Fars

“ As we have seen, the followers of Zoroaster who would not accept the religion of Islam expatriated themselves. Those who could not abandon their country, and continued to cling to their old religion, had to resign themselves to frightful sufferings. These dwelt chiefly in Fars and Khorassan. European travellers who have visited Persia at different periods, have all been struck by their miserable and precarious condition, and have felt interested in their language, religion, and customs. ”

“ ṢAFFĀRIDS, a Persian dynasty of the 9th century, founded by Yaḳub (Yaqub) b. Laith b. Saffār (“copper smith”) about 866, who, originally a leader of bandits and outlaws, became governor of Sejistan. He soon added to his province Herat, Fars, Balkh and Tokharistan, overthrew the Tahirids in Khorasan, and, nominally still dependent on the caliphs of Bagdad, established a dynasty in Sejistan (see Caliphate, section C, Abbasids, § 10, and Persia: History, section B) . Soon after 900 the dynasty became subordinate to the Sāmānids (q.v.) ”

“ With the spring of the year 1827, both sides prepared to resume hostilities, and the regularly-drilled regiments of Abbass Meerza were employed in garrisoning the forts, and protecting the passes along the line of the Araxes, a duty which might have been equally well performed by irregular Persian troops, had the Shah placed such at the disposal of the prince. So shortsighted a line of conduct is altogether inexcusable on the part of the Persian king, who was at that moment master of an available force of eighty thousand men, exclusive of the contingents of Fars, Kerman, and Azerbaeejan. ”

“ Yet am I glad that I shall be able to say to the men and women in the far North, 'If there be any one among you who suffers both in body and soul from the bleak cold of the North, or from the heavy burden of its life, let him come hither. ”

“ Upon all sides have they risen against her, penetrating to the hinder-parts of the north, to the womb of the east where the day is born, to the white bones of the south, to the red west, to the hot and palpitant heart of the earth. ”

“ But why do I ask for any intelligence in you, any learning, you who are not endowed with any ability, with any knowledge of letters, who say “lights” for lamps, and “be transferred in the regions of the east” instead of “be transferred to the regions of the east,” as it should be? And what next? Are these “quarters” of yours really the four quarters of the world? What do you count as eastern? Thrace? It lies to the north, as I have said. Judea? It looks rather toward the south, for it is next to Egypt. And what do you count as western? ”

“ I demanded wrathfully.
"The rug is woven; the weaver is dead," she said.
"Oh, go on, Geraldine," I insisted; "don't stop half way in a thing like that. It's the East—it's the real East, I tell you. How you do it—you who have never seen the East—Heaven only knows!" ”

“ East and west, north and south, they scatter; and where one lands, there he will stay for hours, if not days, drawn down into a little heap, looking lonely and miserable, and apparently impressed with the sole idea that he must keep himself before the world by his voice, or he will be lost and forgotten. ”

“ The sinister pages in my Book of Life are but the fault of the black-haired generations from the sun-kissed lands which stream and riot in my blood. These I shall now cast aside and denounce, and I shall only remember the silver-souled men from the North, the men with the blue eyes of the North, the men with the purity and the good, clean, wise conscience of the North. ”

“ Lands doomed by Nature to perpetual frigidness; never to feel the warmth of the sun's rays; whose horrible and savage aspect I have not words to describe. Such are the lands we have discovered; what then may we expect those to be which lie still farther to the south? For we may reasonably suppose that we have seen the best, as lying most to the north. If any one should have resolution and perseverance to clear up this point by proceeding farther than I have done, I shall not envy him the honour of the discovery ”

“ The vast plain which we overlooked, fading in the soft light, rose gradually into a low range of distant hills. The incessant roar of the rapids, and the desert stillness of all else around, though they lulled one’s senses, yet awed one with a feeling of insignificance and impotence in the presence of such ruthless force, amid such serene and cold indifference. ”

