The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1886-07-27
THE PERSIANS.
Some characteristics OF An
Oriental People.
A Country of Natural Liars and Alto
gether Hopeless Procrastinators,


The modern Farsee is a natural liar,
says a Teheran letter to the San Francis
co Chronicle. 1t goes against his grain,
, against all he holds most sacred in this
queer world, to speak the truth. 1t is
born with him, this inveterate love of
! prevarication, and it is bred in the bone
for generations and generations. I have
noticed with the interest the student of
human nature is liable to feel in such
cases how astonished the Farsee is when
he has caught himself unaware telling
the truth. He then IS out of his role,
and feels so abashcd and ashamed of him
self that he looks shecpish and guilty;
much as an American might after get
ting off an awful fiji. Even with such a
people, however, where the noble art Of
~rolnancing is carried to such perfection,
moments will arise when it is desirable
to know and hear the truth. And for
u occasions the stock of Persian nd-
juration, oaths, curses and appeals seems
almost i~ncxhaustible. One of the fun
niest is "Rishe mera Ka:an Rerdi!"
Qitcrally, May you put my beard in the
winding shcct).
Procrastination is another bcsetting
sin OF theirs. "Foran mikonam" is their
reply when you want a thing done at
once, and another great phrase of theirs
is Chason (mcaning 'By my eyes I'll do
it"). But that means an hour, next day,
next month, or next year, according to
circumstanccs-never ut once. To des-
patch a thing and be done with it, to
hurry up" seems to be utterly impossi-
bic to the Persian, who is lavish of moth
ing SO much as of time. You give your
servant, for instance, q tchibouk to be
mended, and tell him you must have it
back repaired next morning. Your SER
want knows he will ''get fits" if he does
not attend to it at once, and that he will
probably get u little money if he does.
The pipemakcr across the street keeps a
little shop, and has a large and hungry
family at home to keep out of the very
slender profit of his trade. He knows,
too, he will be paid thrice the ordinary
price if he docs the job at oncc-cnouyh
to keep the pot boiling for his entire
family for one day at least. Still, so in
grained is the policy of tardiness with
both these gentlemen that you are mighty
lucky if you get your tchibouk back in a
week..
The other day 1 had business at the
central post office here. 1 wanted to
register five letters and buy postage
stamps for eight other ones. I entered
the little ofiice-eight feet by TENN
which the registration of letters is per-
formed. Four native gentlemen, seated
around a huge table, on which stood a
clumsy scale, where extremely busy do
ing nothing; or, rather, they ch.atted and
took pulls by rotation from a common
ghatyan. The chief came in at this
juncturc-a very handsome but foppish-
looking man-to whom I was introduced.
The chief sat down and made the fifth in
this happy gathering. I told them I was
in a hurry and wished to have my letters
registered and to buy fourteen kerauns'
worth of stamps. They could not under
stand how 1 could be in n hurry. They
were very polite and amiable and talked
pleasantly, but it took ten minutes of nv
eloQucnce to induce one Of the quartet to
let up on his ghatyan and tend to bust
ness, and it took me just forty minutes
to have my letters registered and to buy
those stamps. The latter he counted
over at least a score of times, very slowly
and deliberately, before he consented to
release his hold on them. 1t was not
cussedness on his part-it was Just his
natural love of doing things slowly. His
chief sat there and evidently thought
his clerk a very rash and suspiciously
active young man. And for a Persian
the young fellow had really been quick
about it.
1t is one of the great trials which every
foreigner has to go through with after his
arrival here-thc promiscuous lying 60
ing on all around him, and the exaspcr-
ating slowncss of people. To sec a Per-
sian write a letter or sign a document is
a treat. He seizes his reed pen with an
awful deal of circumspcction, and dips it
slowly, hesitatingly, into the ink, then
as slowly brings it On a straight line with
his optics and examines it carefully.