Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1884-03-20
sagacious Fsocks Of goats meander
through the streets, big. well-formed.

sagacious Fiocks Of goats meander
through the streets, big. well-formed.
handsome beasts.
Bullocks are used as beasts of burden,
but the cows, like the pope, ..lead mer-
~ life I suppose they belong to some,
body, but they walk about the streets
like ground landlords. They are small
cattle, plump and well-favored, forming
strong contrast with the thin and
care-worn human population among
whom they indolently pick their way.
They stroll down the center of the mar
row thoroughfares, through the bazars.
frequently stopping the traffic, types OF
the idolatry which bars the growth of civ
ilizatiOn. met one one morning stroll
ing through.the bazaar, shoulderlng every
body out of the way. Suddenly she
caught sight of basket of green which
woman was peddling on the roadway.
Without saying by your leave" the
COW stopped, and critically turning over
the green's selected young and tooth
some caulifower. The poor woman
feebly battled with the marauder, but the
cow took no notice and did not bulge
till it had its cauhhower. when it re-
sumed its morning stroll through the
bazaar. The COW, it is well known, is
one of the idols CT Hindoo worship, and
if the woman's god wanted caulifiow-
er it would have been sacrilegious too
strenuoasly to resist the desire. Close
by where this monumental transaction
in green market stuffs took place
there is a temple where under the por-
tico half a dozen bulls are kept, literal
ly in clover. The place is much dirtier
and smells more vilely than an English
farmer would like to have his cowshed.
But the beasts seemed plas idly happy,
refectively munched their grass, won
dering what they did there. and in their
slumbers babbling o. green fields. The
COW in bronze figures in various sizes is
in most of the temples. On the pave
ment near one of extra size and super
sanctity saw two men playing dice.
As for the temples themselves, they are,
more especially to the traveller fresh
from the gorgeous fanes of Japan, in
all ways despicable. AT best, they are
so crowded in among other buildings
that any architectural beauty they might
possess is lost to view. In order to See
the far-famed golden temple one has to
ascend the first story OF a shop on the
opposite side of a narrow way before
he can behold the dome. which, for the
peace of his soul, Mahara ali Runjeet
Singh had freshly crowned with
plate of gold. For the most part the
sacred places do not merit the name of
temple, being rather shrines a few feet
high. Many of them are like deserted
toy shops in which buslnes has gradu-
ally dwindled down to the anisning
point, and the broken hearted proprie-
tor has gone away, not caring to take
with him the small model o. COW. the
grotes9ue doll, or the strings of faded
ma ~igolds which garland the tawdry
shrine. At all the temples Brahmins
abound in pursuit of their various
functions. the principal one seeming to
be that of begging. There arc many
things in Buddhism incredible to the
Western mind, but not least is the pos
sbility of paying any kind of rever-
ence to the lazy fellows who skulk
about the temples, bleed the pi grims of
their uttermost tarthing, and pes er for
eigners for the smallest copper coin.
Buddha has many votar'es in crowded
India; but the Brahmins are numeri-
cally an appre aiab'e portion Of the con-
gregation They toll not, neither do
they spin, and since they must live they
unblushingly beg All their ministra-
tons, from the solemnest to the most
immaterial, end with out tretched hand,
palm uppermost.-Co London Daily
Mems