The Exeter Times, 1895-1-3, Page 6ataesss
ERE lifORSIIIPPERS4
TALMA.GE'S IM-1:11ESSIONS AFTER
TWO WEEKS AT BOMBAY.
We Bible or the Farsees--stuestioni and
eneweeis from a remises) CaSeektsso-
Tittle tleeenstice for tee Feentents ot
tioture-sthe Tower or Silence,
BuOoKr.irTh Deo. 23. -Rev. Dr. Telmage,
Contin Meg bia seriee ef round the world
Imams through the press, chose to day
for hie eubjeot, "The Fire Worship
Pero," the text selected bring Matthew hi, 1.
,e,There eame wise men from the east to
Jerusalem,"
These we men were the Perseee, or the
so called fire worshippers, end I found their
descendants in India 'sat October. Their
heathenism is more tolerable than any of
the other false religions and has more alle-
gations, and svhile in this round the world
series I have already shown you the worst
forme of heathenism to -day I show YOU
the least offeuisive.
The prophet a the Pa.:sees was Zoroaeter
of Persia. He was poet and philosopher
end reformer eta well as religionist,. His
dieciplea thrived at first in Persia, but
under Mohammed= perteoution they re-
treated to. India where I met them, and in
addition to what Saw of them at their
headquarters in Bombay, India, I had two
weeks of association with one of the moat
learned and genial of their people on ship-
board from Bombay to Brindisi.
The Bible of the Penises, or fire worship
-
pent as they are inaccurately called, is the
Zencl Meets, a collection of the strangest
books that ever came into my hands. There
were originally 21 volumes, but Alexander
the Great in a drunken tit set fire to a
place which contained some of them, 6,nd
they went into ashes and forgetfulness.
But there are more of their sacred. volumes
1 eft than most people would have patience
to read. There are many things in the
religion ot the Parsees that suggest Chris-
tianity, and some of its doctrines are in
accord with our own religion: Zoreaster•
who lived about 1,400 years before Christ,
was a good man, suffered persecution for
his faith and was assassinated while worship-
ping at an altar. He announced the theory,
sqle is best who is pure of heart I" and
that there are two great spirits in the
world-Ormuni, the good spirit, and
Ahriman, the bad spirit -and that all who
do right are under the influence of Ormuzd,
and all who do wrong are under Ahriman;
award altetyles of vein and natal% and eta.
ture. There is on all side% greet opulence
of fern and (entree% The garden is 100
feet above the level of the pea. Not far
from the entrance is a bandies where the
mourners of the funerel procesSion go in to
pray. A light is here kepe burning year
in and year out We ascend the garden by
some eight stone steps. The body of a
deeeesed aged woman wee being carried in
toward the thief "tower of eileoce." There
are five of these towers. Several ot them
have not been used 4or a long while. Four
pertains, whose business it is to do this,
carry in the corpses They are followed by
two men with long beards. The tower of
silence to which they come cost $150,000
and is 25 feet high and 276 feet around and
without a rooL The four (girders of. the
dead and the two bearded men come to the
door of the towerouter and leave the deed.
There are three rows of pieces for the dead
-the outer row for the men, the middle
row for the women, the 'aside row for the
children. The lifelese bodies are exposed
as far down as the waist), As soon as the
employes retire from the tower of silence
the vultures, now oge, now two,now may,
swoop upon the lifeless form. These vul.
turesifill the air withitOeir discordant voices.
We NW them in long rows on the top
ot the whitewashed wall of the tower of
silence. In a few minutes they have taken
the iatit partiele of flesh from the bones.
There had evidently been other, opportun-
ities for them thee day, and some flew softy
as though surfeited. They sometimes carry
away with them parte of is body, and it is
no unusual thing for the gentlemen in their
country seats to have dropped into their
dooryerde a bone from the tower of silenees
In the centre of this taiver is a well, into
whioh the bones are thrown after they are
bleached. The hot sun and the rainy sea-
son and chamoisl do their work of disinte-
gration and disinfection, and then there
are sluisies that carry into the sea what
remains of the dead. The wealthy people
of Malabar hill have made strenuous efforts
to have these strange towers removed as a
nuisances, but they remain and will no
doubt for ages remain.
I talked with %learned Parsee about these
mortuary customs. Ke said : "1 suppose
you consider them very peculiar, but the
feat is we Pavans reverence theelements of
nature and cannot consent to defile them.
We reverence, the are, and therefore will
not ask it to burn our dead. We reverence
the water and do not ask it to submerge
our dead. We reverence the earth and will
not ask it to -bury our deed. And ao we
let the vultures take them away." He con-
firmed me in ,the theory that the Parsees
aot on the principle that the dead are un-
clean. No one must touch such a body.
