Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1891-10-29

my Bible it was Thanksgiving day
morning, Nov. %, 1883, that with my
family and friends we stopped aboard
the steamer on the Nile. The Moham-
medan call to prayers had been sounded
by the priests of that religion, the Nue.
Zins, from tie 400 mosques of Cairo as
the cry went out: ''God is great. | bear
witness that there is no God but God. /
bear witness that Mohammed is the
APOSTLE of God. Come to prayers. Come
to salvation. God is great. There is 40
other but God. Prayers are better than
Sleep
The sky and city and palm groves and
riycr-Shipping were bathed in the light.
1t was not much OF craft that we
boarded 1t would not be hailed on any
of our rivers with any rapture OF adj
miration. 1t fortunately had but little
speed, for twice we ran aground and the
sailors jumped into the water and on
their shoulders pushed her out. But what
yacht of gaYest sportsman, what deck OF
swiftest ocean queen could give such o
thrill of rapture as a sail on the Nile?
The pyramids in sight, the remains OF
cities that are now only a name, the viii
lagos thronged with population. Both
banks crowded with historical deeds Of
book the Bible is when read on the Nile!
AS we slowly move up the majestic
river | see on each bank the wheels, the
pumps the buckets for irrigation, and
see man with his foot on the treadle
OF a wheel that fetches up the water for
garden, and then for the first time
understand that passage in Deuteronomy
which says of the IsraeliteS after they
had got back from Egypt, The land
whittier thou goest in to possess it is not
as the land of Egypt, from whence We
came out, where thou soWcdsC thy seed,
and wateredst it with thy foot" Then
| understood how the land could be
Watered with the foot.
That Thanksgiving morning on the
Nile | found my text of to-day. Pharaoh
in this chapter is compared to the dragon
or hippOpotamus suggested by the crocO-
dileS that used to line the banks Of this
river. THUS saith the Lord God: Be-
hold I am against thee Pharaoh, King Of
Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the
midst of his rivers which hath SAID my
river is mine own, and | have made it
for myself. But l will put hooks in thy
jaws and [ will cause the fish of thy
rivers to stick unto thy scales, and | will
bring thee up out of the midst Of thy
rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers shall
stick unto thy scales, and the land of
Egypt shall be desOlatc and waste; and
they shall know that I am the Lord; be-
cause he hath said the river is mine and
| have made it,"
While sailing on this river Or stopping
at one of the villages, we see people on
the banks who verify the Bible descrip-
ton, for they are now as they were in
Bible times. Shoes are now taken off in
reverence to sacred places. Children
carried astride the mothers shoulder as
in Hagar's time. Women with profusion
of iewelrv as when Rcbecca was af-
famed. Lentils shelled into the pottage,
as when Esau sold his birthright to get
such dish. The same habits of saluta-
tion as when Joseph and his brethren
fell on each others necks. Courts of
law held under big trees as in olden
times. People making bricks without
straw, compelled by circumstances to use
stubble instead of straw.
Flying over or standing on the banks
as in Scripture days are tlamingoes, os-
preys, eagles, pelicans, herons, cucloos
and bulIfinches On all sides of this
river sepulchers. Villages of sepulchers.
Cities of sepulchers. Nations of Sepul-
cheers. And one is tempted to call it an
empire of tOmbS. | never saw such a
place as Egypt is for graves. And now we
understand the complaining sarcasm OF
the Israelites when they were on the way
from Egypt to Canaan, because there
are no graves in Egypt hast thou taken
us away to die in the Wilderness" Down
the river bank come the buffalo and the
cattle or kline to drink. And it was the
81 +l,o+ ,,A1
PharaOh's dream Of the lean kline and
the fat kline.
Here we disembark little while for
Memphis, off from the Nile to the right.
Memphis founded by the first king of
Egypt and for long while the capital.
A city of marble and gold. Home of the
Pharaohs. City nineteen miles in cir
conference. Vast colonnades through
which imposing professions marched.
Here stood the Temple of the Sun, itself
in brillancy sun shone on by another
sun. Thebcs in power ever thousand
one hundred years, or nearly ten Times
as long as the United States have eX-
listed. Here is q reCumbent statue sew
cnty-tivc feet long. BrOnzed gatewayS.
A metropolis called 1.-THE haven of the
blest." Here Joseph was prime minis
ter. Here Pharaoh received Jacob. All
possible splendors were built up into
this royal city. Hosea, Ezekiel, Jere-
miah and Isaiah speak Of it as something
wonderful.
Never did I visit city with such ex-
allied anticipations, and never did my
anticipatons drop so fat. Not a pillar
stands. Not wall is unbroken. Not a
fountain losses in the sun. Even the
ruins have been ruined and all that re-
mains are chips Of marble, SMALL pieces
of fractured sculpture and splintered
human bones.
But back to the Nile and on and up
till you reach Thebcs, in Scripture called
the City of No. Hundred gated Thebes.
\ quadrangular city four miles from
limit to limit Four great temples, two
Of them Karnac and Luxor. once noun
tains of exquisite sculpture and gorgeous
dreams SOiiditied in stone Statue of