Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-04-20
CALCUTTA.
THE GREAT CITY THAT Is CAPITAL
+. OF ALL INDIA.

The Sacred Ganges 'River-Steam Car
Lines-The Goddess of Kali-Her Tenn
ple-The Kind of Missionaries Needed
A Place of Religion and Politics.
Calcutta is I'D in the delta whose sea border
is the wide north side of the bay OF bengal;
so large bay that it is ocean proper, ana
has nursery Of cyclones" close by the Anda-
man Islands Bengal cyclones hold forth In
Nav and worse in October and into November.
Calcutta is about ninety miles from the sea-
Her ships are moored, her wharves are bulle
out. her floating bridge is flung across
the rather salty and mixed water, every drop
of which is considered sacred, from Its source
in the perpetual SHOWS to its perfect union
with the sea. The Ganges river, revered IN
all historic time, runs down from the lima
layas and then takes a long southeasuerIy
course until it reaches Bengal, where Its old
path did and does meet the mother OF waters
far east OF Calcutta But impatient to reach
the greatest, like the Hindus career OF a soul
toward Para Brahm, the river joins the uni
versal waters by many shorter channel w
these the formost is the most western. On
this short cut called river, with the ugly
name Of Hugely, stands Calcutta.
The stream appears to have been named by
that English schoolmaster who, sitting by my
side at a dinner in Ceylon, critically said or
Ohio: 1.-The tendency is always to pronounce
that name Ho-i-ho." He gave the strong ac-
cents to the first and last syllables as he spoke
tito show what one should be careful to avoid.
Hugely used to be written "Hoosly." BY
similar law Of photographed change school
master used to be written skullmaster.
Both name and locality show that Calcutta
originated when commerce was of no account
and religion was of much. 1t is still. Calcutta
did not originate the word "calico," which
nevertheless is Of Hindoo derivation. Calico
as a stuff and name came from the thrifty
industry of Calicut, which is now flourish
ing town down on the southwestern Hindoo
coast.
NAMED AFTER GODDESS.
Calcutta, capital of all India, was named
for a agreat goddess" to say it more intelii-
gently, female principle appertaining to one
of the Hindoo trinitarian deity. A word
"Kalighat"-is to be seen in Calcutta in bold
letters on the cars at chief starting corner
of horse car, or. in British English, "tram"
and steam tram lines. You see, we have all
the improvements and practical inventions
much as you in civilized land" Don't
imagine us camping out under palm trees.
with "our lives in our hands," having for
lornly sacrificed all" to get here. We live in
as roomy mansions as you do. keep servant
to fan u.s. and as for our kitchen we know
nothing about it except as we see the food
brought Oh the table, aud we give our orders
and keep the account. This does not mean
I in
pore convent boarding with the nuns. Kid
derpore is suburb of Calcutta.
This "Kalighat" on the tram designates the
terminus of a route AS interpreted into
English shape, the letter "a" in the Indian
languages appears to have among its several
sounds that of gu" in sun. Furthermore there
are letters which in speaking and spelling are
much interchangeable: "b" and Nv, ''g" and
''k,n "dn and It" 81" and ''y," nine which
now think of, all carelessly used. More slip
shod are the terminal syllables "a, 30" or
al" which are added for euphony, and clipped
with equal freedom. Kali is the goddess and
CHAT means place Kalighat became Kaligut
and Kafikut and Kalikutta and Kalkutta and
then Calcutta to make it look English.
Now they are turning English backward to
simplicity, and, let us hope, will dispense with
words the English oriental schoiarhood have
substituted *" for &C." but not yet in Cal
cutta.
THE KALIGHAT AND TEMPLE
The place of Kali was at first the promi-
nent idea in the town. One day went there,
Just to see where the train would take me- 1t
went long and pleasant way-all of it most
desirable to be seen. There are many strange
roads, which are not pleasant, but are inter-
esting. This is both. 1t continued far out
to an utterly rural suburban place There
is Kalis place, the Kalighat, and there stands
her great temple. There hovers the bloody
association of ideas that once upon time, and
for a very long time, it was sacrifcial place,
distinguished for gifts not only OF life but the
kind of life most valuable-the human, and
that human life the most precious, with the
Abrahamic idea, My son, my only son."
The liberality of the offering that was then
commanded by God can only be appreciated in
region where the greater value of a son, conf
pared with the esteem of daughter, is under
stood, is constantly, universally recognized
principle. Women's rights missionaries ought
10 be sent here to teach the Importance of the
daughters rather than persons to teach the pro-
pitiation of deity by blood sacrifice, for the
heather have always believed in that. L
should not say always, for the highest and best
Hindoos say that their earliest religion was
pure. Interesting as are East Indian customs
and costumes, relics, and scenery, her exteri-
ors alone are hard 20 fasten the mind and
limit the attention; purely place description Is
in reality incomplete where every place every
occurrence leads directly into religion or poll
tics.-Anna Ballard in Chicago News
Registering at the Summer Hotel.
The always perturbed moment in mans
life is when be takes pen in band to register