The Washington herald., 1913-05-28
Copyright. 1913. By A. d. J,cob.on.,

Copyright 1913. By A. D. Jscotson.,
Several hundred visitors and sojourn-
ers departed from Cairo the other day.
had been little profitable commercially.
The Gezireh and the big hotels on the
Nile had to close before their time. OF
course, to the ordinary observer the
winter in Egypt has been like all the
others. There have been the usual Eng
lish and American crowds, to whom
Cairo is Paris or Berlin or London or
Monte Carlo, according to the time Of
the year, for clothes and friends and
golf and races and tea parties Especial
ly the resident Englishman has good
time there. and his house. buried in trees
and flowers. has all the attractions of
both the East and the West. There
are elderly folk. who wear topees, cure
their rheumatism In the sand, rave about
Phila and talk of going to jana.
The Milford type is strongly in evidence.
and fine set-off for the married os-
preyed woman, for Cairo is admittedly
strong meat" for the British ''ingenue."
There also is that class of tourists who
believe all that the advertisements say
about the desert suburb Heliopolis, and
can see no resemblance between II and
the White City at Shepherds Bush. And,
Of course. there is the Australian on
his way home to old England. and the
American painting the town red.
Everybody realizes that sightseeing in
Egypt is hard work and that 1t is ten to
one whether you will be thrilled by Ptah
Horep and his ilk, and while you may
recognize a pyramid when you see II,
you may recognize very little else But
there is always something new to interest
the traveller in Egypt: such as desert
camping, Sphinx riddles. Arab sheiks and
the potentiality of their poisoning your
husband.
Therefore. under the very shadow of
the Pyramids are groups of tents in
which numbers of ladies are seeking SEN
sation quite enthusiastically. That they
are earnest in their quest can be judged
by their discomfort. II is abnominally
hot and there is sand, sand, sand and
nothing but sand. II isn't nice sand, eth
er, being full of sand flies who bear live
" testimony upon your calves and
scarabs and who show a family likeness
to our own black beetles. A crowd OF
chattering Arabs turn the temple OF the
Sphinx into a very Margate and make
rapt contemplation of Cheops' tomb an
almost impossible task. Nor are Arab
sheiks as common as could be wished,
and as to romance, where Is il?
II is romance. or lack of 1t, which has
been responsible the past season for
many little episodes, much enjoyed by
those who were properly shocked. Sew
eral young women, in default Of the sheik
with the flashing eyes. have made much
OF the dragomans. Ignorance and a de-
sire for adventure have evoked several
ouasi-fiirtations, and II has been not IN
common to see dark gentlemen in out
rageous lounge suits hob-nobbing with
well-dressed young women on the ter
NJ he hie dra n
displays all over Cairo a silver cigarette
case on which is engraved From dear
Maud to - while a young girl boosted
naively that a dragoman had told her his
love affairs and had asked advice, which
she had given him.
The lack OF savolr-faire on the part or
omniscient young women can be fairly
gagged when a girl or twenty thinks she
can give points to an AraD or thirty,
with perhaps half a dozen divorces be-
hind him. 1t is all very silly and very
ignorant. and 1 am not surprised that
the western mamma prefers TO leave ner
daughter at home in the school room or
that resident Europeans. who nave TO
regulate the relations between East ana
West, feel more strongly on the subject
than is perhaps necessary IN Individual
cases.
Just when everybody is going away
Cairo perhaps is at its best: You can
buy an armrul Of roses for a quarter:
the hioicus, bougainvilIia and the now
ering trees are all In blossom: II Is not
too hot. and-what resident ever nKed
tourlsty
The late Sir Charles Rose. for thirty
years a member OF the American bank
ing firm of Morton. Rose & Co.. was a
rara avis in public life. A bit of lingo.