O 
 
THE LADY ISIS IN BOHEMIA 
 
 V 
 
DJRING THE YEAR EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND Preface 
 ninety I procured in Egypt a mummy, that I presented 
 later to the Bohemian Club of San Francisco, of which 
 I was, even then, one of its earliest members, jff This mummy 
 had been that of a female member of the regal family repre- 
 
 ji-* ^^*^ 
 
 senting the twenty-fourth Egyptian dynasty, jjf It was discov 
 ered at Girgeh on the Nile the same year, just prior to the arri' 
 val of United States Consul-General Schuyler and myself at 'j? 
 that town in our dahabieyeh on which we were sailing to 
 Thebes. A quarter of a century ago these peculiar mementoes </ 
 of antiquity were more numerous and less valued than today. 
 So, assisted by the political influence of General Schuyler, I 
 was enabled to secure not only the princess, but also two male 
 mummies which had been located in a secret recess close by 
 her own tomb. From Girgeh they were floated down the river 
 to Cairo in a barge loaded with loose wheat, nestling among 
 whose grains the three sarcophagi rested quite securely. Brugsch 
 Bey, curator of the Cairo Museum, easily read the hieroglyphics, 
 that like coffin plates covered the lower front of each top. It 
 then appeared that the male mummies were those of priests, 
 while the female came of royal lineage, one who had nevertheless 
 consecrated her life and death to Isis, the Egyptian goddess. 
 As a priestess and a vestal virgin she had taken vows, dying 
 at the age of twenty-seven, and buried with evident care and 
 secrecy, for both as a priestess and a princess she ranked among 
 the noblest of those women devoted to the Future. From Cairo 
 to Alexandria by rail, thence by steam to Liverpool, thence 
 transhipped by sail to San Francisco, the three coffins with their 
 rare burdens were easily and safely transported. I gave the 
 
Preface phis, where I knew Professor G.Flinders Petrie was superintend' 
 ing explorations amidst its ruins for the British and American 
 Egyptian Research Association, told him my tale, and a few 
 hours later we stood before The Lady Isis in the ancient solid 
 stone palace of the extinct Pashas. Professor Petrie, whose 
 profound knowledge and acquirements in the lore of Old Egypt 
 are not surpassed by any living man, readily read the hiero- 
 glyphic language on the coffin, which indeed he copied at once 
 on paper, writing the English transcription under the Egyptian 
 symbols. He approximated the dynasty from the contour and 
 construction of the coffin, for he stated that in the case of 
 women the date and period of their decease was rarely in' 
 dicated. But, he added, certain slight but significant changes 
 in the coffin and lettering occurred about every other cen- 
 tury, deviations from previous orthodox methods, that were 
 known and understood by competent Egyptologists. Doubt- 
 less, the priests, who monopolized all funeral ceremonies, and 
 indeed at times the kingdom itself, made these alterations or 
 innovations in deference to some new legend or as the ascer- 
 tained desire of some new god. \itf While Professor Petrie, la- 
 den with my gratitude, returned forthwith to Memphis he 
 never spent a night in Cairo that he could avoid, so fond was 
 he of his work I called at the museum where my old friend 
 of the Henry M. Stanley days, Brugsch Bey, now Brugsch 
 Pasha, still lodged with the dead Pharaohs. utfThe Pasha gave 
 his consent to the removal of the mummy only after the inter- 
 cession of certain potentates in Cairo had been solicited and 
 granted. The Lady Isis was purchased and carefully placed, 
 still resting in her original coffin, in a box of larger dimensions, 
 
and before the "wise men^of Egypt knew, she was borne on Preface 
 the deep waves to that marvelous city where the New World 
 greets the western seas. JtfAk last, on May 5, 1914, quite a year 
 after the hurried departure from Cairo, came the Presentation 
 which had been announced and described in a circular issued 
 and forwarded to each Club member a few days earlier. JtP 
 Jeremiah Lynch. 
 
 J ON TUESDAY EVENING, MAY THE FIFTH, NINETEEN The 
 HUNDRED AND FOURTEEN, AT NINE O'CLOCK, A HIGH Lady Isis in 
 JINKS WAS GIVEN AT THE BOHEMIAN CLUB, BOHEMI- Bohemia 
 
 AN CHARLES K. FIELD, PRESIDENT AND SIRE. BOHEMI- 
 AN JEREMIAH LYNCH PRESENTED TO BOHEMIA THE 
 MUMMY OF THE LADY ISIS, A LADY OF THE COURT AT 
 THEBES NEARLY THREE THOUSAND YEARS AGO. THIS 
 GIFTREPLACED THE PRECIOUS RELIC WHICH WAS DE- 
 STROYED IN THE GREAT FIRE OF NINETEEN HUNDRED 
 AND SIX, AND WHICH ALSO HAD BEEN PRESENTED TO 
 THE CLUB BY MR. LYNCH. BOHEMIANS RUFUS STEELE 
 AND JOSEPH D. REDDING CONTRIBUTED PAPERS TO 
 THE PROGRAM OF THE JINKS, AND BOHEMIAN RICH- 
 ARD M. HOTALING RECITED A POEM. BOHEMIAN W. J. 
 McCOY COMPOSED DESCRIPTIVE MUSIC, WHICH WAS 
 RENDERED BY THE CLUB CHORUS AND AN AUGMENT- 
 ED ORCHESTRA. THE HIGH JINKS CONCLUDED WITH 
 A PHANTASY OF ANCIENT EGYPT ENTITLED "THE 
 DREAM;TERFORMED BYBOHEMIANSRICHARDM.HO- 
 TALING, GEORGE HAMMERSMITH,GEORGEB.DELONG, 
 AMEDEE JOULLIN, E. L. TAYLOR, 6P OTHER MEMBERS 
 OF THE CLUB, WITH A SCENIC INVESTITURE DESIGNED 
 BY BOHEMIAN HAIG PATIGIAN: BOHEMIAN A. J. BUT- 
 LER, STAGE DIRECTOR; BOHEMIAN E.T. GRAND ALL, 
 CHORUS MASTER; AND BOHEMIAN EUGENE BLAN- 
 CH ARD, ACCOMPANIST. Jf A BANQUET PRECEDING 
 THE PRESENTATION OCCURRED IN THE PRINCIPAL 
 
