mmercial travelers
speak nearly every language one ever heard.

I hired a Moor--who bore some title which indicated that he was a
descendant of the Caliphs, and by which he had to be addressed--to do
chores and act as general assistant. One of the first things I did,
the morning after my arrival, was to choose a convenient point on
one of the stone parapets for "taking the sun," in order to test the
running of my chronometer. I had some suspicion as to the result,
but was willing to be amused. A sentinel speedily informed me that
no sights were allowed to be taken on the fortification. I told him
I was taking sights on the sun, not on the fortification. But he was
inexorable; the rule was that no sights of any sort could be taken
without a permit. I soon learned from Mr. Sprague, the American
consul, who the proper officer was to issue the permit, which I
was assured would be granted without the slightest difficulty.
The consul presented me to the military governor of the place,
General Sir Fenwick Williams of Kars. I did not know till long
afterward that he was born very near where I was. He was a man whom
it was very interesting to meet. His heroic defense of the town whose
name was added to his own as a part of his title was still fresh in
men's minds. It had won him the order of the Bath in England, the
Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor and a sword from Napoleon III., and
the usual number of lesser distinctions. The military governor, the
sole authority and viceroy of the Queen in the fortress, is treated
with the deference due to an exalted personage; but this deference
so strengthens the dignity of the position that the holder may be
frank and hearty at his own pleasure, without danger of impairing it.
Certainly, we found Sir Fenwick a most genial and charming gentleman.
The Alabama claims were then in their acute stage, and he expressed
the earnest hope that the two nations would not proceed to cutting
each other's throats over them.

There was no need of troubling the governor with such a detail as
that of a permit to take sights; but the consul ventured to relate
my experience of the morning. He took the information in a way
which showed that England, in making him a general, had lost a
good diplomatist. Instead of treating the matter seriously, which
would have implied that we did not fully understand the situation, he
professed to be greatly amused, and said it reminded him of the case
of an