The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1907-06-26

way Oil iLio last JUuILcy W JCl u
salem. How much Of the Jor-
dan plain was and may again be
a garden, we cannot tell; but the
most ancient city of Jericho and
Elisha's time, is supposed to have
been about two miles away where a
beautiful fountain and cluster Of
mounds mark the site Of another
city. 1t is about one mile from
either place to the miserable, dirty,
i'll smelling Bedouin village Of mud
huts which is now called Jericho,
and where we spent the night COM
fortably at tourists hotel. If the
Turkish government would here
furnish security to life and property,
and not destroy the farmer by ex-
cesslve taxation, this plain of Jordan,
which is practically desert, would
become, like many other places in
Palestine, veritable garden.
Of course we went down to the
Dead sea and went in swimming"
There is nothing but water and hot
sand to see when you get there. and
nothing else so pleasant to do. Peo-
pie who never swan in their lives
can swim in the Dead sea, as any
man could lie down on this water
without sinking. | shall advise my
friends who have not been able to
learn to swim to practice daily in
the Dead sea. The water is very
bitter and salty and oily to the
touch.
Having finished our bath we start
ed for. the reputed place of Johns
preaching and Jesus baptism in the
Jordan. We did not feel much as
surance that the place shown US was
the real place. Tamarisks, willow,
poplars, bamboos and such under
growth as is very difficult to pene-
trate grow along the bank. Boats
and bamboo bath house have been
provided for accommodation of pill
grims. We felt, after bathing in the
Dead sea that we needed another
bath to get the salt off, so we went
In for another swim" The Jordan
was nearly full, the current very
swift, how deep we do not know.
1t was about 100 yards wide at the
place we swan across.
On our way back to the Jericho
hotel we passed a. field of barley
growing on the site of ancient Gil
gal, across the Jordan, lighted up
by the setting sun, and distinguished
among the mountains of Moab the
highest summit, which our guide
assured us was Nebo, from which
Moses surveyed the land he was not
permitted to enter.
Wednesday morning, May LIST. we
set out for Hebron by way Of Beth
lehem. Tho needing the words Of
our guide about the chill of evil
COUNSEL and the 'potter's field
and the exact place of Judas IS
CARROTS suicide and the we'll into
which the Magi looked and saw the
reflection of thestar which they had
followed from the east, | was not
deeply interested. | did not Join
Stout and Kerfoot who were peek
ing into the well, and the stars
saw reflected in it's depth all came
from Minnesota. Nor was | deeply
interested in the wayside rock con-
tanning depression vaguely resem-
bling a mans body, on which the
Prophet Elijah is said to have slept
one might. But | was interested in
what is called Rachel's tomb, by the
Bethlehem road. The tomb itself, |
suppose to be modern enough, but
the tradition which locates Rachel's
grove here is said to be very old.
But whether it was here or else
where that Jacob buried the wife he
loved the best, the pathos of that
simple Old Testament story of Ra-
chefs death and burial by the way
side broke upon me there, and /
remembered that love and death and
sorrow belong to all times. and that
all ages are one in the deepest es-
sentials of human experience.
Bethlehem was very beautiful
when in the morning light it first