The DINING HALL, AND WAS ATTENDED BY SOME FOUR 
 Lady Isis in HUNDRED BOHEMIANS AND GUESTS. AT THE END OF 
 Bohemia THE REPAST MR. FIELD OFFERED A FELICITOUS TOAST 
 TO JEREMIAH LYNCH, THE GUEST OF THE EVENING, 
 WHO RESPONDED IN APPROPRIATE PHRASES. FOL- 
 LOWING A CUSTOM OF THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS, feP 
 ONE CONTINUED LATER BY THE GREEKS,THE MUMMY 
 WAS THEN BROUGHT INTO THE DINING HALL BORNE 
 ON THE SHOULDERS OF FOUR MEN DRESSED AS ETHI- 
 OPIANS, PRECEDED BY PRIESTS, CHORAL SINGERS, AND 
 MUSICIANS, ALL ROBED IN CLASSIC EGYPTIAN COS- 
 TUMES, THE CHORUS CHANTING HYMNS AND MUSIC 
 WRITTEN FOR THE FESTIVAL^NOT IN MODERN HIS- 
 TORY, NOR INDEED SINCE THE DAYS OFTHE CAESARS, 
 CAN THERE BE RECALLED A SINGLE ILLUSTRATION 
 WHERE THIS EXTRAORDINARY FUNCTION WAS COM- 
 MEMORATED. ITS REVIVAL IS THOUGHT TO BE THE 
 FIRST IN MANY CENTURIES, 6? CERTAINLY THE FIRST 
 IN THE NEW WORLD.THE ANCIENTS INTENDED THAT 
 IN THE MIDST OF MIRTH fe? REVELRY, SURROUNDING 
 THE WINE CUP AND THE BANQUETING TABLES, WE 
 SHOULD BE REMINDED OF THE END, 6? AN EMBALMED 
 MUMMY ENVELOPED IN ITS ENLACING SHROUDS 
 WOULD BE CERTAINLY AN OBJECT OF REVERENT RE- 
 FLECTION AND CONTEMPLATION. J&THE BE ARERS OF 
 THE LADY ISIS ACCOMPANIED BY THE PROCESSION 
 CIRCLED EACH TABLE IN TURN, 6? AS THE STRANGE 
 NOTES OF THE FINAL HYMN CEASED, HALTED IN 
 FRONTOFTHE PRESIDENT AND GUEST.THE HALL HAD 
 BEEN IN SEMI-DARKNESS DURING THE MARCH, BUT 
 NOW IT WAS SUDDENLY BRIGHTLY ILLUMINATED, 
 WHILE MR. LYNCH CALLED ON BOHEMIANS TO ARISE 
 6? OFFER WITH HIM A LIBATION TO: : "THE LADY ISIS: 
 BE THIS FOREVER HER TEMPLE." J& PURSUANT TO AN- 
 CIENT RITES,THE CORTEGE, WITHOUT ANY FURTHER 
 DELAY OR OBSERVANCE, DEPARTED FROM THE HALL 
 INTHE SAME ORDER THAT IT ENTERED AND SLOWLY 
 
The MOUNTED THE STAIRSTOTHE PRESENTATION CHAM- 
 Lady Isis in BER, TRAVERSING THE SPACIOUS AND BEAUTIFUL IN- 
 Bohemia TERIOR OF THE TEMPLE. THE BANQUETERS 6P OTHERS 
 FOLLOWED WITH DUE DECORUM. WHEN ALL WERE 
 ASSEMBLED AND THE MUMMY IN ITS CLOSED SAR- 
 COPHAGUS PLACED UPRIGHT IN A SPECIALLY PRE- 
 PARED NICHE NEAR THE STAGE, THE EGYPTIAN MU- 
 SIC, WHICH HAD BEEN CHANTED SINCE THE CHORIS- 
 TERS LEFT THE DINING-ROOM, STOPPED. Jf Jf Jf Jf 
 
 JJTMR.FIELDTHEN PRESENTED MR.STEELE,WHO READ 
 THEFOLLOWINGPAPER::FeUowBohemians:Theword"mum- 
 my" is of Arabic derivation. It may be translated "live one" in the 
 past tense. As used by the Arabs, the word meant "bitumen." Bitu- 
 men, as you know, is sticky. It is probable that when the undertaker 
 in the shadow of the pyramids had turned out a case of Egyptian pre- 
 serves he called it a mummy because he knew it was likely to stick 
 around forever. Jf A brief consideration of the mummy inevitably 
 takes one back to those embalmy days along the Nile. The body of 
 Ra-Nefer, found in a tomb at Medum, shows that the preserving art 
 was practiced six thousand years ago. In his simple way Ra-Nefer 
 was like many a misguided Bohemian when the time came to de- 
 part he was unwilling to go, although he knew his friends were likely 
 to get him pickled if he stayed. Jf It was a thorough process by which 
 the ancients rendered the human body Class A. First the brain was 
 removed, then the heart and bowels, and after the cavities had been 
 washed with palm wine, they were packed with pounded perfumes, 
 cassia and myrrh. The body was then steeped in a natron bath for 
 seventy days, after which it was wrapped in flaxen cloth and smeared 
 with gum. The process was a slow one, but the mummy was believed 
 to have all the time there was. It is recorded that for the highest 
 class of work the undertaker received a single talent, which was 
 equal to fourteen hundred dollars. Jf This mixing of money and tal- 
 ent brings us naturally to our own Bohemia. And there is a finer 
 unity than might be expected between 4000 B. C. and the "B. C."of 
 our own sweet day. There is a unity of purpose; the changes the 
 centuries have brought have been merely changes of method. The 
 
