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+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #60140 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/60140)
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-The Project Gutenberg eBook, New Paths through Old Palestine, by Margaret
-Slattery
-
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-
-
-
-Title: New Paths through Old Palestine
-
-
-Author: Margaret Slattery
-
-
-
-Release Date: August 20, 2019 [eBook #60140]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-
-***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NEW PATHS THROUGH OLD PALESTINE***
-
-
-E-text prepared by Richard Tonsing, MFR, and the Online Distributed
-Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made
-available by Internet Archive (https://archive.org)
-
-
-
-Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
- file which includes the original illustrations.
- See 60140-h.htm or 60140-h.zip:
- (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/60140/60140-h/60140-h.htm)
- or
- (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/60140/60140-h.zip)
-
-
- Images of the original pages are available through
- Internet Archive. See
- https://archive.org/details/newpathsthrougho00slatuoft
-
-
-Transcriber’s note:
-
- Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
-
-
-
-
-
-NEW PATHS THROUGH OLD PALESTINE
-
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Instead of the soft-footed camels, the motor truck stood at the gates
- of the Holy City.]
-
-
-NEW PATHS THROUGH OLD PALESTINE
-
-by
-
-MARGARET SLATTERY
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Printed in U. S. A.
-
-The Pilgrim Press.
-Boston Chicago
-
-Copyright 1921
-by
-Sidney A. Weston
-
-The Pilgrim Press
-Boston
-
-
-
-
-
- TO
-
- M. R. H.
-
- THE UNDERSTANDING COMPANION
- OF THE PILGRIMAGE
-
-
-
-
- A WORD ABOUT THE NEW PATHS
-
-
-From our earliest childhood when at Christmas time we gazed with intense
-interest at the Wise-men on their gaily caparisoned camels, those great
-awkward ships of the desert have been associated in our minds with
-Palestine. The Child held close in Mary’s arms as she sat upon the
-donkey while Joseph urged it on through the day and the night in the
-hurried flight into Egypt has made that faithful little beast a part of
-Palestine.
-
-We saw both the donkeys with loaded panniers driven along by wandering
-Arabs and the strings of camels, soft-footed, heads held proudly high,
-moving off over the yellow sands up to the hills. But we sat in a modern
-train, with comfortable leather seats, and a madly puffing engine
-dragged us over the wind-blown sands up through the hills of Judea to
-the little modern station just without the walls of Jerusalem. Once when
-we stopped at old Lydda we heard a rushing, whirring sound over our
-heads. It grew louder and, as we searched the sky, a plane swept out
-from the soft clouds into the clear blue, came down nearer, nearer to
-earth, rose again, and passed out of sight. It had come from the City of
-Zion: it would go into Egypt.
-
-The Wilderness, the Dead Sea and the forty long years of wandering, the
-victories over the Philistines, the waters of Jordan parted for the
-passing of the hosts of Jehovah, the tumbling walls of Jericho, the
-spots where “the arm of the Lord prevailed”: with these we had long been
-familiar. They were associated in our minds with tents, with much
-cattle, with slow beasts of burden, with men, women, and children who
-moved leisurely in times of peace and fled in wild confusion in times of
-war.
-
-The Wilderness, the Dead Sea, the Jordan, and Jericho we saw. A motor
-car driven by the son of an Arab chief took us over and past them all in
-less than a day!
-
-Old Palestine still lies between the great desert and the seas. The
-women still grind the corn, stand gossiping about the well, and wrap
-their babies in swaddling clothes. The shepherds wander through the bare
-hills with their sheep and lead them, when spring comes, to the green
-pastures and the still waters. But there are _New Paths Through Old
-Palestine_. They cross age-worn desert-ways, go down into the shadows of
-deep valleys, climb hoary mountains, follow Elijah’s chariot through
-great spaces of the sky. The new paths bring new days fraught with
-possibilities. In time they _may_ bring a new Palestine: not the mystic
-land of the Zionists but the promised land of which the prophets and
-poets of Israel sang. Old Palestine died in nineteen-fourteen with the
-rest of the world that was and will never be again. New Palestine is
-born. What its future shall be depends upon the souls of those who
-follow the new paths. They may lead only to temporary triumph, to the
-selfish goals of the kingdoms of men: they _may_ lead to the Kingdom of
-God.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Margaret Slattery.]
-
- NOVEMBER 1, 1921.
-
- “_Ah no! that sacred land
- Where fell the wearied feet of the lone Christ
- Robs not the soul of faith._”
- —_Richard Watson Gilder._
-
-
-
-
- CONTENTS
-
-
- PAGE
-
- I GO UP TO JERUSALEM 3
-
- I GO OVER TO BETHLEHEM 21
-
- I GO DOWN TO JERICHO 39
-
- I GO TO BETHANY 61
-
- I GO OUT TO THE MOUNT OF OLIVES 79
-
- I GO TO THE GARDEN 97
-
- I GO DOWN INTO EGYPT 113
-
-
-
-
- I GO UP TO JERUSALEM
-
-
- _Our feet are standing
- Within thy gates, O Jerusalem,
- Jerusalem, that art builded
- As a city that is compact together.—
- Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
- Peace be within thy walls,
- And prosperity within thy palaces._
-
- _Praise Jehovah, O Jerusalem;
- Praise thy God, O Zion,
- For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates;
- He hath blessed thy children within thee.
- He maketh peace in thy borders._
- —_Psalms 122, 147._
-
-
-
-
- I GO UP TO JERUSALEM
-
-
-There was a moon that night. Now it was half hidden by soft clouds, now
-clear, brilliant, white against a velvet sky. We stood crowded close to
-the heavy ropes stretched across the bridge, which had swung open to
-permit one boat after another to pass. We were at Kantara on the Suez.
-Across the canal was the train dimly lighted, standing on the tracks
-that seemed half buried in the soft, yellow, desert sand. We waited
-impatiently. Nearly three hours had passed since the train from Port
-Said had left us there to attend to baggage and troublesome passports,
-and to eat a meager supper from boxes brought with us from the Port.
-
-Now a Japanese boat passed slowly along the canal; then a smaller craft
-with cargo, flying the Dutch flag; a British boat brilliantly lighted,
-its passengers, many of them in uniform, dancing on deck. The canal is
-so narrow that great ships must creep slowly and carefully along, with
-no place for miles where one boat may pass another. It is a miracle,
-this Suez Canal, and the story of its building a most fascinating tale.
-Its banks are scarred by the battles of the great war. Barbed wire, old
-dugouts, the remains of hastily constructed forts reminded us of the
-desperate struggle made by the Allies to protect it against the enemy in
-the air and under the water. Had any one of their many attempts
-successfully closed the canal, the war would have had a very different
-ending.
-
-We had just spent nineteen and one-half hours coming through the canal
-at the slow speed permitted by law—five miles an hour. Even then our
-boat twice grazed the retaining wall. In a single year over three
-thousand boats passed through the locks, crept along through the canal,
-then hurried to far ports, east or west.
-
-As the fifth boat swung lazily past, a sigh of relief went up from the
-crowd pressed against the ropes. A moment and the great bridge moved
-back into place and we were given the signal to cross. It was a weird
-group that hurried along in the moonlight—a party of Americans, a group
-of British officers, some Australian soldiers, Jews from Russia
-clutching their permits to enter the land of promise, Egyptians,
-Syrians, Arabs in native dress. There were but few women. Our porter
-found us seats close to the window in one of the compartments. We were
-sorry for this later, as the fine sand sifted in and covered clothing
-and baggage. No sleeping-car was possible, so we made ourselves as
-comfortable as we could with bags for pillows and heavy coats for
-blankets. We were most grateful for this railroad from Kantara to
-Jerusalem, realizing that before the war we would have been compelled to
-make the inconvenient and dangerous landing in the small boats at Jaffa.
-
-We made our way slowly through the night across the desert that
-stretched as far as the eye could reach in the moonlight and slipped
-away into blackness when the moon had set. What it had cost the men who
-had laid those ties in that wilderness of sand, under the scorching rays
-of a pitiless sun, no history of war can adequately relate. How often in
-those days, as we looked reverently at old battlegrounds, we searched
-for words with which to describe the miracles performed by the
-engineering corps of the fighting armies!
-
-With the morning light, we began to see signs of life on the desert.
-Great masses of cacti, in clumps as tall as trees, with stems as thick
-as a man’s body, were growing but a few feet from our windows. Here,
-during the war, the enemy had hidden their machine guns, a refuge from
-which they might safely do their deadly work, practically certain that
-they could not be captured. Many a brave soldier of the Allies gave up
-his life in agony, caught in the cactus hedge to which the rush of
-battle had driven him, and many an heroic rescue of a comrade held by
-the cruel thorns took place on that desert plain. When the cactus growth
-cleared and the desert was unbroken we stared in amazement at what
-seemed to be a line of dark earth—a road made in the shifting sand. When
-we got nearer we found it to be strips of chicken wire. This wire was
-the solution of a problem that at first threatened to tie up all the
-plans of Headquarters, for the heavy artillery and the loaded motor
-lorries, sinking deep into the sand, made progress impossible. The wire
-road was the result of the ingenuity of some of the men in the ranks. As
-the fine and coarse net used alternately pressed down upon the sand it
-gave the resistance that enabled the great guns and loads of supplies to
-pass over places otherwise uncrossable. When they had passed, soldiers
-rolled up the wire, loaded it on the camels to be used again over some
-hard stretch ahead. The war over, it lay there rusting in the sand.
-
-Again and again, as one crossed the battlefields of Palestine, he saw
-evidences of the triumph of man’s mind over earth’s obstacles. Nothing
-was too ordinary, too commonplace, too insignificant to be used to
-further the success of the great cause. For fresh supplies of food and
-water, for “heavies” with which to batter down the defenses of the
-enemy, the army was for a time dependent upon temporary tracks of
-chicken wire laid in a waste of moving sand!
-
-Against the horizon we could see the slow moving train of camels. A
-group of Arabs on horseback halted to watch us pass. We were in
-Palestine, that land of small distances and great deeds.
-
-“I cannot believe that I am in Palestine,” said the young daughter of a
-British officer who was to see her father for the first time in four
-years. “I have not been able to think of it as a real land. I know, in a
-way, that Moses and Joshua fought here. But think of father’s fighting
-here, too!” The girl had expressed the thought of hundreds of others who
-have studied the Bible stories, become familiar with the difficult
-names, drawn maps and located the cities of Moses and of Paul, marked
-the journeyings of Christ, but to whom the land has never been a real
-land and its records, shrouded in vague mystery, have never seemed a
-part of the earth. But now we knew it to be real. We began to comprehend
-“the wilderness and the solitary place.”
-
-It is only about the size of my own state of Massachusetts, I told
-myself again and again. Its greatest length is but one hundred eighty
-miles and it is nowhere more than fifty-five miles wide. If I had the
-railways and engines of home I could cross it in less than two hours. I
-could travel its entire length easily in five or six. But the present
-train, with its light engine, on a roadbed hastily made, parts of it
-finished under fire from enemy guns, moves slowly. We are stopping at
-Gaza.
-
-Once Gaza was the largest city of the old country of the Philistines. I
-can almost see Samson, strong and powerful, coming down over the hill
-called today Samson’s Ridge, bearing the great city gates upon his
-shoulders while men stood aghast. I can see him too, blinded and
-powerless, walking the treadmill of his enemies. As I look out over the
-desert road, I remember the Ethiopian struggling to find the meaning of
-the words of the prophet Isaiah and young Philip running by his chariot,
-eagerly responding to the invitation to sit with him and explain the
-prophecy. Riding along through the dust, I can hear him talking with the
-ruler about Jesus and what He had taught of God and man; and,
-half-astonished at the quick response, I can hear the Ethiopian, as they
-came near to a place with water, saying, “Behold, here is water, what
-doth hinder me to be baptized?” But I am brought back suddenly from the
-long past. Men in British uniform are on the platform of the little
-station. They follow the mail bag eagerly, joking each other in clear
-English accents about the probable contents.
-
-For eight months in nineteen hundred and seventeen, Gaza became again
-the center of a great battle area. We could see the remains of the
-Turkish trenches, dug deep into the earth and protected by great masses
-of wire or by sand bags made from the gay colored hangings and curtains
-taken from the houses of its people. But in spite of all their careful
-preparations and their gallant defence, Gaza fell into the hands of the
-British troops whose splendid officers and men had braved heat, terrible
-thirst, sand-storms, deadly fire that robbed them of hundreds of their
-comrades, that they might take this important post on the road that was
-to lead them through untold suffering up to Jerusalem, as it had led
-other armies of days long ago. The British Tommies read their Bibles in
-their spare time these days. They read over again the battles of
-Israelites and Philistines which they had found very stupid when they
-were boys in Sunday schools but which are exceedingly interesting to
-them now. As they fought, step by step, for possession of that same
-land, they asked themselves if, battling against a foe to whom the
-desert was home, on trackless wastes whose every spring and rock was
-known, they could ever win. Never for a moment did they hesitate in
-their answer, but many a brave young officer and many a hardy soldier of
-Australia or New Zealand must have had misgivings as he looked at the
-cactus hedge, miles deep, or out over the still, barren, hopeless desert
-hills.
-
-We left Gaza to climb slowly up to Lydda, now called Ludd, where we were
-obliged to change cars. On all sides were signs of the fighting of two
-years before, and now and then white crosses or Turkish graves reminded
-us of the terrible price youth has paid throughout the long centuries of
-history to make this land holy indeed.
-
-As we climbed up into the hills, it began to rain, the air was fresh and
-cool, the vineyards here and there on the hillsides brought great relief
-after the glare of the sands through which we had been passing for so
-many hours. Our first glimpse of Jerusalem was in the soft mist through
-which the sun was attempting to shine. The walls looked high and
-forbidding, the whole city, from its point of vantage crowning the
-hilltops, seemed to look down upon us as though we were but very little
-things, little and unimportant, come to gaze, without half understanding
-what we should see, upon all man has dreamed and suffered in his reach
-for God and happiness.
-
-A thrill of anticipation had passed up and down the corridor of the
-train. Not a person sat in his compartment. Corridor windows were opened
-and eager faces crowded about them. The face of the young girl who was
-to see her father after the four years of separation was flushed with
-excitement, but the face of her mother was pale and there were tears in
-her eyes. She had given her two sons—one in France and one in
-Mesopotamia—to the world’s great effort to preserve its freedom. I shall
-never forget the light in the eyes of two thin, haggard, long-bearded
-Hebrews, looking out from the windows, then turning to speak with each
-other in Russian words that, though unintelligible to us, seemed to be
-on fire with passion. Their gestures were expressive of emotion that
-could not be restrained. Long before the train stopped they were at the
-door.
-
-The faces of young British officers on leave, coming up for the first
-time to see the city for whose delivery they had prepared the way down
-on the dry parched plain, were keen with interest; no detail of the
-approach escaped them. The residents accustomed to the journeyings from
-the Port to the city looked at us all with mild curiosity and kind
-tolerance.
-
-From the station, the horses dragged us up through gray mud that flew
-about us in showers, covering carriage, baggage, and robes,—there was no
-escape from it. From the mist the walls of the “city of cities” emerged,
-clear, strong, unbroken, no mark of battle upon them. As we went through
-the great gate, the sun, breaking through the mist, flooded with light,
-for a few moments, the narrow street and brightened the faces of the
-crowd of people of every nation that poured ceaselessly in and out. We
-stopped before the hotel that during the war had served as the Red
-Crescent Hospital. Lunch was waiting and we sat down with the Mohammedan
-in his red fez, the Bedouin in his long, beautiful, gay-colored coat,
-the French officer and the British officer on leave, Jewish business
-men, the Greek and the Syrian—the world, it seemed to us as we listened
-to the various languages. All orders for food were given in French, and
-in French men of different nations spoke with each other in courteous
-greeting.
-
-We were in Jerusalem. Here Samuel sat; here at the gate was David’s
-tower; King Solomon once lived over there on the hill in his glittering
-palace and by his wealth and wisdom made himself famous throughout the
-world, and here he lost his wisdom as has many another in the courts of
-the women. Herod and Pilate looked out over these hills; the Crusader
-stormed the walls and the Turk brought terror and slavery with his
-sword. Twenty-three times in its history Jerusalem has been captured. It
-has been pillaged, plundered, burned, utterly destroyed, rebuilt only to
-be plundered again. Yet here it stood. Upon what unspeakable sorrow the
-stars of Palestine have looked down! We gazed from our balcony out over
-the low buildings of solid rock, out through the break in the wall made
-that the Kaiser, on his visit to the Holy Place, might enter in great
-pomp and glory with his impressive army of followers, the break redeemed
-by the simplicity of the entrance of the victorious General Allenby into
-the city that he had conquered without the destruction of a single
-building or a foot of wall and accepted, when surrendered, as a sacred
-trust placed once more in the hands of Christians. It may be that the
-white crosses in long rows, out on the hillside, guarding the graves of
-soldiers from every part of the British Empire, young, very young, will
-continue to remind these latest conquerors of the tremendous cost of the
-victory that left the city unharmed and help them govern the land with
-an unselfishness of purpose that will measure up to the high standard of
-their victory.
-
-After lunch we found that dark clouds had gathered low over the hills,
-and before we could leave our room the rain came. We studied the map of
-the city, searched out the location of its sacred places, read over
-again the words of poet and prophet describing the days of its great
-glory, when from Mount Zion king and shepherd could look over at Mount
-Moriah where the smoke of the sacrifice from the temple of Jehovah
-ascended to heaven.
-
-Late in the afternoon the rising wind scattered the clouds and the sun
-set in a blaze of glory. We stood just outside the gate on the city wall
-looking down across the valley over toward Bethlehem. The hills, deep
-purple, reached up on every side to touch the sky. Their bare rocky
-slopes became soft as velvet in the fading light.
-
-A young British private, leaning against a part of the parapet, took out
-a khaki Testament and turned the leaves slowly. He seemed to find what
-he wanted and read, following the lines with his finger. Then he closed
-the book, put it back in his pocket and turned, half apologetically to a
-companion not in uniform.
-
-“We fought out there,” he said, “the 53rd division. We fought around the
-very hills where the angels sang about Peace on earth.”
-
-A moment of silence and the other spoke: “Yonder is the road He must
-have climbed when He came up to Jerusalem.”
-
-“I’ll take you over it tomorrow,” was the answer. “We’ll see all the
-places where He used to go. It makes the story in the Book very plain.”
-
-They moved away. Reluctantly, in the face of coming darkness, we left
-the great wall and joined the group of Arabs who, with camels and
-donkeys, were passing in and out of the gate. As we climbed the long
-stairs to our room, we remembered that tomorrow would be Sunday at home.
-In thousands of churches all over the world, trusting little children,
-strong, courageous youth, men and women bearing heavy burdens, the old,
-the sick, the missionaries would read the story of what He did and said
-centuries before, in and about Jerusalem—the story that, despite the
-limitations of those who have told it, has changed the world and that
-must continue to change it until it shall become what He prayed it might
-be—the kingdom of God upon the earth. Tomorrow we, like the young
-soldier in khaki, would begin our journeys to “all the places where He
-used to go.” And we hoped that for us, too, the sacred spots would “make
-the story in the Book very plain.”
-
-In a long procession with torches the worshipers of the Greek church,
-chanting an evensong for their feast day, passed beneath our balcony. A
-torch lighted up the cross held high over the heads of the marchers. Out
-over the hills of Bethlehem, hidden now by the night, bright stars were
-shining. We fell upon our knees and worshiped Him.
-
-
-
-
- I GO OVER TO BETHLEHEM
-
-
- _There was a baby born in Bethlehem.
- I know they say
- That this and that’s in doubt, and, for the rest
- That learned men who surely should know best
- Explain how myths crept in, and followers’ tales confused the truth._
-
- _I know—but anyway
- There was a baby born in Bethlehem
- Who lived and grew and loved and healed and taught
- And died—but not to me.
- When Christmas comes I see Him still arise,
- The gentle, the compassionate, the wise,
- Wiping Earth’s tears away, stilling her strife;
- Calling, “My path is Peace; My way is Life!”_
- —_Author Unknown._
-
-
-
-
- I GO OVER TO BETHLEHEM
-
-
-It was clear and cold. The hills of Moab were deep blue. They seemed
-very near. In a low carriage that bore every mark of long service, drawn
-by two thin dark horses and driven by an Arab in a dull brown Bedouin
-coat, with the long, heavy head-dress falling over his shoulders and
-protecting him from rain or sun, we drove out through the gate. Dark
-eyes watched us curiously. The horses at first were swift of foot and
-the carriage lurched and rolled down the steep grade of the valley of
-Hinnom, past the former German colony, over the new bridge; then, losing
-their enthusiasm, they climbed slowly. On a hillside the sheep were
-feeding, but how they could find enough to sustain life on those bare
-rocky slopes is hard to understand. Now we passed a flock following the
-shepherd in his vari-colored coat down a steep incline and through a
-valley which in the rainy season would be a rushing stream. We could
-hear the lambs call, and now and then the shepherd’s reprimand to a
-straying sheep. Over there were the fields of Boaz. How beautiful they
-must have looked when the heavy sheaves of wheat were yellow in the sun.
-The land of Moab seemed such a short distance away as we who had been
-half-way round the world thought of distance, but to loyal, faithful,
-loving Ruth those desert plains, rounded hills, and deep valleys meant
-distance enough to separate her forever from the home and kindred she
-must leave behind. The brave words came back to us: “Whither thou goest,
-I will go; thy people shall be my people and thy God my God.” She
-deserved the happiness she won out there in the fields as she followed
-the reapers. As if agreeing with our unspoken thoughts our guide turned
-and looked down at us. “Boaz, the owner of the field, married Ruth, the
-Moabite girl. She was very beautiful,” he said.
-
-The wind was bleak on the hilltop as it was that night centuries ago and
-we were glad when we reached the protection of the low stone houses of
-the village of Bethlehem. Such a tiny village! Nothing was left of the
-glory of that other day when the busy tax-gatherers checked up the names
-of the people and the keeper of the Inn hurried about trying in vain to
-find room for his guests, when officers of the army in resplendent
-uniform and civil officers proud and haughty made every Jewish pilgrim
-conscious of the power of great Rome.
-
-Nothing remains of the old inn or khan which was crowded on that night
-to its very gates. Thankful indeed must both Joseph and Mary have been
-for the protection of the cave with its great manger hewn out of the
-rock. Over that spot to which they went so gratefully for shelter now
-stands the Church of the Nativity. It is a simple beautiful church, but
-the shrines within are garish indeed.
-
-By General Allenby’s command, the high forbidding walls of stone that
-have so long divided the interior and marred its beauty have been taken
-down. The walls had formerly separated the church into sections claimed
-by the various faiths. The nave of the church belongs to the Greeks, one
-transept to the Coptic Christians, the other to the Armenians. The
-Romanists have built a church and monastery close beside the little
-church of the Nativity, but worshipers could only reach the grotto to
-kneel at the manger of stone through a devious, difficult underground
-path. When the Turks captured Palestine they compelled the Armenians to
-open a passage through their wall that the Romanists might enter. As we
-stepped into the church we heard the chanting of their choir, and soon
-through the door in the Armenian transept came priests and altar boys in
-the rich robes of the church to say mass. We stood aside until they had
-passed and only the echo of their voices could be heard floating up from
-the cave below.
-
-Ever since the coming of the Turks, Christmas and Easter services have
-been marred by desperate quarreling and bloodshed. At each service
-Turkish soldiers were on guard and swords and guns punished offenders
-but were unable to prevent the paying of old scores by Armenian and
-Romanist, Copt and Greek. The British general was exceedingly anxious
-that no such quarrels should mar the celebration of the first Christmas
-and Easter after the return of the holy places into the hands of
-Christians, to be theirs no matter what their creeds might be. In many
-languages, he made his appeal to the people. The American Colony of
-Jerusalem was asked to be present at the services to help quiet any
-trouble-makers, but they did not wish to assume the responsibility.
-Therefore certain individual members of the Red Cross Commission
-answered the General’s appeal, and were present all day at the services,
-quietly warning any of the rougher element who, as in the past days,
-attempted to start trouble by taunting words. Not a British soldier was
-present. The Commission members, wise, alert, and friendly, did their
-work well and the day passed in dignified impressive worship for the
-first time since the Turks took the Holy City. The General expressed his
-gratitude in most cordial notes of thanks to the men who had so
-successfully endeavored to carry out his wishes.
-
-We waited until the mass was over and then, with our lighted candles,
-went down into the shadowy grotto. Myth and legend, superstitions weird
-and fantastic have gathered about all the sacred places. While these
-things mean little to the modern Christian, he is bound to respect the
-reverent belief in them held by many of his comrades in the faith. With
-confidence the guide tells of the hundreds of years the fire in the
-hidden place has burned, not once going out, just as it has burned in
-the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem. If, as one kneels and
-prays, holding his taper close to the opening, it is lighted by the
-unseen holy fire, rich blessings will come to him and those he loves.
-
-I shall never forget the thin, tired, sorrow-marked face of an Armenian
-woman whose taper, as she knelt murmuring prayers, suddenly caught the
-sacred flame. It was transformed. She went up the shadowy steps in a
-transport of joy. Nor shall I soon forget the face of a Russian woman as
-she swayed back and forth on her knees in an agony of prayer. When at
-last she rose she could not stand and a kindly attendant steadied her.
-He spoke to her in Russian and they talked softly for a moment. She was
-in Jerusalem on a pilgrimage when the war broke out. Her husband, her
-son, and a son-in-law were in the Russian army. Of them she had had no
-word. She had received a month since confirmation of the news of the
-death of her two daughters in prison. She could not go back to her home
-in the hot-bed of Bolshevism. She took a taper from the hand of a priest
-and went toward the place of the holy fire.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- _Copyright, Underwood & Underwood_
-
- “’Twas a humble birthplace, but oh, how much God gave to us that day!”]
-
-I was glad when we were in the fresh crisp air again, wandering through
-the streets of the little village, stopping for a few moments for coffee
-with a Syrian shopkeeper who wanted to sell us olive-wood beads with a
-beautiful carved cross as pendant. His son, a boy of twelve, spoke
-English. The father brought him out proudly. He attended a Quaker school
-for boys over in Ramallah and was having a holiday. The souvenirs
-offered for our inspection were poor tawdry things, but the faces of the
-salesmen were so eager that we could not disappoint them. Visitors had
-been exceedingly rare during the years of the war and curious friendly
-eyes followed us hopefully everywhere. There had been great excitement
-in the village that morning. An Indian prince who was a Christian had
-visited the church, had left a gift for the priests, had made purchases
-in all the little shops—his taper had been lighted by the holy fire.
-
-We were just about to go back to our carriage when, turning the corner
-abruptly, we were face to face with the young Britisher and his friend
-who had stood on the wall with us in the sunset the night before. He was
-pointing out over the hills. We smiled our recognition and asked if we
-too might hear of the coming of the army to Bethlehem.
-
-“There is not much to tell,” he said, in the way of those who have
-risked all in battle. He told us a little about the difficulty of the
-fighting in the Judean Hills, the gigantic task of feeding the army and
-supplying it with water, the intense sufferings of the men in the cold
-drizzling rain and the chilling wind on the hills. Wrapping our own
-coats tightly about us, we could understand something of what they must
-have endured lying out on the bare unprotected hillsides as they did
-those nights before the city of Jerusalem was captured. After a moment
-he pointed out to us the hill Beit Jabor two miles northwest of
-Bethlehem won by the Welsh Division troops and opening the door for the
-entrance into Bethlehem, showed us the great house just south of
-Bethlehem where the Turks had seven mountain guns turned upon the road
-over which the troops must pass. But a thick heavy impenetrable fog
-settled down and, taking the risk, the heavy guns of the British passed
-up the road within easy reach of the enemy had they known. “Whenever a
-fog settled down like that, to our advantage, the boys would say, ‘the
-Lord sent a great fog,’ or ‘the Lord hath covered the moon with a
-cloud’; but when rain or moonlight favored the enemy they said nothing.”
-He smiled. “The war is over,” he said, “yet it seems as if at any moment
-this silence might be interrupted by the booming of a gun.” “God
-forbid!” said our guide fervently. “We have had enough of guns.” We
-echoed his words heartily as we said a warm word of appreciation of what
-British arms had done and went back to our carriage.
-
-Two miles or more outside the village we looked down upon the place of
-Rachel’s tomb. There have been few more beautiful stories of devoted
-service for love than that of Jacob who had “loved Rachel” and laid her
-there with a breaking heart. The simple, homely record of the joys and
-sorrows of every-day life written in the Book that is so full of human
-interest seems very real indeed as one looks into the faces of men and
-women about him, almost any one of whom might have played the part of
-hero or heroine without change of costume on a stage with scenery set. A
-little further down the long hill we stopped while the guide pointed to
-the place where the shepherds had watched their flocks. It was a plain
-lying close between the higher hills. Even on a chilly night it would be
-a sheltered spot and, huddled dose together with the fire blazing near
-and the watchman at the gate of the fold, shepherds and sheep would be
-safe and warm. So they lay that night when the dark sky was suddenly
-flooded with light and voices sang over the awestruck hills of Judea.
-
-We looked back at the little spot on the hill that was Bethlehem, where
-that night was born the baby who turned the world upside down—the baby
-who inspired the world’s best art, its finest literature, its greatest
-music,—there in that little town with its stone houses, its irregular
-streets, its simple people struggling with poverty! There was Bethlehem,
-the city of David, the shepherd boy of the hills, strongest and best of
-all the sons of Jesse, born to be a king and through his long line of
-descendants at last to give to the world the King of kings.
