Democratic Sentinel, Volume 22, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 June 1898 — Donkeys in Persia. [ARTICLE]

Donkeys in Persia.

The facetiousness of calling Persia the Land of the Lion and the Sun becomes apparent as soon as one enters the country. Persia contains, maybe, 100 lions, while the jackasses number not less than 10,000,000. Within the boundaries of the Shah’s dominion ears are trumps every time, and the universal music is the donkey’s mellifluous bray. Almost every Persian owns a donkey, and many of them whole droves. The population of Persia is estimated at 10,000,000 souls. Current opinion, at Teheran places the donkey population at about the same number. Reckoning each donkey’s wealth of ear at two feet twelve inches each, the aural appendages of the Shah’s musical toilers would, if laid end to end, reach 4,000 miles. Honest good humor is the oil and wine of a merry meeting, and there is no jovial companionship equal to that where the jokes are rather small and the laughter abundant.—Washington Irving.