Bohemian of the time of our Lady Isis, like the Bohemian of ours, The 
 beheld on every side the swift promise of his end, and cried out in Lady Isis in 
 the agony of his soul that "Death is wrong!" He swore to do his Bohemia 
 mightiest to frustrate death. With a cunning of sweet spices and 
 mysterious drugs he bound the body bound the senseless clay so 
 that it might forever laugh back into the face of Fate. jf Today we 
 know he mocked not Fate, but mocked himself alone. He only bound 
 the clay. His mighty effort is a jest upon our lips. For when the brain, 
 the heart, and the "bowels" of the man are torn away, Bohemia says 
 no single thing remains that need be saved. Jtf But Hope Hope 
 flares for us as brightly as it flared for him who fought extinction in 
 the morning of the world. A way we have, a trick Bohemians know, 
 to thwart the vast conniving of Old Death. u^We lay no hand upon 
 insensate clay, but plan a joyous undertaking with the thing we call 
 our life. We tear no part away except the scales that make the good- 
 ness of another's deed look small. We pack the secret chambers with 
 the frankincense of sympathy and friendship's sacred myrrh. The 
 natron bath is loyalty. The flaxen cloth we weave from threads of 
 faith upon the loom of earnest striving toward the best we know. 
 We seal the cloth in place with cerements of compassion. uSJFThus 
 when six thousand years from now, or sixteen times six thousand 
 years a wiser generation finds a radiance and a perfume in the place 
 that sheltered us, may they exclaim: "They did not die! They live 
 because they loved!"^ JJJJJJ&JJJJJ 
 
 J MR. REDDING THEN READ THE SUBJOINED PAPER: : 
 The Mystery of Death: If there is one trait more than any other 
 which distinguishes the character of humanity today, it is conceit, 
 vanity, and a general lack of reverence for the established institutions 
 of the past, the beliefs of the past, and the knowledge and wisdom 
 of ancient days. Jtf We know it all!u$Flt is true that there has 
 been unfolded during the last two or three hundred years a knowl" 
 edge of some of the great laws of the universe, concerning which 
 the whole world hitherto had been in entire ignorance. Jf It would 
 seem as if the Supreme Intelligence were permitting us of today to 
 become acquainted with many of the secret processes of the world's 
 machinery, in order to note just how far we will run riot in our vanity, 
 
The disdainfully sneering at the woeful condition of general ignorance 
 Lady Isis in that prevailed three hundred or three thousand years ago. Jtf We 
 Bohemia do know that all religions and theologies were born and established 
 at a time when the great laws of nature were practically unknown. 
 Jtf Reverence is founded on faith, and mystery is an element of faith. 
 Demonstration destroys faith, for it does away with mystery. J&F We 
 are now at the other extreme we know it all! Nothing is sacred; 
 the Gods of the Egyptians, the God of the Jews, the Gods of Olym' 
 pus, the God of the Druids, the God of the Popes and of the Protes- 
 tants, are all puppets of the past and of no more importance than 
 mud idols or stone images of primeval peoples. Our God is a great 
 scheme of illimitable magnificence, and we today are becoming con- 
 fidentially acquainted with the machinery of this scheme. Farewell, 
 poor, benighted, ignorant Past \jtf Oh, vanity, vanity, all is vanity ! Jf 
 There is one great mystery still unsolved, which lies at the base, at 
 the root of all religion, and concerning which we have not made one 
 more tittle of progress toward solution than the countless millions 
 of the world's inhabitants during five thousand years the great 
 mystery of death. Jjf Ah, now we become modest once more; our 
 conceit leaves us, for our ego begins to tremble. What is death? Not 
 somebody else's death, but yours and mine! What becomes of me, 
 this me which dictates to this body, where and when it shall walk, 
 sit, come, and go tjtf There is no one present but who has watched 
 the last flickering light fade and disappear from the eye of another 
 human being, and the wonder question has whispered upon our lips, 
 What is this mystery of death? Now are we back among the Egyp- 
 tians, asking the same question, and this modern God of ours be- 
 comes the silent Sphinx of old, and we are all children together, beg- 
 ging for an answer, and no answer comes. utf If we are brought face 
 to face with the intelligent experience of a people who five thousand 
 years ago were trying to solve this great mystery, it may moderate 
 our own attitude of today; it may give us pause in this material, sar- 
 castic, snobbish, know-it-all point of view which we have assumed, 
 because we happen to have found out the law of gravitation, of wire- 
 less telegraphy, of high explosives, or a few other of the dynamics 
 of the universe. Jtf Four thousand years ago there was a people of 
 the highest intelligence and education living in the Valley of the Nile, 
 
and their Capital was the city of Thebes. When I say Intelligence, The 
 
 I mean from our standards from the standard of President Eliot Lady Isis in 
 
 of Harvard, of Cardinal Newman, of Sir Isaac Newton, of Michel- Bohemia 
 
 angelo, of Phidias, of Homer, of Solomon.Thebes,the splendid city of 
 
 one hundred gates! Fourteen miles in circumference, and filled with 
 
 architectural splendor, the remaining fragments of which today, in 
 
 their dignity, beauty, and purity, are a cause for wonderment. There 
 
 are paintings upon its walls which are as fresh in the twentieth cen' 
 
 tury as they were thirty 'fiye hundred years ago. Jtf Unearthed from 
 
 an Egyptian tomb, where it had reposed for nearly forty centuries, 
 
 there now lies in the British Museum a great scroll of papyrus. Its 
 
 contents are beautifully illuminated and perfectly preserved. It is 
 
 called "The Book of the Dead." This document contains a ritual and 
 
 code of procedure to be followed by the soul, in order to reach eter' 
 
 nal happiness. The Egyptians of that remote period believed in the 
 
 soul. This ritual declares that the soul, after leaving the body, wan' 
 
 ders in the Valley of the Shadow of Death this is the exact Ian' 
 
 guage. This wandering soul had to answer forty 'two questions con' 
 
