The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-12-17
In TIL EHOLY LAND.
Christmas Day As 1t Now Is In Beth
lehem..

"All aboard for Jerusalem, Ramleh'
krtouf and the tomb of Samson!
The poet Lamartine, writing OF One
Holv Land In his Meditation" sixty ODD
wears ago. tells of buying an arsehal Vi
nistols' sabers and other weapons to arm
his eomuany against the Greek plraues
who infested the archipelago sea and OF
divers other dangers which made the
io,,rnev to Jerusalem full of danger and
excitement
Noxadavs an uneventful sail on one OF
the Messarerie's steamers brings one to
Alexandria. Another stop occurs at Port
Said inst long enough to take cocktail
served solemnly by barkeeper in white
cravat his establishment being in six
story building of iron framework, with
nothing in the least oriental about it.
Then the next morning your boat is bob
bling up and down in sight of Jaffa. The
deck swarms with priests and ecclesiastic-
al travellers, representing all the countries
and religions in the civilized world, and
some that are not civilized, which pats
the sailors in bad humer, as they be-
lieye that priests on board bring bad luck.
Close by the sea at short distance from
the city railway station stands, little
one, it is true, but genuine.
1t is strange experience indeed riding
to Jerusalem behind a putting and WINS
Ting locomotive.
After having passed through fragrant
gardens the lire opens into plain famous
in Bible history as the garden Of Pales-
tine This was the land of Canaan, the
country of the Philistines spreading away
under our eyes in the clear oriental atmos-
phere, bounded in the distance by the
vague blue lines of the mountains OF Jul
dasa.
The train rushes onward, and now the
distant points of the mountains of Judsea
grow palmer. On the right in the DIS
lance a white point marks the TOMB OF
Samson and little further on second
white point, to the left this time, is said
10 show the place where he was born.
Finally one reaches Jerusalem, and ID
spite of dreams and spiritual exaltatlon IL
IS impossible to deny that the first ERECT
disappointing. One passes into the
Holy City through streets and avenues
which resemble nothing SO much as the
unattractive thoroughfares which run out
of Paris from the st. Ouen quarter.
There is nothing in the least oriental
about them. Instead of Zion and Golgotha,
one sees only red roofs and long new build
ings with monotonous lines of windows
which look like hospitals and orphan asy
lums.
Passing outside the walls of Jerusalem
one traYerses the valley of Gehenna, sees
Jobs well with it's white oupola and then
finds himself advancing up the slopes OF
Mount Zion, which stands to the left.
Continuing along the road one passes
jewish city which was commenced by Sir
Moses Montefiore with the idea that it
would be inhabited by poor people OF the
Hebrew faith, and of late years crowds of
this prosecuted race have been coming to
the land of their ancestors and to this par
ticular city from all parts of the world.
Arrived at Bethlehem one naturally
hastens to see the scenes of the Nativity,
full of expectation and yet ready to be dis
appointed. The Mount of Olives, Golgotha,
the sacred. sepulchre, all were in my eyes
spoiled for the want of that exquisite SIM
plicity which had filed my childish Vi
. eions Everywhere the ardor Of the faith
full has shown itself in upsetting and i'm
: proving things in deplorable manner.
Passing through thenarrow and crooked
street which cuts Bethlehem into two
parts one finally reaches the extremity of
the burg and finds himself in an oblong
square, which in its turn opens into an
esr,1ana,a ,eved with Stone. here and there
sbnvgiro oreninos info cisterns which
served for bantjsms and for ablutions
s,none, former generations of Christians.
T., thrsa davs II y,as the usaoe To wash be-
fore entering the sanctuary.
A cnrious soene Is here On the very bor
dor of the ,,aca of the Nativity. On one
side a burial ground with white tonbs. ON
two other sides rows of hare. high walls.
Ike a fortress or a rrison Here and there
windows nierce the walls. but no doors.
Ono loots sho,,t him mvstifiad but finally
discovers a black hole IN and ont of which
yaon1e are T,assino, almost on ali fours. so
low is If This is tbe chief entry to the
sanct,,a,v of the Nativity Having ,,assed
through this hole one finds himself in a
. large ball divided nv four colonnades and
surnounted by n roof fIankei nv heavy
beams. People stand about talking and
smoking. children play. Turkish soldiers
sew mn their uniforms. women give suek
TO their infants. fakirs offer oranges. beads
and candies for sale. while Greek and
Franciscan monks hurry about as if on
business of messing Importance Former
". am told. the Arabs used to stable