The Washington critic., 1888-03-31

dirt pie, and anathematizcd the
little managers skin when he ven
tured to expostulate. Then he moved
toward the window and rove him
self through il and stood on the
sill and scratched his head and
yelped, "Sakrey nondee joo." Then
suddenly realizing the inefiicacy Of
this, he glanced at his shirt-tails,
which were huttering gaily in the
morning breeze, and, as, Just at that
moment, he leaned forward, the
window-sash by which he was hang.
ing groaned and parted and he, boots,
window sash and all went careering
mndly through space until, with
flop that woke up every Arab in the
vicinity, the waters closed over him.
In few seconds he arose TO the sur
face with contortion of countenance
| have never seen equaled by any
one save Mr. Mansfield in his imper-
sonation of M. Hyde, and, after re-
gaining his wind, dived thrice, and
eventually succeeded in collaring his
breeches; and amidst ringing plaudits
swan to broken portion of the en-
bankment and scrambled ashore.
THE POOL or HEzEKtAH.
Notwithstanding the esteem and
veneration in which / have always
held the memory of good King Heze-
kiah, his pool failed to inspire me suf-
iiciently into writing very vivid de-
scription Of il. Neither its beauty,
formation, nor the engineering skill
developed in causing the waters to
assemble proved very attractive, and
/ oh ll or
toned it at all were il not the scene
tangular sheet of stagnant water,
but at the farther left hand corner,
looking from the bedroom windows of
the Mediterranean Hotel ii is &C.
cessible, as the building which once
stood there has been torn down. DR..
Robinson, the eminent Palestine au-
thority, gives
ITS DIMENSIONS
as follows; Length, 800 feet; breadth,
.200.feet, and depth, about Is feet in
the middle. By the way, Hezekiah's
pool has almost fallen into disuse. 1t
no longer supplies the inhabitants of
Jerusalem with water They prefer
luggingit from wells in goat skins.
For persons, however, wishing to
empty dirty water from their bed
room windows it really is an admira-
BILE convenience. It's Just the thing.
All they've got to do is pop their heads
out of the window, capsize the basin
or bucket and there she goes all
serene.
After Frenchy had peeled off his
wet dunnage and arrayed himself in
the paraphernaia of u full blown
Arab, and we had, collectively,
squared the little manager for the
wrecked window, we went to break
fast, and Soon after resumed our sight
seeing. After walking to somewhere
near the center Of the city Mahomet
led the way into gray, square-shaped
building which, had it stood alone and
not been doomed to drag out an in
glorious existence between a saddle
makers store on the one hand and o
butchers on the other, might have
looked imposing, from the fact of its
low, flat roof being surmounted by q
very fine uncovered cupola. II is
sad to think that
IsRAEL's CHIEF SYNAGOGUE,
for such was the building in question,
should have fallen to such low
estate A truly unworthy successor
TO the noble pile which once graced
the summit OF Moriah After squeez-
ing through anything but an elaborate
doorway, we nearly fell head-first into
the synagogue, for the floor was be-
low the level of the ground, and made
up for the rather disagreeable odors
we had up to then inhaled by shifting
i'll q peculiarly pleasant, if not holy
and sanctimonious, perfume, which
for aught l Know, may have been an
evaporation of myrrh and franklin
cense. Our first glance showed
that we stood within room
somewhere in the neighborhood of 40
or so feet square, with a black-and-
| white tiled floor and blue frescoed
walls. Another glance upward in the
direction of the dome made it appear
that the synagogue designer, having
in his minds eye the adornment Of
the walls with frescoes, had pur-
posely contrived to utilize the cylin-
drical support of the cupola for the
admittance of daylight by causing it,,
with the exception, of course, of the
necessary stono-work, to be con-
structed of glass. A very happy idea
it was, too.
THE PULPIT.
On the centre of the floor, and di-
rectly under the dome, was built, with
three or four gradations, an octagonal
white stone platform, on which rested
a finely carved wooden pulpit of the
same shape. Now when / begin to
think Of that pulpit | begin to feel
like writing about. pulpits. 1t was
| none of'those common everyday pull
pits which are met with in most
| churches. 1t was erected on true
acoustic principles. 1t exufted in q
resonantnmbrelia- shaped roof, which,
| gilded and further embellished by
! filagree edgings and supported by eight
| snake-like stanchions, looked for all
| the world like a miniature Burmese
| pagoda. Nor was the pulpit the only
| object of our admiration. From the
ceiling depended four chandeliers, to
each one of which was attached in
| lieu of lustres, scores of small glass
vessels of diversified colors bearing
oil and a floating wick.
These, as Mahomet informed us,
were seldom used for ordinary light
ing purposes, being reserved for fes-
tive occasions, when it is the custom
to augment them by stretching others
on lines toTand from each chandelier,
and beyond doubt the illumination of
a building by these means is produc-
tive ola very fine effect. Our obser-
yation was next confined to the
further side of the edifice, which, by
means of railing extending few
feet from the wall, was partitioned off
so as to resemble a chancel. Within
this chancel no adornment or decora-
tion unfolded itself; but the wall