The Oskaloosa herald., 1904-05-26
JERUSALEM AS
IT STANDS TODAY
CRUDE AND ANCIENT CUSTOMS
STILL IN VOGUE.
NO NEWSPAPER PERMITTED
Early Marriages and Large Families
the Rule In Palestlne--contin
ued Friction Between Chris
tians and Mohammedans.

(The Herald is pleased to be able
to present its readers with the fol-
lowing extracts from most enter
tanning letter from lady well known
to many in this city,
Ramallah School, Jerusalem, Pales-
tine, April 24.-Dr. J. w. Morgan,
Oskaloosa, Ia.--My Dear Uncle: A
few days ago when the eight hundred
Sunday school delegates arrived here,
got a trunk from home, which one or
the delegates kindly brought to me.
want to thank you for ben Hur,"
which you kindly sent in the trunk.
shall read the book with great in
terest, and look up the noted places
mentioned. You seem to think Lew
Wallace was hardly warranted in
placing the age of the Mother or
Christ at only fifteen, when the child
was born. But many women can be
found here who are mothers at fifteen
and younger. One woman here had a
| child when she was only twelve years
old. One day / was out visiting some
of the people, in order that the
strangers with me could see how
they live; and we took a lady inter
prefer with us. AS we passed the
door of home, which looked more
like a big cave than house, we saw
two beautiful, intelligent girls, sitting
In the room, sewing. We stopped and
spoke to them, and their faces were
so bright, / asked, through the inter-
prefer, where they went to school.
They both looked to be about twelve
years old, and supposed they at
| tended one of the day schools for
girls. But they smiled and one said:
I'VE are married" l inquired IL
they were sisters. She saia, mo, my
brother is the husband of this girl,
and we were both married the same
day" | asked, do you know how old
you We're when you were married? '
One replied: Eyes; | was nine and she
was eight years old. l inquired
where their husbands were. She
said, Working in the city" The
other day / saw wedding procession
in which the groom was said to be
only twelve years old! Every man in
this country must pay quite a sum of
money for his wife. One of our train
ing home girls married last year ana
her husbands people paid more than
two hundred dollars for her The
other day the girl who does the mend
ing of the boys clothes came in my
room and said she had just been to
see her cousin "betrothed." A be-
trothal in this country is considered
as sacred as a marriage; and should
the man disappear before the mar
riage, the girl must get divorce be-
fore she can marry any other man.
The Mohammedans are allowed four
wives,and also have many concubines
according to the mans wealth.
Each church has its own marriage
and divorce regulations. / have been
told it was very easy, with little
money, to get divorce from a Greek
priest
Husbands here generally want their
| children to be boys. A wife that
bears her husband mostly girls is not
appreciated, and often divorced. 1
know a man named Judas, whose
| wife brought him five girls. Then he
got a divorce and married wife No. 2,
and she brought him another GIRL
| and poor Judas was in grief again. A
short time ago one OF the girls in our
school came to my room to tell me
there was a new baby in the nome or
two of the boys in school, and she
added that when she told the boys,
one of them pulled down his cap and
began to cry because 1t was a girl. I
told one of our teachers about it, and
she said the other day she had been
to see a woman who had a young
baby, and found her in such a weak
condition, she asked her what was
the matter. "O!" she said, az have
brought my husband another girl
baby, and this makes three girls and
no boys, and am afraid my husband
will put me away and take another
wife. What shall do?" The poor
woman was actually starving herself
| to death.
Large families are the rule. and nor
| ny OASCPIioh mere. i never saw so
many children in proportion to the
home anywhere that l have been.
Every day we learn something new
about the Sultan's country and peo-
ple When we speak of the Greeks,
we mean the Greek Catholic CHURCH
The Roman Catholics are called Lat
ms. Most of the Christians of this
land are Greek Catholics, and am
sorry to say they are not very much
like what I think Christians should
be. They hate the Monammedans
and the Nohammedans despise the
Christians. The people here have
many feast and fast days. When I
first came the Mohammedans were
having their fast Of "Ramadan." For
one month they ate nothing in the
daytime. but ate between sunset and
sunrise. This was followed by a
thrpa daVx' faacf apd d,,.f,. 49, I