The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-06-12

! griefs are always much more acute than
when time has softened them Besides
when man gets a name for robbing
apple orchards, seeing snakes and getting
kicked out of his last place OF residence
| his high-toned relatives are not liable to
take much interest in him. Then, too,
continuing himself TO the appropriation of
mere everyday apples, when there were
no doubt "watermillions" about, is most
reprehensible. Now, if it had been the
! festive. watermelon, he would have had nv
most profound sympathy, for l confess to
| being an early convert 10 the doctrine
that there were no vested rights in water
melons.
The empty tombs of Godfrey de Bouil-
lon and Baldwin, the Christian king of
Jerusalem, are shown near that of Adam,
and in this instance there is every reason
TO believe that they are bona fide, but
owing to the ianaticism of the Greeks be-
cause OF their being Roman catholics their
remains have long since been removed
no one knows whittier. Slangy, irrever-
ent scribblers would no doubt here make
weak attempt TO be funny by alluding to
the gallant Godfrey as being now Sin the
SOUP" the bouillon, or something of that
Sort but l, at least, will not so demean
myself A column set up in the floor of
the chapel above these graves is solemnly
asserted to be the center of the earth, and
the place from which the dust was taken
out of which Adam was made. There are
numerous ridiculous traditions similar
to this that are mixed up with
those more sacred and reli-
able which we have reason
to believe are founded on fact but the
most outrageous of all of them is the
claim ada ftr ha &I.,A
Easter eve the sacred fire" descends from
heaven into the holy sepulcher and lights
the tapers that are placed there for that
purpose. This flame passes out through a
small crevice in the marble slab, and the
thousands of Greek pilgrims that come
here every year from Russia and other
orthodox countries to be present on that
occasion struggle their way through the
immense crowd in their eagerness to reach
1t with the small wax tapers they carry in
their hands. This fire they guard most
lealously, and carry it back to Russia with
them as their most valued treasure. OF
course it is a palpable trick on the part OF
tho priests who are inside, but is right
eously believed in by their bigoted follow
ers. 1t is greatly to the credit OF the
Latin church that it in no way counte-
nances this outrageous sacrilege.
There is nothing more affecting than
the pilgrimages made by these poor Rus
sian peasants to the holy land. They
come by the thousands on cheap steer
age steamers, enduring the greatest
hardship and privation, and many of
them are for years saving and scraping
together every possible penny, and fire.
quently in the end sacrificing all of their
little worldly possessions in order to graf
ify this, the browning ambition OF their
lives. They arrive in great droves and
crowds, and many even walk all the way
from Jaffa, hiring a donkey in common TO
carry their poor effects. The scenes upon
their arrival at the holy sepulcher are
touching in the extreme, as they PROSTATE
themselves upon the floor, sobbing and
crying and kissing the cold stones beneath
them while they crawl on their knees TO
the foot of the Savior's tomb. At the time
OF the lighting of the sacred fire they
crowd the church to suffocation and fight
their way frantically to where it is to be
obtained. Many accidents occur in these
annual brushes and CurZon, the author,
states that he himself saw several hundred
suffocated and trampled to death as a re-
suit OF q panic that arose among the
seething mass present on Easter eve,
1884. After the holy sepulcher the next
great point of interest in Jerusalem is the
"haram-esh-sharif t"the noble sanctu-
ary') which occupies the site of the
ancient temple on Mount Moriah. Here
stands the beautiful Mosque OF Omar" or
"Kubbet-es-Sakkarah" dome of the rock,
the handsomest mosque in existence,
in my opinion, even eXcelling the
famous st. Sophia at Constantinople.
To obtain admission to this holy mosque it
is necessary to apply for permission
through the American consulate and to be
escorted bv the ''kavass" connected with
that office A kavass is a sort of private
body-guard attached to all consulates in
the East and frequently 10 foreign private
houses also. He is always magnificently
arrayed and is usually a Greek or Alba
MAN dressed in the remarkable costume
of those races. When COnsul-Gen. Gil
mans kavass appeared at my hotel to ac-
company me | thought | had never before
beheld so gorgeous a creature. He was
covered from head to foot with gold and
silver braid and bright mounted pistols.
Scimitars, knives and daggers bristled
all over him. | felt that so
magnificent and war-like a speci-
men could be nothing less than
prince or pasha of high degree and
that | ought to PROSTATE myself before
him and salute him in true eastern fash
ion, after the manner of Ed Morris in
Rice's Corsair:-
Great father of the sun and moon,
How do you feel this afternoon"
Or something equally oriental and appro-
pirate. When Sasoor informed me that
this superior being in all his gold and gilt
ter was awaiting my orders | could hardly
realize that l was, as it were, lord and
master OF all this gOrge0usness, The chief
duty of a kavass on these occasions seems
to be to march in front through the narrow
streets and to beat every hapless Arab
that chances to be within reach with the
stick he carries for that purpose, in order
that the way be kept clear for the great
man { p that follows him. On this i'm
portaut occasion my man, affected by my
evident admiration for his proves and
his store clothes, laid about him indis
criminately. whether they were in the
way or not, sparing neither age, sex nor
previous condition of servitude, and the
only thing that prevented his thrashing
the entire population was our untimely
arrival at the gates of the Haram. In any
other country he would have been mobbed
before he had gone block, but have
never seen an Arab show the slightest re-
sentiment at being kicked and cuffed by a
superior, it being the usual thing, which
they take as matter OF course.
To Jew, gentle and Mussulman the
mosque OF Omar stands upon one of the
most sacred spots in all the world.
Here it was that Abraham offered up his
son Isaac as n sacrifice and David i'm