5.18 - LECTURE ON ITALY AND EGYPT

LECTURE ON ITALY AND EGYPT

Ladies and gentlemen, I count myself happy again tonight to be greeted by your presence, indicative as it is, of the interest that you have in these talks that have been promised to be delivered. I am quite mindful of the difficult task that is before me in trying to picture to you in any definite way and attractive manner a subject purely geographical in nature, unaided by any kind of pictures, maps, or views that you may look upon while I thus speak. To the very best of my ability and stripped of all formality, I want, in just as simple a manner as I may be able, to have you accompany me through the remainder of Italy, thence across the Mediterranean, into a discussion of those things observed in the great country of Egypt, and then in the next lecture, as the concluding one, I want you to enter with me the Sinitic Peninsula, go through the land of Palestine and the country of Syria, and then bring these three lectures to a close with profit, I trust, and pleasure to all who heard them. We closed the first lecture while describing things in the great seven-hilled city of Rome, and I told you several things that I witnessed and observed therein. I just want to give you a word or two further about the city of Rome in a brief discussion of one of the greatest relics that is therein left. I refer, of course, to the great Colosseum, which stands out slightly from other parts of the city and thus is more conspicuous to all tourists and passers-by than perhaps any other one thing of the remains of bygone days in this wonderful historic city. The old Colosseum is the greatest structure in the form of an amphitheater and place of entertainment which, so far as I know, ever had been conceived by mortal man. It is an immense structure of arches upon arches, built of brick towering upward to the height of one hundred sixty-five feet. It is in the form of an ellipse, one thousand eight hundred twenty-eight feet in circumference. It has a seating capacity of eighty and seven thousand people, and the arena wherein the public exhibitions and the attractions took place is two hundred eighty-eight feet long and one hundred eighty-three feet wide, and as you stand and gaze upon it you see weeds and flowers growing upon the walls and upon the seats where once a throng of people used to assemble. Vines are hanging from the walls and instead of the fashions characteristic of queens and the first ladies of the land in days gone by, butterflies now fly over the desolation and even the lizard crawls up in the seat of the Roman emperor and there suns himself lazily during the passing of the day. It was in this arena where the greatest brutality and slaughter, in the form of entertainment, was carried on that the world has ever known. In Tennessee and other states of America, when we have prisoners committed to the care of the state, we try to utilize their service and their labors and at the same time inflict upon them the penalty and the punishment for the deeds done, but it was the ambition and glory of Rome when a man committed an offense or was charged with a crime and convicted to punish him by compelling him to play a part out in the public arena in combat with the skilled gladiator or to be turned in upon raging wild beasts lions, tigers, etc., and then fight it out to a finish. I have seen in some book—possibly Mark Twain’s "Innocents Abroad"—a program announcing the attraction of the coming season at the great Colosseum. Some of the most startling events are there pictured that you ever read in all your days, where some twenty wild African lions are loosed from their respective cages to fight it out unto death with some great prisoner who has been conducted to Rome. And Christians who were charged with various offenses were given only a form of trial and then committed to the great field of the gladiators—the Colosseum of old Rome. It is said by some that not less than seventy thousand followers of the Lord Jesus Christ died on this fatal plot of ground; that just as soon as one dropped dead his body was let down through a trap door into a sewer that led into the Tiber and then out into the great Mediterranean. As we were shown these things, we were filled with a spirit, the like of which rarely ever comes. On one side of the arena was the den where the lions and wild beasts were kept and just opposite it, across the diameter, was the place where Christians breathed forth their last prayer and then marched out to the delight of the audience and to the satisfaction of a bloodthirsty crowd. Sometimes water was poured into this Colosseum and naval battles were fought for amusement of the people. Leaving Rome we took the train southward through the splendid land of smiling Italy and at last came to the great city of Naples which fronts on what is usually thought and declared to be the most beautiful bay in all the wide, wide world. And so far as I know, having seen but very few, I am not ready to deny the claim made for the Bay of Naples. It is bounded on the east and west by towering mountains, while a beautiful valley extends far to the north. Close by is Mount Vesuvius, ever pouring forth an immense volume of smoke. We were very soon conducted to the Metropolitan Hotel and assigned a room just across a broad street from the bay. Having reached there about the middle of the afternoon, we did our best to become somewhat acquainted with our surroundings. We watched the swell dressers, the very best of the city, as they took their afternoon