HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Advocate, 1895-1-17, Page 7PALACES OF INDLL
'RO1NO411E.WORLD SEIIIES.
BY REV, T. DE WITT TALMAGE,
Continuing his series of 'Round -the -
World. Sermons through the press, Rev,
Dr, Talmage to -day ehose for his subject,
"Palaces in India," the text being, Antos
3: 10 "Who store up violence and rob-
bery in their palaces
In this day, when vast sums of money
are being given for the redemption of
India, I hope to increase the interest, in
that great country, and at the same time
draw for all classes of our people pragis
cal lessons, and so I present this fifth
sermon in the " 'Round -the -World" se-
ries. We step into the ancient capital of
India, the mere pronunciation of its name
sending a thrill through the body, mind
and soul of all those who have ever read
its stories of splendor, and disasteh, and
prowess--DelM.
Before the first historian impressed his
first word in clay, or out his first word
on marble, or wrote his first word on
Papyrus, Delhi stood in India, a contem-
porary- of Babylon and Nineveh. We
know that Delhi existed longer before
Christ's time than we live after His time.
Delhi is built on the ruins of seven. cities,
which ruins cover forty miles with wreck-
ed temples, broken fortresses, split tombs,
tumble -clown palaces and the debris of
centuries. An archaeologist could profit-
ably spend his life here talking with
the past through its lips of venerable
masonry.
There are a hundred things here you
ought to see in, this city of Delhi, but
three things you must see. The first
thing I wanted to see was the Cashmere
Gate, for that was the point at which the
most wonderful deed of daring which the
world. has ever seen was done. That was
the turning point of the mutiny of 1857.
A lady at Lelkiput into my hand an oil
painting of about eighteen inches square,
a picture well executed, but chiefly valu-
able for what it represented. It was a
scene from the ti,me of the mutiny; two
horses at full run, harnessed to a car-
riage in which were four persons. She
said, "Those persons on the front side
are my father and mother. The young
lady on the back seat holding in her arms
a baby of a year was my older sister and
the baby was myself. My mother, who
is down with a fever in the next room,
painted that years ago. The horses are
in full run because we are fleeing for our
lives. My mother is driving, for the rea-
son that father, standing up in the front
of his carriage,' had to defend us with his
gun, as you there see. He fought our
way out and on for many a mile, shoot-
ing down the Sepoys as we went. We
had somewhat suspected trouble, and had
become suspicious of our servants. A
prince had requested a private interview
with ray father, who was editor of the
Delhi Gazette. The prince proposed to
come veiled, so that no one might recog-
nize him, but ray mother insisted on be -
nig present, and the interview did. not
take place. A. large fish had been sent
to our family, and four other families,
the present an offering of thanks for the
king's recovery from a recent sickness.
But we suspected poison, and did not eat
the fish. One day all our servants came
up and said. they niust go and see what
was the matter. We saw what was in-
tended, and knew that if the servants re-
turned they would murder all of us.
Things grew worse and worse until this
scene of flight shown you in the picture
took place. You see the horses were wild
with fright. This was not only because
of the dIscharge of guns, but the horses
were struck and pounded. by Sepoys, and
ropes were tied across the way, and. the
savage halloo, and the shout of revenge,
made all the way of our flight a horror"
The books have fully recorded the hero-
ism displayed at Delhi and. approximate
regions, but make no mention of this
family of Wagentreibers whose flight I
am mentioning. But the Madras Athe-
neum printed this:
And now I Are not the deeds of the
Wagentreibers, though he wore a round
hat and she a crinoline, as worthy of im-
perishable verse as those of the heroic
pair whose nuptials graced the court of
Charlemagne? A more touching picture
than thatofthe brave mart contending
with well -nerved. arm against the black
and threatening fate impending over his
wife and child we have never seen. Here
was no strife for the glory of physical
prowsss, or the spoil of shining arms, but
a conquest of the human mind, an asser-
tion of the powers of intellect over the
most appalling array of circumstances
that could assail a human being. Men
have become gray in front of sudden and
unexpected peril, and in ancient days so
much was courage a matter of heroics and
mere instinct that we read in immortal
verse of heroes struck with panic and flee-
ing before the enemy. But the savage
Sepoys, with their hoarse war-ery and
swarming like wasps around, the Wager's
treibers, struck no terror into the brave
man's heart. His heroism was not the
mere ebullition of despair, but, like that
of his wife, calm and. wise standing up-
right that he might use his arms better.
