The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1895-02-09
f was tie morning light after a thick carE

ness. It was the gospel after Endooism.
[ But passing up and down the streets o
| Cey,on you And all styles OF people withir
| FIVE miru:es-Afehans, Eefhrs, Portuguese
Moornaen, Deteh, English, Scotch, Irish
Arnerican-all CLASSES, all dialects, all man
! ners and customs, all stries Of salaarn. Tn
NOS. interesting thing on earth Is the hrl.
man race, and specimens OF 81 3rancnes OF
/ II confront you in Ceyion. The island o:the
present is quiet AMI inconsplcuous affair
| compared with what it once was. The dead
cities OF Cey,on were larger and more I'M
posing than are the living cities. On this
Island are dead New Yorks and dead Pek.
| inss and dead Edinourghs and dead Lon.
6one. Ever and anon at the stroke or the
archeogiis,'s hammer the tomb OF some
| great municipality flies open, and there are
other buried cities that will yet respond tc
! the explorers pickaX.
The Pompaii and HercuIaneum under
meath Italy are small compared with the
Ponpeiis and Herculaneuns underneath
CeyloD. Yonder IS an exhumed city wn1ca
was founded 500 years before Christ, stand
ins in pomp and splendor for 1900 years.
Stairways up which fifty men might pass
side by side. Carved pillars, some of them
fallen, some OF them aslant, some OF them
erect. Phidiases and Christopher Wrsns
! never heard OF hera. performed the marve's
OF sculpture and architecture. Aisies
hroueh which ROYAL PROFESSIONS marched.
Arches under waicl kings were carried. City
with reservoir twenty miles In clrcumfer.
rncn Exta;npor:zed lakes that did thelr
cooling and refreshing for twelve centuries.
Ruins moro suggestive than Meirose ana
Wentworth. Cay;onian Narnaks and Luxors.
Ruins retaining much of grandeur, though
vars bonhar!ed them, and time put his
chisel on every block, and, more than all.
vegetation put is anchors and prizes and
wrenches IN all the crevices. Dagooas, or
places where relics Of saints OF dieties are
kept-daeooas 400 feet high and their fallen
material buryins precious things, for the
sight Of which modern curiosity has dtgged
md blasted in vain. Procession OF ele-
phants In imitation, wrought into lustrous
marble. Troops Of horses in fu!l run.
Shtines, chapels, catheirals wrecked On the
mountain side. Stairs Of moonstoCe. Ez-
lusite scrolls rolling up more mysteries
han will ever be uuro!fad. Over sixteen
square miles the ruins OF one city strewn.
Thronerooms on which at different times sat
l65 kings, res!gnlng in authority they in.
herited. Walls that witnessed coronations,
assassnations, subjuSations, trtumphs. Al
tars at which millions bowed ages before the
orcbestras celestial woke the sheperds With
Midnight overture.
When Lieutenant Skinner in 1882 discoI
,red the site Of some ofthese cities, he founf
congregated In them undisturbed assem-
blages Of leopards, porcupines, faminsoes
and pelicans; reptiles summing themselves
on the altars, prlma donnas rendering
ornithological chant from deserted music
halls. One king restored much oftbe grand
eur, rebuilt 1900 residences, but ruin soon
resumed its scepter. But all is down-the
spires down, the pillars down, the tablets
down, the glory OF splendid arches down.
What killed those cities? Who slew the New
York and London of the year 500 3. c.? Was
1t unhealthed with host Of plaques? Was
It foreign armies laying seige? Was it whole
generations weakened by their own vicest
Mystery sits amid the monoliths and brick
dust, finger on lip in eternsi silence, While
the centuries guess and guess In vain. We
simply know that genius planned those
cities, and immense populations inhabited
them. An eminent writer estimates that
pile of brinkain one ruin OF Ceylon would be
Edinburgh to London. Sixteen nunarsu
pillars with carved capitals are sranGas
Ientinel for ten miles.
You can Judge somewhat of the size OF the
cities by the reservoirs that were required
10 slack their thirst. Judging the size OF the
CITY from the size OF the cup out OF when II
drank. Cities crowded with inhabitants
not like American or English cities, but
packed togetner as only baroaric tribes can
back them, But their krell was sounded,
their light went out. Giant trees are the
only royal family low occupying those
palaces. The growl Of wild beasts where
cnce the suffaw Of wassail ascended. AnuraJ-
ehpura and Pollonaena will never be re-
buildsd, Let all the living cities OF the
earth take warning. Cities are human, nay
inga time to be born and time to die. NO
more certainly have they & cradle than
grave A last judgment IS appointed for IN
diyIduals, but cities have their last judg-
ment In this world. They bless, they curse,
they worship, they b!aspheme. they suffer;
hey are rewarded, they are overthroWn.
Preposterous! says some one, to tnlnR
that any of our American or European cities
which have stood so long can ever cone
through vice to extinction. Cot New iors
and London have not stood as long as those
Ceylonese cities stood. Where Is the throne
outside of Ceylon on which 165 successive
kings rei9ned for lifeline. CIties and ma.
lions that have lived far longer than our
present cities or nation have been sepul-
.hered. Let all the great municipalities OF
This and other lands ponder. It is as true
now as when the psalmist wrote 1t and as
true OF cities and nations as OF individuals,
1.-THE Lord knoweth the way OF the rts1-
'.eous, but the way Of mo -2n~odly saa
perish" --.----