The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-07-24
HIS HOLINESS THE PATRIARCH OF THE
COPTS.

Not even the proudest magnate of the
land could enter his presence without
bowling low to kiss the pastoral ring on
his finger, and when he condescended to
attend session of the house of peers at
Pesth every one of the naughty mobiles
In the chamber would rise to their feet
and remain standing with bent heads
until he had taken his seat. His stables
at Grau were the finest that have ever
seen, containing almost 200 saddle and
carriage horses of the best breeds. The
palace itself was crammed from cellar to
garnet with valuable pictures, statuary
and works of art Of every description.
1t is perched high up on the left bank of
the Danube, and its succession of marble
terraces leading right down to the brink
Of the great river invariably calls forth
exclamations Of rapturous admiration
! from those who prefer to travel from
+ Vienna to Pesth by water.
Far different are the surroundings of
another archbishop with whom l became
acquainted. His see is at Khartoum,
city which, since the death of General
/ Gordon, has been in the hands of the
/ Mahdi, ard his diocese embraces the
whole Of the upper Nile region and Cen
trail Africa. His sufferings, his adven-
lures, and, in particular, his association
with the heroic Gordon, have rendered
his name well known in Europe, where
he has been received with the utmost
distinction by the emperor and empress
at Vienna, and by various other Catholic
sovereigns who have insisted on his Wis
lting them. An Italian by birth, and
member of one of the most famous of
the old noble families Of Verona, he is
barely forty years of age, but his clean
cut and handsome features are worn and
emaclated to a painful degree The
long, auburn beard has been rendered
very gray by the pestilential climate at
hhartoum. 1t is difficult to conceive
anything more horrible and demoraliz-
ing than the atmosphere in that part Of
Africa. The intense heat, coupled with
the penetrating dampness, strikes down
even the strongest constitutions with
deadly fevers, and brings on all the
symptoms of premature old age and
decay.
have rarely seen more sorrowful
sight than that presented by the aspect
Of FIVE Sisters of Mercy, not one of them
over twenty-eight years of age, who,
after three years sojourn in the Sou
dan, had returned to Cairo with their
hair turned completely white and bear
ing the appearance of women of sixty.
The archbishop when first called upon
him, was residing in kind of barnike
building on the banks of the Sweet Water
canal at Cairo, where he was quartered
pending his return to the upper Nile
regions. found him engaged in tend
ing some poor stunted trees and half
wlthered plants in the desolate looking
sandy Enclosure which he referred to as
his garden He was arrayed in an
old, rusty and very much worn caSsock.
with handkerchief tied round mis- neck
and an Egyptian red fez or tarboush on
his head
After mass in the little chapel. where
he was forced to divide his attention be-
tween his ministrations at the altar and
ms ngnt against the pesnferous flies
with fyfap made of horses tail. he
showed me his school. where he lodged.
fed and taught eighty young Soudanese
negroes, almost every one of them res
cued from slavery and mutilation. Both
the school. with Its bare walls and rough
benches, and the little chapel, with
It's patched altar cloth and unrunef--.,