Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-10-22


to his feet and, catching a wallet of stamp
ed and dyed lea her from the wall, spread
1t open on the table. Chisel mallet, tape
and knife he put into it and dropped wallet
and all into a box near by at the sound of
! the sculptors footsteps
The great artist re-entered in court robes
of creamy linen. stiff with embroidery and
gold stitching.
.'Har-hat passes through Memphis today
on his way to Tape, where he is to be i'll
stalled as bearer of the kings fan on the
right hand He is at the palace, and mobiles
of the city go thither to wait upon him.
The king was not long in choosing sue
ceSsor to the lamented AmSet," kenkeneS
observed. "Har-hat vaults loftily from the
nomarchship of Bubastis to an advisership
to the Pharaoh"
Rather hath his ascent been slower than
his deserts"
who succeeds him over Bubastis?"
"Merenra, another of the war-tried gen.
erals He hath been commander over Pa
Ramesu. Atsu takes his place over the
Israelites."
"Atsu?" Kenkenes unused. IT know him
not"
He is a captain of charots, and won
much distinction during the Rebu invasion.
He is native of Mendes."
Left alone, KenkeneS crossed the court
to the door his father had entered and
emerged later in a street dress of mantle
and close-fitting colt He took up the wal
let and quilted the room. Passing through
the intramural park and the chamber of
guests, he entered the street ana turned
across the city toward the east. Memphis
had pushed aside her screens and shaken
out her tapestries after the noon rest ami
was deep in commerce once again. From
the low balconies overhead the Damascene
carpets swung lending festivity to the en-
ergetic traffic below.
In the district near the lower edge of the
city he met the heavy carts of rustics,
laden with cages of geese and crates of pro-
duce, moving slowly in from the wide high
pf the Mpmnhi9u The broad
backs of the oxen were gray with dust and
their drivers were masked in CRIME.
The smell of the river became insistent
In the open stalls the fishmongers had
their naked brood keeping the flies away
from the stock with ieafy branches. The
limits of Memphis ended precipita tely at a
sudden slope. In the long descent to the
Nile there were few permanent structures
Halfway down were great lengths of high
platform built upon acacia piling. This was
the flood-tide wharf but 1t was used now
only by loiterers, who lay upon it to bask
dog-like in the sun.
Presently there approached a corps of
servants, bearing bundles of throws sticks,
nets, two or three foX-headed cats, bows
and arrows strings of fish and hampers of
fowl. Behind, on the shoulders of four
staiwart bearers. came a litter. fiuttering
with gay-colored hangings. Beside it walk
ed an Egyptian of high class Suddenly
the bearers halted, and a little hand i'm
perious and literally alame with jewels
of the litter.
He obeyed promptly. At another com
mand the litter was lowered till the poles
were supported in the hands of the bearers
The curtains were wItndrawn, revealing the
occupant woman.
This, to the glory of Egypt! Woman was
! defended, reVered exalted above her sisters
| of any contemporary nation. No haremic
| seclusion for her! no neutrality-suspicious.
liberation of her. no austere limits laid
upon her uses. She barred her face to the
thronging streets; she reveled beside her
brother; she worshiped with him; she adj
mitted no subserviency to her lord beyond
the pretty Difference that it pleased her to
pay; she governed his household and his
! children; she learned, she wrote, she wore
the crown She might have successor but
no supplanter.
Here. then, openly and in perfect propri-
ETY. was a woman abroad with her sutton
She might have been eighteen years old
but there was nothing girlish in her gor-
geous beauty. She was a red rose, full
blown.
Her robes We're a double thickness OF
ioose-meshed white linen, with a delicate
stripe of scarlet. her headdress a single
swathing OF scarlet gauze. She wore not
one but many kinds of jewels. and her
anklets and armlets tinkled with fringes of
cats and hawks in carneiian. Her hair was
brilliant black and unbraided. Her COM
piexion was transparent, and the underly-
| Ing red showed deeply In the small. full
| tipped mouth; like stain in the cheeks,
| on the dainty chin. Her eyes were large
and black, with the amorous lid, and lined
with kohl beneath the lower lash. Her
profile showed the exquisite aquilfne of the
pure-blooded Egyptian.
She was the Lady Ta-merf, daughter OF
Amenemhat, monarch of Memphis.
The Egyptian accompanying the litter
was nearly thirty years OF age. He was an