Daily Yellowstone journal., 1889-12-28
THE m.mm. ot CLEOPATRA.
A Truris, Worked up to n Fine Pitch q
Sentiment Indsr a ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS,


A TrGris, Worked up TO n Fin Pitch Of
Sentiment Under a Misrepresentation.
One day recently. while sauntering
through tie British museum, | found
myself IN tie sepulchral section of the
Egyptian antiquities. And almost be.
fore j knew II ] was standing IN front
of case No. 6.707, marked in large let
tiers Mummy Of Cleopatra" and near
by was another case with the further
inscription Coffin of Cleopatra"
Perhaps may have been IN some.
what sentimental mood. for my feel
ings were slngularly stirred. | was on
the lookout for surprises, but this was
a greater treasure than | expected TO
find. What food for thought Cleo
patrll ! sal down on a bench near by,
and looked at the mummy and gave
my Imagination loose rein. Here is
the great Cleopatra. the serpent and
siren Of the Nile.
This is that fascinating Egyptian
who. as a glrl of only % summers,
led captive the great worlds Caesar.
This the woman who played the willy
allurements OF Venus Auadyomene.
and charmed the great Antony to bis
destruction. This the woman for
whom the Roman world shed rivers
of blood. This that thing Of flame
whose passion breathing beauty shaped
the destiny of empires" as Mr.. Rider
Haggard says IN his romance.
She died by her own hand thirty
years before the time of Christ. and
now, after 1900 years. | look upon
her very face-the face that charmed
the world. stand by that very form
TO which Antony chung while he cried.
81 am dying, Egypt dsingT' This
wlthered visage with sunken eyes aud
voiceless tongue was once all bloom
and fire and honeyed words, and woke
the inspiration, Age cannot wither,
nor custom stale, her infinite va
riety."
Titled to picture to myself that gor
geous period OF the dynasty of the
Ptolemies. saw this stiff, uncouth
mummy ding off its linen cerements,
and array itself in silks and puppies,
and live again those golden days of
dalliance and revelry.
With this historical setting well in
mind, every scrap Of Egyptian his.
tory and literature that knew called
into requisition, | rose from the
bench and went over and examined
the mummy o critically. There
was a painted shroud on the wrappings
representing Cleopatra herself, Isis
and Nephthys, and some other deities,
There were Still the remains Of a
wreath seen on her head. There, too,
was her comb inserted in the band
ages at the right side Of her hair.
| took another look at the coffin.
There were various crude paintings
upon it. They represented the scene
of judgment before Osiris, the visit of
the soul TO the body, the goddess au-
thor, the heavens with the twelve
signs of the zodiac and other inter.
esting matters. Then | took out my
notebook TO make a verbatim copy Of
theinscriptIon, which sof some length.
Shades Of the great Hermes Trisme.
gistus and all the gods Of Egypt at
oncel Had ! been wasting my medi-
tations on the wrong girli This is not
my Cleopatra This is not my Greek
queen Of the Ptolemiesl See what this
finer lettering Of the inscription
says: This Cleopatra was surnamed
Genetike, she was the daughter Of Am.
monios. of the family of Sober, about
100 B. g.. found at Thebcs."
i Strengthened up with stoical com
posure. put the notebook calmly into
my pocket, and left the false, false
Cleopatra alone in her alluriug glory.
Boston Traveller