Los Angeles herald., 1909-12-29
THE HOLY LAND
vlII--THE PLAIN OF SHARON
Bv Frederic j. Haskin
# crocus and narcissus and

wilderness of crocus and narcissus and
cyclamen.
But the glory of its plain is It's pro.
fusion of scarlet anemones. Mllnoh5 "
them spread their glorious faces TO the
sky, and one is not surprised 70 learn
that these are the flowers of Whom
Jesus said: CONSIDER the lilies OF the
field. how they grow, they toll not,
neither do they spin. And yet say
unto you, that even Solomon In all ms
glory was not arrayed like one pi
these." It Is the rose of Sharon, the
lilly Of the field, and 1t grows To-Day
as it did when the Canticles were writ
ten and when Jesus preached his ser
mon on the mount.
And then. as If to complete the de-
lusion and to force one to forget that
this is the twentieth century, there are
the people, The wagon makes It's way
across the roadless plain. coW-
panion sees a deer in the distance ana
wonders at the abundance Of wild game
in this old country. But his wohuer
ceases when the driver stops 10 cnat
with two men armed for the chase with
spears. Think OF men seriously carry
ing spears as weapons of sport and de-
fense in the year 1909
The wagon halts for luncheon at q
well in the Plain. There Is smal
village hidden by mud walls at the
grown of the hill. from whence come
The girls down to the well TO get water:
They are dressed in flowing robes OF
yellow and green, and carry great
earthen water jars on their heads, just
as did Rachel when she won the heart
of Jacob Of old. They come down 70
the we'll, which is a hole twenty rect
square and thirty feet deep, and walk
down the steps built inside TO the
spring flowing at the bottom, where
they fill their vessels with water. They
are not disturbed by any notions OF
modern life, and they greet the Euro
pean with wide-eyed astonishment
At sunset one sees a shepherd bring
ing in his flock from the days feeding.
He has piloted his obedient charges In
the narrow spaces between the felds OF
growing corn. he has kept them from
trespassing upon the grain, and now nc
brings them in to put them in the fold
that they may be guarded during the
night against the depredations OF the
wolves and jackals. lie stands with his
crook at the double door OF the mud
walls Of the fold and divides the sheep
from the goats. One looks on and Won
ders anew at the pastoral simplicity OF
the parallels of our. Lord.
Occasionally the ancient simplicity of
the country is varied by ruin which
wrangling nations which have fought
to possess this fair land. one sees at
the very edge of the ocean a cluster of
ruins which have lost all semblance OF
their original form, all that Is left OF
the once mighty city Of Caesarea. This
was the place where Herod. by grant
from the Emperor Augustus, built
Ireakwater and made an artificial port,
which was the only rival Jaffa has ever
known. 1t was a prosperous city In the
time OF Christ. although distinctly Ro-
man and not Jewish. The ruins of its
amphitheater are all that now can be
seen. 1t was In this city that Paul de-
livered his famous grafton before the
Roman governor, Felix, and here he
defended his religion before Festus and
that King Agrippa who was almost
persuaded'' to be a Christian. And II
was from here that Paul appealed 10
Ceasar and from here that he sailed for
his last journey to Rome and martyr
dom.
Occasionally one sees in the Plain
riined building whose Gothic or Roman
architecture Identifies II as a relic OF
the crusades. Such were the hospices
built along the road from st. Jean of
Acre to the Holy Sepulcher at Jerusa-
lem, to serve for the shelter and enter
tainment of the pilgrims from Europe
sSLo visited this country during the two
centuries OF the troubled relgns Of the
Christian kings of Jerusalem. Most of
these are row quite deserted, but one
or two serve to house village of ma
tives.
The Plain of Sharon, with its carpet
of green and scarlet. with its mud
walled villages, its ancient felis, its
shepherds and their fiocks, preserves to-
day the essential features of the life or
the people of Judea in the tilpe OF
Christ although the grandeur that was
Rome lies buried In the ruins of Caes-
area, and the knights Of the crusades
rest in their graves beneath the inscrip-
ton: "His sword is rust; his bones are
dust; his soul is with the saints, we
trust"
Tomorrow-The Holy Land;
IN. A Modern Zion.