As an incident will sometimes more
impress one than a generality of state-
ment, I present the flight of this one fam-
ily from Delhi merely to illustrate the
desperation of the times. The faet was
that the Sepoys had taken posseseion of
the city of Delhi, and they were, with all
their artillery, fighting back the Etux -
peens who were on the outside, and mur-
dering all the Europeans who were inside.
The city of Delhi has a crenulated wall
on three sides, a wall five and. one-half
miles long, and the fourth side of the city
is defended by the River Jumna. In ad-
dition to these tsvo defences of wall and
water, there were 40,000 Sepoys, all arm-
ed.. Twelve hundred. British soldiers were
to take that city. Nicholson, the immor-
tal G.eneral, commended them, and you
must visit his grave before you leave
Delhi. He fell leading his troops. He
commanded them even after being mor-
tally woonded. You will read this in-
seription on his tomb:
"John Nicholson, who led the assault
a Delhi, but, fell in the hour of victory,
mortally wounded, and died 23rd Septem-
'
ber 1857. Aged 35 years,"
"VS'ith -what guns and men Gen. Nichol-
son could muster he had laid siege to this
walled city filled with devils. Whatfear-
full odds ! Tivelve hundred 33ritish troops
=covered by any military works, to take
a city surroanded by firm and high ma-
sonry-, on the top of whieh were 114 guns
and (defended by 40,000 framing Sepoys.
A larger per centage of 'troops fell here
than in any gteg bettle I happen to know
of. The Crimea's's pothentage of the fallen
was 17.48, but the perceutage of Delhi was
37.9. Yet that etty must be taken, and
it can only be taken by such courage as
had never been recorded in all the annals
of bloodshed. Every charge of the Brits
ish, reghtlelltA3 against the walls and gates
had been beaten back. The hyenas of
Ilindooism and Mohammedanism howled
over the walls, a,nd, the English army
could do nothing but bury their own dead.
But at this gate I stand and wateh an ex-
ploit that makes the page of history
tremble with agitation. This city has
ten gates, but the most famous is the one
before whieh we now stand, and it is call-
ed Cashmere Gate, Write the words in
red ink, bemuse of the carnage ! Write
them in letters of light, for the illustrious
deeds ! Write them in letters of black,
for the bereft and the dead! Will the
-world ever forget that Cashmere Gate ?
Lieutenents Sated and Home, and Ser-
geants Burgess, Carmichael and. Smith
offered to take bags of powder to the foot
of that gate and set them on. fire; blowing
open the gate, although they must
die in doing it. There they go, just
after sunrise, each one carrying a
sack containing twenty-four pounds of
powder, and doing this under the Are of
the enemy. Lieat. Home was the first to
juxnp into the ditch, which still xemains
before the gate. As they go one by one
falls under the shot and shell. One of
the wounded, as he falls, hands his sack
of powder with a box of Wolfer matches
to another, telling him to fire the sack;
when with an explosit n that shook the
earth for twenty miles around part of
the Cashmere Gate was blown into frag-
ments, and the bodies of some of these
heroes were so scattered. they were never
gathered for funeral, or grave or monu-
ment. The British army rushed in
through the broken &ate, and although
six days of hard fighting, were neceszary
before the city was m complete possession,
the crisis was past. The Cashmere Gate:
open, the capture of Delhi and all it con-
tained of palaces, and mosques, and
treasures was possible. Lord Napier, of
Magdala, of whom Mr. Gladstone spoke
to me so affectionately 'when I was his
guest at Hawarden, England, has lifted a
monument near this Cashmere Gate with
the names of the men who there fell in-
scribed thereon. That English lord, who
had seen courage on many a battlefield,
visited the Cashmere Gate, and felt that
the men who opened it with the loss of
their own lives ought to be comrnenstorat-
ed., and hence this conotaph. But,after
all, the best monument is the gate
.
with its deep gouges in the brisk wall on
the left side, made by two bomb -shells,
and the wall above, torn by ten bomb-
shells, and the wall on the right side, de-
faced, and scraped, and plowed, and
gullied by all styles of long -reaching
weaponry. Let the words "Cashmere
Gate," as a synonym for patriotism, and
fearlessness, and self-sacrifice, go into all
history, all art, all literature, all time,
all eternity! My friends, that kind of
courage sanctified will yet take the whole
earth for God. Indeed, the missionaries
now at Delhi, tailing amid heathenism,
and. fever and cholera and far away from
home and comfort, and staying there un-
til they drop into their graves, are just as
brave in taking Delhi for Christ as were
Nicholson, and Home, and Carmichael in
taking Delhi for Great Britain. Take
this for the first sermonic lesson.
