of the ladies, she was very fond of talking; but, on this particular
occasion, unhappily could speak no single word that would convey meaning
to us. Still it was not to be expected that she could hold her tongue;
so she squatted down by us, and talked, perhaps all the faster because
she had the conversation all to herself. Her daughter was a young lady,
whom by appearance in England, you would call somewhere in her teens;
but, hereaway they are so precocious that one is constantly deceived in
guessing their age. She would have been pretty if she had been clean;
and was abundantly and expensively ornamented. Sometimes we hear it
figuratively said of a domestic coquette, that she carries all her
property on her back. These Greeks must be well off, if it may not
sometimes be so said with propriety of them. They have a plan of
advertising a young lady's assets, in a manner that must be most
satisfactory to fortune-hunters, and prevent the mistakes that with us
constantly foil the best-laid plans. They turn a girl's fortune into
money, and hang it--it, the fortune proper--the [Greek: poion] and the
[Greek: poson]--about her neck. They do not buy jewels worth so many
hundreds or tens--but transpierce the actual coin, and of them compose a
necklace of whose value there can be no doubt, and whose fashion is not
very variable. This may be called a fair and above-board way of doing
things. The swain, as he sits by the beloved object, may amuse himself
by counting the number of precious links in the chain that is drawing
him into matrimony, and debate within himself, on sure data, the
question whether or no he shall yield to the gentle influence. There
would not have been much doubt about the monetary recommendations of
this young lady, for she was abundantly gilt, as became the daughter of
one reputed so rich as the old lady. Poor girls! It makes one sad to
look upon them, brought up with so little idea of what is girlish and
beautiful; to see them ignorant yet sophisticated, bejeweled and
unwashed. This poor child was decked out in the most absurd manner, and
sat for admiration most palpably. She also sat for something else, which
was her picture. This was taken by several of the party, so much to the
satisfaction of mother and daughter, that the old lady insisted on
taking her turn as model. We invariably found them pleased with the
productions of our art in these cases, and satisfied of the correctness
of the likeness. The only objections they would occasionally make, would
refer to the pretermission of some such thing as a tassel in the cap.
The fidelity of the likeness they took implicitly on trust.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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