The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-05-11

QUESTIONS. varied by plunges into pro-
round tonnes dealing with mysticism
ana philosophy; they sigh for the easy
prattle of society gossip which was all
the queen Marguerite's simple taste
required from her companions In
Italy there is, of course, another
crowned head to be thought of-the
venerable pontiff. Leo. He lives daily
IN the midst of the stateliest library in
me world; the peerless Vatican collec-
tlons OF priceless, ancient volumes have
peen for years his daily JOY, and he
mas kept the great library up-to-date,
personally seeing that no new book of
zeal, hrst hand in Importance in any
language of the world be left unstock-
ed. But of late years, 1t is said, the
Pope has practically read little that is
new A Cardinal Camerlengo keeps
MN informed as to the latest results
achieved in science and the big new
departures of philosophical thought.
hut apart from the world. politics and
the progress of the Catholic Church,
lev Things interest the vener-
able bishop of Rome. His valet told
French Journalist the other day that
the Pope kept by his bedside for con-
| slant perusal the works of Thomas Ac-
quinas, st. Augustines CITY of Cod"
the works of Virgil and the Divine
Comedy of Dante. Besides these and
his breViary he reads little or nothing;
he is an old man and feeble, his literary
days are past.
EgypGs Cultivated Khedive.
One of the most highly cultivated
reigning princes in the world is a man
scarcely ever heard of in America or
Europe-Abbas Hilmi-the Khedive of
Egypt. 1t is, of course, an historical
fact that of old all learning came out
of Egypt, but times have altered since
the Greeks went to the Land of Sphinx
to acquire their first training in phil
osophic thought and one little expects
to find great knowledge now in that
degraded Turkish province under all
English protectorate. 1t is none the
less true that the young Khedive pos
sesses one of the profoundest minds
OF his day He is modern to the
fingertips, but stepped also in the lore
OF old times, highly skilled admin.
istrator under difficult conditions of in
ternational interference but at the
same time dreamy Oriental philoso-
pher and a infinitely learned Egyptiol-
ogist capable of disputing the family
history of dead and gone Pharaohs
with the profoundest of German saw
ants. The wild Arab tribes over whom
his rule extends revere and fear Abbas
Hilmi.
In a downtown Syrian cafe of New
York have heard a dark-eyed ex-son
OIL the desert solemnly declare that the
Abbas, CGreat Father'O was a re-
incarnation of Solomon, the mystic
doctor OF all Syrian and Arabian
mythology. He has the key of
Solomon and the Solomon Magic, be-
cause he is Solomon's Soul, Abbas
Him." asserted this newly naturalized
ciuzen telling lis at "Yousouf's" in
Roosevelt street wild stories of the
wondrous doings of the mighty Egyp-
tan magician and prince. The Syrians
and the Arabians gathered there to
smoke the perfumed nargilah together.
and in the squalid new world cafe to
tell stories of the old life of the noun
tain and of the desert, solemnly as
serted before us, cynical newspaper i'm
pressionists, that he was the Soul OF
solomon, Abbas Him."
He may not be that, but he is a. Won
dertul man-certainly one of the most
learned and cultured that ever WELD
ed princely power. He is skilled in all
the knowledge of the modern world,
has in his palace in Cairo as fine
library as any European capital except
London possesses and turns readily
from administrative work concerning
irrigation and rebillious Arabs to
grind like a university professor at
the reconstruction of the past of
Egypt, or at the deepest problems of
modern thought. He has acquired as
much from the elevation of his char
acter as from his practical admins
trative ability an immense influence
over the turbulent tribes of the North
African Hinterland. They say of him
in their metaphorical style, You go
into his presence as a raging lion, and
T. l.
tames them by the magnetism of his
lofty personality.
Another learned prince is Prince
Charles of Monaco. He draws his in
come from the gilded hell of Monte
Carlo-fattening on the ruin of the
gamblers of the world, as an American
divine put it in memorable discourse;
but personally he is an estimable man,
a slave to the curious conditions by
which alone his little principality has
been able to flourish. He has taken
science for his play ground, is con-
stantly reading German and English
periodicals dealing with nature re-
search and has himself published able
treatiSes on astronomical questions and
on various curious researches he has
made into tidal laws and into the fora
and fauna of the sea.
The Cars devotion to literature
treating of occultism, thought-reading,
hypnotism and kindred subjects is
we'll known.
The King of Greece is the most vo
racious reader of French yellow-b backs
and has first editions of practically
every novel, good bad or Indifferent,
published in Paris for the last thirty
years. He has them sent to him at
Athens as soon as they appear He
may often be seen driving on sum
mer afternoon down to Phalerion with
the carriage seat in front of him load
ed with uncut volumes to be judged at
a glance and either filed away in the
immense book-room of the palace or
kept at hand for reading in few days.
The Sultan of Turkey never reads
anything but state-papers, and the
very few laudatory articles upon him.
self which his diligent secretary now
and then unearths in some foreign
journal. He has, however. a fa"nrite
daughter who is being edu-
Gated in all the knowledge
of the Giaour at Neuilly, just out
side of the Notifications of Paris. The
Turkish princess is being made a very
up-to-date young girl, learns the piano |
and goes to the play; cultivates, in |
fact, every society accomplishment, in
Guiding the reading of the latest novel |
talked of in the Paris solons. People |