Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1922-05-10
AN IMPRESSIONS OF AN
AMERICAN UPON VISITING
JERUSALEM, THE GOLDEN


reprints it for our readerS.)
Like the other members OF the
cruise, we were anxious to see Jeru-
salem the city set upon a hill with
the mountains round about. We had
our conception OF the city from de-
scriptions given by friends who had
visited it but the reality was sur
prise. Our train tOiled up the heavy
grade for several hours passing
through gorge, upon gorge the noun
tain sides dotted with olive, fig and
almond trees grown on terraces sup
ported by walls which must have re-
quired centuries of labOrious work to
! build We saw also the caves men
toned in the Scriptures as the habi-
tatIOns OF men and still occupied by
shepherds. At last the city burst into
view two cities one should say, the
ancient one, within the walls, DID, di-
lapidated and congested, and the new
outside the walls, fairly modern, open
and attractive. Both cities with a
combined population of ninety thous-
and could be set down within the con-
fines OF GaIena despite the fact that
one-siXth Of the space is occupied by
the temple area where the Mosque Of
Omar is situated. Large sections are
also utilized by the many churches,
converts and temples built by near
Iy every sect and creed to visualize
their faith in the Saviour. To visit
all these institutions and to gain an
adequate knowledge OF their contents
would require month OF palnS-tak-
ing study and contemplation and the
i eader Will consequently appreciate
the difficulty Of concentrating into
two and a quarter days this task, in
Guiding a trip to Jordan, the Dead
Sea, Jericho, Bethlehem and Beth
any. The results are innumerable
! impressions which are impossible To
cOndense into a single letter. The
outstanding one that will ever remain
is that Of our visit to the church OF
the Holy Sepulchre Oh the first Satur-
day in Lent when the five branches
of the Christian belief were holding
services at the same time. Such d
wealth Of pomp, lavishness OF cere-
mon es ana cIangOr Of noise cannot
be described 1t grated somewhat
upon our nerves and feelings but we
nevertheless intensely interesting and
impressive. We gave particular at
tentiOn to the service Of the Greek
Catholic church, the strongest Of the
worshipping determinations, and OBJ
served the high patriarch in his gor-
geOus robes conducting the services.
He made us think of the traditional
pictures and also recalled the late
Robert Brand of Galena
I'm this wonderfully extensive sane
tuary tremendously embellished, We
viewed the place where the Saviour
was crucified, the spot where Mary
stood during that awful moment
when His soul took its flight, where
His body was prepared for burial,
where His cross was discovered and
other places Of Biblical interest in
connection with that eventual day
| What is Imported to be the tomb OF
Adam where Mark Twain dropped
tear in 1867, repOses in this church.
| We followed also nearly all OF the
fourteen stations of the journey from
the tribunal of POntius PLATE to
Calvary One of the facts to be re-
membered about Jerusalem is that the
city has been destroyed six or seven
times and that it has been necessary
to eXcavate in order to find the ruins
OF the temples and other buildings
mentioned in the Holy Writ. Thus
the home Of PLATE was several stories
DCION jUp DI GS6uI SIICSt level anu CT
this depth was found the original
pavement carved with Roman figures
including Roman chess board on
which the soldiers played that ancient
ana moueln game.
I'VE were fortunate in the time Of
our visit to the wailing place of the
IS &c Friday is rhe day when they
congregate there to read the lamen-
~, G - " 61
and bewail the fate Of their race,
p aging at the same time for the re-
st0ration Of their rights and privl-
leges. They dress in their best APP
,oaring in velvet gaberdine dresses.
The men wearing ringlets at each side
D. CneIr ioI euGaus while all about
them in the narrow lane the young
sters vociferously solicit "bakshish."
The Jews seem frightfully poor but
we have seen nothing of the diseases
with which they are reported to be
comonly afflicted
I'VE of course visited Davids tomb
the upper Chamber where the last
supper was served, the pool Of
Bethesda, the Mount of Olives from
which Christ made his ascension,
Bethany. the home OF Mary and
Martha, where he so frequently stay
ed. the garden Of Gethsemane, where
we picked flowers beneath an olive
tree more than two thousand years
old, Mary's tomb, the burial place of
the Kings Of JUdea and the Mosque
of Omar which covers the site Of
SO1omOr'~ ter,nle and the holy OF
holes Many of these places are def
Ii.to4y nlo,-nou while others are lndl-
Gated wholly by tradition.
'Anothe" pleasant memory that
will always be with us was our pill
grimage 10 Bethlehem to see the spot
where our Saviour was born, the
grotto, where he was concealed prior
to the fight to Egypt, the place where
the shepherds watched their fiocks
and the field where Ruth CLEANED and
fell in love with BoaZ. At the Dead
Sea we looked upon Nebo and the
mountains of Moab where Moses was
laid to rest, forded the brook Cher