 cerning moral conduct. Each question had to be answered in the 
 
 negative, and embraced the following: I have not stolen; I have not 
 
 made to weep; I have not committed murder; I have not tampered 
 
 with weights or measures; I have not cheated or conspired; I have 
 
 not committed adultery; I have not borne false witness. JjJPThese 
 
 questions thus being answered, the soul was resurrected and sat at 
 
 the right hand of Osiris, the God of all Gods, and the embodiment 
 
 of goodness. Jit In presenting this confessional, I have stripped it of 
 
 its mummery. The Egyptians employed symbols, as other religions 
 
 have done and do today. Impressive panorama and optical show 
 
 have always been effective to arouse the emotions, and there again 
 
 comes in the element of mystery. Taking the essence of this most 
 
 ancient belief, it differs not at all from that preached today from ten 
 
 thousand pulpits throughout our civilised world. Jtf The oldest 
 
 known book in the world is carefully guarded in the National Li' 
 
 brary at Paris. It is an original Egyptian papyrus, written fully five 
 
 thousand years ago. It contains the precepts and teachings uttered 
 
 by the ministers of that remote epoch two thousand years before 
 
 Moses wrote on Mount Sinai twentyfive hundred years before Sol' 
 
The omon set forth his proverbs.These precepts not only covered the en- 
 Lady Isis in tire decalogue, but, almost in similar phraseology, they run the gamut 
 Bohemia of the rules of moral conduct laid down throughout the OldTesta- 
 ment. JJ^"Give me to drink of running water. Let me be placed by 
 the edge of the water, with my face to the North, that the breeze 
 may caress me and my heart be refreshed from sorrow."UJ?"I have 
 made me an house, adorned with gold, its ceilings with lapis lazuli, 
 its walls having deep foundations; its doors are of copper, their bolts 
 are of bronze. It is made forever-lasting. Behold that which I have 
 done at the beginning; let me set it in order for my soul at the end." 
 Jtf There were poets in those days, of the highest imagination. Jtf 
 The life within us cries out for some proof of immortality. For five 
 thousand years of recorded history aft mankind has had a belief, a 
 conviction, that the death of the body is not oblivion, but always 
 coupled with fear and doubt. What is the world beyond? Is there a 
 doubt? UflFThis body is an instrument and our soul is the theme, the 
 melody, that is heard upon that instrument. Is it to be wondered at 
 that the strings become worn and weak with time? Do we not abuse 
 the body? Is it not struck with discords and strained with daily labor? 
 Is it not natural that the time shall come when the poor tired in- 
 strument will refuse to respond to the theme? Jtf But the theme it- 
 self does not die; it lives on forever. It will find another instrument 
 upon which to play its melody. Where and under what environment, 
 each of us will know at the appointed hour. This is why I believe 
 in the immortality of the soul. jjf There is a presence here tonight. 
 Jtf Far, far away, in the Valley of the Nile, thirty-five hundred years 
 ago, an immortal soul vibrated through that form.Therein for a little 
 time a spirit had its abode.Tears and laughter played their part.The 
 wonderful old story and yet ever new of beauty, youth, and love 
 was whispered among the palms.ufl^The tramp and thunder of count- 
 less centuries have intervened; yet tonight the mortal clay, with 
 folded arms and eyelids closed, is here before us, still undissolved by 
 time. Jtf Let us pay tribute to this presence in all solemnity. In mould 
 and fashion it is but the counterpart of ourselves. uflFWho knows 
 but what that spirit is hovering above us, and could we but hear 
 the voice, it would say: 
 
"Deal gently with what here you look upon, The 
 
 For it was once my earthly habitation. Lady Isis in 
 
 I was beloved in that mortal form: Bohemia 
 
 Its beauty won the first'born of a king. 
 This was but yesterday- 
 Farewell, until we meet tomorrow." 
 
 l j*FMR.LYNCH THEN PRESENTED THE MUMMY TOTHE 
 BOHEMIAN CLUB IN THE FOLLOWING TERMS: : A score 
 and four years ago an Egyptian princess was enshrined within these 
 realms of Bohemia. Jjf Here she reposed calm and tranquil on her 
 secluded throne, the tutelary goddess of Bohemia's devotees.tjflFFrom 
 the worship of Amon-Ra to that of St. John, from Olden Egypt to 
 the Newer World, was she borne, sleeping the sleep of centuries. 
 Ravished from the distant tomb on Nilus's banks, where she abode 
 in the bosom of Osiris, her mummy was transferred to unknown re' 
 gions, where amid unknown accents she rested with a race and re" 
 ligion unknown to herself or the people of her land. The Pharaohs 
 of her royal lineage, demigods of their era, if they but knew, how 
 they must have resented this wilful, impious desecration of her 
 sepulchre! If they but knew, how they must have condemned the 
 impotence and sacrilege of men, bearing away the body of this fair 
 daughter of Egypt, from where they had so lovingly and lingeringly 
 deposited it thousands of years ago, only to witness later its destruc' 
 tion by fire! If they but knew! If they but knew! Ah! if we but knew! 
 JjJFOnce they were and now they are not; and that is the sum we 
 know! utfFlt would have been better to leave the princess where she 
 was entombed, clothed in her golden and purple cerements and gar' 
 landed with lotus-blossoms. It would have been better to leave her 
 undisturbed in her rock'cut tomb than to have her precious form for' 
 ever obliterated a brief flame in a city's holocaust. Jf If there be no 
 immortality, what thrice damned fools indeed are we, and how mu' 
 table and futile are our most sacred and resolved actions! The ancient 
 Egyptians believed that if the body remained intact and unrifled for 
 a cycle of three thousand years, at the end of that period the Ka, or 
 Spirit soul, would return from the underworld of Osiris and re-enter 
 its earthly receptacle, a reincarnation that is, provided that that 
 
