The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-02-02

49,, ~ o,nSideg able attainments. well ac-
ouainted with Il country through which
we were travelin, : aud thoroughly well up
in ira Biblical a ssOciatlons. Their enter
tai1iT- conversa t on added much t. the
interest Of the triEi. After awhile, one of
.bar, who is a resident of Manhattan,
Kan inouired Uf Dl'. Talmage whether he
would consent TO, bapbise him by immersion
! i'm the River Jor ian. The desired consent
was given and o'clock .. N. appointed as
the time for the cere nony.
DR.. Talmage rs filled with solemn Joy
on behoIdiuZ Jo-dan's sweet and crystal
6oos4 Il seemed as If Sabbath reigned per
Detually in the valley through which the
: cred river runs, so calm and peaceful was
the scnne While waiting for the lunch
tent 70 be raised seve raj Of our party
washed in the river, remembering rs they
did 80 how Naaman dipped seven times in
its waters nd the rich reward of his faith.
The dav was superbly fine, as were all its
Predecessors while we were in Palestine.
After lunch we rested awhile, and then
prenarations were made for the coming
baDrism. Copies Of the hymn besinning
"On Jordan's stormy banks l stand" were
prepared bv the ladies of the party. The
toga of our Arab sheik was borrowed to
serve as a bap5ismal robe for DIR. Talnage,
while the candidate secured for his own use
an outfit from one Of the servants. Every
thing being in readiness, the clergyman and
the candidate adVan to the waters edge,
the other members of the party forming a
semi-circle about them. Dr. Talmage made
an invocation, and then read the story
of the baptism of Jesus in the
Jordan by John, from the third chapter
of the gospel of St. Matthew. Afterward
all present Joined in singing the hymn Sc
lected and copied as above related. DIR.
Talmage then said; In this historic river,
which parted three times to let Gods people
saE, Ma nh rraH
seven times for healing from dire disease,
and from the banks Of which Eh1ah as
cended in equipage of fire. and in which
Christ was baptized, and which for ages
has been the sYInt oil of the division between
earth and heaven, now ba,ptize thee"
Then, taking the candidate ny the hand,
he led HIM into the water, quoting the au-
thority for baptism as found in Matthew
xviii, verse 10. Reaching the sufficient
depth he Immersed the candidate, repeating
the formula: "In the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost
after which he pronounced the beDedIchon.
At the close of the ceremony DIR. Jalmage
said:
Gas the ordinance was observed under
the direction Of no particular denomination
Of christianity and no particular church
could be responsible for it, feel :t my duty
to report what did to the church uni
versal"
Soon after the service we mounted our
horses and began the return trip, passing
on the way Gilgal, where Saul, the hrst
King of Israel, was crowned, ana paying
visit of inspection to the huts which are
inhabited by the poverty stricken Arabs OF
modern Jericho. Upon reaching our en-
csmpment, which had not been moved, we
found an excellent dinner awaiting us. we
enjoyed it heartily, having appetites sharp
ened by pure air and exercise. A large
bonfire gave us abundant warmth and
light after the evening meal. We were
sitting around it at ea-e, when we re-
ceived the Information that party
from the neighboring mud village of
| Eriha tthe modern Jericho were about
to entertain US with the Jericho
dance. There were about fifty of these
visitors, dusky specimens of people, wear
ing ragged clothing, bareheaded, unkempt
and barefooted, and few of them more
than half naked. Their eyes, sharp and
| piercing, flashed in the bright light of the
| moon, which had risen beautifully in the
! clear sky. When they laughed they ex-
posed rows of large, pearly-white teeth.
| Well calculated were they In appearance
! to people horrid Nightmares with demons
| and TO blanch the cheeks of ladies who ex-
| pected TO sleep in summer tents
within walking distance of their abode.
The fair members Of our party were
not at all alarmed, however, enjoying
| indeed the strangers weird appearance and
| the dance that followed their coming. The
Bedouius were about equally divided as to
sex. They kept entirely separate during
the strange performance they gave. First
| the men appeared. Standing ia a row, the
! light of the Pickering flames Illuminating
their features with an uncertain glimmer,
| they awaited a signal from their leader,
who was the sheik of the village, to begin
the dance. Receiving it, they set to work
as one man, singing, screeching, yelling,
| jumping, aud accompanying these ex-
ercises with contortions and gyrations
| OF every conceivable aud uncomfortable
sort, brandishing swords and Anticipated
| pistols. Their antics were exciting but
| harmless. As they knew but one tune, and
that tune set, as it seemed 10 me, to but two
places in the scale, its frequent repetition
soon made the performance monotonous.
So we called a halt and asked that the
| women performers take their turn. Our
wish was obeyed, but did not bring relief,
for they went through the same perform
ance as that of the men. AT the end of their
indescribable antics however, one of them,
a half-unbosomed Withholding woman of
about As years old, approached DR.. Talmage
with fierce look, and nearly startled him
of his seat by putting her lips close to his
ear and blowing into it with shocking uu-
expectedness a shrill, blood-curdling trill
that seemed to pierce the very center of his
nervous system. Then, going over to each
member of the party, she gave us, one by
one, the full benefit of her lungs in like
manner. We suffered less than the doctor,
as we were prepared by his experience to
anticipate what ours would be. This
matter dono, we paid the sheik % francs,
which he promised to invest on the morrow
in wheat and rice, and to divide his pur-
chases in equal shares among the perform
ers. Then our visitors quietly withdrew,
and we saw them no more.
During our encampment at Jericho we
drank water from the well of which tradi-
ton says it was the one the waters OF which
were miraculously swestened by the prophet
Elisha. On the morning of our departure
for Jerusalem we visited the well itself,
which was pouring forth an inexhaustibla
supply of the purest water in all Palestine.
We lunched the second time at the Good
Semaritau's Inn, after which we pushed on
to Bethany, situated about two miles from
jerusalem. The name means THE House
of Poverty which aptly describes it as it
is now. There are perhaps forty mud
houses in the village, lying sleepily four
hundred feet below the summit of the
Mount of Olives. The house said to stand
on the site of the one once lived in by Mary
and Martha and Lazarus was visited by US,