Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1889-08-28
Jrrd. alpn IF To-Day.

| 10 Tue NEW IUfK EOFtU from JeruSal6m;
rm which the following is taken -
"Thtty ihnnsnnd ou' If ihe forty rhnu-
| sand DE ooie Of Jerusalem are Hebrews s, Gnd
the Israelies b!d fair to again became tee
PREDOMINANT people in Palestine. The
| Turkish government, which has for e2es
prohibited them from llvicg longer than
| three weeks al a Tina in tbe Hoy Land, -.
under he influences Of the f0rega govern
mept. relsxing its restrictions ond Al pres
cnt they are coming here By the hundreds.
| They ale engaging in business and they
| now control great part of the trade of
| jerusalem, aud some feel that the day when
the prophecy of the Bible that they shall
again inhabit their land shall be fulfilled is
at hand and one curious tribe from south
ern Arabia claims to have received a rave
lation that they must leave their desert
country and come back to Palestine. They
have lived in Yemen Arabia for the past
| 2, 500 years. They are of the tribe of Cad,
and they left Palestine 700 years before
Christ was born. They are bringing with
them many valuable old documents which
Prove their origin, and not few of them
are engaged in agriculture near Jerusalem.
"Our American Consul, Mr.. Gilman, tells
me that there are about two hundred
American Hebrews in Jerusalem, and he
says that the great number of immigrants
| is the wonder of the people of this part of
the East. He says that the removal of the
restrictions ON immigration has taken place
| during the past three or four years, and
that when he came here it was the policy
of the foreign governments represented at
Jerusalem to aid the Turks in expelling the
Hebrews. He was advised shortly after
his arrival that some Americans were over
staying their three weeks time in Palestine
and was requested to direct them to leave.
He replied that such action was entirely
contrary to the spirit of our government,
which is founded on religious and race
freedom, and after some negotiations the
American Hebrews were allowed to remain.
Shortly after this the British Consul, under
instructions from the British Minister at
C9nstantlnople, took thu same grounds,
and am told that the German and French
governments have followed suit A half
century ago there were only thirty-two
Israelite families in all Jarusalem and the
numbsr in Palestine was only 5000. Now
there are nearly fifty thousand in the Holy
Land and three-fourths of the population OF
Jerusalem is made up of them.
"Our Consul says there are 100 synago-
CUES in Jerusalem, but these as rule are
small and they are not so fine as the other
churches of the city. The service is differ
ent from that which is observed in Ameri-
ca, and the women worship in different
room from the men. | was in Jerusalem
at the time of the celebration of the Pass
over, and 1 was told that the feast is now
celebrated much the same as it was in the
days of the past, save that piece of burnt
bone now takes the place of the lamb. At
this time they turned out in holiday attire.
I attended the synagogues on the following
day and found them all full. The rabbis
were gorgeously clad and l have seldom
seen more devout congregations. The men
were all reading Hebrew out loud, and in
the ROOMS adjoining I found women talk
| ing over the Scriptures or listening to the
elder women among them who were read
| ing.
''One of the greatest sights of Jerusalem
is the wailing place where every Friday
certain sects meet on the outside of the
walls of the Mosque of Omar, which Occu-
pies the site of Solomon's temple, and with
their heads bent against the stones, sorrow
over the loss of Jerusalem and pray God to
give the land back to His chosen people.
| "Among the people who confidently be-
lieve that the Hebrews will soon again own
Palestine is COLONY of fifteen persons who
live in a fine house built on the very walls
Of Jerusalem and who are known as ''the
Americans These people are not He
brews at all. They are Christians who
have come here from different parts of the
| United States, and more especially from
Chicago, to await the fulflment of the
prophecy that God will regenerate the
world, beginning at Jerusalem. They be-
lieve this day is close at hand and they say
that it has begun in the coming back to
Palestine. They see its fulfilment in the
improvements that are going on in Jeru-
salem, and cite the new roads that have
been.built ever the country as one of the
evidences of it. They are evidently people
of means as we'll as of refinement and cul-
ture. When I visited them the other day
talked with several of them and found
them intelligent and we'll educated.
asked one as to their belief and was an
swered that they took the Bible as their
guide and that they had come to Jerusalem
to endeavor to follow its precepts while
living upon its walls. They have no par
ticular creed, and one of them said, when
asked as to this, that there is too much
preaching and too little good living. They
do no missionary work and say that they
have not yet felt called upon to preach
They spend much of their time in Bible
study and singing and are much respected
among the foreigners who reside in Jeru-
salem.
"There is no doubt, however, that
Jerusalem is improving. The most of its
streets are now we'll paved and the sanitary
condition of the city has been greatly i'm
proved. The Jerusalem outside the walls
is now almost as large as the city within,
and am told that land has arisen to such
an extent that the holy city may be said to
| have real-estate boom. In the Mediter-
ranean Hotel, where l am stopping, there
ia card advertising fine farm for sale
between Bethlehem and Jerusalem, and
learn that along the Jaffa road, just outside
the gate, property has gone up within a
year or SO several hundred per cent. One
piece which belongs to charitable institu-
tion was bought a short time ago for $500.
1t is now worth $4,000 and cannot be
bought for that amount. A telegraph line
now runs from here to the sea coast, and a
railroad company has been organized to
build a line from Jaffa to Jerusalem.
81 drove out to Bethlehem, which lies an
hours ride from here, yesterday, and l
found telegraph poles planted on the plains
where King David fought the Philistines,
and running up the hills where the shep-
herds watched their focks when they saw
the wonderful star. On the same ground
| to day the turbanned Bethlehem shepherds
|
sheep; and as l Looked at their rough
forms clad in sheepskin coats I wondered
whether the bright star of the electric light
might not some time appear in their own
little town and on the tower of David,
which looks down upon them from the
Jerusalem of to-day. Jerusalem for the
first time in its history has police force,
and its order is now as good as that of
New York. It has fairly good hotels and
the town is awakened every morning by the
bugle call of the medern Turkish band
The American flag floats from the roof Of
the Consular building on the top of Mount
Zion, and you find on its streets travellers
from all parts of the world"
The Longest Word In the Dictionary
is incompetent 10 communicate the mex
pressible satisfaction and incomprehensible