-
-When we stopped at the desk for our keys and to ask for a fire in the
-little square stove in our room the clerk, in hesitating, careful
-English, said, “You have found it cold out on the hills. You have seen
-Bethlehem. It is a small place, Bethlehem. There is little there that a
-man may do. Many travelers are disappointed by Bethlehem.”
-
-“That depends upon how much one sees when he looks at Bethlehem,” I
-thought. For me it held no disappointment.
-
-That night in the great hall, around the stove that could not warm it,
-men talked of the future of Palestine. A good friend, who understood
-many languages and spoke Arabic fluently, interpreted much of the talk
-for us. The present population of Palestine, Jews, Christians and
-Mohammedans, is not even a million! Jews and Christians together number
-perhaps less than one-third. The Mohammedans make up most of the
-population and are found in every city and village. Arabic is the
-language of the people, but in Jerusalem and in Jaffa most European
-languages are freely spoken. The people who live in the towns are called
-Madaniyeh, the villagers are the Fellaheen, and those who live in tents,
-whom we called Bedouin, are Arabs. Despite its rocky, unpromising
-hillsides and its deserts, Palestine is an agricultural country and that
-must be its future, the men told each other. Wheat and barley, maize and
-lentils, figs, watermelons, grapes, pomegranates, mulberries, apricots,
-tomatoes, oranges, and olives could be easily raised. We heard glowing
-descriptions of the Jaffa oranges and some sent later to our room
-fulfilled all that had been said of them. There was much talk of the day
-when the cultivation of raisins and the manufacture of olive oil would
-make men rich; talk of the bananas that could be made to grow in large
-quantities at Jericho and of the date palms that would make Gaza prosper
-once more. There must be new plows, new machinery of many sorts. They
-talked of the Zionist movement, but the talk was cut short by an Arab
-who would not hear of it and, as some faces darkened and voices grew
-louder, our friend rose and took us to our room. Sometimes in these days
-a friendly talk about Palestine’s future ends in hot words and even
-blows. The Arab does not want Palestine to be passed over into the hands
-of the Jews. Many of the Jerusalem Jews express no pleasure whatever
-over an influx of their brothers from many lands. The problems of
-Palestine today are very grave and only great wisdom, unselfishness and
-patience will solve them.
-
-After trying in vain to warm ourselves over our small wood stove we put
-on our heavy coats and stepped out upon our little balcony. There was no
-moon. Save for a light over the Jaffa gate and soft rays from the
-windows of our hotel, Jerusalem was dark. The narrow little street at
-our left was black. The stars were clear, sparkling, very near. One star
-seemed larger and brighter than all the rest. As if unconscious of my
-presence my friend sang softly:
-
- “O little town of Bethlehem,
- How still we see thee lie!
- Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
- The silent stars go by.
- Yet in thy dark streets shineth,
- The everlasting Light;
- The hopes and fears of all the years
- Are met in thee tonight.”
-
-We hurried to our beds with their gay colored hangings and lay buried
-under blankets and rugs for warmth. For a long time, gazing out into the
-darkness, I could see the star.
-
-O little town of Bethlehem! Small indeed—but spreading over all the
-earth. Only a few days before in America millions of children had heard
-its story, hugged their precious gifts, and thought of the angels and
-the shepherds. Thousands of parents, forgetting the pressure of dull
-gray days, filled with problems of food, clothing and shelter had smiled
-upon their own children and thought tenderly of the Child, and many men
-and women without a child to love remembered the days of their own
-childhood and greeted each other with “Merry Christmas.” Small
-indeed—but I had heard the children of Japan with beaming faces sing its
-story; I had heard the youth of China with strong, beautifully serious
-faces tell of white gifts to be given in the name of the Child who found
-His way into the world out there on the hilltop of Judea; in India I had
-heard the story told by a girl whose face shone in the telling, as rows
-and rows of little dark faces looked up at her. I knew that in the sands
-of African deserts, in the snows of Arctic lands, in the farthermost
-islands of the sea, they had heard of Bethlehem. A long line of familiar
-words surged through my mind—democracy, freedom, liberty, justice for
-all, the brotherhood of man, love—as women may say it in Christian
-lands: ... how many of them were also born with Him that night in
-Bethlehem!
-
-No, “thou Bethlehem in the land of Judah art not the least among the
-princes of Judah, for out of thee shall come a ruler ... and his name
-shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father,
-Prince of Peace.”
-
-The wounded, hungry, puzzled world—the memory of the sufferings I had
-looked upon pressed hard upon me. I closed my eyes to pray that men may
-have the courage so to love and the faith so to act that the Prince may
-soon come into the possession of His kingdom.
-
-When I opened my eyes, low over the hills against the blackness of the
-sky the star was still shining.
-
-
-
-
- I GO DOWN TO JERICHO
-
-
- “_He passed by on the other side._”
-
- _That ‘other side’ is trodden smooth
- And worn by footsteps passing all the day;
- Where lie the bruised ones faint and torn
- Is seldom more than an untrodden way.
- Our selfish hearts are for our feet the guide,
- They lead us by upon the other side._
- —_Author Unknown._
-
-
-
-
- I GO DOWN TO JERICHO
-
-
-An interested group surrounded us that morning at nine o’clock as the
-car which was to take us down to the Dead Sea and the Jordan drew up to
-the door of the hotel. I call it a car by courtesy. It had seen hard
-service. It had a battered running board, a mudguard with many dents, a
-front seat bending in the middle to the breaking point, no windshield
-and no horn. We protested, but our guide said it was the best that could
-be had.
-
-“It is the engine that is important,” he said, “the engine and the brake
-both are good. As for the horn, no fear—he is a horn with his mouth.” He
-was a most successful human horn as we found when we passed through the
-gate into the traffic outside the wall. Our guide was not an enthusiast
-on the subject of motor vehicles. As we swept around the hairpin curves
-he was restless. “The Arab is not the temperament for a driver of cars,”
-he said seriously, “he is the temperament for a horse.” And again after
-a pause, “It is well to go to Jericho in a carriage. The inn near
-Elijah’s Spring is a good place for a rest, and three days—it is a good
-time for the trip.”
-
-There was little traffic passing after we turned onto the long
-hill—donkeys with panniers loaded with products to be exchanged in the
-markets of Jerusalem, a boy driving a few sheep slowly up the steep
-hill, a lone Arab on his horse. The air was still, crisp, and very
-clear. We were exceedingly thankful for the road built by the Turks in
-excellent fashion for the visit of the Kaiser twenty-three years before
-and carefully repaired by the British troops for military service. We
-passed the rest house built that William Hohenzollern might refresh
-himself before approaching the Holy City. Lower and lower into the
-valley we went. The road now had a thin covering of soft gray mud.
-Suddenly, turning to avoid a huge rock that had rolled down the hillside
-into the road, the car skidded. A second and the light machine had
-crashed into the retaining wall of rock and cement. The axle bent, the
-front wheels turned at an angle, we were thrown back and forth in our
-shaky seat. The car stopped. We heard the sickening thud of the rocks as
-they fell to the dry bed of the stream below. Then we climbed down
-carefully over the loosened mass of cement. “Thank God we are to live!”
-said the guide reverently. The driver was trying to turn the wheels
-back. He pushed the car into the road. The engine would still run but
-the axle looked hopeless. The guide spoke again—“As I have said, a
-carriage is better for Jericho.” After all our effort, we had failed to
-impress him with the fact that for us to give three days to the trip was
-impossible. “Of old,” he continued, “they fell here among the thieves.
-We have fallen among the rocks.” We could not help smiling at his look
-of dismay as he walked around the car again and again. He was so proud
-of his record of over thirty years as guide to whose care was due the
-fact that no serious mishaps had ever befallen any of his people. We
-were so grateful that we were not lying down there among the jagged
-rocks in the dry bed of the stream that our present difficulty seemed
-slight indeed. We were midway between Jerusalem and Jericho. If no help
-came we could walk in either direction twelve and a half miles though
-the prospect was not tempting. While we were discussing it we heard a
-rumbling, then a horn. It was a British hospital car taking an officer
-down to Jericho. It was pay day for the soldiers and he was late. The
-driver of his car felt sure that with a little help the axle might be
-repaired enough to enable our driver to crawl back to Jerusalem, but the
-steering gear had been damaged and it would be an uncertain venture. A
-lorrie was on its way to Jerusalem and was to wait at the Good Samaritan
-Inn to give a message to the officer. He would leave instructions for
-them to help our driver back to the city and he could get aid for us.
-The men in the lorrie which came along according to schedule looked the
-car over with the air of expert mechanics. They spent a half hour or
-more on it with the help of our driver and then the little Ford turned
-and climbed slowly and bravely up the hill, keeping with greatest
-difficulty close to the safe side of the road. The lorrie was out of
-sight in a few moments flying along to make up for lost time. It would
-take word of our trouble and send another car.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- There lay the boat in which one might row across the Jordan to the
- land of Moab.]
-
-There was nothing to do but wait and nothing to see but bare hills. We
-climbed one great rocky mound only to see more hills with deeper valleys
-lying between as far as the eye could reach. They reminded us of the
-hills in the most desolate part of the Mormon trail in our own American
-desert. The sun rose higher and the heat became almost unbearable. We
-drew down our hats, put on our dark glasses and sat on the rocks in the
-dry bed of the stream. There was not a sound, not a bird note, no
-bleating of sheep. There were caves in the side of the hill. They looked
-dark, cool, and inviting, they had sheltered many people good and bad
-during the long centuries, but the guide warned us that they were full
-of vermin and unclean. There was a tiny boulder half-way up the hill
-which made on one side a narrow strip of shade and we made ourselves as
-small as possible and sat there.
-
-Noon came and we ate our chicken and hard boiled eggs, French bread,
-figs, dates and oranges made ready by the hotel, and drank the water in
-our thermos bottles sparingly. A group of Arabs clattered past us over
-on the road. One sang a couplet in a clear, ringing voice and the others
-joined as in a chorus. They did not see us, or, if they did, made no
-sign. “When the Turks ruled Palestine,” said our guide, “we could not
-sit here so safe. There was much danger on this road and no man traveled
-over it at nightfall.” He told us tales of brigands in league with
-Turkish high officials with whom they shared their spoil that would have
-made excellent material for certain types of American motion pictures.
-Suddenly the simple story that Jesus told to the crowd in answer to the
-half-mocking question of the keen Jewish lawyer came vividly before us.
-It was in these hills, in the desperate loneliness of them, that the
-certain man, stripped of all his goods, beaten and half dead, lay
-helpless. He might wait for help for many an hour before out of this
-place of emptiness any would come! How could Priest and Levite pass him
-by on the other side and leave him in this forsaken spot that their own
-journey might be undisturbed? To them he was only a man robbed by the
-bandits. He would die as had many another. It was a common thing, and,
-inhuman as it seems, they went on to their task of holy worship and to
-the seat of judgment.
-
-How keen was the mind of Christ! How quickly and unerringly He put his
-finger upon the very center of sin! It was easy to see, coming down the
-narrow camel path in the hills, the hated Samaritan with the spirit of
-justice, mercy, and brotherhood in his soul. He stopped—the man one
-would least expect to stop—and rescued with generous tenderness the
-suffering victim of thieves, while the servants of Jehovah and his law
-passed by on the other side, doing in that day even as, in all the days
-since, the followers of the letter and not of the spirit of the law have
-done.
-
-There was only one answer to the question the lawyer had asked of Jesus
-and he was forced to give it—“He that showed mercy.” I doubt if any who
-had heard the question, “But who is my neighbor?” ever forgot the
-answer, or the command that followed it: “Go and do thou likewise.”
-
-I was so lost in a new sense of the significance and sincerity of His
-wonderful teaching that I did not see our guide make his way toward the
-road. “A car comes,” he called, but we, lacking his desert-trained
-senses, heard nothing. Two or three minutes and we could see it coming
-rapidly along the white road on the farther hillside. The guide was
-overjoyed when he saw the new driver. “Ah!” he said, “this is the man I
-wanted. He drives anything that can go. Through the war he drove over
-hills with no road—always safe! He speaks English, too.” He examined the
-car. It had both windshield and horn. It had an extra tire and seats
-that were straight. Hope revived.
-
-“We shall now get quickly back to Jerusalem,” said the guide. “Tomorrow,
-perhaps, we shall have the carriage.” “To Jerusalem!” we said. “It is
-only one o’clock. With such a driver we can surely get to the Dead Sea
-and the Jordan. If it is late we can stay tonight at the Inn near
-Elijah’s Spring and go back to Jerusalem in the morning. Our time is
-short and we cannot take another whole day.” Jamil looked at the driver.
-“They are Americans,” he said, “and when they will go, they will go!”
-After a moment he added, “The sun has been very hot. Perhaps for you it
-has dried the roads.”
-
-So we climbed the steep grade, ran along a level strip, then a steeper
-grade to the Inn of the Good Samaritan where Arab traders and men of the
-caravans stop for coffee. There was a tank in the yard where one could
-buy gasoline!
-
-The road before us was down grade now, and the driver more than lived up
-to his reputation. Once Jamil turned to show us a Mohammedan mosque in
-ruins in a desolate spot high up in the hills and again to point out a
-tomb. “It is the tomb of Moses by the word of the Mohammedans,” he said;
-“but we do not believe it, for no man knoweth where God hath buried him.
-He never came into the land so we shall not believe it.”
-
-Neither of us who took it will ever forget that ride through the
-Wilderness. There was no road. Two deep ruts here and there marked our
-way. We wound through soft ooze turning now into the rut, now out again.
-On every side were hillocks of soft gray sand. “This is a good place to
-ride the donkey’s back,” said Jamil as we bounced up and down in the
-car, but he smiled. We told him we had motored to Germany over the
-shell-torn roads fording the bridgeless streams and this seemed very
-simple. Three miles of it and we were on a rough road close by the Dead
-Sea.
-
-It lay still and calm, a blue gray thing crossed here and there by
-ribbons of silver where the sun glistened upon it. I should have said it
-had no motion but for the tiny little ripples that broke on the pebbly
-beach made frosty with salt deposit. A thousand feet and more below the
-Mediterranean it lay there. Sitting beside it we were lower than any
-submarine has ever been. The city of Jerusalem is two thousand five
-hundred feet above the level of the sea so our descent had been over
-thirty-five hundred feet since morning. It was very warm. Though the
-great body of water lay there now so still, Jamil told us that when the
-Turks were using it to transport supplies, fierce storms swept over it,
-thunder roared in the hills and over the plains, and giant waves dashed
-upon the smooth shore. We looked across the fourteen miles of sea to the
-plateau in the hills of Moab and knew that there was no living thing in
-it nor on its whole great stretch of fifty miles! Hungrily it swallows
-up the rivers and the tiny streams, the Jordan alone pouring millions of
-gallons into it every day, but never, never does it send out even a tiny
-streamlet. It grants no answer to the plea of the thirsty land that
-seems to reach down into it hopefully. We put our hands into the water
-four times as heavy as the Atlantic and they were covered with an oily
-salty deposit that would not come off until we had scrubbed with hot
-water. Suddenly we heard a sound—the bleating of a sheep. It was so
-welcome in that dead silence! Beyond the bend in the shoreline was a
-tiny house with children and the sheep!
-
-We walked slowly along over the smooth gaily colored little pebbles to
-the spot, half a mile beyond, where the car was waiting. But we turned
-to look back again and again. The great silent sea held for us the awful
-fascination of _death_.
-
-There was a road of a sort across the plain to the Jordan. When the
-river is in flood this plain is covered inches deep with ooze, rank
-vegetable growths spring up, the brown bushes are green, clouds of
-mosquitoes, scorpions, vipers and all manner of crawling things make
-their home here for a season; but now there were only long cracks that
-crossed and recrossed in the dried mud. Twice our wheels spun round in
-pockets of soft gray clay, but small thick boards, a spade and dry sand
-helped us out. A turn and we could see the river!
-
-To one who has never studied the geography of Palestine or to whom books
-of travel are strangers, that first sight of the Jordan must bring far
-greater disappointment than to one in a way prepared for the dark, muddy
-stream whose swift current hurries on ceaselessly, gathering silt as it
-goes. Within its normal banks it is such a narrow stream! We stopped for
-a moment in the house where sweet Turkish coffee and oranges were served
-us and where the boats used by fishermen and by tourists who like to row
-across to touch the land of Moab lay moored to a tiny wharf. The banks
-were steep here and soft willows bent over them. We sat down in the
-little boat that swung lazily at its moorings. It seemed the strangest
-and the most wonderful of rivers, this little muddy stream! Over it the
-great hosts of Israel passed; along its banks John, coming out of the
-desert, preached the kingdom of heaven to the multitude; and here came
-even Jesus Himself to be baptized in the waters His presence made
-sacred. We dipped our bottles carefully into the stream and filled them
-with water as all pilgrims do. We listened to the stories of the feast
-days when pilgrims come down to the river to worship there; we read the
-story of Naaman and understood why the proud leper of the king’s court,
-even at the command of the stern prophet, hesitated to bathe in its
-waters. We lived in another day. Proud armies marched over the plain
-toward Jericho and we could almost hear Joshua’s ringing commands. We
-were brought back to our own day suddenly by the sound of a voice, a
-very American voice, singing in the distance, “Roll, Jordan, Roll.” We
-looked at each other in amazement. After a moment’s silence the voice
-rang out again, nearer now:
-
- “Some day I’m going to murder the bugler!
- Some day you’re going to find him dead!
- I’ll amputate his reveille
- And stamp upon it heavily,
- And spend the rest of my life in bed.”
-
-We climbed out of the boat and up the bank. A man in the early thirties
-stood there with a sapling, root and all, in his hand. He was an
-American working with the British under a commission for reforestation.
-He was most enthusiastic over his work and painted for us a wonderful
-picture of the hills, now bare and desolate, and the banks of the river,
-with the low scrubby growth, transformed some future day into valuable
-fruit and olive orchards, irrigated pastures, great stretches of light
-timberland. Jamil shook his head. “There is much talk these days about
-the changes that are coming to this land, but we shall see—we shall see
-and _then_ we shall believe,” he said. Our friend went into the little
-house for food and rest and we stood in silence watching the stream
-which artists for centuries have painted, the river which has always
-stood for separation, under whose spell poets have written their sad
-hymns—watched it rushing on pouring more and more water into the Sea
-that is _Dead_.
-
-The dunes, yellow and gray, between which we rode on to Jericho were
-round as though a giant hand had played with them, smoothed them over,
-and left them there. Twice we passed low stone houses with cisterns of
-water cut in deep rock hidden below the surface, and there were oranges
-and green things in the garden in the midst of the desert. It was cooler
-and the air was soft and balmy. The walls of Jericho—City of
-Palms—though now there are none, had indeed fallen, but there was no
-fear upon the faces of the people. The once mighty city is now but an
-ordinary village of lower class Arabs, with a supply station, a few
-shops, and the hotel where British officers live. Traces of recent
-battle over the very ground where the men of Joshua had routed the
-ancient enemy were all about us. The story of the taking of Jericho from
-the Turks by British troops when the river at its flood had to be
-bridged by boats and the temperature ran to 120° and more, is as
-thrilling, as fascinating, and as triumphant as that of Joshua himself.
-
-Passing through the center of the town, we came to the orange groves.
-The air was fragrant with the perfume of thousands of jonquils growing
-wild along the edges of the irrigated section. The children offered two
-huge bunches for sale and we rejoiced in them. Our driver took twenty
-bunches for a friend to sell in Jerusalem. He tucked them away neatly in
-the folded top of the car. We bought delicious oranges and our machine
-became a chariot of delight. We went out to Elijah’s Spring, whose
-waters, made sweet and wholesome by the prophet, were responsible for
-the luxuriant flowers and delicious fruit, past the home of Rahab who
-had saved the spies in Joshua’s day, stopping for a moment at the spot
-where the sycamore tree had sheltered the rich publican Zacchæus when he
-determined to see Jesus. It was easy to imagine the consternation that
-filled the city when it became known that Jesus had commanded him to
-come down because He would be a guest in his house that day—the house of
-a _publican_. It was on this road, too, that Bartimæus met Jesus and,
-despite the demand of the multitude that he be quiet, continued to cry
-aloud until the Healer saw him, opened his eyes and set his soul on fire
-with gratitude. How close the multitude must have pressed in those
-narrow streets, as driven by curiosity and longing for help, they
-followed Him! How often the body and soul of the Master must have cried
-out for the shelter of the mountain, the stillness of that waiting
-desert where in the night God could come very near with a new message
-and new strength for the coming day! It was at times like these, when
-half carelessly they pointed out to us the spots where on common days
-Jesus passed by, changing forever the lives that He touched, that we
-loved Him.
-
-The sun was creeping on toward the horizon. We must turn back toward
-Jerusalem. Every foot of the road the driver assured us he knew. He
-would leave us in the Inn with the guide if we wished and send for us
-early in the morning, but he would get back to Jerusalem. So would we
-and he was content. He got all possible speed out of the car. It must
-climb back over those thirty-five hundred feet we had come down such a
-short time since.
-
-We stopped a moment to peer at the lonely monastery where monks still
-live on the Mount of Temptation and pray daily for all who are tempted.
-The road which had been so lonely in the morning was stirring with life.
-Groups of Arabs on horses and little swift-footed donkeys moved aside to
-let us pass. Twice at a signal from a man riding ahead on horseback we
-stopped to let a great caravan pass us. The leading camels wore gorgeous
-trappings and tinkling bells. Once a camel without cargo, following in
-dignified fashion behind two others, stood perfectly still, trembled,
-then turned and ran ahead of us. We were amazed to see how swiftly he
-ran. In vain the rider of the other camel shouted and called. Had it not
-been for a friendly companion, who, coming down the hill, drove his own
-camel straight across the path, spoke soothingly to the great beast
-while a man on a donkey grasped his chain, he might have led us a chase
-all the way to Jerusalem. They did not attempt to take their prisoner
-past us in the road but turned off into a deep defile. When we looked
-back from the hilltop they were again on the road moving on toward
-Jericho. But most of the camels bearing their burdens merely sniffed and
-passed us by in scorn.
-
-It grew very cold as we reached the heights and the discarded robes and
-coats were welcome. We could see shepherds and sheep seeking places of
-shelter. Sometimes we caught glimpses of herds of goats reluctantly
-following or plunging ahead silhouetted against a soft violet sky. The
-sun set calmly and we missed the blazing glory. Suddenly it was night.
-We were glad to be well past the scene of our morning’s mishap and
-nearing Jerusalem. When we stopped at the door of the hotel, Jamil gave
-a sigh of relief. “We have had a wonderful day,” we said. “We have had a
-day of miracles,” was his answer in a solemn, devout tone. Both he and
-the driver were most happy a moment later when they received their extra
-fee.
-
-Dinner was over for most of the guests, but we were given a warm corner
-and more food than it would be possible to eat in many meals. We found
-that the entire hotel had joined in Jamil’s sigh of relief when we
-returned. There was a snapping wood fire in the little stove and hot
-water bottles that made the great curtained beds seem more inviting. The
-maid wished us “sleep without dreaming.”
-
-But for a long time, lying there in the darkness, I dreamed with my eyes
-wide open. Dreamed of the forty years wandering in the wilderness while
-one generation passed and a new one was born. Dreamed of the kings and
-the prophets, of David hunted like a wild thing through the desolate
-hills and caves, of captives marching across the sands to Babylon.
-Dreamed of the Man who, with weary feet, in the heat and the dust
-_walked_ about the Jordan Valley, through Jericho, walked up the long,
-long hills even to Jerusalem with men and women following, always
-_seeking_, only a few sharing. Dreamed of the demand that He made upon
-all who did have the courage to share—that they love God—and the
-challenge that they love their fellow men as He loved them, ... dreamed
-of the day when the challenge would be answered and the other man’s
-welfare would become each man’s passion.
-
-
-
-
- I GO TO BETHANY
-
-
- _I tell you when I looked upon these fields,
- And stony valleys,—through the purple veil
- Of twilight, or what time the Orient sun
- Made shining jewels of the barren rocks,—
- Something within me trembled; for I said:
- This picture once was mirrored in His eyes;
- This sky, that lake, those hills, this loveliness,
- To Him familiar were; this is the way
- To Bethany._
- —_Richard Watson Gilder._
-
-
-
-
- I GO TO BETHANY
-
-
-One afternoon when we were driving about the busy semi-modern streets
-that lie outside the walls of Jerusalem we suggested to Jamil, our
-guide, that some afternoon we walk to Bethany. He answered briefly that
-it was too far and turned to call our attention to the well-equipped
-postoffice, the modern looking shops, the Italian hospital, the
-well-built hospices of the French, Italians and Russians which before
-the war were thronged at the feasts with devout pilgrims. There was an
-atmosphere of western life about the outer city. Signs over some of the
-shops looked amazingly like New York’s East Side. Books, pictures and
-maps, school supplies, men and boys’ clothing of every sort, girls and
-women on the streets dressed in European fashion, together with Cairo
-papers in French and English, helped us to see the trend of the new,
-growing city without the walls. The streets were wide and well kept. The
-church of St. George was an artistic, beautiful reminder of the reason
-why the word of the capture of the Holy City had been received with
-solemn joy in every English household. We passed the dignified Damascus
-Gate and the Sheep Gate before which camels knelt grunting and little
-groups of sheep huddled close each around its shepherd; lorries passed
-us on the road, then a motor taking General Storrs to confer with the
-High Commissioner on important business. We stopped to visit the British
-High School for girls, doing its work against great odds in a former
-German orphanage poorly equipped for school work. The girls of twelve
-nationalities with most excellent _ésprit de corps_ were studying there;
-the principal, a real educator, formerly head of the girls’ school at
-Beirut had wise, far-seeing plans for the future of the school and,
-through it, for the welfare of the city. As I listened to them I wished
-that my purse were well filled that I might make some of them possible
-now in the day of crisis when the whole future of Palestine is in the
-making. Surely there are new paths through old Palestine.
-
-When we again entered the city through the Jaffa Gate it seemed
-centuries older than when we had left it, so great was the contrast
-between the air, sunshine, and breathing spaces outside the walls and
-the narrow, dark, and crowded little cobble-stoned alleys, shared by man
-and beast, where no full ray of sun ever shines. Only the flat roofs of
-the houses save the people within the city from life in a semi-dungeon.
-It was this plunge back into the city of age-old days and deeds that
-made us long the more to walk leisurely to Bethany and so, on Saturday
-night, we told Jamil we should not need him until Monday morning at
-nine.
-
-We left the city just after noon on Sunday by St. Stephen’s Gate,
-stopping reverently for a few moments close by the steep hillside to
-think of the brave words of the young martyr as he looked into the hard
-faces of his accusers and his wonderful address, recalling to them each
-step of their history and the reason for each great defeat. We
-remembered the daring words: “Which of the prophets have not your
-fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which showed before of the
-coming of the Just One; of whom you have been now the betrayers and
-murderers: who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and
-have not kept it.” In fierce anger they ground their teeth and hissed
-their reproaches at him. But he did not even see them. Suddenly, looking
-up to heaven, they heard him saying, “Behold, I see the heavens opened
-and the Son of Man on the right hand of God.” It was enough. Seizing
-him, they rushed him through the narrow street and cast him out of the
-city. They laid their garments at the feet of a keen young man named
-Saul, who watched with approval as they hurled down upon their helpless,
-suffering victim the jagged stones of the hillside. But above the noise
-of their mutterings of revenge the young man Saul heard the words of
-prayer: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And again, “Lord, lay not their
-sin to their charge.” And Stephen died—but Saul never forgot.
-
-From St. Stephen’s Gate the smooth, broad road makes a steep descent
-down to the valley of the brook Kedron, then it climbs again around the
-shoulder of Olivet, where we stopped to look back at the city with the
-dome of the mosque of Omar glistening in the sun. The air was clear and
-the hills, with the light, shifting clouds above them, changed color
-every moment. Jamil had told us that the hills about Jerusalem bore
-always “a luxuriant crop of stones” and his words seemed true indeed, a
-crop made even more abundant by the heavy shell-fire of the months past.
-Still, in little square patches between the ridges, men were plowing.
-One plowman had a thin, patient ox and a donkey together under what
-seemed a heavy yoke. Here and there thick vines leaned against sunny
-walls as in the days when Jesus used them for the text of His great
-sermon “I—the vine: ye—the branches. Without me, ye can do nothing.”
-
-It was when we walked out a little from the main road to Bethany to look
-over into a deep valley that we saw a carpenter at work in his sunny
-yard, making yokes for the oxen. He worked deftly with his clumsy tools
-at his primitive bench. The court-yard was swept clean, save for the
-corner where the shavings fell. There were green things growing in a
-garden. After a moment a woman appeared in the doorway. She looked
-curiously at us but answered our smile. “Ing-leesh?” she queried. We
-shook our heads. “American,” we said very distinctly. The man at the
-bench turned quickly. A shower of words in the Hebrew tongue and a
-motion to wait answered us. The woman hurried into the house and was
-back in a moment with a photograph in her hand—a man, a woman, two
-children. The photograph was taken in _New York_! She pointed proudly to
-the word. As we were about to leave, being limited to conversation by
-means of nods, smiles and gestures only, a boy came from the rear of the
-house. He had great, dark, dreamy eyes, his head was a mass of thick
-curls, in his hands he had two irregular blocks of wood which he gave to
-his father. He smiled at us shyly, but turned to look again with frank
-interest and curiosity when his mother repeated the word American.
