Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, March 20, 1910, Page 19

| 'Buddha’s G [4 D THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE: MARCH 20, 1910 3 reatest Monument Built at Rangoon”O\}er' Eight Holy Hairs ~— y / Y § Yt @ ONE OF THE CHAPLLS SHWE DAGON PAGODA. SHOW ING T HE CARVIN @. ( (Copyright, 1910 by Frank G. Carpenter.) looks small f=om this polnt. Tt is big enough o his face, evidently be< ANGOON, 1610.—(Special Corre- to cover a good sized house, and it 1s a log of wood. According to & Buddhist beatific look upon his f; e y P 3 saying the sins of the worst man are a lieving that he has acquired merit pondence of The Bee)—Come studded with jewels. Listen to the golden A thousand times less than those of tho best & ) h with me this morning for a look beils which hang around its rim, tinkling At OVer TIved, Neverthalole thess About the Shrines. holiest shrine of th iddhist the singing of birds he rustiing o o n ous col s all ove coun- & " ‘ rin e F he singing rds and the rustling of try and nuss are sverywhers found There are a hundred or more, all ending religlon. It |s the mecca of one- paim leaves. That umbrella cost more than 5 in spires of gold far below the spire of tenth of mankind, and the nine million fol- $30,00 when it was made, something like l“" ""‘l"‘““l’; e WO NG ""‘;“'; this great golden mountain. All are Deau- { lowers of the prophet who live here In a generation ago. Lok ":“"[“l et Od LA brown facs Ufully carved, and some aro walled with Burma consider it the most xacred spot — A BN SR SR o he thin colored glass, so sot in golden wires that Upon earth. The pagoda stands on a little Free Gift to Buddha. I8 withered, his neck shrunken and ‘j‘ " when the sun shines they show the many hill on the banks of the Irawadi river in This great structure all its sur Jke Seain fn foitec DEe.fe Blad BNV N ot Tt A P SO i this red-hot town of Rangoon. The sun roundings were formed by unforced gifts two strips of bright yellow cotton, his right here 1y d uly ut noonday, and we get up from the worshipers of Buddha. The labor crows. ‘Iheir eawing begins he- upon it was voluntary, and when the king fore dny, ard the lNght Is just coming ent out a notice that it was to be bullt through the palm trees as we sit down in money and jewels flowed in to him from the hotel bed rooms to our Jam before starting out with Buddhas within have offerings of flowers, shoulder and arm being bare. In his left o 8 WICHIS Beve ofSarings of Howerm hand is a pair of old sandals ”;'. "“’;;I y candles are burning and on their laps outlines of his foot marked on the yellov offerings of brocades and silks have been leather, and in his right he carries a small _,. 4 % 0 L touched by the sentiment buncly of roses. Hekndsla on the bASke Lol vi% ikl wieaninerd: Bhes af) OF With the tropical sun beating down upon o' (8 EE SoHETHERs: abmb imosly his shaved head, and holds up the flowers sick and sad, but most are rich and well &8 he prays. “After & time he §0%8 10 & qropegs’ang apparentiy Joyful chapel and lays them on the knees of & ) goom gaif-respecting, and it wonski be great golden Buddha. unfair to say that they are not I earnest There are many family partles praying in their religion. I am told that the Bur- men, women and children kneeling together. mese are naturally religious. They are They all act as though their religlon was gharitable, and whenever one has & surplus one of rejoleing. They laugh and smoke pe spends it in erecting resthouses, or places ) 7N, 0 oy e 2 on their way to and from prayers. TheY along the road where travelers can have a D00WWZ> rVERY BOY A MONK hold thelr headn high and_ are evIdently ool deimk ot wer ey rary oot — s N proud of both Buddha and Burma whole country with pagodus; they are to be tea, toast and all parts of Burma. The monument is kept up by the free-will offerings of the people. A black turbaned Hirdu with a rat-like It has been plated with gold leaf again Indlan pony carries us In his gharry and again, until the brick and stucco of through the wide streets of Rangoon. We which Is ls made contain more of the pre. pass half-naked coollés on their way to clous metal