The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1913-05-23
From Jerusalem
Confined fro first page

Communist ~ 49, t't-e
when there were hundreds Of them,
and they all looked 50 much alike
to US.
The bills in that part Of Palestine
looked fit For nothing else but sheep
pasture, With no vegetation but
small grass growing among the
rocks. Nearer Jerusalem we passed
a few farms and gardens, but their
utensils and methods Of cultivating
the soil are very crude. We could
not discover any improvement since
the time Of Abraham. They atill
scratch the top of the ground with
their home made plows with only
one handle, pulled by a donkey,
COW or camel; and in some places
we noticed them working double, a
COW and a d onkey, or a donkey and
a camel or a cow and a camel as the
case happened to be. We also
noticed the Sewers which went
forth to SOW" and true to the par
able the seeds still fall some by the
way side and the birds picked them
up, some on the rocks or among
thorns, and small per cent light
on good soil, deep enough to nour-
ish the stalk, till it can bring forth
some sixty and some one hundred
folds.
The Apostle ) Fountain is love
ly big spring, about half way be-
tween Jerusalem and Jericho, said
to be the place where Christ and
his apostles always rested and re-
freshed themselves when making
that journey
While we were resting there, a
Bedouin funeral procession passed us
going up to Jerusalem to the big
Mohamedan cemetery. 1t was one
of the wierdest things we saw on
all our trip. They had come from
Moab on the other side of Jordan,
and the dead man had met his fate
in the clutches Of some strange wild
animal. The corpse was wound
around with yards and yards of
coarse cloth, and then tied on to
one side of a camel, balanced on
the other side, by pots and kettles,
baskets of food, clothes etc. for the
journey. The camel was lead by
one lone man, and all the rest of
the party consisted of Moabitish |
women, marching behind, or rather
running to keep up with the camel,
chanting the most doleful chant one
could ever imagine. Our guide told
us they were hired mourners. Every
woman wore her long black hair
dishevel, and arms and feet bare,
Almost every visible portion Of their
bodies were tatooed with birds, fish
snakes and curious designs in colors
and this tattoo plus the dirt, and
the wild almost fierce expression on
their faces, made our hearts ache
fol the women of Moab.
The town of Bethany is just on
the other side of the Mt. Of Olives
from Jerusalem, and on the Jericho
road. 1t is now only very small
village of mud huts, with about
600 inhabitants. But it seemed a
sacred place to US, for thither our
Lord SO often came, to rest in the
peace and quiet Of the home of Mary
and Martha and Lazarus. Our
guide pointed out the supposed site
of their house, and a very old rock
heBn tomb, the traditional place
where Lazarus was raised to life.
We tried to study the faces Of the
present inhabitants of that village,
to see if we might still find Mary
or a Lazarus among them; but we
did not recognize any by their be-
havior o. hospitality to strangers,
for those who were not annoying us
for "5aksheesh', were squabbling
with our guide over the price of
three small tallow candles we took
into the tomb. Their homes and
children looked dirty and unattract.
i've, except from a missionary point
Of view; and we decided that Beth
any too. must have degenerated
under the Turkish rule