The carriers of this "tomb of silence"
must not put their hands on the form
of the departed. They wear gloves
lest somehow they should be comtaminat-
ed. When the bones are to be removed
from the sides of the tower and put in
the well at the centre, they are touched
carefully by tongs. Then these penile be-
sides have very decided theories about the
democracy of the tomb. No such thing as
caste among the dead. Philosopher and
that the Parsee mnst be born on the ground
I
boor, the •affluent and the destitute, must
floor of the house and must be buried from go through the same "tower of silence,"
the ground floor ;:that the dying man must lie down side by side with other occupants,
have prayers said over him and 6 sacred . have their bodies dropped into the same
auto° given him to drink ; that the good at abyss and be carried out through the same
TEE EXETER TIMES
for a long While -indeed that it would not
conclude until 2 o'clock in the rimming,
and this was only between 7 and 8 &oleo);
In the evening. There would be a recess
eetor &while in the ceremony, but it wmild
be taken up, again in earliest At half -past
12. We enjoyed what we had Been, but
fele ineeemeitated for eix more homes of
wedding ceremony. Silently wishing the
couple a happy life in eaoh other's com-
panionship, we pressed our way through
the throng of consetelatory Paseeea
We rode on toward, our hotel wishing
that menage in all India might be as
much honored tie in the ceremony we had
that evening witnessed at the Parsee wed-
ding. The Hindoe women are not Ito mar-
ried. They are simplycursed into the
conjugal relation. Many of the girls Ma
'
married at 7 and 10 years of age and some
of them are grendmothere at 30. They
oan never go forth into the sunlight with
their faoes uncovered. They must rattly as
home. All Styles of maltreatment are
theirs. If they become Christians, they
become outoaats. A missionary told me in
India of a Hiudoo woman who became
Christian. She had nine children. Her
husband war over 70 yeare of age, and yet
at her Christian baptisut he told her to go,
and she went out homelese. Ail long as
woman is down India will be down. No
nation, was ever elevated except through
the elevation of woman. Parsee marriage
is an improvement on Hindoo marriage,
but Christian marriage is an improvement
on Parsee marriage.
A fellow traveler in India, told zne he had
been. writing to his home in England trying
to get a law passed that no white woman.
could be legally married in India until she
had been there six months. Admirable
law would that be ! If a white woman saw
'
what married. life with a Hindoo is she
would never undertake it. Off withthe
thick and ugly veil from woman's face 1 Off
with the crushing burdens from her
shoulder I Nothing but the gospel of Jesus
Christ wilt ever make life in India what it
ought to be.
Thus I have set before you the best of all
the religions of the heathen world, and I
have done so in order that you might come
to bigherappredation of the gloriousreligion
which has put its benediction over us and.
ever Christendom.
Compare the absurdities and mummeries
of heathen marriages, with the plain "1
of Christen marriage, the hands
joined in pledge "till death us do part. s'
Compare the doctrine that the dead may
not be touched with as sacred and tender
and loving a kiss as is ever given, the last
kiss of lips that never again will speak to
us. Compare the narrow bridge Chinvat,
over which the departing Parsee soul must
tremblingly crose,to the wide open gate of
heaven, through which the departingChrieitan soul may triumphantly enter.
Compare the 21 books of the Zerui Avesta
of the Parsee, which even the scholars of
the earth despair of understanding, with
our Bible, so much of it as is necessary
for our salvation in language so phsin that
"a wayfaring man, though a fool, need
not err therein." Compare the "tower of
silence," with its vultures, at Bombay
with the Greenwood of Brooklyn, with its
sculptured angels of resurrection, and bow
yourselves in thankgiving and prayer as
you realize that if at the battles of .Mara -
then and Salamis Persia had triumphed
over Greece iwitead of Greece triumphing
over Persta, Parseeisin, which was the na-
tional religion of Persia, might have coy
ered the earth. and you and I instead o
sitting in the noonday light of our glorious
Christianity might have been groping in
the depressing shadows of Parseenna a
religion as inferior to that which is on
inspiration in life and our hope in death a
Zoroster of Persia was inferior to on
radiant and superhuman Christ, to whom
be honor and glory and dominion and via
tory and song, world without end. Amen
their decease go into eternal light and the
bad into eternal darkness ; `that having
paroled out of this fife the soul lingers near
the corpse three days in a paradiside state,
eujoying more than all the nations of earth
Fie together could enjoy,or in a pandemon-
lac state, suffc ring more than all the nations
put together could possibly suffer, but at
the end of three days departing for ita final
destiny, and that there will be a resurrec-
tion of the body. They are more careful
than any other people about their ablutions,
and, they wash and waah and wash. They
flay great attention to physical health,and
it is a rare thing to see a sick Parsee. They
do not smoke tobacco, for they consider
that a misuse of fire. At the close of mor:
tel life the soul appears at the Bridge
(Minya% where an angel presides, and
questions the soul about the thoughts
and words and deeds of its earthly state.
Nothing, however, is more intense in the
Parsee faith than the theory that the dead
body is impure. A devil is supposed to
take possession of the dead body. All who
touch it are unclean, and hence the strange
style of obsequies.
But here I must give three or four ques-
tions and answers from one of the Parsee
catechisms ;
Question -Who is the most fortune*
man in the world?
Answer -He who is the most innocent.
Q. -Who is the most innocent man in the
World?
A. -Ere who walks in the path of God
and shuns that of the devil?
Q. -What ID the path of God, and whioh
that of the devil?
A. --Virtue is the path of Geed, and vice
that of the devil.
Q. -What constitutes virtue, and what
vice
A. -Good thoughts, good words and
good deeds constitute virtue, and evil
thoughts, evil words and evil deeds con-
atitute aloe.
