Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1890-12-26

the prophets May his curses be upon you,
Shame on you. Shame, You will yet live
to repent. You think you may do as you
please with the Christians but the day OF
retribution will come The FRANKS will vet
turn youc mosques into churches. Not a
Christian will | give up They are my
brothers. Stand back or viii give my men
the order 10 fire"
Then by the might OF one great soul under
God the wave of assassination rolled back.
Huzza for Abd-el-Kader! Although now we
Americans ami foreigners pass through the
streets OF Damascus unhindered, there Is IN
many parts OF the city the subdued Kissing OF
hatred for Christianity that if it dared
would put TO death every man, woman and
child III Damascus who does not declare al
legiance to Mohammed. But l am glad 10
say that wide, hard, splendid turnpike
road has within few years been con-
structed from Beyrout on { he shore OF the
Mediterranean, to this city or Damascus, ana
if ever again the wholesale assassination Is
attempted French troops and English troops
would, with iingiiug bits and lightning
hoofs dash up the hills and down this Da-
mascus plain and leave the Mohammedan
murderers dead on the floor of their mosques
and seraglios. Il is too late IN the history or
the world for governments to allow such
things as the modern massacre at Damascus.
For such murderous attacks on Christian
missionaries and Christian disciples the Cos
pei Is not so appropriate as bullets or savers
sharp and heavy enough to cut through with
one stroke from crown OF head to saddle.
But must say that this city of Damascus
as see it now is not as absorbing as The Ia
1nascus of olden times | turn my back upon
the baZars, with rugs fascinating the mer-
chants from Bagdad, and the Indian textlle
fabric of incompatible make, and the manu-"
featured saddles and brides gay enough Tor
princes Of the orient to ride and pun, ana
baths where ablutiOn becomes inspiration,
and the homes of those bargain makers OF
to-day, marbled and divaned and fountalned
and upholstered aud mosaiced and araOeS-
Qued and cOlOnaded until nothing can De
added, and the splendid remains OF the great
mosque of John, originally built with gates
so heavy that it required five men to turn
them. and columns of porphyry and kneel-
ing places framed in diamond and seventy
four stained glass windows and SIX hundred
lamps of pure GOLD, single prayer offered
in this mosque said to be worth thirty thou
sand prayers offered in any other place.
turn my back on all these and see Damascus
as it was when this narrow street, when the
Bible calls Straight. was great vide street,
a New York Broadway ora Partisan Champs
Elysees, a great thoroughfare crossing the
city from gate to gate, along which tramped
and rolled the pomp of all nations.
There goes Abraham, the father of all the
faithful. He has in this city been purchas.
ing celebrated slave. There goes Ben ha-
dad of Bible times, leading thirtytw con-
quered monarchs. There goes David, King,
warrior and sacred poet. There goes Tanner
Raschid, once the commander Ct an army of
ninety-five thousand Persia rs and Arabs
There comes warrior on his way TO the par
racks, carrying that kind Of sword which
the world has forgotten how to make
Damascus blade, which the interlacings of ,
color changing at every new turn of the
light, many colors coming and going and in
terjOinlng, the blade keen it could cut in
twain an object without making the lower
part of the object tremble, with elasticity
that could not be broken though YOU brought
the point of the sword clear back to the
hilt, and having a watered appearance
which made the blade seem as though just |
dipped in NNear fountain, triumph of cut |
lery which thousand modern foundr5 len !
and chemists have attempted in vain to I,ni |
tate. On the side of this street damasks |
named after this city. figures of animals and |
fruits AMI landscapes here being first wrou2 hit !
into silk-damasks. And specimens of da- |
maskeening by which in this city steel and
IRON were nrST graveQ, ana Jnen Tne groves |
filled with wire Of Notwithstanding. But |
stand back or be IN over for here are at the |
gates of the city laden caravans from Aleppo |
in one direction, and from Jerusalem in an
other direction, and caravans of all nations |
paying toll to the supremacy. Great is Da- |
maScUs!
But what most strs my soul is neither .
chariot nor caravan nor baZar nor palace, !
but bind man passing along the street, |
small of stature and insignificant in personal |
appearance. Oh, yes; we have seen him be-
fore He was one Of that cavalcade coming |
from Jerusalem to Damascus to Kill Chris
tians, and we saw him and his horse tumble |
up there on the road some distance out of the !
city, and he got up blind. Yes, it is Saul of |
Tarsus now gong along this street called
Straight. He is led by his friends, for he |
cannot see his hand before his face unto the
house of Judas; not Judas the bad, but Judas
the good. In another part of this city one !
Ananias not Ananias the liar, but
Ananias the Christian, is told by |
the Lord to go to this house |
of Judas on Straight street and put his hands !
on the blind eyes of Saul that his sight might
return. oh" said Ananias, IL dare not go; |
that Saul is a terrible fellow. He kills |
Christians and he will kill me-" Co said |
the Lord, and Ananias went. There sits in
was great nature crushed He had started |
for the city of Damascus for the one purpose of
assassinating Christs followers but since |
that fall from his horse he has entirely |
changed. Ananias steps up to the sightless |
man, puts his right thumb on one eye and
the left thumb on the other eye, and in an
outburst of sympathy and love and faith |
says: Brother Saul! Brother Saul! the
Lord, even Jesus that appeared unto thee in
me that thou mayst receive thy sight and
be filled with the Holy Ghost" Instantly
something like scales fell from the blind
mans eyes, and he arose from that seat the
mightiest evangel of all the ages, Sir Will
lam Hamilton for metaphysical analysis q
John Milton for sublimity of thought
Whitefield for popular eloquence, a
Howard for widespread philanthropy. -.
more than all of them put together inspireI,
thunderbolted, multipotent, apostolic. Did |
Judas, the kind host of this blind man, or
As1aDiaS tina visitor scales 6rOD from