Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1869-02-23
Signs of Coming Events History Re-
peating Itself -Frightful Picture
Wonderful Babylon Fast Young Men
Hated by Women.

peatlnS lCsef-frlgnt1ul Picture
Wonderful Babylon-Fast Young Men
Hated by Women,
The Chaldeans, during the era OF
the Babylonian kings, near two
thousand four hundred years ago,
were the wickedest people of which
history gives any account.
Belshazzar was the last of Baby
Ions kings, and the great feast which
he made to entertain q thousand of
his lords ended his reign. The hand
writing on the wall which made him
to tremble ere he knew its meaning
is in mind. Oh, how that event
shocked his soul. In little while
| Cyrus came with his Persian armies
while the banquet yet resounded in
the rich halls, and the Babylonian
| tyranny fell to rise no more. 1t was
at this moment when Cyrus was en-
terng Babylon throug' the bed of
the river, the water having been dis
verified therefrom, that Belshazzar was
at his zenith Of glory. The poet here
doubtless draws q true picture Of the
half drunken monarch and the sur~
ropndings at tho very moment when
Cyrus entered those gorgeous halls
and put Belshazzar aud his lords to
the sword
Bring forth cries the monarch, the vessels Of gold
Which my father tore dswn from the temples Of old;
Bring forth, and woll drink while the trumpsts are
blown,
To the gods OF bright silver of gold and Of stone
Bring FORTH. And before him the vessels all shine
And he bows unto BaaI and he drinks the dark wine
While the trumpes and cymbas resound in the halle
But now what comethg who writes upon the wall
What perceth the King like the point of dart
What drives the blood from his cheek to his heart
Bring the captive of Judah the letters to expoupd
They are read "Besbszzar shall fall to the ground.
The Persian shall come on the conquerors wing
And the hees on the throne of Belshazzar the King
At the very moment when the
drunken reyelry was at its height,
the bloodlcss hand came and wrote
the words OF doom upon the wallis
The armies of Cyrus had turned the
Euphrates out Of its channel and they
marched in the river bed beneath the
walls.
We give the reader some idea Of
Babylon and the halls Of Belshazzar,
according to Herodotus the Greek
historian who saw the city: The
great palace, according to this histo~
rian was at least six times as great as
st. Peters church in Rome, or four
times the length and size Of the Cap.
itol at Washington. The whole struc-
ture was incloscd in three walls an
hundred feet high. The outer wall
incosed over 100 acres-the whole
city was square, fifteen miles on a
side, the walls eighty feet across and
the hight two hundred and forty feet.
Babylon'bricks foot square, inscrib-
ed with the names Of Belshazzar, are
found in hundred places on the an
cient plat Of Babyion-confirming the
vastness of what Herodotus wrote.
Belshazzar inherited tae city and
palaces, besides the kingdom which
embraced vast scope OF country in
Egypt and the tens of millions of
inhabitants who were his slaves. lie
came into power at fifteen, and like
most youths who inherit great for
tunes he soon was ruined by bad
company and dissipated habits. He
belonged to the proud race of Chal-
deans whom the Hebrew prophets
described as delicate and wise but
dreadfully wicked.
Herodotus describes the young men
of Babylon as snowy, self-indulgent
and sensual. They dressed in dyed
garments Of bright colors. They cur.
led their hair, used unguents and per-
fumes, wore jewelry, carried walking
sticks with the beak Of a bird or head
Of serpent carved at the handle.
They were given to rich wines and
suppers. They frequented dramatic
entertainments in which female sing
ers and dancers appeared on the stage.
They sang loud and profane songs.
Such being the state of society, we
are not surprised that Babylon fell to
rise no more. The day of doom is
not far off from any family or coun-
try when the young men become
'.detcatc," give their time to pleasure
at feasts and drunken sprees, at thea~
tres, affect effeminacy, despse work,
| &c. mere IS no surer way 10 destroy
a young man than to give him plenty
Of money and let him exhaust his
early life energies by using drinks,
gong to night festivals, and living in
idleness. Babylon, Venice, Constan-
tinoplc, and Pagan and Christian
Rome all passed from q meridian of
power aud glory and foated beneath
cloud, perhaps never to re>appear,
because their young men were etfem-
mite and worthless. Nothing in the
world could be worse for America than
for our young men, Yankee born, to
betake themselves to unmanly habits,
affecting the delicacy OF women and
thus invoking the contempt of wo-
men for women really despise ten
der and delicate men.