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Show 220 MADELYN CANNON STEWART SILVER Tehran, a country at that time under the governance of Shah Reza Pahlevi. Because of internal and external disorders, police filled Tehran's street; the Silvers were stopped at every intersec tion, and they encountered unusual, frustrating delays and red tape at the airport and bank. Madelyn recorded in her trip-diary glimpses of the street-life in Tehran: a ragged little boy pushing a cart yelled out the name of some product he was selling; a bearded unkempt man sat at the foot of a tree, feet braced against the gutter, savoring a small red popsicle; a man, hope ful of a fee, carried leaky buckets of water to wash the cars parked along the curb; a small horse with a bell on its neck drew a cart with a huge barrel to which was attached a dripping brass spigot; three boys manipulated clay jugs strapped to their backs inside of which were large glass jars filled with pieces of ice. Iranian women wore the choda, the large cape-like garment covering the entire figure, even the face. Men wore the wide outer garment and head-dress like Arabians, with a modern long skirt of the same material. As they left Tehran Madelyn could hardly hide her anticipa tion. She would be walking the land Jesus walked, climbing the coat and mountain where Moses had found the tablets with the Ten Commandments, drinking water from the well that had slaked the thirst of the Samaritan woman, and swimming in the Dead Sea. She would see the land where the Garden of Eden was thought to have existed; bathe in the waters where Peter the Apostle had fished; stand in the place where the Prophet Muhammed had ascended into Heaven; and pray in the Garden of Gethsemane. She would have lunch in an Israeli kibbutz, compare her family'S persecution in Missouri and Illinois with that of refugees in Jordan, and join in a chant in a Maronite monastery. .r The first stop south of Tehran was Baghdad, situated on both banks of the Tigris River. Founded in 762 on a location inhabited for at least four thousand years, Baghdad, under Caliph Harun Ar-Rashid, became one of the greatest cities in the civilized world-the home of eminent scholars and artists, the site of col orful gardens, the setting of most of the entertaining tales in Thousand and One Nights. Harun's empire extended from India |
