The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1891-10-30

do you suppose | felt when ON the deck
OF that steamer 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,
''rhe burden of Egypt; the river shall
be wasted and dried up and they shall
turn the rivers far away and the brooks
of defense shall be emptied and dried
up; and they shall be broken in the
purposes thereof, all that make sluices
and ponds for fish," That Thanksgiv-
ing morning on the Nile found my
text of today.
Pharaoh in this chapter is compared
to the dragon or hippopotamus sug
gested by the crocodiles that used to
line the banks of this river: Titus
saith the Lord God, Behold | 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 | will put hooks in 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 desolate and waste;
and they shall know that | am the
Lord, because lie hath said the river is
mine and have made it,
AS IN BIBLE TIMES.
While sailing on this river or stopping
Mt 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. Chill
dren carried astride the mothers Shout
der as in Hagar's time. Women with
profusion of jewelry as when Rebecca
was affianced. Lentils shelled into the
pottage, as when Esau sold his birth
right to get such dish. The same
habits of salutation Us 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 10y cream
stances to use stubble instead of straw
Flying over or standing or the banks,
as in Scripture days, are tiamingoos, os-
preys, eagles, pelicans, herons, cuckoos
and bullfinches On all sides of this
river sepulchers Villages of sepulchers.
Cities of scpulchers Nations of sepul-
cheers. And one is tempted to call it an
empire of tombs. l 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 wildernessT
Down the river bank come the buffalo
and the cattle or kline to drink, and it
was the assessors of these cattle that
inspired 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
cumference Vast colonnades through
which imposing professions marched
Here stood the Temple of the Sun, it
self in brilliancy sun shone on by an
other sun. Thebes in power over a
thousand one hundred years, or nearly
ten times as long as the United States
have existed. Here is a recumbent
statue seventy-five feet long. Bronzed
gateways. A metropolis called "the
haven of the blest." Here Joseph was
prime minister. Here Pharaoh received
Jacob. All possible splendors were
built up into this royal city. Hosea,
Ezekiel jeremiah and Isaiah speak of
it as something wonderful,
Never did l visit city with such ex-
allied anticipations and never did my
anticipations drop so fiat. Not pillar
stands. Not wall is unbroken. Not
a fountain losses in the sun. Even the
ruins have been ruined and all that
remains are chips of marble, small
pieces of fractured sculpture and splin-
tered human bones Here and there a
letter of some elaborate inscription, q
toe or ear of statue that once stood
in niche of palace wall. Ezekiel proph-
esied it's blotting out, and the prophecy
has been fulfilled.
''Ride on" | said to our party, ''anf
don't wait for me-" And us | stoOC
there alone the city of Memphis in the
glory of past centuries returned. Anc
heard the rush Of her chaYiota, an(
the dash of her fountains, and the con
VITALITY of her palaces, and saw the
drunken mobiles roll on the floors of mo
sale, while in startling contrast alnit
all the royalties of the place saw Pha
raoh look up into the face Of aged rus
tic Jacob, the shepherd, saying, "Iiov
old art thouT'
THE CITY OF NO.
But back to the Nile and on and NJ
till you reach Thebes, in Scripture
called the City of No. Hundred gated
Thebes. A quadrangular city fou
miles from limit to limit. Four grca
temples, two of them karnac ant
Luxor, once mountains of exquisite
sculpture and gorgeous dreams soldiliec
in stone Statue of RaIueses ii, eigl,
hundred and eighty tons i,
weight and seventy-fve feet high bu
now fallen and scattered. Wall
abloom with the battleiields of cen
turtles
The surrounding hills Of rock hol
lowed into sepulchers on the wall O
which are chiseled in picture and hier
oglyphics the confirmation of Bibl
story in regard to the treatment of tn
lsraelites in Egypt, so that as explora
tons go on with the work the walls o
the sepulchers become commentarie
of the Bible, the Scriptures original.
written upon parchment here cut int
everlasting stone. Thebcs mighty ant
dominant five hundred years. Thei
she went down in fulfillment of Ezekiel
prophecy concerning the City of No