Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1902-07-07

part of the community, which makes
It's living off pilgrims and tourists, ana
will find holy places and arguments
and evidence to support them as long
as trustful and contidlng people are
willing to pay for the privilege OF see
ing them. Those who are competent to
speak on such subjects say that the
longer you stay and the Oftener You
come to Jerusalem the more rapidly
these objections diminish in impor-
lance and the greater will be the inter
est which the ruins and traditions i'll
spre, but everybody will always be
obliged to confess the degraded aspect
of the people, the material and moral
decline of the city, the filth and wretch
edness of the homes the cheap and
tawdry decorations of the churches,
and the appropriateness of the monu-
ments. These things make people mel
anchOly if not disgusted. A coMbina-
ton of superstition and fanat,cism.
with Journalism and avarice. is the
chief characteristic of tire modern city,
once the fountain head from which
the knowledge of the true God was
diffused to all mank md. and after
few days experience you feel Ike but
toning up your pockets when you kneel
to pray before sacred shrine.
Jerusalem is not a town for amuSe-
ment or recreation; for everything III
it is tinged with religious sentiment
and relates to scriptural history. There
shrines and memories. ana the air IS
full of controversy. jealousy and doubt.
There is nothing beautiful in or about
the city except the Mosque OF Omar.
which is one of the subl!nest concep-
tons of Saracenic architecture ii exist
ence. Although we sing of the glory.
the purity and happiness of Jerusalem,
II is one of the most repulsve places
in all the world. The old city is mass
of stone masonry, separated by narrow
streets and courts and surrounded 10y
a wall thirty-eight feet high and alto
Cether two and half miles in length.
There are few open spaces, the streets
are crooked: many of them are blind
ALLEYS. and those in the business dis
trlctS are Ndulttu over. 4 HSit are 10
sewers and none but surface drainage.
All the filth and offal of unmenlionable
sorts is dumped upon the pavement for
the dogs to scatter ana the rain 10 wash
away. In wet weather the streets are
sinking eesspools. and when they dry
10 the mixture is ground to powder be-
meath the hoofs of camels and donkeys
l,I t,,.,
the air and absorbed into the throa,s
and nostrils. the eyes and ears OF man
and beast. with myriads of microbes of
all varieties. You actually have TO hold
YOUR nose as you walk down the Via
poloroso. the most holy and interest
ing street in the world. sanctiiied by
the feet of the Savior who followed il
MS He bore the cross 10 Calvary.
The streets of Jerusalem inside the
walls are repulsive by day and unsafe
at night. Strangers, particularly for
= eigners or Christians, should never
wander out by themselves after dark.
They are strictly warned against such
folly. because II is a Moslem town. in
which business is suspended from sun
set to sunrise and becomes like a city
Of the dead after dark. in the OlIer
portions there are 10 street lights, no
gas. no electricity. not even petroleum
lamps. When darkness falls The ha'
zaars are closed. the shutters are put
up. the camels and donkeys are turned
into the corrals at the khans, and the
people retire behind the high blank
walls that inclose their habitations.
Those who are compelled to go out on
honest business have lanterns carried