The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1947-01-24

the place and the number of
which now escapes memory
which has reference to the
wandeIngs Of the tribes of
Israel The psalm describes the
speaker, or singer. who repre-
sents the voice of the Jewish
people. as sitting down some
where "by the waters of Ba-
bylon' and thinking back to
the legendary homeland from
which the tribes had been dis
pcrsed. The singer cries: eff
forget thee. oh Jerusalem. may
my right hand lose her Gtrn-
ming, may my tongue cleave 10
the roof OF mv mouth /"
II forget thee. oh Jerusa-
lem -. One knows instructive
ly that these words mean a
great deal more than they say.
For they do not refer only to
Jerusalem, nor only to the cx-
periences of the Jewish tribes
in faf-off Asia Minor thous-
ands of years ago. They say
something about mans time
less and universal experience
upon earth. They refer not
only to Jerusalem, but to all
of the deeply loved and lost
experiences that have happen
ed to all mankind, and which
happen in the lives of each
man. These words refer to
mans dream of goodness, his
desire to raise himself from
the beats; to live in honor.
justice, love and mercy; and
they testify also to his eternal
and tragic failure to do so,
his perpetuallv repeated be-
tfayal of himself, of his friends.
and of his conscience. He is
dispersed and driven by the
winds and storms of his own
nature He is wanderer in the
land of Baby Ion. He is forever
papehed, forever wcarV with
aimless travelling. Forever
longing to return to the coln-
try of faith and innocence. He
is lost 10 that country. But he
is never completely lost, over
SO long as yearning stirs with
in him. and voice whispers
quietly in his blood, oh Jeru-
salem. z
Mans conscience is his Jeru-
salem; in spiritual sense. In
the sense of place, time. geo.
graphy, Jerusalem is apt to
be has home town. And his
hometown is also involved with
the other meaning of JerusaI-
EN- also, for it was there
where the experiences occur
red which shaped his mind.
soul and personality: or to
look upon it as the ancient pa-
gan Greeks did, which shaped
his fate.
BY far the great majority
of .us living in the southern
part of Jackson county were
not born here. Most of us came
in during the great migration
set in motion by the war. And
many of us can look back up
on Our home towns in central
and North Mississippi, in Ala
bRma,, in Louisiana, as the
homeland from which we have
gone wandering, Just as ma
tive of Jackson county would
laak upon our eotinties and
cities as the Babylon of his
wanderpgs.
We are only spinning tale
here, good readers We are talk.
ing to hear ourselves talk. the
way 1t is with all our inky
tribe or scribblers. Our ideas
of Babylon and Jerusalem are
perhaps little vague and
blurred around the edges. But
somehow this psalm has been
eehoing in memory. A few DAYS
ago We We're in New Orleans.
driving through the French
Quarter en- route to the High
way. which would take us
home" Home is Jackson
county But once it was New
Orleans. and there was time
when we spent thousand and
one nights in the French Quar-
Ter, IN the DAYS when news
papeFwork was new exper-
fence. and the Quarter was
still the place genii's and magic
lanterns. and miraculous piefh
el's as in tho old Arabian tales.
Some impulses this week per
suaded us to park by Jackson
Square and go into the old St.
Louis cathedral. The bells
were bonging and booming
ACROSS the square and since we
now feel like a tourist in New
Orleans, we decided to be
tourist all the way. So we
walked about the square and
the Quarter for a while then
went into the Cathedral.
A priest ia one nave of The
church was chanting PRAYERS.
Six candles burned aud two
Young alter bows knelt in rigid
Siienea haside tho Y,tiaef A