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A' lUiy/i 1 j aw mm mm WALTER D. TUSTEN OF HIS T1 (CONTINUED ] though we hare confined our pur chases to articles that do not require much space, we have had to add two more pieces of baggage to our trav eling equipment. The temple of worship In Benaries, that attracts most attention from visitors is the sacred Monkey Temple ifli and around which innumerable monkeys are capering about, and in feeding them one incurs favor with that deity. At 6 o'clock the morning after our arrival w; drove to the river, engaged a boat, and made a trip along the Ghf.ts, whdch are on its bknks. This is the most interesting thing to be seen in Benaires and in fact one of the most interesting sjgfats in India. (A Ghat is a flight of steps leading down to rivers.) Tte Ganges, though sacred, is about tta filthiest stream of water I have -ever seen except the canal in Canton China, and yet the Hindus, who can roach it, bath in it every morning and also take it up in thedr hands and drink it at the same time. Going aiong the river in a boat you see thousands of them doing thedr devo tions. The Hindus dispose of their , dead by cremation, and the crema tion ground in Renaries is on the banks of the sacred river and is call ed tte "burning Ghat," and here you see dead bodies wrapped in white shears awaiting their turn. The body is first dipped into the sacred river to be cleansed of earthlly con tamination. They use cord-wood cut about 8 feet long and pile some of it in a certain way upon the ground and lay the body on it and then put TT|?re wood on top and ignite it. They do aot use near enough wood and cfcMequently th? bodies are never entirely consumed, so when the fire is burned out what remains of the coarpee is thrown in the river. Babies under one year of age, are not burn ed, but merely thrown into the river with a stone attached to make them sink for a while. Adults, too, who havA fallen from grace, are also thrown into the river without the burning process. Therefore, it is not uncommon see human dead bpdies floating around among the bathers, also dead animaJs. As we were going along Anne ex claimed "Oh! papa! what is that in the water?" and looking where she pointed I saw that it was a dead donkey and the motion of our boat pushed it among a lot of bathers who were praying and drinking the water, and one of them merely push ed it aside and went on with his devotions. How these people e?n escape some horrible disease I do not Icmow, it is to me the most mar velous thing with which I have ever come in contact, the water of this river must indeed possess some that no other water contains vviooh acta as a powerful disinfect a?t. I was glad to have been able to so* tkese tilings for I Had read about tkea often, but when I left Bin aries I felt no regret whatever, j From there we went to Lucknow and were much interested while vfaitiBg the many points connected with the Great Meeting and the re lief by Havedock and Colin Camp bell. From here we visited Cawn pore and saw other spots of bitter memories connected with the great meeting, including the Tragic Well and Masecre Ghat where two of the most revolting crimes in the world's history were enacted. Our next stop was at Agra, the city of the Taj Mahal where a great treat was In store for us. The architectural marvels of this city were begun by the greatest of all Mogul Emperors (Akbar) and finished and added to by his wonder fol son (Sha Johan) who built the TV*-2 oa o t-rtmV frtt* Via ntiAAfi x OO a bVitll/ AVA ?U0 ~ V* 4W I^MVVU| Mumtaz-i-Mahal, the "Chosen of the Palace," who was the mother of fourteen children during her mar ried life of fourteen years. When one is somewhat informed as to the life of this man, and visit ed and minutely inspected the won derful buildings which were con structed under his direction, he is not surprised that the Taj was erect- j ed, for any man possessing such ex quisite taste as Sha Johan must also have a nature abounding in senti ment, and the Taj Mahal is the moat beautiful tribute erer naid to a wo nran. It is built of white marble and ornamented in the most beautiful ?md elaborate man nor imaginable, it WRITES SISTER RIP TO JERUSALEM PROM PAGE TWO) it an equisite example of inlaying with precious stones, which was the great characteristic of the style of the Mogues after the death of Ak bar. It is just eight years less than four hundred years