Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-03-14


had exactly that type Of countenance and
expression and none other. In the process
sion the day before. although he led the
long ine OF native princes his was the SIM
plest encourage, for his huge elephant was
covered with cloth of plain yellow velvet
his howdahs Was also Of plain yellow un-
decorated. and he himself sat alone, SIM
ply garoed- and with one attendant only,
seated behind him. but in spite OF size and
simplicity, he was one of the most impress
sive of them all.
Heard No Speeches.
Lord Curzon's opening speech could be
read in the papers. and all the other OPEN
Ing ceremoRials Also so we avoided the
crowd and did not enter the exhibition
hall until several days later. when we
could have Ii more to ourselves. We found
1t to be large collection Of the produce
tons or the Indian empire, rather too
much to be grasped without many days OF
study, and the two things which dwell
most In our memories of all the collection
are the Burma room. full of exquisite cary-
Ing. and things Burmese, OF which the most
satisfactory were the gonss, and the jewelry
department. Such deep and wonderful
booming notes as came from those Bur
mese gongs would be impossible to de-
scribe. Again and again we struck them
softiy and listened to the low musical boom
unti IL faded away in silence. The Bur-
mese are justly noted for their bells and
gongs.
The jewelry was amazing and that of the
green vaults in Dresden pales before its
memory There had been q rumor that
the natives had formed a plan to rush the
jewel rooms and an extra guard had been
sent to insure their safety. 1t was divided
from the rest OF the building by a great
iron open gate and only a certain
number Of people allowed to pass through
at one time. and while we are standing
before case in which a necklace of
enormous pearls and one of still larger un-
cut emeraldS filled us with amazement at
their size great screaming and bowling
broke out at the gate. and we found that
the natives were trying to force their way
In. at least SO 1t appeared. All the men
who had been allowed in rushed to the
gate to hold II shut. while the guard on
the outer side fought the crowd back with
CLUBS and sticks. 1t was an exciting mo-
ment and we have never been quite able to
decide if the crowd had forced its way i'm
on pillage bent whether We could have kept
our fingers off the necklace of Burmese
rubies and diamonds or the other large per-
feet pearls and emeralds.
Hard to Be Honest.
II honesty is truly defined as the fear
of being found out then probably those
enchanting Jewels would not have escaped
our clutches. a.. .,- o.
That afternoon found us again driving
with hundreds of others along the Alipur
road, past the gaudy palace of the Niaam,
past the camps marked "Asaen," Bengal
simply and past the Burma camp guarded
by its delightful pair of demons, cream
colored with gold bands. their tails curled
up over their backs, their feet close to-
gether and most fascinatingly demonish
grin on their striped faces. We never tired
of the Burmese demons. We watched the
polo, always exciting, and We walked about
afterward meeting friends on all sides. had
tea and went home. this time in the narrow
gauge train, which, though dirty dusty
and sooty, is a comfort, for in 1t one can
get home at some civilized time, while in
driving one is always forced to wait in the
block for minutes which sometimes mount
up to hours. MARGARET STERLING.