favourite plant, so nearly allied to our cudweeds and gnaphaliums, and so very near and charming a relation of our pretty Centennaria dioica, the Mountain Everlasting, found upon our heaths. The Edelweiss is the bridal flower of the Swiss girls, being used by them, as we use orange blossoms, in the hair and in bouquets at their weddings. It is a plant 'far fetched, dear bought, and good for ladies,' and they will be glad to learn that they have no need to spend anxious hours in seeking it in its Alpine fastnesses in order to possess it. The writer got some seed-just a pinch-of Freemans, of Norwich. It was put in a cold frame, by way of protection; it came up beautifully and flowered well in the open garden, in Yorkshire sunshine. The Edelweiss is a hardy perennial, and succeeds well in bog soil with plenty of sun; and when sown in spring, every lady may watch it grow for herself in England, and decorate her tresses with it in the autumn. All budding maidens and blushing brides will, we hope, be thankful for this idea. The romantic plant about which they have thought and read so often, and about which such long yarns have been spun, is in reality no more difficult of cultivation than ordinary forget-me-nots,' or mustard and cress. We have great hopes that, after this succinct statement, when we look up at drawing-room windows, and when we go into our friends' conservatories, we shall be sure to see the Edelweiss, with its round head of silvery, white, fluffy, downy flowers and leaves. And when we see them, we shall also be quite sure that some fairy fingers have been at work, that some tender heart is beating fast, that some romance is being played out under those very eaves, and that some happy maiden is cultivating the delicious Edelweiss for no other purpose in the world except an early wedding. And may good luck attend her! It is too much to believe, of course, that the plant will be grown simply as a botanical rarity, or to send out as souvenirs, or to place in herbariums and albums. Depend upon it, if you see the Edelweiss growing and blooming, the next thing is to look out for a pair of white gloves, and a sweet, fluffy bridal cake, as white and chaste and ornate as the Edelweiss itself. IN YARROW. BY ALEXANDER ANDERSON. A DREAM of youth has grown to fruit, Made rainbows of each morrow, And now my heart has had its wishI stood to-day in Yarrow. And as I stood, my old sweet dreams I heard faint echoes of far song Grow rich and deep, and borrow The low, sweet tones of early years- O dreams of youth, dreamt long ago, When every hour was pleasure! O hopes that came when Hope was high, I could not find your marrow; That touch of sorrow when our youth To frame its gentle madness, Till I was left with only That pleasure which is almost pain, The sense of being lonely. The haunting sense of love, that now Nor joy nor sadness wholly, In pleasing melancholy. Why should it be that, as we dream, A tender song of passion, Of lovers loving long ago In the old Border fashion, Is in the very grass that throbs We know not; we can only deem The heart lives in the story, The light of that far morrow Ab, not on Yarrow stream alone Yes! we may walk by Yarrow stream With speech, and song, and laughter, But still far down a sadness sleeps, To wake and follow after. And soft regrets that come and go, The light and shade of sorrow, Are with me still, that I may know I stood to-day in Yarrow. Printed and Published by W. & R. CHAMBERS, 47 Paternoster Row, LONDON, and 339 High Street, EDINBURGH All Rights Reserved. POPULAR LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART Fifth Series ESTABLISHED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, 1832 CONDUCTED BY R. CHAMBERS (SECUNDUS) AT AN EASTERN DINNER-PARTY. Is Mohammedan countries generally, there is a greater gravity, a greater appearance of austerity in public, and a more apparent mortification of the flesh, than with us. Grave faces are seldom seen to smile; the corners of the mouth are more often drawn down than up. But this apparent solemnity is much produced by the numerous rules of etiquette, a breach of any of which would cause a serious depreciation in the social position of the man who was guilty of it. As a rule, the Oriental, more particularly the higher-class Persian, has two entities-one of the silent and solemn pundit, speaking only in whispers, and with either the Spartan brevity of Yes and No, or launching out into complimentary phrases, as insincere as they are poetic -a being clad in long flowing garments of price, behatted or beturbaned, according to his class, and with a knowledge of the little niceties of form and phrase that would do credit to an experienced Lord