“ The seer from the East was then in light,
The seer from the West was then in shade.
Ah! now 'tis changed. In conquering sunshine bright
The man of the bold West now comes arrayed:
He of the mystic East is touched with night. ”

“ I also had the pleasure of seeing men whom I baptized when on my former mission, now preaching the Gospel and presiding over conferences.
The traveler in the desert sometimes finds a green spot which stands in deep contrast to the barrenness of surrounding nature. England appears thus now, as I am about to leave its shores for the lands of darkness. The voice of a thousand friends are dying away in the distance, while before me is a land of strangers, whose tongues will sound in my ears like the jargon of Babel. ”

“ And surely, if the far traveller, as he wanders through this Western Valley, may linger around these aged piles and meditate upon a power departed, a race obliterated, an influence swept from the earth for ever, and dwell with melancholy emotions upon the destiny of man, is it not meet that those into whose keeping they seem by Providence consigned should regard them with interest and emotion? ”

“ I was born at an unhappy time, To meet with the severe anger of Heaven. From the west to the east, There is no quiet place of abiding. Many are the distresses I meet with; Very urgent is the trouble on our borders. ”

“ The sight of the North through the open door had sobered and awed him, as it awes all men who know its power. Beyond lay only the edge of the forest and the snow-swept barrens, stretching down to a gray and desolate sea. ”

“ The rapid expansion of the far West and such spectacular events as the ‘Klondike rush,’ gave a sort of feverish color to a life that previously had appeared one of toil, hardship, and stony endurance. Viewed imaginatively, that life now presented its hectic side, and the far West and the high North were exploited as literary fields of thrill, adventure, and excitement. ”

“ But threatening voices came from the North—the echoes of the sentiments of the civilised world repenting of its evil pierced their ears, and they found their feet were of clay, and that they were nodding to their fall in the midst of their power. ”

“ But here, in the North, it is a common, every-hour affair to have thousands at one time around you, some buzzing, some drawing the very life-blood from face, hands, arms, and legs, until one is driven to a state approaching madness. ”

“ The fire hath gone around us in the hands of our very kin, And twice the horn hath sounded, and the Thing is hallowed in. Will ye hear or forbear to hearken the tale there is to tell? There are many mouths to tell it, and a many know it well. And the tale is this, that the foemen against our kindreds fare Who eat the meadows desert, and burn the desert bare. ”

“ Viewing alternately the dark expanse of the desert and the blue expanse of the sky, the soldier dreamed of France—he smelled with delight the gutters of Paris—he remembered the towns through which he had passed, the faces of his comrades, the most minute details of his life. ”

“ A sparhawk in the rain, breast torn away,
His beating heart in view, his burning eyes!
“But everyone will see, the North will see,
Our cause was theirs, the South’s cause was the cause
Of everyone both north and south. They’ll see
Their liberties not long survive our own. ”

“ And this feeling was especially entrancing when he saw the great city and majestic river lying at his feet in the white, uncanny light of electricity, all its color gone, its breath cold, its life strangely remote and quiet, men moving like shadows, and sounds hollow and faint and far off, as if they came from a distant world. ”

“ While I stand lost in utter darkness, I will yet wait for the return of the unfailing dawn,—even though my soul be amazed into such a blind perplexity that I know not on which side to look for it, and ask “where is the East? ”

“ Over what strange country, possessing neither cities, towns, nor villages, are we hovering in the tomb-like silence of this interminable darkness? We seem, indeed, to have been carried by a puff of wind towards the west. ”

“ But, so far from being exterminated, the individual members were merely scattered north, south, east, and west, each forming a nucleus around which gathered and clustered the very worst of the offscouring of humanity. ”

“ What Satisfacn could the North themselves have in such an event? They would live a life of misery; provoke the sneers of the civilized world; and draw down upon their heads the terrible wrath of an offended God. ”

“ As the travelers came into a region which had at one time been more densely populated, they began to find here and there mournful relics of the life that once had been--traces of man, dim and all but obliterated, but now and then puissant in their revocation of the distant past. ”

