Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The Sioux County journal. (Harrison, Nebraska) 1888-1899 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 10, 1895)
" . . . ... ......... ... -I. , - , .,... ....... , - The Sioux County Journal, It VOLUME VII. HARKISON, NEBRASKA, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 1895. NUMBER 18. THE COMMERCIAL BANK. (ESTABLISHED lftftS.1 Harrison, Nebraska. a ft. OOWOLD, (Mte. AUTHORIZED CAPITAL. $50000. Trancacta a General Banking Bnaincn COERESPONDENTS H aarsuL Bun, TJe'Ta Brins Natoa, Bam. Interest Paid on Time Deposits. E7TOUTO BOLD ON ALL PABT8 OF KUBOPaV THE PIONEER i p harmacy, J. E. PHiNNEY, Proprietor. Pore Drugs, Medicines, Paints, Oils and Varnishes. School Prescriptions Carefully Compounded Day or smons Harrison, Real Estate Agents Have a number of bargains in choice land in Sioux county. Parties desiring to buy or coll real 3tate should not fail to call on them. School Lands leased, taxes paid for ncm-residents; larms rented, eta (X)RRESPONDENTS SOLICIIEtt a w. New Tors, Nation al Baa, Supplies. Night. & smiley, Nebraska, TALM AGE'S SERMON. THE PREACHER 8PEND8 WEEKS AT BOMBAY. TWO HI Talks with Noted Fire Worshiper. In realisation of PiriM Catechism A VUlt to a Tower of Blleace Heathen Matrimonial Bite. Anong the Paraeea. Rev. Dr. Talmage, continuing hi, series of round the world sermons through, the press, baa chosen this week for his sub ject "The Fire Worahlpera," the text se lected being Matthew 11., 1, "There came wise men from the east to Jerusalem." These wise men were the Parsees, or the so-called Bra worahlpera, and I found their deecendanta in India last October. Their heathenism la more tolerable than an of the other false religions and has more alleviations, and while In this round the world series I hare already shown you the worst forms of heathenism to-day I show yoa the least offenalTe. The prophet of the Pane was Zoroas ter of Persia. II. was poet and philoso pher and reformer as well at religionist. His disciple thrived at first In Persia, but an dor Mohammedan persecution they retreated to India, where I met them, and In addition to what I ssw of them at their headquarters in Bombay, India, I bad two weeks of association with one of the most learned and genial of their people on shipboard from Bombay to Brlodisi. The Bible of the Parsees, or fire wor shipers, as they are Inaccurately called, Is the Zend Avesta, a collection of the strangest books that ever came into my hands. There were originally twenty-one volumes, but Alexander the Great in a drunken fit set fire to a palace which con tained some of them, and they went into ashes and forgetfulness. But there are more of their sacred volumes left than most people would have patience to read. There are many things In the religion of the Parsees that suggests Christianity, and tome of its doctrines are In accord with onr own religion. Zoroaster, who lived about 1,400 years before Christ, was a good man, suffered persecution for his faith and was assassinated while wor shiping at an altar. He announced: the theory, "He is best who is pure of heart!" and that there are two great spirits in the world Ormtizd, the good spirit, and Ahri- msn, the bad spirit and that all who do right are under the influence of Ormuzd, and all who do wrong are under Ahriman that the Parsee must be born on the ground floor of the house and must be buried from the ground floor; that the dy ing man must have prayers asld ever him and a sacred Juice given him to drink that the good at their decease go Into eternal light and the bad into eternal darkneHs; that having passed out of this life the soul lingers near the corpse three days in a paradisaic state, enjoying more than all the nations of earth put together could enjoy, or In a pandemoniac state. tnfferiug more than all the nations nut together could possibly suffer, but at the end of three days departing for its final destiny, and that there will be a resurrec tion of the body. They are more careful than any other people about their ablu tions, and they wash and wash aud wash. They pay great attention to physical health, and it Is a rare thins to see a sick Parse. They do not smoke tobacco, for tney consider that a misuse of fire. At the close of mortal life the soul appears at we linage (Jbinvat, where an anael presides, and questions the soul about the thoughts and word and deeds of its earth ly state. Nothing, however, is more In tense in the i'arsee faith than the theory that the dead body it impure. A devil is supposed to take possession of the dead body. All who touch It are unclean, aud nence th? strange style of obxequies. Where the Dead I.le. We started for Malubar Hill, on which the weitlthy clauses