Wisconsin tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1847-1854, 1847-10-29
The Holy Laud.
BY MISS HARRIET NARTINEAU.
III JERUSALEM. THE TEMPLE.

III -JERUSALEM. THE TEMPLE.
My room opened upon a little terrace,
the fat roof of lower apartment in orr
inn at Jerusalem, and from this little ter
race L was never tired Of gazing. A con
siderable portion of the city was spread
out below me not with lis streets laid
open to view, as it would be in one of our
cities; but presenting a collection of flat
roofs, with small white cupolas rising
up from them, and the minarets of the
mosques springing, tall and light as the
poplar from the long grass ofthe meadow.
| The narrow, winding lanes, which are
/ the streets Of eastern cities, are scarcely
/ traceable from d height: but there was
one visible from our terrace with its
rough pavement of large stones, the high
house-walls on each side, and the arch
thrown over 1t, which is so familiar to ali
who have seen pictures of Jerusalem.-
This street is called the Via DoIorosa, the
Mournful Way, from its being supposed
to be the way by which Jesus went from
the Judgment Hall to Calvary, bearing
his cross. Many times in a day my eyes
/ followed the windings Of this street, in
which | rarely saw any one walking:
and when it was lost among the buildings
near the walls, looked over to the hill
which bounded our prospect; = and that
hin was the Mount of Olives. It was
then the time of full moon, and evening
after evening l used to lean on the para
parapet of the terrace. watching for the
coming up of the large yellow moon from
behind the ridge Of Olivet. By dav the
slopes of The Mount were green with the
sPHnging wheat, and dappled with the
shade of the olive clumps. By night,
those cIumps ami lines of trees were dark
amidst the lights and shadows cast by the
moon; and they glidcd tie eye, in The
absence OF daylight, to the most interest /
ing points II the descent TO the brook
hedron, the road 10 Bethany, and the
place where Jesus IS believed 10 have look
ed over upon the noble city,when he pro-
nounced its doom. Such was the view
from our terrace.
One Of our first walks was along the
Via Dolorosa. There IS a strange charm
IN The streets Of Jerusaienl,- from the pic
turesque character of the walls and arch
ways The old walls of yellow stone are +
SO beautifully tuited With weeds, that one
longs TO paint every angle and projection,
with their mellow coloring, and dangling
and trailing weeds And the shadow
archways, where the vauted roofs inter
sect each other. till they are lost in the
dazzle Of the sunshine beyond, are a per-
PctuaI treat to the eye. The pavement Is
the worst | ever walked on - large, slip .
perry stones, slannHg all manner Of ways.
Passing such weedy walls and dark arch
ways as | have mentioned, we turned into
the Via Dolorosa, and followed it as far
rs the Governors House, which stands
where Fort Antonio stood when PLATE
tried Him IN whom be found, as he de-
clared, no guilt. Here we obtained per-
mission to mount to the roof.
Why did we wish it? Foi reasons of
such force as | despair OF making under
stood by any but those to whom the very
name of the Temple has been sacred from
their earliest years None but Moham-
mcdans may enter the enclosure now;-I
no Jew nor Christian. The Jew and
Christian, Who repc. each other in Chris
tan lands, are under the same ban here.
They are alike excluded from the place
where Solomon built and Christ sanctifed
the Temple of jehovah and they are a
like Knocked and insuited, if thew draw
near the gates. OF course, we were not
satisfied without seeing all that we could
see of thu place - now occupied BY the
mosque OF Omar = tae most sacred spot
10 the Nohummedans, after Mecca. We
could sill under Tue Golden Gate, outside
the walls: we could measure with the
eve, from the bed of the brook Kedron.
the height Of the walls which crowned
MoFiah, and from amidst which once a.
rose the temple courts: we could sit where
Jesus sat on the slope Of OHyet, and look
over to the height whence the glorious
Temple once commanded the Valley of
( JchosuaDdat. which lay between Us and
it. bat This was not enough, # we could
4 see more. We had gone 10 the threshold
( Of one Df The rares as far p the Faithful