Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1891-03-07
ALONE WITH PHARAOH.

The Frau Won Meyer was happy
woman.
One of our earlier poets has attempted
to resolve happi ess into a few very
simple elements, of which the chief are
the possession of beloved object,
pursuit of absorbing interest, and exer-
else in the open air.
Miriam Won Meyer combined these
three constituents in the fullest meas are;
she was united to the only man she had
ever wished to marry, and, identifying
her interests with his scientific re-
searches in archaeology, she accompanied
him over those parts of Asia and Africa
which comprised his field of study,
making extensive pilgrimages with him
to the shrines of forgotten races. the
sites Of old civilizations, unearthing their
potteries and mutilated statues, puzzling
out their mysterious hieroglyphics. and
regarding her husbands share in the in
terpretation of each new find" as the
great debt par eminence owed by science
TO that painstaking explorer.
The frau herself did not look like an
antiquity. She was Young and beauti-
ful Jewess, from celebrated Hamburg
family; one of the luckiest "finds"
Professor friedrich Won Meyer ever
made, for she endowed him not only
with the devotion Of an ardent soul, but
with the treasures of an ample bank ac-
count, which last insured him the inde-
pendence so delightful to a man who
studies for the sake of knowledge, and
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pressing need of public approval as
represented in good salary.
The Won Meyers were advanced nine
teenth century lovers, coming together
with congenial tastes, both of them fired
with an intense desire to accomplish
something in the kingdom Of mind, and
resolved to prove to themselves and
their friends that such an end can be
made perfectly consistent with the
sweeter and more subtle relations OF
life.
1t was not long before this couple
were drawn into the magic sphere of
old Egypt, with it spectral. indefinite
past-who can doubt that Egyptology
would offer the most adequate field for
their dual energy an immortality in
itselfl
When a standing mystery Of over
5000 years was solved at last by the dis
covery, at Dier ell Bahari, of Rameses
the Great-the Pharaoh of the Oppres.
Oppression. the Sesostris Of the Creek
and 36 other serene mummied high
nesses, the exultation of the Won Meyers
was quite equal to anybody else's; they
talked of -dynasties, @cartouches, /"
@scarab@i." -papyri. from morning
until night
The climax Of their excitement was
reached when. later on, the unfolding
took place. and Pharaoh. released from
his bandages in the presence Of the
Khedive and other lesser dignitaries,
was indubitably proven to the modern
world to be himself, all that was left Of
him.
Late one afternoon, soon after the I'M
folding. the Won Meyers visited him in
his last resting place. the Museum Of
Antiquities at Bulak. the port Of Cairo.
After standing long time before the
glass case which protected this most
noble Pilartah from the profans touch
Of the curious, the professor remarked
to his wife that he had some business
with q native outside the museum.
Would she 60 with him. or remain here7
Il win stay alone with Pharaoh. I" she
said; tIen as he left her, she glanced
around the hall, and observed that not
another person shared her solitude with
the mighty dead of Egypt to whom it
was consecrated-even the ubiquitous
guard was nowhere to be seen.
-There is a sort Of silent contempt for
US all in this hard, dry, old face
thought the lady. as she scanned lie
monarch closely. Robbed Of all the
illusions of flesh and blood, there is vet
soul showing through these features.
! can read you, old Pharaohi Ahl now
. mocking light shines through the
mask, as if you understood my boastl
Why did you oppress my people, you
tyrant Of the hrickyardsf History may
vote you the most iIIustrious Of the
Pharaohs. novelists picture you as de-
voted husband and parent. . generous
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