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Article RANDOM RECOLLECTIONS OF FOREIGN TRAVEL. ← Page 3 of 5 →
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Random Recollections Of Foreign Travel.
pointed out upon which the cock was perched when his crow carried sorrow and selfreproach to the heart of Peter , and when a hole in the wall is vouched for as whore thc Saviour stopped to rest thc Cross on his weary way to Calvary—what can the sober minded visitor feelbut indignation aud
, disgust 1 The cause of the illumination of the Latin convent was explained to me next morning by one of the priests there . The text " Thou art Peter , " would , it was thought , mortify the priests of the Greek Church if put forward prominently
over the entrance to the convent as the prerogative of the Latins , on the day of the opening of their great Couueil at Romeand this was the form in ivhich the feeling of the hour found vent . Well might Swift write bitterly , " ive have enough Christianity to make us hate , but not enough to make us love one another . "
It was after a sojourn of three months in Egypt and Palestine that I left Suez for Bombay , and proceeded up country in India , as far north as Delhi , returning to Bombay some weeks later , having visited and stayed at Delhi , Agra , Allahabad , Futteypore-Sikri ( the Windsor of Akbar the Greata
, day ' s journey from his capital Agra , and deserted but kept up in the same condition as when he died a couple of eenturiesorsoago ) , Benares , Jubblepore , Nagpore , Calcutta , Lucknow , Cawnpore , and places of minor note . I saw plenty of Masonic symbols on the
tombs , temples and palaces of the Great Moguls , and had abundant evidence that the true spirit of Masonry had been wanting in their clay , The Pathans who , as Bishop Heber said , "designed like Titans , and
finished like jewellers , " have left many curious Masonic marks to be discovered by the investigator , and the same marks may be discerned on the walls of Jerusalem , " and even on the old structure kn own as Absalom ' s Tomb . But leaving the precise significance and teaching of these marks to the care of
the Masonic archaeologist , and taking the broad view of a Mason who places his trust for the future of his race in the recognition of the great doctrine of natural equality before God , and the mutual dependency of manthere is abundant food
, for reflection in the records and relics of the past in India . You shudder at the fierce intolerance of religions , and the bitter hostility of race , which has devastated the country at intervals for centuries ; and you
endeavour to recognise in the spread of civilization , and the gradual breaking down of exclusive social barriers—harbingers of a bettor and more Masonic spirit having sway . Railway travelling in India is a wonderful smoother of rugosities . At Allahabad station I observed ( besides the English
waiting rooms for ladies and gentlemen , and the admirable refreshment rooms with which the line is kept purveyed by Kellner of Calcutta , who , as a public benefactor is to India what the admirable Spiers and Pond are to us iu England ) , "Waiting Room
for Mahommedan Gentlemen , " "Waiting Room for Mahommedan Ladies , " "Waiting Room for Hindoo Gentlemen , " " Waiting Roomfor Hindoo Ladies ; " but I learnt on all sides that the necessity for these formal divisions is gradually dying out . When a great
saving in railway fare can be effected b y a slight sacrifice of the prejudices of caste , the prudent Hindoo thinks twice before he enters upon an expenditnre for which there is no positive or tangible result , and so here again we see the gradual spread of toleration aud some faint hints of that
brotherhood of man and federation of the world , which one would fain hope is not merely a poet ' s dream , I had met many English and Scotch Masons during my trip up the country , and at Calcutta and Bombay , and had derived most charming impressions
from the zeal and kindliness they exhibited . I had also been invited to the Parsee Lodge , or rather an English Lodge , ivhich had many Parsee members , but this last invitation 1 had not been able
to accept . Still I sailed from India with pleasant Masonic recollections . I had been much impressed by a conversation I had held in the train with a Parsee gentleman employed by the Government to collect rare manuscripts fortheState library ,
and who told me with some pride he was about to become a Mason from the great , good and pure precepts which , as he had learnt from some eminent co-reli g ionists , pertained to the Craft . Several days on the way to Aden , Sorabjee and myself
were seated in my noble state room on the " Great Eastern , " when we commenced a conversation on our respective relig ious beliefs . He explained to me , when I asked him to hand me a box of matches for the cigar I was about to smoke , that his relig ion would not allow him to strike a match , although it permitted him to hand the box
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Random Recollections Of Foreign Travel.
