The Columbus journal., 1910-04-20

| Digging to Find d
With much mystery % to ito par.
pose, an English syndicate has, for the
last three months, been conducting
extensive excavations at jerusalem, On
Ophel, Immediately east Of the inclos.
ure of the Temple Of Solomon. This
syndicate Is not connected with the
Palestine Exploration Fund, or the
American, or the German Archaelo-
gical Institutes in jerusalem, and the
interest is evidently not archaeological
or otherwise scientific.
Although great secrecy hes been
maintained on the subject, there ID
scarcely . doubt but that, At least. one
object of the excavations, on which
already large sums of money have
been expended, is the quest for the
tombs of the kings Of Judah, where
David and Solomon had sepulcher.
and where it is thought there may be
great treasure, and perhaps the sacred
vessels and furniture of the temples Of
Solomon and HerOd.
Indeed, the moving spirit of the
enterprise was, in the first instance, q
Finnish engineer who claimed to have
found in the Talmud . cryptogram
indicating the locality where the ex.
cavations are being made Is the hiding
place of the temple treasures. It d
now the generally held opinion that il
was for the purpose Of digging into the
tombs of the kings of Judah that the
otherwise unaccountable long, winding
detours were made in the construction
Of the aqueduct tunnel in Hezekiahi
time, that led the waters ofthe Virgin'a
Fount on the east side of Ophel to the
pool within the city on the west side Of
Ophel and the city of David.
These excavations have also given
rise to persistent reports Of . plan "a
rebuild the Temple of Solomon. To
regain possession of the Holy City
from Moslem hands has been for CEN
turies the dream of Jew and Christian,
which the expenditure of untold treas
ure and millions Of human lives has
failed to realize.
Now, rumor has it that the rebuild.
ing Of the temple is to be undertaken
by the Masons of the world, and that
. company is being incorporated "a
take the matter in hand. Solomon Is
generally regarded IS the founder Of
the Masonic fraternity and it is almost
universally believed that its organiza.
ton dates from the building of bis
temple in Jerusalem and that Solomon,
King Of Israel, Hiram, King of Tyre,
and Hiram Abif were the first Master
Masons. This Hiram Abif was the
master craftsman that Hiram, King of
Tyre, sent to Solomon in response to
the latter's request for "a man Gun.
ming to work in gold, and in silver,
and in brass, and in iron, and in pur-
pie, and crimson, and blue. and that
can skill to engrave oil manner Of
Cravings, to be with the cunning men
that are with me in Judah and Jeru.
salem"
For this reason Solomon's Temple,
the quarries beneath the city from
which the stone for the temple proba.
bly, came, the treasures of the temple
thought to be hidden away in some
subterranean chamber or passages. and
his tomb, are all of peculiar interest to
the members of this world wide fra
ternity.
These quarries Of Solomon lie be-
meath the north side Of the city. They
are not open quarries, but are wholly
subterranean. It can hardly be ques-
toned but that the white stone of Sol.
onions Temple, which Josephus des-
cribes rs q mountain of snow for
whiteness, was quarried there, and
that it was in those vast chambers,
SOCIALISM FOR CHILDREN.
What will Emil Seidel, socialist
of Milwaukee, be able to
do for the children?
It is bis idea, shared by all educa-