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

a rug which he almost always carries
With his thumbs touching the lobes OF
his ears and holding his face between
his hands no cries, God is great"
Then, folding his hands across his
girdle, he looks down and says; "Holi'
ness to thee, o God, and praise be to
thee. Great is thy name. Great is
thy greatness. There is no deity but
thee" Then the worshiper sits upon
his heels, then he touches his nose to
the rug and then his forehead, these
genuflections accompanied with the
cry, Great is God" Then, raising
the forelinger of his right hand toward
heaven, he says; 81 testify there is no
deity but God, and testify that Mo
manned is the servant of God and the
messenger OF God" The prayers close
by the worshiper holding his hands
opened upward as ii to take the divine
blessing, and then his hands are rubbed
over his face as if to convey the bless
ing to his entire body
WASHING BEFORE PRAYER
There are two or three commendable
things about Mohammedanism. One
is that its disciples wash before every
act of prayer, and that is five times a
day, and there is a gospel of clcanli.
ness. Another commendable thing is,
they don't care who is looking and
nothing can stop them in their prayer.
Another thing is that by the order OF
Mohammed, and an order obeyed for
thirteen hundred years, no Mohammed
an touches strong drink. But the
polygamy, the many wifehood of Mo
hammedanisln has made that religion
the unutterable and everlasting curse
of woman, and when woman sinks the
race sinks. The proposition recently
made in high ecclesiastical places for
the reformation of Mohammedanism
instead of its obliteration is like an at.
tempt to improve plague or educate
a leprosy. There is only one thing
that will ever reform Mohammedan-
ism, and that is its extirpation from
the face of the earth by the power OF
the gospel of the Son of God, which
makes not only man but woman free
for this life and free for the life to
come.
The spirit of the horrible religion
which pervades the city of Damascus
along whose streets we walk and out OF
whose bazars we make purchases, and
In whose mosques we study the wood
carvings and bedizenments, was de-
monstrated as late as 1860, when in
this city it put to death six thousand
Christians in forty eight hours, and put
to the torch three thousand Christian
homes, and those streets we walk today
were red with the carnage, and the
shrieks and groans of the dying and
dishonored men and women made this
place a hell on earth. This went on
until Mohammedan, better than his
religion, Abd-el -Kader by name, a great
soldier, who in one war had with TWEEN
ty-five hundred troops beaten sixty
thousand of the enemy, now protested
against this massacre and gathered the
Christians of Damascus into castles and
private houses and filled his own home
with the affrighted sufferers.
After while the mob came to his
door and demanded the Christian
dogs" whom he was sheltering. And
Add Kader mounted horse and
drew his sword, and with a few of his
old soldiers around him charged on
the mob and cried: ''Wretches! Is
this the way you honor the prophet
May his curses be upon you'll Shame
on you'll 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 yet turn your
mosques into churches. Not Chris
tan will I give up. They are my
brothers. Stand back or l will give
my men the order to 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 and foreigners pass
through the streets of Damascus I'M
hindered, there is in many parts of the
city the subdned Kissing of hatred for
Christianity that if it dared would put
to death every man, woman and child
in Damascus who does not declare allie
glance to Mohammed.
But l am glad to say that wide,
hard, splendid turnpike road has within
few years been constructed from Bey
rout on the shore of the Mediterranean
to this city of Damascus, and, if ever
again that wholesale assassination is
attempted, French troops and English
troops would, with jingling bits and
| lightning hoofs, dash up the hills and
down on this Damascus plain and leave
the Mohammedan murderers dead or
the floor of their mosques and seraglios
1t is too late in the history of the worlc
for governments to allow such thing
as the modern massacre at Damascus
For such murderous attacks on Chris
tan disciples the gospel is not SO APP
propriate as bullets or s;tbers sharp anc
heavy enough to cut through with on,
stroke from crown of head to saddle
NOT THE OLD DAMASCUS
But l must say that this city of Da
mascus as see it now is not as absorb
ing as the Damascus of olden times.
turn my back upon the bazars, will
rugs fascinating the merchants from
Bagdad, and the Indian textile fabri
of Incompatible make, and the manu-
featured saddles and brides gay enough
for princes of the orient to ride ant
pull, and baths where ablution become
inspiration, and the homes of those bar
gain makers of today, marbled and di
vaned and fountained and upholstered
and mosaiced and arabesqued and col
onnaded until nothing can be added
and the splendid remains of the grea
mosque of John. originally built witt
gates so heavy that it required five mel
to turn them, and columns of porphyr
| g., 4 =