The Yale expositor., 1895-01-04


son falling while rallying his wavering
troops; and l saw dead regiment fallen
across dead regiment, and heard the
rataplan of the hoofs OF Hodgson's
horse, and the dash OF the Bengal ar
tillery, and the stor1Gihg OF the inn
mortal Fourth column; and the rougher
the Indian railway became, and tho
darker the night grew, the l. IRE the
scenes that had been studying at
Delhi came on me like an incubus. But
the morning began to look through the
window of our jolting car, and tho
sunlight poured in on my pillow, and
in my dream / saw the bright colors OF
the English flag hoisted over Delhi,
where the green banner of the Moslem
had waved, and the voices of the
wounded and dying seemed to be ex-
changed for the voices that welcomed
soldiers home again. And as the
morning light got brighter and bright
er, and in my dream 1 mistook the
bells at n station for q church bell
hanging in Il minaret, where a Moham-
medan priest had mumblcd his call to
praper, i seemed to hear a chant,
whether by human or angelic voices in
my dream l could not tell, but it was
a chant about Peace and good will to
men," And as the speed of the rail-
train slackened the motion of the car
became 50 easy as we rolled along
the track that it seemed to me that all
the distress, and controversy, and jolt
ing, and wa S of the world had ceased;
and in my dream l thought we had
come to the time when The ransomed
of the Lord shall return and come to
Zion with songs and everlasting joy
upon their heads; and sorrow and sigh
ing shall fee away"
Halt here at what you have never
seen before, Il depopulated city, the
city of Amber, India.
The strange fact is that ruler aban-
doned his palaces at Amber aud moved
to Jeypore, and all the inhabitants of
the city followed. Except here and
there house in Amber occupied by a
hermit, the city is as silent popula-
ton as Pompcii or Herculaneum; but
those cities were enptied by volcanic
disaster, while this city of Amber was
vacated because Prince Joy Singh was
told by Hindoo priest that no city
should be inhabited more than a thou
sand years, and SO the ruler 40 years
ago moved out himself, and all his
people moved with him.
l will not go far into n description
of brazen doorway after brazen door
way, and carved room after carved
room, and LEAD you under embelliShed
ceiling after cmbellished ceiling, and
through halls precious stoned into
wider halls precious stoned. Why tire
out your imagination with the particu
lars, when you may sum up all by say
ing that on the slopes of that hill of
India arc pavilions deeply dyed, tas-
seied and arched; the fire of colored
ga dens cooled by the snow of white
architecture; bath rooms that refresh
before your feet touch the marble;
birds in arabesque so natural to life,
that while you can not hear their
voices, you imagine you see the fiutter
of their wings as you are passing;
stoneware translucent; walls pictured
with hunting sceno. and triumphal
procession, and fousting party;
rooms that were called AL
cove of Light" and Court of Honor"
and Hall of Victory;" marble, white
and black, like a mixture of morning
and night; alabaster, and lacquer
work, and mother of pearl; all that
architecture. and sculpture, and paint
ing, 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 arch8ologist and sight seer
But what solemn and stupendous
thing is an abandoned city. While
many of the peoples of the earth have
no roof for heir head, here is whole
city of roofs rejected. The sand of
the desert was sufficient excuse for the
disac pearnnce of Heliopolis, and the
waters OF the Mediterranean sea for
the engulfment of Tyre, and the lava
of Mount Nesuvius for the obliteration
of Herculaneum; but for the
sake of nothing but superstitious
within the city of Amber is abandoned
forever o, wondrous India! The city
of Amber is only one of the marvels
which compel the uplifted hand of
surprise from the day you enter India
until you leave it. Its flora is SO
hamboyant; its fauna SO monstrous
and savage; its ruins so suggestive;
its idolatry SO horrible; its degradation
so sickening; its mineralogy so brill
liant; its splendors SO uplifting; its
architecture so old, so grand, SO educa-
tional, SO multipotent, that India will
not be fully comprehended until
science has made its last experiment,
and exploration has ended its last
journey, and the library of the worlds
literature has closed its last door, and
Christianity has made its last achieve
ment, and the clock of time has struck
its last hour.