Another thing you must see if you go
to Delhi, though yo a may leave many
things unseen, is the place of the Moguls.
It is an enclosure a thousand yards by
five hundred. You enter through a
vaulted hall nearly four hundred. feet
long. Floors of Florentine mosaic, and
walls once emeralded, and sapphired, and
carbuncled, and diataonded. I said to
the guide, "Show us where once stood the
Peacock Throne." "Here it was," he re-
sponded. All the thrones of the earth
put together would not equal that for
costliness and brilliance. It had steps of
silver, and the seat and arms were of
solid gold. It cost about $150,000,000.
It etood between two peacocks, the
feathers and plumes of which were fash-
ioned out of colored. stones. Above the
throne was a life-size parrot cut out of
one emerald. Above all was a canopy
resting on twelve colunms of gold, the
canopy fringed withpearls. Seated here,
the Emperor on public occasions wore a
crown containing among otherthings the
Koh-i-noor diamond, and the entire -blaze
of coronet cost $10,350,000. This superb
and once almost supernaturally beautiful
room has imbedded in the white marble
wall letters of black marble, which were
translated to me from Persian into Eng-
lish as meaning:
world. As I thought What a brain the
architect raust have had who first built
that mosque in his own imagination, and
as I thought What an opulent ruler that
raug have been WhO gave the order for
such vastness and symmetry, I was re-
minded of that which perfectly explained
all. The architect who planned. thie was
the same man who planned the Taj,
namely, Austin de 'Bordeau, and the
king who ordered the regents eonstruoted
was the king who ordered the ,Taj, name-
ly, Shah Jeha,u, As this Grand Mogul
ordered built the most splendid palace for
the dead when he built the Tji, at Agra,
here he ondered built thet most splendid
palace of wnrship for the living at Delhi.
See Isere what sculpture and architecture
can a000mplish. They link together the
centuries. They successfully defy time.
Two hundred and eighty years ago Aus-
tin de Bardeen and Shah Jehan quit this
life, but their work lives and bids fair to
stand until the continents crack open and
hemispheres go down,. and this planet
showers other worlds wstit its ashes.
I rejoice in all these big buildings
whether dedicated to Mohammed, or
Brahma, or Buddah, or Confucius, or
Zoroaster, because as St: Sophia at Con-
stantinople was a Christian Church chang-
ed into a mosque, and will yet be ohanged
back again, so all the mosques and tem-
ples of superstition and sin will yet be
turned into churches. When India, and
Ceylon, and China, and Japan are ran-
somed, as we all helieve they will be,
their religious structures will all be con-
verted into Christian libraries and Chris-
tian churches, Built at the expense of
superstition and sin, theywill yet be
dedicated to the Lord Almighty. Here
endeth the third lesson.
As that night we took the railroad
train from the Delhi station and rolled
out through the city now living, over the
vaster cities buried under this ancient
capital, cities under cities, and our travel-
ling servant had unrolled our bed, which
consisted of a rug and. two blankets and a
pillow; and. as we were worn out with
the sight-seeing ef the day, and were
roughly tossed di' that uneven Indian
railway, I soon fell into a troubled sleep,
in which I saw and, heard in a confused
way the scenes and sehuds of the mutiny
of 1857, which at Delhi we had been re-
counting; and now the rattle of the
train seemed to turn into the rattle of
musketry; and now the light at the top
of the car deluded me with the idea of a
burning city; ani then the loud thump
of the railroad brake was in drearamista,k-
en for a booming battery; and the voices
at the different stations made me think I
heard the loud. cheer of the British at the
taking of the Cashmere Gate; and as we
rolledoverbridges the battle before Delhi
seemed going on ; and as we went through
dark tunnels I seemed to see the tomb of
Humassun, in which the king of Delhi
was hidden; and in my dreams I saw
Lieut. Renny, of the artillery, throwing
shells which were handed him, their fuses
burning; and Campbell, an Reid, and
Hope Grant 'covered with blood; and
Nicholscn falling while rallying on the
wall his wavering troops; and I saw dead
regiment fallen acrog dead regiment, and
heard. the rataplan of the hoofs of Hodg-
son's horse, and the dash of the Bengal
Artillery, and. the storming by the im-
mortal Fourth Column; and the rougher
the Indian railway became, and the
darker the night grew, the more the
scenes that I had studying at Delhi came
on me like an incubus. laut the morning
began to look through the window of our
jolting rail -car, and the sunlight poured
in on my pillow, and in my dreams I saw
the bright colors of the English flag hoist-
ed. over Delhi where the green banner of
the Moslem lied waved, and the voices of
the wounded and dying seemed to be ex-
changed for the voices that welcomed sol-
diers home again. And as the morning
light got brighter and brighter, and in
my dream I mistook the bells at the sta-
tion for a church bell hanging in a mina-
ret, where a Mohammedan priest had
mumbled his call to prayer, I seemed to
hear a chant, whether by human or an-
gelic voices itt my dream I could not tell,
but it was a chant about "Peace and good
will to men." And as the speed of the
rail -train slackened the motion of the car
became so easy as we rolled along the
track that it seemed to me that all the
distresss, and controversy, and jolting,
and wars of the world had ceased; and in
my dream I thought we had come to the
time when "The ransomed of the Lord
shall return and come to Zion with songs
and everlasting joy upon their heads; and
sorrows and sighing snail flee away."
