The Washington herald., 1913-06-01
Persian Impressions Are Given

his prayers before he can attend to your
wants. Foreigners usually go to the
bazaars. not to buy things. but to see
Oriental life; and in the bazaars are
to be seen many interesting phases
of IT,
When you really wish to buy anything
you will find the peddler, that supreme
nuisance Of America, your best friend.
He will bring to your door anything
| that you wish to see, and give you all
the time that you desire in which TO
examine II. You must needs be a haggler
to deal with any merchant in Persia,
but usually you can make a better bar
gain in the quiet of your own home than
you could make in the bazaar.
In one respect the theory of the Per-
sian merchant and peddler in regard to
buying and selling, is the opposite of
ours. Instead of giving you a reduc-
ton II you buy a large quantity of some
one thing, he will almost invariably
charge you more in proportion than IL
you buy a small quantity. The reason
is. probably, the lack of small change
in Persia, and the fact that II can al
ways be disposed of at a profit. I am
told that the same thing is true In Con-
stantinople. where. for example. a bridge
ticket emitting you to cross a bridge ten
q
single fare ten times. This scarcity of
small change. and the consequent value
placed on II makes the money-changer
an important person in the East today,
as he was in the time when Christ found
1t necessary to drive him from the
temple.
Baxaars Please Visitors.
When he carries out his own ideas
exclusively, the Persian is always ar
tistic. The bazaars in which Oriental
goods are displayed in Oriental fashion
are always pleasing. But there is a
growing demand for European articles;
everywhere in the bazaars one is con-
fronted by cheap broadcloth, cheap cot
ton goods, shoddy butlery and glass
ware, and tawdry foreign articles Of
all kinds. These things. displayed
with the native goods. cheaper the
latter without themselves gaining dig
nifty by the contact. and the combina-
ton Is one not pleasing to the eye.
Save for one month in the year, the
bazaars, even in the capital Of $4,000
people. are never open at night. Dur
ing the month when the Persian fast
every day from sunrise to sunset it is
customary to do some marketing, some
business, and much visiting at night.
men the tOOQ DdzddrS, Tea SHOPS, ana
SO forth, are open: pedestrians with
huge lanterns of oiled paper. and car
riages. give an appearance of life and
gayety to the streets which is quite
unknown at other times. To one who
has known the quiet life of an Oriental
city. the noise of an American city is
almost uncomfortable.
Open-air Work Prevails.
Many occupations. which in Western
lands are carried on in shops, are in
Persia carried on In the open air. This
is due partly to the poverty of the
people, partly to the warmness of the
climate, partly to the fact that the
Persian is pre-eminently a social be-
ing, and-with the exception of his do
nestle life, which is lived in great se-
behind high walis-he likes to
be With his fellow-men.
Z The Barber, for example, seldom has
a shop, and ver>really needs one. At
any street corner you are liable to
stumble over man sitting on ledge
Of the wall and being shaved or having
his hair cut. 1t is your one opportu-
nifty for seeing man with his hat
OF; but as You look at his tonsured
pate you do not regret that your op-
portunities in this direction are linn
tied.
By the way. is the hair ones most
beautiful feature? It would seem to be
the one most often sacrificed to the de-.