Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 February 1885 — Porcelain Tower. [ARTICLE]

Porcelain Tower.

The city of Nankin, once the capital of China, has for centuries‘ucen famous to the ‘barbarians’ of the outer world for its porcelain V wer—a relic of the splem. dor of its ancient days before Peking usurped its dignity as the seat of the empire. The place is now io a great extent, a city ruins, audthe city proper has shrunk to one-fourth ot its former dimensions. The par. el tin t aver vms • buiil ';UHH early in the j't<e >t'r eeivu V j by tire or ter u die Emperor Ytn.glouh, and as a work of filial piety. It "was a monument, to the memory of bis mother, and he determined that, its beauty should as far outshine that of any similar memorial as the transcendant virtues of the parent, in her son’s eyes, surpassed those of the rest ot her ► sex. No expense was spared in us erection, and its total cost is estimated at more than three quarters of a million of our own money. Die work was commenced at noon on a certain day in 1413, and occupied nearly twenty years in its completion . The total height of tne porcelain tower was more than 200 feet, or r.bout equal to that of the monument of Lond m, and it was faced from top >o bottom with the finest porcelain, glazed and colored. It consisted of nine s’ories, surmounted by a spire, on the summit of which was a ball of brass richly g'lt. From this ball eight iron chains extended to as many projecting p huts of the roof, and from eaoh <hain vss suspended a bell, which hung over tiie face of tower. The same arrangement was cirried out in {every s ory. Tnese bells added much to the graceful appearance of the tower breaking its otherwise formal and monotonous ou’line R >and the outer face of I cavil s o - \y wer- -ev.ral a. enures for j lan erus, and when these were all iilumin»t<d, we are told, in the magniliuqiifi.t lamruage of the Chinese ids torians, that ‘their light illuminated the entire heavens, shining into the hearts

of men, and eternally removing human misery!’ It is not difficult to imagine, however, that the appearance of' the tower on such an occasion must have been beautiful in the extreme. On the I* op of tower were placed two large I brazen vessels and a bowl, which to« gether contained various costly articles, | ' iu the nature of an offering and charm I t»a*ertevil influences. Among thes i were leveral pears of various colors, j each : upposeu to posset s miraculous proj ercies, together with other precious i

stones and a quanity of gold and silver. In this connection, designed to represent the best tieasi.res of the state, were •Iso placed a box of tea, some pieces of •ilk, and copies of some ancient Chinese writings Ti e tower was demolish*a by he Taeping reb Is in 18 4. I —— Sure of One Point Anyh >w.— fiiat rem man us of a Madison youngster who rather demurred to his mothci’s Statement that Jesus was a Jew ibe testimon coming in too .-trong to .-ta. d Up against he yielded tne p iui, but with a triumphant air declared: ‘W. it, I.dwu’t care it Jesus was a Jew, Goi’s a Gentile, anyhow.’— Madison Courier-