Halt here at what you have never seen
before, a depopulated city, the city of
Amber, India.
The strange fact is that a ruler aban-
doned his palaces at Amber and moved
to jeypore, and all the inhabitants of the
city followed. Except here and there a
house in Amber, oceupiea by a hermit,
the city is as silent a population as Pom-
peii or Herculaneum ; but those cities
were emptied by volcanic disaster, while
this city of Amber was vacated because,
Prince Joy Singh was told by a Hindoo
priest that no city should be inhabited
more than. a thousand years'and so the
ruler one hundred and seventy years ago
moved out himself, and all his people
moved with him.
You visit Amber on the back of an ele-
phant. Permission obtained for your
visit the day before at Jaypore'an ele-
phant is in waiting for you about six
miles out to take you up the steeps to
Amber. You pase through the awfully
guiet street s, all the feet that trod them
m the days of their activity having gone
on the long journey, and the vosces of
business and gaiety that sainaded amid
these abodes having long ago littered
th.eir last syllable. You pass by a lake
covering five hundred acres, where the
rajahs used to sail in, their pleasure boats
but aligators now have full possession,
and you come to the abandoned palace,
which is an enchantment. No more pic-
turesque place was ever chosen for the
residence of a monareh. The fortress
above looks down upon a lake. This
monarchial abode may have had attrac-
tions when it was the home of royalty,
which have vanished., but antiquity and
the silonee of many years. and oppor-
tanity to tread where once you would not
have been permitted to tread, may be att
addition quite equal to the subtraction.
I will not go far into a description of
brazen doorway after brazen doorway,
and carved room after carved room, and
lead you tinder embellished ceiling after
embellished ceilieg, and through halls
precious -stoned into wider halls precious -
stoned. Why tire out your imagination
with the particulars, when you may sum
up all by sayin& that on the slopes of
that hill of India are pavilions deeply
dyed, tasseled and arched ; the fire of
colored gardens cooled by the snow of
white arehitecture ; bathrooms that res
fresh before your feet touch their marble;
birds in arabeetrie so natural to life that
While you eannot hear their voices you
imagine you see the flutter of their wings
If on the earth there be an Eden of Bliss,
That place is this, is this, is this, is this.
But the peacocks that stood beside the
throne has flown away, taking all the
display with them, and those white
marble floors were reddened with slaught-
er, and those bath -rooms ran with blood,
and that Eden of which the Persian
couplet onthe wall spake, has had its
flowers wither, and its fruits decay, and
I thought while looking at the brilliant
desolation, and standing amid the vanish-
ed glories of that throne room, that some
one had better change a little that Pers-
ian couplet on the wall and make it read:
If there be a place where much you miss,
• That place is this, is this, isthis, is this
As I came out of the palace into the
street of Delhi, I thought to myself:
Paradises are not built out of stones; are
not cut in sculpture; are not painted on
walls; are not fashioned out of precious
stones • do not spray the cheek with
fountains; do not offer thrones or crowns.
Paradises are built out of net -tire's uplift-
ed and ennobled, and what arehiteet's
compa'ss may not sweep, and sculptor's
chisel may not cut, and painter's pencil
may not sketch, and gardner's skill may
not lay out, the grace of God may not
achieve, and if the heart be right all is
right, and. if the heart be wrong all is
wrong. Here endeth the second lesson.
