The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1895-01-18
tomb AND TEMPLE
Rev. DR.. Talmage Talks on the
Mausoleurn of Tai Mahal,
The Most Beautiful Work of Art in the
World, Where Repose the Remains
of Queen Montaz-Shah Je-
hams Black Tomb.

lion OF MS hOuHu UHe WOrlu series
is given out by Rev T. Dewitt Tai
mage for publication this week. "Toml
and Temple" is it's subject, being based
on the text:
From India even unto Ethiopia. -Esther l., l.
In 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
felt that if we saw nothing more our
expedition would be success. That
one object was the Tai Mahal of India.
1T is the crown of the whole earth
The spirits of architecture met to
enthrone a king, and the spirit of
the Parthenon of Athens was there;
and the spirit of st. Sophia of Con-
stantinople was there; and the spirit
of st. Izaak of st. Peters burg was
there; and the spirit of the Baptistery
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,
SHOdG SISdo
great sarcophagi, great capitols for the
living, and of great necropolises for
the dead, were there. And the presid-
ing genius of the throng with gavel of
Parian marble smote the table of Rus
sian malachite, and called the throng
of spirits to order and called for vote
as to which spirit should wear the
chief crown, and mount the chief
throne, and wave the chief scepter, and
by unanimous acclaim the cry was:
t-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 disappoint
ed 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 al
ways disappointed, and who knows but |
that having entered Heaven they may
criticise the architecture of the tenn
pie, 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 little spring-halt or spav-
ined?
my son said: "There it is" l said:
stWhere?" For that which he saw to
be the building seemed to me to be
more like the morning cloud blushing
under the stare of the rising sun. 1t
seemed not SO much built up from
earth as let down from heaven. For
tunately, you stop at an elaborated
gateway of red sandstone one-eighth
of mile from the Tai, an entrance so
high, so arched, so graceful, SO four
domed, so painted, 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
tho soul. We go up the wind
ing stairs of this majestic en-
trance of the gateway, and buy few
pictures and examine 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 a
deep stream of water in which all I
manner of brilliant fins swirl and float
There are eightyfour fountains that
spout and bend and arch themselves to
fall in showers of pearl in basins of
snowy whiteness. Beds of all imag-
Unable flora greet the nostrils before
they do the eye, and seem to roll in
waves of color as you advance to-
wards the vision you are soon to
have of what human genius
did when it did its best; moon {
flowers, lilacs, marigolds, tulips,
and almost everywhere the lotus;
of bewildering bloom; on I
either side trees from many lands bend !
their arborescence over your head, or
seem with convoluted branches to reach 9
put their arms towards You in well
come. On and on you go amid tama-
rind. and cypress, and poplar, and OLE {
ander, and yew, and sycamore, and q
Danyan, and palm, and trees of such
novel branch and leaf and girth, you t
,ease to ask their name or nativity. +
As you approach the door of the Tai {
,ne experiences a strange sensation of c
1--WE, and tenderness, and humility, and !
The building is only grave, t
but what gravel Built for a queen, /
who, according to some, was very S
good, and according to Others was
very bad. l choose to think she /
was very good. At any rate, it c
makes me feel better to think that