Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1885-02-21
A PORTRAIT OF THE MAHDI
rFrom the Catholic World.

Imagine Il man about 10 years OF age.
medium height, as lean, as the saying
ia, as Shotten herring, with "A mahogany
complexion, cual-biack beard and eyes,
and three vertical slashes on his paliid
checks; add to this Il long cotton shirt
as a garment, a marrow turban rs a
headdress. a pair OF wooden sandals,
and in the hand5-dry IS those OF q
mummy-a string Of ninety beads, cor
responding 10 an equal number OF ol-
vine attributes, aud you nave the
Mahdi. Those who have seen him say
that Mohammed- Ahmed plays to per-
lection the part of a vislonal derFlsh,
waving his head when walking, ana
murmuring constant prayers. his eyes
fixed on heaven. His father WAS a
carpenter on Naft Island, in the Nublal
province of Dongola, and about 1892
came, with his four children to Chindi,
a small CITY OH the banks of the Nile
south of Berber. When still very
Young he was placed as an apprentice
under the are of II of his ulcles, a
ship builder OF Chanbakah, opposite
SEMINAR. II seems that the future
prophet WAS not without his tailings.
for one day his uncle thought well OF
logging him in a regular French style.
Tho proceeding was not appreciated,
and the child ran away until he arrived
in KharIoum, where he entered q sort
OF school or convent of begging der
wishes, who were i'll charge OF The mon
| uluent erected over the veneraIed re-
| mains OF Cheick HogbOli, patron of the
| city. There his life vas a remarkable
one for his piety, but as to education,
| he never learned how to even write or
| even how to read ~luently. Later he
| went to a similar institution in Bcrber,
then to one III Aradup, on the south OF
Kcna. In the latter city he became, iii
1870, the favorite disciple of all emf
| nent takir, Check Nur-el-D aiin, and
finally ordained by him and went TO
Abbas Island, White Nile. His tame
us a SANITY man was every year on tie
Increase. He lived i'll u kind Of pit or
>ubterranean repository for grain,
! called silo, which he had dug up with
his own hands; and there lie passed
his life, fasting and praying, burning
incense day and night, and repeating
| the name of Allah for hours at a time
until he would fall to the ground pant
ing aud exhausted. If anybody spoke
to him he gave back no answer, except
sentences from the sacred books OF
Islam. Earthly things seemed TO in
-pire him only with disgust and pity.
lie had made u VOW TO absorb himself
in the contemplation of divine periec-
ions and to weep all his life for the
sins of mankind. But his tears did moi
destroy his powers of vision, and he
kept his best eye wide open to business
and the faithful coming by thousands
and depositing rich offerings at the
mouth of his siIo, he never fai ed to sec
the gifts nor to stow them away care
fully for stormy days. In 1873 he had
become S 10 wealthy that he felt the ne
cessity to declare that Allah had order.
ed him to leave his silo and to take un-
to himself a large collection of wives
whom, as a truly practical man, he
chose among the most influential fami-
lies of the country, especially that o
the Bagaras, the most opulent slave
traders OH the White Nile.
Everyone has still fresh in his mem.
DRY the appalling determination o
Hicks Pasha's eleven thousand men
surrounded on the 9th of November
l6sS-thc first day of the fourteenth
century of the Hegira-at Kasghi
while marching ON Ell Obeid. Thi
horrible butchery, happening on TIL
threshold OF the century announced g.
lie one of the Last Prophet, gave
bloody conservation to MnlIammed
Ahmed, who, after three days battle
went all over the battle field, piercing
with his spear the gha-tly corpses o
his enemies and exclaiminc: sit is !
the Prophet, who destroyed the here
tics! Compared to him Moharnme,
was no more, i'll his mind, than . smaI
prophet. He alone vas the only grea
and powerful Messiah announced b
Moha,nmed himself. The Sultan G
Constantinople was no more the su
; preme Caliph, the chief OF 1slamism;
vas he, Mohammed-Ahined, and h
!, ordered his W name to be invoked i
public worship in the place of Moham
med's, right after the name of Allah
have said enough to show wha
kind of a man is the Nubian Mahdi.
AIERED NJ COTE. Ill. n