The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1890-12-11

hundred times, but it never so inn
pressed me before, and probably will
never so Impress me again, as l took
my Biblo from the saddle bags and
read aloud to our comrades in travel;
AS he journeyed he came near Damas.
Gus, and suddenly there shined round
about him light from heaven, and he
fell to the earth and heard voice say
ing unto him; Saul SAUL why per
secutest thou mef And he said, Who
art thou, LordT And the Lord said,
I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. '"
But we cannot stop longer on this
road, for we shall sec this endorsed
equestrian later in Damascus, toward
which his horses head is turned and at
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
supolas of two hundred mosques we
cut through a circumference of many
miles of garden which embower the
city. So luxuriant are these gardens,
30 opulent in colors, so luscious Of
fruits, so glittering with fountains, SO
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"
and that the poets of Syria have styled
it 1.-THE luster on the neck of doves"
and historians said, at 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 arouud our
house in my boyhood, and nothing
tighter in the way of reading than
"Baxters Saints Everlasting Rest
and D'AubiSny'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 dis
appointment, but with few exceptions
a surprise.
THE RUSH OF THE RIVER ALBANIA
Under my window tonight in the no.
tel at Damascus | hear the perpetual
ripple and rush of the river ALBANIA All,
the secret is out! Now / know why
all this fora 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, but here a
paradise. And as the rivers Gihon and
pison and Hiddekel and Euphrates
make the other paradise ALBANIA and
Pharpar make this Damascus 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
q muddy stream, and It's 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 especial
sieve of the mountains Gen. Naaman
had great and patriotic pride in these
two rivers of his own country, and
Wien Elisha the prophet told him thai
III he wanted to get rid of his leprosy
he must go and was 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
Us ever he had used in commanding his
roops, uttering those memorable words
which every minister of the gospel
,ooner or later takes for his text: "Are
not ALBANIA and Pharpar, rivers Of
Israel? May l not wash in them and
he cleah?"
Thank God we live in 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 OF
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, filing the pitchers of the house
hold, rolling through the fonts or bap-
tistrics of holy ordinance, filling the
reservoirs of cities, inviting the cattle
to come down and slake their thirst,
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 a street cry as in London or New
York, but weird and long drawn out
solo compared with which a buzz saw
, is mosicel. 1t makes you inopportune
r ly waken and will not let you sleer
, 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 >