The miners' express. (Dubuque, Iowa) 1849-1854, 1853-03-30

sAuAslrAxs--PssrArEucn-Tss LIvp(
EvrpEsc e o. rae BDLE, In : lettamii,ana
tive Of the hill country Of
Tsglof thus speaks lie existence Of small
and the Samssl6cient Samaritans The stock |
tI1T dwindled away, and amounts 70
40 families, containing little more than loO
Individuals. They live in . peculiar quarter o. !
the city, and are easily distinguished from tue
other inhabitants in the cast Of the hguses =
After our guide, native of Nablons, had point
ed out three or four, { had no difficulty in re;
cognizing oil sihs others We met They have
long but not prominent noses, like the jews
small oblong eyes, narrow lips, and far com
plexion, most Of them have brown hair. They
appeal 10 be held in considerable obloquy by the
Mosems. Our attendant, who was OF the low
class of Arabs, took The boys we met very ua-
csrimoniously by the head, calling out: "ilere
i, another Samaritan" He then conducted US
TO their synagogue, to see the celebrated Pen
tateuch, which is there preserved. We were
taken TO small open court, shaded by an Apr-
cot tree, where the priest, an Old man IN green
robe and white turban, was sealed in meditation
He had long grey beard and black eyes, that
lighted up with sudden expression OF eager
greed when we promised him backshish for
6lnNt Oh tile StCEtO uuOhs lie tOSCs o1Au toon NS
into sort of chapel, followed by a number of
Samaritan boys. Kneeling down at a niche in
the wall, he produced from behind wooden
case piece of ragged parchment written with
Hebrew characters. But the guide was famil-
jar with this deception, and rated him So sound
ly, that aftera little hesitation, he laid the frag
nent away, and produced a large tin cylinder,
covered with piece of green satin embroidered
in gold. The boys stopped down and reverent4
ly kissed the blazoned cover, before it was re-
moved. The cylinder slipping back, by two
rows of hinges, opened at the same time the
parchment scroll, which was rolled at both ends.
Ii was indeed very ancient manuscript, and
in remarkable preservation. The rents have
been carefully repaired, and the scroll neatly
stitched upon another parchment, covered on
the outside with violet satin. The priest in
formed me that it was written by the son Of
Aaron, but this does not coincide with the fact
that the Samaritan Pentateuch is different from
that Of the Jews. 1t is however, no doubt one
of the oldest parchment records in the world,
and The Samarltans look upon it with unbound-
ed faith and reverence The Pentateuch, ac.
cording TO their version, contains their only form
of religion. They reject everything elss which
the Old Testament contains. Three or four
days ago was their grand feast of sacrifice, when
they made burnt offering Of a lamb, on the
top of Mount Gerixin Within short time
it is said, they have shown some curiosity to be-
come acquainted with the New Testament, and
the High Priest sent to jerusalem to procure
Arabic copies.
asked one of these wild eyed boys whether
he could read the sacred book. ooh, yes ;,
said the priest, "all these boys can read il, and
the one | addressed Immediately pulled volum
from his breast, and commer ced reading in flu
ent Hebrew. 1t appeared to be part Of their
church service, for both the priest and boab, or
door keeper, kept up a running series of respon
sss; and occasionally tine whole crowd shouted
out some deep mouthed word in chorus. The
old nan leaned forward, with an express sion as
deep and intense as If the text had become in
carna'e in him, following with his lips, the
sound ofthe boys voice. II was a strange pic
ture of religious enthusiasm, and was Of itself,
sufficient to convince me of the legitimacy of
the Samartans decent. When rose to leave,
gave him tie promised fee; and smaller one
10 the boy who read the service. This was a
signal for a general attack from the door keeper,
and all the boys were present. They surround
ed me with eyes sparkling with the desire of
gain, kissed the border Of my jacket, stroked my
beard coaxingly with their hands, which, they
then kissed, and were ready, as il seemed to rue,
10 fall On my neck in heap, after the old He
brew fashion. The priest, clamorous fo- more,
followed with glowing face, and the whole group
had riotous and bachannalian character, which
should never have imagined could spring from
such passionate avarice.
The WONDERFUL How men are excited by
wonderful stories or wonderful acts They new
er lire of them, and as soon as they have dew
CURED one wonder they fly after another. Whe
ther,it comes in the shape Of dealings with the
supernatural or the trickery Of men it is all the
SINE. A dancer prouettes hundred times on
one toe, and thousands are in ecstacies; man
ties his legs about his neck FIR cravat, or holds
himselfout at arms length, and braves shake
the theatre: one adverIises to fly from steeple
to seeple, and hundreds of gazers run TO see IL !;
another walks upon ceiling, his head downs
wards, like fly, and crowds rush in to look at
him; to see man go into hot oven and drink
boiling Florence oil, or prussc acid, admiration
looses itself in lis rapture; movement to tar
aid feather or fanatic or notice Of Woman's
Rights Convention end in the same mob;
Blaomer dress or Mrs Folsom harranging tie
Pharisees in State street, tend to feel the appe.
lite for the old and wonderful Kill man or
beak open store, and the thirst for the won
deriul particularly maniiests itself. Men talk
about it at-their counting rooms aud parlors the
papers are full of it. The ragget billet Of wood
that knoekedshe Waterman dawn, or the old
chisel that forced the shutter of the man s
window, becomes sacred things, and are looked
upon and gloated over with admiration Men
boast OF their having seen them. And pair
Of dlapidated boots left in lieu iof the new ones
stolen, preserved as throphies. How mysterious
everything is about shop that has been burglar
iously entered; and we enter and look solemnly
upon the broken glass, and ask questions that
have been answered hundred Tines before
but which are answered again readily because
ofthe interest of the thing The gibbet at the
Museum attracted more attention than the beau
iiini scripture and paintings that adorn lis hall,
because the people love the wonderful, and men
read tales of horror, in preference te those of
classic elegance and refinement, for the same
reason.-C Carpet Bag.