Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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CITY OF SHIA MOSLEM. Xedjiff the Mecca of One Sect of the Mohammedans. Mystic, buried in the exclusive sands of the desert, almost unknown by the white man, the Arab city of Ned jiff, mecca of the Shia .Mohammedans, born of and for a religion, contains within its walls of sundried brick a treasure house rich beyond fable, into which a stream of gold and jewels has poured for centuries, and over the looting of which many an empire-building soldier has sweetened his dreams while sleeping on the battlefields of India and elsewhere in Asia. Xedjiff has become hostile land, and the wonderful mosque of gold and precious stones is exposed as a possible objective of invaders. Frederick Simpich, one of the few white men of anv race to have made a visit to hidden Nedji.T. has transmitted an account of this strangest of cities to the National s Geographical society. He wnr.es: "It is five days by male or cainel caravan from Bagdad to Xedjiff. and in the eveptful centuries since the Shias founded Xedjiff?on the spot where a nephew of the Prophet Mohammed was slain?it is estimated that over 25,000,000 Moslems have V? y* nllorimocro t rv this; mVStftl'i "ittuc hie jiusiiuiubv -v .. . ous desert city of golden domes, fabulous treasures, and weird rites. Thousands of devotees from the Shia hordes of India, Persia and South Russia flock through Bagdad each year, bringing with them their muni:fled dead, salted and dried?for burial in the holy ground about the mystic city." Each member of the Shia sect must make the pilgrimage to this holliest of his shrines, the city toward which throughout life he bows in worship, the unnatural city bound up in the desert's spell, into which the treasures of all his fellows in faith are flowing for their spiritual welfare. Each member of the Shia sect expects to be buried in the sacred earth without the city's walls, where millions upon millions of past Shias tnrnprt thp sands to clay. This enormous graveyard about the city is not the least part of its weird fascination. The desert trail to the sacred city is empty, barren and dead. It is an unattractive trail whose silence is only broken by fanatic pilgrims and by caravans transporting corpses to the Shia Mecca of the dead. Of the city, Mr. Simpich says: "Xedjiff is a freak city. Not a green thing?a plant, shrub, or tree ?lives within its dry, hot limits. It is. built on a high plain of soft sandstone. The narrow, crooked streets, in -many places mere passages 3 or 4 feet wide, wind like jungle paths. One of the strange features of this strange city is its cellars. In summer the fierce heat drives the panting people deep down into the earth, like rats in a hole. Beneath every house is a cellar, burrowed mine-like to amazing depths; one I explored reached an astoundinglv low level, being more than 100 feet below the street. Down into these damp, dark holes the Shias flee when the scorch ing desert air sizzies auove auu miported German thermometers stand at 130 Fahrenheit. Some of the cellars are arranged in a tier of cells or rooms, one below the other; the upper room is used in the first hot months, the family going lower down as the heat increases. Many of these cellars are connected by underground corridors, and the criminals, who swarm in Xedjiff, easily elude capture by passing through these tunnels from house to house." The mosque, Mr. Simpich describes as covered with great gold tile which run to its very base. . For ages, he says, the rich of Shia faith have made precious presents to this temple until its vaults are bursting with pent-up treasure. The city has no industry, no commerce?nothing that is apart from its religious pur' pose. It supports itself upon the money of the pilgrims, lodges them, feeds them, robs them, sells them prayer-brick made from the graveyard clay, and even marries them for the period of their visit to perenial brides, brides kept in stock, who le.gallv have many husbands in their lives. As a war significance of this city, the explorer tells: "A British Indian army officer told me that the looting of the Xedjiff mosque was a favorite dream of the soldiers in the middle-east, who looked forward to the day when war maysweep an army of Invasion into XedCCA? J1U. Wluit He Prayed For. "Bobby, I suppose you say your prayers every night." "Yes'm." ' "And what are the things you pray for?" "Mostly that pop won't find out what I've been doin' through the day."