The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1914-02-03
STREET CALLED STRAIGHT
Footsteps of Pagan, jew and Christ
ian in Old Damascus, the Most
Ancient City in World.

AUCIcle Wy la hOIAu'
The city of Damascus can claim
life without a break from its found
ing back in the dim dawn of the
worlds history. 1t is probably the
most ancient city in the world.
Josephus attributes it's foundation
to W, the great-grandson of Noah.
When Abraham crossed the desert
from Haran 1000 years ago this city
was standing. She was renowned
in the time Of the Pharaohs of
Egypt; she was old when Greece and
Rome were striplings in years. Rome
may be termed the Eternal City
but Damascus is twice as old, and
though her streets have been run
red with blood of the battle and ra-
pine many times she has not been
oVerthroWn.
Babylon is a heap in the desert
and Tyre ruin in the shore but
Damascus remains.
Was there ever such a place to see
the nations of the earth parading to-
gether? Here in the market place
are motley crowds of Persians, Al
ghans, Mcors, Indians, Egyptians,
Sudanese, Jews, Bedouins, Druses,
Turks, Europeans. The streets-so
crooked, so narrow, so dirty, so full
of life, with that strange spell Of
the desert upon them! The resi-
dences as seen from the street are
ugly and disappointing enough, yet
like old barns and tumble-dOwn mills
at home are fascinating and p1ctur-
esque.
The appearance of the city from a
distance is attractive in the hi CHEST
degree. In a situation of unrivaled
beauty, on a luXuriant plain, the
bright buildings, sparkling beneath
a Syrian sun, Else out of sea Of
variousIy tinted foliage, while all
around extend charming gardens,
rich wheat fields and blooming orch
ids with the Pharphar and ALBANIA
rivers of Scripture, and their tr1bu-
taries winding through to lose them
selves eventually in a desert lake far
to the eastward.
AS the interior of the city presents
such a sad contrast to its charming
surroundings so do the rich interiors
of the houses contrast with their
miserable externals. Fine marble
paved courts ornamented with trees,
shrubs and fountains, rooms with
dTdUGSQuSu
luxuriously furnished, are common
features of all the dwellings of the
! wealthy. Damascus boasts 25O
m osuues, the finest of which is the
great mosque, built on the site of
| the old house of Rimmon, the chief
god of pagan Damascus, and now one
of the handsomest ecclesiastical
/ buildings in the Mohammedan world.
| The floor is of marble tessellated,
and covered with Persian carpets,
| and the walls and piers of the tran
| sept are enriched with beautiful de-
vices formed of various colored mar
| bles, white rows of noble Corlnthian
| pillars divide the interior into nave
and aisles.
Other sights of the city are the
ruins Of the house of Naaman, the
| Syrian general who was cured of lep-
| rosy by the prophet Elisha and for
sock his pagan beliefs for the wor-
| ship of Jehovah; also the house Of
| Ananias, the early christian who sold
some property and offered the church
some of the proceeds, pretending
| that he gave the whole sum. He
| dropped dead when his sin was de-
tected by St. Peter, as did also his
| wife, Sapphire. The wall is to be
seen where st. Paul, is said to have
| been let down in a basket, but the
principal attraction is 'the street
| that is called straight" mentioned in
the New Testament in connection
with the conversion of St. Paul. This
extraordinary thoroughfare, with its
long and barrel roof, is about mile
long and extends in a straight line
across the city. It is completely COW
cred in and lined with bazaars, finer
and more numerous than those oil
Cairs and Constantinople.