But I will not yet allow you to leave
Delhi. My third thing you must see, or
never admit that you have been in Thalia,
is the mosque called jumma Alusjid. It
is the grandest mosque I ever saw except
St. Sophia at Constantinople, bat it sur-
passes that in some respects; for St
Sophia was originally a Christian Church,
and changed into a mosque, while this of
Delhi was originally built for the Mos-
lems.
As I entered, a thousand or more Mos
hammedaris were prostrated in worship,
There are times when five thousand may
be seen here in the same attitude. Each
gone of the floor is three feet lctig by one
and one-half wide, and each worshipper
has one of these slabs while kneeling.
The erection of this building required five
thousand laborers six years. It is on a
plateau of rock; has fog towers rising
far into the 1108:7011S thtee great gate-
ways inviting the world to come in and
honor the memory of the prophet of many
wives; fifteen domes with spires gold. -
tipped, and six minarets. What a built.
up inamenaity of whits marble and Ted
sandstone ? We descended the forty
marble stepti by which ive ascended, and
tholc another look at this Wonder of the
ai4Yttu are passing, stoneware transineent;
Walls pictured. with hunting scene, and
triumphal procession, and jousting party.,
rooms that were ealled "Aleove of Light,"
and, "Court of Honor," and "Hall. of Vies
tory" ; marble, white gad black, like a
hancture of morning and night, alabaster,
and lacquer -work, and mother-of-pearl,
all that architecture, end sculpture and
painting, and horticulture can do when
they put their gentle together .was done
here in ages past, and much of their work
still, stands to absorb and entranee arch-
ceologist and sight -seer. But what a
solemn and stupendous thing is an aban-
doned laity, While many of the peoples
of the earth have no roof for their head,
here is a whole city of roofs rejeeted.
The sand of the desert was sufficient ex-
cuse for the disappearance of Heliopolis,
and the waters of the Meditasanean Sea
for the engulfment of Tyre, and the lava
of Mount Vesuvius for the obliteration of
Herculaneum; but for the sake of notbs
ing but a superstitious whim the city of
Amber was abandoned forever. Oh,
wondrous India ! The City of Amber is
only one of the marvels which compel
the uplifted hand of surprise from the
day you enter India -until you leave it.
Its flora is so flamboyant and its tauna so
monstrous and savage ; its ruins so sug-
gestive ; its idolatry so horrible; its de-
gradation so sickening; its mineralogy so
brilliant; its splendors so uplifting; its
architecture so old, so grand, so educa-
tional, so raultipotent, that India will not
be fully comprehended until science has
made its last experiment, and explora-
tion has ended its last journe`y, and the
library of the world's literature has clos-
ed its last door, and Christianity- has
made its last achievement, and the Clock
of Time has struck its last hour.
Don't Try It Again.
A Mimic° man who thought he knew
it all undertook to keep "bachelor's hall"
for a week, a short time ago, in the ab-
sence of Ins wife.
Be didn't know that porridge needs
stirring, and what didn't stick to the
dish during his first attempt, was too
lumpy to eat.
He thought that an easy method to
make toast would be to use the coal: oil
lamp, but the result was quite unsatis-
factory.
Be absent-mindedly boiled a nest -egg,
whioh he found in the pantry, but found
it rather indigestible.
He accidentally dropped a piece of soap
in the potato -pot, and, by the way, he
has never eaten potatoes since.
Be attempted making raaccaroni soup,
but from too hasty cooking the outcome
was more like chips and water.
He used too much coal oil the second
morning in putting on the fare, and a
black ceiling bears evidence of the fact.
He foolishly tried to rush a four pound
roast through in half an hour, -with a
poor tre, but after trying a slice he gen-
erously helped the cat to all she could eat
and finally allowed -her to help herself to
the remainder.
He didn't attempt dishwashing till the
third day, and the accumulation was
pretty large. Accidents will occur in the
best regulated households, and so the gen-
eral smash-up that ensued should be
looked. on in that light. Besides vowing
in capital italics that he will never at-
tempt housekeeping again, he has entered
his vow in red. ink in his amount book
where the cost of the little experience in
black and white adds great weight to his
decision.
Natural History.
It is said that the flesh en the forequar-
ters of the beaver resembles that of land
animals, while that on the hind quarters
has a fishy taste.
3IISCELLA.NE0US READING
oitATE AND OTILERWISE.
Leisure lfioments Oan Do Profitable
Employed. fa Care/104 Heading
Tnese Interesting Selections.
