Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-09-04

which at once suggests caricatur.- of tho
Madonna della Saggiola: near the base Of
the tower squat small urchins provided
with large shallow baskets of which seem
to be dried peas. At sign from the has.
ser, they scatter handfuls over the nave.
'nen., which is at once covered and nearly
hidden by a struggling mass of monkeys.
In the ear " morning hours these stems
are crowded with bathers and women
filing their sparkling copper lars with
water; the varied colors of the costumes.
the fantastic architecture, the dense foliage
and dropping branches of the great ban
vans which overriding the water. are all
nllrrored In the swiftly moving current.
One OF the CHATS Is set apart for the wo-
men who come to battle, and here is an
ever-shlftlng kaleidoscope of vivid color.
The eye Is caught by the simmer of silk
and gold, as they throw off their shining
draperies and reveal their lovely outlines
and the SATIN lustre of their amber brown
SKINS. Sometimes a sudden shrek goes
up from among the fair bathers, and some
enterprlslng monkey Is seen scaling up the
VIDE caves of temple. dragging after
him an embroidered ''chuddah." Then
there Is great hubbub and babel of
tongues, and the monkey police appear on
the scene. The chief business of these
men is to keep watchful eye on the little
demons; they are armed with long white
wands. which are only used to intimidate
the transgressor, but it would seem with
out much success. Their usual plan, since
the shawl is always high out of reach. is
to place bit of fruit or some other tempt
ing bait on lower terrace, anl then to
steal around to the rear, while the monkey
is expected to forget the shawl in his eager
ness to seize the new plumber: but | have
seen him cautiously descend, dragging the
shawl after him, secure the fruit and then
make good his escape, without losing anv
OF his booty. to some eminence whence he
could safely deride with hedious grimaces
his batfied pursuers. A frequent object of
cupidity is the small, glittering brass pot
which every Hindoo carries for drinking
purposes, and which is sometimes filed
with sour milk or some other succulent
dainty. The successful robber retires to
the roof of some shrine just above the
heads of the crowd, nonchalantly devours
the contents cf the pot, and then, forget
ting all about it, down it falls from his
careless hand on the head of some unuckv
wight below. One morning an unusual
commotion arose among the monkey popu-
lation as an elephant passed along the
narrow street just above the steps. The
excitement was intense, particularly
among the smaller fry, who followed
along from roof to roof, peeping out from
behind the openings at the colossus with
the eager curiosity of small boys A most
moving incident was fight nearly to
death between two rival patriarchs.
and | am sure that we could not have felt
more breathless interest at our first bull
fight in Granada. One would have ax-
pected much preliminary chattering and
mutual vituperation; but no; the combat
ants went at it with the quiet determine
ton ofpugllists. At first there was con-
siderable excitement among the others as
they all rushed down to take part in the
fray: but the monkey police used their
sticks to good advantage in keeping them
back, and then tried to separate the prin-
cipals; touch them they dared not. All
the crowd came down and formed a ring
on the steps; some threw water on the
combatants, but it WAS of no use. They
clinched, tugged, and wrestled; the fur
flew; they both fell into the water, and
crawled out half drowned and so weakened
by loss of blood that they could hardly
stand and at last they dragged themselves
YEARLY up the steps, and limped down the
main street, followed by all the by-stand-
ers.-By Edwin Lord Weeks. in Harper's
Magazine.