The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1909-09-23

crazy on the subject ov city build
ing" Rite In North Carolina | know
q dozen or more towns. in fact, q
hundred towns. that air strivin' TO
become large cities. Every little rail-
road station In tryin' ter put On airs
an become city In time. Air some
ov the people ov some ov the wide
places in the road" actually believe
that their "Brownville" or their
Rocky Point" with possibly eight
or ten houses an two or three stores
will some day outshlne New York,
Paris or London. So We must not
blame the heather natives ov India
fer buildin' beautiful cities. Hit will
do them guide. in fact II they were
not engaged in things ov that sort
they'd be KILN each other.
Iwish to remind you ov another
fact. We look upon India az bein'
far behind America In most things.
An hit liz. But at Delhi stands a |
buildin'. a beautiful stone structure.
built no telIin' how long ergo for a |
public library. Some ov you Amer
leans who read nothin' but a per-
litical paper or two. edited by a pol
itician or two. who doesn't know |
beans an pertaters apart, probably |
hev an idea that Libraries were in
vented in America. India had at
least one library long before America
wuz discovered. long before Carnegie
wuz born. An I'll bet that not one
college professor In a hundred in
America knows this. to say nothin'
ov the ordinary people. College pro-
fessors an politicians are. az a rule,
painfully ignorant.
The great fort at Delhi wuz built
by Shah Jehau. Hit liz SO much
like the fort 81 Agra that the Shah
cannot claim that he started a new
style in forts. But hiz palace which
stands inside ov the fort hardly hez
an equal in the world The bed
rooms air ov marble. In the halls
air pillars beautifully carved. One
ov the great halls, called the "Pri-
vate Audiences" heZ floors ov polish
ed marble: The pillars supporting
the great arched roof air inlaid with
precious stones to form figures an
flowers. The King awlso designed a
throne called the peacock throne"
Hit liz made ov pure gold inlaid
with diamonds, rubies and emeralds
On each side ov the throne stands a
large representation ov peacock
with expanded tail. The tail ov each
IL ornamented with jewels that re-
produce the natural colors ov the
feathers ov a peacock. The throne
IL protected with a canopy ov gold 3:
festooned with pearls. The canopy
IL supported by twelve pillars each
glitterin' with precious stones. On
each side stands an umbrella, the
eight feet high, made ov solid gold,
studded with diamonds. The COW
ers air ov crimson velvet, fringed
with magnificent pearls. Shah Jahau,
after lookin' at hiz audience cham
oers" and throne had the following
Inscribed on the wall near hit in
Persian characters which the trans
atOfS say READS:
eff on earth be an Eden of bliss,
1t is this, it is this, it is this"
But Shah Jehau wuz not satisfied
with awl these works ov art When
liz favorite wife, Numtaj Mahal,
lied, he spread himself an built a
.omb that cost six millions ov dollars
which far excels anything in that line
n the world for beauty In my next
etter I will try to give you descrip-
ion ov this dream in marble and
Jewels; also tell you somethin' err
bout Western India, probably the
most interestin' portion ov the EN-
)ire. I may awlso kill few speci-
mems ov big game, SIGH az elephants !
IN tigers, fer I am anxious ter hunt
4 little while I am on this trip. In!
America we hev nothin' but blind
tigers, an I am too tender-hearted
.er shoot them. l.
Az ever,
ZEKE BILKINS.