The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1891-10-30
s0koned.(
IMPRESSIVE III

Tn be- the Nile Is one OF the
mos nd impressive rides of all
p and our emotions deepen
rtains of the night fall upon
findings. But we shall not be
satlSll04 until we can take ship and
pass right out upon these wondrous
waters and between the banks crowded
with the story Of empires.
According to the lead pencil mark in
my Bible it was Thanksgiving day
morning, Nov %, 1889, that with my
family and friends we stepped aboard
the steamer on the Nile. The Moham-
medan call to prayers had been sound
ed by the priests Of that religion, the
Muezzins, from the four hundred
mosques of Cairo as the cry went out
"God is great. l bear witness that
there is no God but God. bear wit
ness that Mohammed is the apostle of
God. Come to prayers. Come to sal
walton. God is great. There is no
other but God. Prayers are better than
sleep"
The sky and the palm groves and
river shipping were bathed in the light.
1t was not much Of craft that we
boarded. It would not be hailed on
any of our rivers with any rapture of
admiration. 1t fortunately had but lit.
tie speed, for twice we ran aground
and the sailors jumped into the watef
and on their shoulders pushed her out.
But what yacht of gayest sportsman,
what deck OF swiftest ocean queen
could give such thrill of rapture as a
sail on the Nile? The pyramids in
sight, the remains OF cities that are now
only name, the villages thronged
with population. Both banks crowded
with historical deeds of forty or sixty
centuvies. 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 a man with his foot on the
treadle of a wheel that fetches up the
water for a garden, and then for the
first time understand that passage in
Deuteronomy which says of the Israel
ties after they had got back from
Egypt, 1.-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 l understood how the land
could be watered with the foot. How
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,
THE 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 aried
up; and they shall be BROKEN The
thereof, Az tn me Y, Ices
and ponds for fish, 49, sgiv-
ing morning on the Mic j my
text of today. 9laE
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: "Thus
saith the Lord God, Behold l 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 l have made it for
myself But will put hooks in thy
laws and will cause the fish of thy
rivers to stick unto thy scales, and l
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
IF Egypt shall be desolate and waste;
and they shall know that l am the
Lord, because he hath said the river is
nine and have made it"
AS IN BIBLE TIMES.
While sailing on this river or stopping
vt one of the villages, we see people ON
The banks who verify the Bible descrip
ion, for they are now as they were in
Rible times. Shoes are now taken off
n reverence to sacred places. Chill
lren carried astride the mothers shout
Ter as in Hagar's time. Women with
orofusion of jewelry as when Rebecca
was affianced. Lentils shelled into the
cottage, as when Esau sold his birth
light to get such a dish. The same
habits of salutation as when Joseph and
lis brethren fell on each others necks.
Courts of law held under big trees as
n olden times. People making bricks
without straw, compelled by circum-
stances to use stubble instead of straw.
Flying over or standing on the banks,
Is in Scripture days, are famingoes os-
oreys, eagles, pelicans, herons, cuckoos
md bullfinches. On all sides of this
liver sepulchers Villages of sepulchers.
Cities of sepulchers. Nations of sepul-
,hers. And one is tempted to call it an
empire of tombs l never saw such a
,lace as Egypt is for graves. And now
We understand the complaining sarcasm
# the Israelites when they were on the
way from Egypt to Canaan, Because