Milford chronicle., 1895-01-18

a. sance. The tomtoms were wildly beatei
y and shrill pipes were blown, and sever
X other instruments were in full bang an
u blare, and there was an indescribable hui
bub and the most laborious style of wol
g ship / had ever seen or heard. The dif
,s lights, and the iargon and the gloom,
a and the ditting figures mingled for ey
y and ear a horror which it is difficult {
u shake off. All this was only suggestive G
X what would there transpire after the toll
ers Of the day had ceased work and ha'
time to appear at the temple. That sucl
y things should be supposed to please th
Lord or have any power to console or hell
the wOrshipers is only another mystery IL
; this world Of mysteries But we cam
! away saddouel with the spectacle, a sad
ness which did not leave us until we ar
rived at a place where Christian mission
ary was preaching in the street to a grouI
Of natives.
had that morning expressed wish {.
witness such scene, and here it was
Standing on an elevation, the good mar
was addressing the crowd An was atten.
tion and silence and reverence A religion
of relief and joy was being commended.
and the dusky faces were illumined with
the sentiments of pacilcati7n and re On
forcement 10 was tha Rose of Sharon after
walking among nettles 1t was the morn
ing light after a thick darkness 1t was
the gospel after Hindooism
Ancient Civilization.
But passing up and down the streets OF
Ceylon you find all styles of people within
five minutes-Afghans, Kafirs, Portu
guese, Moormen, Dutch, English, Scotch,
/ Irish, AmCrican-all classes, all dialects,
all manners and customs, all styles of sa-
laam The most interesting thing on
earth Is the human race, and specimens
of all branches of it confront you in Cey-
lon The island of the present is a quiet
and inconspiCuous affair compared with
what it once was Tho dead cities of Cey.
Ion were larger and more imposing than
are the living cities. On this island are
| dead New Yorks, and dead Pekings and
| dead Edinburghs, and dead Londons
! Ever and anon at the stroke Of the archie
Ologist's hammer the tomb of some great
municipality flies open, and there are
other buried cities that will yet respond to
tho explorers pickaX The PCwpCii a11
Herculaneum underneath Italy are small
compared with the Pompeiis and Hercu-
| laneums underneath Ceyion. Yonder Is
an exhumed city which was founded 500
years before Christ standingin in pomp and
which 90 men might pass side by side;
carved pillars, some Of them fallen, some
OF them Bslant, some of them erect; Phid
iases and Christopher Wrens never heard
of here performed the marvels of sculpture
and architecture; aisles through whiCi
royal professions marched; arches under
which kings were carried; city with reser
Voir 20 miles in circumference; extempO-
rized lakes that did their cooling and re
freshing for II centuries; ruins more sug
gestive than Melrose and Kenilworth; |
Ceylonian Karnaks and Luxors; ruins re
tanning much of grandeur, though wars
bombarded them and time put his chisel |
on every block, and more than all, vege- |
tatiOn put its anchors and prizes and |
wrenches in all the crevices.
DagObas, or places where relics of saints |
or deities are kept-dagobas 400 feet high /
and their fallen material burying pre-
cious things for the sight of which mod
ern curiosity has digged and blasted in
vain. Procession Of elephants in imitation,
wrought into lustrous marble Troops of
horses in full run. Shrines, chapels, ca
thedrals wrecked in the mountain side
Stairs of muonstOne. Exquisite scrolls
rolling up more mysteries than will ever
be unrollod Over l6 square miles, the
ruins of one city strewn. Thronerooms on
which at different times sat 165 kings,
reigning in authority they inherited. Walls
that witnessed coronations, assassinations,
triumphs Affairs at which
millions bowed ages before the orchestras
celestial woke the shepherds with mid
night overture.
Cities Once DenseIy Crowded.
When Lieutenant Skinner in 1889 dis
covered the site of some of these cities, he
found congregrated in them undisturbed
assemblages of leopards pOrcupines, fam
ingoes and pelicans; reptiles summing
themselves on the altars; prima donnas
ornithological chant from de
serted music halls One king restored
much of the GRANDEUR rebuilt l., 500 resi-
1ences, but ruin soon resumed its scepter
But all is down. the spires down, the pill
lars down, the tablets down, the glory Of
splendid arches down What killed those
]ities? Who slew the New York and Lon
Ion of the year 500 B. c.? Was it un
lealthed with host of plaguesi Was it
oreign armies laying siegef Was it whole
generations weakened by their own vicesf
Mystery sits amid the monoliths and brick
lust finger on lip in eternal silence
while the centuries guess and guess in
gain We simply know that genius plan [
!
them An eminent writer esti- g
mates that pile Of bricks in one ruin of !
Jeylon would be enough to build a wall
en- feet high from Edinburgh to London /
sixteen thousand pillars, with carved capi g
ais, are standing sentinel for ten miles Z
You can judge somewhat Of the size Of {
he cities by the reservoirs that were re
uired to slake their thirst, judging the d
ize of the city from the size of the cup out o
t which it drank Cities crowded with ( {
not like American or English
tiles, but packed together as only barbar .
Q tribes can pack them But their knell q
-as sounded Their light went out Giant St
rees are the only royal family now ooou
ying those palaces The growl OF wild y
casts where once the guffaw OF wassaii
5cended. Anuraiahpura and Pollonarna &
ill never be rehuilded Let all the living
ties Of the earth take warming Cities
re human, having time to be born and
time to die No more certainly have q
ley cradle than grave A last judg s
Ient is appointed for individuals, but q
ties have their last judgment in this =
orld They bless, they curse, they wor L
zip, they hlaspheme, they suffer, they are y
lwarded they are overthrown. I
PreposterOus, says some one, to think that p
ny of our American or European cities .
hich have stood so long can ever come lG
trough vice to extinction. But New York u
id London have not stood as long as OF
lose Ceylonese cities stood Where is the u
lrone outside Of Ceyion on which 165 &C
iooessive kings reigned for lifetime' al
tiles and nations that have lived far
niger than our present cities or nation pl
ave been sepulchered. Let all the great VI
Of this and other lands eA
lnder 1t is as true now as when the "a
almist wrote it and as true Of cities co
ID nations as Of individuals The Lord az
loweth the way Of the righteous, but the SO
ay of the ungodly shall perish +" uo
HIS WIFE is HAPPY NOW co
ound an Interest In Life In New York