The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1891-11-03

inhabitants are gong, Tor tue most part
novels OF mud. But there is something
IN the scene that thoroughly eulIsts us
Ii IS the novelty OF wretchedness and q
scene OF picturesque rags. For thous.
ands of years this land has been under
a very damnation of taxes. Nothing
but Christian civilization will roll back
tho influences which are ''spoiling the
Egyptians" There are gardens and
palaces. but they belong to The rulers.
About here under the valiant Murad
Bey, the Mamelukes, who are the flu
est horsemen in the world, came like a
hurricane upon Napoleon's army. but
they were beaten back by the French in
one of the fcrcest battles of all time.
Then the Mamelukes turned their hor-
scs' heads the other way, aud In desper-
alton backed them against the French
troops, hoping the horses would kick
the lie out Of the French regiments.
The Mamelukes, failing again, plunged
into this Nile and were drowned, the
French were for days fishing out the
dead bodies of the Mamelukes to get the
yaluables upon their dead bodies. Ma
poleon, at the daring O; these Name
lukes, exclaimed, Gould L have united
the Mameluke holse to tho French in
fantry, 1 would have reckoned myself
master OF the world"
This ride along the Nile is one OF the
most solemn and impressive rides of all
my LIE time, and our emotions deepen
as the curtains of the night fall upon all
surroundings. But we shall not be sat
lslled until we can take a ship and pass
right out upon these wOndrous waters
aud between the banks crowded with
the story Of empires.
According to the lead pencil mark in
my Bible it was Thanksgiving day morn-
ing, Nov. %, 1889, that with my family
aud friends we stepped aboard the
steamer on the Nile. The Mohummedan
call to prayers had been sounded by the
priests of that religion, the MueZzins,
from the four hundred mosques of Cairo
as the cry went out: God great. [
bear witness that there Is no God but
God. bear witness that Mohlmme d is
the apostle Of God. Come to PRAYERS.
Come to salvation. God is great. There
is no other but God. Prayers are better
than slsep."
AS we slowly move up the majestic
river J. sec on each bank the wheels, the
pumps, tho buckets for irrigation, and
see Ii man with his foot on the treadle of
a wheel that tetches up the water for a
garden, and then for the first time un-
derstand that passage IN Dcu ,eronomy
which says of the Israelltes after they
had got back from Egypt, ''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
understood how the land could be
watercd with the loot. How do YOU
suppose l felt when on tie deck of that
steamer on the Nile l looked of upon
the canals aud bitches and sluices
through which the fields are irrigated by
that river, and then read in Isaiah, 1.-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 dried up;
and they shall be broken in the purposes
thereof, and that make sluices and ponds
for fish,"
That Thanksgiving morning OH the
Nile found my text Oftoday. Pharaoh
IN this chapter is compared TO the dragon
or hippopotamus suggested by the
crocodiles that used to line the banks ct
this river. "Thus saith the Lord God:
Behold am against thee Pharoah, 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
1t lor myself. But will put hooks in
thy jaws aud 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 bs d,solote and waste. and
they shall know that am the Lord; be-
cause he hath said the river is mine end
L have made it,"
| While sailing en- this river or stopping
at one OF the villages, we see people on
the banks who verify the Bible descrip-
tion, Tor they are now as they were in
Bible times. Shoes are now taken Off
in reverence to sacred places. Children
carr led astrlde the mothers shoulder as
III llaSar's time. Women with proiuson
OF Jewelry as when Rebpcca was atlianc-
cd. Lentils shelled into the pottage, as
when Esau sold his birthrlght to get
such dish. the same habits of saluLa-
ION as when Joseph and his brethren
iell on each others necks. Courts OF
law held under big trees as in olden
Ilmes. People making bricks without
straw, compelled by circumstances 20
use stuhble instead OF stray.
Flying over or standing on the banks
as i'll Scripture days are iiamngocs,
osprcys, eagles, pclicans, herons, ,cuckoos
and bullinchcs. On all sides of this
river scpulchers. Villages of sepul-
chcrs. Cities of sepulchcrs. Nations
OF sepulchers. And one is tempted to
call it an empire of tombs. | never saw
such place as Egypt is for graves.
And now we understand the complain
ing sarcasm of the Israelitcs when they
were on the way from Egypt to Canaan,
because there are no graves in Egypt
hast thou taken us away TO die in the
Wilderness" Down the river bank
come the buffalo and the cattle or klne
to drink. And IL was the ancestors of
these cattle that inspired Pharoah's
dream OF the lean kline and the fat kline.
derc we disembark little while for
Memphis, OIL from the Nile to tue right.
Memphis founded by the first king of
Egypt and tor long while the capital.
a. city OF marble and gold. Home OF the
Pharaohs. City nineteen miles in cir
cumterence Vast colohnades through
one hundred years, or nearly ten times
as long as the United States have exist
ed. Here is recumbent statue seven
ty.five feet long. Bronzed gateways.
a metropolis called 1.-The haven of the
| hlnat ~