Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1893-12-23

want you 10 lakc ltp Win me TO tic
birthplace Of Christ ! visited liza few
years ago, and the notes Of my pencil
and my camera lie before me. The
sweet face Of Bctn.ehm Madonna looks
Up at me from my table us write. and
photographs OF Bethlehem shepherds 90
their sheepskin coats, registered los my
camera only year or so ago, make me
think Of those famous shepherds who
first saw the star the night before Chfi,t
came. They watch their nocks ON the
same plains today, and in coming to
bethlehem from Jerusalem drove right
over the fields upon which they lay and
saw the star
Tm IuuEA or TODAY
Palestine is much the same nov as It
was nineteen hundred years ago. The
greatness OF It's history has magnihed
It's size, and It Is hard to appreciate how
small IL Is. You could lose Il 10 one Of
the counties OF Texas You could ride
across IL Ia few hours on q railroad
train, and today a second class ticket
from Joppa to Jerusalem costs you only
dollar. Between the seacoist aud the
mountains lie the rich lands Of the Phil.
isiincs. They arc the famed plains Of
Sharon, and they are twenty miles wide
aud sixty miles long. The mountains OF
judca would be lost In the AllcghanIcs
orthc Rockies, and the Mount OF Olives
IS so small that you eau 70 out OF lgu.
salem, walk past the Garden Of Gclhsc.
name and be at It's top In Ju hour.
Standing here you can look clear across
Palestine. On bright day you can see
the thin. silyery jordan tied as q string
TO the great tin pan Of the Dead sea on
your lett, and the vast, sparkling Medic
terrancan away over the plains Of Sha.
ron on the right. King David made
grea, fuss about his all.days trip from
jerusalem TO the Jordan. but the dis.
lance is only fourteen miles, and the
Sabbath days journey from the Holy
City 10 Bethlehem Is not more than six
miles, The Jews dealt in big figures.
They locked upon everything concerning
themselves or their people through the
night end of the opera glass, ana Their
Imagery i5 truly oriental The proulbl.
lily is That ludra never had "a very large
population and Dc s very doubtful
whether jerusalem was a large city in
comparison with the great capitals Of
TO-DAY. II now contains just about
10000 souls, aud the walls around %
inclosc les than hall section " land.
You could crowd the whole city ON
gOod.silcd farm, and Bethlehem covers
hardly more than garden patch.
q LOOK At JERUSALEM.
Both towns dc in the hills Of Judcl,
and they will show you 10 jerusalem
just where Herud lived when hy got
excited about the coming Of Christ and
massacrcd the iuuOcCnis. walked over
the same ll0or upon which Pontius Plate
stood when he gave up the Lord 10 be
Crucihcd. The walls Of jerusalem are
thirty eight feet high. They would reach
TO the top Of iourstory house, and
they run around Jerusalem cutting Il
out M the shape Of a diamond out.
side OF these walls the steep hills run
down on every side and across the
valleys formed by these you see other
hills, and the whole country Is rolling
The big diamond inside the wall Is filled
with a mass OF boN-Shaped limestone
houses, built one ON lopol the other and
crowded into streets which cut each
other az all sorts OF angles, The roofs
OF the houses arc Tat There are no
Chmncys and no windows. Many Of
their rooms look like vaultcd caves
Goored. walled and cgilCd with stone,
and those which open ON the street are
OF this character The streets have no
sidewalks. and the shops are merely
holes IA the wall. The streets are yalu.
ted and winding, and In going through
them You think Of the CatlCumhs and
appear 10 be going through long vaul.
ted caves. Tue town Is so deuscy pop
ulltcd that one room often constitutes a
house Tor q family and these narrow
streets are packed with people Of all
descriptions. They are SO narrow that
no carriage can enter jerusalem and In
going to Bethlehem had 10 walk from
my hotel through the city and out Of
Davids gate before could get q con.
ycyancc.
- SABBATH DAYS JOURNEY"
The ride from Jerusalem TO Bethlehem
eau be made IN less than au hour. IL rs
one OF the most interesting journeys Of
the world, and It is through a most in
tcresiing country. Outside the walls OF
Jerusalem you find many new houses.
they have grown up since the building
OF the railroad and the Holy CITY has
had q suburban real estate boom, These
houses are OF limestone. They have no
gardens about them and the white walls
aud the white dusty roads as ihcy glare
IN the winter sun are painful to the eye.
About the gate you find camels with
dark faced Bedouns upon them. They
have guns with them and they sCowl at
You as YOU pass by Here are ragged
farmers on donkeys with their black and
white blankets hanging FROM uciJ ncck6
down over their bodies and halt cover
ing the animals they ride Now you 80
by Russian pilgrims, who are on their
way into jerusalem to worship at tile
Church of the Holy SepulCAcr, and here
pass turbauned Mohimmgdaus, who
scowl ~ you, There are plenty ul
beggars. A bare footed Turk with q
crate on his back yClls out BachshUcsh
and behind him stand the Turkish
soldiers with guns IN their hands aud
with swords at their sides. II IS mot
ley crowd aud YOU are glad when you
have gotten your way through Il and out
IN the country.
ANoNG THE SHEPHERDS
My trip to Bethlehem was made in the
spring. The hills were then dotted with
olive groves, whose leaves shone Ike