The Ka had successfully passed the ordeal of judgment of the forty-two 
 Lady Isis in judges who with Osiris and Anubis at their head balanced in scales 
 Bohemia of infinite delicacy the virtues and vices of the suppliant. Therefore, 
 these ancients embalmed their dead so thoroughly and secreted the 
 mummies so studiously. Therefore, they erected pyramids, each one 
 being a separate and gigantic tomb for its builder, and so well was 
 the Cyclopean undertaking executed that the mummy of the third 
 and last pyramid builder, Pharaoh Mycerinus, was found and re' 
 moved from its stone sarcophagus in the pyramid but a century ago, 
 after six thousand years of peace and silence removed after six thou- 
 sand years of Nirvana and Nepenthe, only to be lost in the depths 
 of the stormy sea. He lies deep down in the fabled isles of Atlantis, 
 from whence perhaps his forbears originally sprung. JfffThe process 
 of embalming was not intricate. Jf Immediately after death, the per- 
 ishable inside organs were removed, the brain through the nostrils 
 and those of the body through an incision made in the side. The 
 head and the abdomen were filled with a compound resembling bitu- 
 men, through the same orifices, and the body was then immersed in a 
 liquid called natron for seventy-five days.jjflFThe exact composition 
 of this natron is, I believe, unknown, although doubtless modern sci- 
 ence could do as much. Then the mummy was swathed from head 
 to foot in hundreds of yards of fine hand-made muslin, of a texture 
 so minute that only children of eight to ten years could fashion it, 
 for at that age the eyes are clearest and strongest. Jjf Of course this 
 was expensive, and apart from the Pharaohs themselves, the regal 
 families, ladies of the Court, and dignitaries, embalming was con- 
 fined to the landed aristocracy and generals triumphant in war.Jjp 
 Moreover, the process was not always uniform nor thorough, and 
 many carefully prepared mummies were found imperfect. J^There 
 was a guild or union of embalmers, especially dedicated to the Pha- 
 raohs, or kings, whose continued existence throughout all the ages 
 of Egypt's earlier history is full known and proven. One of their 
 most sacred and binding functions, never forgotten, was to unwrap, 
 repair, and rewrap the mummy of each Pharaoh every five hundred 
 years. Jtf On the coverings of Rameses II and Merenptah, father and 
 son, whose mummies now lie in the Cairo Museum, can be seen the 
 attestations of the embalmers, stating the era when they had last 
 
unrolled the bodies, and adding how often this religious duty had The 
 been previously executed. JJF Rameses II was the Pharaoh in whose Lady Isis in 
 reign the Jews were said to have been persecuted, and Merenp- Bohemia 
 tah, his son, was the Pharaoh during whose life occurred the ten 
 plagues of Egypt and the Exodus of the Jews under the guidance 
 of Moses. Jf When I assure you that the veritable bodies of these 
 monarchs incontestably proven, for the name and dynasty written 
 in hieroglyphics on the coverings are read by Egyptologists as easily 
 as a learned professor reads Greek lie today uncovered, and to be 
 seen of all men thirty -odd centuries after interment, these men who 
 conversed with Moses, it brings the Biblical and legendary Past in 
 startling association with the skeptical and scientific Present. jf 
 This period of five hundred years for the exhuming and re-entomb- 
 ing of the mummies is supposed to be associated with the life of the 
 Phoenix, the typical Egyptian bird or emblem, whose image is placed 
 in every temple, on every coffin and sarcophagus, and which was 
 said to be revived from its ashes, as we all know, every five centuries. 
 J@f Embalming as a complex art ceased before the Christian Era, and 
 ever since, especially of late years, old tombs have been discovered, 
 opened, and rifled. The Egyptians buried with the dead, beads, amu- 
 lets, scarabees, and gems, of more or less intrinsic or relative value, 
 and the Arabs, knowing this, searched and delved for them like we 
 do for gold. So, it is obvious that their numbers are gradually dimin- 
 ishing and the difficulty of locating them increasing. Moreover, as 
 recent discoveries and researches are making the history of ancient 
 Egypt better known, it becomes more interesting, and almost every 
 college and museum of note all over the world long and clamor for 
 one of these valued mementoes of antiquity. There are today seven 
 different private organizations, representing associations, in Europe 
 and America, excavating at various places in Egypt, to which they 
 have been assigned by the museum authorities, for they are not per- 
 mitted to choose, and if any object of value or interest is discovered, 
 the government reserves the right to sequester the same for the 
 Cairo Museum, which is surely just, for where should Egyptian relics 
 and Pharaohs rest if not in Egypt? If not under the soil, then they 
 should remain over the soil by the banks of the Nile. j I may add 
 that a mummy in good condition that is, one of the early dynasties, 
 
The with the body and the sarcophagus in fair preservation has not 
 Lady Isis in been found in two years. When discoveries cease, those existing will 
 Bohemia become almost invaluable. Except members of the hierarchy and the 
 castes that I have enumerated, all other Egyptians were buried with' 
 out coffins, piled loosely together in shallow pits on the desert's edge, 
 or placed in narrow chambers, one above the other, in the rocky 
 hills, like steamer berths. These were scarce concealed. Time opened 
 the doors, and their scattered bones were to be found contiguous to 
 every ancient cemetery. JSP While building the first railway in Egypt, 
 some forty years ago, the native laborers often lighted the evening 
 fires on the desert with the inflammable mummies of their ancestors. 
 Jf They have been bartered to chemists and the bodies ground for 
 medical purposes. The mummies which Cambyses or time has spared 
 avarice now consumes. "Misraim cures wounds and Pharaoh is sold 
 for balsams."i4pThe Lady Isis lived, loved, and vanished nearly three 
 thousand years past and gone. As indicated by the exquisite muslin 
 bands that enclose her mummy and the fine finish of the hieroglyphics 
 on the solid sycamore sarcophagus, she sprung from an opulent and 
 accredited family. Jf From the fact that she was a lady of the Court, 
 it is thought that her people were of the old aristocratic caste, rather 
 than those ennobled or enriched because of some signal service ren- 
 dered the Pharaohs.These latter, if, for example, they came from a suc- 
 cessful chieftain, or as the result of the warlike deeds of some heroic 
 ancestor, were usually chosen as the governors of provinces or the 
 heads of army divisions, distant from the Capital, for only after sev- 
 eral generations were their posterity permitted to mingle and asso- 
 ciate with the intimate religious and mysterious life of the Court. Jjf 
 When The Lady Isis lived, the Capital was Thebes, for she dwelt in 
 that intermediate age when Egypt was yet shining, though declining, 
 and before the foreigner came.The glory and renown of Thebes with 
 its hundred gates and marvelous memories had not faded. Jtf She 
 must have seen the splendid priestly processions advancing slowly 
 along the spacious highway bordering the bank of the Nile, and en- 
 closed between double rows of black granite impassive sphinxes, the 
 entire distance of two miles, from Thebes to Karnak-^She must 
 have seen and adored the godlike Pharaoh borne aloft by sable slaves, 
 on his brow the Ureaus or Asp, emblem of royalty, and his uncov- 
 
