The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1895-02-01
REV. DIR. TAI.MAGE.
The Brooklyn Diyine's Sunday
tGmCn.
Subjects "TOmb and Temple"

Esther l., /.
In all the Bible this Is the only book IN
which the word India occurs, but Il stands
for realm Of vast interest In the time OF
Esther, as In Cur time. II yielded then, rs
now, spices and silks and cotton and rice
and indigo and ores OF all richness and
precious stones OF all sparkle and had a
civilization OF It's own as marked as Egyp-
tan or Grecian or Roman civilization. II
holds the costliest tomb ever built and the
most unique and wonderful ldolatrous tenn
pie ever opened. For practical lessons In
this, my sixth discourse In round the world
SERIES l show you that tomb and temple Of
India.
In journey around the world It may not
be easy to tell the exact point which divides
tho pilgrimage into halves. But there was
one structure toward which we were all the
time travelling, aud having seen that we felt
that II we saw nothing more our expedition
| would be success. That one object was the
Tai hahal OF India. It is the crown Of the
whole earth. The spirits Of architecture
| met to enthrone a king, and the spirit OF the
! Parthenon OF Athens was there, and thespirit
| OF 81. Sophia Of Constantinople was there,
and the spirit OF 81. Izaak of ST. Petersburg
was there, ana the spirit Of the BaptisterY OF
Pisa was there. and the spirits OF the pyramid
and OF Luxor obellsk, and OF the Porcelain
/
Venice, and the spirits ofallthe great towers,
great cathedrals, great mausoieums, great
sarcophagi, great capitols for the living and
| OF great neeropolises for the dead we're there.
And the presiding genius Of the throng with
| gaYel OF Parian marble smote the table of
Russian malachite, and called the throng of
| spirits to order, and called for a vote
as to which spirit should wear the
| chief crown, and mount the chief throne,
/ and Wava fha ohinf caarfar md hy mani
nous acclaim the cry was 'Loug live the
spirit OF Tai, king OF all tho spirits OF archi-
lecture Thine is the Tai Nahal of India !"
The building Is about six miles from Agra,
and as we rode out in the early dawn we
heard nothing but the hoofs and wheels that
pulled and turned Us alongthe road, of every
yard OF which our expectations rose until
we had some thought that we might be dis
appointed at the first glimpse, as some say
they were disappointed. But how can any
one be disappointed wlththe Tai is almost as
great wonder to me as the Tai itself.
There are some people always disappointed,
and who knows but that having entered
heaven they may critlcise the architecture OF
the temple and the cut of the white robes,
and say that the River of Life is not quite up
to their expectations, and that the white
horses on which the conquerors ride seem a
little spring halt or spawned?
My son said, 'There It isn I said,
"Where?" For that which he saw to be the
building seemed to me to be more like the
morning cloud blushing under the stare Of
the rising sun. 1t seemed not so much built
up from earth as let down from heaven.
Fortunately you stop at an elaborated gate
way of red sandstone one-eighth OF mile
from the Tai, an entrance so high, so arched,
80 graceful so four domed, 50 painted and
chiseled and scrolled that you come very
| IN al oh -, fo
enough to intoxicate the eye and stun the
imagination and entrance the soul. We 20
up the winding stairs of this ajestic en-
trance Of the gateway, and buy few pic
lures, and examine few curios, and from
1t look off upon the Tai and descend to the
pavement OF the garden that raptures every
thing between the gateway and the ecstacy
OF marble and precious stones. You pass
along deep stream OF water in which all
manner Of brilliant fms swirl and float.
There are eighty-four fountains that spout
and bend and arch themselves to fall in
showers Of pearl In basins OF snowy white
ness. Beds OF all imaginable fora greet the
nostril before they do the eye and seem to
roll in waves of color as you advance toward
the vision you are soon to have of what hui
man genius did when It did its best; moon
flowers, lilaes, marlgolds, tulips and almost
everywhere the lotus thickets of beWilder-
lands bend their arboresoence over your
head or seem with convoluted branches to
reach out their arms toward youth welcome.
On and on you go amid tamarlnd and ey-
press and poplar and oleander and yew and
sycamore and banyan and palm and trees
OF such novel branch and leaf and girth you
cease to ask their name or nativity.
AS you approach the door OF the Tai one
experiences q strange sensation of awe and
| eAnhnHVnan hNNn a l..
building is only grave, but what grave
Built for queen, who, according to some,
was very good, and according to others very
bad. choose to think she was very good.
At any rate, II makes me feel better 70 think
TINT this commemorative pile was set up for
the naturalization Of virtue rather than
vice. The TAI IS mountain OF white
marble, but never such walls faced each
| other with exquislteness never such tomb
was cut from block OF alabaster never such
a congregation Of precious stones frightened
and gloomed and blazed and chastened and
glorlled building since sculptor's chise
cut its first curve, or painters pencil traced
its first figure, or maeon's plumb line
measured its first wall, or architects com.
pass swept its first circle.
The Tai has sixteen great arched win
dows, four at each corner also at each of
the four corners Of the Tai stands a minaret
187 teethigh also at each side ofthis build.
Ing Is splendid mosque OF red sandstone.
Two hundred and fifty years has the Tai
stood, and yet not a wall is cracked, nor a
mosaic loosened, nor an arch sagged, nor a
panel dulled. The storms OF $50 winters
have not marred nor the heats of $50 sum-
mers dtsintegrated a marble. There is no
story Of age written by MOSES on its white
surface. MontaZ, the queen, was beautiful,
ana Shah Jehan, the king, here proposed to
let all the centuries OF time know It. She
was married at twenty years OF age and
died at twenty-nine. Her life ended as an
other life began. AS the rose bloomed the
Eosebush persisted.
To adorn this dormitory OF the dead, at
the command Of the king, Bagdad sent to
this building It's comedian and CeyIon It's
lapis lazuli, and Punjab its jasper, and
Persia its amethyst, and Thibet its turquoise.
and Lanka its sapphire, and Yemen its agate,
and Puma its diamonds and blood stones,