Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-05-10
old man and feeble: his literary days are
past.
Egypt's Cultivated Khedive.

old man and feeble: his literary days are
past.
Egypt's Cultivated Khedive.
One of the most highly cultivated reign
ing princes in the world is a man scarcely
| ever heard Of in America or Europe-Abbas
Hilmt-the Khedive Of Egypt. It is. of
course, a 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
philosophic thought and one little expects
to find great knowledge now in that degrad-
! ed Turkish province under an English pro-
tectorate. 1t Is none the less true that the
young khedive possesses one of the pro-
| foundest minds of his day. He is modern
10 the hngertpS, but stepped also in the
| lore OF old times, highly skilled admins
traitor under difficult conditions of interna-
| tional interference, but at the same time a
| dreamy oriental philosopher and a infinitely
learned Psychologist capable of disputing
the family history of dead and gone Pha-
| raohS with the profoundest of German sa-
wants. The wild Arab tribes over whom his
| rule extends revere and fear Abbas Hilmi.
In downtown Syrian cafe of New York
l have heard a dark-eyed ex-son Of the
desert solemnly declare that the abbas
great father) was reincarnation of
| Solomon. the mystic doctor of all Syrian
and Arabian mythology. He has the key
| of Solomon and the Solomon magic because
| he is Solomons soul, Abbas Him." assert
n,
at "Yousouf's" in Roosevelt street wild
| stories Of the wondrous doings of the
| mighty Egyptian 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 mountain and of the
desert. solemnly asserted before us cynical
newspaper impreSSionists, the Soul of Solo
mon, Abbas Him.
He may not be that but he is a won
derful man-certainly one of the most
learned and cultured that ever welded
prlncely power. He is skilled in all the
knowledge of the modern world has in his
palace IN Cairo as fine a library as any
European capital except London possesses
and turns readily from administrative work
concerning irrigation and rebellious Arabs
10 grind like university professor at the
reconstruction of the past of Egypt or at
the deepest problems of modern thought.
He mas acquired as much from the eleva-
ton of his character as from his practical
administrative ability an immense influence
over the turbulent tribes of the North Afri-
can Hinterland. They say of him in their
metaphorical style: You go into his pres
ence as raging lion. and in his presence
you become cat He tames them by the
magnetism of his lofty personality.
Learned Prince of Monaco.
Another learned prince is Prince Charles
of Monaco He draws his income from the
gilded hell of Monte Carlo-fattening on the
American divine put 1t in a memoir
able discourse; but personally he is an esti-
mable man, slave to the curious condi-
lions by which alone his little principality
has been able to flourish. He has taken
science for his playground. is constantly
reading German and English periodicals
dealing with nature research and has him
self published able treatises on astronomi-
cal questions and on various curious re-
searches he has made into tidal laws and
into the flora and fauna of the sea.
The cars devotion to literature treating
of occultism, thought-reading, hypnotism
and kindred subjects is well known.
The King of Greece is the most voracious
reader Of French yelloWba cks 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 a summer
afternoon down to Phalerion with the car
riage seat in front of him loaded with I'M
cut volumes to be judged at glance and
either filed away in the immense book
room of the palace or kept at hand for
reading in a few days.
The Sultan of Turkey never reads any
thing but state papers, and the very few
laudatory articles upon himself which his
diligent secretary now and then unearthS
in some foreign journal He has, however
favorite daughter who is being educated
In all the knowledge of the Giaour at Neuil-
The Turkish princess is being made very
up-to-date young girl learns the piano and
goes to the play; cultivates, in fact, every
society accomplishment, including the read
ing of the latest novel talked of In the
Paris salons. People who have been pre-
sented to her say that she is very charming
and quite European in her ways of thought
but not particularly brilliant Her extern
sive novel-reading is done out of a sense of
duty. Leopold of Belgium is another dev-
otee or french novels; sometimes during
his frequent visits to Paris one meets the
fine-looking, rather shady old king strolling
on the boulevards with his latest three
francs fifty worth of fiction staring con-
spicuously out of his capacious pockets
The Queen of Roumania, the brilliant
writer. whose clever stories of her pic
turesque country have appeared in so MANY
American magazines, has a collection of
books dealing with the folklore of all coun-
tries. This specialized library is reckoned
the completest of its kind possessed by any
one person; it Is certainly one of the very
most beautiful Carmen Sylvia" loves ex-
quisite bindings and brings a refined artis-
tic taste to the designing or choosing of
choice cases for the cherished books A
well-known American literateur, who spent
some hours the queens guest at Blu
charest to give her some personally ac-
CURED details of the religious belief of our
own Indians, tells me that Carmen Sylva's
library, for the mere richness of its bind
ings, is probably the most costly collec-
ton of purely modern books gathered to-
gether in place. The car by the way
shares the Roumanian queens love of
dainty books; whenever he Is much struck
with the contents of a new volume, he has
it specially rebound in some rich medieval
style and placed in his growing collection
Of favorites that he keeps in his personal
apartments During his latest visit to
France he brought with him two volumes
of French poetry-the works of Lamartine
and of Victor Hugo-which the French at
tendantS at Compeigne declared to have
been the stateliest books they have ever
seen. Either Hugo or Lamartine was found
by his bedside every morning. Whence we
may conclude that, though Nicholas may
be a worthy young man, he has the bad
habit of reading in bed.