The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1895-01-25


, flowers to garland all the world
beauty.
But in the evening, riding through
cinnamon grove, / first tasted tn
leaves and bark of that condiment s.
valuable and delicate that transporter
on ships the aroma of the cinnamon i
dispeled if placed near a rival bark. o
such great value is the cinnamon shrul
that years ago those who injured it il
Ceylon were put to death. But tina
which once was jungle of cinnamon
is now park of gentlemen's resi-
dences The long, white dwelling
houses are bounded with thi:
shrub, and all other styles of growth
congregated there make q botani-
cal garden. Doves called cinnamon
doves hop among the branches, and
crows more POLITICALLY styled ravens,
which never could sing, but think they
can, fly across the road giving full test
of their vocables. Birds which learned
their chanting under the very caves of
Heaven overpower all with their grand
march of the tropics. The hibiscus
dapples the scenes with its scarlet clus-
tiers. All shades of brown and emer-
aid, and saffron, and brilliance;
melons, lines, magnosteens, GUS
tard-apples, guavas, pineapples,
jessamine SO laden with aroma they
have to hold fast to the wall, and be-
gonias, gloriosas on fire, and orchids so
delicate other lands must keep them
under conservatory, but here defiant
Of all weather, and flowers more or
less akin to azaleas, and honeysuckles,
and foxes, and fuchias, and chrysan-
themums, and rhododendrons, and fox
gloves, and pansies, which dye the
plains and mountains of Ceylon
with Heaven. The evening hour
burns incense of all styles of
aromatics. The convolvulus, blue
as if the sky had fallen, and
butterflies spangling the air. and arms
of trees sleeved with blossoms, and
rocks upholstered of moss, commin-
Cling sounds, and sights, and odors,
until eye, and ear, and nostril vie with
each other as to which sense shall open
the door to the most enchantment.
struggle between music, and per-
fume, and irridescence. Oleanders
reeling in intoxication of color. Great
banyan trees that have been changing
their mind for centuries, each century
carrying out new plan of growth,
attracted our attention, and saw us pass
in the year of 1894, as they saw
pass the generations of 1894 and 1894. |
Colombo is so thoroughly uncovered |
in foliage that if you go into one of |
its towers and look down upon the city |
of one hundred and thirty thousand |
people you can not see house. Oh, |
the trees of Ceylon! May you live to
behold the morning climbing down |
through your branches, or the evening
tipping their leaves with amber and |
gold! forgive the Buddhist for the
of trees until they know of the
God who made the trees. ! wonder not
that there are some trees in Ceylon
called sacred. To me all trees are sa-
cred. wonder not that before one of
them they burn camphor flowers, and
hang lamps around it's branches, and
one hundred thousand people each
year make pilgrimage to that tree.
Worship something man must, and un-
til he hear of the only Being worthy
If worship, what so elevating as tree!
What a majestic doxology speads out
n its branches! What a voice when
The tempests pass through it! How it
ooks down upon the cradle and
he grave of centuries! As the
ruit of one tree unlawfully eaten
struck the'race with woe, and the uplift-
ng of another tree brings peace to the
oul, let the woodman spare the tree,
md all nations honor it, if, through |
higher teaching, we do not, like the
)eylonese, worship it! How consolatory
hat when we no more walk under the
rec branches on earth, we may see the
tree of life which bears twelve man
Ter of fruit, and yields her fruit every
month, and the leaves of the tree are
or the healing of the nationsy.
Two professions l saw in Ceylon
within one hour, the first led by Hin
loo priest, huge pot of flowers on his
read, his face disfgured with holy
acerations, and his unwashed fol-
overs beating as many discords from
What are supposed to be musical instru-
nents, as at one time can be induced to
inter the human ear. The procession
lalted at the door of the huts. The occu-
,ants came out and made obeisance and
PRESENTED small contributions. In re- I
urn therefor the priest sprinkled ashes
lpon the children who came forward, |
his evidently a form of benediction.
Then the procession, led by the priest,
tarted again; more noise, more ashes, ;
more genuflection. However keen
mes sense of the ludicrous, he could I
ind nothing to excite even a smile in
he movements of such 4 procession.
Meaningless, oppressive, squalId, filthy,
I'D