Jerusalem : its redemption and future : the great drama of deliverance described by eyewitnesses

REGIS

B1BL. M
COLLEGE.

Press Illustrating Service.

A TYPICAL COURTYARD IN JERUSALEM.

J:ERUS.ALE,M

Its Redemption and Future

THE GREAT DRAMA OF DELIVERANCE
DESCRIBED BY EYEWITNESSES

BY

MME. BEN YEHUDAH
PROF. KEMPER FULLERTON
PROF. EDGAR J. BANKS
LIEUT.-COL. J. S. WARDLAW-MILNE
PROF. GEORGE L. ROBINSON, Pn.D.
DR. JOHN H. FINLEY
THEODORE WATERS

NEW YORK

THE CHRISTIAN HERALD

54688

D

• 7

JN

Copyright, 1918
BY THE CHRISTIAN HERALD

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. WHEN THE WAR CAME TO PALESTINE . . 3

A Dramatic Story of the Long Siege, Sufferings, Persecu-
tions, and Ultimate Relief of the Holy City— A Glorious
Hannucca of Joy and Gladness. By Mme. Hemda Ben
Yehudah.

II. JERUSALEM — THE WORLD CITY AND THE
WORLD WAR 65

By Professor Kemper Fullerton, Oberlin Graduate
School of Theology.

III. THE " EDEN LAND " AND THE LANDS OF
BIBLE HISTORY 107

How They are Affected by the World-war— The Morning
Land of the Race and Its Future Development. By
Professor Edgar J. Banks.

IV. THE KEY TO THE WORLD-WAR . . . 135

By Lieut. Col. J. S. Wardlaw-Milne, of the British Meso-
potamian Campaign.

V. THE JEWISH AGRICULTURAL COMMUNITIES
OP PALESTINE 157

The Development of Edom and Mt. Sen-. By George L.
Robinson, Ph.D., McCormick Theological Seminary.

VI. SHALL PALESTINE BE HELD IN TRUST BY THE
NATIONS? 185

An Interview with Dr. John H. Finley, Head of the
Red Cross Commission to Palestine.

VII. PALESTINE AFTER THE WAR .... 191

The Jerusalem of To-day, Its Many Nationalities and
Religions; Its Picturesqueness, and Its Poverty — Char-
acteristics of the Holy City and Its Present Population.
By Theodore Waters, of the Christian Herald Staff.
vii

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

A TYPICAL COURTTABD IN JERUSALEM . . ^Frontispiece
MOHAMMEDAN PROCESSION OF PILGRIMS APPROACHING THE

MOSQUE EL AKHSA 6

GENERAL ALLENBT'S ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM AFTER ITS FALL 22

ARMENIAN REFUGEES LEAVING JERUSALEM FOR PORT SAID . 38

SYRIAN REFUGEES ON THE STEPS OF DAVID'S TOWER, JERUSALEM 54
BY NOON THEY CAME WITH EVERY KIND OF VESSEL FOR FOOD

AT THE SOUP KITCHEN 70

THE PLACE CALLED GETHSEMANE 85

CANAL AT BUSREH, AMONG THE DATE GARDENS IN "EDEN

LAND" 102

WAITING THE OPENING OF A COFFEE RELIEF STATION . .118
ANCIENT TIBERIAS, ON THE SEA OF GALILEE, OCCUPIED BY

GEN. ALLENBY'S FORCES 134

DAMASCUS, CAPTURED WITH ITS GARRISON OF 7000 MEN . 134

ZICHON YAKOL. A MODEL JEWISH AGRICULTURAL COLONY . 150

PRUNING A LEMON TREE 150

THE RIVER JORDAN 166

REFUGEES AWAITING FOOD SUPPLIES AT A RELIEF DEPOT IN

JERUSALEM 182

A LACE-MAKING MADONNA 198

IN THE LACE WORKS, JERUSALEM, SUPPORTED BY THE CHRIS-
TIAN HERALD . 214

FOREWORD

ONLY forty years ago, Palestine was, for the
Jews, "The Holy Land," the object of de-
vout pilgrimages. Pious Jews traveled to
Jerusalem to pass their last days in prayer and in
preparation for death.

With those who came to Jerusalem to die, there
were a few young souls — children who had accom-
panied their aged parents or friends who refused
to be separated. They grew up and lived the life
of old people.

At this time, the entire population of Jews in
Palestine, including the Sephardim, other groups of
native Hebrews, and all the young and old together,
numbered not more than 30,000 souls. Most of
them were supported by the "Hallucca," a fund
composed of the voluntary offerings of the Jewish
world to perpetuate the service of prayer in the
Holy Land.

However, in the midst of this life, which was lived
in the anticipation of death, a new germ appeared.
A few ardent and intellectual young Jews arrived
in Palestine, possessed with another spirit. They
desired to live and dwell in the land of their fathers,
to sow the seed and plant the vine, and to awaken
in the heart of their own people the fire of the
ancient Maccabees.

The old religious men were hostile to this move-
ment with which the younger generation became

iii

iv FOKEWORD

associated, little by little. The first land was bought,
the first colonies were founded, and supported later
on by the Baron de Rothschild. Immediately, by
a decree from Constantinople, the Turkish govern-
ment prohibited all Jewish colonization and all im-
migration of Jews into Palestine. Nevertheless,
numbers of Jews continued to arrive and the colonies
prospered.

The pure air of Palestine vibrated again with the
accents of the Hebrew language after a silence of

2000 years.

to * •

The story of the beginning of the great Trans-
formation— the rebirth of Palestine and the redemp-
tion of Jerusalem — is told in this book in language
which in many passages recalls the fervor of the
ancient Jewish writers and seers. It will be read
with intense interest and appreciation by all who
love the Land which has been rendered sacred to
Christians everywhere by the holiest memories and
associations.

Of the contributors to the volume it may be said,
briefly, that all have been chosen for the work be-
cause of their intimate knowledge of the ancient
Bible Lands and more especially of Palestine itself.

Madame Ben Yehudah is a native of Palestine,
a lady of literary distinction and the wife of one
of the ablest Hebrew scholars now living, whose
patriotism caused him to become an exile. She is
the first Jewish writer to describe the historic scenes
at the Capitulation of Jerusalem — scenes in which
she was herself a participant.

Professor Kemper Fullerton writes from personal

FOREWORD v

experience of the conditions and hardships suffered
during the long months while an enforced exodus
of all foreigners was in progress, before the crisis
which ended in capitulation.

Professor Banks, one of the best known of our
American orientalists, has traveled extensively in
the "Eden Land" and throughout Mesopotamia, and
writes from personal acquaintance with conditions
and an intimate knowledge of the races from Bagdad
to the Bosphorus.

Mr. Waters, a member of the Christian Herald
staff, who was called to special service in Palestine,
vividly records his impressions of Jerusalem as he
found it after the Capitulation.

Lieutenant Colonel Wardlaw-Milne is a British
officer who has held important positions in the
Indian and Mesopotamian service, and who knows
the Near East thoroughly. His contribution en-
titled: "The Key to the War" is especially timely,
as it tells of the wide scope of the plans of Great
Britain and her Allies in relation to the establish-
ment and safeguarding of the future autonomy, not
only of Palestine, but of all the races of the Near
East. It is a scheme which opens up a new era for
all of the ancient Bible Lands — an era of progress
and development and of absolute independence of
Turkish and German tyranny, from which they have
suffered in the past. These lands are now facing the
sunrise of freedom and enlightenment and progress,
and their liberation must therefore be viewed as one
of the most glorious results of the great world-war.

I

WHEN THE WAR CAME TO PALESTINE

The Real Story of the Long Siege, Sufferings, Persecutions, and

Ultimate Relief of the Holy City— A Glorious

Hannucca of Joy and Gladness.

BY MME. HEMDA BEN YEHUDAH

I

PALESTINE BEFORE THE WAR
BY MME. BEN YEHUDAH

IN 1913, the year before the War, the 35th
year from the beginning of the Jewish Na-
tional movement in Palestine, first under the
terrible regime of Sultan Abdul Hamid and later
under the Young Turkish Constitution — Jewish life
in Palestine began to define itself as national in
character.

The number of Jews in the Holy Land had in-
creased approximately to 150,000. In the principal
cities, Jerusalem, Safed, Tiberias, the Hebrews
formed the majority of the population, counting
80,000 in Jerusalem alone. In Judea, Samaria, and
Galilee they were in possession of extensive lands, and
they had founded over 60 colonies. (A Jewish
colony consisted of a town and adjacent territory,
or it might be composed of only a group of houses
and surrounding fields.)

The Jewish colonies were the marvel of the
natives. From afar off, the houses could be seen
rising in the midst of verdure, like oases in a desert.
The dwellings were well constructed. The wide
streets were adorned with dignified public buildings,
schools and hospitals.

Domestic industries had arisen, including wine,
3

4 JERUSALEM

silk worms, olive oil and soap. Orange, almond and
apricot orchards charmed the eye. The perfume
plantations of roses, geraniums, and other flowers
resembled a paradise. Cultivated fields extended so
far that the aspect was like a sea of verdure, where
formerly had been the desert wilderness.

Machine shops and factories were opened for the
production of articles of building construction,
household utensils, and agricultural implements.
Arts and crafts were developed: knitting, weaving,
basketry, metal work, lace, pottery, wood carving,
jewelry. Commerce increased. The oranges,
almonds, and especially the wines of Palestine won
renown in the markets of Egypt, and on distant
shores.

Jews from various parts of the world began to
unite in the Holy Land and to become assimilated.
Thus a new and healthy generation sprang into
being — straight, well formed, filled with the pride
of race and love of country.

The Hebrew tongue was the common language of
this generation, and fired the Hebrew soul with
patriotism.

The Old Turkish government under Abdul Hamid
made no objection to this development of the Hebrew
language, which they considered of "no importance."
But they systematically impeded the progress of
the Jews in every other direction. They issued de-
crees against Jewish ownership of land and coloniza-
tion, against the planting of orchards, and the
drainage of marshes.

On the other hand, the Young Turks granted
some measure of liberty to the Israelites, but in-

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 5

sisted that Turkish should be made the principal
language of the country.

However, these decrees of the ancient regime and
of the modern Young Turks were only on paper.
The regulations were never fully enforced.

Bakshish and camouflage admitted the advance of
Israel.

The attitude of the Foreign Powers was different.

The French, who were popular in all Turkey, in-
cluding Palestine, insisted upon the propagation of
the French language throughout the country and
the French Jews in their schools sustained this
movement with ardor. Russia, anxious to extend
her influence in the Holy Land, erected over a hun-
dred schools where Russian was spoken, but most
of the pupils were Arabs. Italian was the language
of Italian schools.

The English were behind hand in this campaign
of education. However, aside from the Christian
Mission schools, there was one establishment for
girls in Jerusalem (the Evelina de Rothschild
school) where the children were zealously instructed
in the Anglo-Saxon tongue.

In the midst of this rivalry, the Germans pos-
sessed the desire to dominate and to establish German
Kultur in Palestine.

All these foreign efforts seemed to be at variance
with the one language really beloved by the Jews,
their own Hebrew, which expressed their own spirit
and interior life.

A conflict was inevitable between the Jews dom-
inated by foreign influence and those who strove
to develop the National life.

6 JERUSALEM

The Nationalists were ardent in spirit, and al-
though material wealth and power united on the
opposing side, they wrung concessions from the
foreign parties and above all from the Germans.
Hebrew was not merely introduced in all the schools
of the Hilfsverein of German Jews. It became the
chief medium of instruction, and the Nationalists
exerted all their powers to inspire the children with
devotion for their national language and to make
it supreme. Thousands of children chattered and
sang Hebrew on the streets going to school. Hebrew
became so popular that even some Moslem and
Christian children were sent to the Jewish schools.

Many public buildings were erected, of which some
of the most important were the German edifices,
the Augusta Victoria Memorial on the Mount of
Olives, and the Deutsche Katholische Hospiz near
the Damascus gate.

However, a change was taking place. Instead
of the usual ragged Turkish soldiers, one remarked
the larger number of well equipped military, in-
cluding officers in fine uniforms. The public sup-
posed that the Young Turks were making reforms
in the army, but it was singular that the improve-
ments failed to extend to the civil administration;
the Turkish Post Office and the railroad and tele-
graph system were remarkably inefficient.

It was reported that the Military Centre was
being transferred from Damascus to Jerusalem, and
the inhabitants of the Holy City rejoiced with a
sense of greater importance and prestige.

Between the separated elements of the population
amicable reunions took place where Moslems, Jews,

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 7

and Christians met together in one another's institu-
tions.

There was a remarkable harmony between the
various Jewish divisions; the devout orthodox, the
free thinkers, and the Nationalists, now called Zion-
ists, all seemed in accord.

The various Jewish schools united in reunions for
festivals and excursions, under the one flag of the
Zionists, and speaking one common language —
Hebrew.

There was a general sense of happiness and
prosperity.

The Jews awaited the opening of their fine Poly-
technic schools at Haifa as an auspicious event, an
expression of the Jewish National idea before the
world, a demonstration of Hebrew as a living lan-
guage.

These Polytechnic schools had been erected by
Jewish contributions from all over the world, but
especially from Russia, America and Germany.
The curatorium was directed by a committee in
Berlin. Instruction in Hebrew had been assured.

Therefore, when a courier arrived from Berlin,
announcing that the instruction should be in Ger-
man, the news was like a thunderbolt.

The indignant Zionists demanded that the German
Jewish director (Ephraim Cohen) should go im-
mediately to Berlin to reverse the decision. Mr.
Cohen refused and advised submission. The Zionists
united in a huge mass meeting and sent public reso-
lutions of protest to Berlin.

The reply from Berlin was to the effect that not
only in the new Polytechnic, but also in all German

8 JERUSALEM

Jewish schools in Palestine, henceforth the instruc-
tion would be in German, and Hebrew would be
relegated to a secondary place. This declaration
caused a revolution in the German Jewish schools.
The professors went on a strike. The children tore
up their German books and strewed them in the
streets, crying that they would never return to the
schools where their beloved Hebrew had been so
insulted. Jewish parents took part in the demon-
stration. Moslems and Christians increased the
agitation ; the German director summoned the Turk-
ish gendarmerie.

This caused consternation. The Consul General
of Germany, Dr. Schmidt, who was present, ad-
dressed the children saying: "My children, what are
you trampling upon?" They cried: "German books !
German copies ! down with the German ! We want
Hebrew, our own language!" The good old consul
had been 20 years in office, and he loved the Jews.
Now he saw that the Germans had overshot their
mark and aroused the wrath of the Zionists. He,
personally, would have yielded the point. But the
German director was firm and finally called for aid
from Dr. Paul Nathan, the German Jewish General
Inspector of schools, from Berlin. He was "by
chance" in Egypt, and he arrived on the scene in
twenty-four hours, and installed himself in the
Augusta Victoria Memorial on the Mount of Olives.
All the "pourparlers" between the parties at strife
were conducted through him, and to him the teach-
ers of the Hilfsverein schools presented their col-
lective memoranda.

The text of this document follows:

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 9

MEMORIAL OF THE HILFSVEREIN TEACHERS

Jerusalem, November, 1913.
Dear Dr. Nathan:

This memorial is sent to you in the name of all the teachers and
principals of the Hilfsverein schools in Jerusalem. For years most
of us have been active in Palestine; we have participated from the
very beginning in the evolution of modern Jewish settlement here;
from our personal observation, we are accurately acquainted with the
conditions of the country. Our familiarity with the land and the
people has led us to the unanimous conviction that Hebrew has a
well-founded claim to be introduced as the language of instruction
in all subjects taught in all schools of the Hilfsverein in Palestine.
On the strength of this conviction we decided at our teachers'
meeting to send a memorial to the leaders of the Hilfsverein, the
founders of our school system; and we cherished the confident hope
that the Hilfsverein, which has repeatedly asserted the aim of its
school system to be the strengthening of the Jewish Yishub in the
country and the prevention of emigration, will recognize the justice
of our view. We shall consider the language question from all sides,
and state the reasons that have led us to our conviction. We do
so in the hope that the leaders of the Hilfsverein will heed the opinion
of those to whom they have until now entrusted the interests of their
schools, and who, for their part, have honestly endeavored to promote
these institutions and help them attain their present high degree
of excellence.

First of all we would state that we consider it an absolute necessity
for a portion of the city children completing the elementary course
to learn a European tongue that will enable them to get into intel-
lectual and commercial touch with the civilized world and will
broaden then* view by a knowledge of its literature. If they study
such a language at all, they should acquire complete mastery of it.

The question then is, in what way this object is best to be attained
— whether in the natural, direct way of learning the language itself
by giving it the necessary time and energy, or by an indirect method.
If a language with which the pupils are not thoroughly familiar
is used as the medium of instruction in various subjects, the result
is a confounding of instruction in the subject itself with instruction

10 JERUSALEM

in the language. The places a hindrance in the way of the child's
intellectual development. From psychological, pedagogical, and
national considerations, such a method must be condemned.

Under normal conditions the child entering school speaks a mother
tongue which serves during his tutelage as the means by which he
acquires all knowledge. He understands naturally what the teacher
says to him. The teacher must develop his mental abilities and
enlarge the field of his vision. In this case language instruction
has only the one object, of enabling the child to express himself
faultlessly both in speaking and writing. The child's spiritual
harmony is not disturbed. He knows he possesses the language
that will lead him rung by rung up the ladder of development.
When the pupil grows older, and learns another language, he dis-
tinguishes between his mother tongue, in which he feels and thinks,
and the foreign tongue, which he has learned for a definite, practical
purpose.

In Palestine, where Jews from all countries of the globe have con-
gregated and brought different jargons, a worse confusion of languages
has arisen than anywhere else. To overcome this evil, the Hilf sverein
did well to introduce Hebrew as the sole language in the kindergartens
and the lowest classes of all its schools. As it is, every child learns
Hebrew from its earliest years for religious reasons.

It would be natural if the same system were maintained in the
upper classes; but that is not the case in our schools.

When the pupil reaches the classes where some branches are
taught in German, both the teacher and the pupils find themselves
in a difficult position. The subject is not taught in a language
which the pupil has completely mastered, but in another language,
which he has just begun to learn and of which he does not possess
sufficient knowledge.

Clearly, such instruction is not practical. It is necessarily forced
and unnatural, since the teacher must be guided not by the require-
ments of the subject, but by the poor vocabulary of his pupils. The
constant repetition necessitated by the pupil's imperfect under-
standing of the languages results in loss of time and in lack of interest
in the subject. No matter how much trouble is taken, the pupils
acquire only hazy ideas, and so superficiality and sciolism are
encouraged. The subject suffers by being taught in an unfamiHar
language.

At the same tune, it almost always happens that the teacher, who

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 11

must have his mind fixed on the subject, cannot pay proper attention
to the sort of language the pupils use. Thus, the pupils, especially
those who speak the German-Jewish jargon in their homes, become
accustomed to faulty expressions.

This alone explains the remarkable phenomenon that, in spite
of all our efforts, we cannot get the pupils to acquire complete mastery
of German.

The instruction of history and the sciences in a foreign language,
instead of helping to a perfect knowledge of that language, only does
harm by encouraging its slipshod use. Thus, the subject to be
taught suffers through the language, and the language suffers through
the subject.

The pupil also suffers. He is burdened, oppressed. So far from
love of knowledge being fostered, the reverse is true. Nor can the
pupil acquire genuine love of the language that has placed so many
hindrances in his way.

The conditions arising when certain branches have been taught
for a number of years in one language and then are taught in another,
are very peculiar. There is no small loss of time and energy. All
the technical expressions have to be learned anew, and the unity
of the language of instruction in a given branch is thereby interrupted,
that unity of instruction of the pedagogical necessity of which the
president of the Hilfsverein himself recently spoke.

Der Hilfsverein der Deutschen Juden has always asserted that its
activity is adapted to the needs and conditions of the different lands
in which it works — a very valuable, important principle, showing
refined consideration of the people in question. In the language
problem, too, it is of course the purpose of the Hilfsverein to take
into account the conditions among the Jews of Palestine. They
are divided into various communities, groups and strata, though the
division is not necessarily the consequence of deep-seated differences
among them. It results chiefly from the number of languages
employed, which hinders a common understanding between them in
the simplest matters. Even in relation to the authorities we con-
stitute communities and not a community.

