The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-12-31
me PsooTsa a GAMBLE 90. cITT-

enclosure a thousand yards by FIVE hun
dred. You enter through vaulted hall
nearly four hundred feet long. Floors Of
Florentine mosaic. and walls once emer-
aled, and sapphired. and carbuncled, and
diamonded. 1 said to the guide: SHOW
us where once stood the Peacock
Throne" Here IL was" he responded.
All the thrones OF the earth put together
would not equal that for costumes and
brilliance. 1t had steps Of silver and the
seat and arms were of solid gold. 1t cost
about S1J0O0OO0O. It stood between two
peaeocks. the feathers and plumes or
which were fashioned out Of colored
stones. Above the throne was a life-size
parrot cut out of one emerald. Above all,
was canopy resting on twelve columns
of gold, the canopy fringed with pearls.
Seated here, the emperor on public occa-
sions wore a crown containing anon other
things the Koh-i-noor diamond, and the
entire blaze of coronet cost S10,3J0, 900. This
superb and once almost systematically
beautiful room has imbedded in the white
marble wall letters OF black marble,
which We're translated TO me from Per-
sian into English as meaning:
If on earth there be an Eden Of bliss,
That place is this. Is this. is this, Is this.
But the peacocks that stood beside the
throne have flown away. taking all the
display with them, and those white mar
bic floors were redeemed with slaughter,
and those bathrooms ran with blood,
and that Eden of which the Persian coup
let on the walls spake has had its flowers
whittier and it's fruit decay, and | thought
while looking at the brilliant desolation,
and standing amid the vanished glories
of that throne room, that Some one had
better change a little that Persian couplet
on the wall and make II read:
II there be place whore much You miss,
That place is this. is this. Is this is this.
As I came out of the palace into the
street of Delhi, ] thought to myself: Par
adises are not built out of stoue; are not
cut in sculpture; are not painted Oh walls;
are not fashioned out OF precious stones;
do not spray the cheek with fountains do
not offer thrones or crowns. Paradises
are built out OF natures uplifted and en-
nobled. and what architects compass may
not sweep, and sculptor's chisel may not
cut, and painters pencil may not sketch.
and gardeners skill may not lay out. the
grace Of Goa can achieve, and il the heart
be right all is right, and If the heart he
wrong, all IS wrong. Here endeth the sec
ond lesson.
But 1 viii not yet allow you to leave
Delhi. The third thing YOU must see or
never admit that YOU have been in India,
is the mosque called Jumma Musiid. 1t
Is the grandest mosque I ever saw except
- OODuid dl ADIfSldullnoDits Out II sur
passes that in some respects; for st.
Sophia was originally a Christian church,
and changed into mosque, while this of
Delhi was originally built for the Moslems
AS I entered, a thousand or more Mo-
hammedans were Frustrated in worship
There are times when five thousand may
be seen here in the same attitude. Each
stone of the floor is three feet long by one
and one-half wide, and each orshpper
has one Of these slabs for himself while
kneeling. The erection of this building re-
quired FIVE thousand laborers for six
years. Il is on plateau of rocks has four
towers rising far into the heavens; three
great gateways inviting the world to come
in and honor the memory OF the prophet
Of many wives; fifteen domes with spires
gold-tipped. and six minarets. What q
built-up immensely OF white marble and
red sandstone? We descended the forty
marble steps by which we assembled. and
took another look at this wonder of the
world As ! thought what brain the
architect must have had who first built
that mosque in his own imagination. and
as | thought what an opulent ruler that
must have been who gave the order for
such vastness and symmetry. I was re-
minded of that which perfectly explained
all. The architect who planned this was
| the same man who planned the Tai,
namely, Austin de Bordeau. and the king
who ordered the mosque constructed was
the king who ordered the Tai. namely
! Shah Jehan. AS this Grand Mogul or
dered built the most splendid palace of
worship for the dead when he built the
| Tai. at Agra. he here ordered built the
| most splendid palace of workship for the
| living at Delhi. See here what sculpture
and architecture can accomplish They
link together the centuries. They sue
cessfully defy time. Two hundred and
! eighty years ago Austin de Bordeau and
Shah Jehan quit this life, but their work
lives and bids fair 10 stand until the
continents crack OPEN and hemispheres
go down. and this planet showers other
worlds with it's ashes.
l rejoice in all these big buildings,
whether dedicated TO Mohammed or
Brahma, or Buddha, or Confucius, or
Zoroaster; because as st. Sophia at Con-
stantinople was a Christian church
| changed into mosque, and will yet be
changed back again, so all the mosques
and temples of superstition and sin will
yet be turned into churches. When India
and Ceylon, and China, and Japan are
| ransomed, as we all believe they will be,
1 their religious structures will all be con-
/ verified into Christian asylums and Chris
tan schools, and Christian libraries, and
! Christian churches. Built at the expense
of superstitition and sin, they will yet be
| dedicated to the Lord Almighty. Here
endeth the third lesson.
As that night we took the railroad train
/ from the Delhi station and rolled out
through the city now living over the vast
| er cities buried under this ancient capital.
| cities under cities, and our travelling ser
want had unrolled our bed. which consist
! ed of a rug and two blankets and a pill
| low; and as we were worn out with the
sightseeing of the day. and were rough
ly tossed on that uneven Indian railway,
soon fell into a troubled sleep. in which
I saw and heard in a confused way the
| scenes and sounds of the mutiny of 1857,
which at Delhi we had been recounting;
and now the rattle of the train seemed
to turn into the rattle of musketry: and
now the light at the top of the car deluded
me with the idea of a burning city; and
then the loud thump of the railroad brake
was in dream mistaken for a booming bat
terry; and the voices at the different sta
tons made me think heard the loud cheer
of the British at the taking of Cashmere
Gate; and as we rolled over bridges the
battles before Delhi seemed going on; and
as we went through dark tunnels seemed
to see the tomb Of Humayun in which the
king of Delhi was hidden and in my
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