The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1910-09-24

.,ound the world, says the New YORK
cuo His tour occupied just ten
.Ootbs. Having covered the western
,,rt of Europe, the General went to
r,snna and Budapest and thence went
through Bulgaria, Roumania and Ser
VIA
Il found Hungary beautiful said
Can. LIE Feyre, but the Balkan coun-
ries are the most desolate | ever WIS.,
Wed. The soil is poor, and the people
lem poverty stricken. My next stop
vw in Turkey | spent two weeks
N Constantinople and was impressed
nv the devoutness of the people. When
I WAS there it was the month OF re-
lieious services, and everybody was
uraying Next went to Smyrna and
into Palestine. where | spent several
weeks visiting most OF the places of
interest In Jerusalem | stopped three
weeks, getting peep into the wonder
iul cave from which Solomon took
out the stone for the temple. Next
vent to Port Said
Bombay was my next objective
point and | must say that | found In
Ola very interesting indeed. There
Is no question to my mind that the
architecture of that country is the fin
est in the world. The Tai Nahal hotel
| 1t Bombay is certainly one Of the most
beautiful structures of the kind any
where. 1t is owned by a Parsee. |
Ut to know some Parsees, and | was
limited to some of the libraries in
private houses, where l found the
works of Mark Twain and some other
American authors. The Parsees truly
lead the simple life. Of course | Wis
| tied the Tower Of Silence, where the
Parsees dispose of their dead. There
was flock of 400 or 500 vultures wait
Ing for bodies to be put on the tow
a There had been a funeral two
hours before | reached the place, and
was told that within from two to ten
minutes after body is exposed not
shred OF flesh is left. The Parsees,
vas informed, are now investigating
cremation, and there is a possibility
that they will adopt it instead OF the
ancient method of disposing Of their
dead.
@Of course journeyed to Delhi, and
It Agra saw the wonderful Tai Mahal.
learned that Lord Curzon, when he
was Viceroy of India, wished to re-
Place a lamp that was either missing
pm the structure or destroyed, and
II could only find two men who could
make such a lamp, one OF whom had
to be brought from Persia 1t took
the two men a year and a half to make
the lamp.
Lucknow and Cawnpore | visited
on my way to Benares, the Sacred
City, where | stayed several days.
saw them taking corpses and dip
ping them into the Gauges and then
eUning them on piles Of wood near
ne river bank. 1t costs about s2l0
lor the wood, which is a tremendous
Mm for the ordinary Hindoo, and
When the flames have consumed the
major portion of the corpse its father
g son or other near relative takes
ing pole and reverently pushes the
lead and feet upon the Goals.
In Calcutta, which is wonderfully
eautiful city. took great deal of
nserest in looking into conditions in
Me great jute mills, which employ 81
VO0 people. These mills are said to
nrnish the most permanent work that
= to be had in India. OF the mum.
PER employed the experts receive
sages OF IL cents a day. The others
araw s and 10 cents.
In spite of these wages l found
mat q family of five or six persons
csn I'VE on 5 cents day. Their food.
q course is rice. Their houses are of !
mud and bamboo, and those | looked
mo were clean and comfortable The
workman puts aside half of his wages,
~ ambition being to own his own
house.
NOW, what l saw in my trip, and |
peclaily in India, impressed me with
e1travagance in living in our coun.
over any other. We are extraya-
y IN every respect-in every phase
Z our life We have gone to the very
.Aueue. | think it is not too much
!. Wy that one-half Of the people Of
~ world are living upon rice. A
80 can live upon from one to two
ssu's worth of rice a day. When on
TIP through Louisiana and Texas
Nv warehouses all piled full of rice
NO sale for it and asked why it
was told there was no demand
II we would use one-half or
q. one'third as much rice for food
= the people of the East the whole
ss.uon OF the higher cost of living
a s'u De solved. The Japanese, who