Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1890-03-14
CORRESPONDENCE.
TWO YANKEES ABROAD.
SECOND PART.---PALESTINB
LAST DAYS IN JnRusALEM

curtains, on a wooden platform, with two
long shafts in front and behind a mule in
front, mule behind support the shafts
they have been trained TO walk together,
and each mule has man to lead it, Mother
is pleased.
Then | have long palaver with our
dragoman there are fifty petty details to
be settled, on which our comfort will depend
for two weeks. Mother has gone into the
project with enthusiasm it is only when
everything is concluded that she worries.
must have the same horse she must have
have the same donkey The Turkish gov
ernment is taking all good horses for its
troops, and my animal will he hidden till
our departure. Then the Jordan water
must be boiled and bottled We are full Of
business and have no time to play. Yet in
the morning we hive gone to see the re
turn Of the Muslin Pilgrims hundreds Of
them, soldiers music, flags, AS for the de
parture Here novelty two sticks form
ing u cross, two huge dolls dressed as fe
males, one white, one black they are shak
Ell up aud down Punch and judy in the
midst Of a crowd Of men clupping hands
and shouting in Arabic, how beautiful
beautiful you are All that to amuse
the mass and three children, sons Of rich
people, no are going to be circumcised
According 70 Mahomet's law all boys must
be circumcsed, only no special age is pre-
scribed as for the Jews. Hundreds Of WON
en- scattered over the hillsides present
many colored panorama. II is an interest
/ ing scene, a very suggestive one IN full
view of Gethsemane, God allows lslamism
to flourish, the greatest enemy of Christian
| ism Here is the Mount of Olives, yonder
the Calvary. and Mahomet, who came 600
| wears after Christ, has more adherents than
! He. Solve the mystery, work out the prob
| lem-God, all-wise, all good, permitting an
evil which has no parallel.
In the afternoon we have visited Ger
man missionary, who exhibits model Of
So.omon's temple as it existed, also models
Of Jesus's temple. SOlomon's palace, etc.
They are instructive, and force Us To read
over aud study our Bibles In the evening
| 20 To the American house, across the 81
lent, hardly lit araaded streets Of Jerusa
lem. IA twenty minutes walk over bad pave
ments spend good hour with Mr. and
Mrs SpafTord and their adherents These
people are so intelligent that they attract
me IN spite Of their illusions. is 10 o'clock
when return, my guide carrying lantern,
which is quite necessary. We meet but
two or three dogs the city scavengers, and
a few people lanterned also
ADil I5-Tired, decide to rest today
and do nothing, go nowhere; yet before y
o'clock our lady is in a shop to buy neck
laces and crosses which her granddaugh
ters will wear in years 10 come, and mum
Der of Jerusalem souvenirs: she ruins Mrs
Purse, who utters a big growl. aud runs to
the banker to toe replenished; but most prob
ably we shall never see Palestine again
and have another opportunity as We have
now. 1t is impossible to render justice 10
the motley crowd which fills Jerusalem.
april iC-Ihe greek Holy Fire At |
O'Clock the ladies are taken by a Kawass to
the top Greek gallery. have a stool car
ried TO mother, who finds hospitality with d
native Greek family, and is thus out of the
crowd and can 5 well Another Kawas.
leads the men to the Latin convent. sue
ceed in getting good place and a chair op
posite the hole from which the holy fire vii
he passed out According TO popular be
lief, fire is sent from heaven to the interior
of the Holy Sepulchre on the eve of Easter
The Greek Easter takes place "a week aftel
the Latin or Catholic day. From to ,
we wait below the church is cramme,
with a surging crowd kept in order 10y
Turkish soldiers. From time to time tina
standing crowd gets restless, there arr
rushes aud wranges water is distributed
Great Importance is attached 10 the fact o
receiving first the holy fire am told tina
as much as $2j is given 10 the fellow VIII
gets it. My informants are Catholic priests
their statements are all antagonistic TO tn
Greeks. At , o'clock the Greek patriarc
aud clergy begin grand procession roun
the Holy Sepulchre, the crowd clap hand
and shout: Blessed be Christ, blessed h
Christ Christ has risen, Christ has risen
Christ has risen the Jews are sorry, tn
Jews are sorry'-a verse of an hymn re
peated and repeated they get excited
frantic, look like IA band of possessed ind
- viduals all young men under 30 (; one get
ON the shoulders Of his neighbors, and
, carried towards the hole from shoulder I
shoulder. Those near the hole put the
arms in it, but great wave Of human pus
comes and they are carried away with i
The police officers interfere, sticks are fret
~ used on the heads of the shouters, bl
after a minute of silence they begin agail
After three rounds the patriarch unrobe
remains with plain white silk robe ant
bareheaded, enters the Holy Sepulchre.
can see well the whole monument owe
look its top there is no wire, nothing "a
rying fire inside from outside. The patr
arch has carried inside two ceusers ,
sprinklers aud two bundles of wax taper
forming two torches; priest has been il
side for three days, fasting and praying
they two know whence the fire comes.
priest, barefooted, hareheaded, com
through the crowd to the hole outside, al
r = 4 stl, IA
he rushes away as fast as possible a Sc
u ond lighted torch comes out, and the fello
who has it runs away, the crowd opening
passage third torch appears all rush
it and light their own wax tapers in f.
minutes hundreds of torches are lighted al
a scene of excitement ensues which il
difficult to describe Hundreds of demon
acs jump, dance, shout pass the flame ov
their faces, on their bare breasts it is
wonder that no accident takes place. Lit
by little the popular madness subsidies, al
I then comes procession of Greek ArmeT
e ans, another of Copts, Nubians. Abyssi
" Ians, members of the Greek church. II
patriarch has returned To the Greek chap
, with two lighted torches the whole cbur
I is blaze of light with chants, etc, et
Il That man like the actual patriarch ci
= submit to such gigantic imposition seeI
{ incredible. Years ago patriarch tried
u put it down, came out of the Sepulch
= without fire. The crowd tore him to piec
II as a Judas whose sins had stopped the hea
!. emily fire. Evidently the powers that
b are afraid. VOx populi, vox Del Reme
/ Der the blood of Saint January in Maple
" and other scenes of the same kind.
The church is full of incense, the torch
add to the general absence of ozone.
, for the Professor, he has gradually been ST
, rounded with a crowd of white rob
monks and black dressed Romsh pilgri
who nearly smother him. He is in a pl
fuse perspiration, aud refuses TO leave VIII
= the Kawass comes he wants half an no
to cool off slowly,
At O'Clock mother and father are on I
stone fat roof while the sun sinks dow
They look at the Moab hills resplends
with hazy beauty, on Jerusalem laid befC
them, on the Mount of Olives yonder W
Gethsemane below, and think of the CO
trasts offered by the Gospel narratives W
the wild scenes witnessed in the same laI
in the superstitions raging everywhe
Mother expatiates on our American ble
ings, on our duties towards these countri
si have read the l36th "salm read it al
p Jerusalem, Jerusalem, sink of religi'
% prostitution. just now a Mussulman p
cesson passed under our windows W
ls flags, drums and cymbals also an Arr
nian procession bells have rung till
are half-bewildered And such is Jeru
70 lem.
h, ApriI I,.-At / o'clock Father Step
ni nos sends for us we are taken to the C
''' vent in which resides the Greek patriar
N In the high parlor we find assembled all
dignitaries Of the Greek church, the
n triarch of Jerusalem, the eN-patriarch
Constantinople, who has been deposed