West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1877-11-24
Cleopa'ra's Needlcs.
lNcw York world.l


after IL was first offered To her, England
finally sees Cleopatras Needle on il,
way 10 her shores, the new question ha,
arisen, What is she To do with IL? Tn,
matter was left in the hands of the Lon
don Metropolitan Board of Works, anC
the Chief Commissioner has already sub
mittcd two or three sites, on any of which
he thinks that the monolith might be
placed to advantage. But the London
public seem unable TO decide upon the
exact place in which TO put il. MIR,
| Noel set up n wooden model of IL near
| st. Margarcts, Westminster, i'm the inn
mediate neighborhood Of Westminster
| Abbey, but no sooner had he done so
| than evil was predicted The founda.
tion of u monument so situated would
bo Immediately over the Metropolitan
District Railway, and so heavy mass
as 'Cleopatra's Needle might break
through into the tunnel. Besides this.
either n new street must be closed or the
flower beds would have TO be removed,
while the statues of eminent men near
the House of Parliament would be
dwarfed into pigmies by this colossal
monument from Egypt, which no true
Britons could tolerate. Sir Charles
Barry's enormous cight-day tower clock,
which rises TO height of 800 feet above
the House of Commons, would, i'm It's
turn, dwarf the Needle, 80 why should il
be placed thcrc2 Sir Charles Barry sees
this, and loudly protests against the site
at Westminster. He desires To place the
monolith at a spot remote, unfrionded,
melancholy, slow" near the top of Port
land place Others suggest that il should
stand in the courtyard of the British
Museum. Another site, and fine one,
which has been thought of, il the upper
end of the noble Thames Embankmcnt; /;
still another is Lincoln's Inn Fields, and
another still is Primrose Hill. Some
people insist that the only proper place
for IL is within the ratings OF st. James's
Park, where mound would have TO be
raised for il after the manner of that
whorcon the statue of Achilles in Hyde
Park is mounted, for which some cnthu-
siastic ladies gave commission that il
might commemorate forever the battle
and the victor of Waterloo. AS to st.
Jamcs's Park, some objections not of an
artistic, but of n highly practical nature,
are urged. The ground there was origin
ally swampy, and il is thought TO bc still
treacherous, 40 that IL is within the linn
ITO VI llNSNiUlilAl AnAAg NllNulu lilt 4Nffult
be placed there, London might awake
some fine morning and find il, like the
Amsterdam Stadt-lIuys, sunken and
gone. Similar doubts exist with regard
to the site on which the wooden model
stands in Parliament square. Not only
does the Metropolitan District Railway
run under IL, but beneath this spot OF
old the water flowed around Thorny
I.Iu.,I AlI
other site which has been spoken of is
Greenwich Hospital, but the obelisk
might almost as well be placed on Sails
bury Plain. II will be seen that there is
a great variety in the views OF the Eng
lish public as TO where the Egyptian
relic of the timeso Thothmes III should
stand, the subject having been taken up
with the liyeliest and keenest interestby
the London people Of all classes, from
the scholars and divines down to the
smallest shopkeepers, who are quick
witted enough to see how much new
Grist will be brought to their mills by
this new and Unprecedented addition TO
the attractions of the great metropolis.
These obelisks possess n very great his
toric value aside from that sentimental
estimate which enlightened nations place
upon all monuments of antiquity. When
the one now on its way to England was
unearthed on the grounds of M. Dimitri,
the Greek merchant already spoken of,
IL was covered with three feet of sand.
and was found TO be just sixty-eight feet
long. The hieroglyphics which cover
all Of its four sides were prepared for dc
ciphering by washing the stone from the
water-skin of water-carrier. They we're
then studied by Brugsch Bey, the emf
uent German Psychologist, who visited
this country at the time of the Centen-
nial. He found that they referred 10
the lives Of two kings, Thothmes III
and Rametes RI. The central inscrip-
tiOns recounted the deeds Of Thothmes
and the others those Of Rameses. The
weight Of the whole block was two hun
dred tons. So far as is known the hero
glyphics on the obclisk which remains
standing at Alexandria, and which as
wc elsewhere show may one day be trans
fcrred to New York, have not been de
ciphercd, but "a they are of the same
age and came originally from the same
city and temple, IL is not unlikely that
they refer TO the same, or at least TO
similar objects.
The temple at Heliopolis, where the
mOnoliths first stood, is Of intense inter
est to Biblical students, ~ being sup
| posed to be the one in which Moses, the
| Hebrew lawgiver, became learned in all
The wisdom Of the Egyptians. Thothmes
I III WAS onc Of the greatest Of the Egyp-
/ tian kings, and in his day the power Of
Egypt was extended over Abyssinia,
/ Nubia, Arabia, Syria, MesopOtania,
| Kurdistan and Armenia. NOtwithstand-
| ing the traditional hatred Of the Egyp-
tians for the sea, nc had powerful feet
ON the Mediterranean with which hc
/ conquered Cyprus and Crete and the
| islands of the Archipelago, the southern
coasts Of Greece, and perhaps even the
south Of Italy. All Of Northern Africg
where his monuments are found was Ger
tainly brought into sUbjection by him
/ Ramoses ~, whose name is recorded on
the English Clcopatra's Needle, was the
greatest builder Of all the Pharaohs
Many Of thc magnificent temples at Kar
max and Luxor arc his work, az are ais,
the two subterranean temples at Ipsani
bul. in Nubia, and the Ramcseum ~
Thcbcs. lie also was n great warrior
and 10 was upon the story Of his cam
paigns and those Of Scti and ThOthmc
that the Greeks built up their legend
Of Scsostris When the hierogIyphic
upon the second Obclisk shall have beei
dcciuhorod- though many Of them mus