The ered hands holding the sceptre and the flail, emblems of a something 
 Lady Isis in far above royalty, for they represented and remembered Life and 
 Bohemia Death. jf She must have seen the high priest with his haughty port 
 and mien rivaling the Pharaoh himself on his lofty throne, and the 
 long line of leopard-clad priests, holding above, the many bright 
 symbols that glittered in the sunlight. She must have seen, following 
 these others, the company of black-robed women, proceeding with 
 dignified decorum priestesses of the temples of Isis, from whence 
 came the name of our guest. She must have seen and heard the many 
 harps with their almost Eolian melody, and the end of the cortege 
 in the dark-brown Ethiopians and lighter copper-colored Egyptian 
 soldiers bearing spears surmounted with images of Osiris, Isis,Thoth, 
 Anubis, and other Gods of the Egyptian pantheon, waved slowly to 
 and fro in the hasy, sultry, somber Nile atmosphere. Far away across 
 the sacred river to the west she could observe the Ramesseum, the 
 two colossi, the monuments of Medinet, and, above all, clinging to 
 the side of the hill like a Phoenix, the lovely temple of Queen Hat- 
 shepsu, with its scarlet walls and terraces, rivaling in their carmine 
 colors the setting sun whose dying rays illumined the granite group 
 of Hathor and Hatshepsu the goddess and the queen. uflFThe Egyp- 
 tians worshiped the sun under the name of Amon-Ra. The other 
 Gods had more or less local significance, except, of course, Osiris, who 
 typified a legend. Jf The legend runs that Osiris and Set were broth- 
 ers. Osiris married their sister, Isis. In revenge, Set slew Osiris and 
 secreted portions of his body in nineteen different places. Isis under- 
 took the grievous task of finding and uniting these severed portions 
 of her husband's remains to the head which she discovered at Aby- 
 dos. Therefore, at Abydos, which was to the Egyptians as Jerusalem 
 was to the Christians, or Mecca to the Moslems, Osiris sits forever 
 in judgment on the dead, while his brother Set indicates evil and 
 mischance. Jtf Isis, to whom women especially may appeal, dwells 
 on the earth. The offspring of Osiris and Isis was Horus, whose name 
 was later changed to Amon-Ra, the Sun. JJpThe Egyptians observed 
 that all light and life came from the sun, and that daily it went anew 
 its course. Jf Therefore, as life and existence both of themselves and 
 the earth depended upon its shining orb, it was not strange that to 
 it they gave all homage and adoration. Jtf There was nothing debased 
 
or uncanny in this belief. The Zoroastrians, or Parsees, hold it to The 
 this day. Their God was an active, beneficent being, who gave them Lady Isis in 
 warmth, and food, and light. How much more do we know today? Bohemia 
 How much wiser are we? Who can confute their tenet with superior 
 knowledge? How much more do we know, I say, even after the pas- 
 sage of so many centuries? For the rest, the ancient Egyptians were 
 the first of mankind to create what we call civilisation. ^jflFThey were 
 the very first race to arise from the marsh of primitive barbarism. 
 They enacted just and natural laws. They first wrote on stone and 
 paper. They explored the heavens. They constructed edifices which 
 yet endure. They were frugal, moral, and temperate. Their numbers 
 included artists and architects, statesmen and scribes. J& For forty 
 centuries they kept Egypt peaceful, happy, and unconquered, until 
 they were submerged by the waves of time, which sooner or later 
 reach us all, animate or inanimate. It was among these people that 
 The Lady Isis lived, and it was among these people that The Lady Isis 
 died. On the funerary boat her mummy was placed and transported 
 across the flowing Nile, fringed with bending palms and lofty papy- 
 rus'reeds. Her sarcophagus within and without was filled and cov 
 ered with the sacred and mysterious Iotus4eaves. Under the shadow 
 of the barren, burnt cliffs in whose unknown recesses were con" 
 cealed the bodies of forty 'two Pharaohs, all of whom had reigned 
 over Upper and Lower Egypt and their tributaries, even to the Black 
 Sea, had been excavated for The Lady Isis, beloved of priests and 
 people, her sepulchre deep down in the rocky glen and far from the 
 radiance of Amon-Ra. J^F Cunningly had they fashioned it, and cun' 
 ningly did they remove all traces of the place of sepulture. The harp- 
 ists sang their songs, the priests burnt the offerings to Osiris, and 
 the mourners went their way. 
 
 "Is Life a boon? 
 Then Death whene'er he call 
 Must call too soon." 
 
 J&F Well did the artisans do their work.The Lady Isis rested unknown 
 and forgotten under Egypt's soil, while generations and generations 
 lived and died. J&F The Persian, the Greek, the Roman, the Arab mar- 
 shaled their armies, and disappeared. Alexander, Hannibal, Caesar 
 