old and is as perfect today as it was the day it was finished, both inside and out and every time we saw it it seemed more beautiful. Even under the moon light when we had our last view, it was simply enchanting and I do not wonder that it is conceded to be the most beautiful building in the world. I shall not attempt to des cribe either it or the palaces, and other buildings in the fort or the Mote Masjid and marvelous struc tures at Fatehpur-Sikri, as no de scription that I could write would begin to convey a worth while idea of their architectural and artistic merit. From Agra we journey to Delhi, the capital of British India, where many more buildings of marvelous beauty and memorials of unforgot ten dynasties were visited and with the exception of the Taj we found them just as wonderful as those at Agra. On the train between Agra and Delhi we got acquainted with a Mr. Forshay and his wife of Georgia who are related to the Marshall's of Abbeville. I learned that he was fond of hunting and we decided to have a hunt while at Delhi and after we had visited the most interesting places we Jeft the women behind and engaged two Shikaris (hunting guides) and started out, traveling about an hour and a half by rail, then taking Bullock carts w? started for the hills, about seven miles away, arriving at our destination about 4:00 p. m. After having something to eat, which we cooked in the woods, we went out to try and get a leopard. We had bought two kids and oitf men carried titan, and when we had taken our places in IMOO o far IT VmnrlrA/1 Wj-rv4a orwrt biwn; o ivn iiMiiutvu ^ vfw vmv kids were tied to rocks near the trees which we occupied. , We were all ready by sundown, and-soon the moon was shining' brightly and the kids were calling loudly tor their motheis, and in; about an hour a fine leopard came out of the undergrowth and crouch-! ed, (exactly like a cat ready to spring on a mouse) and I shot and missed him, he then stood up and ; looked about as if trying to locate the disturbance when I shot again and killed him. It was a lucky shot1 as it is pretty uncertain shooting a rifl^ at night, even in bright moon light. Wo slept out on the plains that night and next day, on our way to the station, we killed four beautiful Black Bucks. I took the skins and heads with me to Bombay and left them with a taxidermist to be cured and mounted and shipped to New York. I have always wanted to kill a t-.itrpr rvr soma frth??r ihifl' cat and I consider myself very fortunate to have gotten one the first day out From Delhi we went to Jaipur, the chief city of Rajputana (a native state) and enjoyed our stay there; immensely. We visited the "beautiful palace of the Maharajah and waa| much impressed with the city, the buildings in which are all pink and built of brick and stone, it is the most unusual city I have ever visit ed. The Maharajah, of course, bein,? a Hindu, allows no animals or birli to be killed and milliona of wild pigeons and thousands of Pea F'.?w' are to be seen, also game of various kinds. To kill a pigeon means three years is prison and to kill a pea fowl the penalty is five years. No one except the Maharajah is allowed to kill a tiger and when one de velops into a man eater he is ordered trapped and when captured is placed in a cage in one of the streets. They . have many of them and we enjoyed seeing them as they are the largest < specimens we have ever seen. , From here we also made an ex- < cursion to Amber, a deserted city, on an elephant and the largest one I ! have ever seen, and Marie says that < although she has never fancied aiT- J ships as a mode of conveyance, she would gladly take one in preference to an elephant, ;but I did not find it so bad. Our next stop was Bombay wher we spent eight days and the mosi interesing thing we saw there waf the "Tower of Silence" or in oth^? words the last resting place of the Parsi dead. The Parsis, formerly" Inhabitants of Persia, are the modern followers of Zoroaster and of their total num^ faer in India about 100,000; some thing like 80,000 live in Bombay. j The sacred fire that Zoroaster was' said to have brought from heaven,! is kept burning in consecrated spots] and temples are built over subterani an fires. The priests tend the fires on the altars and burn incense, but do not worship the sun or fire as is commonly supposed. God, according to Parsi faith, is the emblem of ?lory and light, therefore, a Parsi 1 while