Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-07-05
Miseellaaeuas 8eadins.
THE CHARM or PERSIA.
MuIetsers Speak in Verses, Horses
Play With Children.

MuIetsers Speak in Verses, Horses
Play With Children.
Persia Is essentially a land Of the
sum-" said Sir Mortimer Durand, "and
I noticed when I was In Persia that
Europeans who had lived there fora
time were 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 to camp
ing with camels and mules one pre-
fers that to railway luxury.
Why build a road, was the question
of an amazed tribesman, whose soul
recoiled at the thought Of straight
line of beaten track. 1t was really a
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 gentleness
of their horses is easily discovered.
The animals play with the children,
know them, and understand them, with
the result that there is bond be-
tween man and beast rarely seen else
where.
"In Simla," said the lecturer, my
wife had an Arab horse which used to
come walking into the house. He
would walk In at a dinner party end
put his head over your shoulder for a
bit Of bread quite naturally. But II
may not have been good for the car
pets" On the mountainsides the
horses are as surefooted as goats and
will leap from rock to rock with their
riders with cool assurance
There is no need for a back to the
land" movement In Persia. The peo-
pie 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 rum
ming water for 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 that the
country creates poets automatically.
Only a churl would refuse to be a
poet In land where blue sky looks
down on winter snow. and oxen tread
out the corn. Even In the night the
traveller has the chirp Of the little owl
for lullaby 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 among his mod
ern countrymen as they find in the
west. Even the late shah repudiated
them, and laughed when his name was
mentioned by Sir Mortimer Durand.
Il was asked by the Omar society"
he said, ito see IL the shah would
cause Omars grave to be 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 man has been
dead q thousand yearsi I can tell lou
Of many better poets than he.'" But
the admirers Of Omar have the salts
faction 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 February
the garden is full of violets, and after
the violets pass away the water chan
nels are lined with white iris, and af-
ter the iris come roses. With the
roses come the nightingales, 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 Persian" asked Sir Nor
timer Durand. "One finds It In the
great contrast between everything
about him and all that he has left be-
Standard.