Q. -What constitute good thoughts,
good words and good deeds and evil
thoughts, evil words and evil deeds?
A. -Honesty, charity and truthfulness
constitute the former, and disheneety, want
of charity and falsehood tnonstitue the
latter.
And now, the better to show you these
Pariees, I tell you of two things I flaw
within es short time in Bombay. It was an
afternoon of contrast.
We started for Malabar hill, on which
the wealthy classes have their embowered
homes and the Parsees their strange tem-
ple of the dead. As we rode along the
water's edge the sun was descending the
sky, and is dilsoiple of Zoroaster, a Parsee,
wee in lowly posture, and with reverential
gate looking into the sky. He would have
been said to have been worshipping the sun,
he all Parsecs are said to worship the fire.
But the intelligent Parsee does not wor-
ship the fire. BLS looks upon the sun as
the emblein of the warmth and light of the
Creator. Looking at a blaze of light,
whether on hearth, on mountain height Or
in the eky, he can more easily bring to
mind the glory of God -.at least, eo the
Femora tell MO. Indeed they are the
pleasantest heathen I have met. They
treat their witas as equals, while the Hie-
. dooe and Buddhists treat them ea cattle,
although the cattle and sheep and swine
are better off than most of the women of
Tfile Parsee on the roadside on our way
to Malabar hill was the only one of that
religion 1 had, ever semi engaged in Nam'.
ship. Who knows but that beyond the
light of the sun on which he gazes he may
(fetch a glimpse of that God who is light
arta "in whom there ft no darkness at all?"
We passed on up through the gates into
the garden that surrounds the place where
the Parsees dieptise of their dead. This
garden wet given by Jateshulji Jit Mai and
is beautiful with flowers of all hues and foil -
canal and float away on the same sea. No
splendor of Necropolis, no sculpturing of
mausoleum, no pomp of dome or obelisk.
Zoroaster's teachings resulted in these
"towers of silence." He wrote, "Naked
you came into the world, and naked you
must go out."
Starting homeward, we soon were in the
heart of the city and saw a building all
aflash with lights and resounding with
merry voices. It was a Parsee wedding,
ID a building erected especially for the
marriage ceremony. We came to the door
and proposed to go in, but at first were
not permitted. They saw we were not
Parsee% and that we were not even natives.
So very politely they halted us on the
doorstep. This temple of nuptiala was
chiefly occupied by women, their ears and
necks and hands aflame with jewels or im-
itations of jewels. By pantomime and ges-
ture, ea we had no use of their vocabulary,
we told them we were strangers and were
curious to see by what process Parsees
were married.
Gradually we worked our way inside the
door. The building and the surroundings
were illumined by hundreds of candles in
glasses and lanterns, in unique and grot-
esque holdings. Conversation ran high
and laughter bubbled over, and all wa-
gay. Then there was a sound of an advanc-
ing band of muse), but the instruments for
the moat part were strange to our ears and
eyes. Louder and louder were the outside
yoices, and the wind and stringed instru-
ments, until the procession halted at the
door of the temple and the bridegroom
mounted the steps. Then the music ceased
and all the voices were still.
The mother of the bridegroom, with a
platter loaded with aromatics and articles
of food, confronted her SOU and began to
address him. Then she took from the plat-
ter a bottle of perfume and sprinkled, his
face with the redolence. All the while
speaking in a droning tone, the took from
the platter a handul of rice, throwing
some of it on his head,spilling some of it
on his shoulder, pouring some of it on his
hands. She teiolc from the platter s, cocoa-
nut and waved it about his head. She lift-
ed a garland of flowers and threw it over
his neck and a bouquet of flowers and put
it in his hand. Her pert of the ceremony
completed,and the band resumed its music,
and through another door the bridegroom
was conducted into the centre of the
building. The bride wee in the room, but
there was nothing to designate her.
" Where is the bride?" I said, "Where
is the bride ?" After a while she was
made evident. The bride bad groom
were seated on chaira opposite each other.
A white curtain was dropped between
them so that they could not see each
other. Then the attendants put their
arms under this curtain, took a long
rope of linen and wound it around the
neck of the bride and the groom in token that
they were to be bound together for life. The
some silk strings were wound around the
couple, now around thie one and now
around that, Then the groom threw a
handful of rice across the curtain on the
head of the bride, and the bride responded
by, throwing a hendfnl of rice across the
curtain on the head of the groom. There-
upon the minion dropped, and the bride's
chair was removed and put beside that of
the groom. Then is priest of the Parsee
religion arose and faced the couple
Be-
fore the priest was placed a platter of rioe.
Ile began to o.ddress the young inan and
woman. We mild not hoar a word,
bat understood just as well as if we had
heard. Ever and anon he punctuated
his ceremony by a handful of ride , which
he picked np from the platter and flung now
toward the groom and now toweed the
bride.
The ceremony went on Mtermitiably.
We wanted to hear the conchnion, but
were told that the cerernofty would go on
THE SUNDAY solooL.
INTERNATIONAL LESSON, Jan. 6.
"John the Oaptiee Meheatileil," mark 6. 11
29. ffiloldeit1roxi. Matt. 10, 28,
STATxtiltiVr.
