Evening star., 1948-06-27
Donqers on Old Testament Road
Told by Woman in Lebanon

times. The Egyptians and the Hit
tites used 1t. 1t has been paralleled
by more strategic, military route.
A photograph of section OF the
old road, called La Route des
Cedres," could not be reproduced
here, but it showed the road to be
very steep with many switchbacks
and hairpin turns. The letter con-
tinues:
Until our cooking staff was in
stalled I stayed down in Beirut for
four days, coming up every day to
receive stuff and keep the cleaning
crew going. 1t was bitterly cold.
It showed, hailed, rained, blew. We
had rainbows in between. AS this is
a summer hotel, there was no
heating except for the one little oil
stove I had brought up. When I
took time off to- rest I sat wrapped
in furs and woolens.
by nothing less than a miracle
we opened March 8, starting of
with 80 guests. with the numbers
growing daily until we reached 10
permanent residents and as many
transients. Eventually the husbands
went from Haifa to Tripoli and came
down week ends to see their fam
lilies. Now, some of the wives have
moved to Tripoli, where fats or
messes have been prepared but we
still have plenty of guests.
Sun Sets in Mediterranean.
"We had some large wood-burning
stoves installed and various other
methods of heating the rooms. 1t
remained very cold until the last OF
April with rain and hail storms
and then spring came! The terraces
budded forth with the glory of
olive, fig and mulberry trees and
the crops sprouted their various
lovely greens Now the view over
the red-tiled roofs of the villages to
Beirut and to the sea Isl kaleido-
scope OF color. The hotel stands out
on a point and at night Beirut
sparkles as if it were wearing a
necklace of diamonds.
"On the other side we have broad
terraces, with children's Fairgrounds
set up at one end. We look down
across these terraces into a deep
wadi valley and over the villages
nesting into the folds of the hills
to Mount Keneiseh and Mount
Sunnin with their snow caps. In
the evening when the sun gets low
before setting in the Mediterranean
it floods the hillsides with a pure
gold light, breath -takingly beautiful,
and the mountains are rosy, then
purple and blue. Just now the
moonlight turns the whole into an
enchanting fairyland.
I'VE have our troubles. such as
training the staff to meet Iraq
Petroleum Co.'S Standards lights
failing because of rain flooding the
cables Qaid on the ground) and a
landslide which covered up the
spring in the hills that supplies our
water. The man in the village who
turns the water taps on and off
(water is always rationed to each
village occasionally has to be
"sWeetened" by bakshish. He puts
the screws on us from time to time
and runs short of water.
Everything, as matter of
course, is done by the bakshish
method. Yet there is something
surprisingly lovely about this coun-
try and its people are tremendously
likeable and fine.
Last year this time I was putting
my feet on American soil and If my
luck holds I'll be doing 1t again
next year. Much bad feeling has de-
veloped against the Americans out
here. Hitherto, we have been pro-
foundly respected and extremely
popular. Many Palestinian Arabs
of substance have fled from Haifa,
leaving their places of business.
their homes and all but their most
cherished trinkets behind them. ]
wonder what the end will be?"