Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-08-30
EGYPT.
Some Interesting Bits of History.
from Harper's Young People.I

and sciences, and have only improved
upon what the Egyptians taught us.
Our alphabet and the art of writing
came from the banks of the Nile. It
was carried to Phenicia, then to Greece
and Rome, and then to Europe and
America. The Egyptians invented the
lever, by which all engines are moved,
and electricity made useful. Egyptian
glass-makers, goldsmiths, painters,
weavers, builders and stone-cutters,
miners, gardeners, and even poets and
historians, have taught their arts to all
the Western nations; Moses studied in
the Egyptian colleges, and Joseph and
his father looked upon its pyramids and
temples with wonder.
The land of Egypt is deposit Of mud
brought down by the floods of the Nile
from the mountains of Middle Africa.
Every year the river overfows its banks.
and renews the fertility of the soil by
new deposit, and these regular inunda-
lions have been so provided for by en-
bankments and canals as to be seldom
dangerous. The Nile scarcely ever
sweeps away the focks and harvests of
the farmers, like the Mississippi. It
would be well if the Mississippi could
be made as useful as the Nile.
This fat land of mud rests on rocks
and sand. On each side of it is a des-
ert, bare, hot and sitting. A desert
divides it from Asia. It is isolated from
the world, and here for several thou
sand year the Egyptian Pharaohs ruled
over an obedient people, and
their people invented and prac-
ticed those useful arts which they were
afterward to teach to others. The first
King Of Egypt is supposed to have been
Menes; he reigned about 5000 B. G.
Thirty-one dynasties or families of
Kings follow Menes, and the Egyptian
kingdom had lasted more than $500
years when it was conquered by Alex
ander the Great. The Assyrians, Per-
slams and even the Philippians had con-
quered it before, but had been driven
out by the rising of the people. For
1000 years the Egyptians were free and
united. The oldest modern kingdom
counts scarcely 800 years, and our own
Government 100.
The Egyptians were dark-colored
race, and came probably from Asia.
They lived alone upon the banks of the
Nile, shut out from the world All
Europe was then a wilderness filled
with wild beasts and few savage men.
All was waste and desolate. The savage
people who surrounded Egypt were like
our American Indians, ignorant and
troacherous. Had they been able they
would have broken in upon the indus
trious Egyptians, sacked and burned
their cities, and robbed them of all they
possessed. They would have destroyed
temples and palaces, houses and gar
dens, ships and factories, and left US
without any Of the Egyptian inventions
and improvements. But fortunately
the desert and the sea for 1000 years at
least kept the savages away. The coun-
try grew rich and fourishing; the banks
of the Nile were lined with farms as fer
tile as those Of Kansas OF Dakota. The
wheat was full and white The gardens
of Egypt produced beans, onions, cab
bages, and were filed with flowers.
Countless towns and cities sprang up
along the Nile. Some of them were as
large, perhaps, as Chicago or New York.
The rich land swarmed with people.
The families of the Egyptians lived in
comfortable houses; the children were
usually taught in the temples to read
and write; all were taught to work ;
they were well dressed and very neat
and when Joseph governed the land
with discretion and good sense there
was no part of the Western world that
could equal the intelligence and civil
zation of Egypt. Its cities, temples,
palaces, farms and gardens were the
wonder of the ancient historians.
To-day Egypt is an impoverished
country, distracted by civil war. Alex
andria, once one of the most magnificent
cities of the world, lies in ashes, and
the people throughout the land are
suffering all the horrors of famine
amid their plundered and ruined
homes. Long ages of misrule and ig-
n2rancc have brought the fruitful and
prosperous land to this terrible condi-
TIN. In the days OF Joseph the armies
c. f.cTDt might have withstood the
-F.:ld. Now the conqueror is at her
r'.es, disorder RACES within, and peace
AID prosperity can return to her Dor
Ge"s only under the protection of a
iole;gn power.