Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1890-04-18
NO. 16.

| uhys' Wnht nave related may appear more
than sufficient TO my readers
May Thermometer IS at A NJ
Splendid sun. Night Of insomnia, glad to
leave and go on Extra backshis6 from
mater 10 the good woman who has aban.
doned her house for US, crowd of wit
| nesses to see us off. Soon we are again in
| view OF hermon SHOWS, and hereafter for
| days we shall not lose sight Of them: we
follow the eastern slope Of the chain. will
| cross it between Damascus aud Beyroutb
and will lose sight Of il only when we cross
the Lebanon proper. See maps, read over
Lebanon, Druses, Hermon, in books. Go
to Brattleboro public library. The Leha
non is composed Of two parallel chains
about 100 miles long The western one
nearest to the sea is called Lebanon only.
the eastern chain is called Anti Lebanon
between the two ranges is the Lebanon val
| ley or COele-Syra hidden Syra). forming
! three basins separated by small ridges or
| land swellings-a branch of the Jordan
| which drains Hermon's wide side-the Lit
any and the Orantes, which both have their
sources near Balbek and run. the first
southwark till it breaks through the Leba.
non and reaches the sea near old Tyre. the
second northward, etc, etc. Read up
your geography, old and young people
From hill to hill, from one small plateau
to another, we reach the highest peak of
our road the highest point of Hermon is
just above us on our left The land is more
than poor, and mserably cultivated but it
Is cultivated in every nook and terrace the
wheat crops look very slim, the ears are
not formed yet at this elevation We stop
often to admire the landscape. A tall man
clad with blouse, uncle of one of our
muleteers, has walked alongside of us from
Nazareth has little by little lived with our
men, now he takes care of madame whose
donkey boy is in disgrace. This one walks
ahead, alone and blue. well, Said, an
other fight with madame /" Said answers
in Arabic and keeps aloof till lunch time,
when his mistress sends him word that he
is forgiven and can resume his work. 1t
IS one of many similar occurrences.
After going up, We have to 20 down
sharp inclines four hours of saddle are
enough, we stop near a big brook rushing
from HermOn, a branch of the Pharpar
This one, the biblical river of Naaman.
does not run at all through Damascus.
canal brings the water along the hills. men
irrigate their fields below armed with a
shovel of peculiar form. We ford the
brook, our resting place is a picturesque
spot near by are stone huts for shepherds
and hocks, remnants of some old temple. a
sarcophagus used as a trough Two more
hours bring US to our camping place near
Muslin villages one of them possesses the
tomb of Nimrod e q and remnants of an
cient buildings, The land is abundantlv
watered, the crops are fine Our tents are
pitched in a hollow to avoid winds common
here. We are surrounded with nut trees,
cottonwood, poplars and willows. Fig
trees are in the centre Of our oasis.
Today is Tuesday, and as brother John
must have arrived yesterday in Damascus,
from which we are yet seven hours distant
(remark that | never count by miles, the
distances here are all reckoned by hoursO.
pater requests Selim to find him a messen-
ger to go at once to Damascus and carry
letter Nillager No / sheik. declines
to 60; he says that the suburbs of Damas-
Gus are infested with robbers who would
take his horse and gun, etc Villager No
: wants to be paid in advance which would
be like trusting thief One of our mule
teers, who is from the Lebanon, who has
lived in Damascus, offers to 90 he is prom
lsed ten francs, is ordered to sleep in Da-
mascus and return tomorrow morning
with our mail so as to meet us half way
between kefr Hauwar and Damascus Pa
ter in his letter indicates carefully which of
the two existing trails we will follow.
Next day shows that our messenger reached
the city safely at 10 p. NJ, delivered the
letter and he receives his reward. In the
meanwhile we enjoy band of imps shout.
ing Tor backshish; mother gathers our Med
lel- esh- -Shems bedding, has it shaken and re-
shaken, throws off all the sheets used there.
exhibits triumphantly her own which she
carries in her blessed and cursed bundle.
also pillow covers; this will be our last
night under a tent, she is bound to have no
heas. She succeeds admirably, we become
once more civilized beings.
May 4.-Thermometer "a at A. NJ
Splendid day. Across a brook. then up
hill with glorious view of Hermon and the
whole southern half of Anti-Lebanon.
Then for two hours across hills and knolls
without meeting human being hocks of
doves rise from the wheat fields like coveys
OF psrtridges, long legged storks feed in
plOughed fields Mater is all serenity aud
enthusiasm, she has never seen ANYTHING
so beautiful. And it is beautiful, thanks to
the comparatively cool weather Yet moth
er calls her venerable husband Selfish old
cat when he proposes to ride ahead and
meet his brother first. Selfshness carries
the day, Selim gives horse to Ahbed and we
go lively over the next hours space, we are
behind time and wish to make it up. We
reach village called Artuz, a carriage is
under its walls, our messenger appears and
with HIM tall, large European, weighing
over 200 pounds, the only one we have
seen for days. 1t is brother john whom
have not seen for the last thirty five years.
The two brothers meet, grasp hands and
say nothing. For moment both are BOYS
again. The rider alghts, takes the arm of
his older brother, and both walk TO the car
riage in which is our mail. 1t contains let
ters from our children, friends and bank
ers, no bad news Half an hour later the
paianquin arrives, with our lady surround
ed with fOliana and Il,
heartily her new relative, or rather, un-
known relative; soon we are on our lunch
carpet ready to talk as much as to eat
ana the past thirty five years seem
dream; we must look at our white boards
TO realize that were young men then, are
old men now. We repack our glanced
over letters, get in the carriage, cross the
Damascus plain with only two or three
bitches to get over. We stop at the cross
ing of two roads where legend places Pauls
apparitlon and conversion, pick up anoth
er load of stones as souvenirs, and in two
and half hours are in Damascus, at the
hotel Victoria, kept by Pietro Paulicevitch,
ex-dragoman, great talker, but who knows
how TO keep hotel
For days pater has decided to dismiss
camp, palanquin, horses and donkey as
soon as he reaches Damascus but he has
Judged better TO say nothing about it, The
information received from brother John
confirms his opinion. Sem is called, all
our debts are paid, ample backshishes dis
tributed to our men, who kiss our hands
aud are sorry to part with us. We shall
stay in Damascus till we are tired of it,
Thus end our fifteen days of tent life,
enough for once. 1t was simply an act Of
folly TO undertake such a trip with two old
people as we are, and | ought TO have
known better. was carried away by one
of those youthful impulses TO which former
ly active people are subject, Toundertaks
such trip youth and strength are necessa-
ry, added TO utmost patience of petty dis.
comforts. Our food has been excellent,
but chickens and mutton for fifteen days
become monotOnOus; stale bread becomes
too stale; ants, winged insects, jumping
species of kangarOos too familiar; aud we
feel glad to resume hotel life. Ii NAV be a
change of discOmforts but it is a change
Later we shall remember only the pleas
ure and excitement of early morning rides,
of bracing open air, of glorious days and
scenes, We shall forget all the drawbacks
and perhaps be foolish enough to under
take some other journey. So far as health
is concerned we are the better for this one.
------
Says an eminent physician "Show me
professional athlete 40 years old, and
will show you a man old before his time,
with bones out of shape, muscles injured
and joints stitfened, and no one would
promise him five years more of life. Out.
side of movements to expand the lungs
gymnastics are a positive injury" IL is
apparently about as difficult 10 get at the
truth in regard to athletics as it is in re-
gard 10 theology ~ T. Tribune.