The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1914-09-18
THINGS AS THEY SEEMED TO sE
For to behold and for to see,

For to behold and for to see,
The wonders of this world so wide"
Nov. Give finally reached Agra.
We were hustled into our waiting car
riages and driven over elegant roads
and through dirty, but still interest
ing bazaars, to the grand mosque,
where our shoes were covered with
felt slippers-quite a concession, as
our heather feet might defile the tenn
ple, and the ones who came to pray
and not to rubber" must lay aside
his shoes, and at the ablution fountain
which stands in the open court, wash
feet and hands, beard and mouth be-
fore going into pray. The floor is laid
with slabs marked with point, point
ing toward Mecca, and long, enough
for a man to kneei on the farthest
edge and PROSTATE himself toward
Mecca until his forehead touches the
sand male worshippers. The women
are not in the majority in heather
temples of worship, but at either side
of the main room for prayer is little
room with places for forty-f1ve wo-
men. Here women from the Zenan-
mas may come and, unseen, get a few
of the crumbs that fall from the ta-
bles of wisdom, furnished to the male
members of the Shah's kingdom. In
no other country in the world are wo-
men so badly treated as in India. The
whole duty of the Indian woman is to
wait upon her husband and bear him
sons. While the practice of murder
ing girl babies has been largely brok-
en- up, it has by no means ceased, as
the census returns from certain dis
tricts show from three to ten times
more boy babies than girl babies. The
1ower-class women are slaves, while
the upper-class live in seclusion, see
ing only husband, father-in-law or
brother-in-law of the opposite sex.
The wife is the property of the hus-
band, and classified with cows, mares
and ewes. The sacred Hindu book
says "There is no other god for wo-
man but her husband" A Hindu girl
lis married, when eight years old, to
anyone her father selects; then she
returns to the home of her parents,
and remains there until physically
old enough to go to her husband.
The art of writer, particularly al
poor writer, is so paltry that after all
I doubt if I can give the reader even
a crude idea of the Tai Mahal, the
tomb built by Shah Jehan as memo
rial to his favorite wife. What can
we say that would be worthy of this
realized drea moi love? The Tai is
perfect in form, exquisite in work
manship and a monument worthy of
the object for which it was built. I'm
agine yourself standing inside the en-
trance, looking toward the great tomb
at midnight, with the moon shining
brightly, as saw it. Back of you the
entrance gate, noble structure, of
red sandstone that would of itself at
tract pilgrims in any other country.
In front of you the Tai Mahal, built
entirely of white marble and enor-
nous in it's proportions. Beyond the
Tai, tn eriver. To your right a pal
ace of red sandstone exactly like that
on your left. Bear in mind that the
gate, the Ia, and the palaces on the
right and left form a square. In the
center of this enclosure, a beautiful
garden, and fountains and great pools
of water in marble basins, as may be
seen in the grand court of a worlds
fair. Then imagine yourself walking
toward the Tai, or monument of
white marble, completing the enclos-
ure ahead of you. In the center of
the enclosure a raised platform of
white marble, where you sit down,
and look in wonder at the great white
structure. You observe that the GEN.
ter of the Tap consists of a great
dome, $50 feet above the general sur
face; surrounding this dome, and a
part of the main structure, four small
domes, all built after the fashion al
ways seen in Mohammedan edifices
OF every kind. At the base of the
main edifice, a great floor of white
marble, extending on either side hun
dreds OF feet. At the four corners of
this marble floor, and hundreds of
feet away from the main edifice. four
round towers of white marble, taper
ing toward the top, and each 14O feet
high and surrounded with a dome.
When you stand on the great marble
platform surrounding the Tap, with a