The Newtown bee., 1895-04-12
Affairs About Town.
IN THE HOLY CITY.

THE HOPES OF YEARS FuLFILLED.-LANl
 ING NGATJoPPA.-RAILR IN PALE
 TINE.-ARRIyALS AT THE HOLY CITY 0
 SUNDAY EvENING.-NARROW STREET
 THE CITY OF FOUR RHILLS.-THE CHURC
 OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE; ITS FOOLS
 SUPERsTITIoNS.-GOLG oUTsID THE wALLs.-THE JEWS PLACE o
 WAILING.-THE MOSQUE OF oMAT
 oLIyET AND ITS BEAUTIFUL VIEW
 OLD JERUSALEM IN VERY TRUTH.
 Is it not always SO? The dreams of ou lives, those things to attain which w have toiled on year after year, thos
 bright fancies which have seemed almos too full of happiness and splendor for u to reach on this dull earth, at last whel we do really possess them, how quick, they pass away from us and we are lief looking mournfully back Did any hum ble follower of the lowly Nazarene evel yet read "the sweet story of old, wher Jesus was here among men," and not in dulge in the fond dream that some day his own feet might press the sod forever hallowed by the blessed footprints oi Him who trod the weary ways of earth that weary souls might tread the way oi light and reach home in Heaven, Palestine is mecca to every follower oi Jesus. The Crusaders did not make it so love made it so, the unspeakable longing Of the soul to get nearer to Him, to know whom is to have true life.
 WE LANDED AT JoPPA,
 the ancient seaport of Jerusalem, on Sun. day afternoon, March 8. You know that there is not single port in the Med. iterranean Sea where a great "ocean | greyhound" can draw alongside the wharf. All landings from these big steamships must be made in small boats, and nowhere is this experience more dreaded by passengers than at Jappa Some years ago the boatmen who were rowing in party of Cooks tourists got quarreling over the backsheesh they were to receive, and 20 or more of the passen. gers were drowned. No such dire mis- hap awaited us, however, and, with the exception of the occupants of one boat getting thoroughly drenched by a mon. ster wave, we all reached terra firma in | safety.
 It seems little odd to think of rail- l road in Palestine, of the wild screech of the locomotive whistle being heard in the gates of Zion; but here is the sign that ''de world do move" and even Palestine, whose inhabitants live solely on the re. | putation the inhabitants had 2000 years ago, cannot but keep step with the pro- cessiop. From Joppa to Jerusalem is 42 miles, and it took our pulling engine some four hours to make the trip; for you re- member that ''the hills are round about Jerusalem" and Jerusalem itself is set on hill, and it takes some tall climbing to | get there. Our journey was made in the evening, but the bright moonlight gave some indication of the country we were passing through.
 THE PLAIN OF SHARON,
 just outside of Joppa, is very rich and fertile; aud it produces the finest oranges in the world, as all of our party can tes- tify, for we ate and ate them and seemed | never to get enough. The hill country, though, toward Jerusalem is bare as barn-f1oor and just about as capable ot producing shrub or tree. I am inclin- ed to think that Benjamin and Ephraim. whose territory this was, were awfuIly ''left" in the distribution by lot.
 It was more than mere sentiment that made us rejoice in the fact that our first sights of the Holy City was caught at the close of beautiful Sunday, when il was flooded with streams of moonlight. i Still, the impressive view of the city is not obtained from this point it is had afterwards from the Mount of Olives, standing near the spot where our Saviour stood when He halted the procession of those who were crying "Hosanna r' and throwing palm branches in His way. l Though almost everything else ir and about Jerusalem has changed since Christ's day, this one thing must yet re. main the same: the populace is still easily excited at the smallest event, They yell and gesticulate wildly and seem by their vigorous motions almost on the point of cutting each others threats, when the matter of contention is the changing of small coin or the deter. mining of what person shall occupy the I fourth seat in carriage.
 | THE TUMULT OUR PARTY AROUSE in getting carriages at the railroad sta \ tion was little short of rot. After fists had been thrust in our faces and the throats of the Arabs had grown hoarse in strong vociferation, we were at last | set down in peace just outside the Jappa Gate. We were set down outside the gate, because our carriages could not get | within it. A carriage is an unknown quantity within the city; the city and it's ! streets were built before the day of carri. ages and, therefore, have the right of way. Jerusalem is not Washington, .'tne city of magnificent distances" nor is il the city of much that is magnificent in any way, except for the magnificent hoaxes that it would impose upon strang. CTS and the magnificence of the mud and filth. in which respects it can almost beat the world.
 | Yes, we might as well confess, it, Jerusalem is disappointing city. Il had great glory once; it was the city of the Great King, thither the tribes went up to give praise to the name of tht \ Lord; on Mount Moriah the wonderful | Temple stood with it's snow-whits columns and it's blazing dome of gold But all this glory IS gone, and in place oi \ it there is a great deal of bare-faced fEaue and inane superstition and deceit; tha make one openly laugh or wonder at the blind devotion of those who are willing to believe such things. If it were no for the hills and seas and rivers whicf man cannot defile with any mummeries of his own, one might we'll let his
 IDEAS OF THE HOLY LAND
 remain as pure and bright as they wer' in childhood and never visit these scenes
 The best conception that ever had O lJerusalem was obtained from the roof oi the home of the American Colony These people are religious folk they emphatically disclaim the name of ad ventists-who came amid these hallowet walls to wait the coming of their Lord They are not religious cranks; 1 an IconViDced of that from my conversation with them. They do not believe in preaching Christianity, they heartily be lieve in living Christianity and to em phasizipg the latter rather than the form CT we could all repeat glorious ssAmen r This colony has beautiful home her fright on the city wall; and, with it's pot ted plants and easy chairs and singing birds, it suggests bright thoughts 2 home. Right here where we stand is th Hill Bezetha, right opposite is the Hil Akra on this same side of the valley Mount Moriah, and on the other side Mount Zion. So Jerusalem, you see, wa built oh four hills, just as Rome wa built on her seven. The valley that run from north to south through the city an' separates these hills from each other i the Tyropoean valley; but it is by n' ;k n,4 1s%s~,x,