than the best ore of our big work; stle the street water works, con- western mines. slsting of bare-legged men, who, with One of the last kings of Burma onee made buckets, are sprinkling the roads; turn @ vow that he would give his welght in . out for the carts hauled by humped bull- gold to the monument. After he had taken { ocks carrying great loads, and at last pass a bath, and scrubbed himself down to the 4 through a section of fine bungalows, in jowest possible number of pounds. he Which the better classes of the city live, Jumped on ono side of the scales and piled tnd are dropped at the foot of Pagoda hill. up gold to the other. It took just enough and often plated with gold, running clear a native king about seventy vears ago. real. Seo this woman kneeling here at m$ —— to make it cost him $15,00. With the money gty found in every town and willage and on ml- 7 o y right. Her pink silk gown s wrapped y most every hill. There are monasterles around the great monument. These are on When the English took the country they r Superstitious Worshipers. % Moriiing at the Shrime, more gold leaf was bought and the upper o n\ernk@gl should say, something like decided to carry it off to London as a tghtly about her body, and her bare feet everywhere, and the country has more re- It Is now 7 o'clock this bright Sunday part of the pagoda received a frosh Soat. thirty feet high, ending in spires plated trophy. The got the bell down as far as stick out behind. Ske is rising and fallll8 But what fs this coming around the morning, and the worahipers are out In I say fresh, but I doubt whether sven the ' e gh, ng in sp full force. Sei liglous monuments, perhaps, than any other of its size in the world. A census taken res of brown-skinned, shaven- new part ks clad in a single sheet of with gold. They are much like chapel , the Irawadi river, but in attempting to #nd counting her beads as she sings out gorner and inside each of them Is a sitting stat e load it on o vessel it fell into the stream her prayers. She has flowers in her hands, from the other side of tlie grea could have been distinguished headed m 2l 5 golden spire? It is a middle-aged man, gome years ago showed that there are more / from the old. The whole mighty monument of more than lite d thelr engincers could not raise it &nd as we watch she riss and lays them glierpately rising and falling. He WeATs than 15000 momaterion aod it Boore \ yellow cotton are golng in and out of the has hardly a tarnish spot on it. Tt s covered ‘: “"M:‘n;h‘,):‘.'""‘ :““\ B “.‘l‘dm oty ::.l,,,m Upon this, some Burmans came on the lup of a Buddha in one of the o turban and walsteloth and his SKIn 18 haa on the sverase one for evers mosie: Test houses along the way. Each carries with gold, purer than that In an American OM° ©f ! b el b LA e e b Wi il ad 1 Rt prnde < dlaiokd s dark as that of a negro. - He 18 & ¢hre houses. At that time there were M & begging bowl for the rice offerings which gola eagle, and it shines like & new wed. e A i My o che GASsT AL thap somld Bt 1t baAk Uiie Dlasst THe ™ X itha other alde 16t 58 ‘s’ Hiree Bud- Budddhist from India and ho must have 0 men in the monasteries, or more than § are freely given. We see scores of worshib- ding ring. The lower part of the structure “IADASET 3 R Ok English, with & sneer, granted thelr re- dbfst nuns. They are dressed in plain something of the Hindu in his religlon, per cent of the whole population. ers on their way to the shrine, and at the {5 much like a beehive. It is terraceq °f 'M® MIENtY ol i auest, having no ides that they could suo- yellow cotton and have little more than & for be is prostrating himself on the brick e s 1 Soirance find peddiers of flowers, incenss ground as it goos upward, growing smaller Third Biggest Beil of the World. ceed, The Burmans went at once to work. shest of this stuff wrapped around them platform und measuring the distance Monks of Burma. and candles to be offered to the gods over- ana smaller and ends in the spire. Round the edges of the platform, leav- They used no machinery, but by means Their heads are shaved close. They holl around the pagoda with his half naked gt must be