The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1880-02-26
IN JERUSALEM.
A Queer Tradition-The "Well Of
the Leaf'-The Gate to Paradise.

Correspondence Philadelphia Tel
egraph: The story says that in the
days of Omar one of the faithful
pilgrims went to a well to draw wa.
ter. His bucket fell to the bot
tom, and he went down to get it.
To his great surprise, a door
opened before him, and he found
himself in beautiful, fragrant gar
dens, in which he walked for some
time with great satisfaction. Before
leaving this delightful place he
plucked a leaf from one of the
many trees, stnck it behind his ear,
and so ascended to the upper earth
without difficulty; but there is no
record of whether he brought his
buckes up or not. OF course, the
story spread until at last it reached
the ears of Omar, but only as an
impudent invention, for no door
could be found by any investigating
travellers. Omar, however, treated
the rumor with respect, and said
there was a prophecy that one of
the faithful should enter Paradise
alive. Everything depended on
whether the leaf retained its YER
dure, and SO could maintain its
claim to have grown upon a tree OF
Paradise. The test was trium-
phantly passed, for the leaf was
green as ever, and so this story has
lived to this day, and it is always
told on the brink of the "Well of the
Leaf" The Mohammedans seem
fond of tests. If the true believer
can pass between two columns, out
side the El Aska, standing very
close together, he leaves all his
sins behind him. Now, the thin
nest of our party could only just
manage to squeeze through, and fat
Mussulmans must assuredly find it
difficult. A still more difficult test
is st another place, little beyond
the same mosque, where Solomon's
throne once stood. Here hangs
visible only to the eyes of the faith
full (and even they must wait for
death to unseal their vision 1.-THE
bridge, thin as hair and sharp as
a sword, between earth and Para
disc. Beneath it yawns the abyss
of Gehenna, and the faithless will
miss their footing and tumble head
long into its depths, while the true
believer crosses the bridge easily
and swiftly. Passing still along
the wall we came to the garden
gate. Within are most beautiful
carvings, and some fine pillars, said
to have been brought from GAIA by
the Queen of Sheba as present to
Solomon. 1t was quite the after
noon before we reached the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre, which occu"
pies the site of the church built by
Constantine over our Lords tomb
just inside the door is a slab, Oh
which it is supposed the body of
Christ was laid in order to be au-
ointed, and it is worn quite into
holes by the kisses of devout pill
grims. 1t is quite touching to see
the faith these poor creatures place
in every possible and impossible
site. Many of the peasants of the
south of Russia save up their mon
ey for half a lifetime in order to
make this journey, which they per-
form in the most economical way
possible. They travel as deck pas
sengers on board ship, in all wealth
ers, and walk when they are on land.
When at last Jerusalem is reached,
they take up their abode in the
Russian hospice, and there the
wretched priests never let them go
until they have stripped them of
their uttermost farthing, so thai
they have to literally beg their way
back, and often starve on the road
side