Durango semi-weekly herald., 1902-08-14


to the Moslems.
1t was beside the tomb of Rachael
that Samuel. the prophet. met Saul.
the sen of Kish. when the latter was
searching the gullies around Bethle-
hem for the live stock OF his father,
that had gone astray, and annointed
him with the holy oil of the king of
israel
The story Of David the shepherd
boy OF Bethlehem. who. after success
sion OF mnst remarkable adventures
and achievements. became king of Is
asI is unsurpassed in all literature
'or sentiment. romance and tragedy,
ind many OF the scenes are laid Z
A. ound this quiet little city. You re-
member dat David was a skilful har-
pist; so they brought him one night
10 the kings betichamber that he
might drive away all the evil spirits.
and t',e Kings sol Jonathan and his
laughter Michal loved the young mu-
sioian. But Saul insane with jeal-
ousy. remorse and unsatisfied ambition
threw his spear at the minstrel, who
had to fee from the palace. He was
a fugitive in the hills for many days.
being hunted like an outlaw and hav-
ing many narrow escapes. And you
remember the night that the rash boy
cut off Saul's coat-tails while he was
sleeping, and another time carried
away his canteen and spear.
Every hill, every valley, every
stone around Bethlehem associated
with the adventures and triumphs of
that shepherd lad, and it became
known at early times. and has ever
since been called, the City of David
He inherited the fields of Boaz, and
the house in which Ruth lived was
his home for many years until, in his
old age. he gave it as an affectionate
Gift to the son of an old friend, whom
he highly esteemed.
Five hundred years later Bethlehem
was the scene of another idyl, the
most beautiful ever enacted. when the
| stars and the angels sang a serenade
together over stable
Then followed the great tragedy,
when the threshold of every cottage
in Bethlehem was stained with the
blood OF a baby, murdered by Herod.
in order that the child had been born
in a nanger might not live to become
| a king.
The Bethlehem of today has pop
ulation of about 5000 people, almost
entirely dependent upon tourists and
| pilgrims and the manufacture of relig-
| ious emblems. At least 1000 men,
women and children are engaged in
manufacturing rosaries. crucihxes and
other articles of olive and sandal wood
and mother-of-pearl The mother-of-
pearl work is famous. The material is
1btained from shells brought from the
| Red Sea and some of the carvings are
| exquisite. You can see hundreds of
people making all kinds of ornaments
and trinkets in windowless rooms as
YOU pass through the narrow streets.
There are no Jews in Bethlehem,
and only seven Mohammedans at least
so they say. The rest of the popula-
tion are Christians. and Bethlehem has
the reputation of being the most order
| ly, industrious and contented city in
Palestine. The city is the cleanest
we have seen, although there might
be some Improvement on several of
the back streets. the slums, / suppose.
The main part of the town is neatly
| kept; the pavements are swept and
sprinkled daily; the houses are neatly
whitewashed; the courtyards are as
clean as a New England dairy and the
atmosphere is free from those hideous
stenches that assail you in other
| towns.
The only drawback to the pleasure
of a visit to Bethlehem are the appall-
ing ugliness of the church that stands
over the scene of the Nativity and
the persistence of the peddlers who
follow pilgrims from place to place as
they go about sightseeing. They do
not leave you alone moment. You
cannot look at anything without hav-
ing half dozen impertinent vendors
of rosaries. beads and other articles
come before you. You cannot think
for a moment without being interrupt
ed by their rasping voices importun-
ing you to buy. II is strange that JUS
tifiable homicides do not occur here
every day.
Millions of rosaries are shipped from
Bethlehem annually to all parts of the
world, as Mohammedans and Greeks,
as well as Roman Catholics, use them
to count their prayers. They are
even more necessary to the former
than to the members of any other
creed because they are required to
repeat the same prayer forty-nine
times, and very few people have the
mental vigor to keep tally on such a
task. Millions of crucifixes of ivory,
mother of pearl. sandal wood and
cedar marble, lava, alabaster and
other materials are made and sold.
and carloads of articles of olive wood
of every description are carried away
each week on the backs of camels to
the railway freight station at Jerusa-
lem or across the mountain trails to
Jaffa, for it is still possible for the
caravans to compete with the railroads
in rates. Much of this material goes
to America. | met a gentleman in
Bethlehem who had booth at the
Worlds fair in Chicago for the sale of
religious merchandise, who told me
that he had built up trade of large
proportions and was shining each