The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1906-12-23
By H. C. Ostrander

I ERUSALEM, gaunt and desolate.
stands today upon her hoary
hills, enwrapped in the sackotath
and ashes OF an unutterable sor-
row-the saddest city in all the worldi
Many other cities OF Syria and Tur-
key present the same distressing ap-
pearance of ruin, suffering. poverty and
filth; equaling in every respect the
conditions prevailing in Jerusalem; and
all are equally cursed by the vile Cow
eminent Of the Turk. but no other city
on earth is so utterly possessed by the
atmosphere Of an overwhelming and
all-abidfng sorrow as is this ancient
City of David-opce so powerful and
SO glittering IN fits splendor as TO earn
the proud title of Jerusalem 1.-The
Golden"
And today, although so sadly fallen
from her once high estate. Jerusalem is
still. TO Jew and Christian alike. the
most interesting city in all the world,
and so it is with the profoundest feel
ing Of awe and wondering expectation
that we draw near to the hallowed spot
which has been for so many centuries
the lode star of the children of every
faith holding TO the one God-Hebrews
and Mohammedans. as well as Chris
tians of every sect.
The city still crowns Mount Moriah
and Mount Zion. as IN the golden age
Of David and Solomon. and the noun
tains round about Jerusalem" are the
same that nineteen hundred years ago
cast their shadows over the most awful
drama of the ages; but the city itself,
we must sadly confess, is not the Jeru-
salem of our dreams. not the Jerusalem
of David and Solomon and Herod, not
even that glittering Saracen city OF
the Caliph Omar. It is rather the Jeru-
salem of the Crusaders and Of the
Turks. spoiled by the later dingy. semi
civilization of modern Syria.
The approach TO the City of David is
striking and impressive, and, were it
not for the innovation of steel rails
and telegraph poles, we might almost
fancy ourselves back in the times of
the patriarchs.
Change cars for Jerusalem is no
longer an idle joke, and today, instead
of journeying to the Holy City on
camel back over the old caravan road,
we travel IN a reasonably modern pas
senger train of European construction,
drawn by an American locomotive built
at the great Baldwin Locomotive
Works in philadelphia.
From ancient Joppa, where Hiram
King Of Tyre landed his cedars of
Lebanon for the building of Solomon's
4tlu41its d1O where Jonah took ship
Tor Tarshish. we journey up through
the fertile valley of Sharon into the
wild and romantic defless of the noun
tains/of Judea, passing through his
toric Ramleh, the Arimathea of the
Bible, and LYDIA, where Peter dweit
for season.
In the beautiful valley the Syrian
farmers are busy sowing for the
harvest, and on every side we may
see scores of crude, wooden plows
drawn by camels. oxen and donkevs.
often hitched together. in one team.
breaking up the soil in the most prinl-
tive manner. The parable of the
sower" is repeated in the flesh a hun
dred times before our very. ewes ere
we leave these teeming plains of
Sharon and it is remarkable how
closely some of the Bible pictures are
reproduced in the everyday life of
these twentieth, century Syrians
The rich green of orange orchards
and the exquisite silver gray of splen-
did olive groves gladden. our eyes upon
every side all the way from Joppa to
Arimathea- Towering cactus lodges.
laden with scarlet fruit, line the wind
ing camel paths, while the peaceful
valleys and the purple hiIlsides alike
glow with a most wonderful profusion
of wild flowers-the brilliant red of
the Rose of Sharon and the purnle
fAOls VI al4lE sc4 Iidif DODpY mlnRi1nR
nth glowing panoply of unfamiliar
flowers of the most gorgeous colors.
while from among the aloes by the
wayside peep the bright eyed Stars
of Bethlehem" and the gentle lilies of
the valley.
The shepherds watching their nocks
among the foothills. clad in the raj
nent Of the Scriptural patriarchs. add
much TO this lovely picture offpastoraI
life, and the long lines of camels,
silhouetted against the distant horizon,
form q most striking feature of the
Syrian landscape.
Through this living panorama of
Bible pictures we pass at last UP into
the mountains of Judea through
rocky defiles- and lonely mountain fast
nesses; grim, forhidding,4 desolate
peaks Of barren< rock lit up only by
an occasional blaze of coiorr where
wild flowers have taken root fitting