Middletown transcript., 1898-09-24
TEMPLES OF SILENCE.

no doubt as to which way the souls OF
their dead 60" said Smith.
Smith had travelled all over the
world. He was as well acquainted in
Cape Town as at s.. Petersburg, he
had lolled in the fower-decked tea
houses Of Japan and eaten tallow be-
yond the Land of the Midnight Sun.
The clubs of London md the cuffee-
houses of Budapest we're as well known
to him as tbe streets of New York, and
he knew his way in the streets of Stam-
boul as well as in those of his native
Rhode Island town. He saw things as
he journeyed through the world and
had happy way of telling them, and
when he said, without cause or provo
cation, that he knew something about
souls, we knew he had a story to tell,
so we filled our pipes, and then some
one asked: "Where?'
"You fellows don't know anything
about the Far East, and when your
time come you'll be perfectly willing
to be planted in the orthodox way or
cremaied according to the modern
usage, but if you died down there, the
higher distinction of being disposed of
in the Temple of Silence might await
you. There are heathen down there
who will not bury their dead because
the earth is sacred. and they will not
burn them because they worship the
fire and the dead would defile It, and go
they have towers built where they take
their dead and let the vultures do the
rest. They have men to attend to the
business of placing the bodies on
shelves in the inside of these grewsome
structures, and it's death to any ore
who is not employed to go into one Of
the places. Well, we were in Teheran
and we wanted to get irto the temple
there in the worst way and did not
wish to die to enjoy the privilege nor
to be killed for running the blockade.
We took a native to show us the couL-
try, mornted on camels and rode to-
ward the temple. The man in charge
of the place was drawn into converse.
tion, and we went so far as to offer him
a drink out Of bottle Of wine, but he
refused, wine being prohibited by his
faith. Wehad a flask of Scotch whisky
in our kit and offer, d him some of that.
He had little argument with himself
and concluded that Scotch whskey was
not wine and took drink thai would
have staggered Russian sailor. He
did not refuse a second drink when it
was offered, and between the heat and
the whiskey he was soon fast asleep in
front Of the sacred building which he
was under solemn obligations to guard
against intruders.
sit didn't take long to cut down
some bamboo trees, which we leaned
against the walls, and presently we
were looking over the top of the char
mel house on the gallery where the
partly consumed bodies were laid out.
1t was and an easy matter to get in,
and we went and picked up few SOU
venirs in the way of teeth, and my
companion took section of vertebrae,
saying that he was going to bore a
hole in it and use it for candlestick.
There were shelves and galleries below,
and all were delighted with the grew
some burdens, and when we had seen
all we stole away, gave a parting look
to the drunken guard, who was still in
a stupor and returned to town.
"Next day we made inquiry of one
of the officials as to the temple. We
told him that we knew that no one was
allowed in the structure, but we had
heard that there were upper and lower
shelves for the bodies, and asked if the
arrangement had any significance.
."Yes,' be said, 1T has. The bodies
are all placed on the upper shelves
when they are taken in, and thea the
carriers watch for the coming of the
vultures. If the first of these attacks
the right eye, the soul of the body has
gone to heaven an! the body remains
there, if it picks at the left eye the soul
has gone to the other place and the
body goes to the shelves below They
believe that implicitly, and that is why
1 say that I know one place where
people have no doubt on that subiect.n