On the eastera shore of the Dead Sea
slime a gloomy building, at once a garrison.
ed outpost to the kiugdou Etna a prison for
tne victims of the king'sdislike or dread.
In a lonely dutegeon of that castle sits a
young man, the last and greateet of the
prophets, the herald of the worlds Re.
deernea He that was want to enjoy the
freedom of the wildernese has for 4 Year
beheaded the fetid air of the prison, and
clanked hie chain, and wrestled with his
doubts (Matt. 11.2, 3), and wearily waited
tor his crown. Herod's birthday has come
and there ie e, banquet in the castle. Nobles,
generals, and coutiers reoline around the
tables, feint upon the delicious viands, and
drink the health of eheir monarch 11111111
cups. There lea patter of sae footialle on the
marble floor 8.8 Prinoese Salome,in the dress
of is &omits; girl, entsra and the noblest
behold her graceful attitudes and motions
with delight.King Herod, in the thrill of
eXcitementailedges the fair damsel to grant
her emyrequest,even at the coat oflealf of his
realm, and seals his promise with a vow.
The girl goes forth ; there is a whispered
consultetion without; the returns, and
holding out her white arms she speaks in
triumph, "Give me here John Baptist's
head in a chirger I" The king starts from
his throne in surprise, and a shadow comes
across his face. But his word has passed,
and he dare not face the scorn of his guests
by refusing to fulfil it. A command is
given, the heavy tread of a soldier is hoard
upon the stake, a door creaks upon rusty
hinges, a seimiter flashes, and the noblest
head in Eferod's kingdom falls upon the
...„
dungeon floor. There is seen a gory head
upon a plate, upheld by fair hands, and
borne to a mother in whom revenge has
steeled the heart against pity. hut all is
not over. Theresite on the throne a king
whose face shows remorse eating within his
soul. He cannot fest, and when men tell
of wonders wrought by a new Prophet, he
speaks in tones of terror, "11 is John the
Baptist, whom I beheaded; he is risen
from the dead 1"
MADAGASCAR,
Some or the DiMeulties the invading
Force Will nave to overcome.
A writer in an English journal, in de -
Bombing some of the difficulties with which
the French are likely to be confronted in
their proposed campaign in Madagascar,
says :-"If, as they must expect, the Hove,
Government order the whole of the scanty
population along the line of march to fall
back, destroying all crops, and driving all
animals before them, the difficulties of the
nvaders, even putting aside the probabi-
lity of their being constantly harassed by
an active army, will be enormous. The
task of collecting the amount of transport
for a force of twelve thousand men, for a
journey of some two months' duration,
would be so enormons,and the cost so vast,
that it is hardly to be thought of. But
upon the other hand, it is still more diffi-
cult to see where the army of carriers that
would be needed would come from. Doubt.
less, a certain number of men might by
obtained item the tribes that have not fully
acknowledged the Hova supremacy, but
our experience in Ashantee shovvs that
they would not be found sufficient. It is
not only that the food for the military force
has to be carried, but the food for the
carriers themselves. No man can carry
provisions for himself for a two month's
journey; and if the Heves sweep the
country olear and render the force depend-
ent entirely upon ite stores at its base,
advance would only be possible by forming
great depots along the road previous to the
advance of the troops. As, however, the
Heves should be able to render it impos
silole for the long caravans of bearers to
MOVO without a strong military force to
protect them, the diffioulties of the problem
are sufficiently grave to puzzle the beet
organizers of the French War Department.,
and to cause even the most excitable of
potpies to regret the lightheartedness with
which they have involved the country in
such an undertaking."
A Whiskey :Explosion.
A whiskey atilt operated by Sergeanb
Wm. Redmoted of the Quebee police force
blew up, badly burning Sergeant Redmond
about the face and hands, Two little girls,
his grandchildren. were also badly burned.
Their mother, Sergeant Redmond's daugh
ter, was burned about the head and hands
while trying to Save the little one from
the flamee, which wore fed by about tw en.
ty gallons of illicit whiskey, which be-
smeared the floor and walla after the
exploeion. Redmond is itt a critic:sal condi-
tion. His head is twice its natural size,
and is blistered. His bands are almost
baked, and out of form, Ile bled from the
mouth and ears,
Active About This Time.
Gfigal-" Ile is an individual of many
and varied gifts."
Mullins-" Of Wheal are yriii speaking ?
Gilgal--Santa Claus.
