The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-06-26
. y = .
, IN POLITICAL OLD RUSSIA. =
nondon Standard.)

NA$'iiA'H 49,
Persia is essentially a land of the
sun" said Sir Mortimer purand, and
1 noticed when 1 was in Persia that
Europeans who had lived there for a
time We're always anxious to go back
There is no need. and little incentive
to travel fast in Persia. For one
thing there are no opportunities to do
So, and when one becomes used ia
camping with camcls and mules one
prefers that to railway luxury.
Why build Il road? was the question
Of an amazed trihesnlan. whose soul
reroiled al the thought of Il straight
nuisance. for there were no stones
where the feet could hold on by" he
explained.
Among the Arabs of the plains the
reason for the docility and sentleness
of their horses is easily discovered.
The animals play with the children.
know them and understand them.
with the result hat there is II bond
between mar and beast rarely seen
elsewhere.
In Simia." said the lecturer. my
Wife had an Arah horse which used to
come walking into the house. He
would walk in at n dinner party and
put his head owe your shoulder for Il
pll VI pied'l quite HtllTdllS. but ~
MAY not have been good for the car
pets" ON the mountainsides the
horses are surefooted as goats and will
leap from rock to rock with their
riders with 20 assurance.
There is no need for a "back-to-the-
land" movement in Persia. The people
have never left it. and the Persian
peasant is one of the happiest in the
world. Some of the tribes know no
other bread than that made from
acorns. They steep the acorns in run
ming water for a time. and then break
them up and manufacture their bread
with the same deliberation as they
murmur their poetry.
one is led to the conclusion thai the
country creates poets automatically.
Only a churl would refuse to he a
poet in q land where blue sky looks
down or winter snow and oNen tread
out the orn Even in the night the
traveller has the chirp of the little
owl for n lula by and the bells of the
mules for a solace.
But by a peculiar law which is past
comprehension Omar khayyam is al
most ignored. His poems do not find
such ready response non his mod
ern c"untrNmen as they find in the
West. Even the late Shah repudiated
il''i wv " itlS j
WAS mentioned by Sir Mortimer Du-
rand.
Il was asked my the Omar society,"
he said, ito see if the Shah would
cause omar's grave To he set in re-
pair. but when / spoke to the old
Shah during an audience he sat in his
chair and laughed. Why he cried,
do YOU mean to tell me that there is
a society in England connected With
Omar khayyam? The mar has been
dead a thousand years, can tell
| you of many better poets than he"
But the admirers of Omar have the
satisfaction of knowing that, though
the Shah laughed at the poet. no one
even laughed at the Shah.
Perhaps the most fascinating part Of
the lecture was a rapid outline of a
Persian Year. AT the end of Febru-
ary the garden is fun of v%iolets. and
after the violets pass away the water
channels are lined with White iris. and
after the iris come tiger lilies and at
ter the tiger lilies come roses. With
the roses come the nightmares, which
sing while the sleeper sleeps.
Every known flower may grow in
Persian soil. and most of the Euro
pean ones do, while the early summer
is a riot of color The autumn tints
are more vivid than any in the world.
except perhaps those in America. The
snow of winter is delightful. What
is the charm of Persia ?" asked Sir
Mortimer Durand. lone finds it in
the great contrast between everything
about him and all that he has left be-
hind"