Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1886-02-19
AMONG THE PERSIANS.
An Afternoons Walk in the
CHIEF City.
Our Late Minister Describes Some of the
Sights Of Teheran.

in / lnr4 -.
is the hour Of peace ,iIn. ,.,
tbe honse-tops, I'm tbc .,.taI,.a,...,,
Loading north and so,,,t ..
and cooled by the ua,a. ',, ,,.,., =" s"'''9|' ,,
.akkabs The tender ,,o,;,,.1;,. ~
rost. on the snowy cr..t ~, -, - ~ ','''
If tho SHIN Irsm or lax.
which scars g1a hcigbt oftq ooo ' faa,
,cross tbe uortikrp s;do.osn
oire miles awa1 Tho o,a.i.. ., ,,.',' ,'''
fore if fades into twilioh, IT,
The snowy cone Of Demoron5 ., ooo
bioh ever present in ever, ,ion. I;,a t
presiding genius that nrotcct. A. a;.,
# Persia ''''''
With slow and dignifod stan. 1,n
sian gentlemen stroll tbronoh ,hosa ;.,;.
ino avenues. engaged in oe,ial -
Their long robes, their moy.;,o,..
tbcir lofty caps or yoIum;n,,,. -,
rive them n loft statolinc.. u,
llona undisturbed by tbc p,,m,r,' Ill
ses or carriages, or thehid,o,.l,.,,,..,.,.
and filthy dervishes who claim, ,ln,. T.,
account of their sanctifcd raos
At this hour the tca-hou,c, ,rc 4, f,,u
olast. The reeS.er NAV he .ur,,;,nd =.
earn that the national BEVERAGE If p.r.to
is not coffee bur tea One would uatu
rally suppose that country so near
Of Mocha would ike the Turks prefer
coffee ol eourS9 !. a great dead Of coffee
prepared in the Turkish way, is con
'umed by the PerAans, but the fact re-
mains that they are essentially tea
drinking race drinking it in vast quaint
ties, favored with lemon or lime and
sweetened almost 70 syrup The habit
is probably the result OF the commercial
intercourse when at an early period exist
ed between Persia and China, and
which, as IS now well known, gave an
impulse to the arts Of Persia, of which
evidences appear at various stages Of her
esthetic history At Teheran the tea
houses take the place Of the cotfce-houses
of Constantlnopie. One meets them at
every turn, OF every rank, but all alike
escorts forrest, leisure and entertainment.
There one ma. - ,...slic dancers, who
y NV - - s sst,
women contrive 1wn efie.laws some
times and exhi &H ,fn the harcIns. TIL,
male dancers are Juqht up to this voca
lion from boyh9, and invariably wea,
ong hair in imitation Of women. and
shave their faces smooth.
What interests an intelligent Europear
more at these tea-houscs than the dance,
are the recitation, from the poets The
songs of Hafz may be heard there and
entire cantos Grosl the great epic of Fer
1oonsee, rcpcatdl with loud. sonorous
modulation, heard sometimes at quite a
distance at the more inspiring passages.
and listened to with enthusiastic rapture.
Here too one may hear the "Arabian
Nights tales given without any attempt
at expurgation exactly as in recent
translation. The reader will recolIect
that the characters in the "Arabian
Nights" are constantly and at every op-
portunity quoting long and appropriate
passages from the poets. This may to
The European appear to be an offcctation
or freak Of poetic license on the part Of
:he author Of these tales. On the contra
y, he was simply giving US another of
hose traits Of Oriental character the
record of which has given to those mi
mitable narratives immortality as the fin
est picture ever given of the life of the
East which after thousands Of ,-oore =,