The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-10-25

Damascus at the time he made the tour
through the Holy Land, and there are
swords from Cairo. tables from CONSTANT
nople, rare busts from Italy, and articles
of vertu and curios from all parts of the
world. On one wall there Is a banner of
silk which Chinese missionary sent to
DR.. Talmage, and on stand below it is a
piece of elegant old lacquer from Japan.
There are baskets from Alaska, pieces of
stone from the Acropolis, sand from the
base of the Pyramids, chunk of stone
from Baalbec, and pretty things from
everywhere. The rest of the house CORES
ponds TO the parlors, and every article in
it seems TO have history.
1t is in this parlor that DR.. Talmage re-
ceives his visitors. He is beseiged with
callers, and though he receives almost
every one, he has 10 guard his privacy.
His workshop is at the top of the house
1t is big room furnished in the plainest
manner and packed full of books. There
are books on the tables, in the cases and
on the floor. Magazines are scattered here
and there, and the tables which take up
different parts of the room are Uttered
with manuscripts, newspaper clippings
and papers. Not half dozen men get
luIO lLlS Ntu uuEiilS LAie year III. 1di-
mage restricts It's occupants to himself
and his private secretary. The servants
are not permitted TO clean it, and at long
intervals only IS Mrs. Talmage allowed in
with her dust brush. There are no fancy
books in this library, and the newest
copies are torn and mUtilated. In using
a quotation DR.. Talmage tears out the par
agraphs TO which he refers and pastes
Al l.
time of copying them. He does the
greater part of his work by dictation.
1t was in the parlors that Doctor Tai
mage received me, and 1 noted that the
step with which he entered was firm and
springy. He will be 50 years old in Janu-
arv next, but his hair is still brown, his
dark, rosy face shows that his blood is full
of iron, and he says he can eat his three
square meals every day and enjoy them.
PALESTINE AND THE JEWS.
Referring to the Jewish troubles in Rus
STA. asked Doctor Talmage if he did not
think the Jews would eventually drift
back to Palestine. He replied:
Il don't think the prosperous Jew of
America or Europe ought to go back to-
Palestine. Our Jewish citizens here have
all the comforts of civilization. In Pales-
tine they would find the land and people
so old in years, newer than the youngest
parts of our Western frontier. The land
offers no field for their undoubted ability.
and they would be surrounded by discOm-
fort and misery. The future of Palestine
IL seems to me. Is not destined TO come
from the Jews It is a field for the work
Of all nations, and / believe that all the
people of the earth, are 10 unite in its i'm
provement. The country is, to q large ex-
lent, desert now. The lands between
Jerusalem and the valley of the Jordan
are as barren as the plains of Colorado, and
in climbing up the hills of Judea, you pass
through a country where only the sparsest
vegetation IS seen on the hillsldes, and
where the crop is made up Of rocks. These
hills however show evidences that the land
was once a garden. The hills are terraced
and you see signs of them having been
carefully cultivated in past ages.
/ believe il will become a garden again.
Gods favorite figure is the circle, and
Palestine is moving in a circle back 10
its old beauties. These rocks, which lie
upon the hills above the plains OF Sharon.
where the Philistines lived, are limestone.
This stone is dlslntagratng and becOmlE"
skeletoniZed. The lime l. sinking into ths
soil and Palestine is getting by the action
Of its climate, what our farmers spend
great sums for 70 reyivify their lands. The
climate Of Palestine is changing, the rain
fall is increasing, and at no distant date
the land will blossom like the rose. As IL
is. many Of the Jews in the Holy Land are
turning their attention - agriculture.
They have experimental farms and they
are raising fine crops. The plains Of Shs-
ron are today as fertile as any part OF the