Barbour County index., 1910-07-06

are exposed at the street corners, are
the lingams, such representations Of
parts of the human body as would
bring the police of any American or
European city about the ears Of
priests and vendors alike. The Ne
paulise temple, though containing
some fine carvings, is so covered with
obscene figures that European ladies
are no longer allowed to enter, and
European men, unless coarse and vul-
gar, would blush to be seen by any of
their kind there
When one comes to the banks Of the
Ganges, he sees Hinduism in its most
characteristic guise, for here to its
holy waters come tens of thousands
of pilgrims every year to wash away
their sins. They bathe in it, they
throw it over their heads in ecstasy,
they dip beneath it's waves in holy
glee, they drink it's horrible mixture Of
| water and dirt at the mouth of the
city sewers, and then they shiveringly
stand upon the steps of the bathing
| CHAT and put on their strips of dry
cloth.
Many of the pilgrims are old men
and women, who have journeyed hun
dreds of miles. and whose tottering
steps will hardly support them to the
bank of the sacred stream and out
| again. But no matter, their sins have
been washed away in its dirty water,
and near by is the burning CHAT where,
in few days or weeks at most, their
poor old bodies will be laid on a pile
of blazing sticks, while curious tour
lists look with morbid eyes and hear
"the old thing sizzle,' as l heard one
man express it. No reverence, no
solemnity, no respect for the dead is
inculcated by such a disposition of
the bodies in the most sacred spot in
all Hinduism. Cremation Is very we'll
but such cremation!
The Monkey temple Is another show
place for all visitors, where grinning
simians that vault and caper over the
walls, and hang by their tails from the
trees within the enclosure, are con
sidered sacred and worshipped as
gods. While the monkeys and COWS
are petted, the rest of the animal ere
alton is hardly treated indeed. The
little racks of bones, called horses
that drag around the Benares vehicles
are starved and beaten till they fal
in their tracks, and then they are
left to die in agony, for it is sir
in Hindu eyes to kill and put them ou
of misery
Human animals are scarcely better
treated. They live in squalid quarters
in filth and wretchedness, in compar
ison with which the worst purlieus II
our most ill-governed cities would b'
comfort and decency. They live OF
eight cents a day, and their wages
will average one-hundredth part of th'
worst paid laborers in America.
Yet these are the results of tn
philosophy and religion that are laud
ed in some quarters in Boston an
other American cities; religion tha
sends its missionaries to the west t
be petted and adored by some foolls
men and addle-pated women.
Compare such city as 1 have de
scribed with any city in America, how
ever much ashamed we may be Q
some of our municipalities. Compar
Boston with Benares, and we hav
cleanliness instead Of filth, stated
churches instead of obscene temple:
beautiful cemeteries instead of horr
BILE public burning-ghats. universal et
ucation in place of almost universe
illiteracy, fair days wages for fai
days work instead of starvation fo
man and beast To say the least, th
contrast is not favorable to Benares.
Copyright, 1910. by Joseph B. Bowles.)