House <y Garden 
or, as a special honor, of gold—laden high 
with such confections as no Huyler, I fancy, 
ever conceived of. There is tea, in diminu¬ 
tive glasses set in fragile gold or silver holders, 
and cigarettes, with the mark of the Turkish 
Regie, for the Persian admits that his own 
tobacco is none of the best. All about, in a 
circle, are solemn black beards, studiously 
trimmed, and perhaps tinged with the red of 
deferential inquiry after the health of his 
family—these in the Persian code are rude¬ 
nesses not to be borne. When the first 
formalities- are over, he will rejoice in showing 
you about his home, through his greenhouses 
if he has them, through the flowery reaches 
of his garden, into all parts of his house, 
save one. No glimpse of that do you ever 
obtain, no sound of it do you ever hear. 
A HOUSE AND GARDEN IN RESHT 
the henna. Never a feminine face, nor the 
rustle of a skirt nor the sound of a woman’s 
voice. But in their very absence the inces¬ 
sant suggestion is enforced. The sweetmeats, 
which are urged upon you with enthusiasm 
by the master, are the work of his women 
folk, as every one knows; and the proud 
eagerness with which he awaits your verdict 
upon them is the highest sort of comedy. 
Praise of these delectable tidbits is music to 
him, but the most formal allusion to his wife 
or wives, even the most perfunctory and 
In the architecture of most new buildings 
there is more or less combination of recti¬ 
linear Western with the Eastern elements, the 
result, chiefly, of Russian influence, exercised 
through Russian Armenians, who are, in this 
direction, the vanguard of the Muscovite 
advance. The older houses are built and 
ornamented in what must be considered Per¬ 
sian style, though of a late era. There is 
abundant suggestion in it of the Spanish 
forms—forms which the Saracens imported 
to Spain and which have been handed on to 
3 6 5 