remembered, however, that L - ing & court several hundred feet wide be- of thousands of men working together they out cloths, upon Which the people throw form, saying a prayer every time N8 tne porsonnel of the memestery 1s oon We can sse the great pagoda long befors ¢ the Prophet: (yeen, are other temples of exquinite OAIV- lifted the reat mAsa UD the banks and offerings as they pass by. Each mun has spreads nimeelf Sut. with Tis face fo stantly changing. Men come in and go out. 8- SRoh 16 Tia golden Epise (RIS e | miy manument btands oves certain relles ing, some of which have reclining Buddhas carried it back to where It now stands on a rosary about her neck, and she tells her the bricks. He lies flat on the floor and poys bt oh ithie yallow vebe o the skt SRY 1M JeBt 8bave the wpot WRMS W €% .0 n,qans, Inoluding elght hairs which 100 or more feet in length, and at the Pagoda Hill beads as she prays. puts his bare arms as far cut as he can pooq and lay it aside in order to marry. » ‘i‘;::‘h"‘:"’:‘:x‘:\:_""::"‘m“‘i‘”‘:"zv:"“"l:‘"i_““":"; the prophet pulled from his head, and back at one corner is the great Buddhist HEE A . s o rvul'ln 'n:r:‘l«x-tx!rvn;‘ <':;‘r,\'”;nw-}% ";“"'\L s Ac(-nlnfl‘l(\x‘:\ the faith ) muk:" ‘h:n: A S Wall! Bave to the two Burmese brothers who be 1 is sald to be the third larges ’ 5 - ends of his toes 1o the 1ips of his fINEErS. overy Buddbist man or boy must b I | ae the SteAE masbis stiatt srecied to Wash- TS P, S0 LD Biomese bro ny n»n)-: f.'"u,"fi'f..f' el 1t welghs ru:_vE RUAABINLY o1 Trayers: Women akd Fhstr Sins, He presses his fingers hard upon the yonk before his soul can be born. Until Y/ -l:‘ll‘:: :»:klu:- tlf,":ffi’;.;'lifi«' ‘l'v‘\"’:‘h"l: 'ml:::: 0 4 #ince then the followers of two tons, and it would take something like But let us stroll around the pagoda plat- The Buddhist religion takes but small ac- bricks and marks his limit of reach w‘m: then he is a beast, and, ¢ he dies, is sure { of gold upon it, and the wonderful struc- DUdfiha have come here to worship. The elghty horses to haul it if it could be put fcrm and have a' look at the people ar count of women, and the rules are such a candle. He then rises and ]»uyw to .“: to be reborn in some flithy body im his tures which form its base. The sides of the ''*t Pa#oda was erected on the site 58 upon wheels and dragged over the roads. prayers. All the worshiping is done in the that a monk cannot reside under the same candle. He picks It up and then Pro% pnext transmigration | hill are covered with carved bulldings, each Y% before Christ was born, and the It is so thick that the yellow-gowned opcn. There are scores of men, women roof with a nun. He cannot travel In & trates himse £ ouow mwiors on hie tac il When a boy enters a monastery be lays > of which is & jewel, andea gorgeous covereq Pretent structure was already in place 100 priest who acts as my guide can just and children kneeling on the bare bricks. cart or boat with a woman, and ons of the prays, n.rg the cand o Lo mark the $Dot uside nis good clothes und puts on . Nn.gla avenue of gold, with a ridge root upheld Ye&r" before Boston was founded, touch the inside of the rim with his Their hands are folded and they look up books of the l:«\\h‘ux..; that he must not :\'Ayn-:\'"l:ll: [Fliite tpss i oS 1420 gheot of rough yellow cotton. His head Is by white marble pillars, leads by stair- 1°08Y the Buddhists consider It an al- fingers while the outside rests in the at the spire as they pray. They are not touch her. and that if any woman. even the wh agod ways to the platform above. The platform MO8t Sure passport to heaven to erect a crook of his elbow. He strikes it with a itselt covers fourteen acres, or as much "Ml Pagoda about the base of the great deer horr space as the Pyramid of Cheops, and it S&We Dagon; and now there are hundreds air. 1s from this that the gold spire starts, of little temples, most exquisitely carved This bell |(| first let us make our way up - AL t now shaved, and he goes forth to beg. No matter what his circumstances may have been, while he is in the monastery he must live upon the gifts of the people, and he goes forth daily with his begging bowl and — takes what is offered. He does this, no mat- ter how high he rises nor how long he stays. 