e park which was the scene of a siege lasting from July
1 to November 17, 1857, three thousand men, women, and children, besides
the military, being there for safety. The number of refugees was reduced
to one thousand by September; the large rooms on the ground floor of the
Government building, with two stories above and extensive subterranean
rooms, made their stay possible, but involved great suffering and
horrible death as the siege went on. The large banquet hall of the
Residency near by was converted into a hospital. Both buildings are now
in ruins. But the roofless Residency with a tangle of vines (and a
decrepit stairway that leads upward) furnishes a fine view of the whole
scene, which in its very quietness bespeaks bravery, endurance, and
heroic suffering.

The buildings of Lucknow are not important, with the exception of the
Jumma Musjid, the great Imambara with its fine gateway, court, and
arcades. The Imambara Mosque has two minarets, and the great Imambara
Hall, one hundred and sixty-three by fifty-three feet and forty-nine
feet high, is one of the largest vaulted galleries in the world. The
palaces of the late king of Oudh, the clock tower and other mosques and
tombs, were visited, for, as usual, the persistent guide insisted on our
seeing all the "sights" (exaggerating the descriptions, it always
seemed, in proportion to their lack of importance), and it was "Memsahib
this" and "Memsahib that." Christmas Day, with a June temperature, soon
came to a close; the dinner was somewhat English in its many
appointments, with its roast beef and plum pudding,--other home touches
being added by our ever-thoughtful Director. There was good cheer, but
we silently thought of home and the friends far away.

* * * * *

[Illustration: _The Residency at Lucknow_]

BENARES, _December 26th_: Benares is the sacred city of India, and the
river Ganges with the ghats is the point where thousands upon thousands
of worshippers congregate, coming from every point where Hinduism
prevails. We had anticipated revolting scenes, and were not
disappointed, as the superstition of the devotees, the grasping conduct
of the priests, and the disgusting practices in the name of so-termed
religion all contributed to that end. We arrived during the afternoon of
December 26th, going to the Hotel de Paris. A drive was instantly
proposed, and we were taken to the Maharaja's palace, with grounds laid
out convention