Omaha daily bee., 1909-12-29
Some Things You Want to Know
The Holy Land-The Plain of Sharon.

The Plain OF Sharon is a narrow green
ribbon stretching along the Mcditerraean
shore Of Palestine from Mt. Carmel south
ward to the hills Of the Philistines. 1t is
nowhere more than seven miles wide and
II is only about fifty miles long. and Of
all the land Of Canaan. promised to the
children Of Israel as the land of plenty,
this plain only still flows with milk and
honey. Under the patronage of the Ger
man emperor a great highway was pro-
posed TO be built stretching from Jaffa
northward through the Plain OF sharon to
Carmel, whence It was to turn eastward
to Nazareth. Only a few miles Of this
road was Quilt, and 1t is the only road in
all that section OF Palestine. with the ex-
ception Of perhaps a half a mile Of Roman
paved road near the castle OF Athlit which
was repaired by the Crusaders and which
still is in fairly good condition.
The traveller starts out from Jaffa over
this macadamized highway with a light
heart. The sun shines, the breezes blow,
the scent OF oranges and pomegranates Is
in the air; on one side Is the greer gray
fringe Of olive trees outlined against the
barren white hills Of the interior, and on
the other side is the snow-white lace OF
the breakers. and beyond the blue Of the
1N1ANRA 1891 1AN AS1a A1AAa W
groves Of oranges, fortified behind i'm
pregnable barriers Of cacti. Here and there
one sees the w~hite-washed house OF a
thrifty German settler who has come to the
Holy Land in obedience to a faith which
teaches that all Christians should repair
to the home land of the Savior, and who
has remained here to make the desert
blossom as the rose by the substitution Of
European thrift for Arabian Incidence.
But after a few miles the influence Of
the German colonists and of the Jaffa
orange market wanes. Tn orange groves
give way to ill-kept vineyards. The white
farm houses are no longer seen and in
their stead are the villages OF
the Syrian natives. Every evidence OF
what we are pleased to call the progress
Of modern civilization is left ehind The
country is given over to grain fields titled
as they were titled in the days OF Herod.
There are no trees, no houses, and all too
suddenly the highway ends ana ones
wagon rolls out on the green velvet OF the
Plain Of Sharon.
Although the traveller has seen Jaffa and
its market places, although he has mar
yelled at the wonders of Jerusalem, al
though he has worshiped at the sacred
shrine of Bethlehem, although he has al
ready visited the many holy places Of his
torical fame, it is here on the Plain Of
Sharon, in the open air, far beyond the
voice of chanting priests and unconfined
by temple walls, that he finds the Holy
Land of his Imagination. This is the coun-
try in which Jesus lived, through which
Jesus walked and where Jesus taught
Other things have changed. The cities He
knew have been RACED to their foundation
stones and have been rebuilt time and time
again since He ak and talked; but The
country Of the Plain of Sharon is just as
He left II.
The forests which covered the hills Of
Judea, Samaria and Galilee in the days
of Christ have disappeared before the
twin assaults Of axe and torch, the fertile
valleys have been deprived of the gathered
moisture OF the hilltop woods, and the land
which was flowing with milk and honey
has been laid waste, and is now, for the
most part, a barren desert. Not SO the
Plain of Sharon. Every drop of rain that
fails IN the great central range OF hills
which divide the deep valley of the Jordan
from the seacoast Is conserved In ;iny
streams which drop into subterranean pas
sages to well up again beneath the soil OF
this narrow level strip along the coast.
And how thankful is the land! Nowhere
In the world is there a more beautiful
stretch Of country than the plain laid out
from the foot Of Carmel. The grass Of the
waste places grows almost as green as the
wheat and barley OF the corn fields. And
the wild flowers add the tribute of color
to the poem OF praise. The Plain OF Sharon
is as a green carpet ~spahgled with figures
Of scarlet and Of purple. Here one finds a
deserted field grown up with lilies of the
valley. enough to be worth a kings ran
som in an American florists shop, and
there one sees a wilderness Of crocus and
narcissus and oyclamen.
But the glory of the plain is its profu-
sion Of scarlet anemones. Millions OF them