Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1890-12-19


hovel Of one story, with camels and sheep ia
the basement Yet never did the most bril-
liant hotel on any continent seem 50 nttrac-
tive to me as that structure. IL We hal been
Obliged to stay in a tent, a. we expected 10
do that night, We must have persisted. A
ytolent storm had opened upon us its
volleys of hail and snow and rain and
wind as II to let US know what
the Bible means when prophet and evan
gelist and Christ Himself spoke Of the fury
Of the elements. The atmospheric wrath
broke upon us about O'Clock in the after
noon and we were until night exposed 70
IT, With hands and feet benumbod, and our
bodies chilled to the bone, we made our slow
way, While high up on the rocks, aud the
gale blowing the hardest, signal OF distress
halted the party, for down in the rayines one
of the horses had fallen and bis rider must
not be left alone amid that wilderness of
scenery and horror OF storm. As the night
approached the tempest thickened and black
ened and strengthened Some OF our attend
ants going ahead had gained permission for
us to halt for the night in the mud hovel l
spoke of. Our first duty on arrival was
the resul itation of the exhausted of our
party. Ny room was without window,
anu an iron stove without any top in the
center Of the room, the smoke selecting my
eyes in the absence of a chimney. Through
an opening IN the floor Arab faces we're sew
eral times thrust up to see how i was pro
crossing. But the tempest ceased during the
night, and before it was fully day we were
feeling for the stirrups of our saddled horses,
this being the day whose long march will
bring us to that city whose name cannot be
pronounced in the hearing OF the intelligent
or Christian without making the blood tinge
and the nerves to thrill, and putting the best
emotions Of the soul into agitation-Damas-
Cusl
During the day we passed Cesarea Philip
pi, the northern terminus of Christ's jour
neyings. North Of that He never went. We
lunch at noon, seated on the fallen columns
of one Of Herod's palaces
Ala o'clock in the afternoon, coming to
hill top, We saw on the broad plain a city,
which the most famous camel driver Of all
time, afterward called Mohammed, the
prophet and the founder Of the most stu.
pendous system of error that has ever
cursed the earth, refused to enter because
he said God would allow no man to enter
but one paradise, and he would not enter
this earthly paradise lest he should be de
MED entrance to the heavenly. But no
city that l ever saw so plays hide and seek
with the tr veler. The air IL 50 clear the
distant objects seem close by. You come on
the top of hill and Damascus seems only a
little way off. But down YOU 60 into val
ley and you see nothing for the next half
hour but barrenness ana rocks regurgitated
by the volcanoes of other ages. Up another
hill and down again. Up again aud down
again. But after your patience is almost
exhausted you reach the last hill top, and
the city Of Damascus, the oldest city under
the whole heavens and built by Noah's
grandson, grows upon your vision. Every
mile Of the journey now becomes more sol.
emn and suggestive and tremendous.
This is the very road, for it has been the
only road for thousands Of years, the road
from Jerusalem to Damascus, along which
cavacade Of mounted officers went, about
1854 years ago, III the midst Of them fierce
little man who made up by magnitude of
hatred for Christianity for his diminutive
stature. and was the leading spirit, and,
though suffering from chronic inflammation
Of the eyes, from those eyes flashed more in
dignation against Christ's followers than any
one of the horsed procession. This little man,
before his name was changed TO Paul, was
called Saul. 30 many OF the mightiest
natures Of all ages are condensed
into smallness of stature The Frenchman
who was sometimes called by his troops "Old
One Hundred Thousand" was often, because
ofhis abbreviated personal presence, styled
Little Nap" Lord Nelson, with insignih-
can't stature to start with and one eye put out
at Calvi and his right arm taken Off at Tene-
rife, proves himself at Trafalgar the might
lest hero Of the English navy. The greatest
of American theologans Archibald Alex.
ander, could stand under the elbow Of many
Of his contemporaries. Look out for little
men when they start out for some especia
mission of good or evil. The thunderbolt /.
only condensation Of electricity
Well, that galloping group OF horsemen or
the road to Damascus were halted quicker
than bombshell or cavalry charge ever halt
ed q regiment. The Syrian MONDAY, be
cause OF the snartty Of the atmosphere, il
the brightest Of all mondays, and the noon
day sun in Syria is positively terrific fo
briliance. But suddenly that noon Their,
flashed from the heavens light which mad
that Syrian sun seem tame Us a star in com
parison. 1t was the face of the slain and as
cended Christ looking from the heavens an,
under the dash Of that overpowering light al
the horses dropped with their riders. HumGl
face and horses name together in the dust
And then two Claps Of thunder fol
lowed uttering the two words, tn
second word like the first: Saul
SaulF' For three days that fallen equestrian
was totally blind, for excessive light will
sometimes extipguish the eyesight. Ant
what cornea and crystalline lens could ell.
dure brightness greater than the MONDAY
Syrian sum- had read it hundred times
but it never 30 impressed me before anC
probably will never so impress me again, a
took my Bible from the saddle bags anc
read aloud 10 our comrades in travel, "a
he journed he came near Damascus, anC
suddenly there shined round about him
light from heaven, and he fell to the earti
and heard voice saying unto him, Saul
Saul! Why persecuvest thou Me" and h.
said, Who art Thou, LordT And the LorC
said, Il am Jesus whom thou persecutest.'
But we cannot stop longer on this road
for We shall see this endorsed equestrian
later in Damascus toward which his horse
head is turned, and at which we must our
selves arrive before night. The evening i
near at hand, and as we leave snowy Her
mon behind us and approach the shadow
OF the cupolas of two hundred mosques W,
cut through a circum ference of many mile.
OF garden which embower the city, Sc
luxuriant are these gardens, so opulent il
colors so luscious Of fruits, 80 glitterins
with fountains so rich with bowers anC
kiosks that the Mohammedan's heaven wa
fashioned after what are to DO seen here Of
bloom and fruitags. Here In Damascus al
the right season are cherries and mulberrie,
and apricots and almonds and pistachio
and pomegranates and pears and apple
and plums and citrons and all the richness
Of the round worlds pomology. No won
der that Julian called this city ''the eye o.
the East, and that the poets Of Syria hav,
styled 1t ''the luster on the neck of doves.
and historians said, ut is the golden clasr
which couples the two sides Of the work
together
Many travellers express disappointment
with Damascus, but the trouble Is they hay
carried in their minds from boyhood tn
book which dazzles 80 many young people
The Arabian Nights" and they come int.
Damascus looking for Aladdins lamp an,
Aladdin's ring aud the gent which appeare,
by robbing them. But as / have never rea,
The Arabian Nights" such stuff not beinJ
allowed around our houss in my boyhood
aud nothing lighter in the way Of readin,
than "Baxter's Saints Everlasting Rest
and D'Aubigny's History Of the Reforma
ton," Damascus appeared to me as sacre,
and secular histories have presented II, AM
90 the city was not disappointment, bu
IA. e..x...m