xximAll'ATorir Alen r11/1.0Tioar. NOTES,
Verse 17. Herod. Herod Antipas, one
of the sons of Herod the Great ; he had be-
come by inheritepoe "tetrarch" of Galilee
and Peres. He visa just now hard beset in
a war with King Aretas of Arabia; for
Herod had oast aside his lawful wife, the
daughter of Aretas, to take Herodias in her
place, and the Arab king in hot blood had
avenged this insult by invading Peres-, and
an alarming number of Herod's subjects
sympathized with the enemy. Laid hold
upon John. He hardly dared to leave him
at liberty, for John had tearfully denou,no-
ed Herods crime. Bound him in pri-
son. This had been done just before
the opening or Jesus' Galilean minis-
try. The "prison," as welearn from Jose-
phus, was in Machserus, a fortress on the
edge of Herod's country. It was a huge
building within whose grim, aturdy walls
were not only barracks for soldiers and
arsenals of weapons, but beautiful palaces
for court festivities, 11.11d festering dungeons
so remote from all public life that prisoners
of state might be there semrely kept. In
its ruins may still be seen two cells with
holes in their walls where staples of wood
and iron were fixed. In one of these
John lay. It is likely,' though not
certain, that Herod's birthday party was
held in lilaohterus, and that there Salome
danced. For Herodias' sake. Herod had
been called the Ahab of the New 'Testa-
ment, and in John ne had to deal with the
new Testament's Elijah. Like Ahab,
Herod repented when the truth was power-
fully preaohed, but like Ahab, he surrend-
ered his soul to a badwoman; he was a weak
man and, morally, did more drifting than
steering. His brother PhiliPse wife. The
oiroumstances of Herod's crime greatly asp
gravated it. His claim to the tetrarchy had
been vigorously disputed in the early days;
he hurried to Rome to urge his cause before
the senate, and became the guest of his
brotber Herod Philip I (who must be care-
fully distinguished from the Herod Philip
who built Conroe Philippi, whom Luke
calls Philip the tetrarcinand who is usually
known as Herod Philip II). He repaid his
brother's hospitality by enticing away his
wife and daughter. He had married her.
While trampling on great moral principles
he tried to be scrupulous about the letter
of the law. (1) Sins do not walk singly.
18. John had said unto Herod. Had re-
peatedly said. We are left in the dark as
W whether John strode MW the court un-
summoned, or whether hie public position
led the tetrarch to request a private inter-
view. Meta 14. 5 shows that deep as was
the impression John made on the guilty
king, there were moods in which •Herod
would have killed him before, but for his
fear of public opinion. The rebuke was
evidently given directly to Herod, and was
not a denunciation ets him in his absence.
It is not lawful for thee to have thy broth,
er's wife. Herodias was Herod's ow mace,
being the daughter of Aristobalufewho was
his half.brotheram that to marry her would
break the law of Lev. 18.11; then, too, she
had become the wife of another half-
brother, so that to marry her would break
the law of Lev. 18.16. Another man's
divorced wife might have been taken, but
never the wife of a brother; besides, we
have no reason to suppone that Herodias
had been divorced.
19. Herodias had a quarrel against him.
"Set herself against him ;" cherished her
hatred. Would have killed him. Better,
"willed tokill him." This was not strangethe
was an impenitent sinner, and could not
have forgiven a man who denouneed her
sin. She wee unpopular, and his Words in-
creased the general hatred of her ; for
though popular ideas of divorce were then
very lax, tho royal pair had shocked the
tnoral sense of theJevvia (Note the settled
antagonism between the good and evil
charaoter, Rat Herodiae. was sit least log-
ical in her resolve. She saw clearly that
if Herod long listened to John she would
Ile dethroned and deserted, Either John
or herself mine be destroyed. She eould
not. Efertalts arrest of John took him out
of her povver.
20. Herod feared John. tut not half
se much as he feared him after he killed
hint (3) Sin alwaye fear righteousness.
He was o, just man and a holy. He was
"agnare" with mon and devout before God.
Observed him, Better, "kept hitn safely."
Anger may have been ono of the 'canes
Obi& led him to put John into prison, but
he deelitletie justified keeping him there by
his °ten 09%4 of the relentless Herodias.
Wheti he heard hint Duriug the war
Herod bed hie inesalqualaeris sst blaohosrus.
Did many things. Better, "wee much per-
plexed ; " between the calls of his °onset -
ewe, and the wiles of his wife. Heard
him gladly. Dean Chedwiok profoundly
says. " This guilty man, disquieted by
memory said conscience, found it a relief to
heer stern truth, and ten from far the
beauteous light) of righteousness. lie would
not reform his life, but he would lain keep
Isis sonsehilities alive. So Italian brigands
meintaine Riot; ao franduletit modern mer -
°haute sustain churehee. Such men lose often
wear weak to deceive others than a oloah to
keep their own hearts warm. They should
not be quoted to prove that religion is a de-
ceit, but to prove that even the most worldly
soul craves as much as he opal assimilate."
21.23. Convenient 'day. Convenient
for Herodios. Herod on his birthday made
a supper. Herod's celebrations of hie own
birthday were famous, and Persius, a
Rotnan poet, toils how yeare afterward, at
one of them. a fish in a red clay porcelain
dish reminded him ot the blood-stained
head in the charger, and hie remorseful
terror became a proverb. Lords. Court
officials. High captains. Chief military
reerEl. Chief estates. Rioh landowners.
hdaughter of the said Herodias.
"The daughter of Herodias herself."
A most astonishing thing that a
princess should turn herself into a dancing
girL Her name was Salome. Danced,and
pleased Howl Rich JeSse delighted in
having (laming girls at their feasts. These
formed a class by themselves in the ancient
social world, likethe 'mach girls of India,
and the measure of the pleasure of the
coarse men thus entertained was too often
the shamelessness of the dancer. The faot
that on this occasion a princess was willing
to dishonor her tank made her actions all
the more faecinating to the drunken nobles
and the debauched king. Them that sat.
