El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-12-24

JERUSALEM Dec 14@Come with me
this morning and take a look at
Bethlehem as it lies out here on the
hills of Judea 1910 years after our
Savior was born. The town is only
seven miles from Jerusalem. 1t is j
Sabbath days journey, and it can be
reached in three-quarters of an hour in
a comfortable carriage. The usual price
for the round trip is $40, and, in addi-
ton. you are expected to give a small
fee to the driver. There are riding
horses outside the Jaffa gate which
will take you there and back for less
money. and if you would go still
cheaper you can hire donkey or
travel on foot. There are scores of
pilgrims from Russia, Armenia, Syria
and even far Abyssinia, who tramp over
the road every day.. and we shall meet
many parties Of them stalking along
with stats in their hands. The Rus
sian peasants wear rude shoes of straw
or top boots, the Syrians have shoes
shod with the hide of the camel and
the Abyssinian and others are. often
barefoot
By Carriage to Bethlehem.
We shall take carriages for our trip
from Jerusalem. We start at Jaffa
gate, next DavidS Tower, on the top of
Mount Zion, near where. 1t is claimed,
the crucifixion took place. The gate has
been widened by the breach through
the wall made in honor of Kaiser Will
helm of Germany, and all sorts of We
hicles can now go in and out. AS we
leave the gate we pass coffee houses.
in which the people of dozen different
nations are drinking, go by the rail-
road station, where the locomotive just
in from the Mediterranean is putting
and smoking, skirt the valley of Hin
nom, in which is the Pool of Gihon.
where David was annointed, and little
later on stop near the village where
king Saul was crowned.
The road is excellent. It is of a hard
limestone walled on each side by lime |
stone fences and backed with green
fields which are now covered with the
dust Of the road. The traffic is con-
slant and the dust makes the air white. !
1t fills our eyes, mouth and nostrils, !
and turns our clothes into those Of a /
miller. We cover our eyes with smok-
ed glasses to keep out the glare, The
road is dazzling white, the fences are |
white and a white dust covers the |,
green of the fields. The sky. is light |
blue and the sun beats down, sending |
out millions of silver white rays. We /
are going toward the south, and the /
sun is full in our faces. It is hot, al |
though a cold wind IS blowing over /
these hills of Judea which whirls the |
dust around and sends columns of 1t /
into the air. ]
RecIaimfng Palestine.
Soon after leaving Jerusalem we
cross a depression covered with green,
which is known as the Valley of Roses.
Farther en- are olive groves, and as we
near Bethlehem there are great fields
of green, and off at the left we can
see the plain where the young widow
Ruth garnered what for old Boaz and
thus got food and a husband.
All the way from Jerusalem to Beth
lehem the country Is growing. There
are signs of increased cultivation, and
out in orchards and gardens I went
over the same road 20 odd years ago.
The country then was bare rocks with
bits of grass here and there Today
the land is divided into fields. The sur
ace rocks have been gathered together
and laid UP in fences as high as my
head The land which is cleared is
low planted in wheat, corn and barley.
and the country has the appearance of
| cultivated mountain garden. New OIL
We Orchards are rising, and many of
he old ones still stand. The trunks of
he latter are knotty and gnarly but
he leaves are of green busted with
silver and I am told they bear fruit
one tree not more than
30 feet high which had trunk as
hick as a hogshead and branches
which shaded large tract of ground
The soil Of Palestine is as fertile today
IS 1t was when Joshua led the Israel
ties across 1t, and, barring the fences,
doubt not the landscape is about the
anne now as it was when Christ was
,orn.
In the Footsteps of the Magf.
Every bit of the way from Jerusalem
o Bethlehem is historic ground. 1t was
ver this same road Abraham Travelled |
o Mount Moriah and that the Wise Men