St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1876-07-21
Letter From Abroad.

There i NrrN little in Palestine and
SYRIA that seems h"mrliLc. An r\ccp-
tInu however i to Ice made in favor of
Beirut. This i an old city and it>
history ha> been affected more nI
less hN WII~ and earthquakes. But it
has felt the touch of modern life. II
is the principal commercial port. Tlrr|
l. dead, Jnppa and llaiiI alc inferior
naval stations Acre. which WAS :" i'm
p"rtamt Il place in the cirr>ading times.
holds Il small rank "i Importance nov.
y FIruch company has constructed an
excellent wagon road from Beirut t"
Damascus. The distance j. about tit-
teen hours. The toll i"r the rl>,. of the
road l. very high. The situation ot
Beirut Is picturesque. y long pl"m"m-
tory slopes down to the Waters at the
bay "n the north side. Upon this slope.
extending alou" tine shore Il distance of
two nr three miles. lies the city. The
buildings are much better than thn>, "t
Damascus. Some ui them are oi am
Pile proportions. and Il few of them hIN"
architectural attractions. The thor
"ughtalc> of the city are worthy /" hc
called streets. " Which i not true of "rlrn-
tai cities generally. There j. u good
number OF trees which gives t" the city
beauty aud freshness. But | had IN
mind more particularly t" write what
hiN, observed and learned in Ic"aId tu
the wor, and results nf the American
Mission. This mission was established
about fifty years ago. Sabbath morn
lng we went To church. 1t MAS pleas
ant To enter a church which seemed 80
much like home the huldiu" itself and
all nt the Scr\ ices. Means and men
have not been con ~ccrItcd III Naln Il"
the work of planting the gospel hrrc.
\ me- citing WAS held Sabbath evening
at Br. Jc>>up'> house at which u c"m>id-
rlilhl, numhcI of Americans were pres
cmt \ missionary Was there from Il
station tW" hundred miles north al this
place. who gave some very interesting
facts regarding his field. His theory Is
ont. they went noIthWard. They could
not 90 west into th, sea. nor east int"
th, desert. and the I>rlclitc> were he
hind them. Consequently they must
go north. Their descendants have Il
secret religion of horrible rites and >n-
pcrsrilion>. They put l." death rhIl-
dlrm Which have phN steal defects. The
girls are cun,cciiltcd to Il dead relative,
" ho has however Il living representa-
tive to receive their services. y strange
account WAS given of Il man VIII" he
longcd to this sect, and subsequently
exposed its rites and belief. The man
became Il jew and almost committed the
Hebrew scriptures to memory. lie
learned in the traditions of the Jews
that God himself studied the Ialmud
three hours Il day. and on account OF
such an absurd notion he abandoned
The Jews. He next hccamc Il M"ham-
mrdau. hut when he read the absurd
story that Mohammcd WAS only pre-
vented hN Gabriel from taking the cilth
with him up to heaven. hc rejected Mo
huumcdaui>m. He then hcramc Il
Catholic. When told that the wafer
WAS "A part of God. he IcpudIatcd "a
th,liriSm and hrcamc II Protestant. Eut
mo- religion saved him from his evil hah-
lis. He was incorporate. His people
cherished revenge against him on ac-
rnuut of the exposure of them which II"
had made. and nearly fifteen NcalS ntl"I
the time when he made it, they mur-
d.rcd him by bury img him alive.
| wa> glad to get Il better impression
of the people of the Lebanon districts
nt the country than my observations
hand Given me The missionaries l"p-
resent them a> pn>>c>>ln@ much lntrliI-
,r,ure. The numinallN Christian p"r-
lion of them. i. e. those not M"ham-
m,,lors. are very ready to have the
missionaries establish >ch""l> among
then, This is the most feasible method
bv which to reach them with the "">-
mel If is said that the people all
tLIouuh the country are quite well IN
formed in regard I" every p"ll'l'a'
,,,,,..u,.,t in Europc which l. likely To