The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1895-01-19

night was coming on we came up to a
Hindoo temple. First we were prohib-
tied going further than the outside
steps, but we gradually advanced I'M
til we could see all that was going
on inside. The worsh'pers ,vere max
ing obeisance. The tom-toms We're
wildly beaten, and the shrill pipes were
blown. and several other Instruments
were in full bang and blare, and there
was an indescribable hubbub, and the
most laboriOus style of worship | had
ever seen or heard. The dim lights, and
the jargon, and the gloom. and the fit
ting figures mingled for eye and ear "a
horror which it is difficult to shake off.
All this was only suggestive of what
would there t%ranspire after the
toilers of the day had ceased
work. and had time To APP
pear at the temple. That such
things should be supposed to please
the Lord, or have any power to console
or help the worshipers. is only another
mystery in this world of mysteries
But we came away saddened with the
spectacle, q sadness which did not
leave us until we arrived at n place
where n Christian missionary was
preaching in the streets tn n group Of
natives.
But passing mp and down the streets
of Ceylon you find all styles Of people
within five minutes; Afghans. Kaffirs,
Portuguese. Moormen, Dutch, English,
Scotch. Irish, Americans: all classes.
all dialects, all manners and customs,
all styles of salaam. The most inter-
esting thing on earth is the human
race, and specimens OF all branches
of it confront you in Ceylon.
The island Of the present is a
quiet and inconspicuous affair compared
with what it once was. The dead
cities of Ceylon were larger and more
imposing than are the living cities.
On this island are dead New Yorks,
and dead Pekins. and dead Edinburghs,
and dead Londons. Ever md anon Mt
the stroke OF the a~rchaeolog lists ham,
mer the to:nh NJ some great municipal
ity file ip.a an there are buried cit
les that viii get respond to the explor-
er's pickax. The Pompeii and Hercu-
laneum underneath Italy are small
compared with the Pompeiis and
H~erculaneums underneath .Ceylon.
Yonder Is an exhuned city
which was founded five hundred
years before Christ, standing in pomp
ind splendor for twelve hundred years.
Stairways up which fifty. men might
pass side Dy- side. Carved pillars, some
of them fallen, some of them aslant,
some OF them erect. Phidiases and
Christopher Wrens never heard of here
performed the marvels of sculpture
and architecture. Aisles through which
royal professions marched. Arches
under which kings were carried.
City with reservoir twenty miles
in circumference. Extemporized
lakes that did their cooling
and refreshing for twelve centuries.
Ruins nor suggestive than Melrose
and Kenilworth. Ceylonian Karnaks
and Luxors. Ruins retaining much of
grandeur, through vars bombarded
them, and Time ppt his chisel on every
block, and more than all, vegetation
in all the crevices., Dagobas, or
places where relics Of saints
or deities are kept. Dagobas
four hundred feet high, and their
fallen material burying precious things
for the sight of which modern curl.
osity has digged and blasted in vain.
Procession of elephants in imitation,
wrought into lustrous marble. Troops
Of horses in full run. Shrines, chap
els, ~cathedrals wrecked on the noun
tain side. Stairs Of moonstone. Exquis-
lite scrolls rolling up more mysteries
than will nua~ la -~llI Ou----
teen square miles, the ruins of one
city strewn. Throne rooms on which
at different times sat. one hundred
and sixty-ave kings, reigning in au-
thority they Inherited. Walls that
witnessed ~coropations, assassinations,
subjugatiops, triumphs. Affairs al
which millions bowed ages before the
orchestras celestial woke the shep-
herds with midnight overture.
Preposterous! says some one, to
think that any Of our American or Eu-
ropean cities which have stood so long
can ever come through vice to exiting
ton. But New York and London
have not stood as long as those Cey-
lonese cities stood. Where is the
throne outside Of Ceylon on which oae
hundred and s~ixty-fve successive kings
reigned for q lifetime. Cities and ma
tions have lived far longer than our
present cities, or nation, have been
sePulchered. Lot all the great munich
p~alities of this and other lands ponder.
1t is as true now as when the Psalmist
wrote it, and IS true of cities and ma
tions as Of individuals: ''The Lord
knoweth the way Of the righteous
but. tho way Of the ungodly shall
perish"