Chariton courier. (Keytesville, Chariton County, Mo.) 1878-current, 1879-08-30
CHINA'S GREAT WALL.

An Interesting Letter from j. Russell
| Young, Accompanying Gen. Grants
Party.
From the New York Herald.]
About O'Clock in the afternoon Lieut.
| Sperry, the navigator, had an expert
ence that must have reminded him of
Columbus discovering America. He had
| found the great wall. BY careful look
ing through the glasses, in time we saw
| it-a thick, brown, irregular line that
crumbled into the sea. The Richmond
steamed toward the beach, and so gra-
cious was the weather that we were able
| to anchor within mile of shore. All
the boats were let down, and as many
as could be spared from the vessel went
| ashore-the captain, the officers, sailors
in their blue, tidy uniforms, and an es-
pecial sailor with a pot of white paint to
inscribe the fact that the Richmond had
visited the great wall. The great wall
| is the only monument / have seen which
could be improved by modern sacrilege,
and which could be painted over and
plastered without compunctiOns of con-
science. From what / read of this stu
penduous achievement it was built under
the reign of Chinese emperor who
fiourished two centuries before Christ.
This emperor was disturbed by the con-
slant invasion of the Tartars, hardy
nomadic race, who came from the hills
of Mongolia and plundered his people,
who were indeed afterward to come, if
only the emperor could have opened the
books of fate and known, and rule the
country and found the dynasty which
exists after fashion still. So his majes-
ty resolved to build a wall which should
forever protect his empire from the
invader The wall was built, and so
well was it done that here we come,
wanderers from the antipodes,
90 centuries after, and find it still a sub
stantial, imposing, but in the light of
modern science useless wall. 1t is >
25O miles in length, and it is only when
you consider that distance and the in
credible amount of labor it imposed that
the magnitude of the work breaks upon
YOU. We landed ON smooth, pebbly
beach, studded with shells which would
have reioiced the eyes of children. We
found small village and saw the vii
layers grinding the corn. The children,
a few beggars and blind person came
to welcome us. The end of the wall
which juts into the sea has been beaten
by the waves into ragged, shapeless
condition. There was an easy ascent,
however, up stone steps. At the top
there was small temple, evidently
given to pious uses still, for there was a
keeper who dickered about letting us in,
and the walls seemed to be in order,
clean and painted. The wall at the site
of the temple was IS or 100 feet wide,
but this was only a special width to ac-
commodate the temple and present an
imposing presence to the sea. As far as
we could see the wall stretched over hill
and valley, until it became line. Its
average width at the surface is 20 to 20
feet. At the base it varies from 40 feet
to 100. 1t is made of stone and brick,
and, considering that 20 centuries have
been testing its workmanship, the work
was well done.
As mere wall there is nothing i'm
posing about the great wall of China.
There are hundred thousand walls, the
world over, better built and more use
, full What impressed us was the infinite
patience which could have compassed
so vast labor Wonderful are the pyr-
, amids, ard wonderful as dream the
ruins of Thebes. There you see me-
chanical results which you can not fol-
low or solve, engineering achievements
, we could not even repeat. The great
| Wstll Is IL lIldINtl VI uatNi DCCh
/ reading the late Mr.. Stewards calcula-
+ ton that the labor which had builded
the great wall would have built the Pa
cific railways. Gen. Grant thought that
Mr. Seward had underrated its extent.
81 believe,'' he said, s' that the labor
expended on this wall would have built
every railroad in the United States,
every canal and highway and most if
not all of our Cities The story is that
millions were employed on the wall
that the work lasted 10 years. l have
ceased to wonder at a story like this. In
, ancient days-the days which our good
people are always lamenting and re-
} turn to which is the prayer of so many
t virtuous and pious souls-in the ancient
=, DAYS when an emperor had wall or a
pyramid to build he sent out to the
) fields and hills and gathered in the
| people and made them build on
t peril of their heads. 1t required an
; emperor to build the great wall. No
people would ever have done such a
, thing. When you see the expression of
peoples power it is in the achieve
ments of the Roman, the Greek, and the
: Englishman-in the achievements of
1 Cinnamon when they have been allowed
their own way. The great wall is Il
t monument of the patience of a people
and the misapplied prerogative of a
: king. 1t never could have been of much
: use in the most primitive days, and now
{ it is only curiosity. We walked about
. on the top and studied its simple massive
Workmanship, and looked upon the
plains of Mongolia, over which the
dreaded Tartar came. On one side of
the wall was China, on the other Mon
9 golia. We were at the furthest end of
D our journey, and every step now would
: be toward home. There was something
like farewell in the feeling with which
e we looked upon the cold land of mys-
Y tery which swept on toward the north
G cold and barren even under the warm
: sunshine. There was something like a
: welcome in the waves as we again
y greeted them and knew that the sea-
> upon which we are again venturing with
i the confidence that comes from long and
1 friendly association would carry us home
e to America, and Tighten even that jour-
t ney with glimpse of the land of the
9 rising sun.
/, cit is hard moment in life,' is the
| remark placed by witty HterGteur of
T. the day in the lips of an imaginary
t Frenchman, s'when one finds that love,
: glory, honor, ambition, are not on the
whole worth Il good cigar % Yes is
the reply of Il cynical friend; g but it is
: a harder moment still when one finds
ii that the cigar itself is bad"