The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1895-01-16

detilroned him and imprisoned him,
and it IS wonderful that the king had
any place at ali in which to be buried.
Instead OF windows to let in the light
upon the t%o tolnbs there is q treil!o
work of narDle-marble cut 50 deli
cately thin that the sun shines through
it as easily as through glass. Look the
world over and find so much translu
cencv-canopies, traceries, lacework,
embroideries of stone.
We had heard of the wonderful res
onance of this Tai, and so tried it. I
suppose there earcmore sleeping echoes
in that building waiting to be awak-
ened by the human voice than in any
building ever constructed. | uttered
one word, and there seemed descend
Jug invisible choirs in full chant, and
there was reverberation that kept on
long after one could have expected it
to cease. When q line of hymn was
sung, there were replying, rolling,
rising, falling. Intervening sounds
that seemed modulated by beings SER
aphic. There were aerial sopranos and
bassos-soft, high, deep, tremulous,
emotional, commingling. 1t was like
an antiphonal of heaven. But there
are four or five Tai Mahals. 1t has
one appearance at sunrise, another at
noon. another at sunset and another
by moonlight. Indeed the silver
trowel of the moon, and the golden
trowel of the sunlight, and the leaden
trowel Of :he storm build and rebuild
the glory, so that it never seems twice
alike. It has all moods, all complex.
ions. all grandeurs. From the top Of
the Tai which is $50 feet high. springs
spire 80 feet higher. and that is en-
ameled gold. What an anthem in
eternal rhythm Lyrics and elegies in
marble Sculptured hosanna. Ma
sonry as of supernatural hands !:
Mighty doxology in stone. / shall
see nothing to equal it till I see the
great white throne and omit him from
whose face the earth and heavens flee
away.
The Tails IS the pride OF India and es
/ pecially OF l1ohammedanism. An En-
glish officer at the fortress told us tha
when, during the general mutiny il
1857, the Mohammedans proposed in
surrection at Agra the English gov
ernment aimed the guns of the fort al
the Tai and said, You make insur
rection, and that same day we vii
blow your Tai to atoms, and tha
threat ended the disposition for mutt
ny at Agra. The Tai Mahal has it
uses as an architectural achievement
ecipsing all other architecture, but a:
memorial of a departed wife ant
mother it expresses no more than th'
! plainest slab in many acountry grave
ward. The best monument we cal
any of US have built for us when we arr
gone is in the memory of those whose
sorrows we have alleviated. in thu
wounds we have healed, in the kind
nesses we have done, in the Ignorance
we have enlightened, in the recrean
we have reclaimed, in the souls WI
have saved. Such a monument i
built out of material more lasting thai
marble or bronze and will stand amit
the eternal splendors long after thu
Tai Mahal OF India shall have gone
down in the ruins of a world of whiel
it was the costliest adornment. But
| promised to show you not only toni
of India, but unique heather temple
/ and it is a temple underground.
With miners candle we had seel
something of the underside of Aus
tralia, as at Gimple, and with guide
torch we had seen at different time
something of the underside of Ameri
ca, as in Mammoth cave, but we arr
now to enter one of the sacred cellars
of India, commonly called the Ele
phanta caves. We had it all to our
selves-the steam yacht that was t.
take us about Is miles over the harbo1
of Bombay and between enchanted is
lands and along shores whose curve:
and gulches and pictured rocks gradu
ally prepared the mind for apprecla
ticn Of the most unique spectacle II
| India. After an hours cutting
through the waters we came to the
| long pier reaching from the island
called Elephanta. It is an island small
of girth, but 600 feet high. Itdecline:
| into the marshes of mangrove. Butthe
whole island is one tangle of foliage
and verdure. We stepped out of the
boat amid enough natives to AFFORD
all the help we needed for landing
and guidance. You can be carried by
coolies in an easy chair, or you car
walk if YOU are blessed with two stou
limbs, which the psalmist evidently
| lacked, or he would not have so de
preciated them when he said. The
Lord taketh no pleasure in the legs O.
man" We passed up some stone
steps, and between the walls we saw
awaiting us a cobra-one of those
snakes which greet the traveller oft
times in India. Two of the guide:
left the cobra dead by the wayside
They must have been Nohammedans
for Hindoos never kill that sacred rep
tile.
| And now we come near the famous
temple hewn from one rock of por
phyry at least 500 years ago Or
either side of the chief temple is
chapel, LlleSe cut out OF tne same stone
So vast was the undertaking and t
the Hindoo was so great the human
impossibility that they say the god
scooped out this structure from tht
rock and carved the pillars and hewet
its shape into gigantic idols and dedi
Gated it to all the -grandeurs. w
climb many stone steps before we ge
to the gateways. The entrance to thi:
temple has sculptured doorkeeper:
leaning on sculptured devils. II
these Elepbanta caves everything i:
on Samsonian and mitantian scale
With chisels that were dropped from
nerveless hands at least eight centurie:
ago the forms Of the gods Brahma anc
Vishhu and silva We're cut into the
everlasting rock. silva is here repre-
scnted by figure IL feet 8 inches
high, one-half man and one-half wo