The only way of overcoming this evil is by making Hebrew, which
all regard as sacred, the one language of intercourse. After the great
progress it has made within the last few years, it is the one language
that has the chance of becoming the sole medium of intercourse.

That is the only method of eliminating the differences prevailing

12 JERUSALEM

among the various strata of Jews in Palestine. It is high time for
a union to be brought about between the Sephardic, Ashkenazic,
Moroccan, Yemenite, and Bokharan groups, unless we would per-
manently constitute a negligible quantity in Palestine.

On the other hand, by spreading the use of different foreign lan-
guages among the masses, we should only be creating new lines of
division.

There is imperious need in the land for good mechanics, small
trades-people, industrious peasants, modest, industrious wives and
mothers.

While the goal of our endeavors is to strengthen the elements that
hope to spend their future in the country, we are, as a matter of
fact, creating an intellectual proletariat that will not take root
in the land.

On this point a few statistics are enlightening. Of a hundred
pupils entering the lowest classes of our schools, only twenty-five
complete the course. The remaining seventy-five leave at an early
age without having acquired a rounded education. To this larger
number of our children a foreign language is of no use. In fact,
it produces discontent among them and estranges them from their
environment.

Consequently, though we are endeavoring to increase the number
that will remain and take root here, we are, as a matter of fact,
by our measures increasing the number of those eager to leave the
country. With our right hand we destroy the work of our left hand.
The system is still less to be recommended for the education of girls,
who at present have no position in the business and social life of our
country.

As for the Teachers Seminary, there is a particular reason why
in it all branches should be taught in Hebrew. The teachers here
trained are destined to teach in Hebrew in elementary schools. Now,
if in the Seminary they do not acquire even a Hebrew terminology,
they are by this very fact insufficiently equipped. Every teacher
is then obliged to make linguistic experiments in his school. The
result is confusion and distortion of the language.

Finally, we would emphasize that from our Jewish national point
of view we see in Hebrew the most important factor in the realization
of our Palestinian ambitions. Are we not striving to obtain a posi-
tion in the land of our fathers worthy of our people? Do we not
wish to enjoy the esteem and privileges of a nation sufficient unto

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 13

itself? Or would we be satisfied to pass for a heterogeneous, polyglot
crowd? We can become a homogeneous nation only if we substitute
one language in place of the many dialects and jargons. That will
be the sole way of converting ourselves from an inarticulate element
into a stable, national element in Palestine.

The revival of the Hebrew language, therefore, is an ideal giving
content to our life. Our schools must help in the advancement
of this ideal in a still higher degree than heretofore.

Our children must know that they belong to an ancient civilized
race, whose language enjoys high esteem in the civilized world.
They must not receive the impression that our national speech is
ill-adapted to the use of a civilized people. The school, therefore,
should not hinder the development of the Hebrew language. On
the contrary, it should be the very first to serve in the Hebrew revival
going on before our very eyes.

Nevertheless, the study of German will by no means suffer in the
schools of the Hilfsverein. In fact, it will be cultivated more than
before, and those pupils who expect to use German later on in life
will be allowed to devote the necessary time and energy to its study.

But our children should receive their general education in our9
in their, language.

As a result of these opinions, the outcome of many years' occupa-
tion with the school question, we have come to the following
conclusion:

That Hebrew has a well-grounded right to be introduced into our
schools as sole language of instruction in all branches.

We hope that the Hilfsverein der Deutschen Juden, which has
contributed so much to the development of Hebrew through the
establishment of kindergartens and elementary schools, will look
with favor upon our opinion and our wishes as herein expressed.

In this way the Hilfsverein der Deutschen Juden will show the Jewish
world in general, and Palestinian Jewry in particular, that it has
been chosen by Providence to re-establish the language of our fathers
in the land of our fathers during the renaissance of our people.

Respectfully submitted,

Signers for the Teachers Seminary: David Yellin, prorector of the
Teachers Training School and the Commercial High School and
instructor in the Lamel School; Joseph Mejohas, A. M. Lipschitz.

Signer for the Edler von Lamel School: Joseph Riwlin.

14 JERUSALEM

Signers for the Girls' School: Vera Pinczower, Principal of the
Girls' School; Ch. L. Sutta, Principal of the Training School for
Kindergartners.

Mr. Ben Yehudah, the reviser of the Hebrew Lan-
guage and the author of the Great Hebrew Diction-
ary "Thesaurus Totius Hebraitatis," wrote a
historic letter to Dr. Nathan, saying that the Jews
would never surrender the privilege of their language
because it was the principle of their national ex-
istence and if one dared to open the Polytechnicum
in German, blood would flow.

Dr. Nathan invited Ben Yehudah to an interview
and begged him to influence the Zionists to submit,
"in order," he said, "that the schools should be
saved and all this new life should not be destroyed."

The interview proved ineffectual. The writer,
who knew Dr. Nathan for years, since he had aided
the publication of Ben Yehudah's dictionary, con-
ceived a diplomatic idea, and with the consent of the
professors, she made her proposal known to Dr.
Nathan. His reply was to the effect that Ben
Yehudah must betray his party. Madame Ben
Yehudah replied: "Then the people would stone him
— and I myself would cast the first stone !"

Dr. Nathan rejoined with bitterness: "Very well!
But remember! that you destroy with your own
hands all that you have built for thirty years, not
one stone will remain upon another of all your
beautiful colonies!"

The Zionists considered these words as empty
threats, and all negotiations proving useless, they
proceeded to open Nationalist schools of their own.

The German institutions were deserted except by

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 15

a few feeble adherents, and children whose parents
had been bribed.

Now the Jews were divided in two hostile camps.
The war spirit affected even the children who called
their small German comrades "traitors." Even in
the German orphanages the struggle continued. One
child wrote to his Hebrew professors from whom
he had been separated: "Come and deliver us from
this German fortress!" Another child went mad.

The orphans revolted against the German
Director, who came to light the sacred candles at
the feast of Hannucca in 1913. They cried: "You
traitor, you have no right to illumine our sacred
lights!" They shut their eyes and stuck their
ears. The Director threatened and they wept. On
the second day when he arrived, the children with
one accord rushed out of the room and into the
courtyard.

The Director in anger cried: "You cursed chil-
dren ! You shall have no more lights at Hannucca !"

On the next day when the hour arrived for the
sacred illumination, the orphans were in darkness.
But news of their conflict had become known, and
now behold a procession of Zionists accompanied by
Christians and Moslems and black Abyssinians, ap-
peared in the darkness before the windows of the
orphanage, bearing a glorious seven-branched
candlestick which they proceeded to light. Then
a loud voice uttered the prescribed prayers in
Hebrew, and the imprisoned orphans within the
walls made the responses in Hebrew. It was so
touching that even the German Director was moved
to tears !

16 JERUSALEM

After this, the outward agitations subsided — but
the breach was not healed. Even those who tried
to remain neutral were obliged to take sides. The
Jewish youth declared for the Nationalists. The
Turkish government advised the Zionists not to
persecute their adversaries. The Turkish Director
of Public Instruction favored the German Hilfs-
verein schools.

However, the season was prosperous, the harvests
were promising, and there was an unusual flood of
tourists. Among the visitors, arrived the Baron
Edmund de Rothschild, the celebrated patron of the
Jewish colonies. The Baron and the Baroness de
Rothschild landed from their yacht at their port
of Tamtura. The Jewish youths and maidens went
to meet them clothed in the national colors, white
and blue, and mounted on horseback.

The Baron was moved to tears and cried: "Pass
all before me that my eyes may behold you every-
one— I was not expecting to see Jewish amazons!"

The populace of Jerusalem received Baron Roth-
schild with greater honors than they had bestowed
on Emperor William himself.

The Zionists created a National Guard to sur-
round him. Nevertheless the Baron did not escape
the surveillance of German spies, who reported the
favors accorded to Zionists.

Other eminent visitors were Julius Rosenwald and
Mrs. Rosenwald who paid almost exclusive atten-
tion to the Nationalists. Finally there arrived in
Jerusalem Mr. Morgenthau, the American Am-
bassador to Turkey, and Mrs. Morgenthau.

All the foreign powers as well as the Turkish

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 17

officials in Jerusalem, did homage to the Jewish
representative of the United States, and this in-
creased the prestige of the Hebrews in the Holy
City.

The Ambassador was impressed by the renaissance
of Jewish life in Palestine, but he regretted the in-
ternecine conflict over the language question.

Mr. and Mrs. Morgenthau gave a great dinner
to which the most eminent Moslems and Christians
and the noted Jews of the opposing parties were
invited.

Several diplomatic speeches were made regarding
the amicable relations between Jews, Moslems and
Christians, America and Turkey, but the two sepa-
rate companies among the Jews remained divided.

The tourist season was followed by the harvest,
which was especially blessed and plentiful, and the
Jews completed their 1856th year of exile.

Devout Jews assembled on the Fast of Ab, at
the Wailing place where they were accustomed to
assemble year after year, to mourn the Destruction
of Jerusalem.

They watered the ancient foundation stones with
their tears and entreated the Lord God of Hosts,
saying: "Turn thou us unto Thee, O Lord, and
we shall be turned. Renew our days as of old!"

In this prayer, all Jewish hearts of all the world
unite. In the utterance of this prayer one era was
terminated, and a new era was ushered in — for upon
this very day of the Fast of Ab, the Great War
was declared in Europe,

II

PALESTINE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE
GREAT WAR

AS sleepers suddenly awakened, the inhabitants
of Jerusalem opened their eyes with a new
comprehension concerning the recent mys-
terious events in their own country.

They perceived that the large increase of
foreigners in Jerusalem was mostly German, that
Turkish troops had assembled including many
German officers in Turkish uniform and the report
of a transfer of military centre from Damascus to
Jerusalem was a mere fiction. Now it was clear
that the conflict over Hebrew was waged in the
larger interests of German propaganda and the
threats of Dr. Paul Nathan were regarded seriously.
The tragic deeds in Belgium and France deeply
moved the people of Palestine. Only the Germans
were jubilant.

The principal daily paper of Jerusalem, "Haor,"
"The Light," edited by the Ben Yehudah, declared
openly for the Allies and exerted a great influence
over public opinion.

Friendly Turkish officials warned the Ben Yehudas
not to be over zealous for the Allied cause, an atti-
tude favorable to Germany would be more agree-
able to the Government. Only Zaki Bey, the military
commander of Jerusalem, made no attempt to in-

18

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 19

cline the populace on one side or the other. He
continued to visit the consuls of the belligerent
powers, and to frequent their institutions. Every-
where he was received with open arms, either on
account of his nobility or with regard for his future
favors. In his private office, at diplomatic dinners,
in parlor meetings, he conveyed an atmosphere of
tranquillity and assurance.

Only the Germans regarded Zaki Bey with an evil
eye. They criticised his manner of life, and made
out that he wasted his time in amusements during
these days of grave anxiety. They nicknamed him
"Der Tanz Pasha" — (the Dance Pasha).

Oriental Christians and Jews adored Zaki Bey,
and felt themselves secure under his protection.

He was a man of culture and fine breeding. He
spoke admirably both French and English, having
lived in Europe and America. Indeed he was en-
gaged to an American girl, but her parents had
objected to her marriage with a Turk, and thus
offended his national pride. It was said that he
was of Jewish ancestry, and belonged to the
"Donme," the class to which belongs also David
Bey, the present minister of finance in Turkey.

Such was Zaki Bey, the Commander of Jerusalem
in the summer and autumn of 1914.

From the beginning of the great War, Palestine
suffered, because few ships visited the native ports
and soon there was a scarcity of necessaries, either
because the goods had not arrived, or had been
hoarded by the merchants. Although Turkey her-
self was not at war, the day after the Germans
commenced hostilities in Europe, the Turks mob-

20 JERUSALEM

ilized their troops and commandeered all the horses,
camels and mules. They unharnessed the horses and
left carriages standing in the middle of the streets.
The usual means of communication were cut off.

Turkish officials visited the villages and returned
driving flocks of young men who were drafted into
the army. To arouse enthusiasm, a public ovation
was given to the drafted men on the streets.

In Jaffa there appeared a gigantic young Arab
who was surrounded by children and dervishes
flourishing naked swords. With a hoarse voice he
shouted: "Din Mahomed am bil sef !" (The religion
of Mahommed advances by the sword!) and this
refrain was repeated by the populace with savage
cries.

To inflame his followers, he cried again:

"Hadal sef bidou dam!" (This sword demands
blood!) "Allah younsour il Sultan!" (Allah pre-
serve our Sultan!)

This Arab demonstration knew no bounds, and
the common people fled in terror.

In Jerusalem, evil days were foreseen. People
began to hoard their supplies for the years ahead.

They concealed their provisions not only in
ordinary places, but by walling them up within the
huge ancient walls and stone masonry. The govern-
ment confiscated everything they found in the
shops. Poor people were left entirely destitute.

The reverse happened in the Jewish colonies, where
the representatives meeting together made regula-
tions for the future and arranged for equitable divi-
sions of the supplies, setting aside a special portion
for distribution to the poor.

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 21

When these facts became known to the govern-
ment, they sent to the Jewish colonies to take posses-
sion of the supplies; but nothing could be found.
In consequence a number of arrests were made.

In Christian communities and in religious institu-
tions there was great anxiety. One could not tell
what evil was in store for the morrow. When the
Jews addressed Pere La Grange, the superior of
the Dominican monastery at Jerusalem, begging
him to preserve in his own library a precious Hebrew
manuscript, he replied:

"I would keep it with pleasure, but I do not advise
you to leave it here, because there is no security in
our monastery. Possibly to-morrow they may expel
us, and our institution and our precious library will
be at the mercy of irresponsible persons."

The Syrian Christians were in a panic. In their
houses they hid themselves, trembling with fear and
saying that they would be the first to be massacred,
partly on account of their well known friendship for
the French and the English. The Armenians de-
clared that the greatest peril awaited them, for of a
certainty they had been marked in advance for the
slaughter. They pointed out that the Jews were
well organized and had some protectors, because at
the request of Mr. Morgenthau the United States
battleship Tennessee under the never-to-be-forgotten
Captain Decker had been sent to Palestine with sup-
plies for the Jews.

A little later on the North Carolina arrived with
Mr. Maurice Wertheim, the son-in-law of Henry
Morgenthau with $50,000 in gold for the relief of
the Jews.

22 JERUSALEM

Mr. Wertheim was so much impressed by the
renaissance of Jewish life in Palestine that on his
return to America by his public statement he greatly
increased the interest for the Jews in Palestine.

Almost everyone who could do so, left the country.

The consulates of France, England and Russia
were surrounded by spies so that anyone, even en-
tering the doors, was immediately under the sus-
picion of the Turks; while the German consulate
was the meeting place of government officials. The
headquarters of the American and Italian consuls
were neutral territory towards which the populace
looked for protection.

General consternation was caused by the news
that a decree at Constantinople announced the sup-
pression of "The Capitulations," which signified that
all the privileges accorded to foreigners in Turkey
existed no longer.

A manifesto summoned the people to gather in
the Public Gardens to hear "The great news that
Turkey had cast behind her back the shame of
foreign bondage, which she had been forced to en-
dure by the European powers for centuries."

The rejoicing of the Ottomans was so tremendous
and contagious that even those among the people
for whom the consequences were most grave were
caught in the delirious outburst of joy.

It was a pleasure to see those Ottomans who had
behaved the day before like slaves, now straighten-
ing their backs, lifting their heads, and casting looks
of pride.

Soon after, came the following consequences. The
government closed the foreign post-offices, the usual

Underwood &• Underwood, N. Y.

GENERAL ALLENBY'S ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM AFTER ITS FALL.

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 23

marks of respect were denied to foreign consuls.
To be a stranger was no longer a privilege, but
an object of opprobrium.

The Arabic signifying foreigner is "Hmaj a" ; and
"Surmaja" is the Arabic for a "shoe" or a "boot."

The street boys shouted at all foreigners:
"Hmaj a Surmaja!" which signifies: "The stranger
is put under the foot," and after these words, they
would strike off with their canes the hats of the
foreigners. The natives wore the Turkish fez,
hence a man with a hat was recognized as a stranger.

The government officials became insolent, es-
pecially in places where the High Command was
evil, notably at Jaffa where the Kaimakam (the
governor) Behad el Din, and the military com-
mander Hassan Bey knew no limits to their
wickedness.

They began by a systematic persecution of the
Jews. They arrested the Hebrews, cross-questioned
them; accused them of concealing arms; of evading
military service; of belonging to secret societies;
and of working in opposition to the government.
After being cast into prison, they were spit upon,
beaten, deprived of their watches and money, fined
heavily — and then — released !

But in Jerusalem only, where Zaki Bey held the
reins of power with an iron hand, such acts of
injustice were not yet perpetrated. Some Israelites
escaped from Jaffa and took refuge in Jerusalem.
They implored Zaki Bey to use his influence in be-
half of their suffering friends in Jaffa.

But the power of Zaki Bey was limited to Jeru-
salem and its environs.

24 JERUSALEM

The inhabitants of Jaffa realized that only a
miracle could deliver them from their tyrants! —
and this miracle really took place. Once, while in
a fit of rage, Behad el Din made the mistake of
striking a German. By a telegram to their am-
bassador at Constantinople, the Germans demanded
that he should be dismissed, and in twenty-four hours
he was deprived of his office, and sent to Damascus,
to the great relief of the Jews. However, it was
impossible to get rid of the military commander,
the wicked Hassan Bey, since he suited the Germans.

The only escape for the Jews was in flight from
the country.

From the very beginning of the war, the inhabi-
tants of Palestine cherished the hope that England
would find a pretext to take possession of Palestine,
and they were heartbroken after all their troubles
that England did not yet intervene.

The English and French warships could be seen
from afar off, passing by. The dwellers in Palestine
were tormented by fears regarding the attitude of
their Turkish government. Would the Sultan re-
main neutral or not?

From personal considerations they realized that
it was safer for them that Turkey should be neutral.

The Zionists felt that if Turkey remained neutral,
the Allies would be grateful to the Ottoman power,
but the Jews would long remain under Turkish rule,
which was becoming to them more and more un-
supportable. It was beyond all possibility for her
to side with the Allies, being herself in the grip of
Germany.

On the other hand, if Turkey combined with Ger-

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 25

many, as an enemy of England, it was the open
conviction of the Zionists that England would con-
quer Palestine, and recognize the national Jewish
aspirations. The Syrians hoped for deliverance
through France.

The Arabs only lacked a clear vision. They be-
lieved in German victory, and being very weary of
the Turkish yoke, they were content to be dominated
by the Germans. There was an Arabic saying:
"L'Almane bimschi dugri!" (The Germans are
just.)

In a conversation between a high Turkish official
and an eminent Jew, the question was asked : "Why
my friend, when you know how France has sup-
ported you in your struggle for liberty ; and how
both France and England have protected you, how
do you then turn your back and ally yourself with
Germany who will make you forever a slave? — it is
an act of suicide." The Turkish official replied:
"My friend, all that is true, but France and Eng-
land while protecting us, looked upon us from above,
and abased our national pride. It is different with
Germany, who treats us as an equal. We are proud
that such a great Power should extend her hand
and that we should fight beside her."

The Jew said : "Then you are blinded by flattery ?"

The Turk shrugged his shoulders and rejoined:
"Such is the fact ; we cannot do otherwise !"

A few days after this conversation, Turkey de-
clared war on the side of Germany.

One of the first steps was the announcement of
the "Jehad" (the Holy War). At first, one im-

26 JERUSALEM

agined that the whole Moslem population of the
world, 300,000,000 strong, would rise under the
green banner of Mahomet, and humanity itself would
be endangered.

The terror in Jerusalem was extreme. A few
courageous Jews and Christians approached certain
Mohammedans and earnestly inquired what the
Jehad would signify to themselves. The explana-
tion was brief, as follows :

"It signifies that every faithful Moslem is re-
quired to slay at least four unbelievers !"

To impress the public, the authorities ordered
forty fanatical Circassians, fully armed, to ride on
horseback through the streets of Jerusalem.
Silently they passed, brandishing naked scimitars.
This was to the inhabitants of Jerusalem the only
visible sign of the Holy War.

in

HARDSHIPS ENDURED IN WAR TIME-
GERMAN INTRIGUES

ALTHOUGH affected by the declaration of the
Jehad, all the Ottoman subjects realized
that they must do their duty and be loyal
to their own rulers, as long as they remained under
Turkish sway.

