14.8 
AMERICAN AG-HICULTURIST. 
[April, 
A STREET-SCENE IN CONSTANTINOPLE. 
etc. The chief objection to the latter plan is, the ten- 
dency to collect and harbor dnst. For small picturee, 
frames made of the splints (lamp-lighters) that are sold 
in bundles, are veiy pretty, but they are so commonly 
used that I need not describe them here. A wreath of 
Christmas greens makes a very pretty frame for a picture, 
and lasts much longer than one would suppose, if not 
much handled. 
English Girl.— I cannot tell you " where in London " 
the newspaper is published; but it is called "The 
Obituary," and is devoted to the affairs of grave-diggers, 
embalmers, undertakers, sculptors of tombstones and 
monuments, cremationists, etc. "Wills are published 
therein, heirs hunted up, lost wills advertised, and epi- 
taphs furnished. Mourning goods are advertised. In 
short, everything of a funereal nature that can be publish- 
ed, there finds place. It is not a cheerful paper. 
J. J.— Jacobus Damiun, whoever he might be, was 
eigbt feet high ; Walter Parsons, seven feet four, and 
William Evans seven feet sis. The scripture giant, 
Goliath, was sis cubits and a span high (1. Samuel, 
xvii:4); variously estimated to be from nine feet six, 
to twelve feet. Og is supposed to have been even taller, 
from the fact that his bedstead is mentioned in Dent 
iii : 11, as being " nine cubits long." Sahara, the Arabian 
giant, was nine feet nine inches high. The Emperor 
Maximus was eight feet sis inches high. During the 
reign of Vitellins there lived a Jew who was ten feet two 
inches tall. He was named Eleazera, an'l was sent as a 
present to Rome with Darius, when the latter was sent 
as a hostage. During the reign of Augustus Csesar we 
read of two giants, Idusio and Secundilla, who were 
each ten feet high, and after their death their bodies were 
kept for some time as a wonder. So that "giants'" 
were not '* common " even in those days. 
HoTT Tilings are l>one In otlier 
Countries— Streets and Street IL.ife. 
A stranger visiting any large city learns mncli about 
the place and its people by walking through the streets. 
The business streets show him a great deal of one side 
of city life, and a walk among the residences allows him 
to see where and how the people live. New Tork is un- 
like most other American cities in having one principal 
street, and all others are very poor when compared with 
it. Broadway is a large and important part of New 
York ; it is not only the great street of the city, but the 
great street of the country, if not of the world. No 
other city has a street that shows such, variety, such life, 
and such crowds for miles in estent. This street is a 
great sight, and though we have been familiar wfth it 
for some 40 years, it is just as attractive as ever. In all 
the principal cities of the United States and Northern 
Europe, the streets are broad, with a carriage way be- 
tween two side-walks, and kept in excellent order. But 
when we visit the cities of Mexico and other Spanish 
American countries on this continent, or tlie cities of 
Southern Europe and Asia, the first thing that strikes us 
is the beauty of these cities when seen from a distance. 
The houses, usually white and low. seem to be embow- 
ered in trees, above which appear spires, domes, or min- 
arets, glistening in the sun, and forming a charming pic- 
ttire— but enter the city— and the beauty disappear?. The 
most repulsive sights meet tlie eye. and one is apt to 
wish that he had no sense of smell, so offensive are the 
odors. Take a large Mexican city, for example, like Chi- 
huahua or Duraugo, both so beautiful when seen from 
without; when you enter the streets It seems like going 
into an immense prison. The houses are generally built 
to enclose a square court-yard, and all the doors and win- 
dows open into this yard, while the houses present 
to the streets only a blank wall ; no windows oJi the 
street, and only one enormous door, through which a 
carriage or large wagon may be driven. All the life is ■ 
found, and nearly an the business, is carried on within 
the cotirt-yard, and the streets are deserted save as peo- 
ple pass from one house to another. In that country ev- 
ery house is really a castle, for when the big doors are 
closed, all the rest of the world is shut out. In some of 
the large Eastern cities the streets are strangely narrow. 
In Constantinople and Cairo, as well as in Canton, and 
other large cities in China, the streets are so very nar- 
row, sometimes only 6 or 8 feet wide, they have no side- 
walks, but slope towards the center, and in the middle of 
the street is a gutter to carry off the water, which you 
may he sure is none of the cleanest. Of course in such 
streets as these there can be no carriages drawn by 
horses. In Cairo, where camels are in common use, a 
train of loaded camels makes queer work in the streets. 
Of course they have their loads packed on their backs, 
-Engrai'cd for the Aynericnn Agnciilturist. 
and when loads are light they are very bulky. It is very 
funny to see the people, when the shout of the camel- 
driver is heard, get close up to the houses, take shelter 
in the door-ways, or wherever they can squeeze them- 
selves out of the way, and not be hit by the loads. 
One of the strange things about these Eastern cities is 
the amount of business done in the streets. Tou have 
of course heard of the B:izars of Constantinople aud other 
places, but these are only narrow streets, roofed over and 
lighted from above ; the stores are very small, we should 
call them " stands.** Indeed, many an old apple or candy 
woman in onr cities has more room to display her wares, 
than do those dealers in costly shawls, jewels, and other 
articles. Even in the streets that are not covered and 
tnrned into bazare, the store is merely a sort of stall, or 
coop, where the dealer can attend to his principal busi- 
ness — which is smoking— and who looks as if he did not 
care to be disturbed by a customer. The picture gives 
a part of one of the commoner streets of Constantinople, 
which serves to show some of the things that strike a 
stranger. The shoe-maker, like most of the tradesmen 
in that city, carries on his business about as much out of 
doors as in-doors, and people make themselves quite at 
home in the street. The porter, with his load, is a com- 
mon sisht in Eastern cities, where merchandise and bag- 
gage of all kinds is mostly carried by main strength. 
You wonder why the fellow donH get up a barrow or 
hand-cart of some kind. That is just what an American 
would do, but this man's father, and grandfather, * toted * 
things in the same way, and so he keeps on, as will his 
children, no doubt, Tou will wonder if those people In 
the distance have the toothache, and are going in pro- 
cession to the dentist's. They are women who are very 
likely out on a shopping tour. It is the custom, indeed, 
a partof their relicrion, for the women to wear in public 
very thick veils, that allow only the eyes to be seen. One 
of the advantages of travel is that one learns to better 
value what he has at home. Many a boy and girl, when 
they have read of Oriental magnificence, of bazars, of 
mosques, and other fine things, have thought their own 
surroundings poor and mean. One of the uses of travel 
is to make us content with our own homes. If any of 
you could visit these oriental cities, with their narrow, 
dirty, and bad-smelling streets, yon wonld at once 
think of home, and of oar own towns which, if not 
ancient or magnificent, are at least clean and bealthfol. 
