mountain home , would undoubtedly call forth
a unanimous shout of , "What a glorious place for a foray !" There was the slim young ensign , his curly hair so lately smoothed by a mother ' s hand , but never to be touched by it again , his cheek still ruddy from the breezes of his northern home , his more bronzed and experienced senior officer on his Arab charger , followed by his Hindustani Sais ( groom ) ,
bribed by double pay to cross the Indus , and face the terrors of an Afghan winter . There they rode , full of life , hope , and ambition , soon to die side by side , hacked , stripped , and frozen , with the snow for their only winding-sheet . There was the foolish young bride of sixteen , just transferred from a secondrate boarding-school ; the pretty , showy , gossiping officers ' wives , on horseback or in their buggies , with here and there an
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
' The Two Jews Of Meshid.
' THE TWO JEWS OF MESHID .
PAK NOBILB FEATB" * J ! I . ON the ei'ening of a burning day in the summer of 1841 , two JBAA ' of Meshid might have been seen sauntering , Avith the
peculiar slow stately grace of Orientals , CIOAVII the Char Chouk , or great bazaar of the city of Kabul . The Char Chouk , as every one knoAvs , was the very pride of the city ; it was a longstreet , arched overhead as a shelter from the fierce rays of the sun , ancl inhabited chiefly by shopkeepers from Hindustan , whose reliance on British power to protect them had induced
them to risk their property and lives witliin reach of the grasping ancl unscrupulous Afghan . Varied were the groups that thronged the Char Chouk , ancl represented the races which people the hills ancl valleys of Afghanistan . There was the handsome and warlike Kazilbash ; the Kandahari , with his hair " like the hair of women" flowing clown on either side to his
, girdle ; the native of Hazara , Avith his square Tartar-like features and small tAvinkling eyes —¦ mere peepholes for the roguery of his nature to spy through ; the sturdy Ghiljye , son of a thief— " both by father ' s ancl mother ' s side , "—short and
powerful , with reddish beard and shaggy hair , his face the colour of brickdust , and his turban and clothes worthy of the most unclean saint ever canonized , staring—with the stare of ignorance ancl Avonder , but not of stupidity—at Avhat seemed to him the wondrous riches of the place , which , when afterwards recounted in his mountain home , would undoubtedly call forth
a unanimous shout of , "What a glorious place for a foray !" There was the slim young ensign , his curly hair so lately smoothed by a mother ' s hand , but never to be touched by it again , his cheek still ruddy from the breezes of his northern home , his more bronzed and experienced senior officer on his Arab charger , followed by his Hindustani Sais ( groom ) ,
bribed by double pay to cross the Indus , and face the terrors of an Afghan winter . There they rode , full of life , hope , and ambition , soon to die side by side , hacked , stripped , and frozen , with the snow for their only winding-sheet . There was the foolish young bride of sixteen , just transferred from a secondrate boarding-school ; the pretty , showy , gossiping officers ' wives , on horseback or in their buggies , with here and there an