The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1920-10-05
MODERN PLANS
FOR JERUSALEM
One Is for a Tunnel to Pass Be-
meath 1t From Dead Sea to
Mediterranean. u
MAY PRESERVE IT INTACT
What the Houses and Stables OF An
cient Palestine Are Really Like
Village Streets Crooked, Mar
row and Unpaved

! take its place among industrial nations
4 and ancient Jerusalem may become a
| humming mart of modern trade. if
! projects in contemplation are realized.
/ One such project is that of building a
| tunnel from the Dead Sea to-the Medi-
| terranean. passing under Jerusalem,
which would utilize the variation in
! levels to provide water power for sta
lions along the way. A second sug-
gestion is to build a new industrial
zone about Jerusalem while the an
cient city is preserved intact.
In this connection the National Geo
graphic society has issued, from it's
Washington headquarters, the follow
ing announcement, based on commu-
MICA ton to the society by John D.
Whiting:
1.-The presentday villages are locat-
ed, as rule, either on the top of
hills originally for protection, or near
some spring or source Of water. Many.
are built upon the foundations whose
origin dates back thousands Of years.
There does not exist a single example
of peasant village that has been
founded in modern times.
Old style Village Home.
MANY have pictured Mary and Jo-
seph, after arriving at the inn at
ing forced to turn into some barn built !,
of timber, with lofty roof, hay mows.
wooden managers and stalls for cattle
and sheep. Such a stable has been
the subject of many medieval and
nodern artists, but it does not present
4 really trne picture. Let US consider
the Old-Style village home that is most
common in the districts around Jeru-
salem and Bethlehem, for that will
give us better idea of what happened
ON that first Christmas day.
1.-The village streets are crooked,
narrow and unpaved. AS in many Of
the countries of the Orient, farmers
live close together for protection, and,
not on their lands; therefore, in the
villages there are no open fields or gar
lens, but house is next to house, ex-
.ept for the small walled-in Enclosures
" sheepfolds through which one gen
erally passes in going into dwelling.
1.-THE house itself consists of one
'arge room, usually square. The walls,
rom three to four feet thick, are built
If blocks of stone roughly dressed and
laid in mortar. rooted over with a
'ome also of stone.
Entering the door. we find that about |
swo-thirds of the space is devoted to |
/ raised masonry platform, some eight
to ten feet above the ground and sup
ported by low-domed arches. This
al ocyt nv &c.
part occupied by the family while the
over part is used for the cattle and
locks.
.'On one side is an open fireplace,
With chimney running through the
vail and terminating on the roof.
Furniture Is Simple.
THE furniture is very simpe-a
.rlle!y decorated bridal chest. straw
nat. or heavy woven WOODEN rug, which
overs part of the floor, and mattresses
With thick quilts and hard pillows
which at night are spread on the floor.
The cooking utensils are few in num-
er--one clay cooking pot, couple
f large wooden bowls in which to
mead the dough and couple of small
r ones used to eat from.
Having inspected the dwelling por-
ion, which at once is kitchen, store
DOM, bedroom and living room, we de-
cend the steps into what the natives
all the stable.
Below the mastaby, or raised plat
)rm, just described, among arches SO
NV that a man can scarcely walk
rect, are the winter quarters of the
oats and sheep. To shut the fiocks in.
lese arched entrances are obStructed
18th bundles of brush used as fire
God for the winter. The rest of the
Dor space, which is open to the cell
g. is devoted to the few work cattle
Id perhaps a donkey or camel.
round the wall are primitive man
,rs for the cattle, built of rough slabs
stone placed on edge and plastered
with mortar.
GOTTEN the owner makes Il small
;sed place on which he sleeps at
.,,ht to keep better watch over the
WY born lambs, lest In the crowded
arters some get crushed or trodden
wn by the older ores Here he often
cps by preference on cold night,
+ lie says the breath Of the animals !
cps him warm"