-
-It was hard to tear ourselves away from this picture of the carpenter
-with his little son and the mother at the door, but there was no excuse
-for lingering. We could only hope that this young son of a carpenter
-might sometime know the story of that other Son, of whose early days in
-the village of Nazareth he served so forcibly to remind us.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- It was here that He came to talk with one who seemed to understand—and
- there were so few.]
-
-It is not a long walk to Bethany, a little over four miles they told us,
-and we soon saw the low gray stone houses with their roofs of mud not
-far ahead. As we approached the village, a veritable host of children
-rushed to meet us, calling, with a score of accents, words supposed to
-be English. At first we covered our ears then motioned to one child to
-speak. We learned that they were offering their services as guides. The
-moment we appeared to understand, the babel began again. “Mary and
-Martha,” they called. “Simon-Lazarus, I will show.” When we spoke they
-listened, but only for a moment. “You cannot all be our guides,” I said.
-“If you all follow we will go back to Jerusalem and no one will have
-_back-sheesh_—not one. We shall not look at the house of Mary and
-Martha.” The tallest among them, a lad of fourteen, he told me
-afterward, evidently repeated our words and he emphasized them with a
-flourish of a stout cane which he carried. He showed us a soiled card
-with a name written upon it which he said was his. We chose him and one
-other guide, a little girl of six who had pointed to herself proudly,
-saying, “I know—I know, Mary—Martha—Lazarus.” At a word from a villager
-passing on his donkey the children scattered and it was a great relief.
-
-Our young guide knew the method perfectly. Driving the dogs out of the
-way with his cane, he led us up a steep path to the house of a man who
-was a dwarf, badly crippled. He was to take us to the tomb of Lazarus
-which he did, when we had paid the piastres he asked. He insisted upon
-telling us the story before we went down the long winding stone steps
-worn smooth by the passing of men’s feet for centuries. He told it in
-very graphic fashion. We had only the dripping candles to light our way.
-Following him, we could hear his call at each turn, “Have care! Have
-care!” We decided not to make the entire descent of sixty steps but
-contented ourselves with looking down from the fortieth step into the
-black pit below. The air and sunshine were most welcome when we climbed
-back and, giving more piastres for the shepherds’ slings the old dwarf
-took from his pocket, we left him happy. We stood for a few moments at
-the entrance to the tomb, thinking of all that spot had meant in the
-centuries since it was recorded that, in warm human sympathy with the
-suffering sisters, “Jesus wept.”
-
-We stood a long time on the wall of the ruins that covered the spot
-where the home of the three friends of Jesus had stood. It looked out
-over the valley on one side and toward Jerusalem on the other. Our
-guides, big and little, sat down on the stones and were silent. Nowhere
-in our journeys through Palestine did we trouble our souls over the
-arguments of men as to exact spots and identical places. If not to the
-place of this ruined wall, then to some spot near by Jesus came. Came to
-receive rest for His body and comfort for His soul. Came to forget for
-the moment Jerusalem with its noise and confusion, its need and its
-hate. Came to talk with one who seemed to understand and sympathize—and
-there were so few. What it would mean to us today if we could know the
-many things about which Jesus talked that have never been recorded for
-us! We remembered that it was from Bethany over the hills through which
-we had come that Jesus made his way to Jerusalem on the day when He
-found the colt and rode triumphantly through the streets to the temple,
-amidst the shouted hosannas and waving palms that filled the Pharisees
-with jealous anger. It was here that he may have spent the nights of
-that last crowded week until the night of the Supper when he sought the
-Garden. One could feel, standing there looking toward Jerusalem,
-something of the agonizing sorrow that swept over that household when
-they learned of the trial that was a mockery of justice and the
-condemnation of their beloved friend to death on a cross.
-
-When we were ready to leave, the young guide asked if we would like to
-go into one of the houses and see the upper room where a guest may
-sleep. We hesitated to walk in this fashion into a home but he explained
-that we were sure of a welcome and a little _back-sheesh_ would pay.
-
-The upper room was a dean and quiet spot. There were small woven rugs, a
-cot with handmade covers spread over it. A bed roll stood in the corner.
-There was a heavy metal basin for washing and two lamps, ages old,
-filled with oil. The window was open toward the road that leads to
-Jericho. It was a place where one might rest his soul. “Many guests came
-to this room before the war,” said the boy, “the family is large. Some
-live far away in Damascus. They come for the feasts. But not since the
-war—there is not money and some have died.” The _back-sheesh_ was
-accepted gratefully with many words of thanks by the two women below—one
-very young with a baby in her arms.
-
-Our next stop was at the spot where once had stood the home of Simon the
-leper where a woman did the Great Teacher high honor as she broke her
-very precious box of alabaster and, in an abandonment of love and
-gratitude, poured the fragrant perfume over His head. We could hear the
-petulant voices of those who complained because the ointment had not
-been sold for a good price and the money given to the poor. But Jesus
-understood.
-
-“This is all for Bethany,” said the guide of fourteen years. “It is not
-large and it is poor.” We did not need his words to make us realize it.
-The little girl who had called herself _guide_ so proudly had not spoken
-a word, but, as she had climbed over the steep places, had waited
-patiently, had listened intently to the boy, and had given us at every
-turn a smile which we remembered for many a day, she had earned her fee.
-When she received it she ran madly toward a house near by and
-disappeared. The boy walked with us courteously to the edge of the
-village. In response to our query as to where he had learned English he
-said, “Off a merchant I worked for since I was six. He lives just
-outside the city.” The “off” with which he began his sentence sounded as
-though the merchant might at one time have lived in America.
-
-At the outskirts of the village, where we had met them as we entered,
-were the children. They ran beside us shrieking “_back-sheesh_” and
-holding out their very dirty little hands. We shook our heads
-vehemently. It meant nothing. Then we stopped and reminded them that we
-had paid our two guides and all the people who had helped us, but that
-they had done nothing for us. “We are poor,” said a girl with a baby in
-her arms as though that were reason enough for her demand. I shall never
-forget the thin face, the piercing black eyes of a boy, perhaps ten.
-“America rich,” he said, “plendy, plendy, _plendy_ money.” There was the
-deepest reproof in his voice.
-
-“Some people are _very_ poor,” I said, “the children cry for bread. In
-the winter they are very cold. There are many very poor people in
-America.”
-
-“No,” said the boy stoutly, and I saw that he did not believe me, but he
-repeated what I had said to the others. It was very hard to refrain from
-giving them money, but we remembered the request that we should not help
-to train a new generation of beggars and steeled our hearts. When we
-started on again a few accompanied us but we paid no attention and one
-by one they dropped out, having followed us almost a mile. Some said
-good-bye cheerfully, others made gestures of disgust. One lone lad still
-walked patiently beside us. He had great hollows under his eyes and, now
-that we could see him separated from the others, we noticed how very
-thin and pale he was, how ragged and dirty. In his arms he carried a
-baby whose eyes were in a pitiable condition, one so swollen that it was
-entirely closed. He said faintly in a weak, tired voice,
-“_back-sheesh—back-sheesh_” over and over. He looked as though in dogged
-determination he would follow us back to the city gates. Unable to
-resist the pleading we yielded, gave him some coins, watched the light
-come into his eyes, saw him turn and make his way slowly back—one of
-these little ones who so easily perish while waiting for the coming of
-the kingdom of God—the kingdom that Jesus said was _theirs_. It may be
-that the school now being opened in the little village will help to
-bring them their rights.
-
-When we told Jamil next day of the children he said, “Ah, that is why
-you should have me! The guide saves you. You should not go alone, and
-walking you cannot get away.”
-
-“Where are the parents of these children,” we asked.
-
-“Poor,” he said slowly, “very, very poor. Always poor and the war has
-made it very hard. It will be better now, but they have learned bad
-habits.”
-
-A turn in the road and the village was entirely out of sight. We
-overtook a flock of sheep and for a time walked slowly behind them. The
-bleating of the lambs who seemed weary sounded like the voices of the
-children. The shepherd turned into a narrow path between the hills,
-called in clear, urging cadences, and the sheep followed him. We climbed
-up from the road and sat on the rocks under gnarled old trees. A tower
-on the mount of Olives stood out clear against the sky. We read aloud of
-the Holy City from the words of the prophets and the Psalms of David.
-
-Night would soon steal down over the valleys, so reluctantly we moved on
-past a cluster of tiny stone houses, past the cemetery of the Hebrews,
-when, flying up the hill at reckless speed, shaking us rudely back from
-the past into the present, came a motor rushing toward Bethany. Bethany
-that seemed to be out of the world of motors! It was the doctor’s car
-from the hospital, they told us when we described it. Just before the
-road drops abruptly into the valley we stopped to look again at the
-City. There was always something strangely gripping in the sight. The
-words of Jesus wrung from Him as, in deep compassion that was agony, He
-looked at the City, feeling the weight of its sin, its pain, its need,
-came back to us—“O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killeth the prophets and
-stoneth them that are sent unto her! how often would I have gathered thy
-children together even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings,
-and ye would not!” We hurried on through St. Stephen’s Gate.
-
-On the hills it was light but in the narrow streets with their gateways
-and buttresses it was quite dark. We took out our faithful flashlights,
-and with our canes to help over the shadowed steps went rapidly up to
-the hotel that stood as a strong and sheltering friend in the faint glow
-that still lingered in the western sky.
-
-“Not much in Bethany,” they said to us at the desk as they had said of
-Bethlehem. “Too far to walk for the few stone houses and the ruins.”
-
-How could they know what we saw in Bethany? How could they know the
-overwhelming sympathy that surged in upon us as we stood on the walls of
-“the house of Mary and Martha,” looked upon the hills and valleys He saw
-in their purpling shadows, thought how much harder the friendship and
-fellowship of that home must have made it to remain true to the message
-that was to take Him to Jerusalem to die, thought of the short day of
-triumph, waving palms and lavish praise, thought of his youth and his
-glorious undaunted soul!
-
-No, they did not know what we saw in Bethany.
-
-
-
-
- I GO OUT TO THE MOUNT OF OLIVES
-
-
- _He turneth a wilderness into a pool of water,
- And a dry land into watersprings
- And there he maketh the hungry to dwell,
- That they may prepare a city for habitation,
- And sow fields and plant vineyards._
-
-
- _Instead of the thorn shall come up the figtree; and instead of the
- briar shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to Jehovah for
- a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off._
-
- _The latter glory of this place shall be greater than the former,
- and in this place will I give peace, saith Jehovah._
-
- —_The Bible._
-
-
-
-
- I GO OUT TO THE MOUNT OF OLIVES
-
-
-Before we met our carriage at the Damascus Gate to ride out to the
-farthest point on the Mount of Olives we walked through David Street to
-the Wailing Place of the Jews. Every book we had studied warned us of
-the unspeakable condition of the narrow filthy streets in this Jewish
-quarter of Jerusalem the Golden. But they were all written before
-British arms had captured the Holy City and, even in these short months,
-made it in so many ways a new Jerusalem. In the windows of the shops we
-had seen the quaint pictures of the water-carrier with his leather bag,
-but not one had we seen in the streets of the city. The menace of the
-water bag with its myriad germs is already a thing of the past. For the
-first time in all its long history, under rulers of many great faiths
-and names, the City has water, plenty of water, fresh, clear, safe. What
-that simple statement means can be appreciated only by those who know by
-experience what a priceless boon water is to cities that have little.
-One could change the whole record and history of Oriental cities with
-water systems!
-
-When the history of Palestine in the war is fully recorded, one of the
-most thrilling chapters will be written about the lead pipes now
-standing boldly in the city streets two feet above the ground, capped by
-very modern shining faucets. The girls and women who come to them with
-their water jars beamed with joy as they watched the silver stream
-pouring out in the sun. For four hundred years the Turks ruled in
-Jerusalem and in all that time no attempt was made to establish a water
-system although more than once the inhabitants were taxed with the
-promise of water that was some day to come. In a little over two months
-the British engineers had brought running water into every street of the
-city. New paths are so rapidly making their way through old Palestine!
-
-For its water Jerusalem had depended upon winter rains to fill its great
-cisterns. The houses had underground reservoirs, some of which had not
-been cleaned in more than twenty years. At the Mosque of Omar was a
-large reservoir where the water from the springs about Solomon’s Pools
-flowed down through a great aqueduct built by the Romans when Herod
-ruled over the Jews. The searching engineers had found springs in the
-hills with fresh, pure water running to waste and, at the rate of
-fourteen thousand gallons an hour, it is now pumped up to the top of a
-high hill, run by gravity down through a long pipe-line to a great
-reservoir that has been built and carefully protected on the outskirts
-of the city. Direct lines take this pure water to the hospitals and into
-the city streets. Despite the shrinking of the population, caused by the
-evacuation of the Turk, more than ten times as much water has been used
-as in previous years, which silences the oft-repeated statement that the
-people would not appreciate the water if they had it. We were interested
-to learn that some of the pipes had been sent to Egypt to be forwarded
-for use in Palestine by the American Red Cross Commission after we
-entered the war. But the Commission found that the need for water which
-we had anticipated had been practically answered by the Royal Engineers.
-
-One is deeply impressed by the change in the record of contagious
-diseases. The reduction in cholera, smallpox, typhoid, and typhus is
-remarkable. Even under the sound of booming guns, children’s welfare
-bureaus were organized, lessons in health given, nurses trained and
-kitchens opened to provide food for the babies, the sick and the old.
-The workers of the American Red Cross deserve and receive full gratitude
-for their enthusiastic and intelligent work in and about the City in
-those days immediately following its surrender.
-
-The people on David Street seemed to have lost something of the fear
-that writers of the past saw in their haunted faces. It may be the fact
-that now they are free. The old-time pressure and petty persecution by
-corrupt officials is past. The Turkish prison no longer yawns
-threateningly. A trader may go unmolested about his work. The heavy
-taxation demanded in the past by a succession of officers, from the
-least to the greatest, has disappeared. Contentment not known for untold
-generations reigns in humble homes.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- From the brow of the Mount of Olives where they lay sleeping under
- white crosses—these also “fling to us the torch.”]
-
-It may be for this reason that on both occasions of our visit to the
-Wailing Place there were but few present and they were old men, old
-women, and some very young children. Young manhood was not there, it was
-hard at work. Many of the older boys and girls were in school. The
-leader of the group chanting the Lamentations that morning was an old
-white-haired patriarch with eyes of fire. He was the only one of the
-group that did not interrupt his wailing to look at us. One tall,
-strong, impressive specimen of womanhood moved along the line to quiet
-some women whose wailing had become a piercing shriek or to straighten
-out a child who irreverently chased a playmate up and down the path. The
-guide said that her name was Miriam and that she had a son with much
-money in England. Erect and fine, forceful and devout, she reminded us
-of that other Miriam who led her people to victory. Here and there one
-saw women’s strong faces stained with tears and marked with suffering.
-They leaned against the foundation stones of the old Temple area in an
-abandonment of emotion and sorrow. Near the end of the line was a very
-old man leaning tremblingly upon his staff. Jamil said that he was
-repeating one phrase over and over. “O God, the heathen are come into
-thine inheritance!” His voice was bitter and full of anguish. A great
-wave of pity swept over us for these and all they have suffered, and yet
-survived. Against those massive walls of the past, Babylonian, Assyrian,
-and Egyptian had hurled their hosts and battered them to earth. They had
-risen again only to meet the Roman and the Saracen, the brave Crusader
-and the unspeakable Turk until in very truth they lay “in heaps.” Piled
-one above another, the various cities lie waiting until the hammer and
-spade of the excavator shall open up all their secrets for us. Buried
-deep down in the earth is that early city of the Jebusites, over it the
-glorious city of Solomon, the city heroically brought again into being
-by Nehemiah, the city of Herod which Titus hammered into ruins and
-Hadrian rebuilt, above it the city of the Saracens built after their
-wave of conquest, the city of the Crusaders, and now the city of the
-Turks, standing boldly above the ruins of the long past. It stands, the
-protected property of a new conqueror who loves it, whose army chose the
-hardest road to victory to save it from the marks of war, whose people
-have come into it with knowledge that they may overcome its ignorance, a
-conqueror who bears no malice, who is tolerant of the Jew and the
-Mohammedan though he worships at the Cross which they hate.
-
-As if reading our thoughts, the guide said quietly, “Some day it will be
-only the wall for the wailing that we shall see. There will be no more
-need for wailing, and the children will forget. So the young prophets
-among the Jews say in the markets. We shall see.”
-
-We walked through a section of the Temple area and out past the Austrian
-Hospice through the Damascus Gate where, according to agreement, the
-carriage waited.
-
-The road out to the spot where the Mount of Olives drops abruptly to the
-plain has been repaired, stray shell holes filled in and a large section
-of new road built since that wonderful day when the last line of Turks
-were driven from the position they thought secure. The air was as clear
-as an October day at home and the shining city “compact together” seemed
-substantial and strong. It was along the high ridge of Olivet that, in
-the pressure of the days when relief workers toiled twelve and fifteen
-hours without respite, they came to renew their strength. In the home of
-the Greek Patriarch more than one strong soul, overcome for the moment
-by the ceaseless stream of dirty, hopeless, despairing human things that
-he must strive to save from the wreckage of war, found, in the white
-moonlight sifting down over the hill, in the kindly stars, in the
-silence and in sacred memories, courage to attempt again tasks that had
-been called impossible.
-
-We had been gazing so steadily at the city that when the driver suddenly
-stopped we turned in surprise. There on a gently sloping stretch of
-ground, close to the road at the left, stood row after row of crosses
-over the resting places of Scot and Londoner, Welshman and Irishman,
-Indian and Anzac who had paid for the Holy City with his life. On some
-of the crosses fresh green garlands were hanging, and on one a wreath
-with English holly.
-
-We got down from our carriage and walked slowly along, looking now at
-the crosses and now at the place where in agony of soul Christ had
-prayed for the strength to meet the test of Calvary that has made the
-Cross forever the symbol which shall mark the spots on earth most sacred
-to us. These lying out on the hillside had also been to Calvary.
-
-A little farther on in the road we passed men in the British uniform.
-They had survived the terrible test of those wind-swept hills with the
-rain falling in torrents, the benumbing cold, the soft, thick, gray mud,
-the night in the open with no shelter save a little wall of stones built
-up with care only to be blown over by a sudden vicious blast, with
-little food and only the ammunition that could reach them on the backs
-of the pack donkeys. It was through this they had won that peaceful city
-lying contentedly there in the sun, even the shining dome of its
-Mohammedan Mosque unharmed.
-
-The German hospice, Kaiserin Augusta Victoria, lies out on this road. It
-is exceedingly well built and untouched by shell fire. Although the Turk
-utterly demolished the mosque of Nebi Samwill and shot away its stately
-minaret, he turned no gun on this that was German property. Even when
-his airmen, flying over Olivet, knew that an enemy signal station had
-been set up in the garden of the hospice no shot fell upon it. “This
-house,” said Jamil, “is like a German castle on the inside. The tower
-was built higher than any tower on the Mount, the trees set out with
-care. The picture of the Saviour is painted in the chapel and the
-pictures of the Kaiser and the Kaiserin are on the long wall. It was
-common talk at the beginning of the war that the Crown Prince should
-live here when he became King in Palestine. Now it is the Headquarters
-for the British Army.... It is the Will of God!” he added solemnly after
-a moment. We took a picture of the hospice with two British Tommies
-standing at the gate.
-
-We had to leave our carriage and walk to the point where the Greek
-Church tower looks down over the stretch of rugged upland crossed by
-many a wadi, over the walled-in level spaces where green things were
-growing, over the plains of the Jordan and the Dead Sea so blue in the
-distance, away to the far mountains of Moab. It was a wonderful picture
-at which one could look for long hours and come back to enjoy again and
-again. It was from this point of vantage that the relief workers watched
-the taking of Jericho. In the grove we found the “husks that swine did
-eat,” lying about on the ground. Jamil picked one of the long brown pods
-from the tree and under the pressure of his urging we tasted it. It was
-sweeter than sugar cane, nauseatingly sweet. It took no imagination to
-understand why one would accept it as food only as a last resort. In
-this grove we found the hyssop which the women at the hospice use both
-as medicine and for the whitening of their clothes. In a sunny sheltered
-spot we found violets, although we were wearing our warmest wraps.
-
-Jamil sat down on a stone to talk with a workman while we, wandering
-about on the slopes of the hill, found a warm sheltered spot looking
-toward Mount Moriah. In all the days that we were in Jerusalem we could
-not fully sense the fact that the Christian was now free to visit all
-the sacred places, that the Temple area was open to him, that he might
-enter the sacred Mosque of Omar which once it had been death to enter.
-_The Turk had gone!_ We took out the Book and read the old instructions
-for the building of the Tabernacle, read the orders for the building of
-Solomon’s temple and the majestic words of its dedication when at last
-the building was finished:—“and Solomon stood before the Altar and
-said—‘O Jehovah, God of Israel, there is no God like thee in heaven
-above or on the earth beneath; who keepest covenants in loving kindness
-with thy servants that walk before thee with all their hearts.... But
-will God in very deed dwell on the earth? behold the heaven and the
-heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I
-have builded!... When thy people Israel are smitten down before the
-enemy because they have sinned against thee; if they turn again to thee
-and confess thy name and pray and make supplication unto thee in this
-house then hear thou in heaven and forgive thy people Israel and bring
-them again unto the land which thou gavest to their fathers.’” Of
-Solomon’s Temple scarce a vestige remains, yet Israel again is returning
-to the land of its fathers. We read of the visits of Jesus to the new
-temple which, great as it was, had so little of the glory of the old.
-How it must have thrilled Him, a little country boy from the village of
-Nazareth, when He saw it for the first time at the great feast. He seems
-to have had no fear, as with all simplicity He pressed near to the great
-doctors of learning, listening eagerly and asking keen questions, the
-keenest questions that can be asked—those that leap from the alert and
-hungry mind of a boy of twelve.
-
-And we read of that other day when He heard the quarrelings and
-cursings, saw the gross wickedness of the bargainings of the
-money-changers and those who bought and sold the sacrifices, and cried
-aloud in words of burning denunciation, “My house shall be called of all
-nations the house of prayer but ye have made it a den of thieves!”
-
-Little wonder that the scribes and Pharisees looked aghast at the crowds
-that pressed to hear as He taught daily in the temple, or that they
-demanded by whose authority He did these things and asked each other
-helplessly what they could do, since “the people were very attentive to
-Him,” and “the whole world had gone after Him.” In the temple courts how
-keen were His answers to their clever questioning designed to condemn
-Him, so keen that after awhile none dared ask Him any more questions.
-Yet when the teaching was over and, leaving the half-hostile,
-half-admiring crowd, He went out to the Mount of Olives to pray—then He
-knew that He must die.
-
-It all seemed very real as we sat looking down upon the City. So real
-that we dreaded to read of the days before Him, of the hard way that the
-rulers of the synagogue, because of their jealous conservatism, the
-desire to make their own places secure, the fear lest the people should
-follow Him as prophet and leave them as priests, had already in their
-hearts condemned Him to go. So we closed the Book.
-
-Leaving the carriage again at the Damascus Gate we wandered back past
-the convents, through Christian Street. The city was becoming a very
-live thing to us. The children smiled at us as we passed through the
-narrow arcade to our hotel. Oranges and dainty soft spring flowers from
-the valley were in our room.
-
-“I have lived thousands of years today,” said my friend. “I have been
-fighting all the battles from the days of King David to the days of King
-George and I am weary.” I smiled in sympathy, for one does not live in
-days or years in Palestine but in centuries. The march of events over
-broken cobblestones, past walls crumbling with age, catches one in its
-onward sweep and leaves him breathless as he hurries on from what has
-been to what is, and from what is to what is to be.
-
-We took up our American mail. The steady tread of history’s myriad
-marchers halted for a moment. The clippings from the papers told us of
-the wedding of a girl whom we love. Across the top of the clipping was
-written in the girl’s own hand, “Unspeakable happiness. The greatest day
-of my life!” Names of guests, the most minute details as to flowers and
-gowns followed. In another clipping we read of the divorce of a girl we
-had known in school. She had been married twenty years. I remembered the
-account of her wedding. In the hall we heard laughter. Marie was
-listening to the extravagant compliments of Alphonse. A letter from a
-boy of eleven asked for stamps from Egypt and Palestine. “I want them
-more than anything in the world,” he wrote. The next letter brought a
-clipping making passing reference in six short lines to a critical
-misunderstanding in the Far East. While we were reading it, a woman came
-to tell us a story of great sorrow and desperate need. The wild storm of
-human wrath and revenge that swept over Russia had left her, who had
-never known anything but love, happiness and plenty, stranded, utterly
-alone, with not even a ruble of her vast estates.
-
-It is a confusing world. Great events and small jostle each other along
-its highways. Wrapped securely about with affairs of self, old and young
-fail to see the momentous hours of human destiny as they pass—pass so
-swiftly, to leave them on some future day dumb with surprise, aghast at
-the significance of the things which, having eyes, they saw not and,
-having ears, they heard not. It is a most confusing and perplexing
-world, but alas for him who does not love it, pity for him who does not
-believe in it, shame upon him who will not share the task of saving it.
-
-Tomorrow would be Sunday and we would go to the Garden.
-
-
-
-
- I GO TO THE GARDEN
-
-
- _Who fathoms the Eternal Thought?
- Who talks of scheme and plan?
- The Lord is God! He needeth not
- The poor device of man._
-
- _I walk with bare, hushed feet the ground
- Ye tread with boldness shod;
- I dare not fix with mete and bound
- The Love and Power of God._
-
- _Ye praise His Justice; even such
- His pitying love I deem:
- Ye seek a King; I fain would touch
- The robe that hath no seam._
-
- _Ye see the curse which overbroods
- A world of pain and loss;
- I hear our Lord’s Beatitudes
- His prayer upon the Cross._
- —_John G. Whittier._
-
-
-
-
- I GO TO THE GARDEN
-
-
-Light clouds hung over the city that Sunday morning when we looked out
-at the tower of David, one of the oldest monuments of Jerusalem,
-standing directly across the open space in front of our balcony. It
-still looks the part it long played as a watch-tower and a place of
-refuge and strong defense. The people call it the Citadel, and until the
-coming of the British it served as a garrison for Turkish soldiers.
-During our first days in Jerusalem we had walked about Mount Zion, had
-read of the various controversies waged over exact locations, had gone
-into the House of Caiaphas, the House of Annas, and had looked at the
-upper room. They may or may not have been the exact spots made tragic or
-sacred by that last week of the Great Life. It did not matter to us. The
-stone courtyards, the little chapels, the marks of Crusaders’ crosses,
-the burial stones made us conscious indeed of the triumphs and tragedies
-of men and nations that had written themselves from that hilltop into
-the history of Palestine and so into the making of the world. It was
-very easy, standing in that upper room, bare now save for an ancient
-picture, to imagine the long table, the couches, the reclining
-disciples. One is almost overwhelmed as he realizes the effect of that
-simple supper of bread and wine upon the characters of succeeding
-generations of men. What breaks in the ranks of Christendom the varied
-interpretations of its significance have made! To what heights of
-spiritual power, to what depths of shame, sorrow and repentance has it
-led those who, following His request, have celebrated it in remembrance
-of Him. In wonderful cathedrals, in rude chapels, in the lonely spots of
-earth, in the jungle, in the desert, on the islands of the sea, in the
-hospitals, in prison, on the fields of war kneeling before improvised
-altars within sight of the no man’s land which tomorrow would be their
-graves, men have heard the words: “As oft as ye eat this bread and drink
-this wine—”
-
-How intensely He struggled, in those hours in the upper room, to make
-them understand that He loved them, to lead them to a comprehension of
-the meaning of service, to help them to accept the great commission His
-death would leave them to fulfil.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- _Copyright, Underwood & Underwood_
-
- Out there on the wind-swept hills, without priest or altar, we could
- better understand the words of the Book.]
-
-We could almost hear the voice of our Lord saying: “Behold the hour
-cometh, yea is now come, that ye shall be scattered every man to his own
-and shall leave me alone: yet—I am not alone because the Father is with
-me.
-
-“These things have I spoken unto you that in me ye might have peace. In
-the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. _I have
-overcome the world._”
-
-It was easy to see Peter standing by the fire in the place which they
-showed to us and to hear the cowardly words, “I never knew him,” but
-easier still, as though a beam of light had fallen upon a dark picture,
-to hear Jesus saying, “Tell my disciples _and Peter_.... Peter, lovest
-thou me?... Peter, feed my sheep.”
-
-From the background of Mount Zion we went to the Garden, not to the
-formal garden of Latin or Greek, with their chapels, their neat little
-gardens, their oranges and their olive trees planted about with fragrant
-flowers and green grass, though they are very beautiful, terraced there
-upon the steep sloping hillside. We went instead to the Armenian Garden,
-kept as nature made it, a wall with the vine leaning over it, a fallen
-trunk covered with doll moss, and the olive trees, large and small, gray
-green with twisted boughs ages old, grass as in a meadow, with lilies of
-the field nodding here and there in sunny spaces, though it was still
-winter. A soft mist hung about the hill and settled in low lines over
-the Garden. In one of the trees, hugging a branch, was a tiny gray bird.
-We could hear its song in the silence.
-
-The friend who had come with us had been often in the Garden. He told us
-of the beautiful service of the Relief Workers here on Easter morning,
-of the night after Allenby entered Jerusalem when the workers filled
-with joy over the manner of the victory came to this sacred spot to pray
-in gratitude and for strength for the long wearying days of toil which
-lay ahead. He told us of the Armenian girl, kneeling early one morning
-in the damp grass, trying to repeat Gethsemane’s prayer. She was a
-graduate of the American Woman’s College, was teaching in a girls’ high
-school when deportation orders came, and from then until her rescue had
-been an Arab’s slave in his dirty tent.
