Connecticut western news., 1890-10-01
not so vast ruin as it few weeks be- fore had seemed to be-

OoAAAO ~~- sight of Palestine2" 'sWe1l," he said, eff the wind and sea remain as they are, about daybreak." Never was so impatient for a night to pass. l could not see much use for that night, any how. I pulled aside the curtain from the porthole of my stateroom, so that the first hint of dawn would waken me- But it was useless precaution. Sleep was among the impossibiities. Who could be so stupid as to slumber when any moment there might start out within sight of the ship the land where the most stupendous scenes of all time and all eternity were enacted = land of ruin and redemption, land where was fought the battle that made our heaven possible, land of Godfrey and Saladin, of Joshua and Jesus?
 IT IS GROWING LIGHTER.
 Will the night ever be gone9 Yes, it is growing lighter, and along the hori- zon there is something like bank of clouds, and as watchman paces the deck I say to him, ''What is that out yonder2" '"That is land, sir," said the sailor "The land l" cried, and soon all our friends were aroused from sleep and the shore began more clearly to reveal itself With roar and rattle and bang the anchor dropped in the roadstead a half mile from land, for though Joppa is the only harbor of Palestine it is the worst harbor on all the coasts. Some times for weeks no ship stops there. Between rocks abous seventy-fve feet apart a small boat must take the pas sengers ashore. The depths are strewn with the skeletons of those who have attempted to land or attempted to en- bark. Twenty-seven pilgrims perished with one crash of a boat against the rocks Whole fleets of Crusaders, of Romans, of Syrians, of Egyptians have gone to splinters there. A writer eight hundred years ago said he stood on the beach in a storm at Joppa, and out of thirty ships all but seven went to pieces on the rocks, and a thousand of the dead were washed asho
 THE STUMBLING BLOCK OF NOLAN
 
 Strange that with few blasts of powder like that which shattered our American Hell Gate those rocks have not been uprooted and the way cleared, so that great ships, instead of anchor ing far out from land, might sweep up to the wharf for passengers and freight. But you must remember that land is under the Turk, and what the Turk touches he withers Mohammedanism is against easy wharves, against steam CTS, against rail trains, against printing presses, against civilization. Darkness is always opposed to light. The owl hates the morn. "Leave those rocks where they are," practically cries the Turkish government; i've want no people of other religions and other hab- its to land there; if the salt seas wash over them let it be a warning to other invaders; away with your Nineteenth century, with it's free thought and it's modern inventions" That Turkish government ought to be plotted from the face of the earth, and it will be-
 Of many of the inhabitants of Pales- tine I asked the question, ''Has the sultan of Turkey ever been herew Answer, "No." "Why don't he come, when it belongs to his dominion ?" And, after the man interrogated looked this way and that, so as to know he would not be reported, the answer would invariably be, "He dare not ho1 ,f Turkey attempted to visit Jerusalem he would never get back again. All Palestine hates him. saw him go to the mosque for prayers in his own city of Constantinople, and saw seven thou sand armed men riding out to protect him. Expensive prayers! Of course that government wants no better har- bor at Joppa. May God remove that curse of nations, that old bag of the centuries, the Turkish government! 1! For it's everlasting insult to God and woman let it perish! And so those rocks at the harbor remain the jaws of repeated destruction.
 THE END OF THE VOYAGE.
 As we descended the marrow steps at the side of the ship we heard the clamor and quarrel and swearing of fifteen or sixteen different races of men of all features, and all colors and all vernaculars; all different in appearance, but all alike in desire to get our bag gage and ourselves at exorbitant prices Twenty boats and only ten passengers to go ashore. The man having charge of us pushes aside some, and strikes with a heavy stick others, and by vio- fences that would not be tolerated in our country, but which seem to be the only manner of making any impression there, clears our way into one of the boats, which heads for the shore We are within fifteen minutes of the Christ land. Now we hear shouting from the beach, and in five minutes we will be landed. The prov of the boat is caught by men who wade out to help us in.
 We are tremulous with suppressed excitement, our breath is quick, and from the side of the boat we spring to the shore, and Sunday morning, Dec. 1, 1889, about o'clock, our feet touch Palestine. Forever to me and mine will that day and hour be commemo- rated for that eminent mercy. Let it be mentioned in prayer by nny chil dren and children's children after we are gone, that morning we were per mitted to enter that land and gaze upon those holy hills and feel the emo tions that rise and fall and weep ano laugh and sing and triumph at such z disembarkation
 VIEW OF JOPPA.
 and fifty feet high Joppa is lifted to