St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1884-05-01
Up the Great Pyramid.
BY REV. c. L. GooDELL, d. d.

Luncheon is packed, the carriage is
ready and now for IA climb up the
mountain of stone. st. Pauls Cathe-
dral London is 404 feet high, St. Peters
in Rome AS. and StrasbOurg 1862 but
here is an ascent of 75O feet us it was
before the marble casing was gone.
and now, the highest monument in the
world built with human hands We
go up Mt. Washington by train, Mt
Rhigi and even Mt. Vesuvius by rail.
but up this Pyramid of Cheops at
GiZeh we have to scramble at the hard
est all the way. 1t is seven miles dis
tant from Cairo, through an avenue of
acacia trees all the way, and the fra
GRANGE comes up from the green fields
of the Nile, dewy and sweet.
Now we reach the bedlam of Arabs
at the base, and the Pyramid stands
up before us vast and mighty. "Forty
centuries. ARE looking down." Can we
ever make the ascent9 No, not alone.
The layers of stone average three feet
in thickness. The sheik assigns to one
three stalwart Arabs. Abdallah takes
the right hand, Sulieman the left, and
Ibraham lifts and pushes from behind
Some make the ascent with two, and
some even with one. The Arabs are
ready for the long pull you go flying
up one step, and then another, and
then another, and stop and take breath.
Abdallah says, ''you good man, good
Arab; |, No. ! Arab" Sulieman
says, 81 satisfy you, you satisfy me-"
lhraham chimes in, II do well, you
give me good backsheesh." Still on we
go the view widens, and the greatness
of the Pyramid grows upon you. On
the one side is the emerald of the Nile
valley, on the other, the utter desola-
ton of the desert. Where the river
goes there is life; where the sand
reigns, there is waste and death. Sulie-
man says, lyon American Good.
American eagle. Yankee doodle came
to town riding on pony" Abdallah
is not behind. Jack and Gill went
up the lill," and Ibraham chants in IA
stately way, "Hail Columbia, happy
land" and still we rise.
The grandeur of the view is con
stantly increasing. These tremendous
stones, no such are quarried now.
There in the far distance across the
Nile is the mountain where they were
cut. One hundred thousand men were
ten years i'll building the causeway
over which they were dragged by
human hands and raised inch by inch
to their place. BE careful not to look
directly down lest you have giddy
head. Objects of interest up and down
| the valley come out into greater dis
tinctness. Here at your feet near by
are the other two Pyramids of Gizeh
and the solemn Sphinx, and smaller
tombs. Farther on the pyramids OF
Sakarah and the ruins of great temples
Still beyond are the pyramids of Da-
shur. There is the site of ancient
Memphis once the worlds metropolis
and to the horthward, Heliopofs, witt
its single oheiisk and memories o
( Moses and Joseph aud all the learning
of ancient Egypt. Cairo lifts thou
sand minarets into the clear air, its cit
adel crowned with the alabaster mosqu,
of Mehemet Ali. You are looking int
the granary of the old world. You Sc,
the seven years of plenty, you see til,
twelve sons of Jacob coming to bu,
corn. and Joseph next to the king
The long Nile unwinds like a sheet o
silver, the centuries drop from out til
past like falling stars; the kingdom
of the old world and the glory thereo
pass before you.
Suliemau says, "Look yOu shan
fall-me know my business-we hOl
you safe" And these dark-eyed chill
dren of the desert sat at ones feet o
the top-most stone for long tim
9 speeehiess while the magnifcence {
the SCENE Oh every side was take
slowly and thoroughly in. A day {
} the Pyramids is one of thousand. B
and by it was time TO make the descer
which is much more difficult than til
ascent. Abdallah said, "YOu look