Arab Americans -- Fiction; Immigrants -- New York (State) -- New York -- Fiction
Now, to the East Side, into the Jewish Quarter, Khalid directs his
cart. And there, he falls in with Jewish fellow push-cart peddlers
and puts up with them in a cellar similar to his in the Syrian
Quarter. But only for a month could he suffer what the Jew has
suffered for centuries. Why? There is this difference between the
cellar of the Semite Syrian and that of the Semite Jew: in the first
we eat _mojadderah_, in the second, _kosher_ but stinking flesh; in
the first we read poetry and play the lute, in the second we fight
about the rent and the division of the profits of the day; in the
first we sleep in linen "as white as the wings of the dove," in the
second on pieces of smelly blankets; the first is redolent of ottar of
roses, Shakib's favourite perfume, the second is especially made
insufferable by that stench which is peculiar to every Hebrew hive.
For these and other reasons, Khalid separates himself from his Semite
fellow peddlers, and makes this time a bigger move than the first.
Ay, even to the Bronx, where often in former days, shouldering the
peddling-box, he tramped, will he now push his orange-cart and his
hopes. There, between City and Country, nearer to Nature, and not far
from the traffic of life, he fares better both in health and purse. It
is much to his liking, this upper end of the City. Here the atmosphere
is more peaceful and soothing, and the police are more agreeable. No,
they do not nickname and bully him in the Bronx. And never was he
ordered to move on, even though he set up his stand for months at the
same corner. "Ah, how much kinder and more humane people become," he
says, "even when they are not altogether out of the City, but only on
the outskirts of the country expanse."
Khalid passes the Spring and Summer in the Bronx and keeps in the open
air, not only in the day, but also in the night. How he does this, is
told in a letter which he writes to Shakib. But does he sleep at all,
you ask, and how, and where? Reader, we thank you for your anxiety
about Khalid's health. And we would fain show you the Magic Carpet
which he carries in the lock-box of his push-cart. But see for
yourself, here be neither Magic Carpet, nor Magic Ring. Only his
papers, a few towels, a blanket, some underwear, and his coffee
utensils, are here. For Khalid could forego his _mojadderah_, but
never his coffee, the Arab that he is. But an Arab on the wayfare, if
he finds himself at night far from the camp, will dig him a ditch in
the sands and lie there to sleep under the living stars. Khalid could
not do thus, neither in the City nor out of it. And yet, he did not
lodge within doors. He hired a place only for his push-cart; and this,
a small padlock-booth where he deposits his stock in trade. But how he
lived in the Bronx is described in the following letter:
"My loving Brother Shakib,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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