The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-01

into one still more steer Is ycl descend
the streets grow narrower sssa lthier, so
that you have to hold = ilrrc and care
fully pick your footstep on turn
corner into narrow pa De ween high
walls bullt OF great stca .and come cut
into the little quadrang's Sd s known as
The Jews Wailing Plara
mis- Is the goal of tha 1sis pilgrims
pilgrimage. For the base 81 th nigh bare
wall, which makes one SIDE II 81 inclOsure,
IS built of enormous store s1sa and black
ehed by time, and chip af ,FaE at the cor
ners that the wall is neyevc1mbed with
iltJle receSseS, but still Ftaffara firmly and
closely upon one anc r-r kal the great
worn stones make 1t l3v Ice for they
are the remains of SCtcm0e~ Temple. The
jewish tradition is ue ated by the
archaeologists. Ard II c. ence of these
sacred rocks the jew I the eve of
their Sabbath to Wee lent over the
rail- or Jerusalem. se gctiOn Of the
temple and the dis the nation.
Beating their heads ans the stones.
they rend their garmt end nut ashes and
Things on their head. q east, the au-
thcrities declare. and .1X rst in loud de-
Spairing tones implo DH +ttR Almighty TO
restore to His people sf ,ritance.
When / visited the 81 fib Place 1t was,
unfortunately, not Fr ernOOn, and ]
am bound to say II was not up TO
expectation AS so ~ as urned the corner
into the Enclosure Nttle rrOup of beggaTs
who had been ch -sux tcuether separated
and spread theme ves ont along the line
of the sacred W; 'i Ill raEssed old woman
in a hideous blacl g ueE a kissing one OF
the stones like G-vtt ~ Is she managed
meanwhile to kee lA smp ring gaze stead
lily fixed upon was A lop-sided,
half-Souled air a mentation which
considerably Oct lefta m the effect. 4
picturesque old a.ltt a gray unkempt
Deard, long mat ea iris, a greasy fur
cap and q frOWf ,ti.CF gaberdine made a
great show of D hing UB a fold of his robe
ana rending it. ise z not rend ii more
IMAM quarter 1u h, and l was not
going to give him al4y lg for that
inc stones were there big enough and
ancient enough, and the battlemented CRU
~1ll 9Th ell
atlon, looked genuine enough But the wall
Ing was far from being soul-satisfvine
When l came to think OF il, on the way
back through the foul garbage-strewn
gloomy lanes l did not see why the Jews
should wall there any more than is de-
manded by the forms of their religious cere-
monies. On Friday afternoons the wailing
Is lhe correct thing, an ancient religious OBJ
servance which a conservative and seernIv
people naturally like to keep up But if
they went Wailing there too ferVentlv and
too often their lamentations might be re-
gafdeo and their displaying prayers for the
return of Israel to Jerusalem might be
granted.
The Zionist movement is very interesting.
ana the dreams and the prayers of many
generations of piOus Jews may one day
come and the people be restored to their
promised land. But when that day comes /
think the wailing over the stones in the
Walllng Place will not take place once n
Week-on Friday afternoon. 1t will go on ali
Jay, ana all night, and all the year round,
ana VIII be pieteOus and heartbrea king in
its volume and sincerity.
Jerusalem may have been very well to
ancient people of small requirements but it
Is town standing amid hills of bare rocks
ana valleys of loose stones; and the greater
part OF the country surrounding it is in the
calclned region which slopes down to the
Dead sea. The only hope for the future of
the country is that some one may sometime
discover deep down beneath it's basalt and
limestone and bitumen abundant formations
OF gold-beacing quartz. And that unfor-
tunately, is against all geology.