praying is directed to stand before the fire or to direct his face towards the sun as the most proper 3ymbols of the Almighty.. The Ele ments Fire* Water and the Earth, are sacred to them and therefore they will not permit either to be polluted by their dead which are dis posed of in a peculiar manner. In the most beautiful part of Bombay is Malabar Hill, a large part of which is occupied by the Parsis for the disposal of their dead and it is here the 'Tower of Silence" is lo cated. In order to see it it is neces sary to get a permit from the secre tary of Parsi society, which is no trouble whatever to obtain. Within a gateway of an outer enclosure which :an be entered by automobile you :ome to a long flight of steps which j nount to a gaterway in the inner ivall, and at this point visitors are net by an official of the society and :onducted through the grounds, vhich are very beautiful and seem 1 ;o be arranged to foster calm medi ation. At a Parsi funeral the bier is car ried up the steps by four carriers of ihe dead and followed by two beard id men, and the mourners and these >earded men are the only persons vho enter the tower with the corpse, ind they as well as the carriers, have1. ife positions and are succeeded by heir sons. After depositing the corpse with- i n the tower these men go to a place J iear by and wash and purify them ie)ves and leave their clothes in a .ower built for the purpose. There is a very fine model of one >f the towers and we were much in rested in its construction, and the jxplanation of the official. The five owers are cylindrical in shape and :onstructed of brick and cement and >ainted white, and the largest is ibout 100 feet in diameter and 25 ;eet high and said to h^ve cost ibout $150,000.00. At about 10 feet J from the ground is an opening in ;he encircling all dosed by an iron ioor aibout 6 feet square and it is trough this opening that the corpse 18 carried into tbe tower by the two , >earded men. Inside, the plan of the juilding, resemibles a circular grid ron, sloping towards the center, in yhich there is a well a few feet in iiameter. Besides the circular wall ihat encloses this well there are two )ther circular walls between it and ;he outside wall with footpaths run ling upon them and the apacfes be rween are divided into compartments >y radiating walls running from the sdge of the wall, each compartment jeing wide enough to receive a jorpse. The bodies of adult males ire laid in the outer series of com partments, the women in the middle >ories and the children in that near est the well. They are placed in the graves luite naked and in half an hour the i lesh is completely devoured by the aundreds of vultures that sit upon :he top of the wall and adjoining :rees, and nothing but the skeleton remains. This is left to dry in the iun and wind until perfectly dry ?nd then the carriers of the dead, ivith gloved hands and with tongs, last the bones into the well and here chey crumble into dust. j The dust in the well accumulates, jg slowly that in forty years it only pose about five feet. This singular mode of interment jeems rather revolting when first, brought to one's attention, but af ter visiting the towers and consid ering the matter from all angles it does not seem so bad. ' The Par si 9 are the most important I men in Bombay, considered from a I commercial and financial standpoint, | and judging from some of the men and women we met while traveling j in India they must be a fine class of J people. Tho women, especially, haveij x bearing :hat indicates modesty and efinement of a very high order. j The many religions wo have come | contact with and which I have omewhat investigated in Japan, China, Java, Burma and India, ar? most inter eating aid 1 ild feari there is some good in all of them. The first place we stopped aftei sailing from Bombay, through thfi Arabian Sea, was Aden, Arabia and although .)ur ship only stopped foi a few hours I went ashore but found very little of interest as we came in contact with many Arabian people in Bombay. I did buy some beauti ful ostrich feathers, thooogh, and of the most attractive baskets ] have ever seen. v Our next stop was at Suez, but we could not go ashore as our ship did not stop long enough. We entered the Suez Canal at this point and the next morning at 6:00 o'clock w? were in Port Said and leaving there at 12:00 o'clock we reached Cairo at 5:30 p. m. Your letter addressed