The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-10
Letter From An Alabama Man Comes From Calcutta

} cent sight We waited patiently All al once some one cried out, Look! Look!' l looked up at the sky and saw the re. fiection of the sun on snow-capped Mt , Everest It was so high in the air.
 could scarcely believe it mountain. Then the peak of Kinchinjanga, towering over
 2S,000 feet, showed it's snuw-covered head.
 then Kabru, 2400o feet; then Pandin, 22. .oOC
 feet. Still we could not see the sun
 Gradually it's rays brought out all the
 mountains covered with snow. and all at
 once we saw it peep out and then burst
 over all the scene in a flood of sunshine. | 1t was unspeakably grand It's beauty sublime. When the sun rose we found l we had aDother scene before and below us. One of simple beauty. All around us were blooming in greatest profusion the iNmalayan magnolias and wild rho
 dodendrens The magnolias were white. l pink and deep red and about the same l size blooms as our magnolias The rhodo-
 dendrens were all colors. The thick for
 est was literally aglow with these beauti- ful blossoms. To beauty lover, Darieel- 1 ing Is worth a worlds journey.
 l With all this beauty, however I lnus 1 give you the dark side of the picture. The
 poverty and want of these people is an palllng saw a large hotel building going up in northern India the other da V and there were employed in It's construc- ton about DO people. Half of them wera women. The women were principly em- pioyed In breaking rock with large ham mers, which was used in the concrete walls some were carrying great building stones on their backs up the steep hill A number of those breaking rock had their babies tied on their backs and all of them worked in the bistering hot sun of In- dla, which no white man can stand for ! annas day of 10 hours. Four annas mi fC ff.
 than l cent an hour. The men got double this. Statistics show only 90 in 1000 can read and write. Famine often sweeps out thousands. Famine is caused by drought and consequent failure of crops Bubonic plague has taken off millions In 1907 there were 1,315,000 deaths: in 1911 over soO,Ooo. It is raging here now. The ve- nlcle or contagion is fhe plague-infested rat flea. The flea bites the man and he becomes infected, as the mosquito gives us levers. So many thousands of the na- tives sleep on the ground that they are easy victims. It rarely ever attacks white people
 Wheat is one of the main crops in h. dia. Oxen and one-handled wooden blows are used in preparing the land. When the grain is ripe it is cut by hand with small hand knives. It is then put in a large pile and cattle driven over it until they tramp out the grain. No modern ma chinery is ever used Machinery world mean the anihilation of many of the ma tives l believe they have the finest oxen In the world They never beat them. The driver has whip about the size of a shoe string and gently taps the OK: still they manage them to perfection. Here in calcutta, which has an enormous ship ping trade, nothing but oxen are used for the drays. You see thousands of them on the busy streets.
 o,Jr.. religion He said: My religion teaches me to be happy; but to be happy I must make others happy; then get happy 1 myself"
 l was out sightseeing with an Ameri | can gentleman and after a strenuous | morning in the heat and dust we spied a | retreshment house for Europeans and | Americans. My friend suggested a scotch | ana soda. We asked our guide to come In and have something with us Re- | proaehfully he looked at us and said |
 My masters must excuse me. I cannot | take whisky. I am a Mohammedan but | If you please I will take some lemonadet' | My Friend was an elder in the Presby- | terian church. A gentleman from the | states told me that he was travelling with | a Mohammedan servant You know q | good Mohammedan always carries I prayer rug and at certain times of the l oay spreads It on the ground turns his | race towards Mecca and gets down and says his prayers The gentleman said his servant came to him one day and said
 Master, do you have any objection to my | praying in your room." He said this re- | quest came as a reproach to him, as he | had sadly neglected this duty since leay- ing home.
 asked a Hindu why he didn't come to Amerlca He said: Tn America they drlnk whisky and eat meat My caste would be broken if did this" He meant