drives along the principal boulevards. They came out, not as you might think, in their fine cars or in their limousines or great sedans, but with the fine coach and high-stepping horses, with the driver perched on a high seat in front. This is the ideal outfit still in Southern Italy as well as other places that we visited. After having spent the night very pleasantly, we arose early the next morning with our plans to visit some of the places most interesting. Having had our breakfast rather early, we got down on the street just in time to see the dairyman coming. As we gazed upon him he had no wagons, no cans of any kind, no bottles, or jugs or any receptacle whatever and not a cow anywhere around, but he was driving about twenty goats. I had read of a thing of that kind, but had never seen it. Filled with curiosity we followed him up the street. After going a block or two the goats turned in at the places where they were accustomed to stand and very soon the dairyman gave a shrill whistle and down from the stories, four and five above, buckets and cans and receptacles of all kinds were lowered to the street. He took his seat upon the wall of the walkway and called by name the respective goats. In perfect harmony with his desire they came to him and instead of milking them on the side, as we do our cows, he backed them up to him and milked them from the rear. The thing that especially attracted my attention was his expertness in the performance of the job. He could take a long-necked bottle and without a single time missing the mark, he would never lose a drop. When all was over, the signal was given and up the line they went again. I could testify that it was not diluted and that they had real genuine milk for their morning meal. Thus it was all through the city. Sometimes you would find small boys or sometimes women, bareheaded, driving a flock of these goats round over the city and delivering the milk right fresh from the fountain head—or rather from the fountain rear. After that, having had arrangements made through Thomas Cook & Son, our bus soon came which we entered and drove to the railway station and took a train out for seven or eight miles. We got off the train and on an electric car at the foot of Mount Vesuvius. Up the heights thereof for twenty-five hundred feet we went on a grade that was about twenty-five degrees. When twenty-five hundred feet had been reached, we changed our electric car for another that was drawn by great steel cables, and then for fifteen hundred feet farther, making four thousand feet in all, we made an ascent of fiftyfive degrees to the top. We were met by guides sufficient for each passenger to have an individual one, and they bade us hold on to them as we started around toward the opening of one of the greatest mountains and volcanoes of all the earth today. We walked up to the margin of the same and gazed over the yawning chasm and I am certain that I cannot picture to you in any appreciable manner just the scenes characteristic of the same. I presume that from where we stood here at the margin of the crater, the cone in the center was something like from three hundred to five hundred feet. I know that the eye is deceptive in measuring distances of that kind. The overflow that has come from the crater and covered the ground was of such a character that I do not know just how to describe it. It seems to be in folds or layers of black lava. The diameter of the opening in the cone is about fifty feet as it appeared. From this there is a constant stream of smoke and ashes pouring forth. Every two or three minutes there is a terrible rumbling which is followed by a blaze rising high above. This continues both day and night and has for hundreds and thousands of years. I failed to learn anything about the fuel supply. We passed down the mountain fifteen hundred feet and had lunch at a good cafe kept for the benefit of tourists. We then descended another twenty-five hundred feet to the base and entered a train for the ruins of old Pompeii which is but a few miles away. This was a city of about twenty-five thousand, as judged by the evidences brought to light. In the year sixty-three of the Christian era it was largely destroyed by an earthquake, but was immediately rebuilt by the Roman emperor. Then on August 23 at the dead hour of midnight, in the year seventy-nine, Pompeii was buried thirty feet by an eruption from old Mount Vesuvius. Thus it lay in seclusion until 1748, at which time it was discovered. Excavations began and have continued until today the whole city can be seen. The old buildings are being strengthened and the pictures on the walls are being retouched. It is wonderfully preserved unto this good day. You enter through one of its ancient gates and walk along the streets and through the deserted houses. You can go through its heathen temples and stand in the old theatre, the outlines of which can be seen. Its magnificent amphitheater reminds you of the great Colosseum of Rome. The wine jars are still in evidence in the numerous wineshops. Deep grooves are worn in the stone-paved streets by the chariot wheels. Evidences of sin and idolatry are visible. The stone-carved signs in front of houses of shame impress you with the exceeding wickedness of the old city. Josephus says that on the night of Pompeii’s destruction Drusilla, who sat beside Felix when he trembled at Paul’s preaching, was there and perished together with her only son by the governor. Most of the relics that were therein found have been brought to the city of Naples