Chamberlain. Priests, lawyers, merchants, the courtier and soldier classes, all are thus; for a single public slip from the code of ceremonial and etiquette would cause at once a loss of caste. In fact, at first, to the newcomer they seem all Pharisees, and wear their phylacteries broad. Such are the upper-class Persians outside their own homes, and from sunrise to sunset. It is of the Oriental in his other phase, and among his friends, or 'cupcompanions' as Lane in his Arabian Nights translates the word, that I have to tell-in fact, the Persian at home. Some years have elapsed since I went to the little dinner I am about to describe; the giver and some of the guests have submitted to the irony of fate-two dead in their beds, a noteworthy thing among the grandees or wealthy in Persia; one executed for so-called high-treason, really murdered, after having surrendered himself to the king's uncle under an oath of safety for his life; another judicially done to death because he was rich. One, then the greatest and richest PRICE 1d. of the party, is eating in a corner the bread of charity, blind and poor; one young fellow, then a penniless parasite, little more than a servant without pay, who handed pipes and ran messages, is now in high employ, and likely to become a minister. Others of that party would now be glad to hand his pipes and run his messages for the mere sake of his protection. It was this young fellow who brought me my invitation—a verbal one. 'Mirza M- Khan sends you his salaams, and hopes you will eat your dinner at his house at an hour after sunset to-night. Will your honour come?' 'Please to sit. I hope you are well. Who is to be there? Any Europeans?' 'No; only yourself. At least, there is onethe Dutch doctor; and as he has been so many years here, he is more a Persian than ourselves. And hakim-sahib [European doctor], will you, the Khan says, bring two packs of cards?' ‘Ah, Mirza, the secret's out; it's not me they want, but my two packs of cards.' 'No, hakim-sahib. By your head, it's not so. You don't know the Khan-at least, not in private. He is good-nature itself; and he wants you to come to eat his dinner, to taste his salt. Besides, Gholam Nahdi is to be there, and there will be dancing. Ba! an entertainment to dwell in the memory.' Now, the fact of the dancing intrigued me. I knew that Mirza M- Khan did not merely invite me for the sake of the cards, as he could have had them for the asking. I was anxious to see an entertainment in the house of a rich man, so I resolved to go. interludes, for which the lutis (buffoons) of Shiraz are celebrated throughout Persia; for it was in Shiraz itself that the invitation was given; and it was in the house of one of its local grandees that the entertainment was to take place. If, then, I was ever to see a real Oriental entertainment, now was my time, in the city of Saadi and Hafiz, in the real Persian heart of Persia. Mirza M Khan was a grandee, and I knew personally very little of him, save that he was very wealthy, very good-natured, and a very good patient, in the sense that he was grateful for work done and remunerated it with no niggard hand. saddle from sun and dust. They, too, both horse doctor?' In honour of my host, I had donned a black frock-coat; and as the temperature was about eighty, my sufferings were great; but in the East, a cut-away coat is indecorous; and my linen suits unfortunately were made in the usual shootingcoat shape. After some half-hour's ride through tortuous and evil-smelling lanes, by mosques and through bazaars, in and out of repair, we came to the large mud-plastered portico of Mirza M― Khan's house. At the door was a sentry, who saluted. I dismounted, my servants-as is the custom-supporting me under the arm-pits 'The Khan is expecting you-be pleased to enter,' said a grave and well-clad domestic, who proceeded to usher me into the house. with their dark-green fruit ; a raised tank or hauz of running water, twenty yards by three, with playing-jets; a crowd of servants with pipes. These struck my eye as I passed up to the further end, where I saw my host seated at the open window of a large room. Although quite light, the whole place was ablaze with lamps and candles in rows. On a carpet in the courtyard sat the Jew musicians, who played their loudest on the usual instruments kind of fiddle, and a sort of guitar; while an of torture-the tambourine, two hand-drums, a old man made night hideous by drumming on a horrible kind of military drum called a dohōl, a thing that I have seen, except on this occasion, used at Eastern weddings only. Happily, he varied the dreadful performance by eldritch solos on a two-tubed flute, such as that we see in Roman