What "Horse Power "
The unit of measurement of mechans
hal power was introduced. by jameslaratt
and called a "horse -power.' How this
name originated is well told in the Mag-
deburger Zeitung. One of the first steam
engines built by Watt was to furnish the
power for the pumps in the brewery at
Witbread, England, which up to that
time was supplied by horses. The eon -
trent called for as much power as fur-
nished by a strong horse, and in order to
get as powerful an engine as possible the
brewer ascertained tire amount of labor
performed by a horse by working an ex -
°optionally strong horse fer full eight
hourwithout a stop, urging the ammal
with a whip until it was exhausted, and
thereby succeeded in raising 2,009000
gallons of water. Considering the height
of the reservoir, this labor represents the
present unit of a 'horse -power," that is,
the lifting of 1681 pounds to a height of
about three feet per second. Tbis result,
however„ was obtained by exceptional
methods and should not be considered the
basis of measurement of mechanical pow-
er. Actually the power of the average
horse is barely sufficient to lift sixty-five
to seventy pounds three feet high per sec-
ond.
Proverbs.
Don't look a gift gun in the muzzle.
The can.non is the vulture's favorite
perch..
Rhyming dictionaries are not edited by
poets.
The wild oat crop is ground. at the
devil's mill.
The blackmailer poses as drum -major
in virtue's parade.
Almost as many orators as raw recruits
shoot too high.
The man who acknowledges a favor
generally pays his other debts.
If I could only write good prose I would
not envy W. Shakespeare.
Tbe katydid illustrates that a pretty
name does not always have a sweet voice.
Many bad business smash-ups result
from running t o many trains on, a single
track.
The most timid curate is brave enough
to seek the bubble reputation, even itt the
cannon's mouth.
The Duke of Norfolk's Own
Among his Grace's owls at Arundel
Castle was one that was named Lord
Thurlow, from an imaginary likeness be-
tween the bird and his loraship. One
morning when the duke was closeted with
his solicitor, with whom he was in deep
consultation upon. some electioneering
business, the old. owlkeeper knocked at
the library door and said: "My Lord, I
have great news to give your Grace."
"'Well,' said the Duke, "what is it ?"
"Why, ray Lord," said the man, "Lord
Thurlow has laid an egg this morning."
Not recollecting at the moment the owl
had been nicknamed "Lord Thurlow, "the
Duke was not a little astonished, and un-
til the keeper explained, the solicitor was
dreadfully scandalized by such an auda-
cious calumny upou a noble lord who had.
been so long upon the wool sack.
The aye -aye of Madagascar is remark-
able chiefly for its eyes, which are larger,
in proportion to its size, than those of any
other creature.
Voluntary muscles are almost always
red; involuntary muscles are generally
white, the most notable exception in the
latter ease being the heart.
Snakes have the singular property of be-
jn to elevate the head and remain
without the slightest movement for many
minutes at a time.
A. decapitated snail, kept in a moist
place, will in a few weeks grow a new
head, quite as serviceable and good look-
ing as that -which was taken away.
A bat finds its way about without the
assistance of its eyes. A blinded bat will
avoid wires and obstructions as dexter-
ously as though it could see petfeetly.
When falling, as out of a tree or down
a steep deolivity, bears will roll them-
selves into a close resemblance to a
huge furry ball, and thus escape 'without
injury.
The mole is not blind, as many persons
suppose. Its eye is hardly larger than a
pinhead, and is carefully protected from
dust and dirt by means of enclosing
hairs.
No parental care ever falls to the lot of
a single member of the insect tribe. In
general the eggs of an insect are destined
to be hatched long after the parents are
dead.
The elephant is commonly supposed to
be k slow, clumsy animal, but, when ex-
cited or frightened, can attain a speed of
twenty miles an hour, and can keep it up
for half a day.
The blessinabof Palestine is a small fal-
con, or ha.wk, svhieh destroys the field
mice. Were the hawks exterminated the
human population would be obliged to
abandon the country.
The common house fly is often literally
devoured by narasites, and it has beg),
proved that these parasites are also infest-
ed with minute creatures that threaten
their destruction.
In the mountains of Sweden, Norway
and Lapland all vegetation would be de-
stroyed bv the Norway rats were it not
for the white foxes that make specialgame
of the rodents.
The horn of the rhinoceros does not
grow from the bone, but is a mere excres-
ence of the skin, like the hair and nails.
It can be separated from the skin by the
use of a sharp knife.
The chameleon's eyes are sittated in
bony sockets projeeting from the head.
By this Contrivance the animal can see in
any direotion without the slightest mo-
tion save of the eye.