pointed out upon which the cock was perched when his crow carried sorrow and selfreproach to the heart of Peter , and when a hole in the wall is vouched for as whore thc Saviour stopped to rest thc Cross on his weary way to Calvary—what can the sober minded visitor feelbut indignation aud
, disgust 1 The cause of the illumination of the Latin convent was explained to me next morning by one of the priests there . The text " Thou art Peter , " would , it was thought , mortify the priests of the Greek Church if put forward prominently
over the entrance to the convent as the prerogative of the Latins , on the day of the opening of their great Couueil at Romeand this was the form in ivhich the feeling of the hour found vent . Well might Swift write bitterly , " ive have enough Christianity to make us hate , but not enough to make us love one another . "
It was after a sojourn of three months in Egypt and Palestine that I left Suez for Bombay , and proceeded up country in India , as far north as Delhi , returning to Bombay some weeks later , having visited and stayed at Delhi , Agra , Allahabad , Futteypore-Sikri ( the Windsor of Akbar the Greata
, day ' s journey from his capital Agra , and deserted but kept up in the same condition as when he died a couple of eenturiesorsoago ) , Benares , Jubblepore , Nagpore , Calcutta , Lucknow , Cawnpore , and places of minor note . I saw plenty of Masonic symbols on the
tombs , temples and palaces of the Great Moguls , and had abundant evidence that the true spirit of Masonry had been wanting in their clay , The Pathans who , as Bishop Heber said , "designed like Titans , and
finished like jewellers , " have left many curious Masonic marks to be discovered by the investigator , and the same marks may be discerned on the walls of Jerusalem , " and even on the old structure kn own as Absalom ' s Tomb . But leaving the precise significance and teaching of these marks to the care of
the Masonic archaeologist , and taking the broad view of a Mason who places his trust for the future of his race in the recognition of the great doctrine of natural equality before God , and the mutual dependency of manthere is abundant food
, for reflection in the records and relics of the past in India . You shudder at the fierce intolerance of religions , and the bitter hostility of race , which has devastated the country at intervals for centuries ; and you
endeavour to recognise in the spread of civilization , and the gradual breaking down of exclusive social barriers—harbingers of a bettor and more Masonic spirit having sway . Railway travelling in India is a wonderful smoother of rugosities . At Allahabad station I observed ( besides the English
waiting rooms for ladies and gentlemen , and the admirable refreshment rooms with which the line is kept purveyed by Kellner of Calcutta , who , as a public benefactor is to India what the admirable Spiers and Pond are to us iu England ) , "Waiting Room
for Mahommedan Gentlemen , " "Waiting Room for Mahommedan Ladies , " "Waiting Room for Hindoo Gentlemen , " " Waiting Roomfor Hindoo Ladies ; " but I learnt on all sides that the necessity for these formal divisions is gradually dying out . When a great
saving in railway fare can be effected b y a slight sacrifice of the prejudices of caste , the prudent Hindoo thinks twice before he enters upon an expenditnre for which there is no positive or tangible result , and so here again we see the gradual spread of toleration aud some faint hints of that
brotherhood of man and federation of the world , which one would fain hope is not merely a poet ' s dream , I had met many English and Scotch Masons during my trip up the country , and at Calcutta and Bombay , and had derived most charming impressions
from the zeal and kindliness they exhibited . I had also been invited to the Parsee Lodge , or rather an English Lodge , ivhich had many Parsee members , but this last invitation 1 had not been able
to accept . Still I sailed from India with pleasant Masonic recollections . I had been much impressed by a conversation I had held in the train with a Parsee gentleman employed by the Government to collect rare manuscripts fortheState library ,
and who told me with some pride he was about to become a Mason from the great , good and pure precepts which , as he had learnt from some eminent co-reli g ionists , pertained to the Craft . Several days on the way to Aden , Sorabjee and myself
were seated in my noble state room on the " Great Eastern , " when we commenced a conversation on our respective relig ious beliefs . He explained to me , when I asked him to hand me a box of matches for the cigar I was about to smoke , that his relig ion would not allow him to strike a match , although it permitted him to hand the box