-
-It was very still. The walls of the city shut out its sounds, and it was
-too early for regular traffic along the road to Bethany. A British Tommy
-climbed over the wall and sat upon a great rock under a gnarled old
-tree, his hat in his hand. Pictures of the old masters painted on walls
-of cathedrals, hanging in great galleries, hymns tender and sweet that
-had thrilled the souls of thousands, poetry that had comforted man in
-his deepest hours of need, shadowy forms of Crusaders who had dared the
-perils of sea and land, hunger and thirst and the swords of the enemy,
-the monk, the pilgrim, the student searching for truth:—all these passed
-before us under the olive trees and went out into the mist.
-
-Suddenly the day seemed to fade and that night of centuries ago came
-stealing into the Garden. Kneeling there under the olive trees, we saw
-Love make its supreme sacrifice and were not ashamed of the overwhelming
-emotion that stirred our souls to greater depths than ever had been
-touched before. We read the words softly—“if possible—if
-possible—nevertheless thy will be done.” The rest of the picture was not
-so hard to look upon for He had triumphed. He rose from His prayer a
-_Conqueror_.
-
-There was more than one grassy hollow near the sheltering wall where the
-disciples might have slept in the open, as did many at the time of the
-Passover. Regretful, He wakened them. The Roman soldiers with staves and
-smoking torches were coming down over the hill. His doom was sealed.
-What the law gave them no right to do, misunderstanding, cunning, and
-craft had done. Judas kissed him. We read the rest of the story from a
-little book that made it very plain.[1] Then we prayed, but not with
-words—there were no words.
-
-Footnote 1:
-
- _By an Unknown Disciple_—Hodder and Stoughton.
-
-On the little bridge that crosses over the Kedron to the Bethany road we
-stood for a long time looking back, loathe to leave. We remembered the
-white crosses of yesterday standing in long rows over there on the other
-side of the mount. He was not alone in the Garden! With Him there had
-gathered through the centuries an understanding multitude, young and
-loving life as did He, who had met their own Gethsemanes and gone out
-from them bravely to die.
-
-Again we went through St. Stephen’s Gate and along the path where the
-Roman guards had led their prisoner. We stopped at Pilate’s Hall. Like a
-king indeed he met the false testimony of his accusers, the cynical
-questions of Pilate, the jesting soldiers who had seen many a man
-condemned to die but none who met the madness of a multitude that cried
-“Crucify! Crucify!” with such dignity and calm. No wonder Rousseau cried
-aloud as he studied the story, “Socrates died like a philosopher, but
-Jesus died like a God!” With what ardent devotion have the great artists
-of the past attempted to paint for us those scenes. So vivid were they
-as we stood there in Jerusalem, looking up at the tower of Antonius
-where Jesus suffered the scourging, that their reality pierced our
-souls.
-
-When the fickle crowd left the hall shouting curses as they had shouted
-hosannas, they moved along the narrow street which still bears the name
-Via Dolorosa.
-
-Opposite the Pretorium is a convent. In it are orphans and stray waifs
-picked up about Palestine. The ravages of war have added to the usual
-number and the place is crowded. On this Sunday they were at service,
-and the clean happy faces as they sang made us feel that it was because
-of the Sorrowful Way over which He had walked that they were sheltered
-and fed. Although intended for Jews, Turk and Armenian, Jew and Gentile
-sat together in the Chapel of Love and Forgiveness. It is under this
-convent, many feet below the level of the present street that one finds
-bits of the old Roman pavement over which the multitude, curious, cruel,
-mocking, followed Him to the place of crucifixion.
-
-Each spot along the Via Dolorosa is marked—the place where the Master
-took up His cross, the turn in the narrow street where in answer to the
-tears and prayers of the women He said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, weep
-not for me, but weep for yourself and your children,” the spot where,
-staggering from weakness, He fell beneath His cross and Simon lifted it
-and carried it to the hill of Death, dumbly sharing the Saviour’s pain.
-At each place of suffering as we passed, we saw men and women praying
-and making the sign of the cross. All men walked silently.
-
-Via Dolorosa, since the coming of the British, is scrupulously clean.
-The houses of stone with beautiful doorways and old carvings on the
-doorposts make a solid unbroken wall on either side, and very early the
-street is quite dark. Narrow and not even a mile in length, it stands
-out in the memory above all the great highways of the world.
-
-We did not follow the narrow streets to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
-where reverent worshipers were at that moment kneeling before the tomb,
-or kissing the stone upon which are the marks of the three crosses. It
-seemed incredible to us at first that this small church could cover both
-the spot which was called Calvary and the tomb in the garden of Joseph
-of Arimathea. Within the church are the chapels of the Greeks, the
-Romans, the Armenians and the Copts. In each are beautiful shrines with
-very precious lamps studded with jewels, lamps that burn in honor of
-each of the four Christian groups. Once there were four great doors of
-entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, but so frequent were the
-quarrels of those coming to worship that these doors were closed leaving
-only one way of entrance. The key to this door is still held by a
-Mohammedan according to the command of General Allenby, in memory of the
-fact that the Caliph Omar spared and continually protected this Church.
-Priceless jewels are hidden within it, the gifts of Pilgrims from every
-land. Its treasury is the richest in the world. Jamil saw it when it was
-shown to the former German Emperor for whom he interpreted, but could
-never find it again, so devious were the ways that led to it. The
-Kaiser’s gift, presented as with impressive ceremony he knelt to pray,
-was of great value—in gold.
-
-But it was not to this church of the Holy Sepulchre with its wonderful
-shrines, its most sacred associations reaching back into the long past,
-filled with memories of devout men and women, rich and great, poor and
-lowly, young and strong, weak and old, who had reverently worshiped
-before the rent in the rock, the place where the soldiers parted His
-garments, the tomb in the solid stone down in the very bowels of the
-earth, worn smooth as glass by the feet of pilgrims who, like Peter and
-John, must stoop to enter it, and Golgotha, reached by winding steps cut
-in the rock and leading up almost to the roof of the church—it was not
-this place which we sought as we came from the garden of Gethsemane,
-following Him along the Sorrowful Way. It was out on the hills beyond
-the Damascus Gate to the spot called Gordon’s Calvary that we went, not
-because we cared to enter into all the reasons why many believe it to be
-the place of suffering, rather than the other, but because out there on
-the wind-swept rocks under a darkening sky, with a garden in the little
-valley and the tombs cut in solid rock, their “great stones” lying
-near—out there with no priest and no altars it was easier to read the
-words of the Book and try to understand them.
-
-It was on this Mount of Calvary, looking down upon the city, that there
-came to us an overwhelming sense of the sin of selfishness and greed. In
-the ruins of Belgium we had felt it, in the tumult of war on the
-battlefields of France we had seen what it could do, in the records of
-the desperate struggles of the Peace Table we had caught glimpses of its
-power, in China we saw its work, in Korea we looked upon its suffering
-victims, and here on Calvary the weight of the world sorely wounded and
-dismayed by sin, pressed hard upon us. It would not have been possible
-to bear had we not read also of the stone rolled away and the great
-triumphant Victory.
-
-A deep conviction settled down upon us until it possessed every muscle
-and fiber of body and mind, until it possessed our souls—the thing that
-He preached and that only can save the world. His great command that man
-love his God and serve his neighbor—this principle alone can rescue
-humanity from the abyss of chaos into which blind greed, individual and
-national, has plunged it. As the pilgrims knelt at the Holy Sepulchre,
-we knelt there under the open skies on the hill that is called Calvary
-to accept again His first great commandment, and the second that is like
-unto it, in repentance and humility to pray for pardon for past failures
-and strength for new endeavors.
-
-That night at evening service in clear soprano voice a boy in the choir
-sang:
-
- There is a green hill far away
- Without the city wall
- Where the dear Lord was crucified
- Who died to save us all.
- Oh dearly, dearly has He loved
- And we must love Him too,
- And trust in His redeeming blood
- And try His works to do.
-
- There was no other good enough
- To pay the price of sin:
- He only could unlock the gate
- Of Heaven and let us in.
- Oh dearly, dearly has He loved
- And we must love Him too,
- And trust in His redeeming blood
- And try His works to do.
-
-The echo of the last line followed us home. There is work to be
-done—challenging, mighty world-building tasks—and for the doing of them
-those who call themselves servants and followers of Him whose brave,
-suffering footsteps we had traced from the Garden along the Sorrowful
-Way to Calvary have waited too long.
-
-
-
-
- I GO DOWN INTO EGYPT
-
-
- _The strings of camels come in single file
- Bearing their burdens o’er the desert sand;
- Swiftly the boats go plying on the Nile
- The needs of men to meet on every hand.
- But still I wait
- For the messenger of God who cometh late._
- —_Author Unknown._
-
-
-
-
- I GO DOWN INTO EGYPT
-
-
-It was sitting on a housetop overlooking Jerusalem on the last day of
-our visit to the Holy City that we heard in detail the story of the
-official entry of the British forces. The woman who told us had spent
-the years of the war as well as most of her life in Jerusalem though she
-is an American. Her children were born there, she speaks many of its
-languages, she knows its people and she loves it. She is one of the
-women appointed by Lord Samuel, the High Commissioner, to serve on an
-advisory council to assist the government in establishing policies for
-the protection and betterment of women. She is the Christian
-representative, the others being Mohammedan and Hebrew.
-
-The story, as she told it, revealing all the fear and anxiety of those
-hard years, the pressure of uncertainty, the daily, hourly struggle for
-food with sufficient nourishment to keep the children and the old people
-alive, made us feel again, as so many times before, the sharp stab of
-the fact that it is not those who bear arms alone who go to war. Little
-faces, whose right it is to be round and rosy, covered with smiles, must
-be pale and wan, yes, must even forget how to smile, as millions of
-little ones have forgotten since nineteen hundred and fourteen. Old
-faces, whose right it is to bear the marks of peace and contentment
-after the struggle of the years, must be left instead with marks of pain
-and anguish as have millions of the aged since nineteen hundred and
-fourteen. He is a cruel monster, War, and if man, after what he has seen
-these past years, does not imprison him, starve him, and leave him to
-die, then man deserves the bitterness of the fate that will be his.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- When we opened our eyes, the Nile lay almost at our feet.]
-
-Threatened deportation, first by the German, then by the Turk, had been
-again and again postponed for the little group known as the American
-Colony but finally word came that in ten days all must go. The men of
-military age, though neutral, had been ordered away a week before and
-were expecting the arrival of a Turkish officer at any moment, to tell
-them the time had come. Food was very scarce, there was no sugar, little
-flour, and no fats. The woman who told us the story was herself doing
-all-day and sometimes all-night duty as a nurse in the Red Crescent
-Hospital which was our present hotel. Some of the letters she showed to
-us proved what a consolation she must have been to the young British
-soldiers, who lay with the Turks, prisoners, and sorely wounded. The
-thundering of the guns had been drawing nearer but, despite rumors that
-crept into the streets and the hospital wards that the Turks were slowly
-losing ground, they themselves reported progress. Great airplanes droned
-over the city, cannon roared in the hills. One afternoon there was
-unusual commotion in the open space before the hotel and, standing by
-the window, our friend saw the Germans making hurried preparations for
-leaving. Signal wires, telephone wires, rugs, removable furniture, tons
-of supplies, went out through the Jaffa Gate. The Turkish General
-visited her—he must leave the wounded in her care. The German doctors
-would go with the troops. He would leave two days’ provisions and
-medicines, after that—
-
-When he had gone, half afraid to believe it, she whispered the word to
-the British patients. They were nearly mad with joy, and there was
-little sleeping that night. “When? When?” they would whisper as she or
-her helper passed them. She could only answer, “I do not know. We have
-provisions for two days.” Very early in the morning, before it was fully
-light, the Mayor of the city, one of the direct descendants of Mohamet,
-sent her a message saying that he was about to surrender the city.
-
-At half-past eight that morning the outposts saw the white flag
-approaching. General Shea was the officer sent by General Allenby to
-accept the surrender of the city. At half-past twelve Jerusalem had
-passed into the hands of the British, guards were placed at all public
-buildings, and instructions given to the Chief of Police. The joy of the
-people—Jew, Christian, and Moslem—was shown in the crowds that filled
-the street, the tears and embraces, the shrill cries in many tongues.
-Even the Turkish sick and wounded in the hospital showed relief. For the
-twenty-third time in its history Jerusalem had surrendered. But this
-time there were no cries for mercy, no bitterness, no wailing, no
-terrible fear of the conqueror.
-
-Outside the walls the guns banged and hammered at the Turkish defences.
-Much had to be done before Jerusalem was safe from attack, but although,
-spurred on by advices from Germany, the Turks made an attempt to
-recapture the City, it was a disastrous failure.
-
-One of the young men joined us on the roof and contributed his share of
-the description of the next thrilling days. It was on December 11th,
-1917, that General Allenby, Commander-in-Chief, took formal possession
-of the City. He would not enter through the break in the old wall made
-when the former Kaiser with his great retinue entered as a Crusader.
-Indeed orders have been given to have the break closed. Allenby would
-carry no flag. On foot and accompanied by a Guard that altogether
-numbered about one hundred fifty, he stood on Mount Zion on the steps of
-the Citadel at the entrance to David’s Tower. He had been met outside
-the narrow gate by the Guard representing all branches, faiths and races
-that make up the British Army. Behind him, as he stood on the steps with
-his staff, were the leading men of the City, ready to listen to the
-reading of the Proclamation. There were no shouts of victory, no
-trumpets, no evidence of the spirit of triumph over a foe. The
-Proclamation was read in Arabic and English, in Hebrew and Greek, in
-Russian, in French and Italian. As the people, standing respectfully in
-the open spaces and upon the housetops, heard each in his own tongue
-that all men might “pursue their lawful business without fear,” and the
-promise that “every Holy Place, revered and held sacred by any faith,
-will be defended and protected,” a look, first of incredulity, then of
-confidence, passed over their faces. Many Mohammedans ran from the
-square to repeat the words in homes from which some fearful ones had not
-dared to come. Murmurs and gestures of approval were given on every
-side. The windows of the Red Crescent Hospital were filled with faces of
-those who, though very ill or badly wounded, could not miss this
-significant moment of the Great War. All the promises made that day have
-been sacredly kept, our friends told us.
-
-In the old Turkish barrack square the Commander-in-Chief met the heads
-of all the religious communities. The sheikhs in charge of the Mosque of
-Omar, the representatives of the Priests and Patriarchs of the Latin,
-Greek Orthodox, Armenian, and Coptic churches who had been deported by
-the Turks, the heads of the Jewish communities, the Syrian Church, the
-Greek Catholic, the Abyssinian and the Anglican Churches, all were
-there. It was indeed a cosmopolitan company as to religious faiths. “The
-bright color of the holiday dress which most of the people had put on, I
-can see in detail at this moment,” said our friend. “Not one step in
-that simple ceremony shall I ever forget. In two hours, leaving guards
-over all holy places, with Mohammedan officers and soldiers from the
-Indian regiments to guard the Mosque of Omar, the General walked back
-through the Old Jaffa Gate as he had come, received the salute of his
-troops, entered his car and went down to the fighting area.”
-
-The relief workers took up the heavy burden of bringing food to the
-people whose thin bodies and pale faces showed the effect of months of
-starvation diet. All supplies must come up over roads muddy and torn by
-heavy traffic, crowded with army food and equipment that must have
-right-of-way. The task was one that taxed patience and energies to the
-utmost. The health commission assumed the equally great task of clearing
-the streets of unspeakable filth left in the wake of the Turkish rule,
-our friends shouldered their burden of securing medical attention and
-food for the sick, helpless and wounded men.
-
-“Only gradually,” said our friend walking up and down on the roof, her
-cheeks flushed by the memories of days so vividly recalled, “did we come
-to realize that this Holy City was _free_. It was as though we had been
-going about in heavy chains that, suddenly taken from us, had left us
-too dazed to move. We unconsciously looked for old restrictions, old
-threats, old taxes suddenly to be laid upon us. Despite the glory of its
-past,” she added, leaning far over the parapet to look out upon it, “the
-City in all its long history was never so truly the City of Zion as
-now.”
-
-When we went back to our hotel, standing at the windows from which the
-wounded had looked, we felt that though other scenes of many cities in
-many lands would fade with the years, the description of that day when a
-victorious army under the leadership of a great General, a true soldier,
-and a Christian gentleman had, beneath the shadow of the Tower,
-proclaimed a message of possession more truly in accord with the word
-and teaching of Jesus than any ever recorded in history, would never
-leave us.
-
-The sunset that night was more glorious than any we had seen. The hills
-were on fire with it, the Gate was gold. Then the valleys darkened, the
-streets were still, the crowd of Arab and Greek, Jew and Moslem, the
-shepherds, the merchant with his camels, the shopmen and the traveler,
-all sought shelter. It was night, and we looked for the last time out on
-the hills to the place where the stars shone over Bethlehem. Never did
-more reluctant pilgrims leave a Holy Place.
-
-The train, going twice each week down from Jerusalem and connecting with
-the train for Cairo, had begun to carry both sleeping compartments and
-dining car. We boarded it late that night at the foot of the long hill.
-Before it was light, we had pulled out of the Jerusalem station and did
-not get even one more glimpse of the city set on a hill. Instead when we
-opened our eyes we were almost out of the Judean Hills and soon were
-moving along through desert-rimmed lowlands. Then the desert itself lay
-about us for hours, livened by occasional caravans that also were going
-down to Egypt. Once an airplane flew over us and on into the glare of
-the cloudless sky. We thought often of Joseph and Mary and the Child
-fleeing through this lonely desert, to find in alien Egypt refuge from
-the jealous wrath of the Roman king. How rapidly the world has learned
-to cover time and space since then! How slow has been its progress
-toward the kingdom the Child, whom Herod feared, had come to build. God
-grant that now over the new paths through old Palestine messengers
-bearing Good Will may come with all speed.
-
-At Kantara we saw a company of Jews sent by the Zionists into Palestine.
-They were a weary group, their faces bore marks of deep suffering. They
-spoke Russian only, so we could not talk with them. They were going by
-train to Haifa. We could only hope that their sorrows were over and that
-in the land of their fathers they would find peace, a chance to forget,
-shelter, food and a home. But we could not feel sure. The threatening
-words we had heard from the lips of the Arab, the protests on the part
-of the Jews that there was not land enough in Palestine capable of
-bearing crops to give food to those who now struggled to live, the
-bitter race hatreds and religious feuds very near the surface always
-ready to burst into flame,—these things made us doubtful. The
-transformation within a generation of this land of Palestine into a safe
-and happy home for all the Jews of all the world seems but the futile
-day dream of children when one faces conditions as they are. Many lands
-have done many things to the Jew who once in simplicity worshiped the
-God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and tried sincerely, not only to obey
-the great commandments of Moses, but to teach them to his children.
-Whether again they can gather from all lands and bring with them the
-best who shall say? It may be that the fervent exhortations of rabbis,
-the wisdom of judges, the training of educators, the science of
-agriculturists, the modern irrigation miracles of engineers, the proper
-placing of peoples, will make of Palestine a modern state where the
-dream of economists, political and social, will one day be demonstrated
-in action. The only spot we saw that seemed like the coming of the day
-was Ramallah, the city that had to be taken by storm before the troops
-could reach Jerusalem and visited by us to see the splendid work of the
-schools of the Quakers who for long years have given learning and new
-life to children of Syrian and Armenian, and now and then to a Moslem or
-a Jew. From that little town between six and seven hundred Jews and
-Syrians had emigrated to America. Since the war many had returned and
-were rapidly building the city. Others had sent money to rebuild the
-homes of their families. These homes were of stone built two stories
-high with the flat roof but with plenty of space for light and air.
-Gardens surrounded many of them and trees were being planted everywhere.
-The children were well nourished, well clothed, and well trained. It
-helped us to have more confidence in the dreams with the fulfilment of
-which all Christendom is in sympathy. If only patience and unselfishness
-can be set as watchmen over against the door of enthusiasm! We were told
-that the Hebrew High Commissioner of Jerusalem looks to Ramallah as a
-prophecy.
-
-We sat for a while on the journey from Kantara to Cairo with a British
-officer and a nurse who had seen hard service during the war and is now
-in charge of a number of stations where the native nurses meet her to
-report progress and receive further instructions. She helps them to
-understand the care of mothers and young babies and trains them to fight
-the terrible diseases of the eye that result in a staggering percentage
-of blindness. The native girls are taking up their work with enthusiasm,
-even the little children are sharing in the campaign against flies.
-“That is a far harder campaign than any we have ever waged when you
-consider the people you have to train to fight,” said the officer. And
-remembering the flies on our days at Suez and Port Said, we could agree
-with him. It was nearly midnight when she left the train at a little
-station in the sand. Her man-servant was waiting with her horse and we
-watched her ride off to her hospital out there somewhere in the
-blackness. “No finer women on God’s earth than those who wear that
-uniform,” said the officer.
-
-A half hour or more and he left us. He was a lover of the desert and
-almost made us forget how pitiless, how cruel, how destitute of all that
-makes life for most of us, it is. He knew the names of all the stars and
-when they would appear in the velvet sky over his great stretch of
-camps. He loved the cold of the night and was not afraid of the heat of
-midday, he loved the sunrise and sunsets and “the desert-folk worth many
-times the puny men of cities.” He, too, rode off into the darkness.
-
-At last—Cairo—and we left the train through the long station, bright as
-day. A car was waiting. The luxury of our room made us feel that we had
-entered fairyland. It had been so long since we had seen the things for
-rest, comfort and cleanliness that had in our past been common
-necessities, that now after these months of journeying about the world
-they seemed extravagances indeed!
-
-The next morning we looked through the open French windows with their
-rose hangings, out upon the Pyramids and the Nile. The river lay almost
-at our feet. The beauty of it was intoxicating in the soft light of the
-rising sun. When my friend broke the silence she said, “It is indeed
-beautiful,” then smiling she added “but,—
-
- If I forget thee, O Jerusalem,
- Let my right hand forget her skill.
- Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth,
- If I remember thee not,
- If I prefer not Jerusalem
- Above my chief joy....
-
-
- Awake, awake, put on thy strength; put on thy beautiful garments, O
- Jerusalem, the holy city.... Shake thyself from the dust; arise, sit
- on thy throne, O Jerusalem.—Peace be unto thee, O Zion.”
-
-
-
-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-
-
-
-Transcriber’s note:
-
- 1. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling.
-
- 2. Retained anachronistic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings as
- printed.
-
-
-
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-<body>
-<h1 class="pg">The Project Gutenberg eBook, New Paths through Old Palestine, by Margaret
-Slattery</h1>
-<p>This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States
-and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
-restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
-under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
-eBook or online at <a
-href="http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you are not
-located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the
-country where you are located before using this ebook.</p>
-<p>Title: New Paths through Old Palestine</p>
-<p>Author: Margaret Slattery</p>
-<p>Release Date: August 20, 2019 [eBook #60140]</p>
-<p>Language: English</p>
-<p>Character set encoding: UTF-8</p>
-<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NEW PATHS THROUGH OLD PALESTINE***</p>
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-<h4>E-text prepared by Richard Tonsing, MFR,<br />
- and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br />
- (<a href="http://www.pgdp.net">http://www.pgdp.net</a>)<br />
- from page images generously made available by<br />
- Internet Archive<br />
- (<a href="https://archive.org">https://archive.org</a>)</h4>
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;margin: 0 auto;" cellpadding="10">
- <tr>
- <td valign="top">
- Note:
- </td>
- <td>
- Images of the original pages are available through
- Internet Archive. See
- <a href="https://archive.org/details/newpathsthrougho00slatuoft">
- https://archive.org/details/newpathsthrougho00slatuoft</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-<div class='tnotes covernote'>
-<p class='c000'><b>Transcriber’s Note:</b></p>
-<p class='c000'>The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.</p>
-</div>
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-<hr class="full" />
-
-<div class='section ph1'>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c001'>
- <div>NEW PATHS</div>
- <div>THROUGH OLD PALESTINE</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class='figcenter id001'>
-<img src='images/i_frontis.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' />
-<div class='ic001'>
-<p>Instead of the soft-footed camels, the motor truck stood at the gates of the Holy City.</p>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='titlepage'>
-
-<div>
- <h1 class='c002'>New Paths Through Old Palestine</h1>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c003'>
- <div>BY</div>
- <div><span class='large'>MARGARET SLATTERY</span></div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='figcenter id002'>
-<img src='images/i_title.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' />
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div><span class='small'>Printed in U. S. A.</span></div>
- <div class='c004'><span class='large'>THE PILGRIM PRESS.</span></div>
- <div><span class='left'>BOSTON</span> <span class='right'>CHICAGO</span></div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c001'>
- <div>Copyright 1921</div>
- <div>by</div>
- <div>SIDNEY A. WESTON</div>
- <div class='c003'>THE PILGRIM PRESS</div>
- <div>BOSTON</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c001'>
- <div>TO</div>
- <div class='c004'>M. R. H.</div>
- <div class='c004'>THE UNDERSTANDING COMPANION</div>
- <div>OF THE PILGRIMAGE</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
- <span class='pageno' id='Page_vii'>vii</span>
- <h2 class='c005'>A WORD ABOUT THE NEW PATHS</h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c006'>From our earliest childhood when at Christmas
-time we gazed with intense interest at the
-Wise-men on their gaily caparisoned camels,
-those great awkward ships of the desert have
-been associated in our minds with Palestine.
-The Child held close in Mary’s arms as she sat
-upon the donkey while Joseph urged it on
-through the day and the night in the hurried
-flight into Egypt has made that faithful little
-beast a part of Palestine.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>We saw both the donkeys with loaded panniers
-driven along by wandering Arabs and the
-strings of camels, soft-footed, heads held
-proudly high, moving off over the yellow sands
-up to the hills. But we sat in a modern train,
-with comfortable leather seats, and a madly
-puffing engine dragged us over the wind-blown
-sands up through the hills of Judea to the little
-modern station just without the walls of Jerusalem.
-Once when we stopped at old Lydda we
-heard a rushing, whirring sound over our heads.
-It grew louder and, as we searched the sky, a
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_viii'>viii</span>plane swept out from the soft clouds into the
-clear blue, came down nearer, nearer to earth,
-rose again, and passed out of sight. It had
-come from the City of Zion: it would go into
-Egypt.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>The Wilderness, the Dead Sea and the forty
-long years of wandering, the victories over the
-Philistines, the waters of Jordan parted for the
-passing of the hosts of Jehovah, the tumbling
-walls of Jericho, the spots where “the arm of
-the Lord prevailed”: with these we had long
-been familiar. They were associated in our
-minds with tents, with much cattle, with slow
-beasts of burden, with men, women, and children
-who moved leisurely in times of peace and
-fled in wild confusion in times of war.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>The Wilderness, the Dead Sea, the Jordan,
-and Jericho we saw. A motor car driven by the
-son of an Arab chief took us over and past them
-all in less than a day!</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>Old Palestine still lies between the great
-desert and the seas. The women still grind
-the corn, stand gossiping about the well, and
-wrap their babies in swaddling clothes. The
-shepherds wander through the bare hills with
-their sheep and lead them, when spring comes,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_ix'>ix</span>to the green pastures and the still waters. But
-there are <em>New Paths Through Old Palestine</em>.
-They cross age-worn desert-ways, go down into
-the shadows of deep valleys, climb hoary mountains,
-follow Elijah’s chariot through great
-spaces of the sky. The new paths bring new
-days fraught with possibilities. In time they
-<em>may</em> bring a new Palestine: not the mystic land
-of the Zionists but the promised land of which
-the prophets and poets of Israel sang. Old
-Palestine died in nineteen-fourteen with the rest
-of the world that was and will never be again.