have their embowered homes and the Parsees their strange tem ni .1. .. . . . . I., . in, ui nit- uemi. we passed on np larougn gates into the gurden that sur rounds the place where the Pareees din pose of their dead. This garden was given by Jamshidjl Jiiibhai and is beauti rul with Sowers of all hues and fotiaire or an styes of vclu and notch and stature. There ! on all sides great opulence of rem and oypreH. The garden is 100 feet above the level of the seu. Not far from the entrauce is a building where the mourners of th. funeral procession go In to pray. A light is here kent burniuir year in and year out. We ascend the garden by somo eight stone steps. The body of a deceased aged woman was be ing carried io toward the chief "tower of silence." There are five of these tow era. Several of them have not been used for a long .while. Pour ncrsons. whose business Is to do this, carry In the corpse. They are followed by two men with long beards. The tower of silence to which they come cost $1M,000 and is 25 feet high and 27 feet around and without a roof. The four carriers of the deHd and the two bearded men come to the door of the tower, enter and leave the dead. There are three rows of places for the dead the outer row for the men, the middle row for the women, the Inside row for the children. The lifeless bodies aro exposed as far down as the walHt. As soon as the employes retire from the tow er of silence the vultures, now one, now two, now many, swoop upon the lifeless form. These vultures fill the air with their dlscordnnt voices. We saw them in long rows on top of the whltewahfl wall of the tower of sllenco. In a few minutes they have taken the lust particle of flesh from the bones. There hud evi dently been other opportunities for them that day, and some flew away as though urfeited. They sometimes carry away with them parts of a body, and it Is no unusual thing for the gentlemen In their country seats to bare dropped into their dooryardt a bone from the tower of si lence. In the center of thlt tower ia a well. Into which the bone are thrown after they are bleached. The hot inn and the rainy aeason and charcoal do their work of disintegration and disinfection, and then there are alulcet that carry Into the eea what retnalnt of the dead. The wealthy people of Malabar hill have mad. strenuous efforts to have theae atrange towers removed as a nuisance, but they remain and will no doubt for ages remain. Barer esce for the Klementaof Matmre I have talked with a learned Parse, about these mortuary customs. He said: "I suppose you consider them very pecul iar, but the fact is we Parsees reverence the elements of nature and cannot con sent to defile them. Wa reverence the Are, and therefore will not ask It to barn 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 bnry our dead. And so w. at the vul tures take them away?'' Us confirmed m in the theory that the Parsees act on the principle that the dead are unclean. No one must touch soch a body. Tha carriers of this "totnb of aflenee" 'most not put their hands an the form of the departed. They wear gloves last some how they should be contaminated. Whan the bones are to he removed from the sides of the tower and put In the well at the center, they are touched carefully by tonga. Then theae people besides have very decided theories about the democra cy of the tomb. No such thing as caste among the dead. Philosopher and boor, the affluent and the destitute moat go through the same "tower of silence," lie down side by side with other occupants, have their bodies dropped Into the same abyst and be carried out through tbe same canal and float away on the same sea. No splendor of Necropolis, no sculp turing of mausoleum, no pomp of dome or obelWk. Zoroaster's teachings result ed In these "towers of silence." He wrote, "Naked you came into the world and naked you must go out" As I stood at the close of day in this garden on Malabar hill and heard the flap of the vultures' wings coming from their repast, the funeral custom of the i'arsee seemed horrible beyond compare, and yet the dissolution of the h'uuan body by any mode is awful, and liv beaks of theae fowl are probably no inore repulsive than the wormt of tbe body devouring the sa cred human form In cemeteries. Nothing but their resurrection day can undo the awful work of death, whether It now be put out of sight by cu 'ig spade or flying wing. 3 At a Weiialng. Starting homeward, we soon were in the heart of the city and saw a building all a-flosh with lights and resounding with merry voices. It was a Parsee wedding, in 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 Parsees, and that we were not even na tives. So very politely they baited us on the doorsteps. This temple of