Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1909-10-07

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News.-The Persian nation, which
numbers seven or eight millions of
dWelleTs on its own soil, has many
thousands scattered over the rich val
| legs Of the Caucasus. In Tifiis, in
Baku, Batoum, Kutais, the Persian,
clad in yermillion or crimson or slate
blue, is a familiar figure in the streets.
| Their wares, their inlaid guns and
swords and belts, their rugs and
cloaks, are the glory of all the bazars
! of Trans-Caucasia. Ones eye rests
with pleasure on their leisureIy move
ments, their gentle forms, and open
courteous gait; and they give an at
mosphere of peace and serenity TO
streets where otherwise the knives
of hillmen and the Sullen accOurter.
ments of Cossacks would continually
| impress one with the notion of i'm
pending storm.
Ali Pasha, or, as his friends famil-
iarly called him, Ali Khan, a native
of Arorat, having been brought up
within the shadow of that awful
mountain upon which, as is said, the
ark first grounded [ made his ac-
quaintance in a town some hundreds
of miles north of Ararat. It was in
the shade Of the evening. He was
having his tea at his ease-crimson
tea, cOlOred by infusion of cranberry
syrup. | was sitting on a stone near
by writing a letter to England He
looked over with some interest, ana
presently came and stood over me,
regarding my fountain pen and Eng
lish caligraphy with a mild curiosity.
| gave him the pen to examine: ne
handled it carefully, and, having eyed
it all over with naive amazement, re-
turned it in silence. He volunteered
to show me Persian writing, and
presently brought forth from his
dwelling two volumes of prayers
written in what was evidently Per
sian copper plate and by his own
hand. Each word, though symmetri-
cal in itself, looked like a pen and
ink sketch of wood on fire in wind.
Yet it was very beautiful, and rem
iniscent of nothing so much as an
old Bible copied before the days of
printing.
Ali Khan has purple beard and
hair-his head looks as if it had been
soaked in black currant juice. His
face is smoky, his eyes grey, bentg-
nant. He wears a slate blue cloak,
golden stockings, and loose slippers;
he is slender, and stands some feet
10 above the ground. His finger nails
and the palms of his hands are car
mined.
He had never met an Englishman
before, and eyed me somewhat in
credGlogsly when ] said l came from
London "The English are a won
derfuI people" he remarked. Their
ships call at all the ports of the
world, the armies of the great queen
are more countless than the stars of
heaven" I explained that the queen
was dead, and that we had a king
now, but the Persian's interest seem
ed to be little in foreign affairs, and
he was all eager to tell me Of his
prayers and fasts. mo, he was not
Babi but a pure Mohammedan.
There were sects of MOhammedans,
just as many as there were Chris
tan sects. His church was up on
the hill, the one with the crescent
moons on the spires" Soon a big
fast would commence, and he must
eat no food during II hours each day.
4hC
Omar Khayyam." He smiled, but
did not seem surprised that [ had
heard of him. "Our Omar" Yes,
he read Omar. "And do your people
read Omar much?" I asked. TT is
in vain," he replied; my people are
very wretched, few can read, and few
care to. 1t is noble to be on horse
back fighting with the Russians, or
against the Russians. No one has any
time to settle down Tie little boys
used to go through school, but now
they run wild, for there is such dis
order"
A sort of sweet melancholy came
over his face, and l asked him how
he came to- be an exile from his cOun-
try. 1T is not a bad country to be
cxiled from" he began eft would
have been in vain if I had remained
there Ali Mamedof wrote to me to
come here, that there were many OF
my cOuntrymen here, and there wers
plenty who wanted coats. SO came
by the train to- Tifis, and then in
wagon through the mountain passes"
He told me how he was taught in a
little Persian school in Ararat, that
when he was IL years old he left
school and had taken a hand in his
fathers workshop and helped to
weave Persian rugs. I pictured the
large open DOORWAY OF the booth, the
two at work squatting on a carpet
on which the thing of wonder was
being wrought, the peacock in it, the
half-fnished peacock perhaps, with gil
gantic tail, coming into being among
living cTimsons and lambert blues,
brilliant scarlets, and lurid blues,
His father had been taken off by
typhus before the yOungster had eX-
perience enough to be able to carry
on the business by himself; the
mother had died long since, so Ali
was left an orphan. He got work
from a tailor, and sat in a little room,
with him, and worked all day with
assiduity not less than that OF the
sweated jOurneyman of England. But
things mended, and Ali Khan got or