-New Palestine is born. What its future shall
-be depends upon the souls of those who follow
-the new paths. They may lead only to temporary
-triumph, to the selfish goals of the kingdoms of
-men: they <em>may</em> lead to the Kingdom of God.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter id001'>
-<img src='images/i_ix.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' />
-<div class='ic001'>
-<p>Margaret Slattery.</p>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='lg-container-l'>
- <div class='linegroup'>
- <div class='group'>
- <div class='line'><span class='sc'>November 1, 1921.</span></div>
- </div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='lg-container-b c008'>
- <div class='linegroup'>
- <div class='group'>
- <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_x'>x</span>“<em>Ah no! that sacred land</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>Where fell the wearied feet of the lone Christ</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>Robs not the soul of faith.</em>”</div>
- <div class='line in16'>—<em>Richard Watson Gilder.</em></div>
- </div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
- <span class='pageno' id='Page_xi'>xi</span>
- <h2 class='c005'>CONTENTS</h2>
-</div>
-
-<table class='table0' summary='CONTENTS'>
- <tr>
- <th class='c009'></th>
- <th class='c010'><span class='small'>PAGE</span></th>
- </tr>
- <tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>I Go Up to Jerusalem</span></td>
- <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_3'>3</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>I Go Over to Bethlehem</span></td>
- <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_21'>21</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>I Go Down to Jericho</span></td>
- <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_39'>39</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>I Go to Bethany</span></td>
- <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_61'>61</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>I Go Out to the Mount of Olives</span></td>
- <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_79'>79</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>I Go to the Garden</span></td>
- <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_97'>97</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c009'><span class='sc'>I Go Down into Egypt</span></td>
- <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_113'>113</a></td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
- <span class='pageno' id='Page_1'>1</span>
- <h2 class='c005'>I GO UP TO JERUSALEM</h2>
-</div>
-
-<div class='lg-container-b c011'>
- <div class='linegroup'>
- <div class='group'>
- <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_2'>2</span><em>Our feet are standing</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>Within thy gates, O Jerusalem,</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>Jerusalem, that art builded</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>As a city that is compact together.—</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>Peace be within thy walls,</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>And prosperity within thy palaces.</em></div>
- </div>
- <div class='group'>
- <div class='line'><em>Praise Jehovah, O Jerusalem;</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>Praise thy God, O Zion,</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates;</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>He hath blessed thy children within thee.</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>He maketh peace in thy borders.</em></div>
- <div class='line in24'>—<cite>Psalms 122, 147.</cite></div>
- </div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' id='Page_3'>3</span></div>
-<div class='section ph2'>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c001'>
- <div>I GO UP TO JERUSALEM</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c012'>There was a moon that night. Now it
-was half hidden by soft clouds, now clear,
-brilliant, white against a velvet sky. We
-stood crowded close to the heavy ropes stretched
-across the bridge, which had swung open to permit
-one boat after another to pass. We were
-at Kantara on the Suez. Across the canal was
-the train dimly lighted, standing on the tracks
-that seemed half buried in the soft, yellow,
-desert sand. We waited impatiently. Nearly
-three hours had passed since the train from Port
-Said had left us there to attend to baggage and
-troublesome passports, and to eat a meager supper
-from boxes brought with us from the Port.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>Now a Japanese boat passed slowly along
-the canal; then a smaller craft with cargo, flying
-the Dutch flag; a British boat brilliantly
-lighted, its passengers, many of them in uniform,
-dancing on deck. The canal is so narrow
-that great ships must creep slowly and carefully
-along, with no place for miles where one
-boat may pass another. It is a miracle, this
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_4'>4</span>Suez Canal, and the story of its building a most
-fascinating tale. Its banks are scarred by the
-battles of the great war. Barbed wire, old dugouts,
-the remains of hastily constructed forts
-reminded us of the desperate struggle made by
-the Allies to protect it against the enemy in the
-air and under the water. Had any one of their
-many attempts successfully closed the canal,
-the war would have had a very different ending.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>We had just spent nineteen and one-half
-hours coming through the canal at the slow
-speed permitted by law—five miles an hour.
-Even then our boat twice grazed the retaining
-wall. In a single year over three thousand
-boats passed through the locks, crept along
-through the canal, then hurried to far ports,
-east or west.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>As the fifth boat swung lazily past, a sigh of
-relief went up from the crowd pressed against
-the ropes. A moment and the great bridge
-moved back into place and we were given the
-signal to cross. It was a weird group that
-hurried along in the moonlight—a party of
-Americans, a group of British officers, some
-Australian soldiers, Jews from Russia clutching
-their permits to enter the land of promise,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_5'>5</span>Egyptians, Syrians, Arabs in native dress.
-There were but few women. Our porter found
-us seats close to the window in one of the compartments.
-We were sorry for this later, as
-the fine sand sifted in and covered clothing and
-baggage. No sleeping-car was possible, so we
-made ourselves as comfortable as we could with
-bags for pillows and heavy coats for blankets.
-We were most grateful for this railroad from
-Kantara to Jerusalem, realizing that before
-the war we would have been compelled to make
-the inconvenient and dangerous landing in the
-small boats at Jaffa.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>We made our way slowly through the night
-across the desert that stretched as far as the eye
-could reach in the moonlight and slipped away
-into blackness when the moon had set. What
-it had cost the men who had laid those ties in
-that wilderness of sand, under the scorching
-rays of a pitiless sun, no history of war can
-adequately relate. How often in those days, as
-we looked reverently at old battlegrounds, we
-searched for words with which to describe the
-miracles performed by the engineering corps
-of the fighting armies!</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>With the morning light, we began to see signs
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_6'>6</span>of life on the desert. Great masses of cacti, in
-clumps as tall as trees, with stems as thick as a
-man’s body, were growing but a few feet from
-our windows. Here, during the war, the enemy
-had hidden their machine guns, a refuge from
-which they might safely do their deadly work,
-practically certain that they could not be captured.
-Many a brave soldier of the Allies gave
-up his life in agony, caught in the cactus hedge
-to which the rush of battle had driven him, and
-many an heroic rescue of a comrade held by
-the cruel thorns took place on that desert plain.
-When the cactus growth cleared and the desert
-was unbroken we stared in amazement at what
-seemed to be a line of dark earth—a road
-made in the shifting sand. When we got nearer
-we found it to be strips of chicken wire. This
-wire was the solution of a problem that at first
-threatened to tie up all the plans of Headquarters,
-for the heavy artillery and the loaded
-motor lorries, sinking deep into the sand, made
-progress impossible. The wire road was the
-result of the ingenuity of some of the men in
-the ranks. As the fine and coarse net used
-alternately pressed down upon the sand it gave
-the resistance that enabled the great guns and
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_7'>7</span>loads of supplies to pass over places otherwise
-uncrossable. When they had passed, soldiers
-rolled up the wire, loaded it on the camels to
-be used again over some hard stretch ahead.
-The war over, it lay there rusting in the sand.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>Again and again, as one crossed the battlefields
-of Palestine, he saw evidences of the triumph
-of man’s mind over earth’s obstacles.
-Nothing was too ordinary, too commonplace,
-too insignificant to be used to further the success
-of the great cause. For fresh supplies of
-food and water, for “heavies” with which to
-batter down the defenses of the enemy, the army
-was for a time dependent upon temporary
-tracks of chicken wire laid in a waste of moving
-sand!</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>Against the horizon we could see the slow
-moving train of camels. A group of Arabs on
-horseback halted to watch us pass. We were
-in Palestine, that land of small distances and
-great deeds.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>“I cannot believe that I am in Palestine,”
-said the young daughter of a British officer who
-was to see her father for the first time in four
-years. “I have not been able to think of it as a
-real land. I know, in a way, that Moses and
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_8'>8</span>Joshua fought here. But think of father’s fighting
-here, too!” The girl had expressed the
-thought of hundreds of others who have studied
-the Bible stories, become familiar with the difficult
-names, drawn maps and located the cities
-of Moses and of Paul, marked the journeyings
-of Christ, but to whom the land has never
-been a real land and its records, shrouded in
-vague mystery, have never seemed a part of the
-earth. But now we knew it to be real. We
-began to comprehend “the wilderness and the
-solitary place.”</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>It is only about the size of my own state of
-Massachusetts, I told myself again and again.
-Its greatest length is but one hundred eighty
-miles and it is nowhere more than fifty-five
-miles wide. If I had the railways and engines
-of home I could cross it in less than two hours.
-I could travel its entire length easily in five or
-six. But the present train, with its light engine,
-on a roadbed hastily made, parts of it finished
-under fire from enemy guns, moves slowly. We
-are stopping at Gaza.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>Once Gaza was the largest city of the old
-country of the Philistines. I can almost see
-Samson, strong and powerful, coming down
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_9'>9</span>over the hill called today Samson’s Ridge, bearing
-the great city gates upon his shoulders while
-men stood aghast. I can see him too, blinded
-and powerless, walking the treadmill of his enemies.
-As I look out over the desert road, I
-remember the Ethiopian struggling to find the
-meaning of the words of the prophet Isaiah and
-young Philip running by his chariot, eagerly
-responding to the invitation to sit with him and
-explain the prophecy. Riding along through
-the dust, I can hear him talking with the ruler
-about Jesus and what He had taught of God
-and man; and, half-astonished at the quick
-response, I can hear the Ethiopian, as they came
-near to a place with water, saying, “Behold,
-here is water, what doth hinder me to be baptized?”
-But I am brought back suddenly from
-the long past. Men in British uniform are on
-the platform of the little station. They follow
-the mail bag eagerly, joking each other in clear
-English accents about the probable contents.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>For eight months in nineteen hundred and
-seventeen, Gaza became again the center of
-a great battle area. We could see the remains
-of the Turkish trenches, dug deep into the
-earth and protected by great masses of wire
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_10'>10</span>or by sand bags made from the gay colored
-hangings and curtains taken from the houses
-of its people. But in spite of all their careful
-preparations and their gallant defence, Gaza
-fell into the hands of the British troops whose
-splendid officers and men had braved heat, terrible
-thirst, sand-storms, deadly fire that robbed
-them of hundreds of their comrades, that they
-might take this important post on the road that
-was to lead them through untold suffering up
-to Jerusalem, as it had led other armies of days
-long ago. The British Tommies read their
-Bibles in their spare time these days. They
-read over again the battles of Israelites and
-Philistines which they had found very stupid
-when they were boys in Sunday schools but which
-are exceedingly interesting to them now. As
-they fought, step by step, for possession of that
-same land, they asked themselves if, battling
-against a foe to whom the desert was home, on
-trackless wastes whose every spring and rock
-was known, they could ever win. Never for a
-moment did they hesitate in their answer, but
-many a brave young officer and many a hardy
-soldier of Australia or New Zealand must have
-had misgivings as he looked at the cactus hedge,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_11'>11</span>miles deep, or out over the still, barren, hopeless
-desert hills.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>We left Gaza to climb slowly up to Lydda,
-now called Ludd, where we were obliged to
-change cars. On all sides were signs of the fighting
-of two years before, and now and then white
-crosses or Turkish graves reminded us of the
-terrible price youth has paid throughout the
-long centuries of history to make this land holy
-indeed.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>As we climbed up into the hills, it began to
-rain, the air was fresh and cool, the vineyards
-here and there on the hillsides brought great
-relief after the glare of the sands through which
-we had been passing for so many hours. Our
-first glimpse of Jerusalem was in the soft mist
-through which the sun was attempting to shine.
-The walls looked high and forbidding, the whole
-city, from its point of vantage crowning the hilltops,
-seemed to look down upon us as though
-we were but very little things, little and unimportant,
-come to gaze, without half understanding
-what we should see, upon all man has
-dreamed and suffered in his reach for God and
-happiness.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>A thrill of anticipation had passed up and
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_12'>12</span>down the corridor of the train. Not a person
-sat in his compartment. Corridor windows
-were opened and eager faces crowded about
-them. The face of the young girl who was to
-see her father after the four years of separation
-was flushed with excitement, but the face of her
-mother was pale and there were tears in her
-eyes. She had given her two sons—one in
-France and one in Mesopotamia—to the world’s
-great effort to preserve its freedom. I shall
-never forget the light in the eyes of two thin,
-haggard, long-bearded Hebrews, looking out
-from the windows, then turning to speak with
-each other in Russian words that, though unintelligible
-to us, seemed to be on fire with passion.
-Their gestures were expressive of emotion that
-could not be restrained. Long before the train
-stopped they were at the door.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>The faces of young British officers on leave,
-coming up for the first time to see the city for
-whose delivery they had prepared the way down
-on the dry parched plain, were keen with interest;
-no detail of the approach escaped them.
-The residents accustomed to the journeyings
-from the Port to the city looked at us all with
-mild curiosity and kind tolerance.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_13'>13</span>From the station, the horses dragged us up
-through gray mud that flew about us in showers,
-covering carriage, baggage, and robes,—there
-was no escape from it. From the mist the walls
-of the “city of cities” emerged, clear, strong,
-unbroken, no mark of battle upon them. As we
-went through the great gate, the sun, breaking
-through the mist, flooded with light, for a few
-moments, the narrow street and brightened the
-faces of the crowd of people of every nation that
-poured ceaselessly in and out. We stopped
-before the hotel that during the war had served
-as the Red Crescent Hospital. Lunch was waiting
-and we sat down with the Mohammedan in
-his red fez, the Bedouin in his long, beautiful,
-gay-colored coat, the French officer and the
-British officer on leave, Jewish business men,
-the Greek and the Syrian—the world, it seemed
-to us as we listened to the various languages.
-All orders for food were given in French, and
-in French men of different nations spoke with
-each other in courteous greeting.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>We were in Jerusalem. Here Samuel sat;
-here at the gate was David’s tower; King Solomon
-once lived over there on the hill in his
-glittering palace and by his wealth and wisdom
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_14'>14</span>made himself famous throughout the world,
-and here he lost his wisdom as has many another
-in the courts of the women. Herod and Pilate
-looked out over these hills; the Crusader
-stormed the walls and the Turk brought terror
-and slavery with his sword. Twenty-three
-times in its history Jerusalem has been captured.
-It has been pillaged, plundered, burned,
-utterly destroyed, rebuilt only to be plundered
-again. Yet here it stood. Upon what unspeakable
-sorrow the stars of Palestine have looked
-down! We gazed from our balcony out over
-the low buildings of solid rock, out through the
-break in the wall made that the Kaiser, on his
-visit to the Holy Place, might enter in great
-pomp and glory with his impressive army of
-followers, the break redeemed by the simplicity
-of the entrance of the victorious General
-Allenby into the city that he had conquered
-without the destruction of a single building or
-a foot of wall and accepted, when surrendered,
-as a sacred trust placed once more in the hands
-of Christians. It may be that the white crosses
-in long rows, out on the hillside, guarding the
-graves of soldiers from every part of the British
-Empire, young, very young, will continue
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_15'>15</span>to remind these latest conquerors of the tremendous
-cost of the victory that left the city
-unharmed and help them govern the land with
-an unselfishness of purpose that will measure
-up to the high standard of their victory.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>After lunch we found that dark clouds had
-gathered low over the hills, and before we could
-leave our room the rain came. We studied the
-map of the city, searched out the location of its
-sacred places, read over again the words of
-poet and prophet describing the days of its
-great glory, when from Mount Zion king and
-shepherd could look over at Mount Moriah
-where the smoke of the sacrifice from the temple
-of Jehovah ascended to heaven.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>Late in the afternoon the rising wind scattered
-the clouds and the sun set in a blaze of glory.
-We stood just outside the gate on the city wall
-looking down across the valley over toward
-Bethlehem. The hills, deep purple, reached up
-on every side to touch the sky. Their bare rocky
-slopes became soft as velvet in the fading light.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>A young British private, leaning against a
-part of the parapet, took out a khaki Testament
-and turned the leaves slowly. He seemed
-to find what he wanted and read, following the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_16'>16</span>lines with his finger. Then he closed the book,
-put it back in his pocket and turned, half apologetically
-to a companion not in uniform.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>“We fought out there,” he said, “the 53rd
-division. We fought around the very hills
-where the angels sang about Peace on earth.”</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>A moment of silence and the other spoke:
-“Yonder is the road He must have climbed
-when He came up to Jerusalem.”</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>“I’ll take you over it tomorrow,” was the
-answer. “We’ll see all the places where He
-used to go. It makes the story in the Book
-very plain.”</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>They moved away. Reluctantly, in the face
-of coming darkness, we left the great wall and
-joined the group of Arabs who, with camels and
-donkeys, were passing in and out of the gate.
-As we climbed the long stairs to our room, we
-remembered that tomorrow would be Sunday
-at home. In thousands of churches all over the
-world, trusting little children, strong, courageous
-youth, men and women bearing heavy
-burdens, the old, the sick, the missionaries would
-read the story of what He did and said centuries
-before, in and about Jerusalem—the story that,
-despite the limitations of those who have told it,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_17'>17</span>has changed the world and that must continue to
-change it until it shall become what He prayed
-it might be—the kingdom of God upon the earth.
-Tomorrow we, like the young soldier in khaki,
-would begin our journeys to “all the places
-where He used to go.” And we hoped that for
-us, too, the sacred spots would “make the story
-in the Book very plain.”</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>In a long procession with torches the worshipers
-of the Greek church, chanting an evensong
-for their feast day, passed beneath our
-balcony. A torch lighted up the cross held high
-over the heads of the marchers. Out over the
-hills of Bethlehem, hidden now by the night,
-bright stars were shining. We fell upon our
-knees and worshiped Him.</p>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
- <span class='pageno' id='Page_19'>19</span>
- <h2 class='c005'>I GO OVER TO BETHLEHEM</h2>
-</div>
-
-<div class='lg-container-b c011'>
- <div class='linegroup'>
- <div class='group'>
- <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_20'>20</span><em>There was a baby born in Bethlehem.</em></div>
- <div class='line in2'><em>I know they say</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>That this and that’s in doubt, and, for the rest</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>That learned men who surely should know best</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>Explain how myths crept in, and followers’ tales confused the truth.</em></div>
- </div>
- <div class='group'>
- <div class='line'><em>I know—but anyway</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>There was a baby born in Bethlehem</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>Who lived and grew and loved and healed and taught</em></div>
- <div class='line in2'><em>And died—but not to me.</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>When Christmas comes I see Him still arise,</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>The gentle, the compassionate, the wise,</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>Wiping Earth’s tears away, stilling her strife;</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>Calling, “My path is Peace; My way is Life!”</em></div>
- <div class='line in24'>—<em>Author Unknown.</em></div>
- </div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' id='Page_21'>21</span></div>
-<div class='section ph2'>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c001'>
- <div>I GO OVER TO BETHLEHEM</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c012'>It was clear and cold. The hills of Moab were
-deep blue. They seemed very near. In a
-low carriage that bore every mark of long
-service, drawn by two thin dark horses and
-driven by an Arab in a dull brown Bedouin
-coat, with the long, heavy head-dress falling
-over his shoulders and protecting him from
-rain or sun, we drove out through the gate.
-Dark eyes watched us curiously. The horses at
-first were swift of foot and the carriage lurched
-and rolled down the steep grade of the valley
-of Hinnom, past the former German colony,
-over the new bridge; then, losing their enthusiasm,
-they climbed slowly. On a hillside the
-sheep were feeding, but how they could find
-enough to sustain life on those bare rocky slopes
-is hard to understand. Now we passed a flock
-following the shepherd in his vari-colored coat
-down a steep incline and through a valley which
-in the rainy season would be a rushing stream.
-We could hear the lambs call, and now and then
-the shepherd’s reprimand to a straying sheep.
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_22'>22</span>Over there were the fields of Boaz. How beautiful
-they must have looked when the heavy
-sheaves of wheat were yellow in the sun. The
-land of Moab seemed such a short distance away
-as we who had been half-way round the world
-thought of distance, but to loyal, faithful, loving
-Ruth those desert plains, rounded hills, and
-deep valleys meant distance enough to separate
-her forever from the home and kindred she must
-leave behind. The brave words came back to
-us: “Whither thou goest, I will go; thy people
-shall be my people and thy God my God.” She
-deserved the happiness she won out there in the
-fields as she followed the reapers. As if agreeing
-with our unspoken thoughts our guide
-turned and looked down at us. “Boaz, the
-owner of the field, married Ruth, the Moabite
-girl. She was very beautiful,” he said.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>The wind was bleak on the hilltop as it was
-that night centuries ago and we were glad when
-we reached the protection of the low stone
-houses of the village of Bethlehem. Such a tiny
-village! Nothing was left of the glory of that
-other day when the busy tax-gatherers checked
-up the names of the people and the keeper of
-the Inn hurried about trying in vain to find room
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_23'>23</span>for his guests, when officers of the army in
-resplendent uniform and civil officers proud and
-haughty made every Jewish pilgrim conscious
-of the power of great Rome.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>Nothing remains of the old inn or khan which
-was crowded on that night to its very gates.
-Thankful indeed must both Joseph and Mary
-have been for the protection of the cave with
-its great manger hewn out of the rock. Over
-that spot to which they went so gratefully for
-shelter now stands the Church of the Nativity.
-It is a simple beautiful church, but the shrines
-within are garish indeed.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>By General Allenby’s command, the high forbidding
-walls of stone that have so long divided
-the interior and marred its beauty have been
-taken down. The walls had formerly separated
-the church into sections claimed by the various
-faiths. The nave of the church belongs to the
-Greeks, one transept to the Coptic Christians,
-the other to the Armenians. The Romanists
-have built a church and monastery close beside
-the little church of the Nativity, but worshipers
-could only reach the grotto to kneel at the
-manger of stone through a devious, difficult
-underground path. When the Turks captured
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_24'>24</span>Palestine they compelled the Armenians to open
-a passage through their wall that the Romanists
-might enter. As we stepped into the church we
-heard the chanting of their choir, and soon
-through the door in the Armenian transept
-came priests and altar boys in the rich robes
-of the church to say mass. We stood aside until
-they had passed and only the echo of their voices
-could be heard floating up from the cave below.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>Ever since the coming of the Turks, Christmas
-and Easter services have been marred by
-desperate quarreling and bloodshed. At each
-service Turkish soldiers were on guard and
-swords and guns punished offenders but were
-unable to prevent the paying of old scores by
-Armenian and Romanist, Copt and Greek. The
-British general was exceedingly anxious that no
-such quarrels should mar the celebration of the
-first Christmas and Easter after the return of
-the holy places into the hands of Christians, to
-be theirs no matter what their creeds might be.
-In many languages, he made his appeal to the
-people. The American Colony of Jerusalem
-was asked to be present at the services to help
-quiet any trouble-makers, but they did not wish
-to assume the responsibility. Therefore certain
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_25'>25</span>individual members of the Red Cross Commission
-answered the General’s appeal, and were
-present all day at the services, quietly warning
-any of the rougher element who, as in the past
-days, attempted to start trouble by taunting
-words. Not a British soldier was present. The
-Commission members, wise, alert, and friendly,
-did their work well and the day passed in dignified
-impressive worship for the first time since
-the Turks took the Holy City. The General
-expressed his gratitude in most cordial notes of
-thanks to the men who had so successfully
-endeavored to carry out his wishes.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>We waited until the mass was over and then,
-with our lighted candles, went down into the
-shadowy grotto. Myth and legend, superstitions
-weird and fantastic have gathered about
-all the sacred places. While these things mean
-little to the modern Christian, he is bound to
-respect the reverent belief in them held by many
-of his comrades in the faith. With confidence
-the guide tells of the hundreds of years the fire
-in the hidden place has burned, not once going
-out, just as it has burned in the Church of the
-Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem. If, as one kneels
-and prays, holding his taper close to the opening,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_26'>26</span>it is lighted by the unseen holy fire, rich
-blessings will come to him and those he loves.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>I shall never forget the thin, tired, sorrow-marked
-face of an Armenian woman whose
-taper, as she knelt murmuring prayers, suddenly
-caught the sacred flame. It was transformed.
-She went up the shadowy steps in
-a transport of joy. Nor shall I soon forget
-the face of a Russian woman as she swayed
-back and forth on her knees in an agony of
-prayer. When at last she rose she could not
-stand and a kindly attendant steadied her.
-He spoke to her in Russian and they talked
-softly for a moment. She was in Jerusalem on
-a pilgrimage when the war broke out. Her husband,
-her son, and a son-in-law were in the Russian
-army. Of them she had had no word. She
-had received a month since confirmation of the
-news of the death of her two daughters in
-prison. She could not go back to her home in
-the hot-bed of Bolshevism. She took a taper
-from the hand of a priest and went toward the
-place of the holy fire.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter id001'>
-<img src='images/i_027f.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' />
-<div class='ic001'>
-<p><span class='right'><span class='small'><em>Copyright, Underwood &amp; Underwood</em></span></span><br /><br />“’Twas a humble birthplace, but oh, how much God gave to us that day!”</p>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_27'>27</span>I was glad when we were in the fresh crisp
-air again, wandering through the streets of the
-little village, stopping for a few moments for
-coffee with a Syrian shopkeeper who wanted to
-sell us olive-wood beads with a beautiful carved
-cross as pendant. His son, a boy of twelve,
-spoke English. The father brought him out
-proudly. He attended a Quaker school for boys
-over in Ramallah and was having a holiday.
-The souvenirs offered for our inspection were
-poor tawdry things, but the faces of the salesmen
-were so eager that we could not disappoint them.
-Visitors had been exceedingly rare during the
-years of the war and curious friendly eyes followed
-us hopefully everywhere. There had been
-great excitement in the village that morning.
-An Indian prince who was a Christian had visited
-the church, had left a gift for the priests,
-had made purchases in all the little shops—his
-taper had been lighted by the holy fire.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>We were just about to go back to our carriage
-when, turning the corner abruptly, we were face
-to face with the young Britisher and his friend
-who had stood on the wall with us in the sunset
-the night before. He was pointing out over the
-hills. We smiled our recognition and asked if
-we too might hear of the coming of the army
-to Bethlehem.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>“There is not much to tell,” he said, in the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_28'>28</span>way of those who have risked all in battle. He
-told us a little about the difficulty of the fighting
-in the Judean Hills, the gigantic task of feeding
-the army and supplying it with water, the intense
-sufferings of the men in the cold drizzling
-rain and the chilling wind on the hills. Wrapping
-our own coats tightly about us, we could
-understand something of what they must have
-endured lying out on the bare unprotected hillsides
-as they did those nights before the city of
-Jerusalem was captured. After a moment he
-pointed out to us the hill Beit Jabor two miles
-northwest of Bethlehem won by the Welsh Division
-troops and opening the door for the
-entrance into Bethlehem, showed us the great
-house just south of Bethlehem where the Turks
-had seven mountain guns turned upon the road
-over which the troops must pass. But a thick
-heavy impenetrable fog settled down and, taking
-the risk, the heavy guns of the British
-passed up the road within easy reach of the
-enemy had they known. “Whenever a fog
-settled down like that, to our advantage, the
-boys would say, ‘the Lord sent a great fog,’ or
-‘the Lord hath covered the moon with a cloud’;
-but when rain or moonlight favored the enemy
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_29'>29</span>they said nothing.” He smiled. “The war is
-over,” he said, “yet it seems as if at any moment
-this silence might be interrupted by the booming
-of a gun.” “God forbid!” said our guide
-fervently. “We have had enough of guns.”
-We echoed his words heartily as we said a warm
-word of appreciation of what British arms had
-done and went back to our carriage.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>Two miles or more outside the village we
-looked down upon the place of Rachel’s tomb.
-There have been few more beautiful stories of
-devoted service for love than that of Jacob who
-had “loved Rachel” and laid her there with a
-breaking heart. The simple, homely record of
-the joys and sorrows of every-day life written
-in the Book that is so full of human interest
-seems very real indeed as one looks into the
-faces of men and women about him, almost any
-one of whom might have played the part of hero
-or heroine without change of costume on a stage
-with scenery set. A little further down the long
-hill we stopped while the guide pointed to the
-place where the shepherds had watched their
-flocks. It was a plain lying close between the
-higher hills. Even on a chilly night it would
-be a sheltered spot and, huddled dose together
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_30'>30</span>with the fire blazing near and the watchman at
-the gate of the fold, shepherds and sheep would
-be safe and warm. So they lay that night when
-the dark sky was suddenly flooded with light
-and voices sang over the awestruck hills of
-Judea.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>We looked back at the little spot on the hill
-that was Bethlehem, where that night was born
-the baby who turned the world upside down—the
-baby who inspired the world’s best art, its
-finest literature, its greatest music,—there in
-that little town with its stone houses, its irregular
-streets, its simple people struggling with
-poverty! There was Bethlehem, the city of
-David, the shepherd boy of the hills, strongest
-and best of all the sons of Jesse, born to be a
-king and through his long line of descendants at
-last to give to the world the King of kings.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>When we stopped at the desk for our keys
-and to ask for a fire in the little square stove in
-our room the clerk, in hesitating, careful English,
-said, “You have found it cold out on the
-hills. You have seen Bethlehem. It is a small
-place, Bethlehem. There is little there that a
-man may do. Many travelers are disappointed
-by Bethlehem.”</p>
-
-<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_31'>31</span>“That depends upon how much one sees when
-he looks at Bethlehem,” I thought. For me it
-held no disappointment.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>That night in the great hall, around the stove
-that could not warm it, men talked of the future
-of Palestine. A good friend, who understood
-many languages and spoke Arabic fluently,
-interpreted much of the talk for us. The present
-population of Palestine, Jews, Christians
-and Mohammedans, is not even a million! Jews
-and Christians together number perhaps less
-than one-third. The Mohammedans make up
-most of the population and are found in every
-city and village. Arabic is the language of the
-people, but in Jerusalem and in Jaffa most
-European languages are freely spoken. The
-people who live in the towns are called Madaniyeh,
-the villagers are the Fellaheen, and those
-who live in tents, whom we called Bedouin, are
-Arabs. Despite its rocky, unpromising hillsides
-and its deserts, Palestine is an agricultural
-country and that must be its future, the men
-told each other. Wheat and barley, maize and
-lentils, figs, watermelons, grapes, pomegranates,
-mulberries, apricots, tomatoes, oranges,
-and olives could be easily raised. We heard
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_32'>32</span>glowing descriptions of the Jaffa oranges and
-some sent later to our room fulfilled all that
-had been said of them. There was much talk of
-the day when the cultivation of raisins and the
-manufacture of olive oil would make men rich;
-talk of the bananas that could be made to grow
-in large quantities at Jericho and of the date
-palms that would make Gaza prosper once more.
