Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1885-09-05
In PARADISE
THE MAHDpS RECKLESS. FANATIcAL
FOLLOWERS ARE REWARDED
With All the Senuous Pleasures That ths
Heart Of Mortal Man Can Conceive
Eternal Laziness and Hours
Innunerable.
London Tele2raph-l

London Telegraph
Nor, perhap-, could the nlahdi better en-
courage the sinking spirits Of men encamped
with but scanty shelter and q still moro
scanty comm;ssariat, out upon the burning,
eye-scorching deserts Of the Souian. over
| swept with dust-storms driven along by the
fierce khan in, the sitting harmattan, dry
grain their fool, alkaline water their drink
and dreary marching and wounds and death
their only service. That prophet i'll sus-
tains his holy call who finds not heavens to
suit the tastes of all" And Mohammed and
"Mohammed Achmel. his servant" it must
be confessed. have found one very suitable
indeed to the tastes Of Arab folk Their
songs and their speech are filed with phrases
| significant of the yearning Of those wild
sons Of sterile land for the pleasures OF
| green trees; sweet smelling flowers and bub
bling water. Religion offers them, these
| men OF hard lives and stern work-as the
| one supreme delight of the after world-the
luxury Of idlrnesS.
They are not even to take the trouble to
turn upon Their beis Of roses to eat and
| drink, for exquisite beings, blessed with per-
petual girlkood, will always be at their side
to offer them all they want before they can
even ask for it. Tie fruit will bend down to
their lips, the fountains Of exquisite sher-
bets rise to them. They ere never to grow
cider than the prime Of manhood and if
they choose, need never, no never, all
through the cycles Of immortality, stir an
inch from the spot where angelic arms,
carrying each from the battlefield, have
laid him down on the perfumed swaid un-
der the tooba tree. No more canlels TO
drive. No more infdels to shoot them
Il av,1
cred laziness. The birds even, in the
boughs, are only to sing in numerous fash
ion. No ear-splitting clamorous song will
lie heard there. The arboreal choir will
all he beautifiei nightingale, singing
through veil, as it were, the softest whis-
perinss of melody that shall never be the
same long enough for the listener to recog-
nize a tune twice
The perfumes, in the same way, will
glide imperceptible from one fragrance to
another, and each in turn will be new and
exquisite. The shcrbots will be nectareous
blends Of all the hydromies, somas, and
meads that poets have devised for happy
heroes an TIE -CItieS of Rest" AMI "Elysian
Fields" and are to pass by subtle transmu-
tions from rose to pomegranate and from
citron to date; from orange TO grape, and
so on through all the pippins and berries Of
paradisaic orchards favored with such
fruits As saints have worked miracles with,
such as tempted Eve, such as the cham
pionS Of Christeniom knew of, as the pill |
grims found in the Masters garden, as
heroes and goddesses have striven for-the |
apples OF bliss and immortality The |
hours, too-"the dark-eyed maids above
even they are not to weary the eye by mo- |
notony. Sixty is the smallest allowance |
the half rations." as it were Of common
ordinary sort of true believer.
In exceptional cases they ara to be in num-
Der beyond counting. and at the wish of |
their possessor they will change their age,
their features, AMI their voice. II is not |
enough that they shall each be perfect way.
Then, TO think of it. superadded to all this,
the perpetual GOODNESS of thick foliage over
head and gentle breezss and, above all,
utter and inviolable lazinessi 1t is no wonder
then that the mahdfs soldiers, released from
the drudgery of beasts OF burden only to
march and fight in the desperate Soudan,
escaped from the tyranny Of petty masters
to fall IN Ter the unro!axiny dsspotisrn of
fanatical leader, should go to their deaths
tightly.
They believe with a stern faith every
iota Of the promises of future pleasures
held cut to them, and that belief gladly
sttht Tic NEciCNciucss oi tutiT lile anu |
the brief agony OF death on the battlefield /,
Faith, frenzied faith, once welded firm
and fast
Ard those who were in the Soudau
bore ample testimony to the amazing, be-
rockies sness and disregard of pain
with which these soldiers of the mahdi came
charging on to their fate
ha puth 3. tnr n,aI h. |
British squares ct the green groves of para
disc. The glitter of the grim bayonets be-
fore them was as nothing to the radiance Of
the great gates they could see openin, for
them. In front the fash OF rifles and the
iow-rolling smoke Of the cannon, dull masses
of men in gray, and cam Is in tumultuous
motion But further Off AMI visible only
10 the eyes OF those onrushing fanatic,
were the futtering of robes Of green silk,
he simmer OF golisn ornaments Here,
close at hand, were the furious roar of the
artillery, the pitiless fusillade, the fiercs
clamor of men giving and receiving death;
but above 1t all, the ears OF the tru. be-
lever quickenel by his mortal wound,
caught ths sweet fittings of heavens sin ing
birds, the murmer of the breezs in the
leaves. the babblings Of the fountains Of
Fem zsm. the whisperei cares>es Of those
hidden pearls "the mails"
% tnev came On III u fusn All together, or |
in small parties, or even singiy, to meet the
death (which leads t. paradise Out from
the bush. AMI from bshini rocks, they came
on. ons against 100, dancing AMI shouting.
What il they fells IL wa, an infedels hand
that laid them low. Their end was achieved
Or, if they reached the unbeliever's line and
drove their spears home before they went
down before their bullets, all the greater
was the gain, all the larger was the fulres,
Of eternal bliss. TIE leaders Of Islam have
always known how to avail themselves of
this inten Q confidence in the immediate |
pos ession OF paradise. Mohammed himself
never failed to employ it to the utmost, and
his successors, on many field OF victory
have proved its potency.
The Mo-iem sees ais reward actually :
within his arms length. H. has only TO
strike and it is his Ii he kills. OF is killed. ,
he is assured of the prophets favor, and il
be dies killing he is doubly sscura. The
lives of such men are. after all. but dull
processes Their language their philo sophy.
prove that they feel this Themselves They
but are ready To throw 1t away. "Allah's
will be doneT and there is an eni of it OF
The more practical aspect OF the mahifs
proclamation the fact that his followers
ire clamoriny to be allowed to go to Mecca,
We shall probably hear more later. for in
he Mosiem's creed the performance Of "the
greater pill rimags' is in itself pas port to
,araiisc
For the present, however, IL is enou IN to
nave noticed the strange phenomenon Of I
ucb an appeal in these latter days Of his
DRY. and t. have hintel at tho pathos
which unierl.es it Here fighting in the
Soudan under sun that is now torrid, in
he midst of q country brought TO the mis-
rieS of famine by three year, of war we
lad military leader calling upon his troop,
o stand by him. AMI to rally for further ef.
ort with the promi'e of shady tree, AMI
DOL water. They are not tn strike for couu-
nv. or for sovereign, or for Col, but for
efrs hing drau :ht, and the smiles II the
Iouris OF heayeu An. this suflices