News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1890-12-11

which we must ourselves arrive before
night. The evening is near at hand.
and as we leave snowy Hermon behind
us and approach the shadow of the
cupolas of two hundred mosques we
cut through a circumference of many
miles of garden which embower the
city. So luxuriant are these gardens,
so opulent in cOlors, so luscious OF
fruits, so glittering with fountains, Sc
rich with bowers and kiosks, that the
| Mohammedan's heaven was fashioned
after what are to be seen here of bloom
and fruitage. Here in Damascus at
the right season are cherries and null
berries and apricots and almonds and
pistachios and pomegranates and pears
and apples and plums and citrons and
all the richness of the round worlds
pomology. No wonder that Julian
called this city 1.-THE eye of the east, y
and that the poets of Syria have styled
| it 1.-THE luster on the neck of doves, y
and historians said, ct is the golden
clasp which couples the two sides of
the world together"
Many travellers express disappoint-
ment with Damascus, but the trouble
| is they have carried on their minds
! from boyhood the book which dazzles
so many young peOple-''The Arabian
Nights, and they come into Damascus
looking for Aladdin's lamp and Alad-
din's ring and the genii which appeared
by rubbing them. But, as | have
never read 1.-The Arabian Nights, such
stuff not being allowed around our
house in my boyhood. and nothing
lighter in the way of r--if1g than
''Baxter's Saints Everlasting Rest
and D'Aubigny's History of the Ref
ormation," Damascus appeared to me
as sacred and secular histories have pre-
sented it, and so the city was not a dis
appointment, but with few exceptions
surprise.
THE RUSH OF THE RIVER ALBANIA.
Under my window tonight in the no
tel at Damascus l hear the perpetual
ripple and rush of the river ALBANIA. All,
the secret is outl Now | know why
all this flora and fruit and why every
thing is so green, and the plain one
great emerald. The river ALBANIA! And
not far off the river Pharpar, which
our horses waded through today !
Thank the rivers, or rather the God
who made the rivers! Deserts to the
| north, deserts to the south, deserts to
the east, deserts to the west, bat here a
paradise. And as the rivers Gihon and
Pison and Hiddekel and Euphrates
make the other paradise, ALBANIA and
Pharpar make this Damascus "a para
disc. That is what made Gen. Naaman
of this city of Damascus SO mad when
he was told for the cure of his leprosy
to go and wash in the river Jordan.
The river Jordan is much of the year
a muddy stream, and it is never SO clear
as this river ALBANIA that | hear rum
bling under my window tonight, nor as
the river Pharpar that we crossed to-
day They are as clear as though they
had been sieved through some eSpec al
sieve of the mountains. Gen. Naaman
had great and patriotic pride. in these
two rivers of his own country, and
when Elisha the prophet told him that
if he wanted to get rid of his leprosy
he must go and wash in the Jordan he
felt as we who live on the magnificent
Hudson would feel if told that we must
go and wash in the muddy Thames, or
as if those who live on the transparent
Rhine were told that they must go and
wash in the muddy Tiber So Gen.
Naaman cried out with voice as loud
as ever he had used in commanding his
troops, uttering those memorable words
which every minister of the gospel
sooner or later takes for his text: Are
not ALBANIA and Pharpar, rivers of
Damascus, better than the waters of
Israel? May l not wash in them and
be cleanl'
Thank God we live in a land with
plenty of rivers, and that they bless all
our Atlantic coast and all our Pacific
coast, and reticulate all the continent
between the coasts. Only those who
have travelled in the deserts of Syria or
Egypt, or have in the oriental cities
heard the tinkling of the bells of those
who sell water, can realize what it is to
have this divine beverage in abund
ance. Water rumbling over the rocks,
turning the mill wheel, saturating the
roots of the corn, dripping from buck
cts, filling the pitchers of the house
hold, rolling through the fonts or hap
tistries of holy ordinance, filling the
reservoirs of cities, inviting the cattle
l., oh hi
and the birds of heaven to dip their
wing, ascending in robe of mist and
falling again in benediction of shower
water, living water, God given water!
AWAKENED BY SONG.
We are awakened in the morning in
Damascus by the song of those who
have different styles of food to sell. 1t
is not street cry as in London or New
York, but a weird and long drawn out
solo compared with which buzz saw
is musical. 1t makes you inopportune-
ly waken and will not let you sleep
again. But to those who understand
the exact meaning of the song, it be-
comes quite tolerable. for they sing:
God is the nourisher, buy my Bread"
'God is the nourisher, buy my milk"
"God is the nourisher, buy my fruit.
As you look out of the window you see
the Mohammedans, who are in large
majority in the city, at prayer And if
it were put to vote who should be king
of all the earth, fifteen thousand in that
city would say Christ, but one hundred
and thirty thousand would say Moham-
med.
Looking from the window you see
on the housetops and on the streets
Mohammedans at worship. The mu-
ezzin, or the officers of religion, who
announce the time of worship appear
high up on the different minarets or
tall towers and walk around the nina
ret, inclosed by q railing, and cry in a
sad and mumbling way: God is
great | bear witness that there is no
God but God. | bear witness that
Mohammed is the apostle of God
Come to prayers! Come to salvationl
God is great There is no other but
God. Prayers are better than sleep"
Five times a day must the MOham-
medan engage in worship. AS he be-
gins he turns his face toward the city
of Mecca and unrolls upon the ground
a rug which he almost always carries.
With his thumbs touching the lobes of
his ears and holding his face between
his hands he cries, "God is great"
Then, folding his hands across his
girdle. he looks down and says: "Holi-