Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-05-16
A CITY SET IN MUD
Such Is TGheran The Capital Of
Persia
DIFFICULT OF ACCESS TO TRAVELLER
Women Wear Wells as of Old; But
Also the Costume OF Ballet Girls--
American Government Has Re-
uuested Policy of the Open Door.


uuested Policy Of the Open Door.
AThough the. American govern
ments reported request for an open
door policy in Persia will command
attention. Persia inevitably because of
its physical geography, presents q
closed door TO many modern forms of
communication and commerce." says
a bulletin from the Washington, d. c.,
headquarters of the National Geo
graphic Society.
"Tcheran, it's capital, represents
compromise. 1t is set far enough
back from the Caspian Sea to render
it difficult of approach, but it is on
the rim of the Iranian plateau so that
il may not be too inaccessible: ..
Wear Veil and Ballet Costume.
AN oriental city where women ad-
here ra gidly to the veil in the streets,
but have adopted the costume of the
ballet girl in their homes promises a
medley of the. West and the East.
Donkcys and trans, snake charmers
and automobiles, ragged beggars ard
ladies Of Partisan fashion from the
foreign quarters, alley-iiIse thorough
CarcA of mud hoases and broad,
ahaGcd streets Of European residences.
vendors sitting. cross-legged, chewing
melon seeds, who would resent your
raging the first price they asked, and
modern drug stores where it would
seem you might buy anything but
drugs-such is composite Teheran.
"Teheran is Khaki. Khaki is a
Persian word meaning muddy. As
you approach, its houses of mud blend
into the trec!ess landscape; when you
are in it the tan Of face and costume
of it's people, the nondescriDt hue5 of
it's myriad donkeys, bleEd into the
khaki picture.
Donkeys, Donkeys, Donkeys.
The donkcys of Tehcran deserve n
paragraph of their own. In the older
quarters of the city they take most
Of the streets. a pedestrian often has
20 press against the wall to let by
the donkeys which are enveloped
down to their scrawny knees with
brush wood, the donkeyg with their
equally nonchalant riders, the dom
keys with carcaCsc3 of meat animals,
being driven TO market, and just DON
keys.
MANY of the occidental features Of
Teheran represent the normal pene-
tration of trade activities; some OF
the more incongruous aspects resulted
from the efforts of the late Shah Nase-
ed din TO Introduce wholesale the
practices he observed upon visit to
Paris. His Highness, so the story
goes, was attracted by the ballet nj an
opera and ordered the front row pur-
ch; sed for his Jharem. Finding that
impossible he commanded all the lad
les of his very considerable estab-
li&hment to adopt the ballet costume.
Other harems followed the fashion
hint of the royal residence.
6ullt OF MUG.
"While the beauty Of the country
around Tcheran is different from the
natural beauties Of an American land
scapc it has an appeal of its own.
The city is nearly 1000 feet above sea
level, within sight CT snow-capped
mountains For the most part it lit
c:ally is built of the mud o. which it
stands. The palace of the Shah, from
distance strongly suggestive in its
outline. of our L. s. Weather Bureau
building in Washington, and other
government structures are grouped in
the square. In the palace is the fa-
nous throne of inlaid gold and daz-
zling crown jewels, purchased in the
years before 1906 when the Shah of
Persia was as complete an autocrat as