The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1879-11-06

clad hill
In liner spirit-prescnce fingers still.
-Etdtnt Goodlle, IN Good Company.
THE SURGEON AND THE MOGUL'S
DAUGHTER.
IT was the summer of the year 1861.
Shah Jehan. grandson of the mighty
Akbar. had been for four-and-twentv
years on the throne of the Great Moyul
He was the most magnificent and luxu-
riouS of all the Moguls. Before the IA
diant and amazing splendors of his court
all the pomp and glory of the greatest
monarchs of the West paled into insic-
niticance. He had been known to
spend million and a half sterling upon
a birthday festival. His royal prog
resse> through his dominions surpassed
in grandeur and sumptuous display all
that even the Oriental imagination had
conceived. Travellers told with awe of
the acres of land covered with carpets
of silk and gold: of the stately pavil-
ions glittering with diamonds and
pearls: of the gorgeous tents of GRIM
son velvet embroidered with gold, sup
ported by massive poles forty feet high.
and stretching over long miles of level
country: of the seven resplendent
thrones studded with diamonds, rubies,
emeralds. pearls: of the world-renowned
Peacock Throne, Shah Jehan's own
fanciful invention, so called from pea
cock with itsatail spread. the natural
colors faithfully represented in sap
phires. emeralds, rubies and pearls.
which formed the chief ornament and
design Of = mass of diamonds and other
precious stones valued at six millions
and a half sterling.
They told. too. of the elephants that
looked like shining mountains of Jew
elry-elephants trained to kneel before
the throne and do reverence to the
trreat Mogui with their trunks-whose
keep cost five hundred rupees apiece
per month; of the magnificent horses
on whose brides and saddles the gems
stood thick as dew-drops on Il lawn at
sunrise; and of thousand other lus-
trous and dazzling marvels, the mere
mention of which made men stand
agape with wonder and establishment.
Not Solomon in all his glory could COM
pare in lavish splendor with Shah Je-
han. the Great Mogul.
And now, after nearly ten years of
mcesSant war, there was peace in the
Mogul Empire. and the Emperor had
come to enjoy his well-earned repose.
and revel in the luxury which he loved
at his capital, Delhi-that Delhi which
he had restored to more than its ancient
glory. whose marble halls and spacious
courts and golden domes and stately
mosques, he could proudly boast. were
unequaled anywhere for grace and
beauty and sublimity. For Shah Jehan
had passion for noble and beautiful
buildings-the mausoleum which he
erected to his wife at Agra, known as
the Tai Mahal. standing to this day as
one of the noblest monuments in the
world. But passionately as Shah Jehan
loved luxury and magniticence, gorge
Gus pageants and. splendid buildings,
there was something he loved more
pasSionately still, and that was his eld-
est daughter. In all his vast empire
there was no lovelicr. more charming.
or more accomplished lady than the
Padshah Begun. Shah Jehan idolized
this. his favorite. child. She was his
constant companion. She enjoyed his
confidence to an extent which men
very rarely allow to women in the East.
Her lively conversation, her skill in the
Use of musical instruments. her Gift of
melodious song. could always charm
him into amiability. She was the light
Of his life. the only being that, since the
death of his Queen, he really loved.
His sons he distrusted and suspected,
and not without reason. for filiai affec-
ton was a virtue which had always
been conspicuous by its absence among
the sons of 1.-THE Moguls, and he was him
self destined to die prisoner in the
hands of hisOwn sonsAurun9zebe, who
deposed him. 1t Wason his daughter,
therefore. &haA he aeyfshed all the ten-
derlless that was in his heart. The
Padshnh Begun was now in her twenty
second year, and in the full flower of
her beauty and ,womanhood. Who
could have dreamed that so fair lly,
could be blighted in assingle night? -
1t was an evening in July; Shah
Jehan layrdozing under the gentle fan
ming of the punkah, when he was reused
by piercing shrek, followed in quick
succession by a series of shrieks, each
more heart-rending and blood-curdling
than the last. He raised. himself to
listen. 1t was apparently from the
women's apartments that these appall-
ing cries proceeded. While he listened,
the shrieks grew fainter and fainter,
and were succeeded by wailing sound,
as Of many voices moaning. Suddenly
the curtains were pushed aside, and a
servant, pale, trembling and breathless,
entered and FRUSTRATED himself before
the Emperor. He was impatiently
asked what his tidings were. Groaning
and beating his breast with his hands,
he stammered out his news-news that
made Shah Jehan leap to his feet
while his swarthy] Check grew livid with
pallor, and he stood rooted to the
ground with horror and amazement.
For the news was that the Padshah
Begun had been burned to death! 1t
was but for moment that Shah Jehan
stood there petrified and horror-strick-
en-: In another instant he had darted
on IN the direction of the Princess
apartments to learn for himself whether
the dreadful tidings were true or not.
He was Ike maniac as he burst into
the chamber where his daughter Law
upon a couch, surrounded by her
women, wailing and wringing their
hands. Already two of the court phy-
sicians were there, and were strippine
the charred remnants of her robes from
the scorched and blistered limbs. She
was not indeed, actually dead, as the
messenger had reported, but she had
tainted from the terrible >agony Of her
4, wounds, and lay there, quite uncon-
scio,fs: The chastity sight salmost de-
prived thesGnat Mogul of his senses;
distracted and overwhelmed with grief,