On my wife’s dressing-table is a small thin bottle of perfume called attar of roses. In some parts of Persia they grow the most beautiful and fragrant roses and from their petals this perfume is made.
I have a scarfpin in which is a pearl that came from an oyster that was brought up from the bottom of the Persian Gulf by a naked diver.
My bath slippers—big, sloppy slip-ons, with heels turned down—are Persian.
The electric light I am writing under is a Mazda lamp, and Mazda was the old Persian god of light.
In my bookcase is a book called “The Rubάiyάt.” It is a book of poetry written by a Persian named Omar Khayyάm.
For breakfast I might have had a melon, and melons were first grown in Persia. Our melons are grown from seeds brought many years ago to this country from Persia.
What I did have for breakfast were peaches, and these too were first grown in Persia. Peach-stones were brought to this country and from these our first peach-trees were grown.
If I had a Persian cat this would complete the picture, but I have a dog instead.
Persia is called the Land of the Lion and the Sun, and the Persian flag has a lion and a sun on it. I do notknow why there is a lion, but the sun is on it because the people of that country used to worship the sun. The sun was their god. They also worshiped the stars, moon, and fire, so we call them fire-worshipers, but they call themselves Parsees.