They all contributed money upon the request of
the government for the fleet and airplanes, and for
the Red Crescent, an organization like the Red
Cross. Numbers of the young men, although
able to purchase substitutes, volunteered for the
army. The women replied to the call from the
government by preparing hospitals, and learning the
duties of nurses.

In order to avoid being expelled, the foreign Jews
followed the friendly advice of Zaki Bey and ap-
pealed to Constantinople to be made Ottoman
subjects.

This right was accorded them.

This episode was the last question treated by the
Jewish daily paper, "Haor" (The Light). Not
being willing to change its political attitude towards
the Allies, and since the director, Mr. Ben Yehudah,
was an Ottoman subject, it seemed best that the
paper should immediately cease to exist. The Turks
and Germans would have preferred that the "Haor"

27

28 JERUSALEM

should continue its publication in order to influence
the public in the Teuton-Mohammed policy.

The editor said in explanation that he lacked
paper and funds and clearness of vision in the crisis.
That his mind was too troubled for him to continue
his labors.

The horrors of war commenced. Evil orders ar-
rived from Damascus, the seat of D'Jamal Pasha.
Every day brought a bitter surprise.

More troops of military arrived, and on pretext
of military necessity the government took posses-
sion of the remaining supplies in the city, and
occupied the public buildings that belonged to the
enemy countries, the hospitals, orphanages, schools,
convents and monasteries.

Zaki Bey facilitated the departure of the expelled
religious orders, especially the women. Of course
the Dominicans of Jerusalem were included in this
act of expulsion and the melancholy predictions of
Pere La Grange were verified. Their beautiful
monastery near the gate of St. Stephens was ap-
propriated by the Turks and used as a "Serail"
or government building.

In about a week the cloisters and courts previously
devoted to the pious meditations of the "White
Fathers" became so unclean as to resemble stables.

The Turks, with their accustomed disregard for
the architecture of subject races, cut doors and
constructed stairways, wherever it pleased them.

The volumes and manuscripts of the famous
Dominican library were packed in boxes to be sent
to Constantinople, and up to the present time it
is not known what has become of them.

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 29

Amid the turmoil of this forced embarkation,
there were some absurd episodes. Such was the
flight of an English subject, whom the Turkish
Commander Hassan Bey wished to keep prisoner and
pursued to the seashore. The English Jew had
reached a steamer when he saw the Commander in
pursuit; he cried out to an American refugee beside
him: "I would rather jump into the sea than fall
into the hands of that brute." Whereupon the
American gave him refuge in his own private state-
room, and the Englishman concealed himself under
the berth. The wife of his rescuer undressed, lay
down in the berth and feigned illness, while her hus-
band lighted a pipe and stood in the doorway.
Presently the enraged Hassan Bey appeared, hunt-
ing for his victim, and the American husband said:
"You cannot enter here, you see my wife is very ill
in this stateroom. Impossible for you to enter."

Hassan Bey returned to Jaffa and immediately
confiscated the house and the store of the escaped
Englishman. It was a large store for gentlemen's
clothing, and now the costumes were sold off at two
dollars apiece, and many Arabs suddenly appeared
in European dress in the streets. Some of these
exiles from Jaffa found refuge in Egypt, and still
remain there in hopes of an ultimate return to
Palestine.

The government confiscated the foreign banks,
but they could not discover much money. However,
this step produced a panic because so many people
were suddenly impoverished. Then the Anglo-Pales-
tine Banks issued checks which passed as currency.

30 JERUSALEM

All foreign silver was depreciated and even Turk-
ish coin of low denominations.

The checks of the Deutsche Palestine Bank were
not accepted even by Germans. For the second
time, a United States warship arrived at Jaffa with
relief in gold and in provisions, which the American
Consul, Dr. Glazebrook, took in charge and dis-
tributed with the aid of a Jewish committee.

All private contributions and deliveries of money
passed through the hands of the American consul.

The ports were entirely closed. The censorship
was extremely severe. There were no newspapers.
Those who came in touch with the crew of the U. S.
relief ships learned something of the world outside.

Then the English were expelled and Christmas
eve was the last night they were allowed to remain
in the Holy Land. Following the advice of the
United States consul, a number of Americans left
with the English. All the hotels were filled so that
people slept on the floors and embarked the next day.

All the English, French and Russian consuls and
their staffs took their departure under difficulty and
even cruelty.

Several members of the diplomatic corps and of
the religious orders were deprived of liberty, and
exiled to Damascus and Angora, and some time
later on some of them were allowed to return to
their native lands.

The Jews had a share in this expulsion, which took
place at 24 hours' notice. The Hebrew exiles in-
cluded very aged men, and women and children who
were minors. (There were many children, who had
been sent to Palestine for a Jewish Nationalist

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 31

education and hence lacked the protection of
parents.)

Ten thousand Jews left Jerusalem in one week.
The streets were filled with the exiles who had no
carriages and conveyed their baggage on their own
backs.

In Jaffa 700 Jews were commanded to leave the
country in two hours. They were precipitated into
the ships without even taking any food. The em-
barking was made in rowboats with great distress;
some people fell into the water and parents were
separated from their children.

Dr. Glazebrook and his wife went to Jaffa and
did all in their power personally, to lighten the trials
of the expelled travelers.

Other events occurred at Jerusalem where many
preparations were made for the expedition to Suez.
Caravans of camels were laden with tin cans in-
tended for water. Great bridges were prepared in
sections, to be united and thrown across the Suez
canal. Zaki Bey, who was named commander of
this expedition under Djemal Pasha, had his trunks
packed with fur rugs to sleep on in his tent, and
with all the luxuries required for his cuisine.

At a social function he said to a lady — "When I

shall be in Egypt " to which she added "As a

prisoner." He graciously answered: "You have no
right thus to speak to me!" for he could have cast
her into prison for these words.

Djemal Pasha arrived in Jerusalem with Behad
El Din (the former evil Kaimakam of Jaffa) as
secretary. Now it was the Jews of Jerusalem who

32 JERUSALEM

suffered him. The Germans could do nothing to
oppose Behad El Din, because Djemal Pasha was
not very friendly with the Teutons. The influence
of Zaki Bey became even more important because
he had been a former school companion of Djemal.
But the Germans showed foresight. They obtained
an order making the German Bach Pasha a superior
commander over Zaki Bey. Whereupon, Zaki Bey
resigned his commission and left Jerusalem and re-
turned later on as a civilian.

Behad El Din commenced his catalogue of atroc-
ities, with the aid of Djemal Pasha. At Jaffa
thirty-four representative Jews were arrested and
conveyed in a special train as prisoners to Jeru-
salem. The Hebrews of the Holy City were shocked
at this act, and exerted all their influence to avoid
having these political prisoners committed to the
common prison.

The prisoners were cross-questioned regarding
concealed arms, provisions and money, and it was
demanded that they should reveal their political
secrets. They were questioned for two weeks and
released !

Then — Djemal Pasha demanded that the Jewish
flags should be given to him. Mounted gens d'armerie
were sent to search the houses and to take all the
Hebrew banners, but not one could be found, because
all had been burned or concealed.

Next Behad El Din issued a decree in the name
of Djemal Pasha that the Jews must bring all their
national stamps to the government house (the serail)
and whosoever should be found with a stamp in his
possession after 24 hours should be hanged. There

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 33

was a panic; of course the Nationalists had many
stamps, and the stamps were produced. The panic
subsided. Djemal Pasha was also severe towards
the Arabs. It was an amusement for him to hang
the Arabs. Fortunately he did not especially perse-
cute the Christians.

At this time another important event took place:
the brother of the sherif of Mecca arrived at
Jerusalem.

He was known to the populace by the abreviated
title of "Sherif." He was a venerable old man,
with a long, white beard, and when he appeared
robed all in white, riding upon a camel, and with
a canopy over his head, the devout Moslems pros-
trated themselves before him. Others kissed the hem
of his flowing garments. So great was his reputa-
tion for holiness that he was regarded as a saint.
The Mohammedans of Jerusalem went out to meet
him, with a banner bearer, who carried a sacred
flag, that had remained untouched in the Mosque of
Omar for three centuries. The "sherif" was in-
stalled in the Court of the Sacred Tomb of David.

On the next day he was expected to solemnly
consecrate and bless the arms for the expedition
to Suez. But to the surprise of everyone, on the
next morning he was found dead!

This sudden decease of so venerated and exalted
a personage shocked all the inhabitants of Jeru-
salem. The Christians imputed the unexpected
demise to a dispute between the Mohammedans re-
garding the reception of their Moslem saint. The
Moslems said that he had died of grief, because at
midnight he had heard the ringing of church bells.

34 JERUSALEM

Upon being told that these were the bells of the
German Church of the Redeemer nearby, this faith-
ful son of Islam was filled with anguish to think
that an abhorred Christian edifice should have been
erected in close proximity to the sacred Tomb of
King David, the object of Moslem veneration.

In sorrow of heart, the saint had requested to be
left alone, and later on he was found dead!

The Jews averred it was the "Finger of God"
because their Tomb of David had been profaned.
Common people regarded the death of the saint as
an evil omen concerning the approaching expedition
to Suez.

Preparations for the expedition continued not-
withstanding. A triumphal arch was reared near
the Jaffa Gate in honor of Djemal Pasha, who was
styled by an Arabic poet as "Phatah el massar,"
"Deliverer of Egypt!"

A saying of Djemal Pasha was reported, as fol-
lows: "In history, my name will be recorded as
either a genius or a fool! — I conquer Egypt, or I
return not."

All the schools of the three religions were re-
quired to assemble their pupils and instructors near
the Triumphal Arch early one morning. The as-
sembly of children and adults remained standing in
wind and dust from morning till afternoon when the
battalions of Turkish heroes passed under the
Triumphal Arch on their departure for Egypt.
At the head of his troops, mounted on a magnificent
charger, rode Djemal Pasha — "the great camel" —
and the procession was closed by the dignitary
known as Djemal — surnamed "the little camel."

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 35

All the eminent personages of Jerusalem, and all
the populace, Jewish, Christian and Moslem, fol-
lowed the departing soldiers with their eyes. The
Arab women uttered piercing cries as long as one
could see so much as a floating flag or even the
clouds of dust raised by the vanishing hosts.

Now the Germans and Moslems of Jerusalem
seemed as if intoxicated with the pride of coming
victory. They formed various projects as to the
most honorable way in which to receive the returning
victors. But the prospect filled the hearts of Jews
and Christians with profound dread. They argued
thus : "If the Moslems come back triumphant, there
will be no limit to their pride and insolence, but if
they should be defeated, they will revenge themselves
upon us here."

This was in the spring of 1915. In a few days
news arrived that the Turkish Army had success-
fully traversed the desert. A later dispatch an-
nounced the crossing of the Suez Canal, and the
capture of Ismailia. This occasion was celebrated
by the illumination of Jerusalem.

After the trying privations of the previous
months, the Moslem populace of Jerusalem now re-
joiced to think of their soldiers coming home laden
with booty — sugar and rice.

But numerous Christians gathered together and
began to consider the best places of concealment and
refuge for their women and children. It was possible
to fortify the buildings of the great religious in-
stitutions, especially the compounds of the Greeks
and the Armenians, but the Jews, not possessing
such large buildings, so well adapted for fortified

36 JERUSALEM

purposes, were, at first, overcome by fear; because
they lacked, apparently, all these means of self-
defense.

In the midst of this hour of extreme anxiety ar-
rived the news of the defeat of the Turks.

The Mohammedans were crestfallen. The Ger-
mans failed to conceal their disdain for Turkish
prowess and their scorn of the Turkish Army.

Jews and Christians avoided being seen on the
streets fearing to be accused of joy, and in their
houses they trembled in dread of that homecoming
defeated army.

A few soldiers and officers who had escaped from
Egypt reached Jerusalem safely. They declared
secretly that "the gates of Hell had been opened
upon them."

Silently in the dead of night, the remnant of the
defeated army, broken up into small companies,
crept back into Jerusalem.

Djemal Pasha shut himself up in the walls of the
Augusta Victoria Memorial on the Mount of Olives,
and refused to see anyone, not even the most eminent
personages.

Thus closed ignominously one scene in the Oriental
Dream of Power which Kaiser William had dreamed
for himself in Jerusalem.

In this very Augusta Victoria Memorial there is
a great throne room in which stand two thrones.

A few days before the dedication of the Augusta
Victoria Memorial the writer of this article visited
this throne room, escorted by Von Mirbach, the late
ambassador to Moscow. Von Mirbach explained
that these two thrones were designed for the Em-

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 37

peror and Empress of Germany. Evidently the
conquest of Egypt had been planned as an act in
this drama in which Djemal Pasha had been given
a leading role — and now the first expedition to Suez
had failed.

The Germans, however, discussed the arrange-
ments to be made for a second expedition, to be led
this time by a German commander.

In the meanwhile, the Turkish Army, such as it
was, in small units took its departure along the road
towards Nablus, and the population of Jerusalem
began to take flight in various directions as well as
they could.

IV

THE PLAGUE OF LOCUSTS— PERSECUTION
OF THE JEWS

A [OTHER calamity was impending. The
heavens were darkened ; obscurity reigned at
midday, with ominous clouds not of rain, but
plague clouds of locusts!

The secretions from the flying insects fell in a
foul rain upon Jerusalem, and the air was poisoned
with the sickening odor.

The locusts descended upon fields and gardens,
consuming the grain, devouring the vegetables, ruin-
ing the trees. In vain the unfortunate inhabitants
closed doors and windows. The nauseating pests
penetrated to the interiors and entered the beds,
and crawled in the clothing and on cooking utensils,
even falling into the food.

As an example of their depredations, a story was
told of locusts in a garden in Judea, where they
devoured not only fruit and leaves but even the bark
of the trees, leaving the trunks and branches stand-
ing like ghastly bare skeletons. So appalling was
the sight that on beholding this horror of his garden,
the owner went mad!

It was said that in Galilee, the locusts utterly
destroyed one field belonging to a German, and left
untouched the ad j acent field belonging to the French
Baron de Rothschild.

38

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 39

The Turkish government was powerless in the face
of this plague of locusts. Even German efficiency
failed to meet the emergency. Then the Jews came
forward and offered their assistance. This was
notably expressed by the celebrated scholar, Mr.
Aaronson, the discoverer of "the original wheat."

He was at the head of the American Agricultural
Experimental Station which he had founded at
Atlite in Samaria, near Zickon Jacob. He came to
Jerusalem at the very time when Djemal Pasha was
terrorizing the population and when everyone feared
to approach the Pasha.

Mr. Aaronson requested an interview, and the
request being granted, he said to Djemal Pasha:
"Your Excellency ! You can hang me — but first
hear what I have to say to you." Then he began
his defense of the Jews, saying that the rulers had
no reasonable foundation for their persecution of
the Hebrews. After these statements he added that
he knew ways of fighting the locusts, and he offered
his services, which Djemal Pasha accepted with open
arms.

Mr. Aaronson was named head of a commission
to combat the locusts, and Djemal ordered that
every facility should be placed at his disposal in
the villages. The finest Jewish young men rallied
to the side of Mr. Aaronson, but the country itself
lacked the supplies and the special chemicals re-
quired for this campaign. Then Mr. Aaronson
asked for 8000 of the military in order to accom-
plish by hand what should have been done by
chemical devices.

Djemal Pasha disapproved the idea of placing

40 JERUSALEM

military forces under the control of Mr. Aaronson
and refused this request.

The people were driven to fight the plague by
the only means which they possessed.

The entire population was to be used, even the
school children. But some individuals escaped the
service by the payment of a Turkish pound in gold.

The locusts after devouring everything green on
the land had deposited their eggs in the soil and
flown away. The great danger ahead was in this
vast deposit of eggs. Being deprived of chemicals
which might have been scattered on the land, it was
necessary to dig in the soil with the hands in order
to feel the eggs, which were thus gathered and de-
posited in trenches, trodden under foot and burned,
or else covered with quick lime. This labor was so
severe that some of the workers died from exposure
to the burning heat of the sun, not having sufficient
nourishment to sustain them.

These were some of the trials of Palestine in 1915.

In 1916 a second expedition was launched against
the Suez Canal, with an army of 250,000 men under
the command of the German, Von Kress, but it was
not more successful than the first enterprise. Von
Kress was killed — shot, it was said, in the back.
The German Commander of Jerusalem, Bach Pasha,
was called to Damascus and en route he was injured
by an accident which occurred to his own automo-
bile. He sustained a broken leg, which caused his
death.

Not only the Moslems, but even the Germans began
to perceive that their star was waning in the Holy
Land.

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 41

Notwithstanding the immense German propa-
ganda waged continuously for the ten years before
the war, to convince the Arabs that the land belonged
to Arabians, the ancient tradition now revived con-
cerning the destiny of the Jews to possess the land.

Many were the legends expressing this prophetic
thought. One told of a cavern of Zede Kiali,
where a small pool of water was reddish in color.
Old Arabs whispered that on the day of the destruc-
tion of Jerusalem this water had been changed to
blood, but that when the Jews should again possess
the land, the waters would be purified. Another
legend concerned the rocky barren soil around
Jerusalem. It was related that the High Priest
had taken ashes and cast them around the city walls
at the destruction of Jerusalem, uttering a curse
upon the land that it should remain barren until the
Jews should be restored to this their ancient heritage.

Even the Moslems themselves had doubts regard-
ing the future, and hence their troops had departed
quietly without triumphal parades.

Before this second expedition to Suez, hospitals
were erected and supplies collected at Gaza in prepa-
ration for a further advance.

Most of the Jewish and Arab-Christian doctors
of Palestine were called to service and a number of
their families followed them to Gaza.

It was a Mohammedan town. The inhabitants
were accustomed to see women veiled. The sight of
women going about unveiled affected them as "a
proof of immorality."

After the Turkish troops were driven from

42 JERUSALEM

Raphah in January, 1917, the English reached the
border line of Palestine.

The wounded were removed from Gaza, many of
the doctors left and preparations were made to de-
fend the city.

The persecution of the Jews in Palestine, which
had continued all along, now increased in violence.
In March, 1917, when the English and Turks were
fighting over Gaza, the Hebrews suffered dreadful
atrocities from German and Turkish authorities.

Hundreds of Jews were arrested as suspects. The
prisons of Jerusalem, Jaffa, Acre, Tiberias, Naza-
reth and Damascus were filled.

The persecution was directed especially against
the Zionists. By threats and tortures, the tor-
mentors endeavored to force confessions of political
secrets, especially of relations with the English and
of places where arms were supposed to be concealed.
Great suffering was inflicted to induce the Zionists
to betray their friends.

Upon their refusal to give the desired replies,
some Zionists were executed by hanging or shooting,
others were deported, and some continued to lan-
guish in prison.

Mr. Aaronson escaped because the government
had sent him to Europe to obtain further assistance
in fighting the plague of locusts and subsequent
events had prevented his return. The wrath of the
government fell upon his family and his friends.
The authorities took possession of his agricultural
station. They burned his library notes and his
manuscripts. They destroyed his precious library

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 43

which had been purchased in America. Leaves from
scientific volumes were given to the shopkeepers at
Haifa to be used as wrapping paper for food and
merchandise. The costly herbarium, one of the rarest
and most valuable in the world, was burned.

The mother of Mr. Aaronson was dead, but his
aged father, and one sister named Sara, and one
brother were tortured.

A few words may be said regarding Sara Aaron-
son. She was a woman of rare intelligence, of noble
character, and of great courage.

In the American Agricultural Station, founded
and directed by her brother, Miss Aaronson was in
charge of the meteorological section, and acquitted
herself with remarkable ability.

At the time when Turkey declared war, she was
at Constantinople. She had recently married a man
whom she almost adored, but he was absent, and
now her sense of duty to her country demanded
that she should return to her own land. She set out
alone on that dangerous journey, and passed
through great trials. On one occasion she was the
only woman on a troop train which was filled by
soldiers going to Palestine. There were many sick
and dying on this train, and the dead lay on the
floor. There was no place for one to sit down.
And in order for her to reach the door she was
obliged to lift the dead men who blocked her way.

This beautiful woman escaped the perils of this
journey and reached her native village. She was
glad to be among her own people and to serve them.

