The times., 1901-03-31
THE NAZARETH OF TO-DAY
A Description of the Village Where
Jesus Once Lived.


Untouched throughout the long centu-
ries by the irreverent hand of modern
progress, the East is at last yielding up
it's ancient forms and usages before the
march Of Western Improvement. Already
railroads and telegraphs thread the val
legs and plains of Palestine, and modern
hotels have sprung up IN some or the ola,
est and most venerated places mentioned
in sacred history. Across the ancient bat
tlelieds where once the hosts of Israel,
with their chariots and their horsemen,
contended with their enemies, the iron
steed of civilization now goes putting and
snorting with its carloads of passengers,
to the dismay of those natives who are
not yet quite accustomed to the new or
der of things. From Damascus to Jern-
salem is no longer tedious caravan Jour
ney, for one can go comfortably by rail in
a few hours So rapidly is the network of
shining rails extending. that soon the
pie problem for the tourist in comparison
with the days when the awkward camel
back was the popular style of travel =,
Even Nazareth, the beautiful little vii
lage in the hill country, where Jesus
was brought up, has not escaped the
modern invasion. Nazareth has now its
telegraph office, where an Armenian OPP
orator. in ordinary European dress, keeps
the village community in touch with the
great world. When the proprietor of the
Christian Herald visited Nazareth, dur
ing his tour of the Holy Land. ne handed
to the operator the first cable message
ever filed there for transmission to the
United States. The operator hesitated,
and declined to receive 1t. After tele-
graphing to Beyrout, however, to aScer-
tain the rate, he sent the message. which
speeding from the little curtajned Office
in Nazareth, clicked it's way TO its desti-
nation IN New York.
DR. n. X. .Iamel, native of Palestine,
now in this country. but who has lately
revisited his own land, has furnished to
the Christian Herald this interesting
description OF Nazareth as 1t is today:
Az he iG oh al he
south, il presents a very pretty sight.
nestled along the brow and slope of a hill.
facing directly east, and the spotless
white buildings looking refreshingly pic
tumesque. The quaint. odd-looking dwell
iugs with their fat roofs are here and
there interspersed with red-tiled slanting-
rooted huildings-the tiles fresh from the
factories of Marseilles, France. AS ORR
entail cities go, Nazareth is remarkably
clean and healthy; in fact all who visit
the town are loud In their praises on that
score.
During harvest time. between June
and August, the first sight that meets the
eyes of whoever enters the town from
the south is a great threshing floor. This
is a perfectly level twenty-acre piece of
ground. where the newly-reaped crops of
wheat. barley, and lentils are gathered in
sheaVes and piled IN separate heaps, each
being of larger or smaller proportions ac-
cording as II represents an individual
farmers harvest returns for the season.
AS the heaps stand thus they are ready
Tor threShlnR. Wnlcn process Is peri OTnfed
by ieveling Off the borders of the pile 10
a depth of one foot and a width of five
TO six feet. Then horses, asses or mules
are driven or ridden. singly or In pairs.
round and round the heap, grinding and
trampling under foot the grain out of the
ears and the stalks into cham until the
heap is thoroughly threshed. It is then
gathered up and removed separately, and
another part of the heap is teveled off for
the threshing process. This is kept up
until all the heap is done, when the new
ly-tnres led pile is fit for winnowing. This
work Is very tedious, as IN fact are all the
various departments of field labor in Pal
estine, for the farmers are destitute of
every Vestige of machinery or labor saw
| ing apparatus that are used by more fur
tunate peoples. In spring, the threshing-
floors afford unsurpassed facilities for
camping. on account Of their being SC
cureIy sheltered from all winds by the
surrounding hills and elevations Any
body who has experienced the hardships
of camp life during wind and storm Will
appreciate 4 sheltered spot.
"A very conspicuous building in NaZa-
reth is the English Orphanagc, which was
erected under the auspices of the Female
Educational Society in England in 1875.
and conducted by that society until 1899,
when it was turned over 70 the manage
ment of the Church Missionary Society.
| This school provides for the education of
poor orphan girls from Nazareth and its
vicinity, and affords a home for them.
/ These eighty to one hunderd girls are
| taught English and Arabic. grammar.
| reading and writing arithmetic, geogra :
| ply, history. housekeeping, sewing, and
| fine needle-work. The staff Of teachers
| includes five English ladies and six M
| tive assistants.
The common belief, in other lands. is
! that snow never falls in the Holy Land.
| This. however. is not the case. The win
! ters are occasionally quite severe in Pal
! eStine, and heavy snowstorms are moth
| ing unusual in the elevated parts OF the
| country. The brow of the hill on which
| stands the Nazareth Orphanage is nearly
| 100 feet above sea level -