a cloud of witnesses, out in the nave of the Cathedral, a multitude
upon the hill-slopes and skirting the forests, every vantage ground
occupied by natives drawn hither by the world-wide desire to see “a
bride adorned for her husband;” actuated by countless motives which
primitive and natural curiosity suggested; curious to see what the
dominant people, English or Americans, would do when worshiping
in the outer air like themselves; curious to see what a Christian
marriage was like. Would it be gay and festive like their own?
what sort of a dress would be worn by the bride? and would all her
belongings and presents be carried along the road so that all could
see that she was rich? and would there be a real feast? Thus many
had been attracted by very practical reasons which they considered
suitable to the occasion.
And who were these in bright array after their fashion? a little
group not far from the bride herself. As if they had been especially
invited, they stood before some bamboo wands, decorated for a
gala-day; not before a thicket as once before, but with their bright
signals in the open, the prayer-signals floating in the wind to
attract the Good Spirits of the air.
And who were these in yellow robes? with trumpets and bowls in their
hands, and outlandish masks pendant from their girdles; yet cheerful
faces withal, and wearing fillets and earrings of turquoise and coral
taken from the “curio-case” in their Temple. And one poor decrepit
native priestess with her good old prayer-wheel and bean rosary,
twirling the wheel and rattling the beans regardless of all else; one
who knew her wheel and rosary were good, because they were very old,
like herself--she had used them from childhood. Who were they?
Because they were not arrayed in modern dress, some thought them
intruders, sheep of another fold gotten astray. Many thought so, all
except Paul and the Doctor who knew what Adele herself had done;
how she had gone out into the highways and hedges to compel them to
come in and take their place near her. They were surely entitled as
members of the congregation of the original Primate of the Cathedral,
these poor Lepchas now Adele’s friends, to a place very far front.
And the gay Taoists, also her Himalaya friends, whom she had met,
and with whom she had worshiped in their own chapel, learning to be
with them and of them, in spirit. Although crude and tawdry now,
these Taoists, they were the professed followers of Laotze, a highly
spiritual man who had given to the world one of the most abstruse,
recondite, metaphysical forms of religion ever known to humanity.
“Oh, what a fall was there!” thought Adele as she saw the Taoists
of to-day; but she invited them just the same, she wished them to be
with her now on an occasion she considered sacred.
And more surprising still, in this region:
Who were those two men, splendid examples of physical manhood, men
of darker complexions? They had been engaged in distributing corsage
bouquets and boutonnières among the bridal party, and they now stood
side by side as the bride passed by. They saluted her, in a polite
manner and with a style quite their own, and the bride recognized
with sincere satisfaction their presence. Who were they? Verily
of the race she knew best, next her own. Originally from Nubia in
Africa, where their near ancestors had worshiped in the forests, they
were now, already, by the will of the Creator, full citizens of her
own beloved land. Adele had found them in the bazaar, where they had
drifted in from God-knows-where in “God’s Own Country;” but to Adele
they represented the colored people of her own United States. They
were men who had shed their life-blood for the cause of Truth in
Freedom, and the Truth had made them free. They were true men as God
had made them such, in His own way, but young in the experience of
civilization. They were now educating themselves by knowledge of the
world for greater things to come; educating themselves with an energy
and rapidity never before excelled by any race. Adele had determined
to help them along; for woe betide anyone who dares ignore or impede
the way of the Almighty in nature, where the progress of the race is
in unity with the progress of religion itself. She said afterwards,
that there was no feature more home-like among the incidents
connected with her wedding, than to have these Freedmen from “God’s
Own Country,” from home, to distribute the cultivated flowers of
civilization which they themselves, that very morning, had helped to
collect, to arrange, and to give to others.
Thus to some few of the native witnesses to this wedding, to some
few whom Adele had met personally, she became known as “The Lady of
Loving-Kindness;” and no doubt they would in time, some of them, have
erected a shrine to her memory, for they well remembered her beauty
and the Flaming Cross Light which sparkled upon her forehead. And
still later their descendants would have bowed down to an image of
her, saying they did not worship the image, but the Loving-Kindness
which she represented.
As a matter of fact, to the majority of the Orientals actually
present, but to whom she was not known personally, strangers to her,
the effect was very different. To them the bride was now as one
separated from them more than before: this because she had become
subject to the will of her husband, and must hereafter walk behind
him, not beside him, when she went abroad; and in time must present
him with a son, or else perhaps it was better she herself had never
been born. Such were the actual facts with regard to some of the
witnesses. Yet, how natural, yet unnatural, are such conceptions;
natural to man in the primitive or childhood period of his spiritual
life, yet truly unnatural when taught otherwise by more matured
civilizations, when mankind has become enlightened further by the
brighter spiritual Light of the World.
To Paul and Adele, now as one, it was just the reverse. They stood
side by side, with their religious consciousness turned to One whose
bride was the Church Spiritual, of whom all nations of the earth are
blessed.
As the bridal party returned homewards through this throng of
sympathetic spectators, it was as if all had been invited to this
Marriage Feast.
The Spirit and the Bride had said, “Come.”
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Phillips Brooks.
[2] See frontispiece. A view from near Sundookphoo.
* * * * * *
Transcriber’s note:
Inconsistencies in hyphenation such as “hill-side”/“hillside”
have been maintained.
Minor punctuation and spelling errors have been silently corrected
and, except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the
text, especially in dialogue, and inconsistent or archaic usage,
have been retained.
Page 26: “Semple opened with some of Brahams’” changed to “Semple
opened with some of Brahms’”.
Page 73: “fire-opal of true Indian irridescence” changed to
“fire-opal of true Indian iridescence”.
Page 108: “had the courage of her convicions” changed to “had the
courage of her convictions”.
Page 117: “consequences as this; but if unsucessful” changed to
“consequences as this; but if unsuccessful”.
Page 163: “the true union, earthly, heavenly, etrenal” changed to
“the true union, earthly, heavenly, eternal”.
Page 226: “and all the essentials for majesty domnating” changed to
“and all the essentials for majesty dominating”.
Page 275: “fluttered a message of thanks, or propitation” changed
to “fluttered a message of thanks, or propitiation”.