St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1889-09-07
*. In narrow alley, surrounded b,


a long line of men in long gowns and of
with heads bowed, praying and weeping.
Many Of the men had white boards, and
the long curly locks which fell down in
front of their ears were of silver. Others
were just in their prime, and | could not
but wonder when l saw the forms of these
at times almost convulsed with emotion.
Each had well-thumbed Hebrew Bible
in his hand, and from time to time the
party broke out into kind of chant, an
old gray-haired man acting as leader and
the rest coming in on the refrain. The
chant was in a strange tongue, but as
translated it is as follows:
Leader For the palace that lies desolate,
Response We sit in solitude and mourn.
Leader For the walls that are destroyed,
Responsive sit in solitude and mourn.
Leader--For our Majesty that is departed,
Response We sit in solitude and mourn.
Leader-For our great men who lie dead,
Responsive sit in solitude and mourn
Leader For our priests who have stumbled,
Response We sit in solitude and mourn.
Leader-For our kings who have despised him,
Responsive sit in solitude and mourn.
The effect of this chant cannot be appre-
ciated without hearing it. The old men,
the weeping women who kiss the stones
of the wall that separates them from what
was once the site of Solomon's temple,
and which is even now the hottest spot on
the earth to the Hebrew, the genuine feel
ing expressed by all and the faith that
they show in thus coming here, week
after week and year after year, is wonder
fully impressive. 1t is indeed one of the
strange sights of this strangest of cities.
A nation is mourned for, and other chants
which they utter contain expressions such
as the following: We pray thee have
mercy on Zion; gather the children of
Jerusalem together; may the kingdom
soon return to Zion comfort those who
mourn over Jerusalem may peace and Joy
abide with Zion and the branch of Jesse
spring up at Jerusalem.
The charitable institutions at Jerusalem
are many. | have visited several, among
which are the schools which have been
established here by the Rothschilds. These
are very large, and they teach the young
men the industrial arts as well as give
them good educations in other ways. |
visited the carpenter shops and saw Pales-
tine Hebrews working away quite as skill
fully as our American carpenters. | saw
bright-eyed boys working in the tin shops
and foundries making models of work
which are to 60 to the Exposition at Paris,
and | was taken through art schools and
draughting rooms, where these boys were
sketching and modelling figures out of
clay into very fair pieces of sculpture.
There is also girls school connected
with the Rothschilds fund and this con-
tains more than one hundred girls. The
establishments are known as those of the
Isrealitish Alliance, and they are supported
by Hebrew churches over the world as
well as by the Rothschilds. Among the
the curious features of this alliance are a
number of agricultural colonies in differ
ent parts of Palestine There is an agri-
cultural school near Jaffa which has more
than seven hundred pupils, and there are
eight of these agricultural colonies. One
of their farms near Jaffa has $4,000 acres.
1t is situated on the plains of Sharon,
where the Philistines lived and it has tens
of thousands of vines and olive trees. The
Turks are very much averse to selling
land to the Hebrews, but the later show
themselves to be as good farmers as they
are business men, and the terraced condi-
ton of the hills about Jerusalem shows
that the Holy Land was far better cultiva-
ted under them than it has been under
their conquerors. A large amount of land
outside of the city of Jerusalem is now
either in the hands of the Israelites or of
their charitable institutions. Mr.. Behar,
the head ofthe Rothschild schools, tells
NE they have just bought the Jerusalem
Hotel and will add it to their school Sir
Moses de Moute6ore, who managed the
fund left by a rich New Orleans lsraelite,
built many good houses for them on the
read between Bethlehem and Jerusalem,
and there are number of Hebrew hospi-
tails.
Among the people who confidently be-
lieve that the Hebrews will soon again own
Palestine, is colony of fifteen persons
who live in fine house built on the very
walls of Jerusalem, and who are known as
'sthe Americans" These people are not
Hebrews at all. They are Christians who
have come here from different parts of the
United States, and more especially from
Chicago, to await the ful6lment of the pro
phecy that God will regenerate the world
beginning at Jerusalem. They believe this
day close at hand, and they say it has
begun in the coming back to Palestine.
They see it's fulflment in the improve
ments that are going on in Jerusalem, anc
cite the new roads that have been bull
over the country as one of the evidences Of
it. They are evidently people of means as
we'll as refinement and culture. When
visited them the other day, talked witt
several of them, and found them intelli-
gent and well educated. l asked one as tt
their belief and was answered that they
took the Bible as their guide and that they
had come to Jerusalem to endeayor to fol-
low it's precepts while living upon its walls
They have no particular creed, and one OF
them said, when asked as to this, thai
there is too much preaching, and too little
good living. They do no missionary
work, and say that they have not yet fell
called upon to preach. They spend much
of their time in Bible study and singing
and are much respected among the for
eigners who reside in Jerusalem.
There is no doubt, however, that Jeru'
salem is improving. The most of it!
streets are now well paved and the sani.
tary condition of the city has been greatly
improved. The Jerusalem outside walls
is now almost as large as the city within
and am told that land has risen to. sucl
an extent that the Holy City may be sale
to have real estate boom. In the Med
iterranean Hotel, where / am stopping
there is a card advertising fine farm fol
sale between Bethlehem and Jerusalem
and I learn that along the Jaffa road, JUS
outside of the gate, property has gone VI
within year or so several hundred pei
cent. One piece which belongs to chart
table institution was bought short TIM
ago for $500 1t is now worth $9O,OO'
and cannot be bought for that amount. 4
telegraph line now runs from here to thu
sea coast, and railroad company has beer
organized to build a line from Jaffa Il
Jerusalem.
drove out to Bethlehem, recently, AMI
found telegraph poles planted on thu
plains where King David fought the Phil
istines, ard running up the hills where tn
aLa..Lana- zzza+ehcd thair Aocks xxhar, the,