New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-11-03


f, Egypt, where he took his wife TO live.
J She spent seven years in Egypt, and
they are among the wonderful years Of
her life. Her mother was the Lady
! Duff Gordon revered by the Egyptians
of the Upper Nile, where for reasons
of health she dwelt for a space; and
/ queened it with the natives by her
/ power Of kindness and sympathy; a
more human and womanly Lady Hes
ter Stanhope.
/ Janet gives a too brief account Of Mr..
/ ROss's cOurtship, but it appears it was,
among other things his excellence in
the hunting field which endeared him
to her. She puts it first, in fact then
his pleasant ways and conversation.
He was twenty-three years her senior;
a good and for some time a successful
man of business. Then there were
troubles and a new company came into
existence, and then troubles also for
the new company the Egyptian Trad
ing Company and in Egypt there arose
a crisis; financial and other crises hav-
ing long been chronic in that distress
full land, The Khedive owed the COM
pany a large sum of money, and would
not pay IT; Khedives in those days
being always more ready TO borrow
than TO pay. Mrs. Ross went to Lon
don, where the companys chief offices
were, to see what could be done, and
describes her interview with the humor
that never fails her; sometimes a mis-
chievous humor. She found the Di
rectors, six or seven OF them, as
sembled in their board room in the
City; with lugubrious faces; and no one
Of them with IN idea what to do or
how TO rescue their company. To all
Mrs. Ross's questions they could only
say, No. Then this energetic lady, still
in her early twentiss, suggested they
should telegraph the British Consul
I General in Cairo and ask him TO put
pressure on the Khedive to pay. They
held up their hands in horror:
1T is impossible. Such a thing has
never been done"
! Said Mrs. Ross:
! We'll, gentlemen, as none Of you
seems to have any plan, will you let me
see what can do?'
/ They gave a willing assent, and in
moment the fortunes of the Egyptian
| Trading Company were in this young
/ woman's hands. She drove to the For
/ oigr nHi,a gayr- C,i,. IIa,,ry- award +bnD
! Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs,
! one of her many good friends, and
! asked him TO instruct the British Con-
! sui General 10 apply to the Khedive 10
! pay up. Had it been the Berlin Foreign
/ Office there would have been nothing
! remarkable in this; the German gov
1 eminent having the useful habit Of put
| ting itself behind German commercial
! and financial interests and supporting
/ them and all good Germans, the world
over Not so the English; but Sir
| Henry Layard did as Mrs. Ross asked
/ him; wired the British representative
! in Cairo, who saw the Khedive, and the
Khedive paid the money. There is not
]
teristic of Mrs Ross; Of her clear view
her decision, her courage. A masterful
woman indeed.
You will see her in Egypt the same
woman; captivating, persuading, per-
/ haps coercing men 10 do her will. She
deals with Khedive, Pachas, all kinds
Of high officials, on even or more
I likely on superior terms. Mowbray
/ Morris, then manager Of "The Times"
comes 10 Alexandria, meets her, per-
haps asks q question or two, and forth
/ with offers her the position Of Times"
| correspondent for Egypt, which she ac-
I ccpts and holds for three years. She
T. witches the Egyptian world with noble
craftsmanship; races her Irish thor
oughbred against Hahn Pacha's price
less Arab Of purest blood and wins as
7 she likes against not only Hahn, but a
dozen Of his best mounted officers. She
jumps the Suez Canal, into the bed Of
which, in an early stage, water enough
had been allowed 10 flow 70 make IL a
canal; complacently remarking that no
other woman will ever do It again. De
Lesseps, Guichard and many another
potentate Of those days are at her feet
She Is with them on expeditions Of ad-
venture, of much hardship and some
danger: but neither hardship nor DAN
ger ever comes amiss to this fearless
soul.
Through it all shines the woman's
beauty which was extraordinary. But
OF that you must form an image for
yourself. There is no early photo
graph from life There are reproduce
tions Of portrait heads; two by Watts,
who has tried in his poetic way TO
paint character, and in one the lowell
ness Of eyes and face does appear. A
third is by Leighton, who has sought
for a classic rendering and succeeded
only in Leightonizing a face which can
never have been the Janet we know
from her book. You would never guess
the three versions were meant for the
same woman. Still more extraordi-
nary was her woman's charm and the
distinction which comes from beauty
NJ nature. In her book you see the
flow and play Of vital forces; strength
and sweetness in an indissoluble ur'o1'