nuptials was chiefly occupied by women, their ears and necks and brands q-flaue with jewels or imitations of Jewels. By pantomime and gestures, as we had no use of their vocabulary, we told them we were stran gers and were curious to see by what process I a r sees were married. Gradually we worked our way inside tbe door. The building and the sur roundings were illuminated by hundreds of candles in glasses and lanterns, in unique and grotesque holdings. Conver sation ran high, and laughter bubbled over, and all was gay. Then there was a sound of an advancing band of music, but the Instruments for the most part were strange to our ears and eyes. Louder and louder were the outside voices, and the wind and stringed instruments, until the procession halted at the door of the temple and the bridegroom mounted the steps. Then tbe music ceased, and all tbe voices were still. The mother of the bridegroom, with a platter loaded with aroinatics and ar ticles of food, confronted her son and be gan to address him. Then she took from the platter a bottle of perfume and sprinkled his face with the redolence. All the while speaking in a droning tone, she took from the platter a handful of rice, throwing tome of It on his head, spilling some of it on his shoulder, pouring some of it on his hands. She took from the platter a cocoanut and waved it about his head. She lifted a garland of flowers snd threw It over his neck and a bouquet of flowers and put it in his hand. Her part of the ceremony completed, the band re sumed its music, and through another door the bridegroom was conducted into the center of the building. The bride was In the room, but there was nothing to des ignate her. "Where is the bride?" I said, "Whero it the bride?" After a while she was mude evident. The bride and groom were seated on chairs 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. Then some silk strings were wound around the couple, now around thia one and now around that. Then the groom threw a handful of rice across the curtain on the head of tbe bride, and the bride responded by throw ing a handful of rice across the curtain on the head of the groom. Thereupon the curtain dropped, and the bride's chair was removed and put beside that of the groom. Then a priest of the Parsee religion arose and faced the couple. Before the priest n as placed a platter of rice. He began to address the young man and woman. We could not hear a word, but understood jut as well at If we had heard. Ever and anon he punctuated his ceremony by a handful of rice, which ho picked up from the platter and flung now toward the groom and now toward the bride. The ceremony went on interminably. We wonted to hear the conclusion, but were told thai the ceremony mould go on for a long while indeed that It would not conclude until 2 o clock in the morning, and this was only between 7 and 8 o'clock in the evening. There would be a recess after awhile in the ceremony, but It would be taken up again In onrnett at half past 12. We enjoyed what we bad seen, but felt Incapacitated for sis more hours of wedding ceremony. Silently wishing the couple a happy life in each ether's com panionship, we pressed our way through the throng of congratulatory Paraeea. All of them seemed bright and appreciative of the occasion. The streets ootsida Joy ously sympathised With the transactions Wont an la India. Wa rod. on toward our hotel wishing that marriage in all India might be aa much honored as in the ceremony we had that evening witnessed at th. Parsee wadding. The Hindoo women are not so married. They are simply cursed into the conjugal relation. Many of the girls are married at 7 and 10 years of age, and soma of them are grandmothers at 80. They can never go forth into tbe sunlight with their faces uncovered. They must stay at home. AU styles of maltreatment are theirs. If they become Christians they become outcasts. A missionary told ma in India of a Hindoo woman who be came a Christian. She had nine children. Her husband was over 70 years of ago, and yet at her Christian' baptism ha told her to go, and aha west out homeless. At long as woman 1s down India 'will be down. No nation was avar elevated ex cept through the elevation of woman. Parses' marriage is an improvement on Hindoo marriag a, but Christian marriag. is an improvement on Parse marriage. A fellow traveler In India told ma be had been writing to his home in England trylug to get a law paased that no white woman could be legally married in India until she had been there six months. Ad mirable law would that be! If a white woman taw that married life with a Hindoo ia, she would never undertake it. Off with the thick and ugly veil from woman's face! Off with the crashing burdens from her shoulder! Nothing