Connecticut western news., 1895-01-17

the words of the lesson, each student holding a similar package of bamboo leaves The high priest first read, and then one of his students read. A group of as finely formed young men as l ever saw surrounded the venerable instructor The last word of each sentence was in- toned. There was in the whole scene an earnestness which impressed me. Not able to understand Q word of what was said, there is look of language and intonation that is the same among all races. That the Buddhists have full faith in their religion no one can doubt That is, in their opinion, the way to heaven. What Mohammed is to the Mohammedan and what Christ is to the Christian Buddha is to the Buddhist We waited for pause in the recitation, and then expressing our thanks retired
 Nearby is Buddhist temple, on the altar of which before the image of Buddha are offerings of flowers. As night was coming on we came up to Hindoo temple. First we were prohib- ited going farther than the outside steps, but we gradually advanced until we could see all that was going on inside. The worshipers were making obeisanoe The tamtams were wildly beaten, and shrill pipes were blown, and several other instruments were in full bang and blare, and there was an indescribable hubbub and the most laborious style of worship. had ever seen or heard. The dim lights, and the jargon. and the glooms, and the Hitting figures mingled for eye and ear horror which it is difficult to shake off All this was only suggestive of what would there transpire after the toilers of the day had ceased work and had time to appear at the temple. That such things should be supposed to please the Lord or have any power to console or help the worshipers is only another mystery in this world of mysteries But we came away saddened with the speo- taole, a sadness which did not leave us until we arrived at place where Christian missionary was preaching in the street to group of natives.
 Underneath Ceylon.
 I had that morning expressed wish to witness such a scene, and here it was. Standing on an elevation, the good man was addressing the crowd. All was at tention and silence and reverence. A re- ligion of relief and joy was being com mended, and the dusky faces were il- lumined with the sentiments of pacifi cation and enforcement. It was the rose of Sharon after walking among net ties. It was the morning light after thick darkness It was the gospel after Hindooism.
 But passing up and down the streets of Ceylon you find all styles of people within five minutes-Afghans, Kaffirs, Portuguese, Moormen, Dutch, English, Scotch, Irish, American-all classes, all dialects, all manners and customs, all styles of salaam. The most interesting thing on earth is the human race, and specimens of all branches of it confront you in Ceylon The island of the pres ent is quiet and inconspicuous affair compared with what it once was. The dead cities of Ceylon were larger and more imposing than are the living cities. On this island are dead New Works and dead Pekings and dead Edinburghs and dead Londons. Ever and anon at the stroke of tho arch@ologist's hammer the tomb of some great municipality flies open, and there are other buried cities that will yet respond to the explorers Ipiekax
 . The Pompeii and Herculaneum un- derneath Italy are small compared with the Pompeiis and Herculaneums under meath Ceylon. Wonder is an exhumed city which was founded 500 years be- fore Christ, standing in pomp and splen- dor for l 200 years. Stairways up which 50 men might pass side by side. Carved pillars, some of them fallen, some of them aslant, some of them erect. Phid- iases and Christopher Wrens never heard of here performed the marvels of sculp- ture and architecture. Aisles through which royal prooessions marched. Arch es nnder which kings were carried. City with reservoir 90 miles in circumfer- ence Extemporized. lakes that did their cooling and refreshing for l2 centuries Ruins more suggestive than Melrose and Kenilworth. Ceylonian Karnaks and Luxors.
 Ruins retaining much of grandeur, though wars bombarded them, and time put his chisel on every block, and, more than all, vegetation put its anchors and pries and wrenches in all the crevices. iDagohas, or places where relics of saints or dieties are kept-dagobas 400 feet high and their fallen material burying precious things, for the sight of which modern curiosity has digged and blasted in vain Procession of elephants in i'm itation, wrought into lustrous marble Troops of horses in full run. Shrines, chapels, cathedrals wrecked on the noun tain side. Stairs of moonstone Fix quisite scrolls rolling up more mysteries than will ever be unrolled. Over 16 square miles the ruins of one city strewn. Thronerooms on which at different times sat 165 kings, reigning in author ity they inherited. Walls that witness ed coronations, assassinations, subjuga- tions, triumphs. Altars at which mil lions bowed ages before the orchestras celestial woke the shepherds with mid night overture.
 The Life of Cities.
 When Lieutenant Skinner in 1882 discovered the site of some of these cities, he found congregated in them un- disturbed assemblages of leopards, DOT cupines, hamingoes and pelicans; rep tiles summing themselves on the altars, prima donnas rendering ornithologioal chant from deserted music halls One king restored much of the grandeur, rebuilt 1, 500 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 citiesp Who slew the New York and London of the year 500 B. CT Was it unhealthed with host of plaques? Was it foreign ar mics laying seize? Was it whole gen. erations weakened by their own vices? Mystery sits amid the monoliths and briokdust, finger on lip in eternal si- fence, while the centuries guess and guess in vain. We simply know that genius