The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1891-11-11

citizens. After having declared that be
would make the blood run to bis
horses knees and h& horse I'll wj4h
him into the blood I'D Ms lsnees "a.
dened, the tyrant took It Tor granted
that was sign he should stop the mas
sacre, and hence this commemorative
pillar to his mercy. This is the city to
which Omar came after building ], 400
mosques and destroying 1000 temples
and $4,000 villages and castles. Yet
riding in ON camel with sack OF
corn, s. sack Of figs and a wooden plate,
all that he had kept for himself, and
the diet to which he had limited him.
self for most of the time was bread and
water. Was there ever in any other
man a commingling of elements so
strange, 80 weird, SO generous, 80
cruel, SO mighty, SO weak, SO religious
so fanatical? na gfias
In this city was the greatest female
lecturer the world ever saw-Hypatia
But the lessons of virtue that she
taught were obnoxious, and so they
dragged her through the streets and
scraped her flesh from her bones with
sharp oyster shells and then burned the
fragment of the massacred body. And
here dwelt Cleopatra, pronounced to
be the beauty of all time-although II
her pictures are correct l have seen
1000 women in Brooklyn more attrac.
tive-and she was as bad as she was
said to be handsome. Queen, con-
qneress, and spoke seven languages,
although it would have been better fol-
the world if she had not been able to
speaIk any. Julius Caesar conquered
the world, yet she conquered Julius
Caesar.
But Alexandria, fascinating for this OF
that thing, according to the taste OF the
visitor, was to me most entertaining
because it had been tho site of the
greatest library that the world ever
saw, considering the fact that the arr
of printing had not been invented.
Seven hundred thousand volumes, and
all the work of slow men. But down II
Advent under the torch of the besiegers
Built again and destroyed again. Bull
again. but the Arabs came along fol
It's final demolition, and the 1000 baths
of the city were heated with those
volumes, the fuel lasting siz
months, and were ever fires kin
died at such fearful cost? What iioio,
causts of the worlds literature! What
martyrdom of books! How many Of
them have gone down under the rage
of nations?
Only one book has been able 10 with
stand the bombardment, and that ha!
gone through without smell of fire or
it's lids. No sword or spear or musket
for its defense. An unarmed New
Testament An unarned Old Tesla
ment Yet invulnerable and triumph
ant. There must be something super
natural about it. Conqueror of books
Monarch of books! All the books of al
the ages in all the libraries outshon,
by this one book which you and car
carry to church in pocket. So me
thought amid the ashes of Alexandria,
libraries
But all aboard the Egyptian rail
train going up the banks OF the Nile
Look out of the window and see thos
camels kneeling for the imposition
their load And Think we mighttak
from them lesson, and instead Of try
ing to stand upright in our owl
strength, become conscious of on
weakness and need Of Divine help be
fore we take upon us the heavy dutie
of the year or the week or the day, an
so kneel for the burden. We meet pre-
cessions of men and beasts on the wa
from their days work, but alas, for tn
homes to which the poor inhabitant
are going. For the most part novels Q
mud. But there is something in tn
scene that thoroughly enlists us It is tn
novelty of wretchedness, and a scene G
picturesque rags. For thousands c
years this land has been under yer
damnation of taxes Nothing br
Christian civilization will roll back tn
influences which are spelling tn
Egyptians" There are gardens an
palaces but they belong to the rulers
! About here, under the valiant Mura
Bey, the Mamelulxes, who are the fines
horsemen in all the world, came like
hurricane upon Napoleon's army, bu
they were beaten back by the Frenc
in one Of the fiercest battles of all time
Then the Mamelukes turned thei
horses heads the other way, and in de-
peration backed them against the Frenc
troops, hoping the horses would kic
the life out OF the French regiments
The Mamelukes, failing again. plunge
into this Nile and were drowned, tn
French for days fishing out the dea
bodies of the Mamelukes to get tn
valuables upon their bodies. Napt
leon, at the daring of these Mameluke
exclaimed: "Could I have united tn
Mamelukes horse to the French il
fantry, 1 would have reckoned mysel
master of the world"
This ride along the Nile is one of tn
most solemn and impressive rides OF a
nv lifetime, and our emotions deepe
as the curtains of night fall upon a
surroundings. But we shall not be sa
isfed until we can take ship and pa.
right out upon these wondrous watel
and between the banks crowded wit
the story of empires
According to the lead pencil mari
in my Bible it was Thanksgiving-da
morning, November 2S, 1889, that wi,
my family and friends we steppe
aboard the steamer on. the Nile. TT
Mohammedan call to prayers had bee
sounded by the priests of that religio
the Muezzins, from the 400 mosques