?Boston Transcript. Xo Limit. Mrs. Newly wed?I want a cook, but she must be capable. Head of .the Employment Agency ?Madam, I have several on my books capable of anything.?Judge. BROUGHTOX IS BACK. t Former Atlanta Pastor Goes to Knovville. Knoxville, Tenn., Feb. 4.?Dr. Len G. Broughton, formerly of Atlanta, who yesterday resigned the pastorate of Christ church, London. Eng., has accepted a call to the pastorate of the First Baptist church here. His acceptance came by cable today. Half a Year of World War. Six months after the outbreak of the world war the outstanding fact was that peace seemed as distant, almost more distant than- it did in September. Yet if the close of the conflict remained still a subject for speculation, it was now plain that the issue had been determined in September and that all that had happened since the battle of the Marne had in fact been the natural consequence of one more decisive battle of the world. On fields and hills but little distant from the plain where Roman civilization turned back Attila, the German bid for world supremacy, the kaiser's chance to play Napoleon were abolished. In the opening month of the war there was a chance, a real chance that Germany might destroy France before Russia was up, force Russia to make terms oerore mngiana was ready and then, master of the continent as the France of Napoleon, renew the duel with the British empire that France had abandoned precisely a century before. After the battle of the Marne the chance had vanished. Week by week, month by month, Russian, British, French military power, developed. On January 20 Germany held less of France than on September 1; instead of a 100,000 British troops, the advance guard of a fresh million were already in Flanders; French troops were breaking out in Alsace. In the period between the battle of the Marne and January, 1915, Germany had made three great campaigns. On the Yser the very flower of her troops had gone down under the eyes of the kaiser in a frantic attempt to gain the French coast] cities, to grasp the eastern shore of| the Straits of Dover, to get within j reach of the hated Englishman's I hom?. A first attempt to seize War-, J saw, to crush Russia, France being! I indestructible, had failed before the I Polish capital. A second offensive I into Poland, after great victories and terrible losses had come to a halt before the Bzura. Six months after war had begun Germany was still faced by three great nations, their military force wholly unshaken, their armies still gaining in numbers, their deficien-! cies in artillery, in machinery all but made good. Such advantage as her prepardness had given her, the j credit balance in her favor, was now exhausted. In the same period her Austrian ally had three times been beaten almost to her knees by Russian vie-! tories, was now facing an invasion I across the Carpathians into Hungary, i ?on thp Hansbure emperor j had seen splendid armies ignominiously routed, destroyed by the hated Serbs, who in their turn were preparing to flow over the Danube into Hungary. Around the world the German hopes had equally proven vain. The, Turk had suffered disaster, the holy war had fallen to empty nothing, the South African revolution had flickered out as an abortive revolt, with no other permanent consequence than to insure the' loss of German Southwest Africa. In Asia her colony had disappeared into Japanese hands, in the Pacific her islands were lost irrevocably, in Africa her remaining colonies were being slowly but steadily consumed by her enemies as one eats an artichoke, leaf by leaf. To balance this, Germans could still point to conquered lands and provinces. In Poland, in Flanders, in Champagne her lines held, her counter-attacks regained the lost trenches regularly. In Alsace, along the Aisne, in Artols and Belgium, Anglo-French attacks, ambitious offensive. were speedily beaten down. East and west Germany was still a match for her enemies, but east and west the moment for victory had passed, irrevocably passed, east and west German operations more and more tended toward the defensive. What Gettysburg had been to the South, the Marne was now proving to have been to Germany. Xowhere in January was there the slightest sign of new promise for German victory and what was true in January had been true in the earlier months. Half a year of war had given history one more decisive battle, for Europe conceivably the greatest in permonnfnf shiro Waterloo. Tn j that battle it bad iteen decided that j Europe should still be European and i not Frussian. At the Marne. France had saved herself and Europe: after the Marne the problem was how Ions? it would take Europe to conquer Germany, and in January it was unmistakable that as vet Europe had made no progress. Early in the war Lord Kitchener had said that the struggle might last three years. What seemed a mere rough estimate becomes far more I significant examined by the few stat! istics yet available which show the wastage of war. Thus it seems fair to estimate that Germany has now in the field 3,000.000 men. France 2,000,000, Austria , 1,000,000, Russia 3.00O.000, England | at no distant date will have 1.000,-1 ; 000 on the continent. Servia and j Belgium may be reckoned to have 250,000. Now as far as Russia is concerned ; her supply of men is for any ordi-' I nary calculation inexhaustible. That.K | she can keep her European force at j I j 3.000,000 for three years, despite bat- j I I tie losses is hardly debatable. As to | B j England, her