but the gospel of Jesus Christ will ever make life in India what it ought to be. But what an afternoon of contrast in Bombay we experienced! From the tem ple of silence to the temple of hilarity! From the vultures to the doves! From mourning to laughter! From gathering shadows to gleaming lights! From obse quies to weddings! But bow much of all our lives is made up of tuch opposites! I have carried in the same pocket and read from them in the tame hour the lit urgy of the dead and the ceremony of espousals. And so tbe tear meets the smile, and the dove meets tbe vulture. The Oloriooa Ooapel of Chriat. ' Thus I hare set before you tbe best of all tbe religions of the beathenorld, and I have done so in order that yod w'ht come to higher appreciaton of the gioV rloui religion which has put its beneaic tion over us and over Christendom. Compare the absurdities and mummer ies of heathen marriage with the plain "I will!" of Christian marriage, the hands joined In pledge "till death do you part." Compare the doctrine that tbe dead may not be touched with as sacred and tender and loving a kiss as it ever given, the last kiss of lips that will never again speak to us. Compare the narrow bridge Chin vat, over which the departing Parsee soul must tremblingly cross, to the wide open gate of hes.Yeni through which the departing Christian soul may trium phantly enter. Compare the 21 books of the Zend Avesta of the Parsee, which even the scholars of the earth despair of nnderstsnding, with our Bible, so much of it as is necessary for our salvation in language to plain that "a wayfaring man, though a fool, need not err therein." Compare the "tower of silence," withits vultures, at Bomlay with the Greenwood of Brooklyn, with its sculptured angels of resurrection, and bow yourselves in thanksgiving and prayer as you realize that if at the battles of Marathon and Salamts Persia had triumphed over Greece instead of Greece triumphing over Persia, Parseeltm, which was the na tional religion of Persia, might have cov ered the earth, and you and I instead of sitting in the noonday light of our glori ous Christianity might have been grop ing in the depressing shadows of Parsee ism, a religion as Inferior to that which is our inspiration in life and our hope in death as Zoroaster of Persia was inferior to our radiant and superhuman Christ, to whom be honor and glory and dominion and victory and song, world without end. Amen! An Oddity. Joubert, the French moralist, whose "Thoughts" bad great success, was so odd and original that a witty woman declared he gave her the Idea of a soul which had met by chance with a body that it had to put up with and do with as well as it could. His friend and editor, Chateaubri and, described him as an egotist who was always thinking of others. His ambition was to be perfectly calm, yet no one betrayed so much agitation as he. In eating and In taking exercise bo was as inconstant as a coquette. For several days he would live on milk; then for a week he would eat nothing but hash. On one day he would be jolted iu a carriage at full trot over the roughest roads; on the next he would be drawn slowly through the smooth est alleys. He had a library of mutilated books; for when he read he used to tear out of a book the pages that displeased him. Oyster Force Meat. To prepare oyster force meat use one generous pint of stale bread crumbs, one dozen large oysters, three table spoonfuls of butter, one tablespoonful of salt, one-eighth of a teaspoonful of rayenue, one teaspoonful of minced parsley, a slight grating of nutmeg, one tablespoonful of lemon juice, three ta blespoonfuls of oyster juice, and the yolks of two uncooked eggs, says the New York World. Chop the oysters very flue, add the other Ingredient, pound to a smooth paste, and rub through a puree sieve. Taste to see If the preparation Is salt enough; If not, add more salt This force meat may Ihb used for tlmbalcs or for stuffing any kind of flan or poultry- It may also be shaped Into balls. Which may be cov ered with the yolka of eggs and bread crumbs and then fried, or the balls may be made very small, then rolled In egg yolks and browned la a hot oven. When treated la thla manner they are a star :ult to garnish far aoup. CHEWING GEM. Something About Its Method of Mas, uf act arc an4 Its Orlia. An enterprising enemy of chewlag? rum tells the gum-chewers of bis ae qualntance that all aorta of horribly t things wsre need by the manufactnrsasj in making the gum, anch aa refuse froca! the slaughter bouses blood, bones,1 hoofs and fat and other uncleanly anA disagreeable things. This an ti -chewing gum man adds that no one ia pagw mltted to go through a chewlng-fus factory, and that the process ia kept m dense, inviolate