But her ministries of love were finally interrupted

44 JERUSALEM

by the soldiers, who were ordered to arrest her and
put her in prison.

For three days and three nights, they tortured
alternately the daughter in the presence of the
father, or the father before the eyes of his child,
expecting that one or the other would relent and
give the desired information.

They beat the old man till the blood flowed but
he kept silent except for one word. He uttered the
ancient Jewish complaint, the prayer said most
often by the devout Israelite and especially before
his death : "Shma Israel ... !" "Hear Israel, my
only God!"

The other prisoners in the neighboring cells heard
this cry, repeated, sometimes loudly, when a blow
was very violent, or more faintly when a blow was
less terrible, or when the victim was becoming ex-
hausted.

It was said that finally since the executioners were
unable to extract from him a single word, they took
the old man out of prison and cast him into his
own house. It was too late; the frightful suffering
had deprived him of reason.

The executioners took Sara Aaronson, and placed
burning bricks at the naked soles of her feet. They
placed burning bricks at her armpits. Her groans
and cries of anguish were heartrending but she re-
fused to say one word.

They insisted that she must praise the Turks and
utter insults against the English, but Sara Aaron-
son kept silent. She escaped from her tormentors

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 45

for one moment, and having gained possession of
a revolver, she shot herself in the mouth.

A Jewish doctor, a friend, having been called to
extract the bullet, she begged that he would let her
die since she could not longer support her sufferings.

Sara Aaronson died without justifying any of the
accusations brought against her, and her name is
covered with glory and honor in the land where she
suffered.

Another native Jew, called Absalom, the son of a
Hebrew farmer, also drank the cup of sorrow.

The young Absalom had lived much among the
Arabs in Judea. He knew their life and their lan-
guage, and was beloved by them. The Arabs called
him "Sheik Abou Salim." Aged Moslems brought
their disputes to him for settlement, or to receive
his judgment. Notwithstanding this friendship with
the Moslems, Absalom was arrested and twice he was
martyrized, once in the prison at Jerusalem and
once in Nazareth. They beat him so cruelly that
his flesh was torn in rags and afterwards he said that
so great was the horror of himself that he seemed
to lose the sense of being human. His own body
was become so repugnant to himself that it seemed
a beastly thing.

Yet so vivid was the flame of his intelligence, so
eloquent his word, that he justified himself even in
the face of his persecutors and twice they released
him. However, it was his destiny to suffer. Even
at his birth his father had lifted him up, saying:
"My son! my desire for thee is that thou shalt
sacrifice thyself for the freedom of thy people!"

46 JERUSALEM

This vow was accomplished when twenty-seven
years later, this Hebrew son fell on the field of honor,
in the great desert between Palestine and Egypt.

Other Jewish men and women, youths and maidens
gave their lives in the land of their ancestors as an
offering for the deliverance of the Hebrew race.

THE TIME OF FEAR AND SUFFERING-
HOW THE GLORIOUS DAY OF DELIV-
ERANCE CAME TO JERUSALEM

GAZA was taken by the English and recovered
by the Turks, remaining in their hands
seven months. In June, 1917, General
Allenby captured Beersheba and then Gaza. Ludd
surrendered, Ramleh fell; on November 16, Jaffa
was captured. Victorious English troops then
marched upon Jerusalem.

For three years the Holy City had suffered priva-
tions and sorrows. It was as if the plague had
raged within the walls. Most of the houses were
closed because the inhabitants were dead, or de-
ported, exiled or in prison. Deserted were the
streets. One dreaded to be seen outdoors for fear
of falling victim to the rage of the Turks.

People hid themselves in cellars and subterranean
passages, where life continued underground by the
light of olive oil lamps.

The musicians composed music, the poets com-
posed verses, the professors meditated upon the
pupils whom they hoped to receive in the coming
hour of deliverance.

The women kept house underground; but there
was little food to prepare. They had forgotten the
appearance of a loaf of bread. The babies died for
lack of milk.

47

48 JERUSALEM

Even in these hiding places, one heard the roar
of Turkish cannon, which was directed against the
"Nebi Samuel" (the Tomb of Samuel), where the
English had fortified themselves. One passionate
desire filled the hearts of Jews and Christians alike
as they waited for the hour of deliverance. Their
confidence in the victorious strength of the English
failed not. The devout souls were uplifted in
ardent prayer. Pious vows were pronounced. They
prayed that the Lord God would deliver them by
a miracle, and show His hand as in former days.

But now it seemed as if the Arm of the Lord was
turned against the Jews and deliverance seemed far
off. Their fervent prayers were rudely interrupted
by the intrusion of Turkish soldiers. The gendarm-
erie entered and penetrated down to the cellars and
arrested the defenseless Hebrews. They tore the
husbands from the arms of their wives, and separated
the children from their parents. They beat their
prisoners and loaded them with chains and drove
them outdoors into the mud and rain. The storm
lashed the helpless prisoners as they were driven
forth without coats and without bread. The sol-
diers goaded them forward like cattle to the as-
sembly places where those who were to be deported
were gathered together. The wives and the young
women threw themselves upon the necks of their
husbands and fathers and brothers, insisting that
they should share the horrors of this terrible forced
journey. The victims were taken away in the direc-
tion of Jericho.

During the execution of this cruel edict of de-
portation in Jerusalem, news arrived of a dreadful

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 49

deed perpetrated in Pethah Tikivah. Djemal Pasha
had arrived and passed through this colony from
one end to another. Then he shut himself in his
rooms, without saying a word to anyone, and after
an hour's silence he departed.

The colonists were filled with foreboding. They
said : "Some great evil awaits us !" On the follow-
ing day, Djemal Pasha sent a dark emissary, noted
for his cruelty, with the command that "the guard-
ians of the colony should be surrendered to him."
(The guardians of the Jewish colonies were always
the finest young men, who filled the office of watch-
men, forming a sort of voluntary police. As
"watchmen" they were under vows to sacrifice their
lives for their people.) The inhabitants of Pethah
Tikivah gathered together and resolved that they
would rather all perish than to deliver up their
guardians to death.

Then three Jewish Austrian workingmen arose
in the assembly and one, being the speaker, said:
"To save the guardians and the colony, we propose
that you name us as guardians and fear not for
us, because since we are Austrian, the Turks will
not dare to vent their ferocity upon us subjects of
the Central Powers. The worst they will do will be
to imprison us ; and we will wait patiently with hun-
dreds of our companions, for the day of deliverance."

But no sooner did the Turks have these three
brave Austrians in their power than they accused
them of high treason. In order to force them to
make confession and to name accomplices, the
bastinado was inflicted upon them.

They were also beaten with muskets and kicked,

50 JERUSALEM

and lifted up bodily to a great height and then
violently cast down. After they were rendered un-
conscious by these atrocities, they were dragged off
and cast into prison in Damascus, where they died.
No form of trial was given to these innocent men.
The emissary and his soldiers acted as accuser and
judges and executioners.

Other Austrians in Jerusalem were also maltreated
and deported.

Then the vials of wrath were poured upon the
American Jews also. They were arrested on the
streets and in the houses and beaten and dragged
away and forced to march on foot, exposed to mud
and rain, all the way to Damascus. Those who
were sick were carried on litters. One American
discovered concealed in a cellar, was sent laden with
chains to Damascus.

In the meanwhile the Turkish cannon was destroy-
ing the Tomb of Samuel, and the English were
making a movement whose object was to encircle
Jerusalem. The Turks and Germans commanded
that the city should be defended and they sent for
reinforcements from Damascus. The garrison was
not sufficiently strong in numbers or in morale to
sustain the attack without aid. When the reinforce-
ments failed to arrive, the Turks perceived that they
would be obliged to evacuate.

In great haste, they arrested everyone whom they
caught on the streets, including the Dutch consul,
and a distinguished Austrian physician, a member
of the Board of Health.

Djemal Pasha had already left for Damascus.
Soon after, an edict was issued commanding the

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 51

deportation of all the Christian and all the Jewish
inhabitants of Jerusalem.

The governor did the favor to the Dutch consul
and two other distinguished prisoners to allow them
a respite of three days in which to prepare for
their journey. The Turkish authorities were them-
selves embarrassed as to the means of executing this
last great act of deportation, which included the
great mass of the population of Jerusalem. It was
expected that the Germans would be of assistance
in enforcing the edict, but the Germans were occu-
pied in saving themselves. After the flights, the
exiles, the deportations, executions and imprison-
ments, it was estimated that over 30,000 Jews and
Christians still remained in the city.

In vain the Jews implored Zaki Bey to save them.
He replied that nothing could save them! They
must prepare for the deportation. Then a bitter
suspicion entered the hearts of the Jews. They
suspected that even their friend, Zaki Bey himself,
was an accomplice of the Turks. It was observed
that all of the families with whom Zaki Bey was
chiefly associated were the special objects of perse-
cution. The Jews surmised that he had abused their
confidence and betrayed them.

In these terrible days in Jerusalem, Jews and
Christians fasted and prayed. Their common sor-
row and desolation drew them nearer to one
another. They sought concealment in the darkest
cellars and deepest subterranean passages. Jews
and Christians found refuge together.

It was in this darkness and dread that the Jews
awaited the coming of their great festival of light

52 JERUSALEM

and gladness, Hannucca, the Feast of Deliverance
in former days, and now approaching as the day
of destruction! The women, weeping, prepared the
oil for the sacred lights, and even the men wept,
saying that this would be the last time they should
keep the feast in Jerusalem! They strained their
ears to hear the horses' hoofs and the tread of the
soldiers coming to arrest them and drive them forth.
The women pressed their children to their breasts
crying : "They are coming to take us ! — the per-
secutors, the assassins !"

Then, suddenly, other women came rushing from
outside down into the depths, crying:

"Hosanna! Hosanna! The English! — the Eng-
lish have arrived !"

Weeping and shouting for joy, Jews and Chris-
tians, trembling and stumbling over one another,
emerged and rushed forth from the caverns and holes
and underground passages.

With loud cries, with outstretched hands, they
blessed the company of their deliverers, who ad-
vanced in a glory of light, for all Jerusalem was
illuminated by the crimson light of the setting sun!

With the victors, entered Justice and Peace, into
the city so long ruled by Terror and Pain.

Pious Jews uttered thanksgivings to the Lord
God of Hosts who had wrought deliverance in this
great historic day, in the very hour of the begin-
ning of "Hannucca," the Feast of the Miracle of
Lights.

On the previous Hay the Turkish troops had
evacuated, driving before them numbers of unfor-
tunate prisoners, the last victims of their rule of

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 53

Force. For the last time on leaving, the hated
Turkish soldiers had entered the houses to rob and
to spoil, and to carry off everything they could lay
hands on.

On the next day after the beginning of Hannucca,
the troop of English conquerors entered and shared
their own bread with the famished populace, and
offered the support of their hands to the feeble
and the aged. On the following day, when the great
English army entered the city, the women threw
themselves on the necks of the soldiers, calling for
the benediction of heaven upon them. Young women
kissed the hems of their garments, and children
threw flowers on their path. It was the time of
the early flowers in Palestine — the first flowers
which announce the resurrection of Nature after the
burning heat of summer is past.

How simple and modest was the entry of General
Allenby into the Holy City !

He came with the members of his staff, marching
on foot, and passed between the ranks of soldiers
who lined the streets on either side and presented
arms.

How solemn and imposing was the reception of the
hero by the heads of three great religions — the Jew-
ish Rabbis, the Mufti and sheiks, and the Christian
priests !

How impressive, with what relief to waiting hearts,
was the proclamation that all the shrines and sacred
places of the three religions should be equally re-
spected. These are the words of this proclamation:

Lest any of you be alarmed by reason of your experiences at the
hands of the enemy who has retired, I hereby inform you that it is

54 JERUSALEM

my desire that every person should pursue his lawful business with-
out fear of interruption. Furthermore, since your city is regarded
with affection by the adherents of three of the great religions of
mankind, and its soil has been consecrated by the prayers and pil-
grimages of multitudes of devout people of these three religions
for many centuries, therefore, I make it known to you that every
sacred building, monument, holy spot, shrine, traditional site,
endowment, pious bequest or customary place of prayer of whatso-
ever form of the three religions will be maintained according to the
existing customs and beliefs of those to whose faith they are sacred

Delayed reinforcements of Turkish troops from
Damascus called to strengthen the former Turkish
garrison now arrived, and unconsciously precipi-
tated themselves into the arms of the English.

A number of Germans and Turks, who were re-
garded with suspicion in Jerusalem, were now ar-
rested and sent to various places of exile, principally
to Egypt or to Malta. Among those who were
arrested was Zaki Bey, who was sent to prison at
Cairo. His friends among the Jewish refugees at
Alexandria gave surety for him, so that he was
released from prison and allowed to live among them
in some degree of liberty at Alexandria.

Then life revived in the city which had been
ravaged by death. The new rulers distributed
medicine and hospital supplies for the recovery of
the sick. The soldiers shared their rations with the
famished populace. As soon as possible, food was
procured from Egypt. Seed was given to the
peasants and army horses and mules were bestowed
to plow the neglected fields.

The English, although conquerors of the country,
showed due respect for the native civil and gov-

SYRIAN REFUGEES ON THE STEPS OF DAVID'S TOWER, JERUSALEM.

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 55

ernmental administration. They maintained their
rule strictly according to the principles of the
Hague Congress. At the same time, they did all
in their power to ameliorate the situation. They
constructed good roads. They organized a police
force. In order to insure against the miscarriage
of justice they exercised a certain oversight over
the native tribunals where Moslem Law was en-
forced. They conveyed pure waters from the pools
of Solomon into Jerusalem, and placed water pipes
and faucets in the streets, so that those in need
should supply themselves with water.

The inhabitants, assured of tranquillity and in-
spired with confidence, began to organize themselves
and to develop a new order after their troubled
existence.

It was an impulse of life after the reign of death.

The first to obey this overwhelming impulse was
the Jewish youths — the remnant which had been
concealed hidden like the seed in the earth, and
thus had escaped the general persecution. These
young men demanded the privilege of fighting side
by side with the English, in the conquest of their
own country. Their desire was granted. A bat-
talion of native Jews was immediately enlisted and
the recruits increased.

The young Jewish girls were not content merely
to be nurses and canteen waiters, they wanted a
more active share in the great conflict and certain
duties were assigned to them in connection with the
army.

The representative Jews of both the cities and
colonies assembled and took counsel regarding the

56 JERUSALEM

assistance which it was in their power to render.
The English declared their desire for the advance
of the Hebrews; many times the message was heard
from the lips of the British: "The land which we
conquer is for you !"

The hearts of the Jews expanded with the glad
realization that they were now citizens of their own
country.

A National Jewish Commission arrived from
London. This Commission included Jewish repre-
sentatives from the Allied countries, with Professor
Waizmann at the head. He had previously occupied
the Chair of Chemistry at the University of Man-
chester. He is the personal friend of Mr. Balfour.
Haim Waizmann is justly respected for the valuable
discoveries which he has made, and placed at the
service of the English government, refusing all pay-
ment for these estimable services. The Jewish popu-
lation received their Commission with enthusiasm
and placed themselves under its orders.

Immediately their labors commenced. An im-
portant meeting of Jewish professors was called to
regulate the school question. When it was an-
nounced that the instructors were at liberty to install
their schools in the fine school edifices occupied by
the Germans' Hilfsverein and from which they had
been expelled the year before the war, the professors
replied: "We prefer to remain in our own insig-
nificant buildings. We would rather not teach
morals within those impure walls !"

It was Dr. Waizmann who reminded them that
even the Temple, after being profaned, was con-

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 57

secrated anew. "And we shall do the same," he
said, "with the desecrated school buildings." There
were some German Jews still remaining in the land
who witnessed this reopening of their former school
buildings.

Woman Suffrage among the Jews was proclaimed.
This gave to Jewish women the right to vote.
Preparations were made for the election of repre-
sentatives to a General Assembly. Meantime the
Jewish Commission does all in its power to facilitate
the English in their great aims.

The new development of Hebrew life expressed
itself in three public events, quite original in char-
acter. The first marked the return of the sacred
relics of the different synagogues, especially the
restoration of the scrolls of the Thora (the rolls
of the Law), which the Jews had withdrawn and
carefully concealed at the time of their persecutions.
They arranged a procession of horses, decorated
with garlands and harnessed to carriages adorned
with flowers, and filled with the sacred rolls of the
Thora. As they passed by a synagogue, the pro-
cession was halted, and the rolls belonging there
were ceremoniously returned to the sanctuary.

Members of the Society of the Young Maccabees
formed a National Guard of Honor, and the cortege
was escorted by an immense crowd, going before
and behind, clapping their hands and dancing and
singing to the accompaniment of musical instru-
ments. The scene recalled the dancing before the
Ark in the time of King David.

At the appointed place, the procession was

58 JERUSALEM

halted, in the presence of General Allenby, the mem-
bers of his staff, Prof. Waizmann, the Jewish Com-
missioners, and other distinguished guests.

In token of the profound gratitude of the
Hebrews, Prof. Waizmann presented to General
Allenby a fine copy of the Thora (the Law) in-
scribed on a parchment scroll enclosed in a silver
case, artistically ornamented; the workmanship of
the Bazalel school at Jerusalem.

The next great public demonstration was the re-
vival of the ancient Jewish Feast of "Bekurim" —
The "Offering of the First-Fruits." This festival
was celebrated by another procession. At the head,
there marched a great bull with gilded horns, his
head and back adorned with garlands of fruit and
flowers. Beside the bull marched young girls, bear-
ing on their heads baskets laden with beautiful
fruits. Young men followed, carrying little lambs
in their arms. Others bore small kids on their
shoulders. Then came men who carried the various
instruments of agriculture. The national colors,
white and blue, were seen on every side. The air
vibrated with the peal of trumpets, the clash of
cymbals, the beating of drums and the harmony of
voices in song.

The perfume of ancient Biblical Hebrew life
seemed shed abroad.

These two celebrations occurred at Jaffa. A third
event of importance was solemnized at Jerusalem.

Thousands of Jews assembled on the Mount of
Olives and many Christians and Moslems. Troops
of school children, of the upper grades, arrived
marching with banners and led by their professors

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 59

and teachers. There were 38 delegates from
Jaffa and the colonies of Judea which had been de-
livered. There were deputies from various so-
cieties and corporations. The road from Jaffa was
like a procession because of the multitudes in car-
riages, in automobiles, mounted on mules, and asses
and horses, and even on foot, often with children on
their shoulders. All were coming to behold this
great event which was to take place on Mount
Scopus. At this point great reviewing stands had
been constructed to be occupied by exalted person-
ages of three religions. Members of the Jewish
Commission, British generals and officers of high
rank and representatives of the Allied nations, held
conspicuous positions. When General Allenby ar-
rived to take the seat of honor, he was greeted by
the multitude with loud acclaim, songs and shouts.

The great act of the founding of the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem had commenced.

Twelve foundation stones were laid, according to
the number of the tribes of Israel.

The master of ceremonies presented Prof. Waiz-
mann with a silver trowel curiously chiseled.

Following the laying of the first stone by Dr.
Waizmann, on behalf of the Zionist organization,
foundation-stones were laid by the two chief rabbis
of Jerusalem, the head of the United Jewish Com-
munity of Jerusalem, the Mufti and the Anglican
Bishop. Foundation-stones were also laid on behalf
of the Jewish regiment, Baron Edmond de Roth-
schild, the Town of Jaffa, the Jewish Colonies,
Hebrew Literature, Hebrew Teachers, Hebrew
Science, the Jewish Artisans and Laborers, and on

60 JERUSALEM

behalf of Isaac Goldberg, the Russian Zionist whose
generosity made possible the purchase of the mag-
nificent site upon which the great edifice is to be
reared. This site faces the Augusta Victoria
Memorial, erected by Kaiser William.

The founding of the Hebrew University was
marked by a significant speech from Prof. Waiz-
mann, whose words will be long remembered. He
said in part:

"Here, out of the miseries and the desolation of war, is being
created the first germ of a new life. Hitherto we have been content
to speak of reconstruction and restoration — that ravished Belgium,
devastated France and Russia must and will be restored; in this
Hebrew university, however, we have gone beyond restoration and
reconstruction. We are creating, during the period of the war,
something which is to serve as a symbol of a better future. It is
fitting that Great Britain and her great Allies, in the midst of tribu-
lation and sorrow, should stand sponsor to this university. Great
Britain has understood that it is just because these are times of stress,
just because we tend to become lost in the events of the day, that
there is a need to transcend these details by this bold appeal to
the world's imagination. Here what seemed but a dream a few
years ago is now becoming a reality.

