Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1891-10-30
and between these ranks crowded with
thestory of Empires.


my Bible it was Thanksgiving day
moning, Nov. %, 1888, that with nv
FAMILY and friends we stepped aboard
the steamer on the Nile. The Moham-
melan call to prayers had been sounded
by the priests of that religion, the Muez-
ziM, from the 400 mosques of Cairo as
thu cry went out: "God is great l bear
witness that there is no God but God. I
besr witness that Mohammed is the
APOSTLE of God. Come to prayers. Come
to salvation. God is great. There is no
otter but God. Prayers are better than
Sleep
The sky and city and palm groves and
twas not much OF craft that we
boarded. 1t would not be hailed on any
oil our rivers with any rapture of ad-
mration. 1t fortunately had but little
Sped. for twice we ran aground and the
sailors jumped into the water and on
their shoulders pushed her out. Butwhat
yacht of gaycst sportsman, what deck of
sWiftest ocean queen could give such
thrill OF rapture as q sail on the Nile?
he pyramids in sight, the remains of
Giles that are now only a name, the viii
lagos thronged with population. Both
Dthh CloMuCu Will ulSlOIlCil uceuS OIL
forty or sixty centuries. Oh, what a
book the Bible is when read on the Nile
AS we slowly move up the majestic
river l see on each bank the wheels, the
pumps, the buckets for irrigation, and
See man with his foot on tho treadle
OF wheel that fetches up the water for
a garden, and then for the first time l
understand that passage in Deuteronomy
which says of the Israelites 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 We
came out. where thou sowedst thy seed,
and wateredst it with thy foot" Then
| understood how the land could be
watered with the foot.
That Thanksgiving morning on the
Nile found my text of to-day. Pharaoh
in this chapter is compared to the dragon
or hippopotamus suggested by the croco-
diles that used to line the banks of this
river. ''Thus saith the Lord God: Be-
hold 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
jaws and will cause the fish of 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 I am the Lord; be-
cause he hath said the river is mine and
have made it"
While sailing on this river or stopping
at 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. Children
carried astride the mothers shoulder as
in Hagar's time. Women with profuson
of jewelrv as when Rebecca was af-
famed. Lentils shelled into the pottage,
as when Esau sold his brthright to get
such dish. The same habits of saluta-
ton as when Joseph and his brethren
fell on each others necks. Courts of
law held under big trees as in oden
times. People making bricks without
straw, compelled by circumstances to use
stubble instead of straw.
Flying over or standing on the banks
as in Scripture days are tlamingoes, os.
preys, eagles, pelicans, herons, cuckoos
and bulltinches. On all sides of this
river sepulchers. Villages of sepulchers
Cities of sepulchers. Nations of sepul
cheers. And one is tempted to call it al
empire of tombs. 1 never saw such
place as Egypt is for graves. And now W.
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 taker
us away to die in the wilderness" Dowr
| %l,o rsx,o, o,,1r (Eo1 L.
cattle or kline to drink. And it was the
ancestors of these cattle that inspired
Pharaoh's dream of the lean kline anc
the fat kline.
Here we disembark a little while fol
Memphis, off from the Nile to the right
Memphis founded by the first king O
Egypt and for long while the capital
A city of marble and gold. Home of tn,
Pharaohs. City nineteen miles in cir
conference. Vast colonnades through
which imposing professions marched
Here stood the Temple of the Sun, itsel
in brilliancy a sun shone on by anothe
sun. Thebes in power over Thousand
one hundred years, or nearly ten Time
as long as the United States have ex
listed. Here is a recumbent statue sew
enty-five feet long. Bronzed gateways
A metropolis called ''the haven of tn
blest." Here Joseph was prime minis
ter. Here Pharaoh received Jacob. Al
possible splendors were built up int
this royal city. Hosea, Ezekiel, Jere
miah and Isaiah speak of it as something
wonderful.
Never did visit city with such ex
allied anticipations, and never did m.
anticipations drop so fiat. Not pilla
stands. Not wall is unbroken. Not
fountain losses in the sun. Even tn
ruins have been ruined and all that re
mains are chips of marble, small piece
OF fractured sculpture and splintere'
human bones
But back to the Nile and on and w
till you reach Thebes, in Scripture called
the City of No. Hundred gated Thebes
A quadrangular city four miles from
limit to limit. Four great temples, tw
of them Karnac and Luxor. once noun
tains of exquisite sculpture and gorgeou
dreams soldited in stone. Statue o
Rameses IL, Ss7 tons in weight AM
seventy-five feet high, but now fallel
and scattered. Walls abloom with tn
battlehelds of centuries.
The surrounding hills of rock hol
lowed into sepulchers on the wall o
which are chiseled in picture and hiero
glyphics the confirmation of Bibl
story in regard to the treatment of tn
Israelites in Egypt so that, as explora