processions on ancient buildings. Singers, too, made night hideous. But all these performance was not so deafening when one men were fortunately in the open air, and their entered the room. At the appointed time, I rode through the narrow dusty streets of the town, as was the custom, having quite a little procession of my own. Was I not going out to dinner? and among Persians, to invite a guest is to invite his servants too; consequently, even to the cook's disciple, they were all there to accompany me. When I remonstrated at so large a following, my headman told me that I really must allow him to keep up my dignity in a proper way.' The only servant left in my house was the doorkeeper, I was shown into the berūni, or men's apart and he was obliged to stay to guard it; the ments. A paved courtyard, some thirty yards rest all came. First went my two carpet- by ten, with sunken beds of common flowers spreaders, crying, 'Out of the way!' each carry-on either side, and many orange-trees covered ing a big stick, and girded, as is the custom, with the short, straight, hiltless sword called a kammar, the sharp point of which would nearly always be fatal if thrust with; but it fortunately is almost invariably used merely to hack; and unless the skull be fractured, merely lets out some of the hot Persian blood, and so the frequent quarrel ends. Then came the cook, an artist in his way. He, doubtless, would give a helping hand with the dinner. With him was the table-man, who strutted in all the glory of a bright blue moiré antique tunic; a smart black lambskin cap of the latest fashion, cocked knowingly; a silver watch-chain, and my silver kalian or water-pipe; for, though one is provided with these and tobacco galore, every man brings his own; and a European, if wise, invariably followed the custom, for it prevented little hitches, such as that of some holy man or priest being obliged to refuse to smoke the pipe of the dog of an unbeliever, or of a special hubble-bubble being handed to the Giaour for his sole delectation. No visit, much less entertainment, in Persia can be made without the frequent introduction of the water-pipe. Certainly it fills up gaps when the conversational powers of guests or visitors flag; and it is an inexhaustible subject of conversation; besides, it is the poetry and perfection of smoking. With the table-man walked the sherbetdar, or 'Pipes!' shouted Mirza M-Khan-'pipes!' sherbet and ice maker. He would doubtless make A train of servants now entered the room. himself useful. But I fear he went for the Each man brought his master's pipe. Conver more than Homeric feast which he knew would sation became general; the music played on be gladly spread for even the humblest hanger- The bubbling noise of the water-pipes, the pro. on of any guest. Then at my horse's head walked fusion of lights, the gay dresses of the whole my groom, carrying over his arm the embroidered party, the handsome carpets, the floridly deco cloth that is thrown over my horse when stand-rated walls, the flowing water of the fountains, ing, to preserve him from draughts, and the and the bright moon hanging over the orange-trees, 'Ah, hakim-sahib!' said my host, rising. 'Bismillah! be seated; pray be seated.' All the guests on my entry had risen from the ground on which they sat. I was placed in a seat of honour, far above my social deserts, and introduced to those of the guests with whom I was unacquainted. The rest, whom I knew, all shook hands with me. April 25, 1885.] gave one the feeling that one was 'revelling.' There is no other word. Tea in tiny cups is handed. More pipes, more tea. Still the music, still the singing, or rather noise, to which nobody listens, of recited poetry howled in a crescendo scale. More guests, more pipes, more tea. All are assembled. Outer cloaks and heavy garments are thrown off, for the night is warm. 'What is this, hakim-sahib?' said the Khan, pointing to my frock-coat. 'You must be hot.' I explained that my little white linen cutaways were not formal enough for the aristocratic assemblage to which I had had the honour to be invited. 