Arab Americans -- Fiction; Immigrants -- New York (State) -- New York -- Fiction
Trachoma! a little granulation on the inner surface of the eyelids,
what additional misery does it bring upon the poor deported emigrant?
We are asked to shed a tear for him, to weep with him over his blasted
hopes, his strangled aspirations, his estate in the mother country
sold or mortgaged,--in either case lost,--and his seed of a new life
crushed in its cotyledon by the physician who might be short-sighted
himself, or even blind. But the law must be enforced for the sake of
the clear-sighted citizens of the Republic. We will have nothing to do
with these poor blear-eyed foreigners.
And thus our grievous Scribe would continue, if we did not exercise
the prerogative of our Editorial Divan. Rather let us pursue our
narration. Khalid is now in the hospital, awaiting further development
in his case. But in Shakib's, whose eyes are far gone in trachoma, the
decision of the Board of Emigration is final, irrevokable. And so,
after being detained a week in the Emigration pen, the unfortunate
Syrian must turn his face again toward the East. Not out into the
City, but out upon the sea, he shall be turned adrift. The grumpy
officer shall grumpishly enforce the decision of the Board by handing
our Scribe to the Captain of the first steamer returning to Europe--if
our Scribe can be found! For this flyaway son of a Phoenician did not
seem to wait for the decision of the polyglot Judges of the Emigration
Board.
And that he did escape, we are assured. For one morning he eludes the
grumpy officer, and sidles out among his Italian neighbours who were
permitted to land. See him genuflecting now, to kiss the curbstone
and thank Allah that he is free. But before he can enjoy his freedom,
before he can sit down and chuckle over the success of his escapade,
he must bethink him of Khalid. He will not leave him to the mercy of
the honourable Agents of the Law, if he can help it. Trachoma, he
knows, is a hard case to cure. And in ten days, under the care of the
doctors, it might become worse. Straightway, therefore, he puts
himself to the dark task. A few visits to the Hospital where Khalid is
detained--the patients in those days were not held at Ellis
Island--and the intrigue is afoot. On the third or fourth visit, we
can not make out which, a note in Arabic is slipt into Khalid's
pocket, and with a significant Arabic sign, Shakib takes himself off.
The evening of that very day, the trachoma-afflicted Syrian was absent
from the ward. He was carried off by Iblis,--the porter and a few
Greenbacks assisting. Yes, even Shakib, who knew only a few English
monosyllables, could here make himself understood. For money is one of
the two universal languages of the world, the other being love.
Indeed, money and love are as eloquent in Turkey and Dahomey as they
are in Paris or New York.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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