"It is a Hebrew university. I do not suppose that there is anyone
here who can conceive of a university in Jerusalem being other than
Hebrew. The claim that the university should be a Hebrew one
rests upon the values the Jews have transmitted to the world. From
this land, here, in the presence of adherents of the three great reli-
gions of the world which, amid many diversities, build their faith
upon the Lord who made Himself known unto Moses, here, before
the world, which has founded itself on Jewish law and has paid
reverence to Hebrew seers and acknowledged the great mental and
spiritual values the Jewish people have given, the question is an-
swered! The university is to stimulate the Jewish people to reach
further heights.

"I trust I am not too bold if here, to-day, in this place, among
the hills of Ephraim and Judah, I state my conviction that the seers

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 61

of Israel have not utterly perished; that, under the segis of this uni-
versity, there will be a renaissance of the divine power of prophetic
wisdom; that, once the war is over, the university will be the focus
of the rehabilitation of our Jewish consciousness now so tenuous
because it has become so world diffused. Under the atmospheric
pressure of this mount, our Jewish consciousness can become dif-
fused without becoming feeble; our consciousness will be kindled again
and our Jewish youth will be reinvigorated from Jewish sources.
. . . From this day the Hebrew university is a reality. Our Hebrew
university, informed by Jewish learning and Jewish energy, will
mould itself into an integral part of our national structure which is
in process of erection. It will have a centripetal force attracting all
that is noblest in Jewry throughout the world; a unifying centre for
our scattered elements. There will go forth on the other side, inspira-
tion and strength that shall revivify the powers now latent in our dis-
tant communities; here the wandering soul of Israel shall reach its
haven, its strength no longer consumed in restless and vain wander-
ings. Israel shall at last remain at peace within itself and with the
world. There is a Talmudic legend that tells of the Jewish soul
deprived of its body hovering between heaven and earth. Such is
our soul to-day! To-morrow it shall come to rest in this, our sanc-
tuary. This is our faith."

Thus a temple to Jewish Science and learning
was erected at the very place where the German
Imperial Government had striven to rule by force.
Once again the everlasting victory of the Word,
the victory of the Spirit was expressed by a sig-
nificant act upon the Mountains of Jerusalem.

JERUSALEM— THE WORLD CITY AND THE
WORLD WAR

BY PROFESSOR KEMPER FULLER-TON,
Oberlin Graduate School of Theology

JERUSALEM— THE WORLD CITY AND THE
WORLD WAR

PROFESSOR KEMPER FULLERTON

WE were spending an altogether lovely sum-
mer in the Lebanons when the war over-
took us. The mutterings of the storm
gathering in the West during July had scarcely
reached our little village high up on the slopes
of the mountains. We had watched with interest
the merry scenes at the threshing floors, the children
tumbling about in the straw and the unmuzzled oxen
treading out the corn. Wherever we went the vil-
lagers, both Maronites and Druses, seemed prosper-
ous and contented. The fountains poured in gen-
erous tides into the red water-jars of the women.
Olive groves and mulberry orchards with their soft
or vivid greens filled our foregrounds and in the
background the sparkling Mediterranean stretched
away, from its border of silver foam below us, be-
yond Cyprus through the Gates of Gibraltar. The
horizon was so far away that it was seldom possible
to tell where sea left off and sky began, and the
sun seemed to set in heaven itself. Every evening
the land underwent that marvelous transformation
which takes place in all those Eastern lands when
not only the sky swims in color but the earth itself

65

66 JERUSALEM

dissolves in it. Across the way our neighbor, the
Maronite hermit, would then come out and walk on
the roof of his hermitage and watch the glory slowly
disappear and the new moon follow it into the sea.
Everything in "cedared Lebanon" seemed to breathe
of security and peace.

Then the incredible happened. On August second
we first heard the news that Germany had declared
war upon Russia. On August sixth a French cruiser
flashed the news ashore that "England would inter-
fere by sea and land." We journeyed down to Beirut
to find that a moritorium had been declared and for
two months we were marooned on our mountaintop
without the means to get away. The sun set as
radiantly as ever. The colors in the Wady Arid
just by our village were as soft and beautiful as
before, but somehow the luxury and the relaxation
had stilled out of the atmosphere and an indefinable
anxiety, a tenseness of expectation had taken their
place. The wild bees still made honey for us in the
rocks of Binnai, the fresh figs were still a delight
to us in August and the nectar of the grapes of
Androphile was a daily wonder in September, but
their delicious flavors seemed to be stolen sweets,
unlawful to enjoy. Was it a presentiment of the
time when there would be no grapes to eat because
the children of those villages would be compelled to
eat the roots of the vines themselves in order to keep
alive ?

Meanwhile we watched the first gust and splashes
of the storm as it swept inland from the west. We
noted how the Druses, the hereditary allies of the
British, were gradually being weaned away from

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 67

their loyalty by secret propaganda. The Maronites
adhered to the French. Did this mean that the
old bloody feuds among the mountaineers were to
be revived again? We felt the tremor of the daily
increasing fear among the Christians that their
privileges would be taken from them and they would
be left again to the tender mercies of Druse and
Turk, for the massacres of the 'Forties and 'Sixties
were still a living terror in the land. One evening
we watched from the heights of our village the rockets
and heard the guns which celebrated in Beirut the
denunciation of the Capitulations — Turkey's fatal
step in her rake's progress. Later we were told of
the thousands of persons who had fled from the
same city into the mountains and to Damascus at
the rumored British bombardment of the coast soon
to take place.

In the midst of these disquieting occurrences our
cruiser, the North Carolina, arrived on the scene,
bearing gold, yea much fine gold, enough to get us
home again. But should we go? Friends at home
had been urging our return. Friends in Syria,
especially our English friends, warned us that war
between England and Turkey was inevitable and in
that event nobody could tell what might happen. As
a matter of fact, the English White Paper on the
relationship between Turkey and England after-
wards disclosed how many telegrams were winging
their way like birds of evil omen between London and
Constantinople just at that time, telling of the
seriousness of the situation, and within a few weeks
some of the friends who had so kindly warned us
were themselves to be prisoners in Damascus.

68 JERUSALEM

But Jerusalem was as yet unvisited. Could we
bring ourselves to forego catching at least one
glimpse of the Holy City? We resolved to make
the attempt. Our plan was to go to Jerusalem and
pay a flying visit to the sacred sites even if we were
compelled to leave the day after our arrival. We
would at least have the right to carry the pilgrim's
palm.

n

ON a beautiful evening just at sunset we
boarded a small Italian steamer, saying
farewell to glorious St. George's Bay and
goodly Lebanon. The wind blew fair and soft and
as we dropped anchor off Jaffa next morning and
were rowed ashore over the lazy undulations of the
sea in the warm October air, the prospect seemed
altogether reassuring. The Holy Land looked in-
deed like the Canaan of psalm and hymn, a land of
serenity and peace, fit emblem of the Rest that re-
maineth. It seemed as if it were still dreaming of
its milk and honey Past or of the heavenly Future
and as if the fierce Present concerned it not at all.
Our journey up to Jerusalem from Jaffa was suf-
ficiently commonplace. As we crossed the famous
coast-plain I suppose we should have been thinking
of Philistine, Saracen and Crusader. As a matter
of fact we spent the most of the time in conversation
with the only other traveler in our compartment,
an agreeable young man who was representing the
Standard Oil. He was one of the few Americans
still remaining in Jerusalem. Save for the mis-
sionary, the Standard Oil seems to be the first to
arrive in the far or dangerous corners of the earth
and the last to leave. The company had been pros-
pecting to the south of the Dead Sea and had

70 JERUSALEM

started to build a road from Hebron to the reputed
sites of Sodom and Gomorrah in order to tap the
second causes of their overthrow. They were mak-
ing good progress when the War broke out. The
Turks afterward extended this road, I believe, as an
important link in the line of communications for
their Egyptian expedition and the English have no
doubt also used it when they paid their return call.

As we approached the Holy City our hearts beat
faster and we pressed our cheeks against the window
panes to catch a first glimpse of its walls and towers.
But if we had been compelled to restrict our sojourn
in Jerusalem to the day or two which we had
originally allowed ourselves, our first impressions
would have been disappointing. To love Jerusalem
one must live there and must probe deep below its
surface. Not till the soles of one's feet have be-
come sufficiently sensitive to be able to distinguish
between a twenty-foot layer of debris and a forty-
foot layer simply by walking over them, will he
begin to prefer Jerusalem above his chief joy.

The first appearance of the city as we rode from
the station in the fading light of the late afternoon
was distinctly uninviting. It looked dusty and
haggard after the summer heat. The upper part
of the valley of Hinnom, which lies to the right as
one enters the city, was shimmy and unkempt. I
should never have been tempted to worship Moloch
there ! The gaping Birket-es-Sultan on the opposite
side of the road, with some slimy green water col-
lected at its lower edge, was equally unattractive,
while just above it the barrack-like structures of
the Montefiori Jewish colony inject their ugliness

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 71

into a scene already sufficiently painful to an ex-
pectant imagination and the bulky German Church
of the Dormitio that sits like a huge paper-weight
on the traditional hill of Zion does nothing to re-
lieve it. This Church, by the way, is out of all
proportion to its environment and assaults the at-
tention of everyone who approaches the city from
the railway station. The interior is beautiful,
chaste and serene, and the service, conducted by the
Benedictines, is one of the most devout to be found
in the city, but the exterior is aggressive and irri-
tating. Wherever one goes about Jerusalem this
great pile strikes the eye with the brutality of a
mailed fist.

The only really beautiful object which we passed
from the Jaffa Gate at the south of the city to
what was to be our pleasant home in the American
Colony which lies some half-mile beyond the
Damascus Gate at the north of the city, was the
tower of St. George's Cathedral. But even this bit
of architecture, which is fine in itself, is not,
aesthetically, altogether satisfying. [Rising, as it
does, out of a grove of olive trees, this thoroughly
English tower seemed to be an exotic in its Oriental
environment. I often used to meditate upon those
two churches in the weeks that followed — the Ger-
man Church at the south of the city and the English
cathedral at the north of it. They are the two
architectural features which are most conspicuous
from practically every vantage-ground. Even from
the Mount of Olives these modern upstarts thrust
themselves upon the unwilling attention, symbolic of
the present struggle for Jerusalem, but botJi outside

72 JERUSALEM

the walls! Is there not a spiritual hint in that lat-
ter fact? Can Jerusalem be Occidentalized, Teuton-
ized or Anglicised? George Adam Smith in a happy
moment calls attention to the fact that the geological
dip of the city is toward the East. Zechariah, it
is true, anticipates some strange transformations in
the topography of Jerusalem hereafter, but he does
not appear to contemplate such a change in the
geology of its site as to compel the city to bow in
worship toward the West instead of toward the
East.

On our arrival all that we had heard of the
dangers and difficulties of a visit to Jerusalem in
those troubled times seemed to be quite wide of the
mark. Instead of a day's flying visit we settled
down to a prolonged stay, and for the first two
weeks of it we went about the city and its imme-
diate environs in a leisurely, comfortable way.

The city was, of course, even then under martial
law, but this signified only an increased security.
Jerusalem is not a turbulent city even in ordinary
times when police regulations are not so stringent.
Few crimes of violence occur there and such as do
occur usually arises among the jealous Christian
sects or quarrelsome Jewish parties, rarely between
Moslems and Christians. But the strict military
discipline effectually checked any violence whatso-
ever. Indeed it should be said in justice to the
Turkish authorities that both before and after
Turkey declared war the order in Jerusalem
throughout the fall and early winter of 1914 was
admirable. This was due in large measure to the

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 73

good sense and moderation of the military com-
mander, Zeki Bey.

After war was declared police regulations were
of course somewhat more rigid than before. No one
was supposed to leave town without a permit; no
one was to be out after eight o'clock at night; no
one was to speak ill of his neighbor's religion. This
last regulation would have proved to us that we were
in an Oriental capital even if our sense of smell had
failed us. But none of these regulations hampered
us to any extent. We did not become sufficiently
intimate with any one in the gossipy capital to feel
aggrieved by a prohibition to curse his father's re-
ligion or his grandfather's beard. As there were no
picture shows in the city we could stay at home
after dark by our little drum stove quite contentedly.
So far as leaving town was concerned we obtained
without any difficulty permits from the authorities
to visit the surrounding districts. But this proved
to be a mere form. Only on the Nablous road did
we find a guard to question our right of egress and
by going a few hundred feet east or west of him
across the upper hollows of the valley of
Jehoshaphat, he could be circumvented without dif-
ficulty. The one locality which we were forbidden
to visit after the war was declared was Hebron.
As Hebron was at that time the main southern base
for the Egyptian expedition this restriction was not
to be wondered at. To the north the unsettled con-
ditions of the times and the restlessness and sus-
picion of the population made travel practically out
of the question.

74 JERUSALEM

Thus, for the ten weeks of our stay, we were
compelled whether we would or not, to concentrate
our attention upon the strange city. But we were
not left without our reward. Jerusalem revealed
itself to us as it had revealed itself to no one, per-
haps, for generations. Our good friends, the Mont-
gomery s (Professor Montgomery was the director
of the American School for Oriental research that
year), and ourselves were the only persons in the
city who by any possibility could be classified as
tourists, a situation scarcely duplicated since the
days of the Bordeaux Pilgrim (333 A. D.).

Now, the tourist unavoidably carries with him an
atmosphere that communicates itself in a subtly
damaging way to all the scenes the tourist visits.
The tourist is automatically a vandal. He cannot
help himself. The most beautiful and sacred ob-
jects inevitably take on a bored and blase air after
they have been described in Baedeker and stared at
by sight-seers decade after decade. It is as if, under
cover of indifference, the choicer things in nature,
art and history wished to hide away their heart
secrets from the sacrilege of the idly curious. I
can well imagine that Jerusalem defends itself in
this way during the tourist season, and it is doubtful
if the average traveler ever catches anything but
the faintest suggestion of the real city of Zion.

I shall never forget the quiet rambles we took
about the city in those Autumn days. Not even
beggars molested us. The fake beggars who came
crawling and limping in from the surrounding vil-
lages to demand baksheesh during the tourist season
did not think it worth their while that year to

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 75

stir from the shelter of their homes. The few beggars
we saw were genuine beggars whose pedigrees reached
back to blind Bartimeus. One Friday we would
follow the weekly Franciscan procession, as it en-
tered the Church of the Holy Sepulchre out of the
Via Dolorosa, and wound its way with lighted tapers
through the dark ambulatory and down into the
blacker chapel of St. Helena, its murmuring chant
resounding through the Church and finally breaking
into a stately hymn, as the monks ascended the
steps to Calvary. On a Saturday we might find
ourselves in the synagogue of the Karite Jews — the
oldest synagogue in all probability in Jerusalem.
Only five families of this heretical Jewish sect are
still left in the city. Their synagogue is a diminutive
one, partly underground, and out of repair. On
the day we visited it the rain was leaking through
the roof. But it was spotlessly clean and redolent
of devotion, in striking contrast to the stinking
vault of a Sephardim synagogue and the tumultuous
worship of an Ashkenazim synagogue in the same
neighborhood. We sat for two hours while the rain
pattered on the roof and listened to the cantillation
of the Sabbath lections. There were only four men
present and three women in a balcony above. The
official reader was too blind to read the service and
the other three men read in turns. At the end of
the service they shook each other's hands and wished
each other "peace," then wrapped their beautifully
illuminated Bible away in a silk handkerchief with
loving care. Outside the city wall on the slopes of
the valley of Hinnom is the dreary cemetery of the
Karites, with its rude and nameless stones, where

76 JERUSALEM

no doubt these last representatives of the sect will
one day be buried.

Our favorite walk was down the Kidron Valley.
Half-way down we would turn into Gethsemane and
sit under the shade of the old olive trees in the balmy
air and look up at the great eastern wall of the city
and the Golden Gate, while kindly Era Giulio picked
us posies from his lovingly tended garden.

I have said that the first aspect of Jerusalem is
rather uninviting. It is not a city of artistic charm.
In this respect it is in sharp contrast with almost
any Italian city one may visit. When one has
named the glorious Crusading Church of St. Anne,
the charming little Convent of the Lentils (St. Nico-
demus), tucked away in a back alley of Bezetha and
not even mentioned in Baedeker, and the Mosque
of Omar, he has named the three really beautiful
architectural objects in Jerusalem.

Most of the Churches seem to be caves or dun-
geons. Religion is largely troglodyte there. The
pictures that decorate the walls of the churches and
monastaries are usually atrocious and there is
practically no statuary. The general impression
which the city makes is rather grim and austere and
the vast rubbish heap of Ophel which marks the
site of the ancient city of David, with its ash-gray
slopes of potsherds, decorated with old tin cans and
cabbage patches, is positively ugly.

But there is one feature of the city which is al-
ways enchanting — the walls. Our favorite view of
them was from the garden of Gethsemane. Some-
times they would be the mellowest golden-brown
when the sun rested on them. Under a passing cloud

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 77

they would change to soft greens and mottled grays.
One evening we were walking up the Kidron at sun-
set. The shadows had already gathered in the lonely
gulch and the tomb of Absalom looked like a gigantic
ghost as we passed it. But the sun had thrown a
last jet of fire across the city above us and struck
the wall of the Viri Galilaei that rims the brow of
Olivet on the opposite side of the valley. The wall
stood out above the darkness below like a softly
naming coronet of gold. Isaiah must have had some
such scene in mind when he likened Samaria on its
hill-top to a crown.

Sometimes we prolonged our stroll over the
Mount of Olives to Bethany. The inhabitants of
Et Tur on the top of the mountain, who have a
rather evil reputation, never troubled us at all. We
never tired of watching from the summit the vast,
majestic reaches of the wilderness of Judea or the
changing colors of the mountains of Moab and the
Dead Sea. There is a saddle on the eastern slope
of Olivet just beyond the Franciscan site of Beth-
page and a few minutes before you arrive at
Bethany. It is a very quiet place with marvelous
views toward the Frank Mountain on the southeast
and toward the Jordan Valley and the upper end
of the Dead Sea on the northeast. A little olive
grove is there and I have sometimes wondered if the
original Garden of Gethsemane was not in that
neighborhood, remote, unmolested, with a sense of
vastness pervading the landscape — no fitter place
for prayer and meditation can be found around
Jerusalem.

In these many walks about the city and its en-

78 JERUSALEM

virons the utter quietness of it all impressed us
constantly. As I think back upon those days it
seems as if a strange and solemn hush had fallen
upon the city and the hills around it. A subdued
and mournful expectancy seemed to tremble in
the air.

Ill

ON October 31st we saw on our morning walk
an ominous sight. The Italian flag was
flying over the Russian consulate. On our
return home we learned that war had been declared
between Russia and Turkey, that the Spanish consul
had taken the French interests in charge and that
our own consul, Dr. Glazebrook, had been requested
to look after the British interests. We seemed to
be in for it at last, actually trapped in a war zone.
That afternoon we walked again through the city.
The day was Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, and
happened to be at the same time the Mohammedan
feast of Abirman. All shops were closed. Scarcely
a person was to be seen on the streets. The stillness
of Jerusalem had deepened until it had become un-
canny. The sorrowful forebodings of the past few
weeks were now to be realized. That ancient capital
knew what war and bloodshed meant. In its heart
were the recollections of countless agonies, in its
ears the cries of the widowed and the fatherless of
unnumbered generations. Its garments were stained
with the blood of butchered multitudes. Were all
these awful experiences to be again repeated? Alas!
the past four years have only too well justified those
early fears. But for a time things went on, at least
for us, about as they had done before. We re-
sumed our explorations of the sacred sites, faked

79

80 JERUSALEM

and genuine, and the spell of the past reasserted
itself even in the midst of the commotions of the
present. We were subjected to only two annoyances
of any consequence. The first was the failure to
hear anything definite from the outside world or
for that matter from the world immediately about
us. Until war was declared we had at least the
French and Reuter telegrams with which to balance
the German, though the former could not even then
be posted on the streets without the danger of being
torn down. But after the war began all the allied
sources of information failed us. We were shut up
to the German and Austrian dispatches. These were
meagre in the extreme and seldom admitted any
reverses. Even though one was morally certain that
there was another side to the story, the effect of
constant iteration and reiteration of the same news
over a period of several weeks was depressing. The
only offset to this discouraging telegraphic influence
was an occasional rumor started by some unknown
person who had talked with some other unknown per-
son when the latter had landed at an unknown date
from an unnamed Italian steamer. Rumors with such
pedigrees did not inspire much confidence though
they could be used to cancel the wild claims of the
Turkish telegrams which now began to be posted
up. We were thrown back for fuller information
upon our papers from home. These arrived from
a month to six weeks after their publication. While
our friends were reading extras morning, noon and
night, we were being schooled in the useful Oriental
lesson of patience and scorn of speed. So far as
Jerusalem news was concerned all we could learn

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 81

was by word of mouth. The only papers in circula-
tion were in Hebrew and Arabic and they were of
course heavily censored.