The drank of the Nile waters, and inscribed their names on the world's 
 Lady Isis in walls. The Macedonian phalanx, the Roman legion, the knightly Crii' 
 Bohemia saders disturbed not her slumber. The worship of Amon'Ra and the 
 old Gods faded like a sunbeam in the twilight. The stranger swept 
 over the land and brought new rituals, new religions. The Cross and 
 the Crescent mounted to the stars, and the tomb of the God Apis 
 moldered under the drifting sands. J& The glory and the renown of 
 Thebes vanished and gone are her hundred gates of bronze, from 
 each one of which issued a thousand armed men.Abydos is deserted, 
 Memphis a marsh, and On, the city of Plato, an obelisk. Overthrown 
 are her temples and desolate her cities. The Nile courses amid un- 
 known ruins, and her very language was forgotten, that language 
 which they carved in the solid granite that it might everlastingly 
 and forever guard their history; that very language was lost for cen' 
 turies and centuries. And now The Lady Isis herself is borne up' 
 ward from the dark dominions of Osiris to the radiance and efful' 
 gence of Amon'Ra. She is wafted from Egypt over oceans vast and 
 hemispheres; worlds unthought of and undreamt. She comes to a re' 
 gion where Amon'Ra reigns as serene and supreme as over her own 
 forsaken Egypt. Jtf And within that region lies the republic of Bo' 
 hernia, whence Care is banished and gentle Pleasure presides; whence 
 the storms of the world are stilled and peace prevails; a land that 
 will exist even longer than Egypt, for friendship and all charity build 
 and protect its temples. 
 
 To you, then, O Bohemians,! present The Lady Isis: 
 Born of the oldest East, she seeks her rest 
 In this fair City of the Youngest West. 
 I beseech you, guard her tenderly; 
 Preserve her, I pray you, forever and forever, 
 In this shrine of Bohemia, for she is the lonely presence 
 of a departed race. 
 
 J MR. FIELD, AS PRESIDENT OF THE CLUB, ACCEPTED 
 THE GIFT IN THE FOLLOWING TERMS: : Mr. Lynch, on be- 
 half of the Club I accept this addition to our treasures and express 
 our grateful appreciation of this notable gift. J& Because this pres- 
 entation is so much a matter of sentiment, I may be pardoned if I 
 
express Bohemia's appreciation in terms of a personal experience. The 
 
 Twenty years ago, a youngster came into membership in the Club Lady Isis in 
 
 and found in the companionship of Bohemia a wonderful elaboration Bohemia 
 
 of what he had supposed to belong only to the enchanted life of the 
 
 college campus which he had just left regretfully behind him. One 
 
 day he stood in the hallway by the library door before the glass case 
 
 which held the predecessor of The Lady Isis, and thought wistfully: 
 
 "What a night that must have been when such a gift was received 
 
 by Bohemia!" And in the midst of his new joy in the revelation of 
 
 the Club's significance he felt a pang of regret that he had come into 
 
 Bohemia just a little too late. Jtf Well, Time has played his strange 
 
 game, with the swing of twenty years, and has placed in the hands 
 
 of that same member the privilege of conducting just such another 
 
 night in Bohemia. I have had a very happy year as President of this 
 
 Club, and this night is a finale which could have had no place in the 
 
 dreams of that youngster, twenty years ago. And so, not only for the 
 
 Club, but for myself, I thank you, sir ! 
 
 
 uflFTHE UPPER PARTOFTHE SARCOPHAGUS WASTHEN 
 REMOVED, & AS THE SYCAMORE COFFIN CONSISTED 
 OF TWO EQUAL PARTS, THE BODY AND FACE WERE 
 CLEARLY SEEN SO FAR AS THE CLOSE-FITTING CLOTH 
 COVERINGS WOULD ADMIT. IN MEMORY OF THE LO- 
 TUS-FLOWERS WHICH FILLED HER COFFIN WHEN SHE 
 WAS INTERRED, THERE HAD BEEN PLACED IN PROFU- 
 SION OTHER FLOWERS RESEMBLING THE LOTUS, UN- 
 TIL THEYDROOPED OVER HER HEAD AND BODY WITH- 
 IN AND WITHOUT THE SARCOPHAGUS EVEN TO THE 
 BASE. THEN MR. HOTALING, STANDING DIRECTLY BE- 
 HIND THE COFFIN, WHICH WAS UPRIGHT IN THE 
 NICHE, SO THAT HE WAS NOT VISIBLE, BUT YET WITH 
 ADMIRABLE SKILL SO USING HIS VOICE THAT IT 
 SEEMED TO ISSUE FROM THE HEAD OF THE LADY ISIS, 
 RECITED THE ANNEXED POEM. THESE VERSES WERE 
 WRITTEN BYCHARLESWARREN STODDARD IN EIGHT- 
 EEN HUNDRED 6? NINETY-ONE, ON THE OCCASION OF 
 THE RECEPTION BY THE CLUB OF THE FIRST MUMMY, 
 
The AND MR. LYNCH BELIEVED NOTHING COULD BE BET- 
 
 Lady Isis in TER THAN TO HAVE THE SAME RECALLED AND RE- 
 
 Bohemia PEATED::THE DAUGHTER OF PHARAOH TO BOHEMIA: 
 
 Wherefore these revels that my dull eyes greet? 
 These dancers, dancing at my fleshless feet; 
 These harpers, harping vainly at my ears 
 Deaf to the world, lo! thrice a thousand years? 
 
 Time was when even I was blithe: I knew 
 The murmur of the flowing wave, where grew 
 The lean, lithe rushes;! have heard the moan 
 Of Nilus in prophetic undertone. 
 
 My sire was monarch of a mighty race: 
 Daughter of Pharaoh, I; before my face 
 Myriads of grovelling creatures crawled, to thrust 
 Their fearful foreheads in the desert dust. 
 
 Above me gleamed and glowed my palace walls: 
 There bloomed my bowers; and there, my waterfalls 
 Lulled me in languors; slaves with feather flails 
 Fretted the tranquil air to gentle gales. 
 
 O,my proud palms! my royal palms, that stood 
 In stately groups, a queenly sisterhood! 
 And O! my sphinxes, gating eye in eye, 
 Down the dim vistas of eternity. 
 
 Where be ye now? And where am I at last? 
 With gay Bohemia is my portion cast; 
 Born of the oldest East, I seek my rest 
 In the fair city of the youngest West. 
 
 Farewell, O Egypt! Naught can thee avail; 
 What tarries now to tell thy sorry tale? 
 A sunken temple that the sands have hid! 
 The tapering shadow of a pyramid! 
 
