The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-01
THE SAMARITANS IN 1910

on whose top was Mizpah, where Samuel was buried and Saul anointed King of the Jews. There is a mosque on that spot and the place is holy to Jews, Chris tians and Moslems alike, all of whom worship at Samuels tomb. Mizpah lies on peak about 5000 feet above the Medi- | terranean and on one of the highest of l the Judean mountains. It is where an I army of crusaders stood under Richard the Lion-Hearted and got their first sight of Jerusalem. AS they looked King Rich ard knelt downSand thus prayed:
 l 70, Lord God, pray Thee that never may again see Thy Holy City if I may not recover it from the hands of Thy | enemies"
 l That prayer was uttered seven cen- turies ago. Jerusalem was then owned by the Mohammedans, and 1t Is held by them still
 On the Road to Galilee
 The road which we took to Samaria was the one over which the boy Christ and the Holy Family came when they travelled up to Jerusalem to celebrate tho Passover It Is one of the high ways of the Holy Land and Is still tray eled by thousands. About ten miles beyond Mount Scopus we stopped at Beeroth, a stone village surrounded by green orchards of figs and pomegran- ates. This Is one days journey from Jerusalem and tradition says 1t Is where Joseph and Mary. as they were returning to Nazareth, discovered their 12-year-old boy was not with them ard they went back and found Him teaching the wise men in the temple.
 A little farther on we came to Bethel, where the Benjamites lived, where Alp raham reared an altar and called on the name of the Lord, and where F- l. .41 l. l.t dreamed that he saw the ladder extend Ing and descending thereon. The name ing and descending theron. The name | Bethel, which means the House of | God. has now been changed to Beitin | It Is poor stone village of about 500 people, with ruined tower and q church.
 Shiloh, which lies just off the road T little farther on toward Samayia, is now called Seilun, and, as Jeremiah | prophesied, 1t is nothing but ruins. | Where 1t stood Is a mound covered | with debris, broken columns and rub l bsh, so that the prophecy, "I will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth," has come true.
 Nevertheless Shiloh Is one of the most | lnteristing spots of the county. It was there Eli dwelt and there Hannah | came every year with new coat for | her little son Samuel, whom she had given up to the Lord. It was there that Joshua divided the land and there the Philistines stole the Ark of the Cove nant.
 Travel in the Holy Land
 am surprised at the caravans which are continually crossing these Palestine mountains. There seems to be great trade north and south and the roads | re full of strange characters. On my way hero I saw crowds of men and women on donkeys coming up to Je- rusalem. Some were from Galilee, oth- l CTS from Da nascus and not few from the mountains of Lebanon. One crowd told us that It's people were Moham- l rodans, and that they were making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the tomb Of Moses. There were many women among them. They sat astride upon donkeys, some carrying babes in their arms
 We passed many camels. Some were loaded with white building stones sluns | in network of rope on each side their humps. They wore taking them to Jerusalem Others were ridden by wom- | en and men. I saw one which had two | yelled women clad all in black on its back, with two boxes below them, each | box holding baby.
 Another party was composed of Sa- | maritan women on their way to a Mos | 1om festival. They were red-haired and as straight as royal palm trees. They carried their baggage in bundles on top of their heads and walked single 1 file. Behind them were women from Lebanon walking barefooted and sing ing in Arabic. They were tattooed on lips, chin and cheeks, and their heads were frowsy and dusty. They wore nothing on the head and their bodies were clad in long cotton gowns em- broidered with red. Only a few were good looking and all seemed prema- turely old.
 In Old Shechem
 I am now living in my tents outside | this old town of Shechem, my camp fac ing Mount Ebal and above me Gerizni, the holy hill of the Samaritans. It is very near the spot where the laws of Moses were read by Joshua to the assem- hled children of Israel, the country being the shape of a great amphitheatre, of which the hills form the walls. These hills are, it is said, natural sounding hoard, so that one can talk on one mountain and be heard on the other, and for this reason the place was chosen for reading the laws.
 The town is one of the oldest in history. | It was founded long before Jerusalem