Evening star., 1920-02-26

except to a handful of his associates
Yet quietly. without any thettrical
headlines or fanfare of trumpets. ne
brought the disunited nomadic tribes
of Arabia into unified campaign
against their Turkish oppresso rs-a
di fficuLt and splendid stroke OF policy.
which caliphs. statesmen and sultans
had been unable to accomplish IN cen,
turtles of effort. Lawrence placed
himself at the head of the Bedouln
army OF the King of the Hedjaz. and
drove the Turks from Arabia Anenoy
liberated Palestine, tho holy land OF
Jews and Christians; lawrence freeo
Arabia, the holy land Of millions OF
Mohamne edans
story Of the MyyterfOus IAwfenee.
had heard Of the mysterious Law
renee many times during the months
l was in Palestine with Gen Anen-
by On my way from Italy to Egypt.
one of the officers on the cruiser tolo
me that an Englishman was supposed
to be in command of an army OF WHO
Bedouins somewhere in the tfacklSss
deserts of the far-off land OF The
Arabian NIGHTS" This was tne nrss aH.
rence's exploits. In Egypt and Pal
estine 1 heard fantastic tales OF his
exploits. And always his name was
mentioned in solemn. husheo tohes'
because at this time the Arabian AZ
fair was supposed to be a secret
Lawrence became to me new orien-
tai legend Of the war in the making
and until one day when I met him
| in the palace of the Governor OF
Jerusalem l had been unable 70 pic
ture him as real person. CAIRO.
Jerusalem. Damascus. basuao-.
fact. all the cities Of the near east
are 80 full Of color and romance tnat
the mere mention Of them is sufhcient
to stimulate the imagination OF mat
ter-of-fact weSterners, VINO arc soc-
denly spirited away on the mag1c
carpet Of memory to scenes ann Iaa ~
through the fairy story DOCKS OF
childhood. SO had come to the con
clusion that Lawrence was the proo-
not only Of western Imagination
oyerheated by exuberant contact Witn
the east. But the myth turned out 10
be very much Of a reality. -,
! The f1ve-foot-three Enghshman. wno
.tood before me in Jerusalem. garbed
! in brown camers-hair gown: over
! which hung his kufheh. or heaooress
! of heavy white brocaded SILK, Gov
cred with gold em6r9idefs; r5s t;sd with ~hdef .
I GOLDEN broidered belt, in which he
Carried the curved sword Of prince
| ~ Mecca. all set of regally by the
| aeaI. the headband of heavy coros
| wrapped with silver and gold threaos
that held the kuffieh in Place-wsas ss
4
| chief of an army OF
more than 100000 Bedouins mounted
IN racing camels and fleet Arabian
horses. He was the terror OF the
! Turks. Destiny had never played
| a stranger prank than when it Sc
iected as the man to play the major
role in the liberation Of Arabia an
oyford graduate whose life ambition
vas to dig in the ruins Of antiquity
and uncover and study long-forgotten
cities.
Born IN LLOYD Georges Comty.
The Lawrence family originally
came from Galway. 1rsiand: is q: -tsv seer. sc.
co,,nts for I.awrence's rather remark
! able powers Of physical endurance.
hecause the people OF Galway are
AMONG the hardest of their race. Col.
Thomas e. Lawrence was oorn IN
carnarvon. the same county in Wales
rat IIovd George comes from. and
the prime minister is one Of the
formers warmest friends and ad-
mfrers. In fact, it is a case OF mu-
tual admiration. Mr. Ioyd Georse
kept in close toucn WIN nd - c"nsmite d
with him constantly during the ses-
! sions Of the peace conference IN farls:
which Lawrence attended az the neao
of the Arabian delegation.
| All his life Col. Lawrence has oeon
, afndent Of peoples both of the pres
ent and Of the past. but, SO iar as
Lnow- he has never had any intimate
friends and has preferred TO s1aho on
one side and watch others He mas
! a very sympathetic nature ano Tou.o =
rather help a downtrodden people 70
assert their rights than to amass all
| tha veaJth in the world. he has un-
usual ability when it comes to master
! ing languages, among tneM u1Is
English. French. italian. spanish Ma.
German, Greek, Latin. Dutcn' NOT
we yian and Arabic
| student Of Military Writers.
| Y.wrrnce has always been keen
student Of military writer's. His "a
yorite work. until he took part in the
Arabian campaign, was Marsha
Foch's 'Principe de Guerre": although
he once told me in Arabia that MT
study Of Caesar ian. and x HenGpnon h;p N nde liz
desert campaign because in his ir,
regular war against the Turks he had
to adopt directly opposite tactics
from those advocated by Marshal
Foch. He has also been a keen stu
and is particularly fond Of Gothic art
| In 1 sos, before he finished his uni
versity work. he urged his parents to
| allow him to go to the near east
His family gave g him PERMISSION perm sa nnn,d and
snend it in making a flying Cooks
tcnr Of Asia Minor, Syria and Pales-
tine. and return home quite ready To
settle down and forget the orient. AZ
| aoon "a he arrived in Syria he adopted
| native costume and tramped barefoot
| nver thousands Of miles OF unknown
desert country. living with the vari-
ons Bedoufn tribes. When he finally
returned to England to complete his
| sfudies. after an absence of two years
he still had 800 left of the original
sun which his family had given him
and he merely remained at home long
enough to finish his studies. that he
might return to the near east better
equipped IN his speciality.
Joined Expedition In 1893.
| sever.l years before the war, IN
| 1908 he joined the Oxford expedition
and uncovered part of Carchemish,
the ancient capital of the Hittite
One day in the Arabian desert, not
far from the enchanted rose-red city
Of Petra. Lawrence remarked to me
that archaeological work in Egypt had
never appealed to him, and that he
would never dig there at any price.
because most Of the important work
had already been done. and because
Egyptologists Of today spend most Of
their time trying to find out when the
third whisker was painted on the
scarab!
| With many other scientists and
scholars, he was called to Cairo by
| the British military authorities In
August, 1914. At that time he was
twenty-six years old. He had already
| spent seven years wandering through
' Turkev. Syria. Palestine. Arabia,