5 The usual time for entering the monas- 4 l ' . e approach o hood. The to the shrine. Its stone floor has through- harles Morton S A "”,]'"m” 4‘.‘{..\1:K; n,t), r ’. Fieh, aud they 4 s 4 r reer youth are admitted on probatio out the ages been polished by the bare l l a a o n L] . ® first act as servants, or chelahs, for the feet of the thousands who have tramped 3 N\, up to pray. The worshipers take off their P monks, having about the same place as RLIa 8. thar M it snirsnde; ava iment specially mantioned in the report of service in Arizona his regiment was or- bands, covering the country by his scout- In 1§75 Lieutenant Morton made & Sur- Kim had with the old abbot in Rudyard alk on with them In thoir hands. We v for nearly fifty the battle for conspicuous bravery, three dered to the Departmet of the Platte Ing from the Arkansas and Republican vey of the Black Hills country, which Kipling's delightful novel of Indlan life. forelgners kecp our shoes on and mix with yers, still active and® virlle, were the officers of Morton's company, Lieutenant Morton taking station at Fort south almost to the Yellow- had been previously marked “‘unexplored” (nce admitted, the boys are supposed to the crowd. As we o In we hear the birds idolaters. They do not worship the spire his mother, should fall into a ditch, he ered in less than an hour. We watch him and the sound booms out on the nor the Images, but come to this holy place must not offer his hand to help her out. at the end of his journey. As he com- to renew their vows, to think npon Buddha He may hold forth a stick, but if she pletes the circuit he lies praying for three was presented to Buddha by and repent of their sins. Their worship is grasps it he must imagine he Is pulllng at or four minutes, and then rises with a the v ear gh the arcades. There Is no road on - more curious than that which leads FTER having served his country as a sold ivers on th Brigadier General Ch, ¢4 Mor- and Charley Morton himself waa recom- D. A. Russell, Wyo. Indian troubles broke stone on the north. having numerous en- on the maps, and that winter he worked gayote themselves to holy lving, thinking sing. Thousands of them have made nests ton was placed on the retired mended by his regimental commander for out with the Sioux near the White Cloud counters with hostiles. He made an up his notes into a map at department gnq doing. They are taught the principles f In the carvings, and they fly back and !t of the United States army & congressional medal of honor for dis- agency, now the town of Crawford, Neb., exploration from Sidney, Neb,, and located headquarters in Omaha. Hardly had he of Buddhist faith and are urged to spend forth through the arcades and about the Friday, March 18, with the rank of brigadier tinguished bravery in the battle. and Lieutenant Morton was soon in the th road to the camp of troops in 1873 returned from that duty when he was Young Morton was with his regiment at midst of them with his troop of cavalry. that Is now Fort Robinson and which later the siege of Corinth and in numerous cam- He was In the saddle most of the time for became the paigns and ops pagoda from daylight to dark. At night 5°neral because of his having reached the they roost on the gold, Aceording to the *80 Nmit, which, by process of miltary tenets of Buddihst religion, it is & sin to W, relexates the efficlent, experfenced thelr lives going about doing good. Some selected and appointed adjutant of the Big§ of them take the priesthood as & profes stage route from Sidney to Horn and Yellowstone expedition. The ex- gion and others stay but a short time, for erations down the Missis- nearly four years, after the marauding the Black Hills pedition was one of the most severs winter they can come and go at will. has g birds S0ldier to the quietude and Inactivities of sippi, western Tennessee and southeast campaigns and General Crook gave up all B \ Know the in ,‘huh.