The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1884-09-12

sase, Filth and Ignorance
While modern civilization expends
its thought and wealth in the preserve
ton of psesn and medieval art, pays
tribute to the architectural conquests
of the Moors, and treasurers the very
lachrymatories Of ancientraces. it leaves
Jerusalem, in sentiment the capital OF
Christianity, to crumble away under
the hands of Mussulmans. Disease,
filth, ignorance, bigotry, human degra-
dalton and poverty are the words one
encounters most frequently in reading
accounts of visits to Palestine. Awrit-
er in the New Haven Journal and
Courier says of the holy city;
Jerusalem is hardly a disappointment,
because i had my ideas rather low down.
Many of the streets In remote quarters
are abominably filthy, and I would not
advise any n to venture abont in
them without a clothes-pin on his nose.
Dead cats, rats and dogs are plentiful.
I even ran across one or two dead dom
keys, just outside one of the city gates.
There are many sacred (2) pools, which
have stagnated from disuse, and would
be rooted out by the Health Board OF
any well-regulated city. Walking is
difficult, as the narrow streets are paved
with ugly cobble- stones, which have be-
come very slippery and are exceedingly
hard on shoe-leather. Night is made
hideous by the bowling Of hundreds Of
harmless dogs, that seem to have moth
ing else to do. The braying of the
donkeys is also something awful. A
single bray can be heard q quarter OF q
mile, and there is no limit TO the pos
sibiIities of q well-trained chorus.
The Mount of Olives is the greatest
disappointment at all. In the first
place, it is hardly a mountain at all,
and, in the second place, it is painfully
conspicuous by reason Of paucity Of
olives. There are plenty Of other hills
hereabouts that are much more thick
ly wooded. In the third place, the TOP
is disfigured by q large number Of taw-
dry mosques, dirty huts and manure
piles. This may seem like a savage ar
raignment, but it is sincere. I doubt
not that in the days Of Christ the
mountain vas all covered with olive
trees, and altogether q more attractive
place than il is now. The valley of
Jehoshaphat, otherwise known as the
valley of the brook Kidron, separates
Olivet from Mount Morlah and Bezeth.
AS this valley is quite deep, Olivet is
made to assume the proportions Of
quite q hill when you stand ai
the bottom Of the r~avine; but
looking toward the mount from
q point in Jerusalem where the
valley is not seen, Olivet shrinks into
painful ins~ignificance. The popular
path by which Olivet is assembled is be-
lieved to be the same which David pur-
sued when he fed barefoot and weeping
from his son AbsaIom, accompanied by
!. band of faithful SUBJECTS, who heaped
earth upon their heads in token Of grief
at the disobedience OF the usurping
Prince. Up this path I have toiled in
order to familiarizs myself with the
country round about, pansing anon to
look back at the city which has PLAYED
so important a role in the drama of the
nations. From near the summit of the
mount the view Of Jerusalem is really
satisfactory, all that one could wish.
The extreme top is, as / have said,
cluttered up with unattractive buildings,
but one can hardly resist the temptation
to reach the summit in order to COM
mand at once the view of the Jordon
valley, including the Dead Sea on one