The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1886-02-11
AMONG THE PERSIANS.
An Afternoons Walk in the
Chief City.
Our Late Minister Describes Some Of the
Sights of Teheran.

Our Late Minister Describes Some Of the
Sights of Teheran.
G q w por;rmin late United States
.. .u f. ia, describing an after
..ss Tle says, in Harpor's: 1t
1e saa ice; rosy light bathes
boss aH out the stately avenues
.,a.s. d south are in shadow,
81. B y.-.et ,y he water thrown by the
..... nder evening light also
-r.Ha.n crests of the vast ridge
So , 6'la l..e,, or Light of Persia,
:. ..-~-.., sv...s 70 a height of 1000 feet
across the northern side of the plain, but
nine miles away. The evening glow, be-
fore i, fades into twilight, fingers last on
the snowy cone of Demavend, 81, 900 feet
high, ever present in every view, like the
presiding genius that protects the capital
of Persia.
With slow and dignifed steps the Per-
sian gentlemen stroll through these invit-
ing avenues, engaged in genial converse.
Their long robes, their massive boards,
Their lofty caps or voluminous turbans,
give them lofty stateliness as they wend
along, undisturbed by the numerous hor-
ses or carriages, Or the hidcously unkempt
and filthy dervishes who claim aims on
account of their sanctified rags.
At this hour the tea-houses are in full
blast. The reader may be surprised to
learn that the national beverage of Persia
is not coffee but tea. One would natu-
rally suppose that a country so near
Araby the Blest and the aromatic groves
of Mocha would, like the Turks, prefer
coffee. OF course great deal of coffee,
prepared in the Turkish way, is con-
sumed by the Persians, but the fact re-
mains that they are essentially tea
drinking race, drinking it in vast quanti-
ties, favored with lemon or lime, and
sweetened almost to syrup. The habit
is probably the result OF the commercial
intercourse which at an early period exist
ed between Persia and China, and
which, as is now we'll known, gave an
impulse to the arts of Persia, of which
evidences appear at various stages of hel
aesthetic history. At Teheran the tea
houses take the place of the coffec-houses
of Constantinople. One meets them al
every turn, of every rank, but all alike
resorts for rest, leisure, and entertainment
I There one may see public dancers, who
| by law are now invariably men, although
women contrive to evade the laws some
/ times and exhibit in the harems. The
I male dancers are brought up to this voca
ton from boyhood, and invariably weal
long hair in imitation of women, an6
shave their faces smooth.
What interests an intelligent European
more at these tea-houses than the dance
arc the recitations from the poets. Tht
} songs of Hafiz may be heard there, ant
entire cantos from the great epic of Fer
doonsee, repeated with loud, sonorou
modulation, heard sometimes at quite
distance at the more inspiring passages
and listened to with enthusiastic rapture
Here too, one may hear the "Arabial
Nights" tales given without any attemp
at eXpurgation, exactly as in reCen
translation. The reader will rccollec
that the characters in the "Arabiar
Nights" are constantly and at every op
portunity quoting long and appropriat
passages from the poets. This may t.
the European appear to be an affectatio1
or a freak of poetic license on the part O
the author of these tales. On the contra
ry, he was simply giving us another o
those traits of Oriental character tn
record of which has given to those ini
mitable narratives immortality as the fin
est picture ever given of the life Of tn
East, which, after thousands of years,
only just beginning to feel the transform
ing influence of western civilization.
As one continues his ramble throug
Teheran at this hour, he sees CROWD
amused by balloons dancing to the bea
Of tambourines-ani which, if the
do not get all the happiness they deserve
at least well fulfill their mission in mini.
tering to the pleasure of myriads by the
absurd antics and grimaces. Or we sc
a chained lioness put through her pace
-, fatigucd by the part she has bee
1orced to play in life, and unable to e.
cape from it by suicide, is sleeping hcav
ly on the pavement. But one of the mo-
common spectacles of Teheran in the lit
afternoon--a sight which always draws
, crowds match of trained wrestler
or athletes exercising with clubs, as bot
of which the Persians are very expe
: although they make no great figure
jugglery.
She Was Satisfied.
''Doctor," said an old lady to her ply