and placed in her great museum. There you may study the type and the civilization of days gone by. This museum contains the petrified bodies of men, women, and children. Also a dog with his collar on and the skeletons of horses, cats, and chickens. Many of the relics are not unlike those articles of the present day. Their bracelets, necklaces, and jewelry would adorn some maid of our own age. We had secured passage from Naples on the very best of the Italian liners, the "Esperia," which is a ship about five hundred twenty-five feet long and something like sixty-. three feet wide, well-fitted out in every way. It being a rather dull season of the year, there were only about thirty passengers on board bound for the land of Egypt. There was not much amusement to be had. I remember to have stood on the stern of the vessel and watched the buildings of Naples fade from view and then for a couple of hours or more I gazed upon smoking Vesuvius until it was lost in the distance. The blue waters of the Mediterranean presented a scene that excelled anything I had ever beheld. I saw the sun weary from his journey across the arched sky rest his huge disc upon the edge of the level ocean, then pillow his head upon her bosom and fall asleep in her tender embrace. I was then reminded of an old, old song and sang it with new understanding—viz., "Twilight Is Stealing Over the Sea." Night fell upon us and we soon retired with gratitude to our God and an earnest prayer for his protection. The next morning we passed the Strait of Messina, on by old Rhegium, and along the shore of Sicily. On our right stood old Mount Etna, eleven thousand feet high, from which a stream of smoke was pouring. A recent eruption had occurred, but quiet had been restored. The east coast of Sicily is bordered with a range of mountains for quite a distance, then it gradually declines until it is about the level of the ocean. We landed at Syracuse a wonderful city of about fifty thousand population. Here Paul once landed and remained for three days. The old site is also the new. To our right lay the island of Melita, at which Paul’s company had landed in the long ago and where he remained for three months. Here he kindled the fire and had the venomous beast hang on his hand; the father of Publius was healed and divers miracles were wrought. Farther on and to our left lay the island of Crete, where the apostle wanted to spend the winter, but was forbidden. To Crete he sent Titus to set in order the things wanting and to ordain elders in every city. This island stretched away to the south and east. We next passed Clauda, where the company of Paul undergirded the ship and entered upon their dreadful journey for the next fourteen days, during which time neither the sun nor stars appeared. Our good ship sailed on, and on Monday morning, July 16, 1923, we were in sight of Alexandria. Before landing, Egyptian officers came on board our ship to examine our passports. Very soon we passed out and found ourselves in a new world. As I gazed upon the wonderful throng of people I was certain I never had seen anything to equal it. They clambered round about us in great numbers and almost forced us to give up our baggage. Pandemonium reigned on every hand, but finally we shoved them aside and were able to march into the customhouse. The government officials were clad in tan. The police in the city of Alexandria were in spotless white, while the common people were hardly clad at all. Some had on a loose flowing garment with a girdle around the loins; others a peculiar kind of trousers exceptionally long in the seat, but short in the legs. The stride was therefore quite limited. The women wear the finest gowns their ability will permit. Over this there is a long black cape with bonnet attached. This came across their forehead and in front of their shoulders. A veil of either black or white hangs over the face from about the middle of the nose. This is fastened to the bonnet by means of a clasp of brass about three and one-half inches long. They wear neither stockings nor shoes, but have anklets of brass or silver with bells attached. The Egyptian girl of the best class is neatly dressed and her attire differs not much from our schoolgirls of some years ago. In the country and among the poorer classes their dress is very common and scanty. But for their olive color, many of these Egyptian women brought to America and properly clad would be attractive. The city of Alexandria lies on the beautiful harbor of the Mediterranean. It was builded by Alexander the Great more than three hundred years before Christ. It does not have, so far as I know, much history connected with the Bible, but there you find the old catacombs and in the older parts of the city a monument to old Pompey that is possibly seventy-five or eighty feet high. It was in this city 287 B.C. that the Old Testament was translated out of the original Hebrew into the Greek language that then prevailed, and hence the version of the Old Testament known as the Septuagint. Tradition says that John Mark wee murdered in the city of Alexandria and his body buried therein, but the people of Venice, Italy, longed to get possession of his remains. A priest had dreamed that an angel told him until these remains were brought to Venice the city could never rise to high distinction among the nations. Many efforts failed, but finally in the ninth century they succeeded. The historic interest of Venice is therefore largely connected with St. Mark. But just here let me call your attention to the country of