It is really surprising, when I think back upon
it, how very little we managed to find out of what
was going on immediately about us. Fortunately,
and rather remarkably, too, our home papers were
admitted without much censoring. Our private let-
ters were opened, of course. But I doubt if they
were read. This was lucky, for our friends indulged
in all sorts of tirades against the "unspeakable
Turk" which the unspeakable Turk usually allowed
to pass with the most exemplary lack of resentment.
In some cases, however, he did seem to scent some
cryptic danger to his fatherland. A letter came to
a Swedish friend of ours in which the innocent ex-
hortation "love to the baby" was smudged over by
the censor's thumb. The French Consul wished to
send a telegram home to his wife and to assure her
that he was safe and at ease he mentioned the fact
that he was playing bridge. The reference to
"bridge" sounded suspicious. Was military in-
formation being given to the enemy? Was there
a plot to blow up a bridge? The consul had to
appeal to the commandant before he could send his
telegram through. When leaving the country I had
upwards of three hundred slides and a considerable
amount of manuscript which I wished to take out
with me. I was cheerfully assured by friends that
these would give me much trouble, that if the manu-
script was found I would probably be put in prison
till it was read through. To save trouble at Jaffa
I had them all passed and sealed by the censor at

82 JERUSALEM

Jerusalem. The only thing objected to was a note
on a scrap of paper by my wife stating that she had
seen one morning twenty peasant women with bales
of tebn on their heads being driven into town by
soldiers. Our kind-hearted censor did not like the
idea that gallant Turkish soldiers were driving
peasant women. I glossed over the memorandum
with the qualification that what the soldiers were
really doing was simply guiding the women to their
proper destination. When I finally reached Jaffa
the officials there ignored the Jerusalem censor's
seals but on the payment of baksheesh allowed the
slides to pass as being "a help to the country."
They paid no attention to my manuscripts, but in
the search of my person on the dock before em-
barcation they kept a copy of my will !

The other annoyance to which we, or rather our
friends, were subjected for a time arose from the
censor's regulations respecting the composition of
our own letters. English was debarred. They must
be written in Turkish, Arabic, French or German.
As German was the only one of these languages we
could handle we elected to send home our Christmas
greetings in this speech and they fairly reeked with
our "froehliche Weinachten" and "herzlichste
Grusse." Happily the restriction upon English was
lifted after a couple of weeks.

IV

MEANWHILE the effects of the changed
situation began to manifest themselves in
ways decidedly distressing for others.
Requisitions for the army from every possible source
of supplies became more frequent and tyrannical.
After the first of August when the general mobiliza-
tion of the Turkish troops was ordered the condition
of the fellaheen had gone from bad to worse. The
government had no means to support an army and
so turned it loose to live off the country. A man
in the cavalry service told a friend of ours that his
pay was a ruba (a shilling) a month. While we
were in Egypt an Australian trooper received six
shillings a day. Even in the early days of the
summer the newly levied soldiers had to provide their
own outfit and rations for five days. But a man
could still buy himself off from conscription by the
payment of forty napoleons ; only he ran the risk
of being drafted again after the payment. After
the war actually began requisitions and conscription
enlarged their maws and gulped down what was left
of the peasantry and their livelihood. In Bethany
we saw one day a proclamation to the effect that
if any one attempted to avoid the conscription he
would be shot with a rifle and a cannon and sabered
in addition. We chanced to meet there the present
innkeeper of the Good Samaritan Inn, a distant

83

84 JERUSALEM

glimpse of which can be obtained from Bethany. He
had come in to town to answer the draft and escape
a bloody end. We asked him what he thought of
it all. He laid the blame on Germany but seemed
quite willing to go to war. We asked him what the
women and children would do in the meantime.
"Work and die" this successor to the kindly host
of old answered laconically. One day we heard
our poor old egg-man at the Colony had come to
grief. He and his donkey had been requisitioned to
go to Beersheba. He went to the officers to find
out more particulars and had a tooth knocked out
for his impudence. Poor old fellow! we used to
watch him counting out his eggs, singing their num-
bers to himself in a kind of chant and always omit-
ting to speak the number seven lest it should bring
bad luck. His circumspect enumeration had not
saved him or his tooth. On another day we were
visited by a party of Bedouins from the Bene Sachr
tribe. The son of the sheik who was with them,
a lad of only fourteen, was one of the handsomest
boys I have ever set eyes on. He was a walking
arsenal; guns, cartridges and daggers were fairly
festooned about him. They had brought in five
hundred camels which had been requisitioned from
their tribe. The party was full of war, said they
were not afraid of any cannon (which they had
probably never seen), could muster 30,000 guns and
horses and claimed they were equal in prowess to
any four other nations. These Arab tribes under
the King of the Hedjaz have since favored the cause
of the Entente. The long camel trains, bringing
ammunition and provisions for the Egyptian ex-

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 85

pedition, were among the commonest sights we saw
those autumn weeks. They came trailing over the
slopes of Scopus from the north in a never-ending
stream. Taxes, of course, in Turkey are always
cruelly heavy. Even before the war, many olive
trees which had taken years and years to grow were
cut down because of the heavy tax upon them.
With the war the tax levies became intolerable. One
day we saw a lot of signs being taken down from
the various shops about the Jaffa Gate. The signs
were taxed and as tourist trade had ah1 dried up,
it no longer paid to keep these heavily taxed ad-
vertisements.

The Jewish inhabitants of Jerusalem were obliged
again to endure the sufferings which the Jewish
people of Jerusalem have always had to endure
throughout the countless ages of its history. Jeru-
salem is a great pauper asylum even in times of
peace. Of its population of 70,000 at the outbreak
of the war nearly two-thirds were Jews and the
great majority of them were more or less dependent
upon charity. It was a hopeless situation and
should never have been allowed to develop. In the
emergency of the world war it became appalling.
Fully a month before we left the city Herr Dr.
Cohen of the Deutscher Hilfsverein, one of the most
admirable Jewish educational and philanthropic in-
stitutions in the city, told me that the Jewish relief
committee were feeding some 7000 Jews daily in
the soup kitchens. They would not have been able
to do this had it not been for the American Jewish
Relief Fund which was, indeed, manna sent from
heaven in their distress. At the Evelina Rothschild

86 JERUSALEM

School, another excellently conducted school for
orphan Jewish children, they were able to give the
poor little things but one meal a day. When we
visited the school Miss L , the matron, was talk-
ing to the children on the war. She asked them
what it was that we were all longing for, expecting
them to answer peace. But at once they replied
"Our Messiah." Their minds were full of Israel's
hope, for they were practising their songs for the
Hannucca festival which commemorates the great
deliverance from Antiochus wrought by Judas Mac-

cabaeus. Miss L told us of her experience in

attempting to dole out bread to the Moghrebins,
Jews from North-west Africa, who lived down by
the Wailing Wall. They are a savage lot at best
and famine had reduced them to the level of beasts.
She was obliged to stand at an open window and
throw bread out to them. When she had given away
all her supply they tried to force their way into
the room where she was for more, and actually had
to be whipped back by the commandant of the city
who was with her.

One of the most pathetic sights was at our own
Consulate. Whenever one visited it, morning, noon
or night, the waiting-room was sure to be filled with
timid-eyed old Jews. They had come over from
America in order to be buried at Jerusalem. The
first thing they do on arrival is to buy a burial plot
on the Mount of Olives. This is as near as they
can get to the sight of the ancient temple, for the
Mohammedans have preempted the ground directly
by the temple wall. Both Mohammedans and Jews
believe that the Judgment scene is to take place in

Press Illustrating Service.

"THE PLACE CALLED GETHSEMANE."

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 87

the Kidron Valley. The government was, of course,
drafting all the Jews into the army and these poor
old men were trying to claim exemption as American
citizens. But only too often their papers were de-
fective and our kindly Consul could do nothing for
them.

THE disasters which overtook the fellaheen and
the Jews were also to be visited upon the
great ecclesiastical orders in Jerusalem.

I well remember a visit we paid to the beautiful
crusading church of St. Annes. This church was
tenderly and reverently cared for by the White
Fathers. Connected with it is the best museum of
antiquities in Jerusalem. One pleasant, balmy morn-
ing we wandered through the cool gray aisles of
the ancient sanctuary. No one, apparently, was
about. We descended into the crypt and there in
the quiet dimness was a White Father, sitting alone,
keeping a vigil over the reputed birth-place of the
Virgin. It all seemed very subdued and peaceful
and secure. Since we had plenty of time, as we
supposed, we did not attempt to see the museum
on that visit. A few days later we went again to
inspect it. Now all was changed. War had been
declared the day before. The White Fathers were
fluttering around their once peaceful close like so
many white doves disturbed by the approach of
an enemy. They feared that St. Annes would be
seized. Establishments such as this would make ex-
cellent quarters for the Turkish troops.

When we, rather thoughtlessly, asked permission
to see the museum, we were told it was impossible.
The curator was covered with cobwebs and we

88

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 89

shrewdly suspected that the treasures were being
hidden away in some safe crypt. Their fears and
precautions were justified. We had scarcely re-
turned home when it was announced that St. Annes
was in Moslem hands and later it was turned into
a barracks. Then came the news that the Convent
of the Freres des Ecoles Chretiennes had been
seized. We had spent a morning there, also, only
a short time before, examining the ruins of Tancred's
Tower, possibly the great tower of Psephinus built
by Herod Agrippa. One of the kindly brothers had
taken us up to the roof to show us the truly mag-
nificent view which was to be had from this point,
perhaps the highest in the city. He pointed out
the place where he thought Sennacherib had en-
camped and the little mosque just by the convent
wall which was built to commemorate the spot where
Saladin effected his entrance into the city. But now
another storm was gathering against the capital and
the Christian Brothers were to be caught within its
sweep. They were shortly evicted from the shelter
of their convent.

The same fate was ultimately visited upon the
learned Dominicans of St. Stephen's. I chanced to
be at the Convent when Pere La Grange and his
colleagues were making preparations against their
expected exile. The Dominicans have the best
modern library in Jerusalem and many valuable
antiquities. They seemed to be more concerned for
these than for their own safety. Well they might
be. We saw what could happen to such collections
one day when we visited the Turkish museum. This
was comprised of the collections which Bliss, Sellin

90 JERUSALEM

and McKenzie had been obliged to turn over to the
Turkish government. Much of the material was
boxed up, but it had been so often packed and re-
packed that it was hopelessly jumbled, while the
unpacked articles were lying about the dingy little
room gathering cobwebs. It is to be feared that
the scientific value of these precious collections has
been largely destroyed. As for the Dominicans
themselves they were soon to be prisoners in their
own convent.

The Russian Hospice was one of the first build-
ings to be taken over and the military commandant
established his headquarters there. It was in these
quarters that the ladies of our party joined in the
activities of the newly established Jerusalem branch
of the Red Crescent Society and learned to make
socks and bandages for the Turkish soldiers. There
is, or rather was, a Russian convent in the Gorge
of the Wady Fara about six miles from Jerusalem.
This Wady is one of the wildest of the kind in the
neighborhood. The convent itself is located high
up on a stupendous cliff in an ancient cave,
formerly a hermit's cell and later, I understand, a
robbers' den. When we visited it, it had just been
pillaged by the natives of the neighboring village
of Hismeh. Its walls were riddled with bullets, its
eikons pulled down, the tinsel flowers that adorned
them scattered over the floor. A solitary guard
was set over the desolation after the ruin had been
wrought — the usual Turkish way! The world has
been sated with nameless horrors since those early
days of the war and I realize the little I saw is in-
significant by comparison. Yet somehow that

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE [91

wrecked Russian convent in its environment of grim
and savage crags, remote from the haunts of men,
has always seemed to me a fit symbol of the madness
and mercilessness of the World-war.

But what was to happen to beautiful St. George's ?
The cathedral was near our home and we had be-
come greatly interested in its fate and in the fate
of our friends of the chapter who still remained in
Jerusalem. We had been accustomed to attend
afternoon service there. It was fine to see the brave
attempt which Canon H. and Mr. R., the head-
master of the cathedral-school, made to carry on the
stately services of the Church of England amidst
their country's enemies. For a time the boy-choir
of the school was maintained. But we have been
present at a service carried through in all its de-
tails, with lections, sermon, responses and anthems,
when only two other persons besides ourselves sat
in the great nave of the church. The choir was
obliged to be disbanded but Canon H. still preached
on. Later the Turks dug a great hole before a
side altar where they claimed to have heard guns
were secreted and we had to sit beside this pit and
pray with increased fervor Good Lord deliver us.
To avoid further vandalism we undertook to dis-
mantle the church ourselves and pack away such
of the furnishings as could be packed. Finally we
retired to a little side chapel for the services. Not
once until the very end were they discontinued.
The dignity, solemnity, I think I may truly say the
quiet exaltation of those services when just a hand-
ful of us were gathered in the great cathedral or
in the little chapel, none of us knowing what a day

92 j JERUSALEM

might bring forth, will never be forgotten by those
who participated in them. The majestic calm of
the things unseen and eternal seemed to challenge
the turmoil of the present.

But what was to happen to all these very peace-
able belligerents of the various ecclesiastical orders
whose sheltering convents and churches had been
seized from over their heads? A hastily written
note from Mr. R. received December 10th seemed
to decide the question. "Please inform the consul
at once," it read, "that we have been ordered to
leave Jerusalem for Urfa this afternoon. I am
imprisoned in the school-building."

Just a few minutes before the card came I had
met Canon H. entering the cathedral close quite
innocent of his doom. I hastened over to our con-
sul, Dr. Glazebrook, the friend of every one in need
in Jerusalem, Jew or Gentile, Latin, Greek, Protes-
tant or Unbeliever. To my astonishment the Canon
was already there. He had passed in at the front
gate of the close, learned that he was to be re-
garded as a prisoner, immediately leaped over a
back-wall and declining an invitation to tea from
a Mohammedan Effendi who had seen him in this
rather strenuous and uncanonical exercise, had
hastened over to the consulate for advice. While
we were discussing ways and means in came the
other prisoner, Mr. R. He had been dispatched by
the police to discover the whereabouts of the Canon !
But in spite of the fact that the situation had this
touch of opera bouffe about it, it was serious
enough. Urfa sounded a long way off and very
wintry. The journey would have to be made in

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 93

inclement weather which was now setting in. The
lovely weather of the Autumn had given place to
rains that had broken all records for fifty-two
years. There would be no consular protection for
the prisoners from the probable exactions of the
Turkish guards. There were also ugly rumors, and
they afterwards proved to be authentic, that Djemal
Pasha, at that time the military governor of
Damascus, had threatened to shoot the English
prisoners if any unfortified seacoast towns were
bombarded. It seemed as if our friends were in a
very precarious situation.

Dr. and Mrs. Glazebrook were just sitting down
to dinner when the two gentlemen came in and in-
vited them to dine. To the eye, it seemed like a
cozy little party. But the good cheer of it only
threw the actual situation into a gaunter back-
ground. It was impossible for our Consul to keep
them and they were compelled to leave the shelter
of the consulate. Friends assisted them to pack
their effects and then we all had tea together in the
dismantled study of the Canon — a function which
I am sure an Englishman would not omit or fail
even to enjoy if his execution were impending within
the hour — and waited for the gendarmes. But they
did not come. Our Consul secured an order tempo-
rary suspending banishment. This was the begin-
ning of a fortnight's cat-and-mouse play with the
English ecclesiastics and the other religious orders,
most trying to the nerves.

I had all my life been taught to believe in the
unchanging East. It is a myth. The lightning-like
rapidity with which the scenes were shifted in the

94 JERUSALEM

next two weeks was quite beyond my experience.
Counter-order followed order in quick succession.
But at last it did seem as if things had come to a
climax. One afternoon we saw between thirty and
forty carriages drawn up at the gate of the
Dominican convent. There was to be no fooling
this time. Northward they were to go. One Father
was in the last stages of consumption; another had
a broken leg. But all were to be bundled off and
must stand the long hard journey as best they
could. They were not to start till after dark. That
evening Canon H. and Mr. R., who had been im-
prisoned in the Dominican convent and whose fates
were still hanging in the balance, had secured a
parole and were dining at the Colony. It was a
bleak, windy night and the rain was falling. After
dinner we gathered in the great reception room of
the Colony which looks out on the Nablous road.
It was bright and cheerful inside, but the thoughts
of all were upon the Dominicans. Presently we
heard the rumble of carriage wheels. It was too
dark to see them pass, but for upwards of half an
hour we listened with scarcely a word spoken among
us as carriage after carriage jolted past us in the
darkness carrying the Dominicans to an unknown
fate. As I watched the set faces of our two English
friends while these doleful sounds came up to us
out of the night, the horror of war, only the rela-
tively trivial by-products of which I was witnessing,
came over me, the utter helplessness of the thou-
sands upon thousands of innocent harmless people
who had been caught in this awful maelstrom of

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 95

civilization and were being sucked down into its
disastrous vortex.*

Meanwhile our consul was leaving no stone un-
turned to save the English. Besides our friends
of St. George's there was a group of splendid men
and women, principally of the C. M. S. and Scotch
missions, who had been driven in from their stations
in Hebron, Gaza and Nablous. Their headquarters
were in the Olivet House where good Mr. Hinsman
must have housed them free of charge, for the money
they had in the banks was confiscated almost im-
mediately. For two weeks their bags lay packed
in the hallway of the hotel ready to start for
Damascus, Urfa, or home. They never knew a day
ahead what their fate was to be. It was a trying
ordeal which finally ended as we shall see in a really
dramatic climax. Yet it should be said in justice
to the Turkish authorities that while the fate of
the English was being decided they were allowed to
go about the city with perfect freedom and not once
were they subjected to any insult or hostile demon-
stration.

* We learned afterwards that the Dominicans were ultimately
spared. The Pope protested so vigorously to Austria against the
exile of the Latin orders that the Dominicans were taken only as
far as Beirut where they were allowed to board a steamer for
France and freedom.

VI

A 5 the holidays approached, the situation in Jeru-
salem became more and more tense. Evidences
of the big campaign against Egypt which the
Turks were planning to launch multiplied on every
hand. Out of our window which looked toward the
slopes of Scopus to the north of the city we used
to watch the Red Crescent brigade at their daily
maneuvers or soldiers practising trench-digging.
One day we saw a vast shining mountain of tin
raised up just outside the Damascus gate. It proved
to be made up of Standard Oil cans. Seventeen
thousand of them had been collected for the march
through the desert. Another day we attempted to
visit Solomon's stone-quarries only to be driven out
as soon as we entered by a stench unspeakable. The
vast cavern was full of camels which had been herded
there to keep them out of the heavy rains. An
occasional automobile with dashing officers came
racing around the old walls of the city. One turned
turtle just outside our doorway, to the great sur-
prise of everybody. A civilization accustomed
to the Palestinian ass did not know what to make
of this roaring fiery dragon. Rumor finally shaped
itself into something like definiteness that the ad-
vanced guard of the Expedition under Djemal
Pasha himself would shortly arrive and that the
Holy Flag was to be brought to the city in token

96

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 97

that the Holy War had begun. Everybody was
uneasy, including the Mohammedan population
themselves. They were mostly Arabs and they
feared the coming of the Turkish soldiery almost as
much as the Christians did. I have described else-
where the two remarkable scenes at the entrance of
Djemal Pasha and at the coming of the Flag and
must pass over the details here, in order to speak
of a third scene in which I happened to participate
and which those who took part in it are not likely
to forget till their dying day.

