The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1912-01-06
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.

Ooio, Egypt HIS olu udtioh
Is in new and ever-newer
Egypt. The whole worlds play
ground, because of the charm and
mystery of its past it yet has nothing
more alluring to show the thoughtful
traveller than its own Transformation.
The emergence of Egypt, within gen.
Grafton, from a land of bloodshed, In
Justice. poverty and misery, into a
well kept, PROSPEROUS and improving
land is one Of tie great achievements
of the psesent generation.
Still there is unrest, Of which civil
ization has not yet heard the last. OF
the complaints of the nationalists. and
the answer of the defenders of the
British regime, more will be said in
the next article. This one can treat
only Of the awaking of this ancient
people into surprising modernity. That
1t carefully retains some of the bizarre
and Oriental effects, SO that the unso-
phisticated tourist in Cairo thinks him.
self in the simon-pure east, is merely
good business policy. The astute ORR
entail fully understands the CONNER
cial value of the impression of pictur-
sequences which he makes on the visit
or. No other city on earth is more
cleverly staged. for purposes of rev.
enue. than this same Cairo. Even the
staggering Bedouin, posing In front
of the hotels, knows that his pictur-
sequences enhances his wage-earning
capacity as a guide. The bazars Of
''old Cairo" never lose sight for mo-
ment of the gullibility of the traveller.
who sees no incongruity in being ad-
dressed in the English tongue in this.
to him, wierdly remote spot.
Some changeIess Things In Old
Egypt.
Antiquities and Orientalism are the
most marketable assets of Cairo. Truly
there is something awesome about the
persistence which discerning person
may perceive here. Out at Sakkara
one looks upon pictures in the tombs,
painted three, four or five thousand
years ago, of farmers blowing, with
a bent stick, drawn by bumped buff
faloes. Then he goes out into the
neighboring fields and perceives that
identical picture In real life. The
pillow is the same, the animals are the
same, the very physiognomy Of the
farmers are the same. So with the
men carrying water in skins. One
could imagine that the very pictures
from the tombs had stepped down and
come to life The shadduf, along the
river and canals, whereby the animals
sometimes camels. sometimes don
keys, sometimes bullocks, sometimes
cows-draw up the water for irriga-
ton purposes. has been drawn with
fidelity to present day life by artists
who have been mummies for thrice the
length of time that Great Britain has
been a nation.
In even larger aspects the survival
of ancient Egypt is noticeable. In
many essentials this nation, with the
oldest recorded history, has remained
the same. 1t is still a rainless land,
and. as of yore, it is still dependent
upon the Nile for its life. Even as
anciently, it is threatened by the en-
vironing and encroaching desert. The
Coptic fellaheen of today are the sons
OF the ancient Egyptians of five or six
thousand~years ago. In physiognomy
and habits the type remains un-
changed; though the new education
which mas lately come in will prob
ably alter the latter within a genera
ton or two. The philosopher who,
in the presence of these strange sur
yiyals asks himself whether the Egyp-
tian felIah will be working his shad-
duff and blowing with his bent stick.
centuries after Great Britain has
ceased to exist as nation, will prob
ably have to return negative answer.
In present day world phenomena moth
ms is more remarkable than the final
overthrow of usages and institutions
which have lasted from the beginning
of recorded history.
A High Type of Oriental.
Tall, handsome, stately, the Egyp-
tian is the best looking type of man
in the east. Both the Copt and the
Arab have a free, self-confident and
swinging carriage. They are quick Of
wit and self resourceful. Like all sun
warmed peoples, they are of an affec-
tionate and passionate disposition. and
little given to orderliness and meth
cd. They would rather wear fine
clothes than practice the homely vir-
lures of thrift. Poetical. philosophf-
cal and courteous, they have a real
intellectual future before them.
For this nation of the wondrous past.
with memories of world dominion
Snouldering in its breast, is far from
being a spent race. The future I'M
doubtedly holds for 1t a destiny even
as die the past. For Egypt has sud-