The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-11-07
AT THE TOMB oF JOSHUA.
Among the Ruins of the Old City oi
 Bagdad.

Among the Ruins of the Old City of
 Bagdad.
 Bagdad, once a city of 5000, 900 people and a thousand years ago the worlds center of all which civilization means, boasts of but two graves of it's great characters. The tomb of the Caliph Mansur and of Zobeide, the wife of Harun- el- -Rashid, alone stand among its ruins. Where the long lists of callpns, the grand viziers. and the poets who made Bagdad famous, were buried, none can say, Their tombs have probably been demolish- ed by the ruthless hunters of bricks
 However, among the ruins of the old city of Bagdad, to the left of the Tigris, stands large square brick structure in which the Moslem keep CTS solemnly assert the body of Josh ua is buried. It is useless to test their statements by the apparent age of the building, for the small square riclss of it's walls, gathered from the ruins of the Arabic period, may indi- cate only reconstruction. The pres ent building is not ancient, The en- trance. protected by a portico, leads into large open court which Is sur rounded by chambers. Tn some of the chambers are tonbs of the recent dead; in others the attendants live, and in one is housed a rough board coffin. which renders service at every funeral in the community. It is used to transport the body to the cemetery, and is then returned to the mosk to awlait the next burial A single date palm now grows in the court raising its head above the flat roof to which brick stairway leads.
 At the farther end of the court, oc- oupying the entire rear of the build- ing, is the shrine, a spacious, window less chamber lighted only by the doorway, and entirely destitute of fur niture save for the coarse reed mats which cover the brick floor Its cen- ter is capped by large dome, and the walls have recently been white- washed. yet fin places beneath the thin white coat appear the more ancient Hebrew inscriptions which were once the Interior decorations.
 The tomb beneath the center of the dome is protected by large reotang- ular paneied case of dark wood, and excepting in one place, where panel is missing, 1t is invisible. At the head of the case are two tin pro1ec- tions, about which are tied number of strings or rags torn from the garments of the visiting pilgrims One day, while was standing at the head liof the sacred tomb, a young Moslem lwonan entered, and with eyes wet with weeping she tore 8 snlall rag from her garment, and tie1 1t about one of the projections, while she mumbled prayer to Cod tha. before year hence when she should come to unite the rag, she might present her husband with a child. It was but repetition of the picture of Han nah. the mother of Samuel, while she was at the temple, weeping and pray ing before Eli the priest. In the shrines of the East the rcture Is still common Before tue government buildings at Bagdad stands biz can non which the ignorant Arab women aware of it's tremendous power, be- lieve can answer pray3r. Ths cid gun is half-hidden with the strings and rags tied about it, each to repre- sent prayer, and could 1t speak 1t might tell strange stories of the con- ! ysyt,t {hn have poured out to it. So with the tomb of Joshua. There the women gather and pray for al kinds of favors firm in the belief that the prophet will in some way cause them to be granted.
 Less than half century ago the tomb of Joshua was in Jewish hands, but the Turkish officials caused a number of them to be arrested as they were bearing the body of noted rabbi there for burial. They were imprisoned for attempting to bury Jew at the shrine of the great pro- phet. They were finally relased upon the payment of large sums of money, but the care of the tomb was taken from them. Since then the tomb has been forbidden to the Jews, and, like most Moslem things it now shows sad neglect Yet should we follow the Jewish woman as she crosses the old boat bridge, we might see her turn toward the tomb, and from a dis tance look longingly at the doorway which she is forbidden to enter, while her lips utter prayer with the hope that the long buried leader, even so far away, may hear and answer it Edgar James Banks in Sunday School Times