Polk County news. [volume] (Benton, Tenn.) 191?-1983, 1920-09-23

~ ME- upon time Moses tO0B
40 years to travel from Egypt
into the Promised Land To
day the Palestine Military
railway is doing it between midnight
and dawn, every day Of the week
writes Clair Price in Asia, l stood at
my carriage window, entering Pales
tine to the metrOnOme of 30 miles
an hour. Below me, the rails were
bedded in golden sand, up the slope
of which the green of the adjacent
fields lay like surf on yellow beach.
Judd was a small railroad yard in
a vast pool of sand, with Welsh coal
cinders speaking its yellow eXpanse
With its passengers leaning out its
windows calling into the station
crowd "Ya weled," the Officers Spe.
cial pulled in on its way to Haifa
shortly after seven o'clock and came
to dignified stop alongside the little !
"jerk-water' train for Jerusalem.
An Arab weled wearing feZ and a
station porters hrassard, strapped
my luggage to his head, transferred ii |
to the Jerusalem train, demanded a |
tip of ten piastres $50 cents), accept |
ed half the amount and was finally |
routed with the wrathful air of man
who has staked gold mine and has
found it contained only quartz. The
Jerusalem train consisted of a London
& Southwestern locomotive and three
ancient Egyptian State Railways pas.
senger cars, hearing on their wooden
sides the chalked words which desig
mated them for Officers" "batmen"
and "civilians."
Arrival at Jerusalem.
I finally lost interest in the fidgoty
train and went to sleep. 1t was an
Arab porter's "Khowajah, khowajah,"
which brought me bolt upright and
awake. He was gathering up my lug
gage. The rest of the passengers had
left. I followed him out of the car
and into the crowd of British soldiers
in pith helmets and shorts, Egyptian
policemen in fezzes and
shorts, Baluchistan soldiers in turbans
and shorts, XiOnistS in khaki drill, and
native porters, who moved about on
the fencedoff platform. My porter
led me into the cool dusk of the Gus
toms barrier, on toward the quaran-
line barrier and thence around to the
area of the station. Jerusalem was
Nowhere in sight. / climbed into an
with eyes narrowed to Sits
against the glare of the limestone sur
aces and was driven away from the
station at a gallop to the accompani-
nent of a furious jangling Of bells
nd the harsh grinding of iron tires
N crushed limestone road. We
ounded the low hill and sighted
erusalem mile away-a savage F..
avine rihboned with glaring white /,
Dads and crowded on the farther
Iope by huge modern German :
hurch with brief length of ancient
ray wall retiring modestly beyond it.
On the very roof of Palestine, over =
,okng the Dead sea, Il quarter of .
lille below the keels of the craft off :
affa, the walled city of Jerusalem =.
es between the Hinnom and Jehosha. :.
hat raNineS, as new YORK CITY lies Il
,tween the North and East rivers. II y
7erfows into dusty red-and-white :,
odern suburb to the north, as New =
ork overnows into the Bronx. q,
Haifa's New Importance. Ii
The physical Jerusalem is small, A
it the spiritual Jerusalem is the W
enc of such world panorama that VI
though went there to stay a day or Il
70, / should be there yet, had | not W
st fieeting glimpse at the expense W
count. With a movement order to &C
nifa. | finally drove back to the 1T
rusalem station one evening, and, al
cling like All Bahia returning to CT
lrk world after six miraculous nj
r,