Egypt as a whole. It has various names. On the monuments it is called "Kem." In the Old Testament the general name is Misraim. The poetical books of the Bible contain the name "Rohab" and the "Land of Ham." The name Egypt was given by the Greeks. This is a long stretch of country reaching from the Mediterranean on the north to the land of Nubia on the south, and from the Sahara and Libyan deserts on the west to the Red Sea on the east. Its area is one hundred fifteen thousand square miles, but of this more than nine-tenths is an uninhabitable desert. True Egypt, the home of its people, is purely the valley of the Nile, and the territory actually occupied is only about fifty-six hundred miles, or less than the area of Connecticut and Rhode Island. It has always been divided into two sections viz., upper and lower Egypt. These two sections have been regarded as separate and were represented in the double crown worn by their kings. The river Nile is the most important feature of the country. It rises in central Africa, flows north for more than three thousand miles and empties into the great sea. It has but one tributary and yet its current is that of a mighty river. It begins its annual rise about June 25 and continues to rise for three months. It attains a height of thirty-six feet at Old Thebes, twenty-five feet at Cairo, and four feet at its mouth. In about twelve days the waters recede and the country is left richer as a result. A system of canals now takes care of all overflows and the sediments are piled along the canals and from thence hauled into the fields by hundreds of camels and asses. Those people never see any sign of rain, and observing the regular annual overflow they were led to believe that some wonderful spirit must be back of it, and, therefore, bowed down to the river Nile and worshiped it as a very God and benefactor of that region. Primitive ways here prevail as much so as in the days of our Savior. We see them plowing still with their wooden plows, with their Egyptian cows and the long yoke. One man does the driving and another does the plowing. The Egyptian cow which is used as one of the prominent beasts of burden is rather interesting. It is a cross between our cow and the Egyptian buffalo, dark or rather dun color, a rawboned type, with prominent hipbones. The horns come out in the usual place, but instead of going in the usual direction, they run back along the neck right behind the ears for a distance of eight or ten inches and then turn up very prominently. These cows seem to be exceedingly gentle. Little children, girls, and women were handling them in every possible way. When not at work you would find them in the canal with their noses stuck out not unlike that of a hippopotamus. All along the places, as thus we passed for three and one-. half hours, and a distance of one hundred twenty-five miles, we observed their fields of rice, cotton, and wheat extending in distant directions. A large number of pumps force the water over the land and thus the country is made to blossom like the rose. These pumps consist of a large wheel about four feet in diameter to which a number of buckets are attached. The wheel is geared to a lever not unlike that used in our old sorghum mills and to this a cow is hitched. Round and round she goes while the water is conveyed to a thirsty soil. The people live in villages composed of mud houses and these are joined side by side. The houses are about eight feet high, have no floor save the earth, and only one small opening, the door. Cattle, camels, donkeys, sheep, and goats all stay close together and piles of manure are often seen against the house. My faith in the germ theory was almost destroyed. I do not see how it is possible for it to be possible for human beings to live in conditions like unto that. And upon talking to a doctor, I found that the life of the people was quite short indeed. The Egyptian baby when born is not bathed for forty days, and two out of every three thus born die before they are a month old, and fifty per cent of the others die before they reach maturity. They are married at an early age—anywhere from ten to fourteen years. The girls have absolutely no voice in whom they are to have and they are passed out as a slave of their parents to become the slave of some other man— who, by the way, is at liberty to have as many as four wives, but no Egyptian woman can have more than one husband. Whether or not that be fair, I leave for you to decide. Cairo is the metropolis of all Egypt and of the Arabian world. It has a population of over seven hundred thousand. This was our headquarters during our stay in the land of the Pharaohs. Our first day in Cairo was devoted wholly to the Pyramids of Gizeh. We took an electric car and crossed the Nile on a magnificent bridge; turning to our left we rode up the river for about two miles and then faced the west for about six miles when we found ourselves at the foot of old Cheops, the largest of them all. The pyramids He along the limestone cliff that separates the valley from the desert. This cliff is about one hundred feet above the valley. Old Cheops is the largest and most important and its description, very brief, must suffice for all. Others He along the cliff for some twelve or fifteen miles. Cheops covers thirteen acres of ground and is a square, each side of which is seven hundred sixty-two feet. It is four hundred fifty feet high and has thirty feet gone from the top. It is built of stone from two to four feet thick. This is not of the hardest type as I had