The Holy Flag had come to Jerusalem on Decem-
ber 20th. It was on that evening that Mr. Gelat,
the dragoman of the American consulate, hurried
over to inform us of orders which had just come
that all non-belligerent foreigners who wished to
leave the country must do so by the 28th of the
month or stay till after the war was over. A few
days before the order had been that no foreigner
could leave. When we heard we couldn't leave we
were anxious to go. Now that we learned we must
leave we wished to stay. Our hope ah1 along had
been to attend the midnight mass on Christmas Eve
in Bethlehem. But an Italian steamer was due at
Jaffa the next day, the 21st, and we could not afford
to take risks. Instead we spent a good part of the
night in packing for our flight into Egypt. But
the next day it was blowing heavily and word came
from Jaffa that no steamer could take on pas-
sengers. This gave us a breathing-space and time
to think over the meaning of what we had been pass-
ing through. It was a unique, a memorable ex-
perience in which we had been permitted to share.

98 JERUSALEM

We had seen great historical events transpiring ill
the city of the Prophets, the Apostles and the Lord.
We had seen the city itself facing with a grave and
solemn air the new crisis in its strange eventful
history. Perhaps it was not inappropriate after
all — or rather was there not a mystical necessity
operating in the fact that the world war had in-
volved the world city in its devastating sweep?
Could Jerusalem exempt itself from the agony of
mankind and remain true to its tragic past or to
its prophetic future?

We walked about in a dazed sort of way waiting
for news of another steamer. Word soon came
that another steamer was expected in the early
morning of the 26th. We were obliged to leave
the 24th to make sure of catching it. Christmas
was to be spent at Jaffa instead of at Jerusalem
or Bethany. It was a disappointment. We said
good-bye with genuine regret to the warm friends
whom we had made at the Colony and who had done
so much in the past weeks to make our stay pleasant
and profitable in spite of the anxieties of the time.
At the station we found a terrible jam, for at the
last moment orders had come to let the religious
orders, including the English, leave the country. Dr.
and Mrs. Glazebrook were there to see us off, though
it was fortunately not the last time we were to see
them. Dear old Major F. was also there to wave
us farewell. He was a retired English officer who
loved Jerusalem and all it stood for. He was in
charge of Gordon's Calvary, a really beautiful spot
which Chinese Gordon had once suggested was the
place of Christ's burial and which an English so-

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 99

ciety has carefully explored and preserved. He had
shown us about the place one quiet afternoon, with
an enthusiasm for the genuineness of this very fine
rock tomb, the contagion of which it was hard to
resist. When the permit finally came for the Eng-
lish to leave, the Major would not take advantage
of it. He was firmly persuaded that this war was
Armageddon, and he wished to be in Jerusalem at
the great day of revelation. So there he stood on
the platform cheerfully waving us of lesser faith a
final friendly good-bye.

That evening a great crowd of us refugees found
ourselves located at Hardegg's Jerusalem Hotel in
Jaffa. Mr. Hardegg is a German citizen but at
that time he was acting as our vice-consular agent.
The English had lodged some complaints with our
Consul for allowing a citizen of one of the enemy
countries to continue discharging his functions as a
United States agent at such a time, but before the
next two days were over they had changed their
minds about him. I had some difficulties of my own
about which I went to seek his advice. As I left he
remarked: "This is Christmas Eve; these are my
country's enemies in my hotel; but I am going to
have a Christmas party and invite them to it." And
so after dinner we gathered together as many of us
as could crowd into the private apartments of the
Hardegg family. A Christmas tree was standing
there with its twinkling candles. Grouped about it
were our English friends of St. George's, with a
number of the other English and Scotch mission-
aries, a party of Franciscan Friars in their dark
brown robes, and a variegated collection of Ameri-

100 JERUSALEM

cans. There was to be a little Christmas interlude,
written for the occasion by the sister-in-law of Mr.
Hardegg, and performed by the children of the
family. First, a young boy came out with helmet
and sword and recited what war had done in the
world. He was followed by another boy who repre-
sented Kultur (the World has laughed at Kultur
much since then, yet these people had a faith in it
which was touching). Then a young girl appeared
who sang the praises of peace, and last of all a tiny
little mddchen in white who represented the angel
of the Christ-child supreme over all. The German
child stood just in front of a Franciscan and Canon
S., a magnificent type of a Scotchman, and she
lisped her verses. There was no war between the
monk, the missionary and the little maid. In spite
of the sharp differences in our religious beliefs, in
spite of the still bitterer political differences which
then divided us, all of us felt for the moment at
least the supreme and unifying power of the Christ-
child; and after the interlude it was natural for
German chorals and English carols to be sung in
turn by the enemies gathered together around the
Christmas tree in Mr. Hardegg's Jerusalem Hotel!
We subsequently read of the strange longing for
reconciliation and the desire to express goodwill
which took possession of the troops on either side
of No Man's Land that first Christmas of the War,
but I believe the story has never been told till now
of the first War-Christmas in Jaffa. We had failed
to hear the midnight mass at Bethlehem, but we had
worshipped at a new birth of the Christ spirit, which
was far more beautiful.

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 101

Christmas Day itself, it seemed, would never end.
No one had slept much the night before. Would
the steamer come at the appointed time? Would we
be allowed to go on board when she did come?
Orders had been changed so suddenly and so often
already that nobody had any assurance that a
permit to leave would last for twenty-four hours.
The elders tried to forget their anxieties by amusing
the children of the party. It was a perfectly
heavenly day after the previous storms and Canon
H. and Mr. R. took the children down to the sea-
shore to skip stones in the unruffled blue Mediter-
ranean. Later in the day, a few toys were pur-
chased in a dingy little Jaffa shop and a Christmas
party was held at which Santa Claus himself ap-
peared.

But the English became so anxious that finally
Dr. Glazebrook was telegraphed for. His coming
brought a feeling of great relief and the Christmas
dinner which Mr. Hardegg had patched up for us
was eaten with considerable gusto by those of us
who had not succumbed to splitting nervous head-
aches.

The next morning the Italian steamer Firenzi
was reported in the offing. The Montgomerys and
ourselves were the first to arrive at the Customs
house, and before we realized it we were all on the
narrow dock standing before the Kaimakam of
Jaffa. For weeks he had spread terror through the
city, and rumors of his deeds had reached Jeru-
salem. He was a fat, coarse-looking man, with a
smile which was anything but reassuring. He pre-
tended to read our passports, cocked a side-long

102 JERUSALEM

eye at us, stroked the cheek of our small boy and
said tayib (good), and before we knew it we found
ourselves being rowed out to the Firenzi over the
gentle swells, freed at last of all anxiety as to our-
selves.

But what of our friends? We reached the Firenzi
about nine o'clock in the morning. At first all
seemed to be going well. Boat-load after boat-load
of refugees was coming on board. Jews, monks
and nuns, the Franciscans, the Sisters of Zion,
Sisters of St. Vincent and St. Paul, Sisters of the
Reparatrice, poor Carmelite nuns who had buried
themselves in a living death in their convent on the
Mount of Olives and now awakened to a cruel
resurrection, with veils pushed back, and rudely
jostled by the crowd on the ship's decks — eight hun-
dred of them altogether. Among them came some
of the English ladies with bad news. The English-
men had got down to the dock and in spite of their
permits to leave, had been ordered back to their
hotel by the sly Governor of Jaffa. In the afternoon
Cook's agent came on board to take their baggage
back. They had twice tried to get through and
twice been ordered back, and some of them had been
roughly handled. It was a difficult situation for
the English ladies, already on board the steamer.
Should they rejoin their husbands or stay on
board?

It was at this juncture that the wisdom of tele-
graphing for Dr. Glazebrook appeared. Our Con-
sul at Jerusalem was a Virginian, an ex-army
officer. He was a gentleman of the old school, in
whom courtliness and kindliness were blended in rare

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 103

degree. His unfailing tact and courtesy and a
native diplomatic sense had achieved in the preced-
ing weeks what the American business-man type of
consul could not possibly have accomplished. His
stately courtesy pleased the Oriental and his evident
desire to be fair won the Turk's confidence.

I shall never forget a meeting I witnessed be-
tween him and the sheik of the Bene Sachr tribe —
the son of Virginia and the son of the desert. It
was interesting to see how each at once recognized
in the other the gentleman which he was himself.
They were on good terms immediately, though
neither could understand a word of what the other
said. But when our Consul thought any wrong or
meanness was being done, his chivalrous indignation
would mount high. At the Christmas dinner he had
been toasted with rousing cheers by all present for
the good work he had done. But now all his efforts
seemed to be undone. He was the official protector
of the English. Their papers were in order but
he had suffered the mortification of twice seeing the
English file dejectedly past him, their papers ig-
nored by the obstinate man with the side-long eyes
and the unpleasant smile. It was then as we after-
wards learned, that he told the Kaimakam of Jaffa
quietly but firmly that he proposed to sit on that
dock until the English were released, and he actually
did take a chair and sit himself down in a way to
suggest that he was a fixture.

Then an interesting thing happened. Our
cruiser, the Tennessee, had been expected for several
days from Beirut. All day long we had been watch-
ing for it eagerly. About four in the afternoon,

104 JERUSALEM

smoke was seen on the horizon and presently our
warship, flying our flag (and it is a wonderfully
beautiful flag) steamed up in the offing. The
Consul saw that smoke and so did the Kaimakam.
At once he called to Dr. Glazebrook that for his
sake, he would let the English go ! In the late
afternoon we saw a boat putting out from shore
loaded to the gunwale. As it came nearer we
watched eagerly to see if it held the English. It
did, and a great cheer went up from the decks of
the steamer. Shortly afterwards Dr. Glazebrook
himself came alongside in a little dory to bid us
godspeed. The fine old soldier had won his fight,
and even a louder cheer bore tribute to his victory.
As we steamed away for Egypt the sun was set-
ting and the sea and sky were swimming in color.
To the east, however, the Judaean hills were be-
ginning to edge their dark shadows into the glory.
Up there within the gathering gloom lay the ancient
city, austere, resolved, waiting for the woe that was
to come. On the after deck of the Firenzi the Sisters
of St. Vincent and St. Paul in their blue dresses
and great white-winged bonnets were singing the
vesper hymn.

Ill

THE "EDEN LAND" AND THE LANDS OF
BIBLE HISTORY

How They Are Affected by the World War— The Morning Land
of the Race and Its Future Development

BY PROFESSOR EDGAR J. BANKS

THE "EDEN LAND" IN EARLY TIMES
BY PROFESSOR EDGAR J. BANKS

THOUGH we generally call Palestine the
original home of the Hebrew people, all of
early Bible history is laid far to the east
beyond the desert. Shinar, as the Hebrews called
the distant land between the Lower Tigris and
Euphrates, was their original home. To the Baby-
lonians the land was Sumer and Accad. Later it
was Babylonia. The Greeks knew it as Mesopo-
tamia. To the modern Turks it is Irak. There
where the rivers meet was the scene of the story
of the Garden of Eden, the birthplace of man. A
little to the north stood the Tower of Babel. There
Noah built the ark which saved him and his family
from the flood. Farther north, where the rivers
rise, is Mt. Ararat, the first land to emerge from
the flood.

From the land of Shinar, Nimrod, the mighty
hunter, went north to build Assur, and to found the
great Assyrian Empire. In Ur of the Chaldees
Abraham was born. From Ur he and his people
migrated across the desert to Palestine; that was
the beginning of the Hebrew nation. The children
of Abraham sent back to the land of their fathers
for wives to be the mothers of their children. Cen-
turies later, time and time again, the kings of

107

108 JERUSALEM

Assyria and Babylonia invaded Palestine to carry
the Hebrews back as exiles to their homeland. There
by the waters of Babylon the exiles first sang the
psalms which we sing to this very day. And there
Ezekiel lived and preached. So the old "Eden Land"
between the rivers is closely associated with much of
Hebrew history.

Far in the north, at the base of Mount Ararat,
the two rivers take their rise side by side. Flowing
apart, they first encircle Assyria. Again, near the
modern city of Bagdad, they approach within forty
miles of each other. Once more they spread out,
encircling Babylonia, and finally, after the
Euphrates has run its course of 1800 miles, and
the more direct Tigris 1150 miles, they come to-
gether at Kurna to flow in a single stream to the
Persian Gulf. The united stream is called the Shatt
el-Aram, or the Arabic River.

If you should travel north and south through
Armenia where the rivers rise, you would have the
impression that all the mountains of the world have
been congregated there. Ararat, overtowering all
other peaks, rears its snow clad head 17,212 feet
above the sea. You would cross range after range
with peaks 10,000 feet high, along trails almost too
rough and steep for a horse to climb. You would
find villages perched in almost inaccessible places,
where probably a wheeled vehicle has never been
seen. From the brush-covered Armenian hills you
descend into the rolling stony plain which was once
Assyria. The ruins of Nineveh and Nimrud and
other great cities now lie in a monotonous country,
fit only for the grazing of camels. Finally the domes

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 109

and minarets of Bagdad appear among the date
palms. From there to the Persian Gulf stretches a
perfectly level alluvial plain without a natural hill,
yet it is dotted with thousands of hill-like mounds.
They are the gravestones of past civilizations.

At the present time the Persian Gulf is growing
shorter at the rate of seventy-two feet a year, for
its northern end is rapidly being filled with the
deposit brought down by the rivers. Each day in
springtime the Tigris carries past Bagdad 170,000
pounds of silt, and the waters of the Euphrates are
still more muddy. At one time the Gulf extended
so far to the north that the rivers emptied into it
by separate mouths ; now their confluence is seventy
miles away. There was a time still more remote
when the Gulf must have reached to Bagdad. That
is why Babylonia is the most fertile land in the
world.

The climate of the "Eden Land" reaches the two
extremes. It is said that, when the land was a part
of Persia, a Persian prince wrote a history of his
father's kingdom, and he began the history with
these words: "My father's kingdom extends so far
to the north that men can not live there because
of the cold; it extends so far to the south that men
can not live there because of the heat." That
sounds like a fairy tale, yet it is literally true. The
snow in the northern mountains lies so deep for
several months of the year that intercourse between
the villages is difficult. The mountaineers are forced
by the cold to abandon their homes for the more
moderate climate of lower levels. Down by the Per-
sian Gulf the summers are excessively hot. At the

110 JERUSALEM

approach of the heated months, many even of the
poorest natives flee to the Persian mountains for
relief. If necessity keeps them at home, they spend
the days in underground chambers, and the nights
on the roof. From May till October not a drop of
rain falls ; not a cloud is in the sky, and every day
the sun, like a ball of fire, sends down its scorching
rays, withering the vegetation, and destroying most
insect life. Little but the annoying sand flies and
the scorpions seem to thrive. The breeze from the
desert seems like a blast from a furnace, and some-
times the air is laden with a fine penetrating sand.
Only here is the date palm at its best, for the
greatest of heat is required to ripen its delicious
fruit. On the coldest of winter nights ice will form,
and snow has been known to fall.

Naturally, in a land with such extremes of tem-
perature the vegetation is various. The northern
mountains were once covered with forests of oak.
There is an Oriental saying that "Wherever the
Turk has placed his foot the grass refuses to grow,"
and it is almost true, for wherever the Turk has
gone he has cut off the trees for making charcoal,
leaving the mountains bare, or with only ragged
patches of scrubs. South of the mountains, every-
where in the desert, grows the thorny argool of
which the camels are so fond. In the summer time
there is little other vegetation, but during the rainy
winter the desert is clothed with herbage and dotted
with flowers of brilliant hue. Along the shores of
the rivers are patches of tall reeds and tamerisk
bushes ; farther inland grows the wild liquorice.
Only below Bagdad does the date palm flourish, and

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 111

as you travel down the stream it appears in ever
increasing numbers until at the head of the Gulf
are vast forests of the trees. Grapes, oranges, figs,
lemons and delicious melons abound in the land.

Of animal life in the "Eden Land" there is little
to say. The Assyrian kings used to boast of the
lions they had killed, and the sculptured slabs from
the palace walls represent the kings at their favorite
sport, but the last lion of the land was shot some
years ago as it was attempting to leap onto a Tigris
River boat. Jackals roam about everywhere, and
frequently they are seen stealing down to the rivers
to drink. All night long you may hear them crying
like children lost in the wilderness. Wild pigs in-
habit the reedy places along the rivers, and the
beautiful gazelle is seen leaping over the plains. In
the southern marshes various kinds of large water
birds abound. Fish swarm the rivers. Fresh water
sharks of prodigious size travel up the Tigris as far
as Bagdad. House flies, sand flies, fleas and lice of
every description, find the land a paradise. Cen-
tipedes and scorpions, both yellow and black, the
kangaroo rat, and lizards of huge size thrive in the
dirt. Snakes are seldom seen.

A list of the names of all the peoples who have
lived in the "Eden Land" would be long indeed.
Many of the names would sound strange to most
of us. Far in the north, about the base of Mt.
Ararat, once lived the Vannic people who have left
inscriptions carved in the rocks of the mountains.
There too were the Hittites, those mysterious Bible
people who once spread over a greater part of the
Orient, and the Armenians, who may have been their

JERUSALEM

descendants. The Kurds, hardy, lawless brigands,
have long occupied the mountain fastnesses. The
strange Yezidis occupy the Armenian foot hills and
the northern Assyrian plain. The Chaldeans are
found in every part of the valley. Following the
Assyrians came the Medes and Parthians. Farther
south in Babylonia were the Sumerians, whose cities
now lie beneath other cities older even than the
days of Abraham. Then came the Babylonians and
Persians and Greeks and Romans and the Arabs and
the strange hordes from Central Asia, among them
the Turks, and finally into the old "Eden Land" have
penetrated the British.

Several times has civilization come to the "Eden
Land." Six thousand or more years ago there ap-
peared from some unknown region a short, black
haired, round headed race known as the Sumerians.
But they were not the first to inhabit the valley, for
deep beneath the ruins of their cities are found crude
implements and the pottery of a primitive people.
When the Sumerians came to the valley they already
knew how to write, to work statues in stone, to make
beautiful jewelry of silver, gold and copper, and
they had a developed religious system. They built
large cities protected with strong walls, and several
of them, as Adab, Tello, Nippur and Erech, have
yielded valuable results to the excavator.

After the Sumerians had occupied the "Eden
Land" for several centuries, it is not known just
how long, there appeared a Semitic people later
known as the Babylonians. They were uncivilized
and warlike. Quickly they overran the valley, tak-
ing city after city. They admired the Sumerians

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 113

whom they subdued, for they learned to write their
own language with the Sumerian wedge-shaped
signs. They worshipped in the Sumerian temples
and borrowed their religious customs. They chanted
the Sumerian temple hymns in the Sumerian
language long after this older people had been for-
gotten, for three thousand years till Babylon fell.
They dug canals, like huge rivers, to water the land
until the entire valley became a veritable garden.
It is said that the soil produced three crops a year.
The population became so dense that colonies were
sent out. One migration went up the Tigris to the
city of Assur, and thus the Assyrian nation had its
birth. Other migrations crossed to the Mediter-
ranean; among them were Abraham and his people.
In 794 B.C. there were in Babylonia alone more
than 89 fortified cities and 820 smaller towns.
Babylon, Nippur, Erech, Larsa, Ur, Cutha, Sippar,
all familiar Bible names, were but a few of the great
centers of population.

