The River Falls journal. (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1857-1861, 1857-10-28
Lust and wine plead pleasure, avarice. gain ;
But the cheap swearer, through his common
sluice,
Lets his soul run for naught."
Modern Jerusalem.

An Oriental correspondent of the Bos-
ton Post, now in his travels, draws SOM
bre picture of that famous place-once
the .;.joy of the whole earth.'' After the
first few days of excitement, which every
visitor to Jerusalem must experience, there
succeeds an inexpressible sadness, a set
tied melancholy, which appears to be up
on the .countenance OF every inhabitant
A walk through the filthy street is a
horror-the heaps of garbage left to rot
in the sun;-the slaughter house in the
centre Of the city the tannery adjacent
to and polluting the Holy Sepulchre; the
skins OF animals yet warm from their bod
dies, and covered with vermin, exposed
at every corner for sale-and yet worse,
if possible, the abominably filthy Jew, the
half-naked Arab, the horrible peasant
whose skins ale hardly to be distinguished
from the beastly rags which cover them,
create a loathing in the mind of the stran-
ger, which cannot be better described than
in the words of the prophet. They lie
down In their shame and their confu-
sion covereth them, ID will make the
city desolate and an Kissing; every one
that passeth thereby shall be astonished,
and hiss because Of ,he plague thereof"
If what our traveller asserts about the
accommodations be true, we should not
fancy long stay there, however anxious
we might be to examine the topography
of the Holy City aud its surroundings.
There are no furnished lodgings to be had.
The visitor is either ob,igod to hire house,
furnish it and procure servants, which are
the worst in the world, or go to a hotel.
The hotels are private houses changed in
topu5lic rs, AMI OF th, N ostss wretched
description. There is not house in the
city, except those built for the consuls bg
their respective governments, as good as
that of an American backwoodsman. In
the winter, the houses are cold, and the
roofs let in the water. The floors are
made slanting that the water may run off.
In summer they are uninhab;table from
the heat. There are in the city three
miserable hotels in which the fare is poor
and the charges as high as at the Astor
House in New York.
But the worst feature about modern
Jerusalem is the everlasting broils and
discussions among the d ffarent sects that
are almost innumerabie. 1t is only the
dread of tho Turkish power that keeps
them from literally tlevouring eaah other
The Turk sits at the door of tho Church
OF the Holy Sefu,clre smoking his pipe
slipping his blac! coffee, and viewing with
equal indifference the Latin, the Greek
the Armenian, the Copt, the ChauIdcen
and dozen others who pass by hin on
their way to different affairs, while the Jew
who ventures into the open square in
front Of the Church exposes himself to
great peril if not to certain death from the
hands of the Turk and Christian.
The Christian cannot enter the Grand
Mosque of the Turk. The Greek, the
Latin and the Armenian are engaged in
constant dispute among thensely. 8. in the
very midst OF tie { hur;h Of the holy
Sepulchre. itsel:. There IS of course no
socioty-no common ground upon which
all may Hoet.
The unsocial Turk inhabits his own
quarters and scarcely ever leaves it except
to give some specimen of his tyranny.
The Jew lives in his own filth in another
quarter, or sneaks about the city in list
lest manner, until some charity sent from
abroad gives him excitement enough to
Quarrel about his share. The Christians
have their own quarter which is somewhat
less dirty than the others.
Our traveller announces the recent ar
rival of q new Pasha who seemed dispos-
oil to aid in the work of cleaning the city !;
yet he might turn out like other functiona-
ries before him but a new room. Still
he appeared less opposed to innovation
than his predecessors. ,5eafe