-There must be new plows, new machinery of
-many sorts. They talked of the Zionist movement,
-but the talk was cut short by an Arab
-who would not hear of it and, as some faces
-darkened and voices grew louder, our friend
-rose and took us to our room. Sometimes in
-these days a friendly talk about Palestine’s
-future ends in hot words and even blows. The
-Arab does not want Palestine to be passed over
-into the hands of the Jews. Many of the Jerusalem
-Jews express no pleasure whatever over an
-influx of their brothers from many lands. The
-problems of Palestine today are very grave and
-only great wisdom, unselfishness and patience
-will solve them.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>After trying in vain to warm ourselves over
-our small wood stove we put on our heavy coats
-and stepped out upon our little balcony. There
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_33'>33</span>was no moon. Save for a light over the Jaffa
-gate and soft rays from the windows of our
-hotel, Jerusalem was dark. The narrow little
-street at our left was black. The stars were
-clear, sparkling, very near. One star seemed
-larger and brighter than all the rest. As if
-unconscious of my presence my friend sang
-softly:</p>
-
-<div class='lg-container-b c008'>
- <div class='linegroup'>
- <div class='group'>
- <div class='line'>“O little town of Bethlehem,</div>
- <div class='line'>How still we see thee lie!</div>
- <div class='line'>Above thy deep and dreamless sleep</div>
- <div class='line'>The silent stars go by.</div>
- <div class='line'>Yet in thy dark streets shineth,</div>
- <div class='line'>The everlasting Light;</div>
- <div class='line'>The hopes and fears of all the years</div>
- <div class='line'>Are met in thee tonight.”</div>
- </div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c007'>We hurried to our beds with their gay
-colored hangings and lay buried under blankets
-and rugs for warmth. For a long time, gazing
-out into the darkness, I could see the star.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>O little town of Bethlehem! Small indeed—but
-spreading over all the earth. Only a few
-days before in America millions of children
-had heard its story, hugged their precious gifts,
-and thought of the angels and the shepherds.
-Thousands of parents, forgetting the pressure
-of dull gray days, filled with problems of food,
-clothing and shelter had smiled upon their own
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_34'>34</span>children and thought tenderly of the Child, and
-many men and women without a child to love
-remembered the days of their own childhood
-and greeted each other with “Merry Christmas.”
-Small indeed—but I had heard the children
-of Japan with beaming faces sing its story;
-I had heard the youth of China with strong,
-beautifully serious faces tell of white gifts to
-be given in the name of the Child who found His
-way into the world out there on the hilltop of
-Judea; in India I had heard the story told by a
-girl whose face shone in the telling, as rows and
-rows of little dark faces looked up at her. I
-knew that in the sands of African deserts, in
-the snows of Arctic lands, in the farthermost
-islands of the sea, they had heard of Bethlehem.
-A long line of familiar words surged through
-my mind—democracy, freedom, liberty, justice
-for all, the brotherhood of man, love—as women
-may say it in Christian lands: ... how many
-of them were also born with Him that night in
-Bethlehem!</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>No, “thou Bethlehem in the land of Judah
-art not the least among the princes of Judah,
-for out of thee shall come a ruler ... and his
-name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_35'>35</span>Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of
-Peace.”</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>The wounded, hungry, puzzled world—the
-memory of the sufferings I had looked upon
-pressed hard upon me. I closed my eyes to
-pray that men may have the courage so to love
-and the faith so to act that the Prince may soon
-come into the possession of His kingdom.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>When I opened my eyes, low over the hills
-against the blackness of the sky the star was
-still shining.</p>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
- <span class='pageno' id='Page_37'>37</span>
- <h2 class='c005'>I GO DOWN TO JERICHO</h2>
-</div>
-
-<div class='lg-container-b c011'>
- <div class='linegroup'>
- <div class='group'>
- <div class='line in4'><span class='pageno' id='Page_38'>38</span>“<em>He passed by on the other side.</em>”</div>
- </div>
- <div class='group'>
- <div class='line'><em>That ‘other side’ is trodden smooth</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>And worn by footsteps passing all the day;</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>Where lie the bruised ones faint and torn</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>Is seldom more than an untrodden way.</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>Our selfish hearts are for our feet the guide,</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>They lead us by upon the other side.</em></div>
- <div class='line in22'>—<em>Author Unknown.</em></div>
- </div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' id='Page_39'>39</span></div>
-<div class='section ph2'>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c001'>
- <div>I GO DOWN TO JERICHO</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c012'>An interested group surrounded us that
-morning at nine o’clock as the car which
-was to take us down to the Dead Sea and
-the Jordan drew up to the door of the hotel.
-I call it a car by courtesy. It had seen hard
-service. It had a battered running board, a
-mudguard with many dents, a front seat bending
-in the middle to the breaking point, no windshield
-and no horn. We protested, but our guide
-said it was the best that could be had.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>“It is the engine that is important,” he said,
-“the engine and the brake both are good. As for
-the horn, no fear—he is a horn with his mouth.”
-He was a most successful human horn as we
-found when we passed through the gate into the
-traffic outside the wall. Our guide was not an
-enthusiast on the subject of motor vehicles. As
-we swept around the hairpin curves he was restless.
-“The Arab is not the temperament for a
-driver of cars,” he said seriously, “he is the
-temperament for a horse.” And again after a
-pause, “It is well to go to Jericho in a carriage.
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_40'>40</span>The inn near Elijah’s Spring is a good place for
-a rest, and three days—it is a good time for the
-trip.”</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>There was little traffic passing after we turned
-onto the long hill—donkeys with panniers
-loaded with products to be exchanged in the
-markets of Jerusalem, a boy driving a few sheep
-slowly up the steep hill, a lone Arab on his horse.
-The air was still, crisp, and very clear. We were
-exceedingly thankful for the road built by the
-Turks in excellent fashion for the visit of the
-Kaiser twenty-three years before and carefully
-repaired by the British troops for military service.
-We passed the rest house built that William
-Hohenzollern might refresh himself before
-approaching the Holy City. Lower and lower
-into the valley we went. The road now had a
-thin covering of soft gray mud. Suddenly, turning
-to avoid a huge rock that had rolled down
-the hillside into the road, the car skidded. A
-second and the light machine had crashed into
-the retaining wall of rock and cement. The
-axle bent, the front wheels turned at an angle,
-we were thrown back and forth in our shaky
-seat. The car stopped. We heard the sickening
-thud of the rocks as they fell to the dry bed of
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_41'>41</span>the stream below. Then we climbed down carefully
-over the loosened mass of cement.
-“Thank God we are to live!” said the guide
-reverently. The driver was trying to turn the
-wheels back. He pushed the car into the road.
-The engine would still run but the axle looked
-hopeless. The guide spoke again—“As I have
-said, a carriage is better for Jericho.” After
-all our effort, we had failed to impress him with
-the fact that for us to give three days to the
-trip was impossible. “Of old,” he continued,
-“they fell here among the thieves. We have
-fallen among the rocks.” We could not help
-smiling at his look of dismay as he walked
-around the car again and again. He was so
-proud of his record of over thirty years as guide
-to whose care was due the fact that no serious
-mishaps had ever befallen any of his people.
-We were so grateful that we were not lying
-down there among the jagged rocks in the dry
-bed of the stream that our present difficulty
-seemed slight indeed. We were midway between
-Jerusalem and Jericho. If no help came
-we could walk in either direction twelve and a
-half miles though the prospect was not tempting.
-While we were discussing it we heard a
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_42'>42</span>rumbling, then a horn. It was a British hospital
-car taking an officer down to Jericho. It was
-pay day for the soldiers and he was late. The
-driver of his car felt sure that with a little
-help the axle might be repaired enough to enable
-our driver to crawl back to Jerusalem, but the
-steering gear had been damaged and it would
-be an uncertain venture. A lorrie was on its
-way to Jerusalem and was to wait at the Good
-Samaritan Inn to give a message to the officer.
-He would leave instructions for them to help
-our driver back to the city and he could get aid
-for us. The men in the lorrie which came
-along according to schedule looked the car over
-with the air of expert mechanics. They spent
-a half hour or more on it with the help of our
-driver and then the little Ford turned and
-climbed slowly and bravely up the hill, keeping
-with greatest difficulty close to the safe side of
-the road. The lorrie was out of sight in a few
-moments flying along to make up for lost time.
-It would take word of our trouble and send
-another car.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter id001'>
-<img src='images/i_043f.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' />
-<div class='ic001'>
-<p>There lay the boat in which one might row across the Jordan to the land of Moab.</p>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_43'>43</span>There was nothing to do but wait and nothing
-to see but bare hills. We climbed one great
-rocky mound only to see more hills with deeper
-valleys lying between as far as the eye could
-reach. They reminded us of the hills in the
-most desolate part of the Mormon trail in our
-own American desert. The sun rose higher and
-the heat became almost unbearable. We drew
-down our hats, put on our dark glasses and sat
-on the rocks in the dry bed of the stream. There
-was not a sound, not a bird note, no bleating of
-sheep. There were caves in the side of the hill.
-They looked dark, cool, and inviting, they had
-sheltered many people good and bad during the
-long centuries, but the guide warned us that they
-were full of vermin and unclean. There was a
-tiny boulder half-way up the hill which made on
-one side a narrow strip of shade and we made
-ourselves as small as possible and sat there.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>Noon came and we ate our chicken and hard
-boiled eggs, French bread, figs, dates and
-oranges made ready by the hotel, and drank the
-water in our thermos bottles sparingly. A
-group of Arabs clattered past us over on the
-road. One sang a couplet in a clear, ringing
-voice and the others joined as in a chorus. They
-did not see us, or, if they did, made no sign.
-“When the Turks ruled Palestine,” said our
-guide, “we could not sit here so safe. There
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_44'>44</span>was much danger on this road and no man
-traveled over it at nightfall.” He told us tales
-of brigands in league with Turkish high officials
-with whom they shared their spoil that would
-have made excellent material for certain types
-of American motion pictures. Suddenly the
-simple story that Jesus told to the crowd in
-answer to the half-mocking question of the keen
-Jewish lawyer came vividly before us. It was
-in these hills, in the desperate loneliness of
-them, that the certain man, stripped of all his
-goods, beaten and half dead, lay helpless. He
-might wait for help for many an hour before out
-of this place of emptiness any would come! How
-could Priest and Levite pass him by on the other
-side and leave him in this forsaken spot that their
-own journey might be undisturbed? To them
-he was only a man robbed by the bandits. He
-would die as had many another. It was a common
-thing, and, inhuman as it seems, they went
-on to their task of holy worship and to the seat
-of judgment.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>How keen was the mind of Christ! How
-quickly and unerringly He put his finger upon
-the very center of sin! It was easy to see, coming
-down the narrow camel path in the hills,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_45'>45</span>the hated Samaritan with the spirit of justice,
-mercy, and brotherhood in his soul. He stopped—the
-man one would least expect to stop—and
-rescued with generous tenderness the suffering
-victim of thieves, while the servants of Jehovah
-and his law passed by on the other side, doing
-in that day even as, in all the days since, the followers
-of the letter and not of the spirit of the
-law have done.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>There was only one answer to the question
-the lawyer had asked of Jesus and he was forced
-to give it—“He that showed mercy.” I doubt
-if any who had heard the question, “But who is
-my neighbor?” ever forgot the answer, or the
-command that followed it: “Go and do thou
-likewise.”</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>I was so lost in a new sense of the significance
-and sincerity of His wonderful teaching
-that I did not see our guide make his way toward
-the road. “A car comes,” he called, but we,
-lacking his desert-trained senses, heard nothing.
-Two or three minutes and we could see it
-coming rapidly along the white road on the
-farther hillside. The guide was overjoyed when
-he saw the new driver. “Ah!” he said, “this
-is the man I wanted. He drives anything that
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_46'>46</span>can go. Through the war he drove over hills
-with no road—always safe! He speaks English,
-too.” He examined the car. It had both windshield
-and horn. It had an extra tire and seats
-that were straight. Hope revived.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>“We shall now get quickly back to Jerusalem,”
-said the guide. “Tomorrow, perhaps, we
-shall have the carriage.” “To Jerusalem!”
-we said. “It is only one o’clock. With such a
-driver we can surely get to the Dead Sea and
-the Jordan. If it is late we can stay tonight at
-the Inn near Elijah’s Spring and go back to
-Jerusalem in the morning. Our time is short
-and we cannot take another whole day.” Jamil
-looked at the driver. “They are Americans,”
-he said, “and when they will go, they will go!”
-After a moment he added, “The sun has been
-very hot. Perhaps for you it has dried the
-roads.”</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>So we climbed the steep grade, ran along a
-level strip, then a steeper grade to the Inn of the
-Good Samaritan where Arab traders and men
-of the caravans stop for coffee. There was a
-tank in the yard where one could buy gasoline!</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>The road before us was down grade now, and
-the driver more than lived up to his reputation.
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_47'>47</span>Once Jamil turned to show us a Mohammedan
-mosque in ruins in a desolate spot high up in
-the hills and again to point out a tomb. “It is
-the tomb of Moses by the word of the Mohammedans,”
-he said; “but we do not believe it,
-for no man knoweth where God hath buried him.
-He never came into the land so we shall not
-believe it.”</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>Neither of us who took it will ever forget
-that ride through the Wilderness. There was
-no road. Two deep ruts here and there marked
-our way. We wound through soft ooze turning
-now into the rut, now out again. On every side
-were hillocks of soft gray sand. “This is a
-good place to ride the donkey’s back,” said
-Jamil as we bounced up and down in the car,
-but he smiled. We told him we had motored to
-Germany over the shell-torn roads fording the
-bridgeless streams and this seemed very simple.
-Three miles of it and we were on a rough road
-close by the Dead Sea.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>It lay still and calm, a blue gray thing crossed
-here and there by ribbons of silver where the
-sun glistened upon it. I should have said it
-had no motion but for the tiny little ripples that
-broke on the pebbly beach made frosty with salt
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_48'>48</span>deposit. A thousand feet and more below the
-Mediterranean it lay there. Sitting beside it
-we were lower than any submarine has ever
-been. The city of Jerusalem is two thousand
-five hundred feet above the level of the sea so
-our descent had been over thirty-five hundred
-feet since morning. It was very warm. Though
-the great body of water lay there now so still,
-Jamil told us that when the Turks were using it
-to transport supplies, fierce storms swept over
-it, thunder roared in the hills and over the
-plains, and giant waves dashed upon the smooth
-shore. We looked across the fourteen miles of
-sea to the plateau in the hills of Moab and knew
-that there was no living thing in it nor on its
-whole great stretch of fifty miles! Hungrily it
-swallows up the rivers and the tiny streams,
-the Jordan alone pouring millions of gallons
-into it every day, but never, never does it send
-out even a tiny streamlet. It grants no answer
-to the plea of the thirsty land that seems to
-reach down into it hopefully. We put our hands
-into the water four times as heavy as the Atlantic
-and they were covered with an oily salty
-deposit that would not come off until we had
-scrubbed with hot water. Suddenly we heard a
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_49'>49</span>sound—the bleating of a sheep. It was so welcome
-in that dead silence! Beyond the bend in
-the shoreline was a tiny house with children and
-the sheep!</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>We walked slowly along over the smooth gaily
-colored little pebbles to the spot, half a mile
-beyond, where the car was waiting. But we
-turned to look back again and again. The great
-silent sea held for us the awful fascination of
-<em>death</em>.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>There was a road of a sort across the plain to
-the Jordan. When the river is in flood this plain
-is covered inches deep with ooze, rank vegetable
-growths spring up, the brown bushes are green,
-clouds of mosquitoes, scorpions, vipers and all
-manner of crawling things make their home
-here for a season; but now there were only long
-cracks that crossed and recrossed in the dried
-mud. Twice our wheels spun round in pockets
-of soft gray clay, but small thick boards, a spade
-and dry sand helped us out. A turn and we
-could see the river!</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>To one who has never studied the geography
-of Palestine or to whom books of travel are
-strangers, that first sight of the Jordan must
-bring far greater disappointment than to one in
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_50'>50</span>a way prepared for the dark, muddy stream
-whose swift current hurries on ceaselessly,
-gathering silt as it goes. Within its normal
-banks it is such a narrow stream! We stopped
-for a moment in the house where sweet Turkish
-coffee and oranges were served us and where the
-boats used by fishermen and by tourists who
-like to row across to touch the land of Moab lay
-moored to a tiny wharf. The banks were steep
-here and soft willows bent over them. We sat
-down in the little boat that swung lazily at its
-moorings. It seemed the strangest and the most
-wonderful of rivers, this little muddy stream!
-Over it the great hosts of Israel passed; along
-its banks John, coming out of the desert,
-preached the kingdom of heaven to the multitude;
-and here came even Jesus Himself to be
-baptized in the waters His presence made
-sacred. We dipped our bottles carefully into
-the stream and filled them with water as all pilgrims
-do. We listened to the stories of the feast
-days when pilgrims come down to the river to
-worship there; we read the story of Naaman
-and understood why the proud leper of the
-king’s court, even at the command of the stern
-prophet, hesitated to bathe in its waters. We
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_51'>51</span>lived in another day. Proud armies marched
-over the plain toward Jericho and we could
-almost hear Joshua’s ringing commands. We
-were brought back to our own day suddenly by
-the sound of a voice, a very American voice,
-singing in the distance, “Roll, Jordan, Roll.”
-We looked at each other in amazement. After
-a moment’s silence the voice rang out again,
-nearer now:</p>
-
-<div class='lg-container-b c008'>
- <div class='linegroup'>
- <div class='group'>
- <div class='line'>“Some day I’m going to murder the bugler!</div>
- <div class='line'>Some day you’re going to find him dead!</div>
- <div class='line'>I’ll amputate his reveille</div>
- <div class='line'>And stamp upon it heavily,</div>
- <div class='line'>And spend the rest of my life in bed.”</div>
- </div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c007'>We climbed out of the boat and up the bank.
-A man in the early thirties stood there with
-a sapling, root and all, in his hand. He was
-an American working with the British under
-a commission for reforestation. He was most
-enthusiastic over his work and painted for us a
-wonderful picture of the hills, now bare and
-desolate, and the banks of the river, with the
-low scrubby growth, transformed some future
-day into valuable fruit and olive orchards, irrigated
-pastures, great stretches of light timberland.
-Jamil shook his head. “There is much
-talk these days about the changes that are coming
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_52'>52</span>to this land, but we shall see—we shall see
-and <em>then</em> we shall believe,” he said. Our friend
-went into the little house for food and rest and
-we stood in silence watching the stream which
-artists for centuries have painted, the river
-which has always stood for separation, under
-whose spell poets have written their sad hymns—watched
-it rushing on pouring more and more
-water into the Sea that is <em>Dead</em>.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>The dunes, yellow and gray, between which
-we rode on to Jericho were round as though a
-giant hand had played with them, smoothed
-them over, and left them there. Twice we
-passed low stone houses with cisterns of water
-cut in deep rock hidden below the surface, and
-there were oranges and green things in the garden
-in the midst of the desert. It was cooler
-and the air was soft and balmy. The walls of
-Jericho—City of Palms—though now there are
-none, had indeed fallen, but there was no fear
-upon the faces of the people. The once mighty
-city is now but an ordinary village of lower class
-Arabs, with a supply station, a few shops, and
-the hotel where British officers live. Traces of
-recent battle over the very ground where the
-men of Joshua had routed the ancient enemy
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_53'>53</span>were all about us. The story of the taking of
-Jericho from the Turks by British troops when
-the river at its flood had to be bridged by boats
-and the temperature ran to 120° and more, is as
-thrilling, as fascinating, and as triumphant as
-that of Joshua himself.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>Passing through the center of the town, we
-came to the orange groves. The air was fragrant
-with the perfume of thousands of jonquils
-growing wild along the edges of the irrigated
-section. The children offered two huge bunches
-for sale and we rejoiced in them. Our driver
-took twenty bunches for a friend to sell in Jerusalem.
-He tucked them away neatly in the
-folded top of the car. We bought delicious
-oranges and our machine became a chariot of
-delight. We went out to Elijah’s Spring, whose
-waters, made sweet and wholesome by the
-prophet, were responsible for the luxuriant
-flowers and delicious fruit, past the home of
-Rahab who had saved the spies in Joshua’s day,
-stopping for a moment at the spot where the
-sycamore tree had sheltered the rich publican
-Zacchæus when he determined to see Jesus. It
-was easy to imagine the consternation that
-filled the city when it became known that Jesus
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_54'>54</span>had commanded him to come down because He
-would be a guest in his house that day—the
-house of a <em>publican</em>. It was on this road, too,
-that Bartimæus met Jesus and, despite the demand
-of the multitude that he be quiet, continued
-to cry aloud until the Healer saw him,
-opened his eyes and set his soul on fire with
-gratitude. How close the multitude must have
-pressed in those narrow streets, as driven by
-curiosity and longing for help, they followed
-Him! How often the body and soul of the Master
-must have cried out for the shelter of the
-mountain, the stillness of that waiting desert
-where in the night God could come very near
-with a new message and new strength for the
-coming day! It was at times like these, when
-half carelessly they pointed out to us the spots
-where on common days Jesus passed by, changing
-forever the lives that He touched, that we
-loved Him.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>The sun was creeping on toward the horizon.
-We must turn back toward Jerusalem. Every
-foot of the road the driver assured us he knew.
-He would leave us in the Inn with the guide if
-we wished and send for us early in the morning,
-but he would get back to Jerusalem. So
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_55'>55</span>would we and he was content. He got all possible
-speed out of the car. It must climb back
-over those thirty-five hundred feet we had come
-down such a short time since.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>We stopped a moment to peer at the lonely
-monastery where monks still live on the Mount
-of Temptation and pray daily for all who are
-tempted. The road which had been so lonely in
-the morning was stirring with life. Groups of
-Arabs on horses and little swift-footed donkeys
-moved aside to let us pass. Twice at a signal
-from a man riding ahead on horseback we
-stopped to let a great caravan pass us. The
-leading camels wore gorgeous trappings and
-tinkling bells. Once a camel without cargo, following
-in dignified fashion behind two others,
-stood perfectly still, trembled, then turned and
-ran ahead of us. We were amazed to see how
-swiftly he ran. In vain the rider of the other
-camel shouted and called. Had it not been for
-a friendly companion, who, coming down the
-hill, drove his own camel straight across the
-path, spoke soothingly to the great beast while
-a man on a donkey grasped his chain, he might
-have led us a chase all the way to Jerusalem.
-They did not attempt to take their prisoner past
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_56'>56</span>us in the road but turned off into a deep defile.
-When we looked back from the hilltop they were
-again on the road moving on toward Jericho.
-But most of the camels bearing their burdens
-merely sniffed and passed us by in scorn.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>It grew very cold as we reached the heights
-and the discarded robes and coats were welcome.
-We could see shepherds and sheep seeking
-places of shelter. Sometimes we caught
-glimpses of herds of goats reluctantly following
-or plunging ahead silhouetted against a soft
-violet sky. The sun set calmly and we missed
-the blazing glory. Suddenly it was night. We
-were glad to be well past the scene of our morning’s
-mishap and nearing Jerusalem. When
-we stopped at the door of the hotel, Jamil gave
-a sigh of relief. “We have had a wonderful
-day,” we said. “We have had a day of miracles,”
-was his answer in a solemn, devout tone.
-Both he and the driver were most happy a moment
-later when they received their extra fee.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>Dinner was over for most of the guests, but
-we were given a warm corner and more food
-than it would be possible to eat in many meals.
-We found that the entire hotel had joined in
-Jamil’s sigh of relief when we returned. There
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_57'>57</span>was a snapping wood fire in the little stove and
-hot water bottles that made the great curtained
-beds seem more inviting. The maid wished us
-“sleep without dreaming.”</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>But for a long time, lying there in the darkness,
-I dreamed with my eyes wide open. Dreamed
-of the forty years wandering in the wilderness
-while one generation passed and a new one was
-born. Dreamed of the kings and the prophets,
-of David hunted like a wild thing through the
-desolate hills and caves, of captives marching
-across the sands to Babylon. Dreamed of the
-Man who, with weary feet, in the heat and the
-dust <em>walked</em> about the Jordan Valley, through
-Jericho, walked up the long, long hills even to
-Jerusalem with men and women following,
-always <em>seeking</em>, only a few sharing. Dreamed
-of the demand that He made upon all who did
-have the courage to share—that they love God—and
-the challenge that they love their fellow men
-as He loved them, ... dreamed of the day
-when the challenge would be answered and the
-other man’s welfare would become each man’s
-passion.</p>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
- <span class='pageno' id='Page_59'>59</span>
- <h2 class='c005'>I GO TO BETHANY</h2>
-</div>
-
-<div class='lg-container-b c011'>
- <div class='linegroup'>
- <div class='group'>
- <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_60'>60</span><em>I tell you when I looked upon these fields,</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>And stony valleys,—through the purple veil</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>Of twilight, or what time the Orient sun</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>Made shining jewels of the barren rocks,—</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>Something within me trembled; for I said:</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>This picture once was mirrored in His eyes;</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>This sky, that lake, those hills, this loveliness,</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>To Him familiar were; this is the way</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>To Bethany.</em></div>
- <div class='line in16'>—<em>Richard Watson Gilder.</em></div>
- </div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' id='Page_61'>61</span></div>
-<div class='section ph2'>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c001'>
- <div>I GO TO BETHANY</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c012'>One afternoon when we were driving about
-the busy semi-modern streets that lie outside
-the walls of Jerusalem we suggested
-to Jamil, our guide, that some afternoon we
-walk to Bethany. He answered briefly that it
-was too far and turned to call our attention to
-the well-equipped postoffice, the modern looking
-shops, the Italian hospital, the well-built
-hospices of the French, Italians and Russians
-which before the war were thronged at the
-feasts with devout pilgrims. There was an
-atmosphere of western life about the outer city.
-Signs over some of the shops looked amazingly
-like New York’s East Side. Books, pictures
-and maps, school supplies, men and boys’ clothing
-of every sort, girls and women on the streets
-dressed in European fashion, together with
-Cairo papers in French and English, helped us
-to see the trend of the new, growing city without
-the walls. The streets were wide and well kept.
-The church of St. George was an artistic, beautiful
-reminder of the reason why the word of
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_62'>62</span>the capture of the Holy City had been received
-with solemn joy in every English household.
-We passed the dignified Damascus Gate and the
-Sheep Gate before which camels knelt grunting
-and little groups of sheep huddled close each
-around its shepherd; lorries passed us on the
-road, then a motor taking General Storrs to
-confer with the High Commissioner on important
-business. We stopped to visit the British
-High School for girls, doing its work against
-great odds in a former German orphanage
-poorly equipped for school work. The girls of
-twelve nationalities with most excellent <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">ésprit
-de corps</span></i> were studying there; the principal, a
-real educator, formerly head of the girls’ school
-at Beirut had wise, far-seeing plans for the
-future of the school and, through it, for the welfare
-of the city. As I listened to them I wished
-that my purse were well filled that I might make
-some of them possible now in the day of crisis
-when the whole future of Palestine is in the
-making. Surely there are new paths through
-old Palestine.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>When we again entered the city through the
-Jaffa Gate it seemed centuries older than when
-we had left it, so great was the contrast between
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_63'>63</span>the air, sunshine, and breathing spaces outside
-the walls and the narrow, dark, and crowded
-little cobble-stoned alleys, shared by man and
-beast, where no full ray of sun ever shines.
-Only the flat roofs of the houses save the people
-within the city from life in a semi-dungeon. It
-was this plunge back into the city of age-old
-days and deeds that made us long the more to
-walk leisurely to Bethany and so, on Saturday
-night, we told Jamil we should not need him
-until Monday morning at nine.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>We left the city just after noon on Sunday by
-St. Stephen’s Gate, stopping reverently for a
-few moments close by the steep hillside to think
-of the brave words of the young martyr as he
-looked into the hard faces of his accusers and
-his wonderful address, recalling to them each
-step of their history and the reason for each
-great defeat. We remembered the daring
-words: “Which of the prophets have not your
-fathers persecuted? and they have slain them
-which showed before of the coming of the Just
-One; of whom you have been now the betrayers
-and murderers: who have received the law by
-the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.”
-In fierce anger they ground their teeth and
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_64'>64</span>hissed their reproaches at him. But he did not
-even see them. Suddenly, looking up to heaven,
-they heard him saying, “Behold, I see the heavens
-opened and the Son of Man on the right
-hand of God.” It was enough. Seizing him,
-they rushed him through the narrow street and
-cast him out of the city. They laid their garments
-at the feet of a keen young man named
-Saul, who watched with approval as they hurled
-down upon their helpless, suffering victim the
-jagged stones of the hillside. But above the
-noise of their mutterings of revenge the young
-man Saul heard the words of prayer: “Lord
-Jesus, receive my spirit.” And again, “Lord,
-lay not their sin to their charge.” And Stephen
-died—but Saul never forgot.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>From St. Stephen’s Gate the smooth, broad
-road makes a steep descent down to the valley
-of the brook Kedron, then it climbs again
-around the shoulder of Olivet, where we stopped
-to look back at the city with the dome of the
-mosque of Omar glistening in the sun. The air
-was clear and the hills, with the light, shifting
-clouds above them, changed color every moment.
-Jamil had told us that the hills about Jerusalem
-bore always “a luxuriant crop of stones” and
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_65'>65</span>his words seemed true indeed, a crop made even
-more abundant by the heavy shell-fire of the
-months past. Still, in little square patches between
-the ridges, men were plowing. One plowman
-had a thin, patient ox and a donkey together
-under what seemed a heavy yoke. Here and there
-thick vines leaned against sunny walls as in the
-days when Jesus used them for the text of His
-great sermon “I—the vine: ye—the branches.
-Without me, ye can do nothing.”</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>It was when we walked out a little from the
-main road to Bethany to look over into a deep
-valley that we saw a carpenter at work in his
-sunny yard, making yokes for the oxen. He
-worked deftly with his clumsy tools at his primitive
-bench. The court-yard was swept clean,
-save for the corner where the shavings fell.
-There were green things growing in a garden.
-After a moment a woman appeared in the doorway.
