River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1879-07-10

our barbarous ancestors were only the pu-
pills of the Egyptians, that the men of
learning in Egypt taught mathematics,
astronomy, architecture neatness; polite
ness, grace-perhaps invented them-and
that the priests of OSIRIS were the precur-
sors of an Everett or Cicero. Egyptians
built the first canal that cnt the 18th
mus of SueZ, pracuced navigation, sent
out exploring expeditions around Africa,
taught the study of nature, and planned
the measurement of the globe. The love
of nature and of flowers was their ruling
taste. Tee visitor when he entered house
was presented with a bunch OF flowers .
the gardens teemed with them; the deli
cate lotus sent its faint fragrance every
where; at table the guests were weighed
down with chaplets of flowers, and wreaths
ane festooRs were hung upon the walls
The dark and copper-coiored race seemed
10 feel the tenderness OF Shakespeare or
a Wordsworth in the presence OF the first
blossoms of spring. 1t is these varying
traits of delicacy and of energy that
made the Egyptians the sehool-masters OF
the West,
Nothing is NOR curious than that they
should have invented, or perhaps adopted
| from the further East most of the con-
veniences of modern life. 1t Is suggested
that India taught Egypt, or possibly
China. But the inventions of the the
! Egyptians have nearly all an originatality
that separates them from those of other
lands. Their papyrus was wholly their
own, their earliest alphabet, their htera-
ture and their painting. Shut up in their
narrow limit of fertile land along the
sacred river. repelling all close inter-
course with the barbarians without, dis
tinguIshed from them in dress, manner,
religion, crowded together in popuious
cities, the Egyptians seem to have
reached instinctively "a degree OF skill IN
manufactures and the arts, that was due
to long and laborious period of cultiya-
ton. For thousands of years they slowly
perfected their inventions. Ono of them
was the careful treatment of glass. They
melted it into bottles and vases of rare
beauty. colored it TO resemble ( q emerald
and the ruby. They made beautiful mo
safes, enamels, rare combinations that even
the Venetian artists have failed to equal
and discovered processes of coloring and
moulding that have been lost apparently
forever. Egyptian glassware was ex'
ported to all parts of the Mediterranean
They built monstrous statues Of glass
resembling emeralds, sixty feet high
they cut the most delicate enamels by the
aid of a lens. Mentally they were not
surpassed by the modern IN the pursuit
of ideal purity; justice, verify, were the
chief virtues of t Egyptians; the Chlei
Justice of Egypt when he sat Ill judg
ment, wore on his breast golden image
of Truth; one Egyptian king even abol
ished capital punishment, but seems Il
have stood almost alone.
Recent events have brought Egypt once
more into e circle of nations, and tn,
land of Pharaoh and Joseph promises Il
become the pathway of commerce o
the East. Its management and sate-keep
ing must fall apparently into hand
of England, and form large part of tina
extensive responsibility for t re welfare o
distant countries imposed upon the Eng
lish by the conquest of India. Tire Anglo
Saxon race more an any OF er is inter
!, ested in the fate of modern Egypt; TIN
Suez Canal is the outlet for the trade 0
London and Bombay. France has a sen
timental a scientific part in the care 0
e the land of Pharaoh; but if India is to b
, preserved, the possession eff Egypt is t.
Englang a necessity. The distant, unprot
liable conquest brings with it a defensiv,
frontier that may we'll tax the energy o
: the English race. But at whatever COS
to Europe, Egypt must once more talk
) its place among nations. The Nile mus
, become the pathway to that wonder
full region just discovered by Stan
ley and Spoke. Steamers will sail b,
Luxor and Karnac, bearing immigration
and traffic to Enc heart Of Africa. Egyp
may once more produce its rare work
OF art, its priceless gems and embroidery
and Egyptian scholars cultivate anew
anew the sciences and the virtues the,
first fought mankind,-Harper''s Weeh%s