Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1880-07-14

There are artisan fxgnilies ia India and
We are told. in Damascus Who have worked
AT the same work dsy by Gay for ]. zoo
years; pleasant families who have not only
TILED the same fields, but have gone intc
them and left them st the same hour, accord
ing to the season, from a period before the
birth Of Christ. They have no wish for
change, no ambition to do better, no incli-
nation to roam, no sense of failure. because
they are as their forefslhers were, and as
their sons will be. Such content, content
which is consistent with permanent melsn-
chOly, and even in Occasionsl instances with
deep and persistent sadness. sens incompre-
hensible to the EngiishHan, who never wit
nesses il unless he has already uproOted
himself from his own home. and he verv
readily eSaggarates its limits. The Aslstlc
adheres TO his home only when. as the re-
suit of this adherence, certain conditions
are sure to be fulfilled. He requires mo-
tive or movement other than that hope of
enjoyment in change, OF that desire of bet
tering himself. which is the impulse Of the
Western man, but once disturbed, once
presented with motive for going which is
sufficient to his own mind, no man moves
50 easily. In India, in Persia, in Arabis.
IN Turkey, pilgrimage is habit such as il
never has been in any European land. The
most customary accident death in the
house, a sickness, a loss Of money, an &C
cess of spiritual restlessneSs-is motive .uf-
hcient, and in few DAYS OF hours the indi-
vldual or the family IS IN motion toward
some shrine or some sacred spot hundreds,
il may be thousands, of miles away, ON a
journey which may take months or wears.
and through lands as unknown 70 the pill
grims as Egypt is to the Suffolk labOrer or
ThIbet TO an Esquinaux- The celebrated
pilgrimage 10 Mecca is but one among the
hundreds OF such plgrimages. undertaken
every day by Thousands OF Aslatics as readily
and as cheerfully as an English migration
is undertaken to the next village. Through
out the Asiatic world there are spots toward
which, through all ages aud from all
countries. a ceaseless stream OF humanity is
always slowly flowing, filed up by crowds
whose ObjecJS and impulses are almost as
obscure as their means OF subsistence or
their chances of return. Religious anxiety
has destroyed content, and the Asiaiic
moves as readily as the Yankee ur Mssou-
rian- Nor i religiOnthe only motive. The I
asiatic moves instantly if anything hateful I
and not vIsibiy of God. like a food OF an
earthquake, comes across him, moves out !
of the way OF an army 0r Of an oppressive I
Governor, N OF an epidemic Oi Of famine, /
or Of taxation pressing dnbearably, as /
he thinks, his land All men who have set 1
themselves 10 organize provinces flied with .
Asiatics know that there is turn Of the n
nancial screw which Will, even in Egypt,
empty provinces, entire peoples taking
flight to some more favored land An Eng
lishman, not a century agn, emptled Bun
delcund in that wsv, anu the province hss
never recovered a stern Persian tax gath
erer often depOpulstes district, ami an Op-
pressive Governor in Turkey sometimes in
ticts in one year blow from which his
Pashalic does not recover for century.
The people do not perisll--hey 20 away.
The attraction to the soil once ended, the
Asistic moves even more easily than the
European. He has no feeling about his
country, in the English seuse indeed,
IN many languages he cannot eNpIeSs the
idea. He is not afraid 10 90 far, if he has
not to cross the sea, for once uprOOied,
distance makes little difference 10 him. lie
has no furniture To- carry, for except a care
pet and few brass pans, he uses none. II
has no trouble about meals, for he is con
tent with Darched grain, which his wife
can cook anywhere, and dried dates, OF
dried flesh, or anything obtaindble which
will keep. He Is, on march. careless
where he sleeps. provided his family are
around HMM a stable, under porch, OF
in the open air-he never changes his
clothes at night, and he is profoundly iu-
different to everything that the Western
man understands by comfort lfhe has
lime, he takes his cattle with him, if not,
he absntlOns them or sells them for any sum
prOcurable, turns everything possible into
money, and with all his Possessions on his
back OF in a cart, marches on, perfectly Sc
cure of the favor Of God, TO the destination
which, sometimes from tradition as old as
his own family, he has tiXed in his own
mind, with a certain stoicism, and even
nobility of resignation which it is impoSsi-
Die not to admire.