'Bah! Send for one. Make yourself at home.' The order is given by my servant; and my groom gallops off, and soon returns with ease and coolness. A colleague of yours is come,' I am told in a whisper; he is about to astonish you. You see the bearded Khan I introduced you to; he is S- Khan, general of cavalry. He has a needle in his back. The surgeon, Agha Ali, will come here and remove it. He doesn't consult you, as he doesn't believe in European doctors.' Here trays of sweetmeats, salted almonds, pistachios, and other nuts, are brought in; wine in decanters; arrack, either in the form of pure spirits of wine, or flavoured and coloured green by the infusion of the fresh leaves of anise-seed. We all eat the sweetmeats, nibble the nuts, and most help themselves to wine or arrack. My friend beckons to the cavalry general, who comes over and squats next me. I am introduced. After the usual glowing Eastern compliments, S Khan gives me a list of all his ills from birth. I am obliged to listen. The Persian custom is, whenever you meet a doctor, consult him. I learn that the Khan at present suffers from lumbago, and that he has obtained relief by acupuncture; that he has a special confidential valet, who is in the habit of each morning inserting an ordinary sewing-needle for more than an inch in the seat of pain; but that this morning the needle had been inserted, and then had disappeared. The general rapidly removes his clothing, and exposes his back. There are innumerable scars of acupuncture. I gravely examine the back. Ah, there, there it is!' he shouts. I am compelled to frankly inform him that the needle has probably been lost, and is not in his body. He is most indignant. Ah, you Europeans, you Europeans, you never will believe. Why, Agha Ali, the jerreh [surgeon], says it's there; and it must be there. Besides, he is going to extract it by the mouse.' 'By the what?' I say in astonishment. Ah, science; ah, Europeans; he doesn't understand the action of the mouse!' A chorus of explanations is now afforded me. A live mouse is to be bound on the bare back of the general, and by some occult means the needle will leave his body, and be found in that of the mouse. I laugh, and remain incredulous. The pooh of scorn is my only answer. 'Will you believe it if you see it?' 'Yes; I am open to conviction.' 'Ah, you soon will; he will be here directly.' The coming of my Oriental confrère is expected eagerly by me. There is no sign of dinner, though eight o'clock. I munch my salted nuts, and ask what kind of needle has been used. 'A European needle-one of these.' The confidential valet produces a packet of No. 8-an ordinary English sewing-needle. 'Are these what you use?' 'Yes. Always these; never any other. The one that is in the Khan's back-may I be his sacrifice was one of these out of this very packet.' The Khan here puts his finger to the exact spot, and his face expresses agony. At this moment I see my confrère coming up the courtyard. No one makes way for him. The native surgeon is evidently not a person of distinction, as the native physician is; he is merely a little tradesman, in social status below his rival the barber. Where the functions of the one end and the other begin is very doubtful. The barber bleeds, cups, draws teeth, reduces dislocations, performs the actual cautery and various other needful operations. The surgeon does all these things; probes and prods at gunshot wounds; looks at fractures and tumours; has a few strange medieval instruments, which, like a clever man, he seldom uses; and in cases of surgical emergency, he looks wise, and never, or hardly ever, interferes. I was, however, now to have an opportunity of seeing a Persian surgical operation. Agha Ali does not attempt to enter the room till bidden by my host with a loud Bismillah!' Then, stooping humbly, his hands carefully covered by his ragged cloak, whose amplitude hides the numerous deficiencies of the rest of the poor fellow's wardrobe, he enters the room. 'Salaam !'-in a loud tone. To this salutation no one responds, and the surgeon humbly seats himself in the lowest corner. I felt for the man; and to put him at his ease, attempted to converse with him; but he took no notice of my remarks. Was I not a rival and an unbeliever! S— Khan, however, ordered him to examine his back; and on his doing so with much parade -listening carefully for the needle with an old stethoscope! the wrong end of which he applied to the general's august person-he formally declared that the needle was deeply seated. But Please God,' said he, 'by my science and by the help of the sainted martyrs Houssein and Hessan, I shall remove it.' I now could perceive, from the looks of conviction of my fellow-guests, that I was looked on as the impostor, and that my ragged confrère had the confidence of the spectators. It was now explained to me that the native surgeon proposed to affix a live mouse to the patient's back; and that, after a time, the needle would, by some mysterious power, be drawn from the body of the sufferer into that of the unoffending little quadruped. Of course monstrous a proposition was received by me with the silent derision it deserved. I knew that some trick would be played. But what? Probably there was no needle at all in the sufferer's back; SO |