The words indicate that they were reolin-
ing,aocording to oustorn around the tables.
He aware unto ,her. Probably the wily
dancer exacted an oath as an additional
sanction to the royal promise. Unto the
half. (4) How much will a' sinner barter
sway for a moment's pleasure ! (5) There
are many who give not only half, but
all they possess for the pleasures of sin.
24, 25. Said unto her mother. (6) How
great the influence of a mother for good or
evil! The head of John. The half of a
kingdom WaS not worth so much to a
wicked woman as the gratification of her
own hate and revenge. Straightway
with haste. Lest' the king's ardor might
cool and his vow bs withdrawn. By and
by. An expression which once meant "im-
mediately," but does not now represent
the meaning of the original, which the
Revised Version rightly gives as "forth-
with." In a charger. A large plate sor
platter. Not satisfied to have her enemy
slaim, she inust receive the bloody head
into her own hands.
26, 27. Exceeding sorry. Regret,thag-
rin, anger and alarm were all . mingled in
the king's feelings. For his oath's sake.
A perverted conscience, showing more
regard to his own wordthan to an innocent
mares life. Their sakes. A king, yet
afraid of the mocking jests of those who
sat around his own table I (7) It is better
to follow conscience than popular opinion.
An executioner. "A soldierof his guard"
(Revised Version). Beheaded him. Be
whom Jesue had celled a greater than the
prophets, and the noblest man of earth,
was thus slain in early manhood to gratify
the whim of a dancing girl I Yet his life,
like every true life, was not wrought in
vain!
28, 29. The damsel. Salomehi part in
this transaction reveals as to her character:
a) Early depravity of morals ; (2) Insensi-
bility ; cold and unfeeling; (3) Weak-
ness, if not wickedness, thoroughly
under the mother's inflmence. To her
mother. She is said to have pierced with
a needle the tongue which had spoken the
truth against her. His disciples. The few
followers who still cling to the prophet in
his prison. Laid it in a tomb. Matthew
(14.12) relatee that they bore the sad news
of their master's death to Jesus.
ARTIFIOIAli LIGHT.
The Many Improvements That Mayo Been
Made-Frovei Candies le Electricites
In 186$ gas was first employed as a fuel.
Moscow was first lighted by gee in 1866.
An excellent gas has been mede from
resin.
In 1870 (Kindles wen; first made from
ozokeria
Sydney, in Australia, wars first lighted, by
gas in 1841.
Spermaceti candlea were an invention of
the last century. „
The COliSta of the world are protected by
6,208 light houses.
The first as company in London was in-
corporated in 1810.
Water gas was first successfully employed
in metallurgy in 1890.
Silver candlesticks were known in Britain
as early as A.D. 959.
Ten gas compeuiee had in 1865a monoply
of the lighting of Paris,
- Hundreds of patente have been issued to
inventors of water gas.
A ton of good coal is said to yield about
8,000 feet of purified gas. '
ThelVax Chandlers Company,of London,
was incorporated in 1483.
Gas from bitumen was first made at the
Woolwioh Arsenel in 1868.
In manyyarts of the West Indietashark-
oil is used in the lamps.
The early Egyptian lamps were of granite,
alabaster and terra cotta
There are over 2,900 miles of gas pipes
underlying the London streets.
An excellent quality of illuminating las
has been made from peat.
In 1879 the capital of the London gas
companies amounted to £12,000,000.
In 1889 the United States produced over
34,000,000 barrels of petroleum.
The ritualistio use of candles in ohurchee
WWI forbidden in England in 1548.'
Roman lamps were of gold, silver, bronze,
iron, copper, lead and earthenware.
In 1873 the complete success of water gas
as an illuminant was made apparent.
Until a fewyeare ago whale oil was the
sole illuminant need for lighthouses.
In 1800 Sir Humphry Davy produced the
Killed by Their Armor.
One of the interesting featiires of the
Czar's funeral was, as tumid, the two men
olad in mediseval Omer, one on horseback
and the other on foot, wri`es a correspond-
ent. The mounted knight had his vizor
open and his armor was of burnished gold,
which glittered in the sun. He symbolized
Life. The other 'was on foot; his arm*
was coal black steel; his vizor was closed
and in his hand he bore a drawn two-
handed sword, the blade of which was
threaded in crape. He symbolized Death.
The weight of those,two suits of armor
is so great that, notwithstanding the most
gigantio men of the imperial guard being
selected to don them, the one on foot who
officiated at the obsequies of Emperor
Nicholas L fell dead from exhaustion on
reaching the Church of St. Peter and St.
Paul, where the imperial mausoleum is
situated; while at the funeral of Alexander
IL the black knight fainted during the
march from the Winter Palace to the place
of interment and was carried to the hos-
pital, where he died the same night.
I hear that a similar fate overtook the
black knight at the funeral the other day.
It WM observed that he could scarcely drag
himself along during the latter part of the
procession through the capital, and on
reaching the fortress he sunk unconsoious
to the ground and has since died. The
custard of having the hearse followed by
knights arrayed in medireval armor is by
no mans confined to Russia, and I have
seen the Flame custom observed in Spain,
Italy and Amnia, at the funerals of prin-
ces of the reigning house in Austria the
honor being likewise shared by the knights
of the military order of Therein% the cross
of which is only conferred for feats of
altogether exceptional and conspicuous
gallantry in the field.
