The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-02-06

er With the waters the richest field for
the delving into the mysteries of the
past. When the waters Of the river
are turned back some Of the most i'm
portant places Of this ancient civiliza-
tinon will be forever lost to the
searchers.
Commencing with the times of the
later Pharaohs, DR.. Cobern described
the times, the manner of living, and
the great works which were wrought
by the ancient people. Views of the
magnificent tombs, of the temples, Of
the sculpture, and works of art were
rapidly thrown upon the screen and
surprised the audience with the quail
ity Of the work, some Of which could
not be equalled at the present day.
Better Man Work of To-day.
Going back still further the sur.
prise was greater, for while some Of
the examples were not so good as
those of later day, all were excellent.
Paintings of birds, Of animals the
colors as fresh as If put on yesterday.
were shown. in which the drawing
was true to life and better than much
which might be found in the art
schools Of the present day. Pictures
of the statues erected to the rulers,
kings and queens, showing remarkable
ability, were frequent. Even back to
the time of Moses and before the same
high art is shown.
some Of them of immense size, and
great beauty with columns still stand
ing after thousands of years, huge
statues cut from the faces of the cliff,
all demonstrated to the great artistic
skill and capable engineering of the
Egyptians. One incident was related
Of the finding Of huge statue over
turned in the mud which took an Eng
lish engineer officer with hundreds Of
men and unlimited mechanical power
Is days to lift from the mud and set
upright.
But the speaker did not stop with
the time of Moses, but told of the find
ing of the tombs of the Pharaohs. and
particularly Of the tomb of th<
Pharaoh of the persecution of the
Israelites. This was RameseS the
Great In this tomb was the most
wonderful sculpture and artistic work,
paintings, etc., and the speaker who
bunch of grapes upon which he placed
his fingers, the paint looking as II 1t
had been put on but yesterday it
seemed so bright and fresh in color.
Another tomb described, one of the
queens, held wonderful objects of art
and the body was enshrouded in a
robe of gold completely enclosing it
and of the thickness Of the heavy
wrapping paper used to-day to do up
bundles containing meat.
Going back before the time of Abra-
ham, he showed pictures Of the Israel
ties entering the land of Egypt, the
parties and the animal bearing the
burdens. Pictures of the walls of
temples upon which the history of the
kings were inscribed were thrown up
on the screen and explained.
Worshipped Life.
Some time was devoted to the show
ing Of pictures Of the gods which have
been unearthed. Many of these bear
the heads Of animals and give the
idea that the Ancient Egyptians wor-
shipped the animals. This idea, the
speaker believed was an error, and he
thought what the Egyptians really
worshipped was life, and that the ami
mails were employed only as Symbol
lical Of the giving of life. Life, he
said, was one Of the greatest mysteries
Of the ancients. In this connection he
spoke of the cat, a revered animal, of
the beetle, and of the bull. All were
symbolical of life, and he pointed out
that the bull or calf, was also an OBJ
tect of worship or reverence by others
than the Egyptians And in this con-
nection he spoke of a Coptic church
which has been unchanged from the
time of Christ with representation
of the Virgin showing the horns OF the
moon upon her head. This, he said,
was an adaptation of ar Egyptian idea
by the Israelites.
Various sculptures which tended to
confirm this theory were shown, one
of them where the god was making
man.
Going still further back the speaker
described discoveries which date from
the time of the first dynasty and reach
almost to the time of the great Menes,
believed by historians to have been a
myth. These discoveries, he said,
prove that the traditions are true,
prove the knowledge and power, and
culture Of the people. One thing
which he pointed out, was the equality
OF woman at that time. 1t was the
woman who carried the spectre and
the man who wore the jewels Of that
time. Later the sceptre passed to the
hands of the man and the jewels to
the crown Of the woman.
And he showed that even so far
back as the first dynasty the jewels
were beautiful, and that the jewelers.
Of to-day would have difficult task
with all of their improved machinery
and knowledge in duplicating some of
the pieces which he pictured upon the
screen.
The lecture proved not only inter-
estins but very instructive and some
of the statements must have come as
a surprise to many in the audience
who had no idea that the learning of
those now almost forgotten ages
should show such high ideals OF art,
beauty and mechanical knowledge.
n - TT nav g II