Beverly banner. [volume] (Beverly, N.J.) 1877-1964, 1925-04-10

slowly from under the arch of the gate He was
the sheik of Hebron; 5000 men, Hussein Effendi
whispered, were In his family; 5000 men, what
you say, like one After him came more mounted
gendarmes cluster of green and yellow ban
ners bearing Arabic names and surmounted with
brass crescents rough circle of chanting men
stopped before us and lifted their voices in a long
reclamation of the Arab army, every line of which
ended with the thrustng high of naked scimitars
and walking sticks. Hussein Efendi in his Euro
pean clothes, leaped from his chair into the CEN
ter of them, gave them vive la for larmee Arabe
e and another and another and another, until the
perspiration dripped from his forehead and the
veins stood out his neck and the naked scimi-
tars and walking sticks leaped into the air again
and again and again So religion in Jerusalem
slips across the shadowy line which divides II from
politics.
1t took an hour for the rest of the pilgrims to
pass us and we finally followed the fife and drum
corps Of the Manchester regiment, which marked
their end, to the gate of the Haram-esh-Sherif.
Those who know Jerusalem far better than know
It agree that in point of outward physical beauty
the city contains nothing which compares, In the
spacious majesty of its setting, with the great
Haram-esh- Sheriff. 1t consists of one of those
great open spaces in which Islam loves to impiant
its shrines of the exquisite Dome of the Rock in
the center of the area of the Mosque el-Aksa
along its further side and of minor bits, pupits.
fountains expresses, which stand at irregular In
teryals throughout the rest of the area without
marring the effect of space
By 10 O'Clock in the morning, the floor of the
rotunda of the church crowded with the Chris
tendon of the Orient Above, the little galleries
on the walls of the rotunda were crowded with
foreigners The din down on the floor continu-
al 1t was not the hum of many voices, but
roughly rhythmic chanting into which the voices
nyoluntarily resolved themselves, ocean of
sound which broke on ones ears-in heavily
stressed measure-La la La La la La La La
NO wa 81 IT'S height |
her an anxious vice consul who had witnessed the
scene many times before whispering at my elbow,
"Anythjng can happen in the next five minutes"
With a gesture of savage exultance the priest
drew from the hole in the side of the sepucher
a flaming torch and, turning dashed through the
opened lane and disappeared out the door, where
swift runners were waiting outside to carry the
HOLY Fire to Bethlehem, Jericho, Nablus and other
towns of Palestine Before the 1t car
ried also to Jaffa where ships waiting to
hurry it to Odessa, whence 1t was used to kindle
candles throughout Holy Russia.
One of the two men in white now stood before
the hole In the sepulcher lifting second flaming
torch Toward him the frenzied crowd surged.
stretching out their candles to light them at the
Holy Fire Candle by candle jets of fame rushed
through the rotunda until the sea of heads was
alive with dots OF Pickering yellow and the air
that Law above was hazy with thin blue tallow
smoke Candles lifted to the balconies by
ropes and the heavy lamps above set flicker
ing with yellow light The great tall rotunda was
set a-sparkle
The gendarmes gathered fercely around as the
patriarch staggered out of the sepulcher clutch
Ing flaming tapers and half carried, struggling
and swaying, through the of the orthodox
cathedral up to the safety of the High Altar. The
rotunda was filed with shouting, with the flicker
of flame against a background of dark stone. All
that day little groups of eastern Christians stood
talking in the streets with burning candles