Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-08-20
SAVANNAH MORNING NEWS: FRIQAYsyAUGUST 20, 1886.

very rash and suspiciOusly active voung
man. And ter q 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-7tba promiscuous lying going
on ALI around him and the eXasperating
slownesS of people. On our trip from
Resht 10 Teheran we Americans were all
ways the first in the saddle and generally
couple OF miles on the road before the
meimandar, glorious specimen of his
| classr7that ls, the great officer sent by
the Shah to conduct us strangers from the
confines OF bis, country to his capital
was ready. to start. 9And we had to use
all rsonts of wiles and wOrk,ah kinds of
spells on him to induce him TO keep up
with us on the Journey. But it was only
the certainty that it would not only cost
him his official head, but also that mag
nificent gold watch Minister Winston had
for him stored away in one OF his trunks,
if he were left behind, that aroused him
to such an unusual exertton. Without
that he would have arrived week after
us at 1eheran.
To see a Persian write a letter or sign a
document is a treat. He seizes his reed
pen with an awful deal OF circumspection
and dips it slowly, hesitatingly, into the
ink, then as slowly brings it on a straight
line with his optics ana examines il care
"
vanished into thin air, as IL were. Hav-
ing convinced himself that no such piece
OF magic has been performed by an I'M
seen power, he gets himself into shape 10
pen his first letter. This requires various
painful and violent cOntortions of the
body, similar to those Sammy Weller of
Pickwickian fame used TO undergo when
indicting his valentine, and then the pa
per is seized, again very slowly and I'M
w nd nh IN w it1c oh
of the nose. Then dab is made. The
first letter is done. 1t is taken up and
duly admired, whereupon rest of five
minutes is taken, when the same series OF
evolutions and manRuvres is repeated to
give birth to another letter, and so on. |
watched professional mira (scribe)
the other day. He was a man noted for
his quick work. 1t took him eighteen
minutes by the watch to write his first
line.
The amount of writing which the ave-
rage white man will do in about half an
hour will keep Persian mira very busy
all day, and these mirZas, you must re-
member, are the salt OF the nation; they
are the learned men, the philosophers, the
men OF brain and thought. / was shown
manuscript the other day, quite pretty
and odd, the writing almost as fine as
steel engraving and all the tots and TITLES
OF which Persia has such an abundance,
executed with neatness and precision, but
still not as fine as many manuscript in
| European or American libraries, written
by the indefatigable hand of some good
old friar of old. There were no illumin-
ated initials nor any other fancy work
about it-just the plain writing. l was
told with exultation by a Persian that
this manuscript had been written in the
almost incredibly short time of thirty-six
years. One of the aforesaid monks would
have done it in a twelve month. These
are specimens of the insane love for pro-
crastination the average Persian cherish
| es in his bosom.
| Many observant Europeans whom have
met here have assured me that the Per-
sian is capable OF assimilating Western
culture and ideas. They tell me they
comprehend things very quickly and learn
faster than the average American would.
They believe that Persia is destined to
form the entering wedge in Central Ash
attic barbarism and TO transform the face
of this part of the globe so it will look
again what 1t must nave looked like at
the time of which Xenophon wrote in his
Anabasis. But in my,humble judgment
this Will never come to pass, unless the
character of the people here changes ma
terially. For no nation which is so in
ternally allow, which fuxuriates in study
ing the science OF Chow not TO do it," will
ever succeed in this quickly moving world
of ours. They'd be left leagues and leagues
behind all the time.