secret becanae the aiaa of acturers do not want the truth to get out Bo. far at the process of making cherwH tng gum ia eonoaraed the astl-gum man) waa right in saying that makers try t keep it a secret, but his enthusiasm last him astray when be charged the maim-' factnrera with putting in other than clean, harmless materials In making the gum. As a matter of fact, the greater part of tbe different varieties of gumv ia made of clean vegetable product mixed and put together in a clean fac tory, where the floor and machinery are as free from dirt as tbe kitchen of a Dutch housewife. For reasons best known to themselves chewing-gum makers are given to tbe habit of maky ing tbetr gums behind closed doors and giving ont that tbe process as well aa the materials for making tbe compound are known to only a select few. & Nine-tenths of tbe gum chewedTnflBW. country Is made of chicle tbe gum ofjkT . 1 jiii . m mm . m tm ' ine sapoaiiia tree oi aiexico ana oouim America, granulated sugar and flavor ing extracts;. Tbe other tenth Is spruce gum and white or paraffin gum, the Ut ter a product of petroleum, mixed with, augar and flavoring essence. The only real secret In tbe making of the gum la that part of the process which refines, cleans and prepares the crude chicle turn for the sugar and flavors. Thia aapodilla tree la a member of the caout-, 4;ouc family and a distant relative, theSber tree. The gum was brougho this country not for tie ,X -( pose of masking chewing gti'f, bu t adulterate nrbr. Nearlv twenty-five years ago Thoinalgy dam; of Ne Y rk. Imported ten tons o? chicle gum and be-t gan a series of experiments for the pur pose of mixing. It with rubber and Jjai producing a cheap, hard rubber, -in chlcle could not be vulcanised, and lha experiments proved failures. Then Mr Adams tried to sell his useless gum. '..ut no ope wanted it, and he was about to dump it all into the North River when, he received tbe Idea which resulted In chewing gum. He was In a candy store and heard a little girl ask for "mystic chewing gum." It occurred to Mr. Adams that his chicle gum might make chewing gum, and be tried soma of It. The result was tbe rubber gum of two decades ago. It was without fla vor, for It was but refined chicle gum. At that time the chewing gums were the white, or paraffin gum and spruce gum, but chewing gum was confined to school children, and did not become a craze until flavoring compounds and the free use of printers' Ink made It popu lar. k When the chicle gum Is received at the factories from Mexico It is covered! with dirt, leaves and splinters of bark and wood. It is nearly of the consist ency of putty, and looks like It Tba chicle gum is first cleaned of Its InV purities and then worked down In a kneading machine until It has the right texture. Heat and chemicals play aa Important part In this refining process, and when it is ready for the next step It is taken to the mixing machine, where pure granulated sugar and the essential oils which flavor It are mixed with the chicle gum. These flavoring extracts are peppermint, wintergreen, vanilla, licorice, pineapple, strawberry, tolu, sarsaparilla, blood-orange, and half a hundred other sweet and spicy things. Sometimes two or three flavon are blended, and a new gum Is sent out with a catchy name. Pepsin Is placed In some gums and barley malt is anoth er medicinal gum. When tbe gum la sweetened and flavored It is rolled out Into thin sheets, cut up Into pieces and wrapped In tin-foil, tissue paper or lace by girls. In spite of the dainty preparations sent out In attractive papers by the makers, the old-fashioned, non-flavored rubler gum still has an Immense sale It Is made up Into sticks which are notched so as to break off Into small "chews." When first put Into the mouth the pure, untreated chicle, or rubber gum, crumbles between tba teeth, but In a short time It becomes plastic, and by athletes It Is considered! better than the flavoring compounds. This Is what a reputable physician of Chicago haa to say of chewing gums: "In many cases dyspepsia and indi gestion can be cured really and abso lutely cured by the intelligent use of non-flavored gum. The best gum to nse is pure spruce gum. Chew it for tea minutes before eating and half an hour after eating, swallowing the saliva. Next to spruce gum comes the old-fash toned rubber gum. Tbe action of tba gum releases the saliva, and at the s im time by aympathetlc action alda the pro cesa of digestion in the stomach. Tba continuous use of gum wastes the sail va and lays the foundations of nervoua and stomach ailments. There Is not tng In the composition of chewing guma which la at all hurtful salsaa tba gua Ww (or u l4irtotta to tba ttJ 1 ,,"y - i .-a. V'. V: v.-.-."-- .4. . -