St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1904-11-23
Seeing the Fair in Detail.

What we read in books we see here
at the worlds fair in material form.
We read Egyptian history and learn
about the many gods of the Egyptians.
Here are those gods as real as they
were to the Egyptians. We read about
their sacred things, and those sacred
things are here, thousands of years
old, and we become intensely inter-
ested if we ask few questions of the
curator in charge, Arthur B. Coover.
In a case by themselves are ranged
the little images emblematical of the
spirits whose favors the pious Eygp-
tians sought. Here are Horus, the
youth; Pasht, the cat; Apis, the sacred
bull; Ptah, the old man; Bes, the
dwarf; Osiris, god of the dead; Hathor,
the god of love; Imhotep, the god of
learning, with scroll upon his knees;
Thoth, the ibis headed scribe Of the
gods; the sacred hawk; the scarabaeus,
Or sacred beetle; Anon, the bearded
god of royalty The deities are of
faience, usually blue, and many of
them of sizes so small that they might
have sold in the racket stores of Car
thage or Thebes at 10 cents the dozen.
in the case with the images is a
coil of reed rope, the earliest form Of
rope known. Beside it is a wooden
intaglio stamp supposed to have been
used by an ancient Egyptian baker in
marking his bread-one of the earliest
evidences of the spirit of advertising.
I am sure a loaf of bread with the
bakers name on it in raised letters is
preferable to one bearing gummed
label, for the reason that the label al
ways raises in the mind question as
to the method of moistening the label
before applying.
The glassblower, with his crystal
ships and other strange craft, who
leaves his trail through the country
marked by drinkless glasses of wine
on family mantels, did not belong to
ancient Egypt. The Egyptian might
have raised the wind, but he did not
know how to use it. Here are a dozen
glass vases in various patterns of blues
and yellows, made as the Egyptian
knew how to make them Instead of
blowing the plastic glass he laid it over
core of clay, fused the glass together
until the vase was formed and then
dug out the clay interior. They were
made 1000 to 300 years before Christ
and you may see them if you take the
time,
Baby's basket has been a household
article since mankind set up house
L h1It hn hoh INV
basket in the world is in a glass case
in the Anthropology building. An In
dian mother made it, and hundreds Of
years ago it was sealed up in the room
Of a cliff dwelling high in the side Of
the Mysterious or Moki canyon, a side
canyon of the Colorado in San Juan
county, Utah. The explorer who came
upon this rare piece of prehistoric
handiwork was E. B. Wallace. Its
preservation for the many centuries
since cliff dwelling was the fashion
is due to the inaccessible location of
the cave or house and the extreme dry
ness of the atmosphere. The basket
was for the baby himself and not for
his wardrobe and accessories, as may
be seen by the places for his legs. 1t
climb out during his basket years. The
basket is made of red, white and black
material that looks like the bright, fine
cane of modern commerce, but since
they used cane $500 years before
Christ in Egypt cane cannot be con-
sidered SO very modern. Fine skill is
shown in the workmanship, graceful
pattern being worked out in the three
colors. 1t is almost perfect to this day,
except that it has the color of great
age. 1t was found June 30, 1900.
In the same case with the curious
baby basket are a white wool sash
nearly thirty feet long and five inches
wide. two strings of shell beads a yard
long and IA piece of decorated pottery