The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1916-08-26

ii''''i' ''ils 'iiifl dHloilS Iltln 'nlES-
terious,' ''unchanging, "formidable."
terrific :. But the. single, bigger mem
DRY that should link all these together
intelligibly hides from sight the emo
ton too deep for specific recognition.
too vast, somehow. for articulate re-
cOvery.
The Acrop"liS, the wonders of Japan
and India. the mind can grasp-or
thinks 50 but this composite enormity
OF RameSSeum, Serapeum. karnak.
CheopS, Sphinx, with hundred tenn
pies and a thousand miles Of sand it
knows it cannot. The mind is blank
Egypt it seems, has faded Memory
certainly fails, and description willis
There seems nothing precisely to re-
port, no interesting. clear. Ineligible
thing. What did YOU see in Egypt?
What did YOU like best? What impress
sion did Egypt make upon you?" seem
questions impossible to answer. Imagi-
nation tlickerS, StanmcrS and goes out.
Thought hesitateS and stops.
Monstrous to Some.
For some, Il rather dominant impress
sion is undoubtedly the monStrouS."
A splendor of awful dream. yet never
quite of nightmare. stalks everywhere,
suggesting an atmosphere of Khubla
Khan. There is nothing lyrical. Even
the Silvcry river, the slender palms,
the fields of clover and barley and the
acres Of flashing poppies convey no
lyrical sweetness, as elsewhere they
might. All moves to a stateler meas
ure. Stern issues of life and death are
in the air, and in the grandeur of the
tOmbS and temples there is q Solemnity
of genuine awe that makes the blood
run slow little.
Those Thehan hills. where the kings
and queens lay buried, are forbidding
to the point Of discomfort almost. The
listening silence in the grim Valley Of
the TOmbs of the Kings, the intoler
able glare of sunshine on the stones,
the naked absence of any sign Of ami
NAL or vegetable life. the slow ap-
prOach to the secret hiding place
where the mummy of q once power
full monarch lies CHASTITY now beneath
the glitter of an electric light the i'm
placable desert, deadly with heat and
distance on every Side-this picture,
once seem rather colors ones memory
of the rest of Egypt with its somber
and funereal character.
And with the great deific monoliths
the effect is similar. Proportions and
sheer size strike blow after blow upon
the mind. Stupendous figures, shroud-
ed to the eyes, shoulder their way
slowly through the shifting sands,
deathless themselves and half-apnal-
ing. Their attitudes and gestures eX-
press the hieroglyphic drawings come
to life. Their towering heads coiffed
with Zodiacal signs. or groteSque with
animal or bird, bend down to watch
YOU everywhere There is no hurry in
them: they move with the leisure OF
the moon. with the stateliness of the
sun. with the slow silence of the CON
stellationS. But they move. There Is,
between YOU and them, this effect of
screen, erected by the ages, yet that
any moment may turn thin ana let
them through upon You. a hand OF
shadow. hut with granite grip, may
steal forth and draw you away into
some region where they dwell among
symbols like themselves.
region vast. ancient and unditferent-
ated as the desert that has produced
them. Their effect in the end is weird,
difficult to describe, but real. Talk
with a mind that has been STEPPED for
wears in their atmosphere and pres
ence. and you will appreciate this ODD
reality.
The spell of Egypt is an other-world-
IL spell. It's vagueness, its elusiyenesS,
its undeniable reality are ingredients,
at any rate, in total result whose de-
tailed analysis lies hidden in mystery
and silence-iDsrrutable.