Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1891-10-29

the lesson of virtue that she taught was
obnoxious, and so they dragged her
through the streets and scraped her flesh
from her bones with sharp oyster shells
and then burned the fragments of the mas
sacred body. And here dwelt Cleopatra,
pronounced to be the beauty of all time
although If her pictures are correct have
seen thousand women in Brooklyn more
attractve-and she WAS as bad as she
was said to be handsome. Queen, conquer
PISS, and spoke seven languages, although
1t would have been better for the world if
she had not been able to speak any. julius
Caesar conquered the world, yet she con-
quered Julius Cesar.
ALExANDRIAs GREAT LIBRARY.
But Alexander, fascinating for this or
that thing, according to the taste of the
visitor, was to me most entertaining be-
cause it had been the site OF the greatest
library that the world ever saw, consider
ing the fact that the art of printing had
not been invented. Seven hundred thou
sand volumes and all the work OF a slow
pen. But down it all went under the
torch of besiegers. Built again and de-
stroyed again Built again, but the Arabs
came along for it's final demolition and the
four thousand baths of the city were heat
ed with those volumes, the fuel lasting
six months, and were ever fires kindled at
such fearful cost? What holocausts of the
worlds literaturel What martyrdom of
| booksl How many of them have gone
down under the rage of nations
Only one book has been able to with
stand the bomhardment and that has gone
through without smell of fire on its lids.
| No sword or spear or musket for its de-
Tense An unarmed New Testament. An
unarmed Old Testament. Yet invulner-
cble and triumphant There must be
something supernatural about it. Con-
queror of books Monarch of booksl All
the books of all the ages in all the libraries
outshone by this one book which you and
] carry to church in a pocket. So me-
thought amid the ashes of AleXandrian IL
braries.
But all aboard the Egyptian rail train
going up the banks of the Nlle Look out
of the window and see those camcls kneel-
ing for the imposition OF their load. And
! think we might take from them n lesson,
aud, instead OF trying to stand upright in
our own strength, become conscious of our
weakness and need Of divine help before we
take upon Us the heavy duties of theyear or
the week or the day, and so kneel for the
burden. We meet PROFESSIONS Of men and
= n,
but alas, for the homes to which the poor
inhabitants are going, for the ,most part
novels OF mud But there is something in
the scene that thoroughly enlists us. 1t is
/ the novelty of wretChcdness and a scene of
picturesque rags. For thousands of years
this land has been under Il Very damnation
Of taxes. Nothing but Christian civiliza-
ton will roll back the influences which
are spelling the Egyptians" There are
gardens and palaces, but they belong to
the rulers.
About here under the valiant Murad
Bey, the Mamelukes, who are the finest
/ horsemen in the world, came like hurri-
cane upon Napoleon's army, bat they were
beaten back by the French in one of the
fercest battles of all time. Then the Nam
elukes turned their horses heads the other
way, and in desperation backed them
against the French troops, hoping the
horses would kick the life out of the
French regiments. The Mumelukes, fail
ing again, plunged into this Nile and were
drowned, the French for days fishing out
the dead bodies of the Namelulles to get
the valuables upon their dead bodies. Ma
poleon, at the daring of these Mamelukes,
exclaimed, could have united the Nam
eluke horse to the French infantry, would
have recKoned myself master of the world"
THE JOURNEY Up THE NILE.
This ride along the Nile is one of the
most solemn and impressive rides of all my
life time, and our emotions deepen as the
curtains of the night fall upon all sur
roundings. But we shall not be satisfied
until we can take 4 snip and pass right out
/ upon these wOndrOus waters and between
the banks crowded with the story of en-
pires.
According to the lead pencil mark in my
Bible it was Thanks tving day morning,
Nov. 2S, 1889, that with my family and
friends we stepped aboard the steamer on
the Nile. The Mohammedan call to prayers
had been sounded by the priests of that re-
| ligion, the Muezzins, from the four hun
dred mosques of Cairo as the cry went out:
God is great. bear witness that there is
no God but God. | bear witness that Mo-
manned is the apostle of God. Come 70
| prayers. Come to salvation. God is great.
There is no other but God. Prayers are
better than sleep"
| The sky and city and palm groves and
| river shipping were bathed in the light. 1t
was not much OF a craft that we boarded.
1t would not he hailed ON any of our rivers
with any rapture Of admiration. 1t fortu-
nately 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 gaycst SPORTSMAN,
what deck Of switt2st ocean queen could
give such thrill of rapture as II sail on the
Nile? The pyramids in sight, the remains
| of cities that are now only name the vii
lagos thronged with population. Both
banks crowded with historical deeds of
forty or sixty centuries, Oh what 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 II man
with his foot on the treadle of a wheel that
fetches up the water for u garden, and
then for the first time / understand that
| passage in Deuteronomy which says of
the lsraelites 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 ye came out. where thou sowedst
thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot"
Then | understood how the land could be
watered with the foot. How do you sup
pose l felt when on the deck of that steam.
er on the Nile looked OFF upon the canals
and bitches and sluices through which the
fields are irrigated by that river, and then
read in Isaiah "The burden ~ Euvnt-tha