(, ,,:':::»i'x“:r‘::m]: retirement." Missouri ang i thh Atlanta campaign of hope of accomplishing more than prevent Life in the Monasteries. P General Morton, for the last two and a 1% He was discharged September 14, ing a terrible disaster, the campalgn resuit 1 ha visited some of m:”mnnnml*r\»l 1 urning Away One's Sins. half vears commander of the Department having participated in the battles of Lov Ing, however, in that splendid engagement during my stay in Burma. The life in Oolng onward we pass booths all the Of the Missourl, was born March 15, 1346, joy's Station and Jonesboro after his term on Powder river, March 17, 1576, with Crazy them Is by no means exciting. The monks way. DPretty Burmese girls with plugs of At Chagrin Falls, Cayahoga county, Ohlo. of enlistment had expired. He reluctantly Horse's band and being the overwhelming are awakened st daybreak by a wooden Kold xilver or glass as blg as my thumb He is a descendant of the early colonial New abandoned the opportunity to make the n the : holes of thelr ears, sit croes-legged ¥ gland Mortons. In the autumn of 1854 on the mats, seliing defeat of the Indians. His subsequent cam- bell, and are supposed to be at their offerings for Buddha. he removed with his parents to March to the Sea, in order to accept a prof- palgning in the north and northwest in- prayers o early as 6:3 In the morning. Daviess ferred commission In the Forty-third Mis- cluded many of the notable battles and As soon as he rises every monk washes The candles are of all sizes, from tapers county, Missourl. During his early life in sourl infantry, then organizing at St skirmishes from 1572 to 1852 with the his hands and face and rinses his mouth. 88 thin ax the finger of a 2-year-old baby Ohio his family was a neighbor of the Jose ph, Mo. Sloux. He then smooths out the robe in which to great cylinders of wax as tall as the Garfields, and his older brothers were play Returning to Missouri, he barely escaped The outbreak of the Indian troubles in he has slept over night and goes into Eirls who are selling and as thick as thelr mates and schoolmates of President James the Centralia massacre, and found his Arizona in 1852, beginning at San Carlos and prayers. After that he takes up his dutie walsts. 1 buy & bunch of the tapers and A. Garfield. state invaded by the confederate army glve them over to one of t worshipers, The Mortons were unionists to the core. She smiles with delight at the thought of and when the civil war began the Mor- e finn that will be washed away as they ton beys: Attached themselves to youns of & commission and leat ail mis energies burn, and thanks me profusely men of like loyalty and determination, to the hasty organization of the local en- A hitle hevond this we are stopped by a and organized s home guard company in rolled militia. wnd started out after the priest with a nickel-in-the-slot box slung their ighborhood In the southern part of guerillus. He encountered the noted Bill ) ' SSund RIATBA BE by 8 striny. He Daviess countyy They. 400k & Sultean sath A ndonins and his band on Fishing river, leaving a bloody trail to the Mexican about the monastic establishment; he may border, found Morton serving at Fort Mc- sweep the floors of the templs, or water Kinney. On July 6, 1582, the and his home county overrun with depre dating guerillas. He abandoned his plans dians made the garden, or do 0dd jobs of various & sortle at San Carlos, assassinated thelr kinMs. The work of the Institution chief of police and broke for the roughest divided and ¢ country possibl in 1 man has his own job. n order to evade pursuit. After & short while the monks all meet Morton was assigned to the pursulng 1= together and start out to beg. Headed mand. He participated in the big fight in by the chief pricst, they walk in company the canyon of Chevelon's Fork, p as gle tled to his rig . 4 In e lfll!le} h'”n!l "‘mu kll 1 1o his right of fidelity to the union, to proteet their near the present town of Excelsior Springs, I oo ot 88¢ he strikes upon this s homes snd the unisn interssts, Charies t down through the maln streets of the town with 4 and succeeded in scattering the band and in the records as “Blg Day Wash July their begging bowls In thelr hands. They S ::!:’r“\‘:\ ""“r::"‘c‘m:"““,“‘m" g b:\l,ll :"': Morton was the youngest of four brothers, killing Anderson. This battle restored a ¥, where some wou v’mvrhh of houor and do not ask wlms nor call at the houses, ) thereby acquire merit and prayers. » " an ot \\huxfli entered the union army during lasting peace to northern Missouri hl:mln ‘v[l:x': A\l‘u""h; M"\N -lu"m‘ L-’«u:ur u“luli but merel .