Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-12-07
THE BLUE MOSQUE.
# Ever Color Calls, It Calls In tho
 Mosque of lbraFlim Aga.

Mosque of lbrahin Aga.
 As every one who visits Rome goes to St. Peters, so every one who visits Cairo goes to the mosque of Moham- med Ali in the citadel, a gorgeous build ing in a magnificent situation, the in- terlor of which always makes me think of court functions and of the pomp of life rather than of prayer and self de- nial More attractive to me is the "blue mosque" to which returned again and again, enticed almost as by the fascination of the living blue of a summer sky.
 This mosque, which is the mosque of Ibrahim Aga, but which is familiarly known to its lovers as the blue mosque" lies to the left of ram- shackle street. and from the outside does not look specially inviting. Even when passed through it's door and stood in the court beyond at first felt not its charm. All looked old and rough, unkempt and in confusion. The red and white stripes of the walls and the arches of the arcade, the mean lit tie place for ablution--a pipe and row of brass taps-led the mind from a Neapolitan ice to second rate school, and for moment thought of abrupt ly retiring and seeking more splendid precincts. And then I looked across the court to the arcade that lay be- yond. and I saw the exquisite Hove color' of the marvellous tiles that give this mosque it's name.
 The huge pillars of this arcade are striped and ugly, but between them shone with an, ineffable luster wall of purple and blue, of purple and blue so strong and yet so delicate that 1t held the eyes and drew the body forward. If ever color calls. 1t calls in the "blue mosque" of Ibrahim Aga. And when I had crossed the court, when I stood beside the pulpit. with its delicious wooden folding doors, and studied the tiles of which this wonderful wall is composed. found them as lovely near as they are lovely far off From dis tance they resemble nature effect, are almost like bit of southern sea or of sky, fragment of gleaming Mediterranean seen through the pillars of a loggia or of Sicilian blue watching over Etna in the long summer days.
 When one is close to them they are & miracle of art The background of them is milky white upon which is an elaborate pattern of purple and blue, generally conventional and rep resentative of no known object, but occasionally showing tall trees some what resembling expresses. But 1t is impossible in words adequately to de- scribe the effect of these tiles and of the tiles that line to the very roof the tomb house on the right of the court. They are like cry of ecstasy going up in this otherwise not very beauti- full mosque. They make 1t unforgetta- ble; they draw you back to it again and yet again. On the darkest day of winter they set something of summer there. In the saddest moment they proclaim the fact that there is joy in the world; that there was joy in the hearts of creative artists years upon years ago. If you are ever in Cairo and sink into depression. go to the "blue mosque" and see If 1t does not have upon you an uplifting moral ef- feet. And then, If you like, go on from 1t to the .Gamia el Movayad, sometimes called Fl Ahmar (the red). where you will find greater glories. though no greater fascination. for the tiles hold their own among all the wonders of Cairo.-Robert Kitchens in Century,