to me at Colombo, Ceylon, was forwarded here and I also received your letter addresed here. W(e * have not investigated Egypt as yet but will do so, and from here we have decided to go to Palestine^ and from there around the Syrian coast and the coast of Asia Minoi touching at Beyrout, Tripoli, Alex* andria, Messina, Larnaca, Limassol. Adalia, Rhodes, Smyrna, Dardanel les, Constantinople and then aerose Athens, Patras, Corfu and Briudisi Italy, and then to Naples, Rome, Florence and Venice, but do not know as yet what route we will take from there to Paris but expect to reach there about the middle of April. Please address my maH Paris, is care of Farmers Loan and Trust Co, Marie and Anne join me in love to you all. Affectionately, WALTER. Jerusalem, Feb. 17, 1922. My Dear Sister:? We arrived here on the 13th inst., and since our arrival have been con EliEiamfErafiEiEfiUiuaigfii Build This You cs buildings to Prices < er now thar Why r Welec prices. i Builder A. H. JACKSOI Lum! W iF-irinnnnnrinnnn UUUUUUPUMUMMI. i stantly on the go. 1 ) Ono day we motored out to the i Dead Sea and the River of Jordon ' and Jericho, and yesterday we t drove to Bethlehem passing on the I way to the tomb of Rebecca and other places of interest, and of I course our visit to the spot marked i :by a large ^ilver star, where the ! ( best of al men first saw the light of | day, we were much impressed. ' j The rest of our time here has been ! spent about the city visiting the i many places that are mentioned in the Old and New Testament. II Today we finished our sight-flee - i ing here Dy following "the way of | the cross" to the place of Crucifix-' ion of Holy Sepulchre. j! I am enclosing violets and a leaf j which I picked yesterday in the Gar . den of Gethsemane. [' We are leaving tomorrow for ^ .: Haifa where we take ship on the ^ I fat Cnnsfcan-Hriftnl^ a-rv/1 Wnm I * -1 . we sail we will visit Nazareth. Ami i 11 ( enclosing some cards which yon may find interesting. I I . II Hoping you are well, I am with - much love, * jt i Affectionately, . WALTER. >, YOUNG MAN OF COLUMBIA < SHOT HIMSELF TO DEATH l ' i i Colombia, March 14.?Austin Mc- ^ 1 Creight, connected with a hard 1 ware store here, son of J. W. Mc- 1 ] Creight, postmaster for the legisla- J 1, ture, shot himself to death early to- < '! day rh the store where he works. ] 1 He went to the store at 7, as was his, < custom, took a gun from stock and ' went to the basement, where he 3 placed the barrel against his chin and pulled the trigger. His body was i found latar by his employer. He i was a young man of fine standing ,! but had been in bad health and de pressed of late. t ing Mat Is the Season to I and Repair innot afford to allc decay. r i -i t . or DUiiamg inaieii i will be' the case iot consult us tods id in the campaigi s Supply C( V, Manager. ber Yard at Ice Plant wwwpiFinnwnnpinhpir irJuuuuinsjKTQiTijonu iVILSON & COMPANY SHOW A DEFICIT Chicago, March 14.?The annual statement of Wilson and Company )ackers, revealing an operating de icit of $8,462,650 during 1921 was nade puiblic today. Including pay nent of preferred dividends the de icit for the year was placed at $9, 206,269, compared with profits of fl,500,000 in 1920, and |5,000,000 n 1919. The statement said that vhile sales totalled fewer dollars in L921 than in previous years, the ;onnage was very nearly tne same. Wilson and Company was the ast of the big five packers . to iapoie i statement and each company re >orteed loss for the year. The ag gregate defiicit of Wilson and Com >any, Cudahy and Company, Ar nour and company, Swift and Com ?ny and Morris and company, was 577,314,460. ?REE SEED ITEM REMAINS IN BULL Washington, March 14.?The ag ricultural appropriation bill, carry- , ng approximately $35,000,000 was * passed today by the House after nembers had been forced on record >n the question of putting back the ?360,000 item for free seed, which vas eliminated by * the committee framing the measure. The seed appropriation stood up when the bill was presented to the Souse proper, but on a point of or ier by Representative McArthur, Republican, Oregon, opposing the iistribution, a roll call waa ordered rhe free advocates won by a vote of 175 1A9 The bill as sent to the Senate is ihout $4,000,000 under last yearns ippropriations. Calcium is the principal mineral orf he human body. erials Build )w valuable als are low again soon. n for lower )mpany PHONE 68 mtt*