The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1895-01-09

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er worlds with It's ashes
/ rejoice in all these big buildings,
whether dedicated to Mohammed or
Brahma or Buddha or ColtEclus or
Zoroaster, because, as St. Sophia at
ConStantinople waSa Christian church
changed into mosque and Will yet
be changed back again, so all the mos
oucs and templesof superstitutlon and
sin will vet be turned into churches.
When India and Ccvlon and China
and Japan are ransomed. as we all be-
lieve they will be. their religious struc-
lures will all be converted into Chris
tan avslums and Christian schools
and Christian libraries and Christian
churches. Built at the expense OF
superstition and sin, they will yet be
dedicated to the Lord Almighty.
The strange TACT is that ruler aban-
doned his palaces at Amber and moved
to Jaipur. and all the inhabitants of
the city followed. Except here and
there a house in Amber occupied by 4
hermit, the cityis silent population
as Pompeii or Herculaneum. But
those cities were emptied by volcanic
disaster, while this city of Amber was
vacated because Prince Joy Singh was
told by a Hindoo priest that no city
should be inhabited more than 1000
years. and so the ruler, 40 years ago,
moved out himself and all his people
moved with him.
You visit Amber, on the back of an
elephant. Permission obtained for
your visit the day before a Jaipur, an
elephant is IN waiting for YOU about
Sixmiles out to take YOU up the steps
to Amber. You pass through the
! awfuily quiet streets. all the feet that
trod them in the days of their activity
having gone on the long journey, and
the voices of business and Gayety that
sounded amid these abodes having
! longa"o uttered their last syllable.
You pass by lake covering 500 acres
whcre!the Rajahs used to sail in their
pleasure boats, but alligators now have
full possession, and You come TO the
abandoned palace, which is an en-
chantment. No more picturesque
place was ever chosen for the residence
Of q monarch. The fortress above
looks down upon this palace, and the
palace looks down upon lake. This
| monarchial abode may have had at
fractions when twas thehome of roy
atty. which have vanished, but anti
| Guilty and the silence of many years
and opportunity to tread where once
YOU would not have been permitted
to tread may be anaddition quite equal
to the subtraction.
l will not 90 into q description Of
brazen doorway after brazen doorway
and carved room. after carved room
and lead YOU under embellished cell
ing after embellished ceiling and
through halls precious stoned into
wider halls precious stoned. Why
tire out your imagination with the
particulars when YOU may sum up all
By saying that on the slopes of that
hill of India are pavilions deeply dyed.
tasseled and arched: the fire Of colored
gardens cooled by the snow of white
| architecture, bathrooms that refresh
before your feet touch their marble.
birds in arabesques so natural to life
that while you cannot hear their voices
YOU imagine you see the tiutter of their
wings as you are passing; stoneware
| translucent. walls pictured with hunt
| ing gscene and triumphal procession and
jousting party; rooms that were called
''alcove Of light" and court of honor
and hall of victory" marble,
white and black, like mixture of
morning and light; alabaster and lac
Guer work and mother of pearl-all
that architecture and sculpture and
painting and horticulture can do when
they put their genius together was
done here in ages past, and much of
their work still stands to absorb and
entrance archeologist and sightseer.
But what solemn and stupendous
thing is an abandoned city! While
many of the peoples of earth have no
roof for their heads, here is whole
city of roofs rejected. The sand of
the desert was sufficient excuse for the
disappearance of Heliopolis, and the
waters of the Mediterranean sea for
the engulfment of Tyre, and the lava
of Mount Vesuvius for the obliteration
of Herculaneum, but for the sake of
nothing but a superstitious whim the
city of Amber is abandoned forever.
Oh, wondrous India. The city of Am
Der is only one of the marvels which
compel the untitled hand of surprise
from the day YOU enter India until
your leave it. It's fora is so tlamboy-
ant. fauna so monstrous and savage,
its ruins so suggestive, its idolatry so
horrible, its degradation SO sicken
ing, its mineralogy so brilliant. It's
spIendors so uplifting, its architecture
50 old, SO grand, so educational. so
multipotent that India will not be full
ly comprehended until science has
made its last experiment, and eNplora-
ton has ended its last journey, and
the library Of the world S literature has
closed its last door, and Christianity
has made It's last achievement, and
the clock of time has struck its last
hour.