Glimpses of Modern Persia 
plays a leading part 
in the life of every 
Iranian. 
It is not intended 
here to review the rug 
subject, but merely to 
emphasize the use of 
the rug in the Eastern 
home, in the belief that 
the Oriental has found 
therein an agency for 
the increase of his com¬ 
fort and, withal, for the 
good of his nerves, 
which may be con¬ 
sidered to advantage 
in the furnishing of 
Western homes. The 
Persian is a past master 
in theartof rest. It has 
become a disease with 
him. From any such 
contagion we are tem¬ 
peramentally immune. 
In proportion as he is 
cured of it and surren¬ 
ders to chairs and oil 
paintings, he becomes 
qualified for modern life; but as his civiliza¬ 
tion dissolves, there may be left us from it a 
useful notion or two, for permanent reten¬ 
tion. And the employment of the rug, with 
all that it involves, is one of these. 
What fascinates the American in the East¬ 
ern life is its quietude. It is the respite from 
perpetual heels and wheels. In the bazaars, 
to be sure, there is racket that taxes the 
tympanum, shouting and pounding and 
clamor, reminiscent of the wheat-pit in a 
flurry, but in every place else there is quiet. 
The business office as well as the home is 
pervaded by a peace that passes all American 
understanding. The resultant is convincing. 
Insanity is so rare as to be counted a special 
blessing from God, and of nervous prostra¬ 
tion the Persian is guiltless. 
After a moment’s thought it will seem not 
unreasonable to attribute these mercies in 
large measure to the rug. 
The Persian, who is practically proofagainst 
ailments arising from bad sanitation, has no 
strenuous theories of hygiene. His objective 
is ease. Therefore there is no expanse of 
highly polished floor, 
dotted with small rugs 
here and there to make 
locomotion perilous. 
In Persia the rug is 
carpet, and as such, 
whether in one piece or 
half a dozen, covers 
the entire floor. The 
person in stockinged 
feet is not asked to leap 
from rug to rug, and 
save his bones by acro¬ 
batic skill. In the 
anderun , moreover, the 
women go barefoot. 
The ideal way of 
covering a floor in the 
East is with matched 
rugs in the tricliniar 
arrangement, a large 
piece, say two or three 
times as long as it is 
wide, for the center, 
and strips on the two 
sides and one end, all 
in the same design and 
color. For dining¬ 
rooms and state apartments this is still used, 
the combination leaving no space bare. Under 
the strips along the sides and ends, felts and 
thin mattresses are placed, and here the 
company sits. The carpet in the center takes 
the place of table and sideboard. Individual 
service is by means of small tabourets placed 
before the diners. 
These triclinia are now often woven in a 
single piece, but the Persians do not like it, 
as the effect is cheap. The kalin (large 
carpet), the kinari (side strips) and the 
sarandaz (end strip) are seldom, if ever, 
found together in Western markets. They 
are separated by the Eastern dealers, and 
each is put in a bale of its own size and 
general shape. All these shapes are still 
made, but chiefly for the Western trade. 
The side strips are for our halls, the kalin 
for our drawing-rooms, and the end strips 
for general use, on fillings or on bare floors, 
though for this purpose the sedjadeh, rugs of 
such oblong sizes as 5 x 8 or 6 x 9 feet, are 
more common. 
In general, if the apartment is large, some 
WEAVING AT SUL.TANABAD 
Where are ??iade the u Savalans" or u Extra Persians '** 
widely sold in America 
430 
