The Yale expositor., 1895-01-11

40 Idmage writes as follows:
!: :: !: J: !: :: :: !. :: !: J
q ~ I'M XII In all the Bible this is the
N%SM III only book in which the
W. Hu Ill word India occurs, but it
UI&T<V stands for realm of vast
90 SSSA interest in the time of
20 III Esther as in our time. II
NQYS&yl2 Welded then as now spices,
"a \ and silks, and cotton, and
IKE p rice, and indigo, and ores
q q @ of all richness, and precious
q stones of all sparkle, and
had n civilization of its own as marked
as Egyptian or Grecian or Roman civ
ilization. II holds the costliest tomb
ever built, and the most unique and
idolatrous temple ever op.ned. For
practical lessons, in this my sixth dis
course in " round the world series, L
show you that tomb and temple OF
India.
In a journey around the world it
may not be easy to tell the exact point
which divides the pilgrimage into
halves. But there was one structure
toward which we were all the time
travelling, and having seen that, we
fe that If we saw nothing more, our
expedition would be a success. That
one object was the Tai Mahal of India.
1t is the crown of the whole earth.
The spirits of architecture met to en-
throne king, and the spirit of the
Parthenon of Athens was there; and
the spirit of st. Sophia of Constanti-
nople was there; and the spirit OF ST.
lzaal1 of st. Petersburg was there; and
the spirit of the Bapistery of Pisa was
there; and the spirits of the Great
Pyramid, and of Luxor Obelisk, and Of
the Porcelain Tower of Nankin, and of
st. Marks of Venice; and the spirits OF
all the great towers, great cathedrals,
great mausoleums, great sarcophagl,
great capitols for the living, and OF
great necropolises for the dead, were
there And the presiding genius of
the throng with gavel of Parian
marble smote the table of Russian mala-
chite, and called the spirits to order,
and called "A vote as to which spirit
should wear the chief crown, and
mount the chief throne. and wave the
chief scepter, and by unanimous ac-
claim the cry was: Long live The
spirit of the Tai, king of all the spirits
of architecture! Thine is the Tai
Mahal of India!'
The building is about six miles from
Agra, and as we rode out in the early
dawn we heard nothing but the hoofs
and wheels that pulled and turned us
along the road, at every yard of which
our expectation rose until we had
some thought that we might be disap-
pointed at the first glimpse, as some
say they were disappointed. But how
can any one be disappointed with the
| Tai is almost as great wonder TO
me as the Tai itself. There are some
people always disappointed, and who
knows but that having entered heaven
they may criticise the architecture of
| the temple, and the cut of the white
robes, and say that the river of life is
not quite up to their expectations, and
that the white horses ON which the
conquerors ride seem n little spring
halt or spawned?
Ny son said, There il is!'' l said,
"Where?" For that which he
! saw to be the building seemed
/ TO me to be more like the morn
ing cloud blushing under the
stare of the rising sun. 1t seemed not
so much built up from earth as let
down from heaven. Fortunately, you
stop at an elaborated gateway of red
sandstone one eighth of n mile from
the Tai, an entrance so high, SO arched,
so graceful, so four domed, so pain Ced
and chiseled and scrolled that you come
very gradually upon the Tai, which
structure is enough to intoxicate the
eye, and stun the imagination, and
entrance the soul. We go up the
winding stairs of this majestic entrance
of the gateway, and buy few pict-
ures and examine a few curios, and
from it look off upon the Tai, and de-
scend to the pavement of the garden
that raptures everything between the
gateway and the ecstasy of marble and
precious stones You pass along n deep
stream of water in which all manner
of brilliant fins swirl and float. There
are eighty-four fountains that spout.
and bend, and arch themselves to fall
in showers of pearl in basins of snowy
4
wilderness. Beds of all Imaginable
flora greet the nostril before they do
the eye, and seem tc roll in waves of
colors as you advance toward the vision
you are soon to have of what human
genius did when it did its best; moon
flowers, lilac, marigolds, tulips, and
almost everywhere the lotus; Tickets
OF bewildering bloom; on either side
trees from many lands bend their
aborescence ov your head. or seem
with convoluted branches to reach out
their arms toward you in welcome. On
and you go amid tamarind, and cypress,
and poplar, and oleander, and yew,
and sycamore, and banyan, and palm,
and trees of such novel branch,
and leaf, and girth, you cease
to ask their names or nativity. As
you approach the door of the Tai
one experiences a strange sensation
of awe, and tenderness, and humility,
and worship. The building is only
grave, but what gravel Built for n