The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1890-10-29

Stabise, Adma. Zeboim, Sodom and Co
morrah. II our American cities do not
quit their prohigacy, II in high life ana!
low life dissoluteness does not cease TO-
be joke and become crime, II wealthy;
libertinism continues to find 50 many
doors Of domestic life open TO Its faintest
touch, II Russian, and French, and
American literature, stepped in pruri-
ency, does not get banished from the
news-stands and ladies' parlors, God
will let loose some Of these suppressed
monsters Of the earth. And ] tell these
American cities that IL will be more
tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah In
the day Of Judgment, whether that day
Of Judgment be in this present century
or in the closing century Of the earth's
continuance. The volcanic forces are
already in existence, but In the mercy
Of God they are chained in the kennels
of subterraneous fire. Yet let profit
gaoy, whether 1t stagger into lazaretto
or sit on commercial throne, whether
1t laugh in faded shawl under the
street gas light or be wrapped In the
finest array that foreign loom ever
wrought or lapidary ever empearled,
know right we'll that there Is volcano
waiting for 1t, whether in domestic life,
or social life, or political life, or In the
foundations Of the earth from which
sprang out the devastations that swal-
lowed the cities of the plain. HE
toucheth the hills and they smoke"
But the dragoman was rejoiced when
we had seen enough Of this volcanic re-
gion Of Palestine, and he gladly tight
ems the girths for another march,
around the horses which are pranoing
and neighing for departure. We are of
for the Jordan, only two hours away.
We pass Bedouins whose stern features
melt into a smile as we give them the
salutation Salaam Alerkoum, Peace be
unto you," their smile sometimes leav-
ing US in doubt as to whether 1t is
caused by their gladness to see
us or by our poor pronunciation OF
the Arabic. o, they are strange
race, those Bedouins. Such COM
minrling Of ruflanism and honor, OF
cowardice and courage, Of cruelty and
kindnessl When band Of them came
down upon q party in which Miss
Whately was travelling and we're about
to take pocket-books and perhaps life,
this lady sitting upon her horse took out
her note book and pencil, and began to
sketch these brigands, and seeing this
composure, the bandits thought 1t some
thing supernatural and fed. Christian
womanliness or manliness is all-con-
quering. When Martin Luther was told
that Duke George would kill him II he
went to Leipsic, Luther replied, ~
would 20 to Leipsic II 1t rained Duke
Georges nine days"
Now we come through regions where
there are hills cut into the shape oi
cathedrals, with altar, and column, and
arch, and chancel, and pulpit and dome,
and architecture Of the rocks that
think can hardly just happen so. Per
haps It is because God loves the church
30 we'll, he builds in the solitudes oi
Yellowstone Park, and Yosemite, and
Switzerland, and Palestine, these ecclesi
astical piles. And who knows, but thai
unseen spirits may sometimes worship
therep "Dragoman, when shall we see the
Jordan?" ask. All the time we wer'
on the alert, and looking through tama
risk and willows for the greatest rive
Of all the earth. The Mississippi II
wider, the Ohio is deeper, the Amazor
is longer, the Hudson rolls amid region
more picturesque, the Thames has NOR
splendor on its banks, the Tiber sug
gests moro imperial procession, tn,
nyssus has more classic memories, AM
, the Niles feeds greater populations b.
It's irrigation: but the Jordan Is tn
queen OF rivers, and runs through al
the Bible, silver thread strung lik
, beads with heroics, and before night W
, shall meet on its banks Elijah an
Elisha, and David, and Jacob, an
, Joshua, and John, and Jesus
, At last between two trees / got
5 glimpse OF river, and said: what
Z that?" "The Jordan" was the quic
. reply. And all along tho line whic
D had been heightened by other pilgrimi
. some from America, and some fror
5 Europe, and some from Asia, the or
0 was sounded: "The Jordanl The Joi
. DAMP Hundreds Of thousands OF pi
s grims have chanted on It's banks an
: bsthed in Its waters. Many Of them di
wet gown in the wave and wiring
Q out and carry II homo for their ow
" shroud. 1t is an impetuous stream an
n rushes on as though 1t were hastenin
! 70 tell It's story TO the ages Many q
o explorer has 1t whelmed, and many boz
d has 1t wrecked. Lieutenant Lohneux ha
Q copper-bottomed crafts split upon Il
J, shelvingH Only one boat, that Of Lieutel
o ant Lynch ever lived to sail the whol
d length Of It, At the seasons when tt
l. SHOWS Of Lebanon melt, the rage OF Ii
Il stream Is like the Conemaugh whe
b Johnstown perished, and wild beas
Is that may be near run for the hills, o,
o planning what Jeremiah says "Behol
n he shall go up like lion from Il
!, swelling Of Jordan" No river so ofte
n changes its mind, for TURNS and twist
o travelling two hun dred miles to do thI
70 which in straight line might be dor
Il in sixty miles. Among banks now 10y
Is now high, now OF rocks, now OF mu
Is and now OF sand, laving the feet Of II
~ - anA n