supposed, but the stone is of a perishable kind soft and porous in nature. Time was when this pyramid was smoothed over with a fine granite-like cover, but through the passing of the years, all of that outer cover has been removed, and instead of it being smooth still, it is now rough and jagged in its appearance. At the foot are the failings and crumblings of the rocks that have come from same. The great driveway from there to Cairo is said to be macadamized by the fragments that have fallen from the pyramids and enough to make a similar road for a distance of one hundred miles have worn off and yet it stands there in its magnificent grandeur and glory to this day. This is an exceedingly fine point from which to view the country. To the west, and stretching as far as human vision can reach, is the great Libyan Desert with its vast ocean of yellow sand and bare as the palm of your hand. To the east you behold the beautiful green valley of the Nile bounded by the rocky cliff that rises out of the desert and reaches on to the Red Sea. Far away to the north the valley spreads out and embraces the original granary of the world. To the south it becomes narrower until all fades out of sight. Many are the towns, villages, palaces, palm groves, and fields of ripening grain seen in this most fertile and historic section. The entrance to the pyramid is about midway the northern was. The opening is three feet nine inches wide, three feet eleven inches high, and forty-eight feet above the base. With a guide for each tourist and a candle in hand you begin to explore the interior. You may go down a depth of some seventy or eighty feet and be assured you are near the foundation. Then you can pass up narrow ways, and amid the dark scenes until you come to an opening called the queen’s chamber which is about eighteen feet square and has a ceiling practically twenty feet high. There is nothing found in this. From here you may climb still farther and at last come into the king’s department which is about eighteen by thirty-five feet. The guides take special pains to see which one can tell the biggest story regarding the history and use of these chambers and the whole pyramid. One really feels glad when he gets out to the light of day. Just south of old Cheops not more than one hundred yards away is the celebrated sphinx. This one of the marvels and mysteries of all the ages. Its object and purpose never has been determined. There is not the slightest reason for its existence and yet it stands gazing upon the rising sun. It is an image carved out of solid stone with the head of a man and the body of a lion crouched upon its haunches. From the rock surface on which the forelegs of the lion are stretched out to the top of the man’s head is sixty-six feet. Across the face of that image is thirteen feet eight inches. Its mouth is seven feet six inches wide and across the breast it is thirty-seven feet. Around the neck, which is not in proportion to the other, is a distance of sixty-seven feet. That image stands gazing toward the morning sunlight and the features of it form an interesting studio. The evidence is not lacking that once a smile played upon its countenance, which has been somewhat changed by the finger of time. From the back of its head to the tail of the lion is one hundred twenty-three feet. Across the body of the lion is twenty-seven feet, and across the rear haunches fifty-one feet. Just south of the sphinx are the ruins of an old temple unknown to history, or perhaps, to tradition. There are granite columns twelve feet high and four feet square, and as you walk amid the foundation ruins of it you are lost in wonder. It is called the Granite Temple. Here we engaged our camels and mounted them for our first experience along the desert section. Small villages lay along the cliff. Herds of camels were feeding along the valley and interesting places were pointed out. About eleven o’clock, having endured the burning sun of the morning, we came to a fertile spot, an oasis in the desert, and as we rode up to a rude house of mud something like eight or ten feet in diameter, possibly four or four and one-half feet high covered over with a few brushes, eight or ten men and women came out and kindly greeted us. Our camels gracefully knelt and we quite gracefully dismounted. We entered their rude hut and took our seats upon the ground. In the midst of us there was a pile of sun-cooked bread. The cakes were something like fifteen or twenty inches in diameter, but were exceedingly thin. They invited us to partake and, as an experience, I broke off a piece with the feeling that if they could eat it all the time, I can eat it one time. It had but little taste and was pronounced very good. They brought in some good cool watermelons and there we ate of them to our heart’s content. After making a photo, we bade them farewell, got on our camels and continued south. By high noon we reached the most elevated spot in all that section of the country and there we came to an old building formerly used by excavating parties. Here we ate our lunch which had been well prepared by our hotel. After lunch, we were to visit the sepulchers of the sacred bulls. Students will recall that the Egyptian worshiped their God Apis under the image of a white bull and one of these was continually kept in the temple of that God. When each bull died, it was carefully embalmed and buried with all the honors of a king. You enter this underground enclosure with candle in hand and pass along an aisle cut out of the solid rock. This is