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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
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