MARIE THE ARMENIAN
IF ONE LIVES IN A SLUM IN BAGHDAD, THE SERVANT PROBLEM
is just as acute as anywhere else, though of rather a different
nature.
At first sight there appears to be a great variety to
choose from. There are men, Indian, Moslem, Armenian,
Assyrian or Kurdish, There are Assyrian or Armenian
maids, and one can get little boys into whose religions I
did not enter*
In practice I found it very difficult*
I had to refuse a handsome Kurd because the house
was too small for him and me together: his head reached
the second story as he stood inside my front door.
An American acquaintance lent me her small page
called Suleyman, aged fourteen. He was to have tea
rupees a month, his bath paid for on Fridays, and a woolly
vest when the weather got colder, He came cheerfully,
carrying his basket behind me- When we turned into
my alley, however, his face fell; at the second corner it
took on an expression of settled gloom: and when I pulled
out my latchkey, a dangerous weapon over a foot long