The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1895-02-01


himself 20 sleep Ia. Indeed the foundation
OF such a metropolis OF black marble Is stu
there, and from the white TO the black tenn
pie OF the dead bridge was 20 cross, but
the son dethroned him and imprisoned him,
and Il 10 wonderful that the king had any
place at all In which to be buried. Instead
OF windows TO lot in the light upon the two
tOmbs, there Is u trellis work OF marble,
marble cut so delicately thin that the sun
shines through II as easily as through glass.
Look the world over and find 80 much trans
mency, canoples, tncerles, lace work, en-
5roideries OF stone
We had heard OF the wonderful resonance
Of this Tai, and so / tried It. l suppose
there are more sleeping echoes in that build
ing waiting 20 be wakened by the human
voice than In any building every constructed,
uttered one word, and there seemed de-
Bcendlng invisible ehoirs IN full chant, and
there was a reverbration that kept on long
after one would have expected It to cease.
When line OF hymn was sung, there were
replying, rolling, rising, falling, interview
ing sounds that seemed modulated by be-
inRs seraphic. There were aerial sopranos
and bassos, soft, high, deep, tremulous,
emotional, commingling. II was like an an
tiphonal OF heaven. Butthere are four or
five Tai Mahals. II has one appearance at
sunrise, another at noon, another at sunset
and another by moonlight. Indeed the
silver troWel Of the moon, and the golden
troWel Of the sunlight, and the leaden
trowel OF the storm build and rebuild the
glory, 80 that 1t never seems twice alike.
II has all moods, all compilations, all gran
deurs. From the top Of the Tai which is
$50 feet high, springs q spire thirty feet
higher, and that Is enameled gold. What
an anthem In eternal rhythm Lyrics und
elegies in marble. Sculptured hosanna.
Masonry as OF supernatural hands. Mighty
doxology in stone. 1 shall see nothing to
equal 1t till see the great white throne,
and on It Him from whose face the earth and
heavens fee away.
The Tai is the pride Of India, and espeei-
ally of Mohammedanism. An English Off
Ger at the fortress told US that when during
the general mutiny in 1857 the Mohamme-
dams proposed instruction at Agra the Eng
lish Government aimed the guns Of the fort
at the Tai and said, ''You make insurrection,
and that same day we will blow your Tai to
atoms, and that threat ended the disposition
for mutiny at Agra.
But thought while looking at that palace
for the dead all this constructed to cover
handful OF dust, but even that handful has
probably gone from the mausoleum. How
much better ii would have been to expend
$50 900, 900, which the Tai Mahal cost, for the
living. What asylums It might have built
for the sick, what houses for the homeless
What improvement our century has made
upon other centuries in lifting Ia honor Of
the departed memorial churches, memorial
hospitals, memorial reading rooms, me-
mortal observatories. Byall possible means
let us keep the memory OF departed loved
ones fresh in mind. and lot there be an ap-
propriate headstone or monument in the
cemetery, but there is a dividing line be-
tween reasonable commemoration and
wicked extravaganza. The Tai Mahal has
It's uses as an architectural achievement,
eclipsing all other architecture, but as a me-
mortal of a departed wife and mother it ex-
presses no more than the plainest slab in
many a country graveyard. The best monu-
ment we can any OF us have built for US
when we are gone is in the memory of those
whose sorrows we have alevated, in the
wounds we have healed, in the kndnesses
We have done, in the Ignorance we have en-
nghtened, in the recreant we have reclaimed,
in the souls we have saved. Such a monu-
ment is built out of material more lasting
than marble or bronze and will stand amid
the eternal splendors long after the Tai Ma
hal OF India shall have gone down in the
ruins of a world Of which It was the oostliest
adornment. But I promised to show you
not only tomb OF India, but a unique
N@~NsANA sSAAEA~1 NAAA A. - q ADAup uuutI~
ground.
With miners candle we had seen some-
thing OF the underside of Australia, as at Gin
pie, as with guides torch we had seen al
different times something of the underside
OF America, as in Mammoth cave, but we are
now to enter one of the sacred cellars OF
India, commonly called the Flephanta caves.
We had 1t all to ourselves, the steam yacht
that was to take us about fifteen miles over
the harbor OF Bombay and between enchant-
ed islands, and along shores whose curves
and gulches and pictured rocks gradually
prepared the mind for appreciation of the
most unique spectacle In India. The morn
ing had been full Of thunder and lightning
and deluge, but the atmospheric agitations
had ceased, and the cloudy ruins Of the
storm were piled up In the heavens, huge
enough and darkly purple enough to make
the skies as grandly picturesque as the
earthly scenery amid which we moved.
After an hours cutting through the water
We came to tho long pier reaching from the
island called Elephanta. It is an island small
Of girrh, but 900 feet high. It declines into
the marshes Of manRrove. But the whole
island Is one tangle OF foliage and verdure
convolvulus creeping the ground MOSES
climbing the rocks vines sleevlng the long
arms of the trees red flowers here and there
In the woods, like incendiary's torch trying
to set the groves on fire-cactus and acacia
vytng as to which can most charm the be-
holder; tropical bird meeting partlcolored
butterfly in iungles planted the same sum
mer the world was born. We stepped out of
the boat amid enough natives to afford all
the help we needed for landing and guild
ance. You can be carried by coolies in an
easy chair, or you can walk, If you are
blessed with two stout limbs, which the
VNoaI VNatn y L. rn1 L.
have so deprecated them when he said /:
'The Lord tRketh no pleasuoe in the legs OF
man" We passed up some stone steps,
and between the walls we saw awaiting us a
cobra, one Of those snakes which greet the
traveller oittimes in india, Two Of the guides
left the cobra dead by the wayside. They
must have been Mohammedans, for Hindoos
never kill that sacred reptile.
And now we come near the famous temple
hewn from one rock Of porphyry at least 800
years ago. On either side of the chief tenn
pie Is q chapel these cut ont of fhe aanna