The habit of turning around three or
four tittles before lying down has sorvived
in the domestic dog iron his savage an-
cestry. It then served to break down the
grass and make a bed.
Aniraals that live in, cold. countries have
awarra matting of wool, or fine fur, un-
derneath their hairy coats, so thet they
are almost perfectly protected from the
cold. This wool usually falls off in am -
nags
The margin of profit itt farming is tho
small to adtnit of any unnecessary waste,
The Pedadogue.'
Harvard, the oldest American univer-
sity, was attended by 2,969 students last
year.
Two hundred and fifty graduates of
American colleges are in European uni-
versities preparing for educational work
in this country.
Columbia is following in the footsteps
of the 'University of Pennsylvania. Be-
ginning in October, 1894, she will length-
en the course of her medical school from
three to four years.
David S. Muzzey, of Lexington Mass.,
who was graduated this year with' honors
from Harvard, has been appointed profes-
sor of mathematics at Roberts College, in.
Constantinople.
The foor richest of the women's col-
leges in this country—Vassar, Wellesley,
Smith and Bryn Mawr—received about
$6,000,000 in gifts g of every kind during
the first twenty years of their existence.
Professor D. C. Thomas, for the last
thirteen years president of the State Nor-
mal School in. Mansfield, Pa., has been
ten.dered the presidenhy of Adrian. Col-
lege, in Adrian, Mich:, and it is under-
stood will accept the position.
MYSTERY OF POST NO. 3.
Rh moon, was shining bright-
ly, illuminating the sandy
plain around the fort as
only the moon in Arizona
can illuminate. The of-
ficers, soldiers and. their
families were peacefully
sleeping. Not a sound was heard except
the occasional cry of a coyette.
Three o'clock struck and the sentinel
on post No. 1 started the call :
"No, 1, 8 o'clock, and all's well."
A slight pause and No. 2 responded:
"No, 2, 3 o'clock, and all's well."
Then came a long pause.
The sergeant of the guard stepped out
of the ,guard -room and ligened.
"The sentinel on No. 3 must be asleep,"
he remarked. "Bad business for a sem.-
tinel guarding the corral."
Turning. to No. 1 he commanded
"Start the call again."
"No. 1 obeyed. No. 2 took it up. But
there again it ended. The sergeant tussl-
ed out a patrol and. istarchea to the corral.
As he approache& the sentinel's post in
the mootlight he saw the fxgure of No. 8
stretched on the ground. The position
did not look like that of a sleeping man.
"Double time!" commanded the sem-
°neut.
And the patrol came down the post at
a run. A.s tho men came closer to the
figure a sight met their eyes that froze
the blood in their veins. Lying face
down on the sand, his hand still grasping
his rifle, was their comrade, stiff and col
itt death, an Apache arrow burieddeep in.
his body.
Three sharp creeks of the rine, the
rattle of the long roll of the drum soon
brought the startled garrison.
the poet ehaplain read the butiel service.
The military esoort fired three rounds
over the grave, and the hugler played the
sweethtst of all calls, "Taps—lights out—
osieeih
ep. wNaotiusraplQlsyt.a gloom was thrown
vthe
The soldiers gathered in small groups
and discussed. the perplexed question,
"How eould it have been done?" The
moon had been shining brightly, and
tlilrecowuacould
id
s nhoee.
over behind which an In-
dThe searching parties came in after
fruitless hunts. Night carae, There
would be no leek of vigilance on the part
of the sentinel on post .No. 3. The moon
was gvexi brighter than on the preceding
night, and the objects on the plain could
be seen almost as distinotly as itt the day
tinae.
Each half hour the call of No. 1 was
promptly answered by the ather sentin-
els,
-.new expected a repetition of the pre-
ceding night's cowardly attack. Gradu-
ally the garrison became silent, and one
by one the lights went out. Morning
CaM0 and nothing had happened to dis-
turb the peace of the iort.
Several days passed and the post settled
down into its old ways, and the memory
of the dreadful event was beginning to
fade.
The officer of the day was making the
inspection of the sentinels after midnight,
aid was approaching post No. 3, when
the moon, which had been hidden behind
a cloud, suddenly burst forth, revealing
at the very feet of the officer the body of
the sentinel as before, completely pierced,
by an Indian arrow.
The alarm was quickly given, but in
spite of the most careful search no trace
of the assassin could be found. A_ horror
settled over the post. No one dreaded an
enemy they linew and eould fight openly,
but against such ghostly attacks no one
could defend himself.