-She looked curiously at us but answered
-our smile. “Ing-leesh?” she queried. We
-shook our heads. “American,” we said very
-distinctly. The man at the bench turned
-quickly. A shower of words in the Hebrew
-tongue and a motion to wait answered us. The
-woman hurried into the house and was back in
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_66'>66</span>a moment with a photograph in her hand—a
-man, a woman, two children. The photograph
-was taken in <em>New York</em>! She pointed proudly
-to the word. As we were about to leave, being
-limited to conversation by means of nods, smiles
-and gestures only, a boy came from the rear of
-the house. He had great, dark, dreamy eyes,
-his head was a mass of thick curls, in his hands
-he had two irregular blocks of wood which he
-gave to his father. He smiled at us shyly, but
-turned to look again with frank interest and
-curiosity when his mother repeated the word
-American.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>It was hard to tear ourselves away from this
-picture of the carpenter with his little son and
-the mother at the door, but there was no excuse
-for lingering. We could only hope that this
-young son of a carpenter might sometime know
-the story of that other Son, of whose early days
-in the village of Nazareth he served so forcibly
-to remind us.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter id001'>
-<img src='images/i_067f.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' />
-<div class='ic001'>
-<p>It was here that He came to talk with one who seemed to understand—and there were so few.</p>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_67'>67</span>It is not a long walk to Bethany, a little over
-four miles they told us, and we soon saw the low
-gray stone houses with their roofs of mud not
-far ahead. As we approached the village, a veritable
-host of children rushed to meet us, calling,
-with a score of accents, words supposed to be
-English. At first we covered our ears then
-motioned to one child to speak. We learned
-that they were offering their services as guides.
-The moment we appeared to understand, the
-babel began again. “Mary and Martha,” they
-called. “Simon-Lazarus, I will show.” When
-we spoke they listened, but only for a moment.
-“You cannot all be our guides,” I said. “If
-you all follow we will go back to Jerusalem and
-no one will have <em>back-sheesh</em>—not one. We shall
-not look at the house of Mary and Martha.”
-The tallest among them, a lad of fourteen, he
-told me afterward, evidently repeated our words
-and he emphasized them with a flourish of a
-stout cane which he carried. He showed us a
-soiled card with a name written upon it which
-he said was his. We chose him and one other
-guide, a little girl of six who had pointed to
-herself proudly, saying, “I know—I know, Mary—Martha—Lazarus.”
-At a word from a villager
-passing on his donkey the children scattered
-and it was a great relief.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>Our young guide knew the method perfectly.
-Driving the dogs out of the way with his cane,
-he led us up a steep path to the house of a man
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_68'>68</span>who was a dwarf, badly crippled. He was to
-take us to the tomb of Lazarus which he did,
-when we had paid the piastres he asked. He
-insisted upon telling us the story before we
-went down the long winding stone steps worn
-smooth by the passing of men’s feet for centuries.
-He told it in very graphic fashion. We
-had only the dripping candles to light our way.
-Following him, we could hear his call at each
-turn, “Have care! Have care!” We decided
-not to make the entire descent of sixty steps but
-contented ourselves with looking down from
-the fortieth step into the black pit below. The
-air and sunshine were most welcome when we
-climbed back and, giving more piastres for the
-shepherds’ slings the old dwarf took from his
-pocket, we left him happy. We stood for a few
-moments at the entrance to the tomb, thinking
-of all that spot had meant in the centuries since
-it was recorded that, in warm human sympathy
-with the suffering sisters, “Jesus wept.”</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>We stood a long time on the wall of the ruins
-that covered the spot where the home of the
-three friends of Jesus had stood. It looked out
-over the valley on one side and toward Jerusalem
-on the other. Our guides, big and little,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_69'>69</span>sat down on the stones and were silent. Nowhere
-in our journeys through Palestine did
-we trouble our souls over the arguments of men
-as to exact spots and identical places. If not
-to the place of this ruined wall, then to some
-spot near by Jesus came. Came to receive rest
-for His body and comfort for His soul. Came
-to forget for the moment Jerusalem with its
-noise and confusion, its need and its hate.
-Came to talk with one who seemed to understand
-and sympathize—and there were so few. What
-it would mean to us today if we could know the
-many things about which Jesus talked that have
-never been recorded for us! We remembered
-that it was from Bethany over the hills through
-which we had come that Jesus made his way to
-Jerusalem on the day when He found the colt
-and rode triumphantly through the streets to the
-temple, amidst the shouted hosannas and waving
-palms that filled the Pharisees with jealous
-anger. It was here that he may have spent the
-nights of that last crowded week until the night
-of the Supper when he sought the Garden. One
-could feel, standing there looking toward Jerusalem,
-something of the agonizing sorrow that
-swept over that household when they learned of
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_70'>70</span>the trial that was a mockery of justice and the
-condemnation of their beloved friend to death
-on a cross.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>When we were ready to leave, the young guide
-asked if we would like to go into one of the
-houses and see the upper room where a guest
-may sleep. We hesitated to walk in this fashion
-into a home but he explained that we were sure
-of a welcome and a little <em>back-sheesh</em> would pay.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>The upper room was a dean and quiet spot.
-There were small woven rugs, a cot with handmade
-covers spread over it. A bed roll stood
-in the corner. There was a heavy metal basin
-for washing and two lamps, ages old, filled with
-oil. The window was open toward the road that
-leads to Jericho. It was a place where one might
-rest his soul. “Many guests came to this room
-before the war,” said the boy, “the family is
-large. Some live far away in Damascus. They
-come for the feasts. But not since the war—there
-is not money and some have died.” The
-<em>back-sheesh</em> was accepted gratefully with many
-words of thanks by the two women below—one
-very young with a baby in her arms.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>Our next stop was at the spot where once had
-stood the home of Simon the leper where a
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_71'>71</span>woman did the Great Teacher high honor as she
-broke her very precious box of alabaster and,
-in an abandonment of love and gratitude, poured
-the fragrant perfume over His head. We could
-hear the petulant voices of those who complained
-because the ointment had not been sold
-for a good price and the money given to the
-poor. But Jesus understood.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>“This is all for Bethany,” said the guide of
-fourteen years. “It is not large and it is poor.”
-We did not need his words to make us realize it.
-The little girl who had called herself <em>guide</em> so
-proudly had not spoken a word, but, as she
-had climbed over the steep places, had waited
-patiently, had listened intently to the boy, and
-had given us at every turn a smile which we
-remembered for many a day, she had earned her
-fee. When she received it she ran madly toward
-a house near by and disappeared. The boy
-walked with us courteously to the edge of the
-village. In response to our query as to where he
-had learned English he said, “Off a merchant I
-worked for since I was six. He lives just outside
-the city.” The “off” with which he began
-his sentence sounded as though the merchant
-might at one time have lived in America.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_72'>72</span>At the outskirts of the village, where we had
-met them as we entered, were the children.
-They ran beside us shrieking “<em>back-sheesh</em>”
-and holding out their very dirty little hands.
-We shook our heads vehemently. It meant
-nothing. Then we stopped and reminded
-them that we had paid our two guides and
-all the people who had helped us, but that
-they had done nothing for us. “We are
-poor,” said a girl with a baby in her arms
-as though that were reason enough for her
-demand. I shall never forget the thin face,
-the piercing black eyes of a boy, perhaps ten.
-“America rich,” he said, “plendy, plendy,
-<em>plendy</em> money.” There was the deepest reproof
-in his voice.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>“Some people are <em>very</em> poor,” I said, “the
-children cry for bread. In the winter they are
-very cold. There are many very poor people in
-America.”</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>“No,” said the boy stoutly, and I saw that he
-did not believe me, but he repeated what I had
-said to the others. It was very hard to refrain
-from giving them money, but we remembered
-the request that we should not help to train a new
-generation of beggars and steeled our hearts.
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_73'>73</span>When we started on again a few accompanied
-us but we paid no attention and one by one they
-dropped out, having followed us almost a mile.
-Some said good-bye cheerfully, others made
-gestures of disgust. One lone lad still walked
-patiently beside us. He had great hollows under
-his eyes and, now that we could see him separated
-from the others, we noticed how very thin
-and pale he was, how ragged and dirty. In his
-arms he carried a baby whose eyes were in a
-pitiable condition, one so swollen that it was
-entirely closed. He said faintly in a weak, tired
-voice, “<em>back-sheesh—back-sheesh</em>” over and
-over. He looked as though in dogged determination
-he would follow us back to the city gates.
-Unable to resist the pleading we yielded, gave
-him some coins, watched the light come into his
-eyes, saw him turn and make his way slowly
-back—one of these little ones who so easily
-perish while waiting for the coming of the kingdom
-of God—the kingdom that Jesus said was
-<em>theirs</em>. It may be that the school now being
-opened in the little village will help to bring
-them their rights.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>When we told Jamil next day of the children
-he said, “Ah, that is why you should have me!
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_74'>74</span>The guide saves you. You should not go alone,
-and walking you cannot get away.”</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>“Where are the parents of these children,”
-we asked.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>“Poor,” he said slowly, “very, very poor.
-Always poor and the war has made it very
-hard. It will be better now, but they have
-learned bad habits.”</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>A turn in the road and the village was entirely
-out of sight. We overtook a flock of sheep and
-for a time walked slowly behind them. The
-bleating of the lambs who seemed weary
-sounded like the voices of the children. The
-shepherd turned into a narrow path between
-the hills, called in clear, urging cadences, and
-the sheep followed him. We climbed up from
-the road and sat on the rocks under gnarled old
-trees. A tower on the mount of Olives stood
-out clear against the sky. We read aloud of the
-Holy City from the words of the prophets and
-the Psalms of David.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>Night would soon steal down over the valleys,
-so reluctantly we moved on past a cluster of
-tiny stone houses, past the cemetery of the Hebrews,
-when, flying up the hill at reckless speed,
-shaking us rudely back from the past into the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_75'>75</span>present, came a motor rushing toward Bethany.
-Bethany that seemed to be out of the world of
-motors! It was the doctor’s car from the hospital,
-they told us when we described it. Just
-before the road drops abruptly into the valley
-we stopped to look again at the City. There
-was always something strangely gripping in the
-sight. The words of Jesus wrung from Him
-as, in deep compassion that was agony, He
-looked at the City, feeling the weight of its sin,
-its pain, its need, came back to us—“O, Jerusalem,
-Jerusalem, that killeth the prophets and
-stoneth them that are sent unto her! how often
-would I have gathered thy children together even
-as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings,
-and ye would not!” We hurried on through St.
-Stephen’s Gate.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>On the hills it was light but in the narrow
-streets with their gateways and buttresses it
-was quite dark. We took out our faithful flashlights,
-and with our canes to help over the
-shadowed steps went rapidly up to the hotel
-that stood as a strong and sheltering friend in
-the faint glow that still lingered in the western
-sky.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>“Not much in Bethany,” they said to us at
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_76'>76</span>the desk as they had said of Bethlehem. “Too
-far to walk for the few stone houses and the
-ruins.”</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>How could they know what we saw in Bethany?
-How could they know the overwhelming
-sympathy that surged in upon us as we stood
-on the walls of “the house of Mary and
-Martha,” looked upon the hills and valleys He
-saw in their purpling shadows, thought how
-much harder the friendship and fellowship of
-that home must have made it to remain true to
-the message that was to take Him to Jerusalem
-to die, thought of the short day of triumph, waving
-palms and lavish praise, thought of his
-youth and his glorious undaunted soul!</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>No, they did not know what we saw in
-Bethany.</p>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
- <span class='pageno' id='Page_77'>77</span>
- <h2 class='c005'>I GO OUT TO THE MOUNT OF OLIVES</h2>
-</div>
-
-<div class='lg-container-b c011'>
- <div class='linegroup'>
- <div class='group'>
- <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_78'>78</span><em>He turneth a wilderness into a pool of water,</em></div>
- <div class='line in2'><em>And a dry land into watersprings</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>And there he maketh the hungry to dwell,</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>That they may prepare a city for habitation,</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>And sow fields and plant vineyards.</em></div>
- </div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c013'><em>Instead of the thorn shall come up the figtree;
-and instead of the briar shall come up the
-myrtle tree: and it shall be to Jehovah for a
-name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be
-cut off.</em></p>
-
-<p class='c014'><em>The latter glory of this place shall be greater
-than the former, and in this place will I give
-peace, saith Jehovah.</em></p>
-
-<div class='lg-container-r c015'>
- <div class='linegroup'>
- <div class='group'>
- <div class='line'>—<cite>The Bible.</cite></div>
- </div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' id='Page_79'>79</span></div>
-<div class='section ph2'>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c001'>
- <div>I GO OUT TO THE MOUNT OF OLIVES</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c012'>Before we met our carriage at the
-Damascus Gate to ride out to the farthest
-point on the Mount of Olives we walked
-through David Street to the Wailing Place of
-the Jews. Every book we had studied warned
-us of the unspeakable condition of the narrow
-filthy streets in this Jewish quarter of Jerusalem
-the Golden. But they were all written
-before British arms had captured the Holy
-City and, even in these short months, made it
-in so many ways a new Jerusalem. In the windows
-of the shops we had seen the quaint pictures
-of the water-carrier with his leather bag,
-but not one had we seen in the streets of the
-city. The menace of the water bag with its
-myriad germs is already a thing of the past.
-For the first time in all its long history, under
-rulers of many great faiths and names, the City
-has water, plenty of water, fresh, clear, safe.
-What that simple statement means can be
-appreciated only by those who know by experience
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_80'>80</span>what a priceless boon water is to cities that
-have little. One could change the whole record
-and history of Oriental cities with water
-systems!</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>When the history of Palestine in the war is
-fully recorded, one of the most thrilling chapters
-will be written about the lead pipes now
-standing boldly in the city streets two feet above
-the ground, capped by very modern shining
-faucets. The girls and women who come to
-them with their water jars beamed with joy as
-they watched the silver stream pouring out in
-the sun. For four hundred years the Turks
-ruled in Jerusalem and in all that time no
-attempt was made to establish a water system
-although more than once the inhabitants were
-taxed with the promise of water that was some
-day to come. In a little over two months the
-British engineers had brought running water
-into every street of the city. New paths are so
-rapidly making their way through old Palestine!</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>For its water Jerusalem had depended upon
-winter rains to fill its great cisterns. The
-houses had underground reservoirs, some of
-which had not been cleaned in more than twenty
-years. At the Mosque of Omar was a large
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_81'>81</span>reservoir where the water from the springs
-about Solomon’s Pools flowed down through a
-great aqueduct built by the Romans when Herod
-ruled over the Jews. The searching engineers
-had found springs in the hills with fresh, pure
-water running to waste and, at the rate of fourteen
-thousand gallons an hour, it is now pumped
-up to the top of a high hill, run by gravity down
-through a long pipe-line to a great reservoir
-that has been built and carefully protected on
-the outskirts of the city. Direct lines take this
-pure water to the hospitals and into the city
-streets. Despite the shrinking of the population,
-caused by the evacuation of the Turk, more
-than ten times as much water has been used as
-in previous years, which silences the oft-repeated
-statement that the people would not
-appreciate the water if they had it. We were
-interested to learn that some of the pipes had
-been sent to Egypt to be forwarded for use in
-Palestine by the American Red Cross Commission
-after we entered the war. But the Commission
-found that the need for water which we had
-anticipated had been practically answered by
-the Royal Engineers.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>One is deeply impressed by the change in the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_82'>82</span>record of contagious diseases. The reduction
-in cholera, smallpox, typhoid, and typhus is
-remarkable. Even under the sound of booming
-guns, children’s welfare bureaus were organized,
-lessons in health given, nurses trained and
-kitchens opened to provide food for the babies,
-the sick and the old. The workers of the American
-Red Cross deserve and receive full gratitude
-for their enthusiastic and intelligent work
-in and about the City in those days immediately
-following its surrender.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>The people on David Street seemed to have
-lost something of the fear that writers of the
-past saw in their haunted faces. It may be the
-fact that now they are free. The old-time pressure
-and petty persecution by corrupt officials
-is past. The Turkish prison no longer yawns
-threateningly. A trader may go unmolested
-about his work. The heavy taxation demanded
-in the past by a succession of officers, from the
-least to the greatest, has disappeared. Contentment
-not known for untold generations reigns
-in humble homes.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter id001'>
-<img src='images/i_083f.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' />
-<div class='ic001'>
-<p>From the brow of the Mount of Olives where they lay sleeping under white crosses—these also “fling to us the torch.”</p>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_83'>83</span>It may be for this reason that on both occasions
-of our visit to the Wailing Place there
-were but few present and they were old men,
-old women, and some very young children.
-Young manhood was not there, it was hard at
-work. Many of the older boys and girls were
-in school. The leader of the group chanting
-the Lamentations that morning was an old
-white-haired patriarch with eyes of fire. He
-was the only one of the group that did not interrupt
-his wailing to look at us. One tall, strong,
-impressive specimen of womanhood moved along
-the line to quiet some women whose wailing had
-become a piercing shriek or to straighten out a
-child who irreverently chased a playmate up
-and down the path. The guide said that her
-name was Miriam and that she had a son with
-much money in England. Erect and fine, forceful
-and devout, she reminded us of that other
-Miriam who led her people to victory. Here
-and there one saw women’s strong faces stained
-with tears and marked with suffering. They
-leaned against the foundation stones of the old
-Temple area in an abandonment of emotion and
-sorrow. Near the end of the line was a very old
-man leaning tremblingly upon his staff. Jamil
-said that he was repeating one phrase over and
-over. “O God, the heathen are come into thine
-inheritance!” His voice was bitter and full of
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_84'>84</span>anguish. A great wave of pity swept over us
-for these and all they have suffered, and yet
-survived. Against those massive walls of the
-past, Babylonian, Assyrian, and Egyptian had
-hurled their hosts and battered them to earth.
-They had risen again only to meet the Roman
-and the Saracen, the brave Crusader and the
-unspeakable Turk until in very truth they lay
-“in heaps.” Piled one above another, the various
-cities lie waiting until the hammer and
-spade of the excavator shall open up all their
-secrets for us. Buried deep down in the earth
-is that early city of the Jebusites, over it the
-glorious city of Solomon, the city heroically
-brought again into being by Nehemiah, the city
-of Herod which Titus hammered into ruins and
-Hadrian rebuilt, above it the city of the Saracens
-built after their wave of conquest, the city
-of the Crusaders, and now the city of the Turks,
-standing boldly above the ruins of the long past.
-It stands, the protected property of a new
-conqueror who loves it, whose army chose the
-hardest road to victory to save it from the
-marks of war, whose people have come into it
-with knowledge that they may overcome its
-ignorance, a conqueror who bears no malice,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_85'>85</span>who is tolerant of the Jew and the Mohammedan
-though he worships at the Cross which they hate.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>As if reading our thoughts, the guide said
-quietly, “Some day it will be only the wall for
-the wailing that we shall see. There will be no
-more need for wailing, and the children will forget.
-So the young prophets among the Jews
-say in the markets. We shall see.”</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>We walked through a section of the Temple
-area and out past the Austrian Hospice through
-the Damascus Gate where, according to agreement,
-the carriage waited.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>The road out to the spot where the Mount of
-Olives drops abruptly to the plain has been
-repaired, stray shell holes filled in and a large
-section of new road built since that wonderful
-day when the last line of Turks were driven
-from the position they thought secure. The air
-was as clear as an October day at home and the
-shining city “compact together” seemed substantial
-and strong. It was along the high ridge
-of Olivet that, in the pressure of the days when
-relief workers toiled twelve and fifteen hours
-without respite, they came to renew their
-strength. In the home of the Greek Patriarch
-more than one strong soul, overcome for the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_86'>86</span>moment by the ceaseless stream of dirty, hopeless,
-despairing human things that he must
-strive to save from the wreckage of war, found,
-in the white moonlight sifting down over the
-hill, in the kindly stars, in the silence and in
-sacred memories, courage to attempt again
-tasks that had been called impossible.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>We had been gazing so steadily at the city
-that when the driver suddenly stopped we
-turned in surprise. There on a gently sloping
-stretch of ground, close to the road at the left,
-stood row after row of crosses over the resting
-places of Scot and Londoner, Welshman and
-Irishman, Indian and Anzac who had paid for
-the Holy City with his life. On some of the
-crosses fresh green garlands were hanging, and
-on one a wreath with English holly.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>We got down from our carriage and walked
-slowly along, looking now at the crosses and
-now at the place where in agony of soul Christ
-had prayed for the strength to meet the test
-of Calvary that has made the Cross forever the
-symbol which shall mark the spots on earth most
-sacred to us. These lying out on the hillside
-had also been to Calvary.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>A little farther on in the road we passed men
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_87'>87</span>in the British uniform. They had survived the
-terrible test of those wind-swept hills with the
-rain falling in torrents, the benumbing cold, the
-soft, thick, gray mud, the night in the open with
-no shelter save a little wall of stones built up
-with care only to be blown over by a sudden
-vicious blast, with little food and only the ammunition
-that could reach them on the backs
-of the pack donkeys. It was through this they
-had won that peaceful city lying contentedly
-there in the sun, even the shining dome of its
-Mohammedan Mosque unharmed.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>The German hospice, Kaiserin Augusta Victoria,
-lies out on this road. It is exceedingly
-well built and untouched by shell fire. Although
-the Turk utterly demolished the mosque of
-Nebi Samwill and shot away its stately minaret,
-he turned no gun on this that was German
-property. Even when his airmen, flying over
-Olivet, knew that an enemy signal station had
-been set up in the garden of the hospice no
-shot fell upon it. “This house,” said Jamil, “is
-like a German castle on the inside. The tower
-was built higher than any tower on the Mount,
-the trees set out with care. The picture of the
-Saviour is painted in the chapel and the pictures
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_88'>88</span>of the Kaiser and the Kaiserin are on the long
-wall. It was common talk at the beginning of
-the war that the Crown Prince should live here
-when he became King in Palestine. Now it is
-the Headquarters for the British Army.... It
-is the Will of God!” he added solemnly after a
-moment. We took a picture of the hospice with
-two British Tommies standing at the gate.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>We had to leave our carriage and walk to the
-point where the Greek Church tower looks down
-over the stretch of rugged upland crossed by
-many a wadi, over the walled-in level spaces
-where green things were growing, over the
-plains of the Jordan and the Dead Sea so blue
-in the distance, away to the far mountains of
-Moab. It was a wonderful picture at which
-one could look for long hours and come back to
-enjoy again and again. It was from this point
-of vantage that the relief workers watched the
-taking of Jericho. In the grove we found the
-“husks that swine did eat,” lying about on the
-ground. Jamil picked one of the long brown
-pods from the tree and under the pressure of
-his urging we tasted it. It was sweeter than
-sugar cane, nauseatingly sweet. It took no
-imagination to understand why one would
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_89'>89</span>accept it as food only as a last resort. In this
-grove we found the hyssop which the women at
-the hospice use both as medicine and for the
-whitening of their clothes. In a sunny sheltered
-spot we found violets, although we were
-wearing our warmest wraps.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>Jamil sat down on a stone to talk with a workman
-while we, wandering about on the slopes
-of the hill, found a warm sheltered spot looking
-toward Mount Moriah. In all the days that we
-were in Jerusalem we could not fully sense the
-fact that the Christian was now free to visit
-all the sacred places, that the Temple area was
-open to him, that he might enter the sacred
-Mosque of Omar which once it had been death
-to enter. <em>The Turk had gone!</em> We took out
-the Book and read the old instructions for the
-building of the Tabernacle, read the orders for
-the building of Solomon’s temple and the majestic
-words of its dedication when at last the building
-was finished:—“and Solomon stood before
-the Altar and said—‘O Jehovah, God of Israel,
-there is no God like thee in heaven above or on
-the earth beneath; who keepest covenants in loving
-kindness with thy servants that walk before
-thee with all their hearts.... But will God in
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_90'>90</span>very deed dwell on the earth? behold the heaven
-and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee;
-how much less this house that I have builded!...
-When thy people Israel are smitten down
-before the enemy because they have sinned
-against thee; if they turn again to thee and confess
-thy name and pray and make supplication
-unto thee in this house then hear thou in heaven
-and forgive thy people Israel and bring them
-again unto the land which thou gavest to their
-fathers.’” Of Solomon’s Temple scarce a vestige
-remains, yet Israel again is returning to the
-land of its fathers. We read of the visits of
-Jesus to the new temple which, great as it was,
-had so little of the glory of the old. How it must
-have thrilled Him, a little country boy from the
-village of Nazareth, when He saw it for the first
-time at the great feast. He seems to have had
-no fear, as with all simplicity He pressed near
-to the great doctors of learning, listening eagerly
-and asking keen questions, the keenest questions
-that can be asked—those that leap from
-the alert and hungry mind of a boy of twelve.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>And we read of that other day when He heard
-the quarrelings and cursings, saw the gross
-wickedness of the bargainings of the money-changers
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_91'>91</span>and those who bought and sold the
-sacrifices, and cried aloud in words of burning
-denunciation, “My house shall be called of all
-nations the house of prayer but ye have made it
-a den of thieves!”</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>Little wonder that the scribes and Pharisees
-looked aghast at the crowds that pressed to
-hear as He taught daily in the temple, or that
-they demanded by whose authority He did these
-things and asked each other helplessly what they
-could do, since “the people were very attentive
-to Him,” and “the whole world had gone after
-Him.” In the temple courts how keen were His
-answers to their clever questioning designed to
-condemn Him, so keen that after awhile none
-dared ask Him any more questions. Yet when
-the teaching was over and, leaving the half-hostile,
-half-admiring crowd, He went out to
-the Mount of Olives to pray—then He knew
-that He must die.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>It all seemed very real as we sat looking down
-upon the City. So real that we dreaded to read
-of the days before Him, of the hard way that
-the rulers of the synagogue, because of their
-jealous conservatism, the desire to make their
-own places secure, the fear lest the people should
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_92'>92</span>follow Him as prophet and leave them as priests,
-had already in their hearts condemned Him to
-go. So we closed the Book.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>Leaving the carriage again at the Damascus
-Gate we wandered back past the convents,
-through Christian Street. The city was becoming
-a very live thing to us. The children smiled
-at us as we passed through the narrow arcade
-to our hotel. Oranges and dainty soft spring
-flowers from the valley were in our room.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>“I have lived thousands of years today,” said
-my friend. “I have been fighting all the battles
-from the days of King David to the days of
-King George and I am weary.” I smiled in
-sympathy, for one does not live in days or
-years in Palestine but in centuries. The
-march of events over broken cobblestones, past
-walls crumbling with age, catches one in its
-onward sweep and leaves him breathless as he
-hurries on from what has been to what is, and
-from what is to what is to be.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>We took up our American mail. The steady
-tread of history’s myriad marchers halted for
-a moment. The clippings from the papers told
-us of the wedding of a girl whom we love.
-Across the top of the clipping was written in the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_93'>93</span>girl’s own hand, “Unspeakable happiness. The
-greatest day of my life!” Names of guests, the
-most minute details as to flowers and gowns followed.
-In another clipping we read of the
-divorce of a girl we had known in school. She
-had been married twenty years. I remembered
-the account of her wedding. In the hall we heard
-laughter. Marie was listening to the extravagant
-compliments of Alphonse. A letter from a
-boy of eleven asked for stamps from Egypt and
-Palestine. “I want them more than anything in
-the world,” he wrote. The next letter brought a
-clipping making passing reference in six short
-lines to a critical misunderstanding in the Far
-East. While we were reading it, a woman came
-to tell us a story of great sorrow and desperate
-need. The wild storm of human wrath and
-revenge that swept over Russia had left her,
-who had never known anything but love, happiness
-and plenty, stranded, utterly alone, with
-not even a ruble of her vast estates.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>It is a confusing world. Great events and
-small jostle each other along its highways.
-Wrapped securely about with affairs of self,
-old and young fail to see the momentous hours
-of human destiny as they pass—pass so swiftly,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_94'>94</span>to leave them on some future day dumb with
-surprise, aghast at the significance of the things
-which, having eyes, they saw not and, having
-ears, they heard not. It is a most confusing and
-perplexing world, but alas for him who does not
-love it, pity for him who does not believe in it,
-shame upon him who will not share the task of
-saving it.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>Tomorrow would be Sunday and we would go
-to the Garden.</p>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
- <span class='pageno' id='Page_95'>95</span>
- <h2 class='c005'>I GO TO THE GARDEN</h2>
-</div>
-
-<div class='lg-container-b c011'>
- <div class='linegroup'>
- <div class='group'>
- <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_96'>96</span><em>Who fathoms the Eternal Thought?</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>Who talks of scheme and plan?</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>The Lord is God! He needeth not</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>The poor device of man.</em></div>
- </div>
- <div class='group'>
- <div class='line'><em>I walk with bare, hushed feet the ground</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>Ye tread with boldness shod;</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>I dare not fix with mete and bound</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>The Love and Power of God.</em></div>
- </div>
- <div class='group'>
- <div class='line'><em>Ye praise His Justice; even such</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>His pitying love I deem:</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>Ye seek a King; I fain would touch</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>The robe that hath no seam.</em></div>
- </div>
- <div class='group'>
- <div class='line'><em>Ye see the curse which overbroods</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>A world of pain and loss;</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>I hear our Lord’s Beatitudes</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>His prayer upon the Cross.</em></div>
- <div class='line in16'>—<em>John G. Whittier.</em></div>
- </div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' id='Page_97'>97</span></div>
-<div class='section ph2'>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c001'>
- <div>I GO TO THE GARDEN</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c012'>Light clouds hung over the city that Sunday
-morning when we looked out at the
-tower of David, one of the oldest monuments
-of Jerusalem, standing directly across
-the open space in front of our balcony. It still
-looks the part it long played as a watch-tower
-and a place of refuge and strong defense. The
-people call it the Citadel, and until the coming
-of the British it served as a garrison for Turkish
-soldiers. During our first days in Jerusalem
-we had walked about Mount Zion, had read
-of the various controversies waged over exact
-locations, had gone into the House of Caiaphas,
-the House of Annas, and had looked at the upper
-room. They may or may not have been the
-exact spots made tragic or sacred by that last
-week of the Great Life. It did not matter to us.