“ When, in 1905, I visited the Far West again after many years, and saw the strange new life with its modern episode, energy, and push, and realised that even the characteristics which marked the period just before the advent, and just after the advent, of the railway were disappearing, I determined to write a series of stories which would catch the fleeting characteristics and hold something of the old life, so adventurous, vigorous, and individual, before it passed entirely and was forgotten. ”

“ Let this desert region represent man's natural state, and the beautiful country yonder, the state which he is made capable of attaining through spiritual labor and conflict with the foes of his own household, and the illustration is complete. By rising out of or migrating from that state of life denoted by hell, we come into the state denoted by heaven. ”

“ There is no use in detailing our life for the next few weeks. We were always marching, now to the north, anon to the west, then a sudden turn to east, perhaps, or south or back towards the north again. ”

“ Your North is an evil dream, dark horror, which has saturated your veins with the blood of your mother. Your kindly favour, Sire, invites me ever afresh to your Northern city, which by your wisdom and love you have transformed into a wonderful legend ”

“ Because if you went west, you would soon come to the desert, and also because in this part of the Winkie Country no one steals, so your time here would be wasted. But toward the east, beyond the river, live many strange people whose honesty I would not vouch for. ”

“ As The Inside of the Cup gets down to the essentials in its discussion of religion, so A Far Country deals in a story that is intense and dramatic, with other vital issues confronting the twentieth century. ”

“ But they all knew that it would be difficult indeed to find a place in any one of those five provinces, where a march could be made for so great a distance, without encountering some signs of humanity, past, if not present. ”

“ Here were we, a congregation of desperate adventurers, collected from all the corners of the world, isolated for our sins in a little, tossing ship that seemed pitifully small to engage with the massed forces of the southern seas; all of us separate entities, dependent upon our imaginations for recreation. ”

“ What was once a sandy strand, worn by the waves, grated by the keels of ships, and pressed by the busy feet of citizens a thousand years ago, is now, perhaps, an inland region of cultivated fields lying around a sleepy town. ”

“ Then all at once he thought he had heard one of the old men say that the Land of Souls lay to the south, and so, filled with new hope and courage, he set his face southwards. For many, many miles the country looked the same as it did round his own home. ”

“ It is an odd phenomenon in the psychology of nations, that popular fancy should always have painted the North with the pale and sombre hues of fear and terror, whilst she looked for the fulfilment of her unattainable hopes to the equally dim and impenetrable South, and constantly sent her dreams and her sighs in that direction. ”

“ It must, however, be admitted, that the hard circumstances form the strong character, as the cold climes of the north nurture a race of men, whose activity and energies leave those of the south far behind. ”

“ The North and South have begun fighting like two bull-dogs, and it's just a question which has the longer wind and the more endurance. The chances are all in favor of the North. I shall not throw myself and property away for the sake of a bare possibility. ”

“ You long for some signs of life, and tread the ground more heavily, as though you would wake the sleepers with the heel of your boot; but the foot falls noiseless upon the crumbling soil of an Eastern city, and silence follows you still. ”

“ The marshy and unwholesome parts in the north are announced by their repulsive aspect; but in the more fatal countries of the south, nature preserves a serenity, the deceitful mildness of which is an illusion to travellers. ”

“ The country around the mountain is a rough uncultivated heath virtually uninhabited. Charcoal burners camp there from time to time; but there are no farms nor permanent settlements. The wire leading to that God-forsaken place could be down for more than two days without the world’s coming to an end on that account! I was intending to file the colonel’s letter and let it go at that, when the telegraph corporal knocked at the office door. ”

“ From zone to zone, four hundred years ago!*3*
By yonder gulf, whose marching waters meet
The wine-dark currents from the isles of heat,
Strong sons of Europe, in a far dim year,
Faced ghastly foes, and felt the alien spear! ”