Show khedive of egypt wisely governs subjects who hold him in reverence special correspondence this is not the first visit which the khedive abbas II 11 has made to eng land says a london As long ago as 1900 he made his eion on london as man and iler and years before that he came among us an immature im matuie youth in tact as well as in feeling ne ther sure of his position bor wha he meant to make of it the khedive we know now Is a man of weight mentally sagacious pains taking and ous he is solid in appearance of middle he and of fresh and wholesome complexion quite ao 10 this and quite un like his smart paris loving brother prince mohammed all qu te unlike his most d isi ed looking slen der built uncle prince husse n who has with his high caste features and hib bronzed skin an express on of gen tie melancholy abbas II 11 is before everything a well conditioned contented looking and yet very alert oung man his earnest into which any egyptian may deposit a written grievance bus ness and pleasure twice or thrice in the week he whirls along the mohammed AH boule vard of cairo with his couple of out riders and small escort it is not often later than 5 clock when 1 reaches abdeen for the b of state which Is always transacted at the pal ace in the capital the khedive s country seat of koub beh ies seven miles out in its ex kept gardens and avenues the early morning hours aie beautiful be yond description the khedive has no more absorbing interest than the culli of his estates As a hor ticul dunst he is less ardent than his uncle prince hussein but arboriculture and agn culture on the scientific lines he has made his own the agricultural soc ety which for some vears past has had its permanent and very handsome buildings and ures at G zeh he never misses and in particular he takes keen interest in tre farm implements and sheds A sportsman abbas II 11 is not the horses that take him into cairo on his fleeting missions of state are handsome tween himself and lord cromer they were diplomatic relations in those days today to day they are friends that good results of this friendship are recognized by the fellaheen may be learned among any of the flan eurs who it in the egyptian cates ing their h or taking has hish or absinthe on the divans and chairs at the numerous small tables upon the ement not fifty yards from shepheard s upon the opposite side of jhb wiy recently I 1 heard a gray haired arab delivering himself in retort to some of the of the arab organ the no no my children he said the english have been our trenda and the friends of our 1 hedije our god being with the patient and they have done good deeds among us lookout taxes are almost no more and our rulers are no more corrupt moreover the dorvee and kour bash and heavy asur are all english soldiers at citadel nature is immediately apparent in his talk after the manner of the east he gesticulates of course but in public t e does not laugh or even smile much his greetings to his people as he gassei among them are the most at bentive and surely the most dignified of any sovereign he gives the utmost devotion to all his d aties and there Is a letter box in the wall of the interior arabic palace cairo ind very fast but amid the gleaming green bersem fields of I 1 have several times met the khedive quite alone driving himself at a jog trot not looking as ehu does between his horse s u but on either hand at his crops after the fashion of the husband visa A boomerang joke in his youth however he was not above a practical joke A story in ded is told of one which recoiled s medhat awkwardly on his ow n head it happened on one occasion that he came into alexandria with a number cf courtiers the whole party disguised in dervish costume and as if from the desert side of the town they entered the bar of a sharp greek who un luckily tor them recognized them and charged tor their entertainment ac cordingly the party stood upon their rights and were forthwith haled before the karakos people police with the ineal table disclosure to the intense delight of the rapacious greek but those were the days before the khedive s court had acquired the dig anity which now distinguishes it and before the khedive himself had entered on the intimacy which now exists be of them banished like a dream in the morning my cotton patch too Is well watered now tor that the great pasha aird s new rh er nile runs over to make it fruitful and in these our times allah gives every day a good day of the true on perhaps it was a touch of the old adam that the speakers religion in creased with the speaker s prosperity but the egyptians are instinctively a religious race and abbas himself is a deeply religious man scrupulously at to all moslem observances he is always the central figure at the ceremony of the when the holy carpet arrives and the fresh one departs for mecca during the ramadan the month of tasting the khedive goes to prayers at the mos ques of omar and el hussein and at his highness levee in hamadan it is noticeable that he neither takes coffee nor offers it to his guests as is the invariable custom A few of the gray haired among bis subjects look back with regret to the tinsel days of ismall when trickery corruption and la morality walked un checked and unashamed and when so clety was almost exclusively official but nowadays increasing commerce and extending industry are the ent signs in egypt for the honest merchant the hard working fellah and for the general community no less there have never been better times than those of our guest the reigning khedive |