Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1895-01-25

ana has;ei 10 vain. Procession OF ele-
pants in imitation. wrought into lasirons
marble. Troops Of horsss m iuu run
Shrines. chapels. catheirals wrecked on tue
mountain side. Sfairs Oi mOonsione. TX
qaisiie scrolls rOlilng up moro mysteries
than will ever b. unrolled. over sixteen
square miles the ruins Of Ons city ssrcwn.
Thronerooms on which n different times sat
les kings, RS -ninr IN authority they IN
heritcd. Walls that witnessed eoronations,
Hssassinaiions. suhiugaiions, triumphs- A.
tars at which millions bowed ages before the
orchestras celestial woke the sheper1s With
midnight overture.
When Lieutenant skinner in 1882 discoy-
erei the site % some otthese cities, be iouni
eongregated in them undistur1ed assem-
blases OF leoparis. porcupines, nimingoes
AMI pelicans; reptiles summing themselves
on the affairs, primA dOnnas rendering
pathological chan; from deserted music
halls. One king restored much OF the grand
eur. rebuilt 1900 residences, but ruin soon
resumed its scepieT. But all rs down-the
spires down, the pillars down. the tablets
down, the glory OF splendid Arches down.
What killed those cities2 Who slew the New
York and London OF the year 500 b. O.? Was
it unhealthed with host OF plaguesf Was
It foreign armies laying ssige? Was IL whole
generations weakened by their own vicesT
Mystery sits amid the monoliths and brick
dust, finger on lip in eternal silence, while
the centuries guess and guess In vain. We
simply know that genius planned those
cities, and immense populations Inhabited
them. An eminent wriler estimates that n
pile Of bricks in one ruin OF Ceylon would be
enough to build a wall ten feet high rom
Edinburgh to London. Sixteen hundred
pillars with carved capitals are standing
sentinel for ten mics.
You can Judge somewhat OF the size OF the
cities by the reservoirs that were required
10 slack their thirst. Judging the size OF the
city from the size of the cup out OF which II
drank. Cities crowded with inhabitants
not like American or English cities, but
packed together as only barbarlc tribes can
pack them. But their knell WAS sounded,
their light went out. Giant trees are the
only royal family now occupying those
palaces. The growl Of wild beasts where
once the gulfaw OF wassall assembled. Anuraj-
ahpura and Pollonarna will never be re-
builded. Let all tho living cities OF the
earth take warning. Cities are human, hav-
inga time TO be born and time to die. No
moro certainly have they cradle than a
grave. A last judgment is appointed for in
diyiduas, but cities have their last judg-
ment in this world. They bless, they curse,
they worship. they blaspheme. they suffer,
they are rewarded, they are overthrow.
Preposterous says some one, to think
that any OF our American or European cities
which have stood so long can ever come
through vice TO extinction. But New York
and London have not stood rs long as those
Ceylonese cities stood. Where is the throne
outside OF Ceylon on which l6j successive
kings reigned for lifeline. Cities AMI ma
lions that have lived far longer than our
present cities or nation have been sepul-
chered. Let all the great municipalities OF
this and other lands ponder. 1t is as true
how AS when the psllmst wrote It and as
true OF cities aud nations as OF individuals,
"The Lord knoweth the way OF the rlgh-
teous, but the way OF the ungotly shall
perish"