The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1916-07-22

nonsense mas been written
~ about the spell of Egypt.
Cheapened by exaggeration,
vulgarized by familiarity, it has be-
come for many n picture post card
spell, pinned against the mind like the
posters at a railway terminus. The
moment Alexandria is reached, this
huge post card hangs across the
heavens, blazing in an over-colored
sunset, composed Electrically 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 A%lgernon
Blackwood, 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 so curiously elusive yet surely
felt by all because 1t is so true; in
tensely vital, certainly, since it thus
survives the s%uffocation of its vile eX-
aggregation. For the ordinary tourist
yields to 1t, and not alone the eXca-
vator and archeologist the latter, in
deed, who live long in the country,
cease to be aware of it as an outside
influence, having changed i~nsensibly 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 gone 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 a word, been empha-
sized, and another, as it were. obllt-
Grated. The spell works underground,
and, being not properly comprehensi-
BILE, is nameless. Moreover, it is the
casual visitor. unburdened by anti
quarian and historical knowledge, who
may best estimate its power-the tour
list who knows merely what he has
cleaned, for instance, from reading
ONCl DdCuChCl . BNlNldl ~ iplNlS Oh
the voyage. He is aware of this float
ing power everywhere, yet unable to
fix it TO a definite cause. 1t remains at
large, evasive, singularly fascinating.
Creates Blur in the Mind.
All countries, of course, color
thought and memory, and work a spell
upon the imagination of any but the
hopelessly inanlmate. Greece, India
Japan, Ireland or the Channel islands
leave their mark and imprint-whence
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 a marvellous
blur. All, in differing terms, report @
similar thing. From the first few
months in Egypt, saturated maybe
with overmuch. the mind recalls will
Notwithstanding. There comes t.
its n colossal medley tina
half stupefies; vast reaches of yellow
sand drenched in a sunlight tina
stings; dim, solemn aisles of granite
silence; %stupendous monoliths tina
stare u~nblinklng at the sun; the shin
ing river, licking softly at the lips o
a murderous desert and an enormous
night sky literally drowned In stars. 4
score Of temples melt down into
single monster; the Nile spread
everywhere; great pyramids foa
across the sky like clouds; palm
rustic in midalr; and from caverne,
leagues of subterranean gloom Their
Issues a roar of voices, thunderous We
mufaed, that seem to utter the hierc
gIyphics of a forgotten tongue. TIL
entire mental horizon, oddly lifted
brims with this procession of giganti
things, then empties again without
word of explanation. leaving a litter O
big adjectives chasing n anothe