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International Weekly Miscellany - Volume 1, No. 5, July 29, 1850 by Various
page 53 of 118 (44%)
or rather Moorish, boy, in Murillo's well known masterpiece, with whom
he was probably of cognate blood. Living in the streets from infancy,
and familiar with the chances of out-door life, and with every
description of character; waiting at the door of a mosque or a cafe,
or crouching in a corner of a bazaar, he had acquired a thorough
acquaintance with Caireen life; and his intellect, and, I fear, his
vices, had become somewhat prematurely developed. But the finishing
touch to his education was undoubtedly given by the European travelers
whom he had served, and of whom he had, with the imitativeness of his
age, picked up a variety of little accomplishments, particularly the
oaths of different languages. His audacity had thus become consummate,
and I have heard him send his fellows to ---- as coolly, and in as
good English, as any prototype of our own metropolis. His mussulman
prejudices sat very loosely upon him, and in the midst of religious
observances he grew up indifferent and prayerless. With this
inevitable laxity of faith and morals, contracted by his early
vagabondage, he at least acquired an emancipation from prejudice,
and displayed a craving after miscellaneous information, to which his
European masters were often tasked to contribute. Thrown almost in
childhood upon their resources, the energy and perseverance of these
boys is remarkable. My little lad had, for instance, been up the
country with some English travelers, in whose service he had saved
four or five hundred piastres, (four or five pounds), with which he
bought the animal which I bestrode, on whose sprightliness and good
qualities he was never tired of expatiating, and with the proceeds
of whose labor he supported his mother and himself. He had but one
habitual subject of discontent, the heavy tax imposed upon his donkey
by Mehemet Ali, upon whom he invoked the curse of God; a curse, it
is to be feared, uttered, not loud but deep, by all classes save the
employés of government. His wind and endurance were surprising. He
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