Palling Teeth by Eleetricity.
Triale are reported to have been made at
London, Eng., with a new apparatus for
the extraction of teeth by electricity. It
consist@ of an inductive ooil of extremely
fine ?nee, having an interrupter that can
vibrate at the rate of fifty times a second.
The patient Feta in the traditional arm than
and takes the negative electrode in hie left
hand, end the lenitive in his right. At this
moment the operator turns on a current
whoee intensity is gradually increased until
it has attained the utmost limit that the
patient can support. The extractor is then
put in eirceit and fastened on the tooth,
which, under the action of the vibrations,
la loosened ab once. The operation 10 per-
formed very quickly, and the patient feels
no other tientiatioti than the pricking pro-
duced in the heads end forearms by the
passage of the current.
A GIANT'S STRENGTH.
WONDERFUL FEATS PERFORNIED
DT A CANADIAN FARMER.
TOtAta GA' Ton or Ility--Eleet or Foot
Also -ills Daring Itaudsprings-Liked
*9 creek Melee iseatels When 103
CUPS*
„The performances of Sandow, Sannion,
and all other eSecalled arcing men posing
on the stage to day were as notb.
ing to the feats which }Andel Joeeph Berry -
hill, farmer living within ten miles of
London,Onte, famous throughout that part
of ibe country. Berryhill is an old man
now, but is etill able to do thinge that
make him a marvel in the eyes of those
who see him.
lie is a trifle over six feet in height
weighs more than 300 pounds, anti is io
pictureequee. figure that he might hese
stepped from the page of some tale of this
Norsemen, so perfect is his blond beauty. • •
He has always devoted himself to farming,
and is comfortably well off, owning several
hhndred acres of land,together vsith horses,
cattle, and everything else in proportion,
4s a young raan,Berryhill was propo.bly as
great an athlete as ever lived, for, despite
hie great weight, he was 80 fleet of foot
that few professional sprinters could cope
with him, while his prowess at jumping
earned for him a wide reputation. He
weighed perhaps 225 pounde when 20 years
of age, and it was nothing for him after a
hard day's work in the fields to leap twenty
feet in a single running jump or to run
a hundred yards in -10S second. His
bodily strength was remarkable,. and was
perhoo his most distinguiehingcheraoterie.
tic. The neighbors all knew of hie feats
of strength, but the first glimpse the out..
side world had of hie capabilities was when
the Great Western, Railroad, now leased
by the Grand Trunk, was building through
western Ontario. Berryhtil, among others,
contracted to furnish the railroad with
timber for ties and other building -purposes
and while hauling lumber he came under
first electric light WIth carbon points. the observation of the v,ang construoting
road. Many of the
In 1839 the first patent for water gas was that eeetiee el the
men.remarked his size and said that he
taken out in England by Cruickshank% would be a good man to avoid picking a
The beautiful aniline dyes are made from quarrel with. One day, while unloading the
the refuse products of gas manufacture. timber from hissleigh, Berry hillbegan laugh.
The Chinese make candles of a vegetable
wax, the products of the candlebeary tree.
The more atmospheric air there is in gas
the greater the heat, but the less the light.
In 1876 the Jablochoff electric candle was
invented and shown to the French Aced -
Electric: light was first sucessfully used
in photography- by Van der Weyde, in
By distilling it at a very high heat,
wood may be made to yield a good article
of gas.
Com' gas was desoribed and manufactured
by Dr. Clayton, of. England, as early as
1739.
Kohinoor gas, supposed to be very
superior kind, was patented in London in
1881.
Candle ,molds are supposed to be the
invention of a Frenchman shoat the year
14°°
Candles were first used symbolically on
the altars of churches in the fourth cen-
tury.
Candlemas Day was first established as
a festival by Pope Gelasins in the fifth
century.
Over seventy lamps have been found
ranged around the walls of one Etruscan
tomb.
The first attempt to regulate tho price
of gas by municipal enactment was in Lon-
don in 1848.
The flow of natural gas in Pennsylvania
and West Virginia is said to be on the
decrease.
The golden candlesticks of the Jewish
Tabernacle *ere manufactured by Bezaliel,
B. C. 1491.
The first light house where gas was used
in the lamps was the Howth Light of Dub-
lin in 1869.
In 1861 the Frenoh Government ordered
several lighthouse° to be, lighted by the
electric light.
Gas was first used on a large scale in
1798 in the foundary of Boulton & Wafts at
Birtin'ghand
Teosles" of the Romans consisted
of a string made of rags, and a small vessel
of rancid fat.
In 1844 a "Down Easter" invented a
specie§ of candle which he olsimed did not
need snuffing.
The people of large districts in Persia
have no other artificial light than that ob-
tained from petroleum.
The oil wells of Baku cover a distriot of
county twenty-five miles long by over half
a mile in breadth.
One horee-power converted into gas equals
twelve oandle-powereinto eleetrisfitYbequals
1600 candle power. •
In 1858 the work on Westminster bridge
in London was prosecuted at night by the
aid of electric light.
