The Tomahawk. [volume] (White Earth, Becker County, Minn.) 1903-192?, 1916-07-27

~ about the spell of. Egypt.
n Cheapened by exaggeration,
vulgarized by familiarity, it has be-
come for many n picture post card
spell. pinned against the mind like the
posters ut Il railway terminus. The
moment Alexandria is reached, this
huge post card hangs across the
heavens, blazing in an over-colored
sunset, composed theatrically of tenn
pie, pyramid, palm trees by the shin
ing Nile, and the inevitable Sphinx.
And the monstrosity of it paralyzes
the mind. It's strident shout deafens
the Imagination. Memory escapes with
difficulty from the inSiStent, gross adj
vertisement. The post card and the
poster smother sight, writes Algernon
Blackw God, in Country Life.
Behind this glare and glitter there
hides however, another delicate yet
potent thing that is somehow nameless
not acknowledged by all, perhaps be-
cause 50 curiously elusive yet surely
felt by all because it is so true; in
tensely vital, certainly, since 1t thus
survives the suffOcatiOn of its vile eX-
aggregation. For the ordinary tourist
yields to it, and not alone the exca-
vatOr and archeolOgist; the latter, in
deed, who live long in the country,
influence, having changed insensibly in
thought and feeling till they have be-
come it; it is in their blood. An eff
feet is wrought subtly upon the mind
that does not pass away. Having
once "gon& down into Egypt you are
never quite the same again. Certain
values have curiously changed, per
spective has altered, emotions have
shifted their specific gravity, some at
titude to life, in word, been empha-
sized, and another, as 1t were, Oblit-
Grated. The spell works underground,
and, being not properly cOmprchensi-
bic, is nameless. Moreover, it is the
casual visitor .unburdened by anti
guarian and historical knowledge, who
may best estimate it's pOwer-the tour
list who knows merely what he has
cleaned, for instance, from reading
over Baedeker's general synopsis on
the voyage. He is aware of this float
ing power everywhere, yet unable to
fix it to q definite cause. 1t remains at
large, cvasive, singularly fascinating.
Creates Blur in the Mind.
All countries, Of course, color
thought and memory, and work spell
upon the imagination of any but the
hOpelessly inanimate. Greece, India,
Japan, Ireland or the Channel islands
leave their mark and imprint-whencc
the educational value Of travel-psy-
chOlOgy-but from these the traveller
brings back feelings and memories he
can evoke at will and label. He re-
turns from Egypt with marvellous
blur. All, in differing terms, report a
similar thing. From the first few
months in Egypt, saturated maybe
with overmuch, the mind recalls with
Notwithstanding. There comes to
it's summons q colossal medley that
half stupefies; vast reaches of yellow
sand drenched in sunlight that
stings; dim, solemn aisleS Of granite
silence; stupendOus monOliths that
stare unblinking at the sun; the shin
ing river, licking softly at the lips of
murderOus desert: and an enormous
night sky literally drowned in stars. A
score of temples melt down into n
single monster; the Nile spreads
everywhere; great pyramids float
across the sky like clouds; palms
rustlp in midair. and from governed
leagues of subterranean gloom there
issues roar of voices, thunderOus yet
muffled, that seem to utter the hero
glyphics Of q forgotten tongue. The
entire mental horizon, oddly lifted,
brims with this procession of gigantic
things, then empties again without a
word Of explanation, leaving litter Of
big adjectives chasing one another
.haotical'v-chief among them "mys-
terious," "'1nchanging," 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 articulata re-
covery.
The Acropolis, the wonders Of japan
and India, the mind can grasp-or
thinks so; but this composite en0rmity
Of Ramesseum, sserapeum, Karnak,
Cheops, Sphinx, with hundred tenn
pies and thousand miles Of sand, it
knorz il cannot. The mind is blank.