ability to maintain an | ? i army 01 i,uuu,uuu on me luimucui I indefinitely and despite losses is; equally to be accepted. It is differ-1 ent with France. Her available mili-j tary population may be reckoned at. 4,000,000. Of this she has already lost 1,000,000 by death, capture, dis-: ease or wounds. Half of this number may be reckoned as permanent- j lv lost. At this rate, France will be reduced at the opening of the third j j year of the war to 2,000,000. Withher allies she will then have 6.000,-' 000 men. But her losses in this year : cannot be made good, save by the I new class coming to the colors in 1917 and levies from her colonies. Now Germany may be reckoned to have had 6,000,D00 men available for service in July, 1914; 600,000 more will be supplied by the combined classes of 1916 and 1917. Gerj man losses in the first six months may be estimated at 1,800,000. At | this rate, 1,800,000 will be removed j permanently from the German lines in each of the first two years of war. I Thus, at the opening of the third, | Germany will still have 3,000,000 men to draw on. But her losses j thereafter will be definite, because ! she will have exhausted her reserve. As to Austria, she has lost more than ! 1,000,000 already in her many disasters. She may still have 1,000,000 j in the field, but a year hence, two years hence, she can hope for no more and her resources, too, will be completely exhausted. Thus as the third year of the war opens not more than 4,U0U,U'JU auri tro-Germans, the last line, will con| front 6.000,000 Russians, British and j French, helped by some hundreds of thousands of Slavs and Belgians, behind whom will stand Russian and British reserves of at least 4,000,000.' This means, with every discount for; the roughness of the estimate, that sometime in the third year, while Russian and Britain are stiil able to keep their armies at their present point, Austro-German forces will begin to decline rapidly and a tremen-. dous advantage of numbers will be-j long to the enemies of Germany, j Such is the statement of what may' j be called the mathematics of mur-i der.?From "Half a Year of World j War," by Frank H. Simonds, in the j American,,Review of Reviews for: February.' ?-? ASYLUM IXYKSTKJATIOA. I (Continued from page 2, column 4.) Z side, but there is need lr>r a new ! building for convalescent women. A ! part of this building could be used | , as a sewing room for the women, j Here the women would engage, un- j j der the direction of a competent teacher, in diversional occupations. | Play as well as work would be made I an important part of their hospital life. In this building most of the i things could be made for the pai tients, and all of the repair work on ! the clothing done, and a great many j things especially interesting and atj tractive to women would be carried | on in this building. Xurses' Home. "The Dix cottage, which is a frame i building, and is now used for the convalescent women, would make an | ideal nurses' home. At the present ; time there is practically no satisfacj tory accomodations for the nurses, some, of them sleeping in the wards with the patients, while others have rooms on the top floor of the new | building, which is an attic that has [ been converted into sleeping quar- I | ters. So much for the general ar- I j rangement of the present buildings. I "In addition to tlie improvements already suggested there should be I erected a centrar kitchen and congre- I gate dining rooms. The present sys- * ! tern of numerous kitchens and din- I ing rooms is unsatisfactory in every way. and there should be an up-todate laundry. The present building could be utilized by enlarging it somewhat and installing modern equipment. A central heating plant would also he necessary and this would probably be the most expenj sive item in the entire plan of reconi struction. i "A number of small buildings II I about the place would naturally bell I done away with in the general clean-J g up. A new ice house, a new bakery, ft refrigerating plant, etc.. will all be I ' included in the plans for the central j kitchen." JI I ll ?? I i Ymif frnnKlpc anrl flip War I A. vui U VMK#?V^w %* ?%? V v by reading up-to-date literature. We have just added I to our large line of Stationery, Office and School Sup- | plies a large line of all the ' :| ? I V *5*? Latest New 1 j Magazines | Anrl hereafter vou can sret any Magazine you want here. |j| If there is some special one fl! you want that we haven't in I stock let us know what it is i|| and we will get it for you. J|| Also, if there is any new book | - LL. 11 just out that you want "tell it to us" and we will get it || for you. Come to see us. fjl Tnnc0 Npw 1 RIIUUV 1 WM Steel Pais 1 ??? ' M We have added still another Jj line to our ever growing as- || sortment. We now have a | full line of the National Pen 1 Co.'s new Write well Special I [ ! Nickel Silver Line Steel Pens. I | Itl_ u?1 j d??i, I i me neiaiu duua jiuicii i All Mail Orders Filled Same Day Received Bamberg, South Carolina I J