perhaps ten feet wide and twelve feet high with arched ceiling. As you advance, there are chambers on the right and on the left, each about twelve feet wide and fifteen feet deep, with side next to passage entirely open and rock partitions of about three feet thick left between them. These chambers are occupied by the sarcophagi of the bulls, of which there are twenty-three remaining. These sarcophagi are of smoothlypolished granite, on many of which there are elaborate carvings. They are about twelve feet long, eight feet wide, and eight feet high. The walls are about ten inches thick, while the lid is about three feet in thickness. The bulls have been removed and some of them can be seen in the great museum of Cairo. At the end of this long passage there is another that turns square to the left and then another also to the left parallel with the first. In this there are a number of chambers. From this passage you again make a left turn and are back at the old wooden gate through which you entered. After viewing these scenes, we mounted our camels and were soon on our visit to the historic village of Sakkara. From here we hastened to the site of old Memphis. About the only thing found in the city of Memphis that bears the marks of the ancient civilization is the statue of Rameses II, which is one of the most marvelous pieces of sculpture on the face of the earth. When it was found, it was in mud and water Lying on its face. The best that has been done for it is to lay it in a longitudinal manner, flat on its back, on an immense foundation of stone. This statue is forty feet long and big proportionate thereto. The right leg is cut off just below the knee. There are a number of sphinxes here carved out like the original, but upon a much smaller scale.

Here we bade good-by to our ships of the desert after a pleasant journey of sixteen miles. We took the train back another sixteen miles to the city of Cairo. The nightfall came upon us and found us hungry, weary, and prepared for dreamland. The next day we visited the museum, and in that found every sort of relic and every kind of animal worshiped by the Egyptians in a perfect state of preservation. Mummies of human beings and various animals are abundant. All of the curios of King Tut thus far found have been brought to this museum and one large room is set apart for same. In this collection there are various articles of furniture not so much unlike much of the present day, and other articles characteristic of the centuries gone by. Our last day was spent in visiting the city of Cairo. We went into the old churches and cathedrals and observed some features of their services. We came to an old Greek church and there by the priest were conducted through the reception room and down a flight of stairs, in behind which we were shown the very identical spot where Joseph and Mary brought the young child Jesus and hid him from the wrath of old Herod. Whether true or not, this is a most excellent place to hide. Our next place was the district of the Mosques, on the east side of the city. Here is a fine view not only of Cairo, but of the valley and the pyramids in the distance. We entered the inclosure of one of the finest buildings after having special sandals strapped over our shoes. There is a fountain filled with water, at which all the worshipers wash their faces, hands, and feet before entering the mosque for their regular prayer. The main building is one of the finest I have ever visited. The floor is covered with a beautiful rich carpet and the house is lighted with glittering chandeliers. The interior is finished with genuine alabaster and presents a delicate and variegated appearance. With their faces toward Mecca, Mohammedans repeat their prayers five times each and leave fully persuaded that all is well. I was impressed with their earnestness and sincerity, but know that such feelings are no guarantee of their being right. Our guide reported that there are five hundred fiftyfour mosques in Cairo alone. Leaving the cathedrals and mosques, we next went into the business districts and observed their peculiar ways and customs. The streets are narrow and many of them covered. The stores and shops are only about ten by twelve feet, and the merchant usually sits near the middle of the floor. He can thus reach most of his articles and hand them to the trade. All selling is done by bargaining. Nothing has a definite or fixed price. They usually sell for what they can get. If you do not want an article, it is dangerous to make an offer, however small it may be. We had some rich experiences in a few small deals. I was much amused in seeing them make a trade. Quite a bit of manufacturing goes on, but all is done by hand. Children of eight and ten years old become experts in their various lines. Having thus toured the city, we were ready to depart for the wilderness of wandering. This led us back by train northward and eastward through the land of Goshen—a vast level stretch of country—the richest and best of all Egypt. No special marks are left in this section, but Christians can never forget that here under the burning sun the Israelites served and toiled during their long stay under the iron hand of Pharaoh. From Rameses they at last went forth under the leadership of Moses and crossed the Red Sea, after which they sang the song of deliverance and started for the Promised Land. Our journey brought us to Kantara on the Suez Canal and there I must leave you for tonight. Your presence, patience, and encouragement are duly appreciated. I thank you.