Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1847-06-03

valley of the Nile, as the people on his owl
plains were more than could be fed. Thi
r'ch Arab and his train traversed the Delta
no doubt, TO arrive at the great city of the
great menarch of Lower Egypt; and hs
must, 1t IS thought, have seen the obeisl
now standing at Ieliopolis, which all trav.
oilers admire, and have looked with amaze
ment like ours at the Great Pyramid This
visIler was received with favor and pomI
by the mighty king, and made much of fol
time. This was ABRAHAM. As stood
The other day, looking at the way he came
and wondering at my lot in seeing the very
things he saw, and considering how refined
and advanced were the people whom he
visited, the history Of the world did appear
to stretch itself out so as to confound oul
early notions, and made Us humble as to the
rapldlty ofhuman progress.
In those days women reigned and were
obeyed without question. Not only were
there long and regular reins, but the supre-
macy was unquesioned when in the hands
oil woman token of high civilization
as was the function of the priesthood, with
whom was lodged science and philosophy
which we have reason TO believe has since
commanded the veneraton Of the world
when delivered by Greeks, and might do so
still, if we could fully recover them.
A few generations after this, a young
slave was brought into the country. and
placed into the house of an officer of State.
We all know the story of Josegh how
he became the minister Of this great country
in It's rising greatness and how he changed
the whole political condition of Egypt by
buying up all the land for the monarch From
the time of that seven years. famine, the
kings Egypt were possessors of the whole
land and rlver-as the present ruler is at
this day and, as at this day, the provision
for an unmiliga,ed despotism was complete:
as also for great Improvements under the
sway of a wise sovereign; an object which
Joseph may have had in view as much as the
interest of the King.
In various buildings of this early time |
have seen the unbaked brlck-crude brick
it is called-which cannot be made without
a large admixture of straw to bind it, The
soil of the Nile valley is moislened, worked
up with cut straw, moulded, and laid in the
hft sun of this country to dry Some such
bGcks bear the name and mark of very ear
work assigned 10 the hf saa hffeks ri rvs Wntbf TBS
they were SO cruelty oppressed. could see
them with my minds eye, as if it were but
IN the last century, as looked down from
pyramid on the brick remains below US, and
The dwellings Of the plain, and over toward
Goshen which was given to the Israelites
while they were in favor; and again over
the eastern hills, through which Moses led
| IS people when the oppression became too
litter to be borne. Nearer than these hills.
and close by Cairo, lies the Island of Rhoda,
where tradition says Moses was found by
he Kings daughter. But this is of course
very doubtful point, and one which /
AIRED little about while gazing on the same
aading features of natural scenery as we've
elore him all the days of his youth.
One impression has taken me by surprise
used to wonderland always did till now
at that stupidity of the Israeliles which
o angered their Ieader-their pning after
.gypt, after finding it impossible to live
1ere. 1t was uncomfortable how they could
ong to go back to a place Of such cruel op-
ressIon, for the sake of any thing it could
I've. now wonder no longer, having
cen and felt the desert, and knowing the
harms of the valley of the Nile. One even
ng lately, just at sunset, the scene struck
pom my heart, expressing it with the sense
# beauty. A village was beside an extensive1
rove of palms, which sprang from out of
lie lhlckest and richest clover to the height
I eighty feet. Their tops waved gently in
lie soft breeze which ruffled the surface of
blue pond lying among grassy shores
here were golden lights and sharp shadows
mong the banks where stream had lately
'ade its way. The yellow sandhils of the
esert just showed themselves between the
ems OF the more scattered palms. Within
lew were some carefully titled fields, with
rong wheat, lupins, and purple bean bios
'ms; and some melon and cucumber patch
were not far off. Cattle were 1ehered T
'sIde the houses and on bank near sat {
old woman and boy and a girl. basking
the last rays of the sun with evident en-
yment, though the magical coloring given c
I Egyptian atmosphere could not be so I,
flklng as TO English eyes But what r
ust 1t have been in the memory of the Is h
elites, wandering in the desert where there q
no color except at sunrise and sunset, but a
lily glare, parched rocks, and choking dust i,
sand will not attamps now, for no
lie has ever succeeded in such an attempt. a
convey any impression of the appalling I
of the depths of the desert can o
ly say that when it rose before me in T
ntrast with that nook fthe valley atsun- al
l., at last understood the surrender of G.
art and reason on the part of the Israel 7
S, and could sympathize in their forget II
mess of their past woes in their pining for d
rdure and streams. for shade and GOOD II