Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1900-03-28
Letter From Egypt.
Yours truly.
A. NJ. SHERWOOD,
Cairo, Eyypt. Feb. 2l.

|
AND SISTERS OF ORIENT
CHAPTER o. E. S. No. 10 I
Greeting From Afar-From city
peopled by the descendants Of the old
est civilization, and under the shadow
of the Acacia trees endeavor to fulfill
my promise of writing you; but among
all the different things and various
peoples that we have seen, l scarcely
know where to commence. You must
have heard Of our rough sea passage
from New York to Gibralter and not
altogether smooth to Naples from there,
yet we lived through it, and days when
the weather was fine and the ship went
smoothly on her course, what could one
ask for more restful. An almost fairy
like state of being; while old ocean
seems to breath of freedom with I'M
limited expanse on every side, and you
gaze out over the vast water and seem
ingly the land has actually dropped out
of existance. Here our eyes were glad
dened by the sight of the Azores, how
like picture, how green the fields
against the cloudless sky. The stop of
few hours at Gibraltar was glad
change, many took carriages, but we
thought it more beneficial to walk
through the part we cared to see. Oh
the. fortress is great and defies the
world. There are roads cut through
the solid rock, that we walked opsr
some of the passages dark as midnight
and then the view of the city and
waters below paid for the exertion Of
the climb and there would be time to
rest on the ship. There is is similar.
| ity between arrangement Of the build
ings and streets in Gibraltar to st.
Augustine, Fla, but OIL the difference
of the people their modes of convey.
ance, their selling their wares, their
street cries, dress. all, everything so
foreign, SO different. But the hours
flew by and again we are in the ship.
When we arrived at Naples, the street
was panorama, indeed, but before
his came the custom house offics where
r. W. found that cigars are worth some.
thing when paid for twice. The streets
of Naples study indeed, q new chap
ter every day, new page hourly. We
found good hotel and proceeded to
make ourselves comfortable. Mae is
yet with us, will leave US here fol
for Florence, while We go on to Alex
andria: yet we three shall do Naples
before we leave. I must onot forget
to speak of this lovely bay of Naples.
The mild blue of the sky and the blue
of the waters concerning which poetl
have sung and artists painted, and tn.
mist between all makes picture tina
will live with you.
/ There is one thing that is not con
venient and that is the rain, for the
rainy season is not quite past. Visited
the aquarium this is situated in thu
park which is said to be the best and t
contain them ost specimens of any in til.
world. We saw only few specimens
that we had not seen before, one q
large deyil-fish that was q horror ant
possibly correctly named and also one
species of eel. Visited the Nationa
museum where are kept the treasures
exhumed from Herculuneum and Pom
psii and some from Rome. 1t isa vas
building and would require weeks Il
to half see it. The wall paintings TAX
en- from Pompeii (many of them) are il
wonderful state of preservation, with
colors unfaded. Saw collection Of
these colors, ground and unground, jus
as they were used by the painters o.
those days, curiosity indeed. The
bronzes, how can Itell of themY Statues
busts, figures of animals, hand mirrors
found in tombs, household goods ett
and more too. Sunday, February II
we drove to Pompeii 10 miles or more
Our way took US through part of the
city occupied by the poorer class, where
swarmed the children, people seem tt
to live SO much out of doors, and cook
ing, washing, sowing, knitting and diff
ferent kinds of hand craft were being
carried on out Of doors. Seems strange
how some people can live. There were
good many scents to each block,
can assure you and we were glad tc
emerge from this quarter, and enter the
one littleless populated and where the
villas are situated. This day happened
to be pleasant-yery favorable for us
But what can say Of the excavated
city? What an enormous undertaking
description of them fails me. They
are mostly of one story and of course
without roofs, a similarity about, the
dwellings, shops (stores) small, but tc
fully appreciate oil, one must be on the
spot, walk over the same roads, (stone
paved) the Romans walkel, look into
their homes, see the booths, the shops
the Basalica where justice was admin
Uttered, the civil forum, the temples
theaters etc, and realize their awful fate
A little museum near the entrance
contains the remains of number Of
people found in the debris and quite 6
number of objects of interest A new
house discovered in 1895 the wall decor
atoms remain, showing the colors fresh
and some of them finer than many al
the museum, and twas thought best tc
let them remain. Great care is taken tt
preserve everything, and there are
many gates within the grounds kept
locked, the guides are not allowed key
but there is always guard near with
keys and their eyes are everywhere
that the mosaics be not taken. On the
way back we stopped at Herculaneum,
This was destroyed by the hot lava,