And now my children, harbour me not ill; The 
 
 I was a princess, am a woman still. Lady Isis in 
 
 Gibe me no gibes, but greet me at your best, Bohemia 
 As I was wont to greet the stranger guest. 
 
 Feast well, drink well, make merry while ye may, 
 For e'en the best of you must pass my way. 
 The elder as the youngster, fair to see, 
 Must gird his marble loins and follow me. 
 
 JfUR. FIELD THEN READ FROM THE PAPYRUS OF 
 THE LADY ISIS : : "So, then, on that evening when the young moon 
 hung above the temples by the Nile's green edge, I came into that 
 fane of Isis which is nearest the softly flowing river. Two slaves at" 
 tended, bringing in their hands heavy 'scented flowers for the divine 
 one whose name I bear, and a vessel filled with precious fragrances, 
 the breath of my prayer for her compassion. So came I, suppliant, to 
 her lofty hall. With mine own hands, alone there in her temple, I 
 laid my offerings at the feet of them who sit so solemnly before her. 
 Then prayed I from the depths of my uneasy heart, imploring the 
 goddess to grant me peace from the unwelcome wooing of Tahrak, 
 he the mightiest of the princes of Thebes. Jff And behold, how she 
 answered me the immortal Isis! Out of the vastness of her mercy 
 she heard and answered me! For lo, there came into the temple, like 
 a breaking of clear bells at sunrise, Chephren, the youth whom I had 
 followed with my eyes at Court and whom I dared not love, since 
 Heaven had set him lower than I on the steps of Pharaoh's throne. 
 But Isis had made us equals in the tender shadow of her temple; it 
 was her hand that led him to me, and I knew that it was well. Jtf 
 So therefore came he to me, while the young moon glittered in the 
 moving water and the ripple of the river in the reeds was like his 
 voice as he told me of his love. And him I answered joyously, and 
 together we danced in service to the goddess priest and priestess 
 we in the house of love. Jtf And behold, it was but mockery, for 
 Tahrak found us there Tahrak, the implacable. Black with rage he 
 came upon us in the temple, as though Isis had led us to each other's 
 arms and then turned away her eyes that she might not see the 
 geance of him whom I had scorned at Court. But Chephren fell 
 
The on his knees, humble before the prince, and implored him to spare 
 Lady Isis in the happiness that the goddess had given us. And when the dark 
 Bohemia prince mocked him and bade him begone, scorning to kill him, the 
 boy sprang upon Tahrak with a sudden dagger. But men may not 
 take Tahrak unawares. With a great laugh, he swept the young arm 
 aside and sent his own dagger home into the fairest body among 
 all the youth of Thebes. J&F And then, while my love lay in eternal 
 quiet at his feet, the murderer gave voice anew to the passion I de- 
 spised. And lo, Isis remembered me even then in the desperate hour; 
 it was she that made the temple light to flash from his jeweled dagger 
 to my wild eyes. Then I let my eyes soften with pretended love, and 
 I came near to him as though in yielding. Then snatched I the dagger 
 from his girdle and sent it deep into my own heart. Wounded al' 
 ready was that heart by a thrust of that same dagger, so that this 
 second blow gave no pain, only a sense of rest, of long, long sleep. 
 jffAnd behold, Anubis, conductor of the dead, rose from the dark 
 floor of the world and bore our souls to Osiris. And our cold bodies, 
 drest with the holy substances that save the flesh forever, and guarded 
 by eternal walls of stone, lie waiting in uninterruptible slumber for 
 the return of our souls, three thousand years from no vj"Jjf Three 
 thousand years! So long she has rested in what her biographer has 
 well termed "uninterruptible slumber." But she lies at last in a strange 
 land, thousands of leagues from the ruins of the Thebes she knew, 
 among a people who know her story only from the dim writing which 
 has lain with her in her age4ong sleep. But in that sleep of death 
 what dreams may come! Who of us in this room shall say that while 
 she waits in that painstaking faith of her ancient people for her soul's 
 return, the love'warm tragedy of her last hour does not revisit her 
 slumber. We look upon the ruins of that temple wherein she loved 
 and died. How may we know but that the bandaged hollows of her 
 eyes behold the perfect columns and the colossal gods that graced 
 this temple in her far-gone day; that the magic of the moon still stirs 
 the surface of the Nile for her; that even here, within this alien place, 
 she dreams again! J&J&J&J&J&J&J&J&J&J&J&J& 
 
 Jtf AFTER MR. FIELD HAD FINISHED, THE CURTAIN 
 ROSE SLOWLY ON A SCENE IN EGYPT ON THE NILE, TO 
 
The THE ACCOMPANIMENT OF MUSIC BY AN ORCHESTRA, 
 Lady Isis in INCLUDING SEVERAL HARPS. THE MUSIC, SOFT AND 
 Bohemia DREAMY, FILLED THE CHAMBER, WHILE THE PANTO- 
 MIME OF THE REINCARNATION BEGAN, DEVELOPED, 
 AND ENDED. JJJJJtfJJJlfJJ#J#J 
 
 Jtf FIFTEEN HUNDRED COPIES OF THIS BOOK WERE 
 PRINTED IN DECEMBER, NINETEEN HUNDRED AND 
 FOURTEEN, BY TAYLOR, NASH AND TAYLOR OF SAN 
 FRANCISCO FOR JEREMIAH LYNCH, AND BY HIM PRE- 
 SENTED TO THE MEMBERS OF THE BOHEMIAN CLUB. 
 ILLUSTRATIONS BY BOHEMIAN DAN SWEENEY. Jtf Jtf 
 
RETURN 
 
 CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT 
 
 198 Main Stacks 
 
 LOAN PERIOD 1 
 HOME USE 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS. 
 
 Renewls and Recharges may be made 4 days prior to the due date. 
 
 Books may be Renewed by calling 642-3405. 
 
 DUE AS STAMPED BELOW 
 
 FORM NO. DD6 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY 
 BERKELEY, CA 94720-6000 
 
U.C.BERKELEY LIBRARIES 
 
 CD43EDD333