At officers' (sail the next morning the
affair was earnestly disoussed. It was
evidently wrong to require a sentinel to
walk post in such an exposed. atd danger-
ous ptace, and yet, with the corral where
it was, no one could see how it was t:deber.
avoided.
'While discussing the problem an o
ly,appeared and reported:
"Private Rogers would like to speak to
the commanding officer."
The commanding officer went into his
private office, and after the interview re-
turned to the room where the officers
were assembled.
"Young Rogers has asked permission
to take charge of post No. 3 at night until
he solves the mystery, and I have grant-
ed his request."
The faces of the officers showed plainly
the anxiety they felt. Young Rogers
was the son of a brother captain in their
regiment, who at that time was stationed
in an eastern city on recruiting service.
The young man had enlisted six months
previously with the object of obtaining an
officer's commission, which may be won
by a worthy and capable man.
The young fellow had gained the esteem
and respeet of everyone by his manly
qualities and stria obedience to orders.
Many of the officers had known him from
his childhood. He had been the play-
mate of their children and. a great favor-
ite with all. Later on many tried to per-
suade him to withdraw his request.
"Take the post if it falls to your lot,
but don't volunteer," thy pleaded.
It was no use. The young man had a
theory, and if he proved. it and. discovered
the assassin he knew that he would get
his coveted commissions,
He was excused from all duties during
the day, and after nightfall assumed
charge of the dreaded post No. 3. Three
nights passed without any event. The
moon, though on the wane, was still
bright enough to allow Rogers to see any
moving object on the plain.
Somata were instantly sent out a,ad the,
plain thoroughly scoured, but no Indian
signs could be founds
The next day, with muffled drums, the
members of the garrison followed the
body of their comrade to its last resting -
place. With uncovered heads, sorrow -
folly and reVerently, they listened while
Seated on theground, his back against
the corral, his rifle on his knees, he was
apparently asleep. Apparently only, for
his sharp eyes keenly watched every
point of the plain. He knew that he had
a tricky, shrewd, but at the same time
bold, enemy itt that wily Apache. He
felt sure that the Indian, especially in
the second case, had not crept upon his
victim unobserved, He must have em-
ployed some disguise whicb had com-
pletely deceived the sentinel. What was
this disguise?
"That Apache would be more apt to be-
tray himself if he thought me asleep then
he would a he saw I was watching him."
was his sound argu_ment.
Through the long have of the night he
sat motionless. It was 2 o'clock when
suddenly he caught sight of a moving
object on the plain some distance away.
Noiselessly he cocked his rifle. He was a
dead. shot, and woe be to that objet when.
he fired. Nearer and nearer it came while
he sat as if asleep.
"Why, it is Corporal !" he swidanly
exclaimed.
Corporal was a fine, large Newfound-
land dog, a pet of the garrison, which
had mysteri usly disappearal from the
post two weeks before and which every-
one supposed. to have been stolen."
Rogers' first irapnise was to call the
dog, when he remembered his resolution
—"shoot any movingobject that comes
within range." Ile therefore restrained.
his impulse, and no one would have guess-
ed that the apparently sleeping sentinel
was closely watching every movement as
the dog approached.
It was a lucky idea of Rogers' to feign
sleep, tor as the dog came nearer be
thought he noticed something peculiar
in its appearance, and its actions did not
seem quite natural.
"Possibly Corporal may be exhausted
from hunger, or it may be the deceptive
light of the moon," thought Rogers. The
dog was now within range, and he could
hesitate no longer.
"IV s a is atter of life and death," he
reflected, "and if I make a mistake every
one, even Corporal himself will forgive
Slowly and imperceptibly he brought
his rifle to his shoulder; a short true
aim, a creek and a yell—such as only a,n •
Apathe who has received his death
wound can give—startled the whole gar-
sison,
As if by magic; every one collected on
the spot, each as he approached evidently
expecting to see a repetition of the trage-
dies.
The story was soon told. The skin of
poor Corporal had been used as a disguise
by the Apache, who, With a how in hand,
had been creeping up on. his third intend-
ed victim. Deceived by the apparently
sleeping sentinel, he had been led to be-
tray hunself, and had met a most merited
death. Undoubtodly he had by the same
device deceived the other sentinels attd
had vgy nearly succeeded ifs adding an
other scalp.
toViagrmilutgulaitt°ingnser,8awsaspeetleirpoetlint ewaewsiteht
once made to the War Department, and
before long he received AS a reward his
nambseoveted commission.