The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-06-21
TO BE SEEN IN EGYPT.
IMMORTAL SIGNATURES UNDER THE
SPHINx,S LEFT EAR.
Colonel Mason, of Chicago, Finds the
Names of Napoleon, Wellington, Dis
raeli, Grant and a Host OF Others, Top
ped by an Il1ustrious Americans.

I
ped by an IlIustrious Americans.
"My sojourn in Europe" says Colonel
Edward G. Mason, president of the Chicago
Historical society, was wholly delightful.
! The climate is salubrious, the scenery is
bewilderingly novel, and the natives are
politely attentive When / went to that
part of the world my health was failing.
For several years l had worked hard, and
my nerves had suffered particularly Sc
we're strain in that famous debate in which,
as president of the Historical society, l was
compelled TO engage with Hiram Atwater,
of Kaskaskia, relative to the exact location
of Pierre Menard's barn prior to the June
rise in the Mississippi in 1874. l had been
in Cairo but a week when l felt fully re-
stored, in corpore ct ia mente. return to
| Chicago splendidly equipped to grapple
with the brilliant sophistries Of Norton, the
artful heresies of Head, the cold pessimism
| of MacVeagh, and such other specious per-
suasions as that talented coterie with
which / am wont to associate may choose
to bring to bear upon me.
"That object in all Egygt which most en-
gagged my attention was the sphinx. Wis
| tied it a number of times, and each time
regarded it with absorbing interest. Ny
| companion at such times was the veneer
able sheik, kamir-elAbdul a man of pro-
! found learning, and 1 never wearied of the
"reminiscences with which he beguiled the
/ tedium of the journey to and from the
pyramids.
81 shall never forget my first visit to the
! sphinx. Starting from Cairo before day
| light, we reached our destination just as
the solar orb issuing from the glowing east
cast upon that mighty stretch of sand the
rosy flood of his gracious benediction. The
sullen head and massive shoulders of the
beast woman doomed up threateningly be-
| fore US, the pitilessness of forty centuries of
desolate loneliness lay like shadow on the
ruthless face and over the cruel eyes; here
at last / found the master expression Of
utter hopelessness. Observing my unwont-
ed seriousness-for was indeed awed by
the solemnity, the grandeur, and the awful
ness of this spectacle-the good sheik
sought to dissipate the gathering clouds of
sadness by relating certain entertaining
bits of historical information.
TALKING WITH A sHEIK.
"'Here, light of the western world
quoth he, for he always employed the or
nate metaphors of the orient he adj
with one another Monarchs of all ages
have come hither to commune with this
mighty monument to the genius of the
dead; hither come artisans to wonder at
the work of an art they know not of, and
hither repair the sage, the poet and the
philosopher to ruminate in the shadow of
this pile upon the awful mysteries of hui
man life
= af
the most solemn associations. 1t was here
that, as l remember to have read in my
geography, Bonaparte encouraged his SOL
diery to battle by reminding them that
from yonder pyramids forty centuries
looked down upon them
Napoleon inscribed his name upon the
sphinx at that time said the good sheik.
Take your spyglass and you will see the
name cut upon the neck of the sphinx, just
below the ear there. Below it appears, in
Turkish, the name of the great sultan, Alb
dull Hamed, while to the right, upon the
the naturalist
"'The head and face of the sphinx seems
to be covered with names,' said l, contem-
plating the mammoth through my glass.
1T is even so, pearl of the prairies, said
he. For many years the great men of all
nations and tribes have delighted to cut
their names into this deathless monument;
even your people come hither to do that
honorable Office, as you shall see if you
sweep your glass to the left and right and
up and down the surface Of that SCARED
face
II did as the good sheik suggested, and
a thousand noble names were presented TO
! IL ~ e
glass. Among my own countrymen Bay
ard Taylor, Franklin, Burr, Prescott,
Beecher. Grant, Longfellow, Emerson
yes, and a hundred others, representing
our craftsmanship, our theology, our lit
erature, our arts and our sciences, had en-
graved their proud names upon this his
toric, this solemn, this imperishable tablet.
CLEAR ABOVE THEM ALL.
''And the great geniuses of other nations
had been there too. l beheld with I'M
feigned delight the immortal names Of
Wellington, of Cuvier of Goethe, of Ca
YOUR, of Kossuth, of Dumas, of Disraeli, Of
Shopenhauer of Heine, of Byron, of Scott,
of Burton, of Browning and of other noble
masters. The sight inspired me with in
describable feelings, my bosom heaved
with conflicting emotions, and seemed to
commune with the invisible spirits of those
who in this human life had borne those
names.
Would the star of the west choose to
set himself amid that galaxy inquired
the sheik, kamir-el-Abdul, interrupting
my delicious revere. 1 have brought with
me a chisel and a maui, and yonder Arabs
Will provide rs with a rope ladder, where
by the summit OF the sphinx can easily be
reached
Il thanked the good sheik for the sug-
gestion. With what pride should return
TO my native land and announce TO my
compatriots that my name was high in this
roster of immortalsl With what feelings
of delight should posterity gather on these
blistering sands and rivet their eyes upon
the imperiS naDle name of e G. Mason in
big capital lettersl Kamir-el-A Abdul sig
nailed to the Arabs, and they approached.
l was eager for action. Ny whole frame
quivered with excitement.
but stay, quoth l. Another moment,
| prsy, until ! decip her that name which
stands boldly out high above the rest.
Some trauscendent genius has with con
spRmate valor braved the perils OF the en-
deayor and set mis- mark where no less no
bic hand may reach
Il scanned that name eagerly. 4 solemn
stillness-htting in It's rerereDtial ALSO
luteness-Teizned all around / saw and
read there, high above the rest, triumph
ing over the names and titles Of emperors,
kings, princes, warriors, statesmen and
the rest, blazed, as il were the polar star
set in the highest point Of the heavens, the
proud, the pre-eminent, tie imperlshabie
name OF a c. Arson, First Base! Ia
gene Field IN Chicago News
Bottomless Spring.
The great seltzer spring at Saratoga, y.
Y, has been sounded 70 tbe depth ot $3.50