Among the curios unearthed at Troy by
Dr. Schliemarin were several golden lamps
daAtisngeafrrloymas901069B5. 40p. aper was read to the
Royal Society of England on a natural gas
well in Lancashire.
Gas from petroleum is very extensively
made and uaed in Russia, Austria and many
paNdesaorf GMeordmeanneY,•in Italy, the petroleum
gatherers dig a hole in the ground, and it
ie speedily filled with the oil.
In Greenland the "candle -fish" is used
as a lamp. It is about 6 inches long and
burnsfourfiefatiinatamn
eenmirnutees.
Atnsit, the pyrephone,
haft been invented, which extracts all the
tones of the scale from gas flames
Dioscorides oasts that in Sicily in his
time the rock oil or petroleumwas collected
EinTdIlbaUfitnrEeltagianellitn7a. in Dublin were put
i
in position n 1818, and before 1825 the
entire Irish capital was thus lighted.
The French olefin that gas -making was
invented by Leber', in 1802, who made gas
bythe
issr
he reported
thatetillatihtheSultanoofwoo
Ihas
invited
the signatory powers to the Berlin treaty
to send delegated to Kurclistah for a period
os five yeare to imperintend the eixtiptrleoedtiec.,
tionhew
of o1 hmstheerree
latte a new iv
is almost beyond belief. A half pound of
it will move thirty tons of stone,
ing alt six or eight men who were striving
vainly to place a, pair of wheels end axle of
an ordinary freight oar truck on the track,
"Why, 1 oould lift that on myself," he
sait"Ben you $25 you can't," said the constrim-
tion boss, instantly.
The money was staked, and Berryhill,
picking up the pair of ponderous wheelti
with the axle, walked ten or twelve steps
with them and placed them upon the rails
with as much ease SS though they were*. of
papier mathe. Laughing loudly, the giteset
jumped into Ms sleigh and drove away,
lmesevnit.
ng those who had seen the feat look.
hag after him in open-mouthed astonish -
That was a pretty hard winter on some
of the farmers,as hay had been a rather
short crop, and Joe, having a number of
heroes to feed,drove over into Niesouri
`•
began dithering with a farmer for some cir,
hie timothy. The Nisseerian was hard,
fisted and drove close bargains; ancl Berry.
hill finally gave up trying to purchase the
quantity he desired at any thing like a fair
price. Turning to him, Berryhill said,
finally.
“ril give you $5 for what I can carry off •
your farm myself." s
The bargain wae made and Ilerriliik
departed. He came back in a few days'
with a siert of rack built on four short posts,
and began piling hay upon it' until the
Nissourian's eyes were bulging. de tied it
to the rack with ropes, and then, &Milting
beneath the load, corried'off more than a
ton of the farmer's good timothy, that was
worth $15 a ton that winter in any market.
Leaving it on the side' of the highway, he
transferred it to: a sleigh' and earned it
home with =writ chuckle.
AS a young man he was in great demand
at all raising bees. , A raising bee is quite
a function in the country. When a farm-
er is erecting a barn or other large out-
building, and after all the timbers for the
framework are in place, invitations are
sent out to all the farmers of the surround.
ing country. Sides' are chosen, and at a
given signal the framework of the building
is raised into -position, and pins are driven
to hold it into place. Rivalry runs high
at these gatherings, and it is astonishing
how expert men become at the game. Afted
the bee, the wives, sisters,and sweethearts
of the farmers meet them at the house of
the farmer giving the bee, end after a sub-
stantial supper, to which all contribute in
ROMS fashion, one bringing a roast turkey,
another a pie or two and stilt another a
batch of cookies,danOing is indulged be until
2 or 3 o'clock the next morning.
One of Berryhill e star pertormances on
such oecsaions was to turn a series of
handsprings OD the plate or top 'beam of
the framework after it was in position. The
spectacle of a giant' performing such evol-
utions forty or fifty feet from the ground
on a surface not more than ten inches wide
was always an attraction to visitors and
nobody ever duplicated the feat. Ill tilt
WOO& the man's prowess with the axe was '
equally remarkable. • He • used an axe ,
twice as big and as heavy again as the or-
dinary tool, and so great was his strength
that at every blow it sank to the eye in the
wood. It was an ordinary thing foriam to
handle loge of wood that a team of horses
would ordinarily be required to place in
position for skidding, and whenever hie
horses got into a tight place or a pitch hole,
and were unable to extricate the load, the
giant would put his shoulder to the hind
bob, °all to his horses, and the trouble
woe ld be ovee.
The Finest in the 'World.
•
•
The finest choir in the world is that of
St. Peter's in Rome, known as the Popehi
choir, There is not a female .voice in its
and yet the moot difficult oratorios and
emend musio are rendered in such a manner
as to make one think that Adelina PAW is
leading. The choir is composed of sixty
boys. They are trained for the work from,
the time they get control of their vocal
corda, and some of the beet singers 06 not ,
over 9 yenta old. At the ago of 17 they are
dropped from the choir.
.0ne Man Enough.
"Do you think Skinner can make a living
out there ?"
"Metre a living ? "Why, he'd make a
living on a rock in the middle of the ocean
-if there Vrtia auother man on the rock."