The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1893-03-15
ALL ABOARD FOR JERUSALEM
Modern Civilization Advances into EibIc
Iands-The Railroad in Palestine.
ISelah Merrill, U. S. Consul, in the
March Scribuer.

Selah Merrill, u. >. Consul, IN tue
March Scribuer.]
The present is kind of "Columbus"
year. for Palestine, and in commemo-
ration Of the opening of the railroad
in the Holy Land, an extra flag might
be displayed at the Great Chicago Ex-
position.
During the month Of August (lS92),
tens Of thousands of people, for the
first time in their lives, have seen
railroad and a train of cars. They
have had revelation, and in the great
city as we'll as in the dirtiest village Of
the land, wonder is at its height. The
excitement can hardly be realized by
the inhabitants of other countries, to
whom railroads perfected by the high
est engineering skill and with lavish
expense are objects as familiar and
common as daily newspaper. We
forget that, not so very long ago, in
our own country we had only bride
paths and scarcely yearly post, while
railways and steamboats, had not even
been dreamed of. Let all the world
rejoice if this medieval country is ex-
periencing a sensation which it can
hardly comprehend. The significance
of this event is not that fifty-three
miles of railway have been built, or
tha; the capital and the seaport have
been united by iron rails; it is that this
has been done in Turkey, which has
always, by all the prejudice and force
Of its religion, by all the arts of its
diplomacy, and by every other means
at its command, done all in its power
to keep out Western civilization. 1t
is, therefore, well-aimed spear-thrust
in the side of this old despotic, back
ward-looking government, and may
foretoken for it either the dawn of
health or the shadows of inevitable
death.
But steam is up and the bell rings,
and we must take the cars for Jerusa-
lem." How strange the words sound.
They call the cars "American" be-
cause they open at each end, but they
are divided into apartments, and
this, together with the arrangement of
eats, makes them quite unlike ours
cars. On our way we shall cross the
track of armies, we shall touch great
battle-helds, we shall pass places of
wonderful historic interest, we shall
see beautiful Sharon and beyond it a
wilderness of picturesque hills, and if
all goes we'll we shall arrive at "The
City of David"
THE FIRST TRAIN INTO JERUSALEM.
We are now at the Jerusalem sta
ton, which is ,, $50 feet above the level
Of the station at Jaffa, and we have
made the journey in three hours and a
half. Two years and half have been
occupied in building the road, and the
cost of it was not far from s., 600, 900.
Four dollars will buy round-trip
ticket, tirst-class, good for two days,
from Jerusalem to Jaffa. On Sunday,
August Dist, an engine came within a
few hundred yards of the Jerusalem
station, but the track to it had not
then been laid, and it was not until
Saturday, August 9th, at ten O'Clock
in the forenoon, that the first through
train from Jafa, with engine and pas
senger cars, actually arrived at the STA
ton. This is stated as official informa-
ton, partly for the reason that some
persons like to be exact in such mat
tiers, and partly because the report has,
either through oversight or careless
ness, been widely circulated that the
first train arrived at Jerusalem on
Sunday, August 2lst, which is not
historically correct.