Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1920-12-22

has been II foreign Y. NJ. c. a. ser
vice for g long time.
Cairo, Egypt
Dear Brother:
For many moons it has been in
my thoughts 10 write you letters that
would give some idea OF what the
country and the life are like in this
part OF the world. As You probably
know, my period Of service with the
:. n c a was twice extended and
you VIII not be surprised TO know that
/ am quite ready for complete rest
: part OF this rest Is being spent
quietly IL Cairo
However, the past eleven months
were, for the most part, spent IN
Palestine, nearly SIX of hose were
spent IN southern GaElet-Xhere the
plain OF EsdraelOn joins The hills OF
northern Samariz: the rest OF the
time N JGdea, IN and about Jerusa-
/ lem The last account you saw was
British estimate. somewhat over
drawn. / think. OF the Y work IN that
city, 50 we VIII pass that ! W01ld
Ike 70 tel you Of some OF the lighter
bits OF duty that were, N reality,
pleasurable bits OF recreation In this
class should be placed the trip leay-
ing the hut a. > O'Clock N the morn
inE for the Mount OF Olives, and N
semane, Valley OF JesoIphat, and
walk completely around the city walls
before breakfast II had 70 be done
carefully 10 be completed IN two and
0ne-haf hours. That trip and one %
the Temple Area, or 70 -Solomon's
Quarries." never grew tired of max
ing The view from the top OF the
Mount OF Olives Is one Of the most
beautiful IN Palestine The mount Is
= L - -
vicinity and Is surmouuted by two
high towers. From the ground, how
ever, one gets q view Of many miles
Of Jordan valley, the Dead sea and
the Hills OF Moab beyond; that Is to
ward the east He can see many hills
70 the north, and the south as well
One day II was q part of my duty
10 take an Indian secretary 10 camp
OF his countrymen IN the JORDAN val
ley We passed the northern shore
OF the Dead sea, and while the motor
cooled bathed IN its waters The wa
ter Is so salt that II feels oily Be
tween Jerusalem and the valley Is q
difference of elevation OF about $500
feet The road leads through barren
country, though some of the hills are
green IN spring during the rainy sea
son The water OF the dead sea Is
! so heavy that one begins 10 float when
/ q
waist-deep. The difficulty Is, one must
be careful that his heels do not 60 I'D
and his head go down. Some OF the
party said that this phenomenon was
due 10 the heaviness of the gray mat
ter In the upper story" Others re-
pudiated this idea, saying something
about the thickness of the ivory IN
! s3the dome" But of course such peo-
are not TO be listened TO-
The Jordan Valley Is like a broad
plain, when one Is IN II Il Is walled
IN on the east and west by hight hills
The valley l. probably ten TO twenty
row. muddy stream There had been
no rain In six months, yet the water
was as muddy as any little brook you
ever saw during 2 heavy shower
| Our objective was an outpost near
| bridge. In places the weeds were
high enough TO conceal mounted
man. In others there were scattered
tufts of weeds or shrubbery- i have
never seen so many partridge and guam
| in so small an area as we Husned that
day. We had no real adventures Dul
one or two problems One OF them
was to get the Ford across the dry
and very rocky bed Of stream where
bridge had been left out By dis
! mounting the passengers the trip was
safely made, though there was Pc
culiar mixture of lantern equipment,
chauffeur, photograph, games, books,
etc. when Il reached the other side,
but no real damage done.
After delivering the goods, includ-
| ing the Indian secretary, the three re-
manning people proceeded 70 Jerlcno-
It Is most Dicturesques as 70 sltuaIloh-
It Is located near the west side OF the
valley; high, precipitous, barren hllls
shut II in on the west Water makes
life possible there. We stopped only
long enough TO replenish our supply,
as we wished TO get back before
nightfan For this reason we also
decided 10 take q mountain road that
cut of seven miles of travel Ii IS an
old Roman road cut out OF solid rock,
built when the Romans were occupy
ing Palestine much as the British are
today OF course they did not take
Fords and Pierce Arrows into con-
sideration, and Il they had / question
whether they would ever have built
that road Our second problem oc-
CURED on q very steep curve The
driver decided that one cylinder was
not working. So the passengers du-
| tifully hoped out and walked and be-
| fore the engine was shut off blocked
the wheels with large stones 10 pre-
| vent the car retreatIng- The trou-
| bic was not difficult TO find One
spark plug had disappeared We
found it down the road about hum
i dred yards or so and when II was re-
placed everything was all right again.
/ One of the party took picture OF
/ that Ford. but 10 really appreciate II
lone should have a photograph rec
ord of the sounds of it travelling as
well
The view from that hill was won-
derfuL We were climbing for the
most part into the face Of the sun,
| which had not yet set in the valley
That first hill was probably more than
a thousand feet, vertical height Sew
eral of the loops brought Us 70 the
edge of a gorge that was hundreds of
feet deep. The main part Of the
stream that had worn that gorge had