The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1911-10-07


everything pertaining to that illus
trious land of yours is of interest to
Americans: your religion, your poll
tics, your customs, your women, your
jewels, your boundless wealth. Every
thing you can tell me about India is
sure to interest our readers
eff I am to tell you everything
about India" said the Swami, I'VE
may as well make ourselves comfort
able"
He signed to Ali again. and, rising
with much dignity, he placed chair
at the disposal of his visitor.
"The East, is a pretty big subject"
said the Swami, and then he spent
many minutes sketching Oriental
ways and thoughts for the entertain
ment of his visitor. To follow him
would be to recapitulate the history
of Hindostan from centuries before
the British invasion. When he had
finished, Britz knew enough about In
dia to fill the pages Of all the Sunday
papers of New York; but this was not
what the detective wanted.
ssYour women evidently lead pref
ty secluded life," he saids "but I sup
pose they have their compensations-
their music, embroidery, delicacies,
gems-by the way, Swami, jewels fig
ure largely In your religion, don't
they?"
The same inscrutable CLEAN again
fiickered in the eyes Of the scholar.
at would be difficult to make you
understand in what way they do" he
answered. I'm the ordinary CONNER
cial sense, they do not. We of India
care less for the intrinsic value of the
beautiful jewels which you of the
West characterize as precious stones.
They are precious to us, but in a diff
ferent way. We love them for their
loveliness-not merely for their brill
lance and cost To us, there Is a
world of metaphysical meaning In the
lambent glow of ruby, or the I'M
! prisoned rainbow of diamond. An
emerald to us Is the spirit of the sea
the spirit of the water itself; just
as the pearl suggests that other world
on the floor of the deep. Jewels, as
we see them, are the crystallized ex-
preston of divine emotions. Diamonds
are the tears Of Buddha-pearls SO
many drops of wisdom from his lips,
and sapphires the heavenly aspira,
lions of his thoughts What to the
Occident means profit, to us means
poetry"
Some of your jewels are, dare
say, a great deal more important thar
others; for example, the Kohinoor
Has that no larger value than the or
/ binary stone In your eyes?'
"On1y so far as it Is connected with
the traditions of our faith" said the
Swami. Diamonds there are in In
dia, one hundred Of which would moi
make a Kohinoor, yet each thou
sand times more precious to true be
levers. Wars have been fought
races exterminated for gems less beau
tiful than those which many of the
minor women Of your public stage car
boast. They have meaning 1mpos
sible of comprehension to the Western
mind"
''And do Hindoos of your generation
set as much store by that sort Of
thing as your ancestors did," asked
Britt.
ssThe faith Of the East is immut
able" the Swami replied. Centuries
roll by, but we change not. Nations
have broken themselves to shreds II
efforts to shake the stability of oul
land and people, What was true be
fore your Prophet left the carpenter:
bench is true to-day.
"Now, do you know" said Britz, vi
vaciously, "all this interests me yer!
much, and will make cracking goot
story for The Times Fancy Who'll,
! people-how many millions did yo1
4 say?-so wrapped up in gems tina
would not fill a showcase in a Nader
Lane iewelry shop, that they are will
ing to sacrifice their very lives TO
them!"
! Britt threw all his skill az a ques
/ CIOQST luLO AldW1hE IAcAA eAS S""AAA
descriptions of the more famous jew
els of India, deftly keeping the lin'
of his interrogattons On the subjec
Of diamonds. The Hindoo, his entir'
personality an eloquent expression o
the Incidence of the East, was alik'
luxuriant in his narghileh and in rem
iniscences of the sacred gems that hal
adorned the temples of his faith from
Delhi to Benares. Slowly, dreamily
mystically, stories came from his lip
of greed and piety, deeds of darin
and romance, statecraft and intrigues
until Britz became SO interested tina
for a time even his trained, y1gilan
mind lost sight Of the purpose tina
had animated all his actions since tn
E day he learned that the famous Mis-
sioner necklace was missing.
When the Fastener ended his strin
of tales, many of them replicas i
miniature of the Arabian Nights, an
of still more thrilling Oriental Legends
the Headquarters man had an e.
Z