Vernon Parish Democrat. (Leesville, La.) 1917-193?, 1920-09-23

~ nee upon a time Moses took
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. stood at
my carriage window, entering Pales-
tine to the metronome-click of 80 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 a yellow beach.
Judd was a small railroad yard in
a vast pool of sand, with Welsh coal
cinders speaking its yellow expanse.
With it's passengers leaning out it's
windows calling into the station
crowd ava weled," the Officers Spe-
cial pulled in on its way to Haifa
shortly after seven o'clock and came
to dignifed stop alongside the little
''jerk-water" train for Jerusalem.
An Arab weled, wearing fez and
station porter's brassard, strapped
my luggage to his head, transferred it
to the Jerusalem train, demanded a
tip of ten piastres 600 cents), accept
ed half the amount and was finally
routed with the wrathful air of man
who has staked a 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
sepger cars, bearing on their wooden
sides the chalked words which desig-
mated them for Officers" "batmen"
and civilians"
Arrival at Jerusalem.
! finally lost interest in the fidgety
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. followed him out of the car
and into the crowd of British soldiers
In pith helmets and shorts, Egyptian
military policemen in fezzes and
shorts, Baluchistan soldiers in turbans
and shorts, Zionists in khaki drill, and
native pOrters, who moved about on
the fenced-Off platform. My porter
led me into the cool dusk of the Gus
toms barrier, on toward the quaran-
tine barrier and thence around to the
area Of the station. Jerusalem was
nowhere in sight. climbed into an
arbuggy, with eyes narrowed to Sits
against the glare of the limestone sur
faces, and was driven away from the |
station at a gallop to the accOmpani- |
ment Of furious iangling of bells |
and the harsh grinding of iron tires
on crushed limestone road We |
rounded the low hill and sighted |
Jerusalem a mile away--a savage
ravine ribboned with glaring white
roads and crowded on the farther |
slope by a huge modern German
church with brief length of ancient
gray wall retiring modestly beyond It,
sOn the very roof Of Palestine, over
looking the Dead sea. a quarter of
mile below the keels of the craft off |
Jaffa. the walled city of Jerusalem
lies between the Hinnom and Jehosha-
pHdp GdNlucDs DIS NEW AOTk CITY lies
the North and East rivers. It
DverflOws into a dusty red-and-white
modern suburb TO the north. as New
Fork overflows into the Bronx.
Haifa's New Importance.
The physical Jerusalem is small,
,ut the spiritual Jerusalem is the
Icene of such a world panorama that.
went there to stay a day or
wo. should be there yet, had / not
asst a fieeting glimpse at the expense
recount. With a movement order TO
1aifa. finally drove back to the
station one evening, and,
ceiling like ALI Bahia returning to a
tark world after six miraculous
weeks in the Robbers Cave. boarded
ne fussy little train that conveys Of
Icers over the Jerusalem-Ludd line.
Haifa is like Atlantic City in the
wash of it's surf II is like Florida IN
he wide. white streets of It's German l.
olony. II is like Manltou in its green
lopes of Mount Carmel. II is like the
'rient in the narrow, vaulted streets
4 Vts native quarter. The war hes
made It the keystone of that vast arch