-The stone courtyards, the little chapels, the
-marks of Crusaders’ crosses, the burial stones
-made us conscious indeed of the triumphs and
-tragedies of men and nations that had written
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_98'>98</span>themselves from that hilltop into the history of
-Palestine and so into the making of the world.
-It was very easy, standing in that upper room,
-bare now save for an ancient picture, to imagine
-the long table, the couches, the reclining disciples.
-One is almost overwhelmed as he realizes
-the effect of that simple supper of bread
-and wine upon the characters of succeeding generations
-of men. What breaks in the ranks of
-Christendom the varied interpretations of its
-significance have made! To what heights of
-spiritual power, to what depths of shame, sorrow
-and repentance has it led those who, following
-His request, have celebrated it in remembrance
-of Him. In wonderful cathedrals, in
-rude chapels, in the lonely spots of earth, in the
-jungle, in the desert, on the islands of the sea,
-in the hospitals, in prison, on the fields of war
-kneeling before improvised altars within sight
-of the no man’s land which tomorrow would be
-their graves, men have heard the words: “As
-oft as ye eat this bread and drink this wine—”</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>How intensely He struggled, in those hours in
-the upper room, to make them understand that
-He loved them, to lead them to a comprehension
-of the meaning of service, to help them to accept
-the great commission His death would leave
-them to fulfil.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter id001'>
-<img src='images/i_099f.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' />
-<div class='ic001'>
-<p><span class='right'><span class='small'><em>Copyright, Underwood &amp; Underwood</em></span></span><br /><br />Out there on the wind-swept hills, without priest or altar, we could better understand the words of the Book.</p>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_99'>99</span>We could almost hear the voice of our Lord
-saying: “Behold the hour cometh, yea is now
-come, that ye shall be scattered every man to
-his own and shall leave me alone: yet—I am not
-alone because the Father is with me.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>“These things have I spoken unto you that in
-me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall
-have tribulation, but be of good cheer. <em>I have
-overcome the world.</em>”</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>It was easy to see Peter standing by the fire
-in the place which they showed to us and to hear
-the cowardly words, “I never knew him,” but
-easier still, as though a beam of light had fallen
-upon a dark picture, to hear Jesus saying, “Tell
-my disciples <em>and Peter</em>.... Peter, lovest thou
-me?... Peter, feed my sheep.”</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>From the background of Mount Zion we went
-to the Garden, not to the formal garden of Latin
-or Greek, with their chapels, their neat little gardens,
-their oranges and their olive trees planted
-about with fragrant flowers and green grass,
-though they are very beautiful, terraced there
-upon the steep sloping hillside. We went
-instead to the Armenian Garden, kept as nature
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_100'>100</span>made it, a wall with the vine leaning over it, a
-fallen trunk covered with doll moss, and the
-olive trees, large and small, gray green with
-twisted boughs ages old, grass as in a meadow,
-with lilies of the field nodding here and there in
-sunny spaces, though it was still winter. A soft
-mist hung about the hill and settled in low lines
-over the Garden. In one of the trees, hugging
-a branch, was a tiny gray bird. We could hear
-its song in the silence.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>The friend who had come with us had been
-often in the Garden. He told us of the beautiful
-service of the Relief Workers here on Easter
-morning, of the night after Allenby entered
-Jerusalem when the workers filled with joy over
-the manner of the victory came to this sacred
-spot to pray in gratitude and for strength for
-the long wearying days of toil which lay ahead.
-He told us of the Armenian girl, kneeling early
-one morning in the damp grass, trying to repeat
-Gethsemane’s prayer. She was a graduate of
-the American Woman’s College, was teaching
-in a girls’ high school when deportation orders
-came, and from then until her rescue had been
-an Arab’s slave in his dirty tent.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>It was very still. The walls of the city shut
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_101'>101</span>out its sounds, and it was too early for regular
-traffic along the road to Bethany. A British
-Tommy climbed over the wall and sat upon a
-great rock under a gnarled old tree, his hat in
-his hand. Pictures of the old masters painted
-on walls of cathedrals, hanging in great galleries,
-hymns tender and sweet that had thrilled
-the souls of thousands, poetry that had comforted
-man in his deepest hours of need, shadowy
-forms of Crusaders who had dared the
-perils of sea and land, hunger and thirst and the
-swords of the enemy, the monk, the pilgrim, the
-student searching for truth:—all these passed
-before us under the olive trees and went out
-into the mist.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>Suddenly the day seemed to fade and that
-night of centuries ago came stealing into the
-Garden. Kneeling there under the olive trees,
-we saw Love make its supreme sacrifice and were
-not ashamed of the overwhelming emotion that
-stirred our souls to greater depths than ever
-had been touched before. We read the words
-softly—“if possible—if possible—nevertheless
-thy will be done.” The rest of the picture was
-not so hard to look upon for He had triumphed.
-He rose from His prayer a <em>Conqueror</em>.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_102'>102</span>There was more than one grassy hollow near
-the sheltering wall where the disciples might
-have slept in the open, as did many at the time
-of the Passover. Regretful, He wakened them.
-The Roman soldiers with staves and smoking
-torches were coming down over the hill. His
-doom was sealed. What the law gave them no
-right to do, misunderstanding, cunning, and
-craft had done. Judas kissed him. We read
-the rest of the story from a little book that made
-it very plain.<a id='r1' /><a href='#f1' class='c016'><sup>[1]</sup></a> Then we prayed, but not with
-words—there were no words.</p>
-
-<div class='footnote' id='f1'>
-<p class='c007'><a href='#r1'>1</a>. <cite>By an Unknown Disciple</cite>—Hodder and Stoughton.</p>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c007'>On the little bridge that crosses over the
-Kedron to the Bethany road we stood for a long
-time looking back, loathe to leave. We remembered
-the white crosses of yesterday standing in
-long rows over there on the other side of the
-mount. He was not alone in the Garden! With
-Him there had gathered through the centuries
-an understanding multitude, young and loving
-life as did He, who had met their own Gethsemanes
-and gone out from them bravely to die.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>Again we went through St. Stephen’s Gate
-and along the path where the Roman guards had
-led their prisoner. We stopped at Pilate’s Hall.
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_103'>103</span>Like a king indeed he met the false testimony of
-his accusers, the cynical questions of Pilate,
-the jesting soldiers who had seen many a man
-condemned to die but none who met the madness
-of a multitude that cried “Crucify! Crucify!”
-with such dignity and calm. No wonder
-Rousseau cried aloud as he studied the story,
-“Socrates died like a philosopher, but Jesus
-died like a God!” With what ardent devotion
-have the great artists of the past attempted to
-paint for us those scenes. So vivid were they as
-we stood there in Jerusalem, looking up at the
-tower of Antonius where Jesus suffered the
-scourging, that their reality pierced our souls.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>When the fickle crowd left the hall shouting
-curses as they had shouted hosannas, they
-moved along the narrow street which still bears
-the name Via Dolorosa.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>Opposite the Pretorium is a convent. In it
-are orphans and stray waifs picked up about
-Palestine. The ravages of war have added to the
-usual number and the place is crowded. On this
-Sunday they were at service, and the clean
-happy faces as they sang made us feel that it
-was because of the Sorrowful Way over which
-He had walked that they were sheltered and fed.
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_104'>104</span>Although intended for Jews, Turk and Armenian,
-Jew and Gentile sat together in the Chapel
-of Love and Forgiveness. It is under this convent,
-many feet below the level of the present
-street that one finds bits of the old Roman pavement
-over which the multitude, curious, cruel,
-mocking, followed Him to the place of crucifixion.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>Each spot along the Via Dolorosa is marked—the
-place where the Master took up His cross,
-the turn in the narrow street where in answer
-to the tears and prayers of the women He said,
-“Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but
-weep for yourself and your children,” the spot
-where, staggering from weakness, He fell beneath
-His cross and Simon lifted it and carried
-it to the hill of Death, dumbly sharing the
-Saviour’s pain. At each place of suffering as
-we passed, we saw men and women praying and
-making the sign of the cross. All men walked
-silently.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>Via Dolorosa, since the coming of the British,
-is scrupulously clean. The houses of stone with
-beautiful doorways and old carvings on the
-doorposts make a solid unbroken wall on either
-side, and very early the street is quite dark.
-Narrow and not even a mile in length, it stands
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_105'>105</span>out in the memory above all the great highways
-of the world.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>We did not follow the narrow streets to the
-Church of the Holy Sepulchre where reverent
-worshipers were at that moment kneeling before
-the tomb, or kissing the stone upon which are
-the marks of the three crosses. It seemed
-incredible to us at first that this small church
-could cover both the spot which was called Calvary
-and the tomb in the garden of Joseph of
-Arimathea. Within the church are the chapels
-of the Greeks, the Romans, the Armenians and
-the Copts. In each are beautiful shrines with
-very precious lamps studded with jewels, lamps
-that burn in honor of each of the four Christian
-groups. Once there were four great doors of
-entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,
-but so frequent were the quarrels of those coming
-to worship that these doors were closed
-leaving only one way of entrance. The key to
-this door is still held by a Mohammedan according
-to the command of General Allenby, in memory
-of the fact that the Caliph Omar spared
-and continually protected this Church. Priceless
-jewels are hidden within it, the gifts of
-Pilgrims from every land. Its treasury is
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_106'>106</span>the richest in the world. Jamil saw it when it
-was shown to the former German Emperor for
-whom he interpreted, but could never find it
-again, so devious were the ways that led to it.
-The Kaiser’s gift, presented as with impressive
-ceremony he knelt to pray, was of great value—in
-gold.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>But it was not to this church of the Holy
-Sepulchre with its wonderful shrines, its most
-sacred associations reaching back into the long
-past, filled with memories of devout men and
-women, rich and great, poor and lowly, young
-and strong, weak and old, who had reverently
-worshiped before the rent in the rock, the
-place where the soldiers parted His garments,
-the tomb in the solid stone down in the very
-bowels of the earth, worn smooth as glass
-by the feet of pilgrims who, like Peter and
-John, must stoop to enter it, and Golgotha,
-reached by winding steps cut in the rock and
-leading up almost to the roof of the church—it
-was not this place which we sought as we came
-from the garden of Gethsemane, following Him
-along the Sorrowful Way. It was out on the
-hills beyond the Damascus Gate to the spot
-called Gordon’s Calvary that we went, not because
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_107'>107</span>we cared to enter into all the reasons
-why many believe it to be the place of suffering,
-rather than the other, but because out there
-on the wind-swept rocks under a darkening sky,
-with a garden in the little valley and the tombs
-cut in solid rock, their “great stones” lying
-near—out there with no priest and no altars it
-was easier to read the words of the Book and
-try to understand them.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>It was on this Mount of Calvary, looking
-down upon the city, that there came to us an
-overwhelming sense of the sin of selfishness
-and greed. In the ruins of Belgium we had
-felt it, in the tumult of war on the battlefields
-of France we had seen what it could do,
-in the records of the desperate struggles of
-the Peace Table we had caught glimpses of its
-power, in China we saw its work, in Korea we
-looked upon its suffering victims, and here on
-Calvary the weight of the world sorely wounded
-and dismayed by sin, pressed hard upon us. It
-would not have been possible to bear had we
-not read also of the stone rolled away and the
-great triumphant Victory.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>A deep conviction settled down upon us until
-it possessed every muscle and fiber of body and
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_108'>108</span>mind, until it possessed our souls—the thing
-that He preached and that only can save the
-world. His great command that man love his
-God and serve his neighbor—this principle
-alone can rescue humanity from the abyss of
-chaos into which blind greed, individual and
-national, has plunged it. As the pilgrims knelt
-at the Holy Sepulchre, we knelt there under the
-open skies on the hill that is called Calvary to
-accept again His first great commandment, and
-the second that is like unto it, in repentance and
-humility to pray for pardon for past failures
-and strength for new endeavors.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>That night at evening service in clear soprano
-voice a boy in the choir sang:</p>
-
-<div class='lg-container-b c008'>
- <div class='linegroup'>
- <div class='group'>
- <div class='line'>There is a green hill far away</div>
- <div class='line'>Without the city wall</div>
- <div class='line'>Where the dear Lord was crucified</div>
- <div class='line'>Who died to save us all.</div>
- <div class='line'>Oh dearly, dearly has He loved</div>
- <div class='line'>And we must love Him too,</div>
- <div class='line'>And trust in His redeeming blood</div>
- <div class='line'>And try His works to do.</div>
- </div>
- <div class='group'>
- <div class='line'>There was no other good enough</div>
- <div class='line'>To pay the price of sin:</div>
- <div class='line'>He only could unlock the gate</div>
- <div class='line'>Of Heaven and let us in.</div>
- <div class='line'>Oh dearly, dearly has He loved</div>
- <div class='line'>And we must love Him too,</div>
- <div class='line'>And trust in His redeeming blood</div>
- <div class='line'>And try His works to do.</div>
- </div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_109'>109</span>The echo of the last line followed us home.
-There is work to be done—challenging, mighty
-world-building tasks—and for the doing of them
-those who call themselves servants and followers
-of Him whose brave, suffering footsteps
-we had traced from the Garden along the Sorrowful
-Way to Calvary have waited too long.</p>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
- <span class='pageno' id='Page_111'>111</span>
- <h2 class='c005'>I GO DOWN INTO EGYPT</h2>
-</div>
-
-<div class='lg-container-b c011'>
- <div class='linegroup'>
- <div class='group'>
- <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_112'>112</span><em>The strings of camels come in single file</em></div>
- <div class='line in2'><em>Bearing their burdens o’er the desert sand;</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>Swiftly the boats go plying on the Nile</em></div>
- <div class='line in2'><em>The needs of men to meet on every hand.</em></div>
- <div class='line in8'><em>But still I wait</em></div>
- <div class='line'><em>For the messenger of God who cometh late.</em></div>
- <div class='line in24'>—<em>Author Unknown.</em></div>
- </div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' id='Page_113'>113</span></div>
-<div class='section ph2'>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c001'>
- <div>I GO DOWN INTO EGYPT</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c012'>It was sitting on a housetop overlooking
-Jerusalem on the last day of our visit to
-the Holy City that we heard in detail the
-story of the official entry of the British forces.
-The woman who told us had spent the years of
-the war as well as most of her life in Jerusalem
-though she is an American. Her children
-were born there, she speaks many of its languages,
-she knows its people and she loves it.
-She is one of the women appointed by Lord
-Samuel, the High Commissioner, to serve on an
-advisory council to assist the government in
-establishing policies for the protection and betterment
-of women. She is the Christian representative,
-the others being Mohammedan and
-Hebrew.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>The story, as she told it, revealing all the fear
-and anxiety of those hard years, the pressure
-of uncertainty, the daily, hourly struggle for
-food with sufficient nourishment to keep the
-children and the old people alive, made us feel
-again, as so many times before, the sharp stab of
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_114'>114</span>the fact that it is not those who bear arms alone
-who go to war. Little faces, whose right it is
-to be round and rosy, covered with smiles, must
-be pale and wan, yes, must even forget how to
-smile, as millions of little ones have forgotten
-since nineteen hundred and fourteen. Old faces,
-whose right it is to bear the marks of peace and
-contentment after the struggle of the years,
-must be left instead with marks of pain and
-anguish as have millions of the aged since nineteen
-hundred and fourteen. He is a cruel monster,
-War, and if man, after what he has seen
-these past years, does not imprison him, starve
-him, and leave him to die, then man deserves
-the bitterness of the fate that will be his.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter id001'>
-<img src='images/i_115f.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' />
-<div class='ic001'>
-<p>When we opened our eyes, the Nile lay almost at our feet.</p>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_115'>115</span>Threatened deportation, first by the German,
-then by the Turk, had been again and again
-postponed for the little group known as the
-American Colony but finally word came that in
-ten days all must go. The men of military age,
-though neutral, had been ordered away a week
-before and were expecting the arrival of a Turkish
-officer at any moment, to tell them the time
-had come. Food was very scarce, there was no
-sugar, little flour, and no fats. The woman who
-told us the story was herself doing all-day and
-sometimes all-night duty as a nurse in the Red
-Crescent Hospital which was our present hotel.
-Some of the letters she showed to us proved
-what a consolation she must have been to the
-young British soldiers, who lay with the Turks,
-prisoners, and sorely wounded. The thundering
-of the guns had been drawing nearer but,
-despite rumors that crept into the streets and
-the hospital wards that the Turks were slowly
-losing ground, they themselves reported progress.
-Great airplanes droned over the city,
-cannon roared in the hills. One afternoon
-there was unusual commotion in the open
-space before the hotel and, standing by the window,
-our friend saw the Germans making hurried
-preparations for leaving. Signal wires,
-telephone wires, rugs, removable furniture, tons
-of supplies, went out through the Jaffa Gate.
-The Turkish General visited her—he must leave
-the wounded in her care. The German doctors
-would go with the troops. He would leave two
-days’ provisions and medicines, after that—</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>When he had gone, half afraid to believe it,
-she whispered the word to the British patients.
-They were nearly mad with joy, and there was
-little sleeping that night. “When? When?”
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_116'>116</span>they would whisper as she or her helper passed
-them. She could only answer, “I do not know.
-We have provisions for two days.” Very early
-in the morning, before it was fully light, the
-Mayor of the city, one of the direct descendants
-of Mohamet, sent her a message saying that he
-was about to surrender the city.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>At half-past eight that morning the outposts
-saw the white flag approaching. General Shea
-was the officer sent by General Allenby to accept
-the surrender of the city. At half-past twelve
-Jerusalem had passed into the hands of the
-British, guards were placed at all public buildings,
-and instructions given to the Chief of
-Police. The joy of the people—Jew, Christian,
-and Moslem—was shown in the crowds that
-filled the street, the tears and embraces, the
-shrill cries in many tongues. Even the Turkish
-sick and wounded in the hospital showed relief.
-For the twenty-third time in its history Jerusalem
-had surrendered. But this time there were
-no cries for mercy, no bitterness, no wailing,
-no terrible fear of the conqueror.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>Outside the walls the guns banged and hammered
-at the Turkish defences. Much had to be
-done before Jerusalem was safe from attack, but
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_117'>117</span>although, spurred on by advices from Germany,
-the Turks made an attempt to recapture the
-City, it was a disastrous failure.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>One of the young men joined us on the roof
-and contributed his share of the description of
-the next thrilling days. It was on December
-11th, 1917, that General Allenby, Commander-in-Chief,
-took formal possession of the City. He
-would not enter through the break in the old
-wall made when the former Kaiser with his
-great retinue entered as a Crusader. Indeed
-orders have been given to have the break closed.
-Allenby would carry no flag. On foot and
-accompanied by a Guard that altogether numbered
-about one hundred fifty, he stood on
-Mount Zion on the steps of the Citadel at the
-entrance to David’s Tower. He had been met
-outside the narrow gate by the Guard representing
-all branches, faiths and races that make
-up the British Army. Behind him, as he stood
-on the steps with his staff, were the leading men
-of the City, ready to listen to the reading of the
-Proclamation. There were no shouts of victory,
-no trumpets, no evidence of the spirit of triumph
-over a foe. The Proclamation was read in Arabic
-and English, in Hebrew and Greek, in Russian,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_118'>118</span>in French and Italian. As the people, standing
-respectfully in the open spaces and upon the
-housetops, heard each in his own tongue that all
-men might “pursue their lawful business without
-fear,” and the promise that “every Holy
-Place, revered and held sacred by any faith,
-will be defended and protected,” a look, first
-of incredulity, then of confidence, passed over
-their faces. Many Mohammedans ran from the
-square to repeat the words in homes from which
-some fearful ones had not dared to come. Murmurs
-and gestures of approval were given on
-every side. The windows of the Red Crescent
-Hospital were filled with faces of those who,
-though very ill or badly wounded, could not miss
-this significant moment of the Great War. All
-the promises made that day have been sacredly
-kept, our friends told us.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>In the old Turkish barrack square the Commander-in-Chief
-met the heads of all the religious
-communities. The sheikhs in charge of
-the Mosque of Omar, the representatives of the
-Priests and Patriarchs of the Latin, Greek
-Orthodox, Armenian, and Coptic churches who
-had been deported by the Turks, the heads of the
-Jewish communities, the Syrian Church, the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_119'>119</span>Greek Catholic, the Abyssinian and the Anglican
-Churches, all were there. It was indeed a cosmopolitan
-company as to religious faiths.
-“The bright color of the holiday dress which
-most of the people had put on, I can see in detail
-at this moment,” said our friend. “Not one
-step in that simple ceremony shall I ever forget.
-In two hours, leaving guards over all holy
-places, with Mohammedan officers and soldiers
-from the Indian regiments to guard the Mosque
-of Omar, the General walked back through the
-Old Jaffa Gate as he had come, received the
-salute of his troops, entered his car and went
-down to the fighting area.”</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>The relief workers took up the heavy burden
-of bringing food to the people whose thin bodies
-and pale faces showed the effect of months of
-starvation diet. All supplies must come up over
-roads muddy and torn by heavy traffic, crowded
-with army food and equipment that must have
-right-of-way. The task was one that taxed
-patience and energies to the utmost. The health
-commission assumed the equally great task of
-clearing the streets of unspeakable filth left in
-the wake of the Turkish rule, our friends shouldered
-their burden of securing medical attention
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_120'>120</span>and food for the sick, helpless and wounded
-men.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>“Only gradually,” said our friend walking
-up and down on the roof, her cheeks flushed by
-the memories of days so vividly recalled, “did
-we come to realize that this Holy City was <em>free</em>.
-It was as though we had been going about in
-heavy chains that, suddenly taken from us, had
-left us too dazed to move. We unconsciously
-looked for old restrictions, old threats, old taxes
-suddenly to be laid upon us. Despite the glory
-of its past,” she added, leaning far over the
-parapet to look out upon it, “the City in all its
-long history was never so truly the City of
-Zion as now.”</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>When we went back to our hotel, standing at
-the windows from which the wounded had
-looked, we felt that though other scenes of many
-cities in many lands would fade with the years,
-the description of that day when a victorious
-army under the leadership of a great General,
-a true soldier, and a Christian gentleman had,
-beneath the shadow of the Tower, proclaimed a
-message of possession more truly in accord with
-the word and teaching of Jesus than any ever
-recorded in history, would never leave us.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_121'>121</span>The sunset that night was more glorious than
-any we had seen. The hills were on fire with it,
-the Gate was gold. Then the valleys darkened,
-the streets were still, the crowd of Arab and
-Greek, Jew and Moslem, the shepherds, the merchant
-with his camels, the shopmen and the
-traveler, all sought shelter. It was night, and
-we looked for the last time out on the hills to
-the place where the stars shone over Bethlehem.
-Never did more reluctant pilgrims leave a Holy
-Place.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>The train, going twice each week down from
-Jerusalem and connecting with the train for
-Cairo, had begun to carry both sleeping compartments
-and dining car. We boarded it late
-that night at the foot of the long hill. Before it
-was light, we had pulled out of the Jerusalem
-station and did not get even one more glimpse
-of the city set on a hill. Instead when we opened
-our eyes we were almost out of the Judean Hills
-and soon were moving along through desert-rimmed
-lowlands. Then the desert itself lay
-about us for hours, livened by occasional caravans
-that also were going down to Egypt. Once
-an airplane flew over us and on into the glare
-of the cloudless sky. We thought often of
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_122'>122</span>Joseph and Mary and the Child fleeing through
-this lonely desert, to find in alien Egypt refuge
-from the jealous wrath of the Roman king.
-How rapidly the world has learned to cover
-time and space since then! How slow has been
-its progress toward the kingdom the Child,
-whom Herod feared, had come to build. God
-grant that now over the new paths through old
-Palestine messengers bearing Good Will may
-come with all speed.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>At Kantara we saw a company of Jews sent
-by the Zionists into Palestine. They were a
-weary group, their faces bore marks of deep suffering.
-They spoke Russian only, so we could
-not talk with them. They were going by train to
-Haifa. We could only hope that their sorrows
-were over and that in the land of their fathers
-they would find peace, a chance to forget, shelter,
-food and a home. But we could not feel
-sure. The threatening words we had heard
-from the lips of the Arab, the protests on the
-part of the Jews that there was not land enough
-in Palestine capable of bearing crops to give
-food to those who now struggled to live, the bitter
-race hatreds and religious feuds very near
-the surface always ready to burst into flame,—these
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_123'>123</span>things made us doubtful. The transformation
-within a generation of this land of
-Palestine into a safe and happy home for all the
-Jews of all the world seems but the futile day
-dream of children when one faces conditions as
-they are. Many lands have done many things
-to the Jew who once in simplicity worshiped
-the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and tried
-sincerely, not only to obey the great commandments
-of Moses, but to teach them to his children.
-Whether again they can gather from all
-lands and bring with them the best who shall
-say? It may be that the fervent exhortations of
-rabbis, the wisdom of judges, the training of
-educators, the science of agriculturists, the
-modern irrigation miracles of engineers, the
-proper placing of peoples, will make of Palestine
-a modern state where the dream of economists,
-political and social, will one day be demonstrated
-in action. The only spot we saw that
-seemed like the coming of the day was Ramallah,
-the city that had to be taken by storm before
-the troops could reach Jerusalem and visited
-by us to see the splendid work of the schools of
-the Quakers who for long years have given
-learning and new life to children of Syrian and
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_124'>124</span>Armenian, and now and then to a Moslem or a
-Jew. From that little town between six and
-seven hundred Jews and Syrians had emigrated
-to America. Since the war many had returned
-and were rapidly building the city. Others had
-sent money to rebuild the homes of their families.
-These homes were of stone built two stories
-high with the flat roof but with plenty of
-space for light and air. Gardens surrounded
-many of them and trees were being planted
-everywhere. The children were well nourished,
-well clothed, and well trained. It helped us to
-have more confidence in the dreams with the
-fulfilment of which all Christendom is in sympathy.
-If only patience and unselfishness can
-be set as watchmen over against the door of
-enthusiasm! We were told that the Hebrew
-High Commissioner of Jerusalem looks to
-Ramallah as a prophecy.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>We sat for a while on the journey from Kantara
-to Cairo with a British officer and a nurse
-who had seen hard service during the war and
-is now in charge of a number of stations where
-the native nurses meet her to report progress
-and receive further instructions. She helps
-them to understand the care of mothers and
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_125'>125</span>young babies and trains them to fight the terrible
-diseases of the eye that result in a staggering
-percentage of blindness. The native girls
-are taking up their work with enthusiasm, even
-the little children are sharing in the campaign
-against flies. “That is a far harder campaign
-than any we have ever waged when you consider
-the people you have to train to fight,” said the
-officer. And remembering the flies on our days
-at Suez and Port Said, we could agree with him.
-It was nearly midnight when she left the train
-at a little station in the sand. Her man-servant
-was waiting with her horse and we watched her
-ride off to her hospital out there somewhere in
-the blackness. “No finer women on God’s earth
-than those who wear that uniform,” said the
-officer.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>A half hour or more and he left us. He was a
-lover of the desert and almost made us forget
-how pitiless, how cruel, how destitute of all that
-makes life for most of us, it is. He knew the
-names of all the stars and when they would
-appear in the velvet sky over his great stretch
-of camps. He loved the cold of the night and
-was not afraid of the heat of midday, he loved
-the sunrise and sunsets and “the desert-folk
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_126'>126</span>worth many times the puny men of cities.”
-He, too, rode off into the darkness.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>At last—Cairo—and we left the train through
-the long station, bright as day. A car was waiting.
-The luxury of our room made us feel that
-we had entered fairyland. It had been so long
-since we had seen the things for rest, comfort
-and cleanliness that had in our past been common
-necessities, that now after these months of
-journeying about the world they seemed
-extravagances indeed!</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>The next morning we looked through the open
-French windows with their rose hangings, out
-upon the Pyramids and the Nile. The river lay
-almost at our feet. The beauty of it was intoxicating
-in the soft light of the rising sun. When
-my friend broke the silence she said, “It is
-indeed beautiful,” then smiling she added
-“but,—</p>
-
-<div class='lg-container-b c008'>
- <div class='linegroup'>
- <div class='group'>
- <div class='line'>If I forget thee, O Jerusalem,</div>
- <div class='line'>Let my right hand forget her skill.</div>
- <div class='line'>Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth,</div>
- <div class='line'>If I remember thee not,</div>
- <div class='line'>If I prefer not Jerusalem</div>
- <div class='line'>Above my chief joy....</div>
- </div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c017'>Awake, awake, put on thy strength; put on thy beautiful
-garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city.... Shake thyself
-from the dust; arise, sit on thy throne, O Jerusalem.—Peace
-be unto thee, O Zion.”</p>
-
-<div class='pbb'>
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
- <hr class='pb c003' />
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='tnotes'>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
- <h2 class='c005'>TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE</h2>
-</div>
- <ol class='ol_1 c003'>
- <li>Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling.
-
- </li>
- <li>Retained anachronistic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings as printed.
- </li>
- </ol>
-</div>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-<hr class="full" />
-<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NEW PATHS THROUGH OLD PALESTINE***</p>
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