\.tlk n\niu: single file ”v‘ m}., / Upon reaching the top of the avenue the war. The home guard company was General James Cralg, commanding the 1:;'::: |‘v'un«| b ; A .;‘m‘,.,‘d I, middle of each street, having their 1‘} - which (s about 1000 feet long, we tury ° ¢(U8!1Y merged into the service as Com- military district, presented young Morton or the gl g9 fixed on the ground. X BEach priest ds : by gld pany I, Thirteenth Missour! Volunteer In- with one of the revolvers found on the Following the surrender of Geronimo In iy hegging bowl in front of him and the PG BN IR D00 the SAF SWA PASSING. pyntey. aeint § 3666, Morton's regiment was ordered 10 pegple come and pour in thelr offerings, through. It 18 & mass of hright eoton try St. Joseph, Mo. The regiment was body of Bill Anderson as & recognition of T CRARGA S, AR A S00aeTA0: 18 e P ! o % The Burmere wear the most delicate pinks, “C°" ©4!led Into active service, late in the his services in this expedition. Morton was e 84 b 20 000 LI Juive.: whaie The priests do not glve thanks, belpving / yellows ard greens. The men have stk | 'MeF Of 181, and participated in the engaged in several other expeditions with Fes “‘ e e oy g o ay that they confer a favor In allowing the turbans s gay 4% & ralnbow, and the whole' P1°%0Y 3l6ge of Lexington, and in which the militia with which he was tormally en- i “‘d s I' x4 e At “ Wid people o give The begging procession A s a kaleidoscope which makes the dark ‘P® FeSiment was compelled to surrender rolled in the fall of 1864 Later the same fall assigne .,. «-‘-.‘ ng d |’ e w, lasts for an hour or so. When it is com- ] - svengd a mass of bright hues o an overwhelming force of confederates he received an appoiutment to the West following this duty was “"'“‘“_“ 48 Pro" pleted the monks go back to the meon- Y ! —— under General Sterling Price. After belng Point Military academy at the hands of fessor of uv\l\llll"\ scle "‘“‘\HH l‘,n!:‘ ““Al ‘“i"' astery where they lay & part of thelr uddha's Gol Mountatn released from captivity, the regiment was Major Genersl Benjamin ¥. Loan, to which 00 Lo Sals fnatiity L that e goad M gitts before the statues of Buddha and But come out o8 the platform und look OMewhat demoralized and was later place he reported in June 1665 Waacamalia jo L . fnel spread the mat sut for breakfast. I hear up at the pagoda. I despalr of describing 'eor§anized lnto the Twenty-fifth Missouri Upon his graduation in 1389 he was as- Amarisan e By 8 AT - 't whispered, however, that most of the it. It Is & mbuntain of €0ld which ends in & IBfantry. It was assigned to the western signed to the Third United States cavalry applied to jo! "" y "““"""' an '“‘:’X‘ PlaCed o onusteries have & hot breakfast as well, *pire nearly 400 feet high. Tho stone plat- 6rmies under General Grant and took w &s & second lieutensnt and joined hie a ‘“"""l"f"’" i gy ey i the skirmisn The monks eat another meal about moon forin where we are standing would make a Sallaut and conspicuous part in the battie regiment at Fort Union, New Mexico. He oy R bl B g e o omeit ' trenches @70 & dinner toward evening. Those I \ haif & dosen biooks of one of our cities and ©of Shiloh, opening that great battle was engaged In Dumerous Indian cam TALSE the ameils. o8 the Spaniah (B Lyvq sanc lask et 804 Deaithy: And Neas the monument alone has at the base a Morton's colonel and major were killed pai against the Apaches and Nava- M Bon ‘L’ P B Py ey g the “PPOArs any the worwe for the fasting and elroumference of a quarter of & mile. That aad his captain and first leutepant joes in Arisona and New Mexico After mander being badly ® wear of his religious profession. \ §oiden umbrelle which you sce on the spire Wounded. Of the &ix officers of the reg- two or more years of the hardest kind of (Continued on Page Four.) VRANK O, CARPEANTBR,