Assyria in the north, though a less fertile land,
also flourished. Assur, Nimrud, Khorsabad,
Nineveh and a score of smaller towns, rose to power.
The Assyrian armies fought in the Hittite land, in
Armenia, in Egypt, in Palestine and in Babylonia.
In 606 B.C. Nineveh fell. Less than a century later,
in 538 B.C., Babylon was taken by the Persians.
The people of both empires were killed or deported
or impoverished. The land was no longer tilled;
the life-giving canals were choked with sand; the
date gardens perished; the cities fell to ruins and
became shapeless mounds of clay. Where once were
prosperous cities and fertile fields, the wild beasts

114 JERUSALEM

of the desert prowled, and owls and jackals dwelt
in the palaces of the kings. Once the walls of the
great city of Babylon were partly restored that the
city within might be the wild game preserve of a
Persian King. So Babylon and Assyria passed
away, and only countless mounds of clay remained
to tell later generations of a civilization which had
lived for more than thirty centuries,

II

THE COMING OF THE MOSLEMS

A THOUSAND years later, about 576, A.D.,
long after the names of the cities and kings
of the "Eden Land" had been forgotten,
Mohammed was born in Mecca. His new religion
spread like wildfire over the desert. The Arab tribes,
always warring among themselves, united and
produced one of the most remarkable civilizations
the world has ever known. That civilization came
to the old "Eden Land." Among the ruins of the old
cities new cities sprang up, and in 762 A.D. Bagdad
was built on the site of a Babylonian city of that
same name. The story of Bagdad reads like a
tale from the Arabian Nights. At one time it was
a city of two millions, the metropolis of the world,
the center of art, of education and of commerce.
But its prosperity was comparatively brief. The
Mohammedan world, weakened by wealth and power,
began to decline, and in 1258 A.D. the Mongols
plundered and burned Bagdad. Other cities fol-
lowed its fate. The people were massacred, and
again the "Eden Land," left to itself, became a
desert.

All the valley from the Persian Gulf to the foot
hills of Armenia is now overrun by wandering Arab
tribes. Only here and there along the rivers or
canals are there towns of any consequence. Bagdad
has a population of 200,000 instead of 2,000,000.

115

116 JERUSALEM

Busreh, the Persian Gulf port, from which Sindbad
the Sailor used to start upon his wonderful expedi-
tions, has 50,000. Mosul, near the site of ancient
Nineveh, has 60,000. The sacred city of Kerbela
has 70,000. Few others can boast of more than
ten thousand. It would be difficult to estimate the
population of the entire valley ; probably it numbers
less than the people who once lived in Bagdad alone.
In South Babylonia, to the east of the Tigris, are
the Beni-Lam, savages which the Turks have never
been quite able to subdue. In the great southern
marshes between the rivers are the wild Ma'aden,
living in huts of mud and reeds, and plundering the
travelers who pass that way. In Central Babylonia
are the more civilized Montifik, grazing their herds
of sheep and goats and donkeys and camels far into
Central Arabia. The powerful Shammar farther
north along the Euphrates, and the Anezeh to the
east toward Nineveh, are the largest of the tribes
upon which scores of the smaller tribes are
dependent.

Persian merchants live in considerable numbers,
especially in Bagdad and the sacred cities. Their
peculiar costume is a familiar sight, and in places
Persian money passes as freely as Turkish.

The Turks have never been numerous in Meso-
potamia. They are confined chiefly to the official
class, and hold themselves aloof from all others.
The Constantinople Turk, even a high official sent
by the government to Bagdad, feels that he has been
exiled.

More numerous are the Chaldean Christians who
claim to be the descendants of the Babylonians and

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 117

Assyrians, and frequently among them may be seen
a face reminding you of the portraits of the Assyr-
ian kings. Their language resembles the ancient
Chaldean. They seldom live outside the large towns,
and at Tel Keif, north of Nineveh, they are more
numerous than elsewhere.

Jews are found in every part of the valley, and
even among the Bedouin tribes of the desert they
seem at home. About forty thousand of them live
in Bagdad. They are the bankers and the merchants
and the agents who go throughout the desert to
purchase wool and the antiquities found among the
ruins by the Arabs. Probably they are the
descendants of the Hebrew exiles brought over in
ancient times from Samaria and Jerusalem. Their
chief is stih1 called the Prince of the Captivity, a
title which Ezekiel bore. During the Middle Ages
they were obliged to dress in a peculiar yellow cos-
tume, and traces of it still cling to them. They
observe the ancient Hebrew customs, and in connec-
tion with some of their services they offer animals
in sacrifice. They are by far the most industrious
and progressive people in Mesopotamia.

Kurds, too, though their home is in the Armenian
mountains, live in all parts of the valley, especially
in the larger towns. They are the porters or hamals
of Bagdad, strong men who bear incredible burdens
on their shoulders. They make the best of soldiers
and mounted police.

As interesting as any of the peoples of the "Eden
Land" are the Mandaeans or Sabeans or Subi, or, as
they are sometimes called, the followers of John the
Baptist. They live by the rivers and canals, chiefly

118 JERUSALEM

along the Lower Euphrates. They are famed
throughout the land as inlay ers of silver objects
such as cigarette cases, match boxes, and the various
ornaments worn by the desert women. Their religion
is a mixture of ancient paganism, Judaism, Chris-
tianity and Mohammedanism. John the Baptist was
their great prophet, but to them both Jesus and
Mohammed were false. Though they speak Arabic,
their sacred writings are in Aramaic. Just as the
Mohammedans face Mecca when they pray, the
Mandseans face the North Star. Baptism or im-
mersion they practise on all occasions, frequently
several times a day, and therefore they live only
near some running stream. Even on the coldest of
winter days you may see them plunging into the
river to conform to their religious laws.

Stranger still are the Yezidis of the north. Devil
worshippers they are frequently called, and their
dark forbidding faces seem to make that title ap-
propriate. To them Satan is a fallen angel greatly
to be feared. Not even his name may be mentioned
in their presence. They regard both Jesus and
Mohammed as angels. Of all the peoples in the
"Eden Land" they are probably the most inhos-
pitable and fanatical.

Armenians frequently leave their mountain homes
for the warmer climate in the south. During recent
years Europeans have settled in the larger towns for
the purposes of trade. Such are the peoples of the
"Eden Land" today. It is a strange mingling of
races and tongues and beliefs and customs, possible
only in a land where intercourse is difficult and where
time has wrought few changes.

WAITING THE OPENING OF A COFFEE RELIEF STATION.

Ill

THE SIMPLE LIFE OF THE "EDEN LAND"

UNTIL very recent times no part of the world
has been less affected by European civiliza-
tion than has the "Eden Land." Even in
Bagdad life and customs remind one of ancient
times; the city seemed to be a survival of Nineveh
or Babylon. Bagdad, like most of the ancient cities,
lies on the two sides of the river; the two parts are
connected with an ancient bridge of boats. In the
center of the town, near the ends of the bridge, are
the bazaars, crowded from daylight till dark with
a picturesque throng of idlers. The narrow streets,
arched above, or covered with reed mats on poles,
protect the people from the summer heat and the
winter rains. There, all day long, even on the
brightest days, perpetual twilight reigns. The little
square booths, raised about two feet above the
street, have no windows or doors ; their entire fronts
are open. The other three sides are lined with
goods. The merchant, squatting on the floor,
patiently awaits a customer. When one appears he
bargains the hours away for the highest possible
price; time has little value. Merchants of similar
goods flock together. The vivid colors of the silk
bazaar, the strange subtle fragrance of the spice

119

120 JERUSALEM

bazaar, the din of the copper beaters of the metal
bazaar, the dust laden air of the cotton bazaar,
the peculiar cries of the wandering venders, the
harsh shouts of the muleteers to drive the people
from the way, the motley crowd of people, the towns-
man with long flowing silky gown, the Persian with
tall felt hat, the desert Arab with face half hidden,
the naked dervish, the women so hidden in great
silk gowns and veils that their own husbands would
not know them, camels and donkeys laden with goods
from distant cities, — these and a thousand other
impressions form a picture which the stranger will
never forget.

Along the river's edge by the bazaars are the open
cafes, crowded with idlers sipping bitter coffee and
puffing at long water pipes. By the river too are
the low rickety government buildings, the consulates
of the foreign powers, and the homes of the wealthy.
The better Bagdad house is a great flat-roofed
structure of brick, surrounding an open court. On
the ground floor are the servants' quarters, the
kitchen, the stables and the serdaub or half-under-
ground chamber where the family spends the hot
summer days. On the second floor are the poorly
furnished living rooms. But the roof is a really
delightful spot ; there the evening meal is eaten, there
the children play, there the neighbor comes for a
little chat and a smoke during the twilight hours,
and there the beds are spread for the night. Every-
one sleeps on the roof. Back from the river lives
the great mass of the people. The streets are so
narrow that with your hands you may touch the
houses on both sides at the same time. They seem

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 121

like deep trenches, for no windows open upon them.
They are so winding that they form a great laby-
rinth in which a native may easily lose his way.
Before every house is a garbage pile growing higher
and higher with age so that you must descend several
steps to reach the house door. It has been said
that no one has ever seen a dead donkey, but he
who said it has never been in Bagdad. Hosts of
street dogs, as in ancient Samaria, find a perpetual
feast in the garbage piles. Most of the houses are
of brick ; some are of mud, with a small court open-
ing from the street. At the rear of the court are
the two or three chambers. The furnishings are
simple. In the court is a pot-like clay oven for
the bread. At its side is a huge pot for the water
the donkey has brought from the river. A few
copper pots hanging on the wall, at one side of the
room a little clay bench covered with a reed mat
or a carpet to serve as a bed, and the simple house
is complete.

There are hans or inns where the stranger may
lodge. In the large open court the animals are
hitched and fed while the guests occupy alcoves or
unfurnished airless chambers at its side. There are
numerous hot baths frequented by both men and
women, and churches and synagogues and mosques.
Schools for the Jews and Christians have been estab-
lished by missionaries. The Moslem schools are not
worthy of the name. Society, as we understand it,
does not exist. The pleasures of the Bagdadi are
few. For the very poor life is a continual struggle.
The great universal desire is to do nothing, or to
lounge in the cafes smoking and listening to the

122 JERUSALEM

tales of other loungers, or playing backgammon.
An outing may be had in a neighboring garden, or
a sail at twilight in a round bowl-like boat on the
river, or a ride on the mare in the desert about the
city. The women gather at the baths to gossip.

Such is life in the larger towns of the "Eden
Land." In the smaller places, like Kut el-Amara, now
brought to prominence by the war, it is even more
primitive. Kut is a typical river town inhabited
by Arabs and Persians, merely a trading place for
the desert Arabs. The bazaars are small and poorly
stocked with inferior goods such as the desert people
require. The houses are simpler than those of Bag-
dad, usually with a single room. A government
building, a bath, a cafe, a han for the passing pil-
grims, are the only buildings of importance.

Out in the desert life is more simple still. Black
goat-hair tent encampments pitched wherever the
pasturage is good, huts of reeds or of mud to shelter
the more settled Arabs, constant fighting to end an
ancient blood feud, an endless struggle with heat
and cold and hunger and drought, — that is life in
the desert. The Arab knows no other and is satisfied.

Though most of the "Eden Land" is a desert, its
industries are of no slight importance. Southern
Babylonia is a great date garden. The shores of
the Shatt el- Arab, and the country on either side for
miles back, supply the world with dates. Farther
north between the rivers grows the liquorice, and
thousands of Arabs are employed in digging the
sweet root to supply the foreign markets. The
Bedouin Arabs possess great herds of sheep, and the
hides and wool and casings sent to Europe and

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 123

America bring them their chief income. Once a year
the camels are driven to the large cities to market.
The poppy produces opium. Gum is collected from
the trees in the mountains, and ghee or clarified
butter is shipped to India. Until very recently Bag-
dad has been an important center of the rug in-
dustry. The Persian pilgrims, bound for the sacred
cities, used to bring the old family rugs and heir-
looms and sell them in Bagdad to meet the expenses
of the journey. Since the railroad was built from
Damascus to Medina, the pilgrims have preferred
to go by boat from a Black Sea port to Constan-
tinople and Beirut, and now they sell their rugs in
those cities. In 1911 the exports from Bagdad alone
amounted to $1,392,583. Of this the goods to
America were valued at $276,180.

The modern industries are but a fraction of what
the valley has produced in the past, or is capable
of producing. Should you travel north or south
anywhere below Bagdad, you would notice ridges of
dirt running everywhere across the desert. They
mark the ancient canals which used to bring an
abundance of water to the remotest parts. No
country has ever had a more perfect or extensive
system of irrigation. Enormous date gardens ex-
tended northward to Bagdad and beyond. Still
farther north were endless fields of grain. Climb
to the summit of any of the ruin mounds and you
can imagine how dense was the valley's population.
Dotting the plain everywhere, as far as the eye can
reach, are ruins and ruins, thousands of them.
Some are so low that they hardly rise above the
level of the plain; others tower to the height of

124 JERUSALEM

150 feet. Some are but a few acres in extent;
others as many miles, and each mound is the grave
of an ancient city or village. Where once were
towns without number, and hordes of people, and
fertile fields and life-giving canals, you will see only
desert with perhaps a black tent encampment, or a
solitary horseman, or a few grazing camels.

IV

MODERN PROGRESS AT WORK

HOPE has long been entertained that the old
canals may be reopened, the desert irri-
gated and the country reclaimed, for
the eleven millions of acres of rich soil could produce
cotton and grain enough to supply half the world.
Some years ago Sir William Wilcox, whose name
is familiar as the builder of the great Nile dam
at Assuan, was sent by the British Government to
examine the ancient system of canals with a view
to reopening them. Several years were spent in com-
pleting the details of the project. The plan provided
for canals to distribute the river water, for large
dams across the Euphrates to prevent flooding, and
canals to carry away the surplus water in the flood
season when it is filled with silt. Much of the
Babylonian soil is now saturated with saltpeter, and
provision was made for washing it away. The
Euphrates at Babylon has long been dry, for the
river ran away into the Hindieh. canal and turned
vast tracts of the desert into a swamp. A large
dam was planned for the entrance to the canal to
turn the water back to its original course. Sir
John Jackson of London, with a staff of thirty en-
gineers, was placed in charge, and a fund of

125

126 JERUSALEM

000,000 was to be devoted to this part of the
project.

From Kut el-Amara on the Tigris, running across
the valley to the Euphrates, is the ancient canal now
called the Shatt el-Hai. It is navigable for native
craft in the flood season. Scarcely any of the land
along its shores is cultivated. The plan provided
for the expenditure of $12,000,000 for irrigating
this district and for draining the malarial swamps
to the south.

The draining of the swamps about the date bear-
ing region along the Shatt el-Arab was also
provided for. The total project was to have cost
about $65,000,000. The work was begun; some of
the old canals were reopened; some of the swamps
were drained; the run-away waters of the Euphrates
were controlled by a dam; several millions of acres
of land were reclaimed, and the work was progress-
ing so rapidly that people could not be found fast
enough to settle there. Babylonia was fast becom-
ing a great healthy fertile garden. Then the war
broke out and the work came to an end.

In the meantime, the Germans were devising
schemes for exploiting the land. In 1912 they ob-
tained from the Turkish Government a concession
to build a railroad from Constantinople to Bagdad.
In 1911 German engineers arrived in Bagdad to
begin the work of construction from that end. It
was begun on July 27, 1912. Its completion was
expected within five years. German spies, in the
guise of missionaries and explorers, came to prepare
for future events. A German excavating expedition
to Assur, the old Assyrian capital on the Tigris,

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 127

built one of the strongest forts that the country
possesses. It was claimed that it was for protection
from the Arabs. The walls of the old city of Nineveh
were being quarried for stone for the construction
of a railroad bridge across the river. Until shortly
before the war there were but two lines of river
steamers from Busreh to Bagdad, but the prosperity
of the country became so great that in 1912 the
number of the lines was increased to nine. There
was an unusual demand for labor. Wages mounted ;
rents were doubled; hotels, vast store houses,
hospitals and private residences were constructed.
It seemed to the native that at last prosperity had
come. The British were reclaiming his land for him.
The Germans were connecting it with the rest of
the world, and providing a way to carry his produce
to market. Then the great war broke out.

THE EDEN LAND'S PART IN THE GREAT
WAR

THE part that the "Eden Land" has played in
the war has not been slight. It was the
belief of the German rulers that at the com-
mand of the Sultan of Turkey the entire Moham-
medan world would rise in a holy war to drive the
British from the East. Mesopotamia especially, it
was supposed, would eagerly welcome a holy war,
for to the Persians and most Eastern Arabs,
Kerbela and Nejef are the most sacred places on
earth. Surely all of Mesopotamia would rise to
expel the British. What was the result ? The Arabs
of all Arabia rebelled and threw off the Turkish
yoke. They rejected the Sultan as their religious
head. They drove the Turks from Mecca, and
placed upon the throne a ruler of their own, a real
descendant of Mohammed. For a time the Meso-
potamian Arabs were faithful to the Sultan, but
when they saw the British armies advancing up
the valley, they too abandoned the Turks. The
story of the British retreat from Ctesiphon to Kut,
the siege of Kut and its capture, the advance
of the British again, and the capture of Bagdad,
the steady progress up both the Tigris and the
Euphrates half-way from Bagdad to Nineveh, is

128

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 129

familiar. All Babylonia is now under British con-
trol, and not since ancient days has there been such
security and prosperity as now. The miserable,
malarial city of Busreh has been rebuilt and en-
larged, and all the region about has been made safe.
Wharves for ocean-going steamers have been con-
structed. Hotels and beautiful private homes have
been built. The canals which gave the city the
appearance of an Oriental Venice have been walled
and bridged. The streets have been paved, street
cars, electric lights and the telephone have been
installed. The squalid village of Kut has been en-
tirely remade. The filthy bazaars have become a
beautiful colonnade along the river. Bagdad is fast
resuming its former splendor when it bore the title
"The Glorious City." Sewers have been laid, the
streets widened and paved, and the people are pros-
perous and contented. The Euphrates has been
made navigable in places where it was not deep
enough for a canoe to pass. Railroads have been
constructed from Busreh to Bagdad and beyond.
The desert along the way has been transformed to
wheat fields and dairy farms, and all Lower Meso-
potamia promises to become again as fertile, as
thickly populated, as wealthy as ever it was in its
palmiest days.

For the student of Biblical or ancient history
the future of the Eden land holds much in store.
As long as Turkish rule extended over the valley
the work of the excavator among the ancient ruins
was attended with many difficulties. To obtain the
permission to excavate was a long and costly
process. If once it was obtained every possible

130 JERUSALEM

obstacle was placed in the excavator's way, and all
the objects he discovered belonged to the unap-
preciative Turks. So all but a few of the thousands
of buried cities have remained untouched. There
they still lie filled with the treasures and records
of ancient time. Near Hillah on the Euphrates is
the lofty ruin associated with the story of the Tower
of Babel. On the Lower Euphrates near Nasarieh,
are the extensive mounds of Mugheir, marking the
site of Ur of the Chaldees where Abraham was born.
Farther toward the Arabian plateau are the ruins
of Eridu. To the north of Nasarieh are Erech and
Larsa, great cities which flourished in the days of
Abraham. Babylon, where the Germans have con-
ducted excavations for fifteen years, has been but
partly explored. Near by are the ruins of Cutha
and Sippar from which the Samaritans were taken.
Farther north, in Assyria, in the buried cities along
the Tigris, Assur, Nimrud and Nineveh, there still
remain priceless treasures and inscriptions. Still
farther north in the Armenian region are numerous
mounds still unexplored. Now the war is over, and
the end of Turkish rule in the "Eden Land" is as-
sured, the explorer and the excavator will be as wel-
come as he is in Egypt. Already several expeditions
to the valley are in formation. The buried cities will
then give up their secrets. It is likely that in
Bagdad will be established a great archaeological
museum which in time will attract scholars from all
the world.

So the "Eden Land," where civilization had its
birth, where it has died and been reborn over and
over again, the land, now a garden, now a desert, is

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 131

about to enter upon a new period of its long history.
No man can say what its future will be, but this
is certain. The "Eden Land" will no longer be in-
accessible to the rest of the world. Railroads and
steamships will bring it civilization. Its swamps
will be drained, its deserts irrigated, all its waste
places made fertile. New life will come to its re-
motest corners, and again it will send out great
rivers of grains and fruits to feed the world.

IV
THE KEY TO THE WORLD WAR

BY LIEUT. COL. J. S. WARDLAW-MILNE
of the British Mesopotamia!! Campaign

(r) International Film Service, Inc.

ANCIENT TIBERIAS, ON THE SEA OF GALILEE, OCCUPIED
BY GEN. ALLENBY'S FORCES.

(C) International Film Service, Inc.

DAMASCUS, CAPTURED WITH ITS GARRISON OF 7000 MEN.

THE KEY TO THE WAR
BY LIEUT. COL. J. S. WAEDLAW-MILNE

THE thoughts, the energies and the anxieties
of the American people in connection with
the war have been, as is natural, almost
entirely centered upon the battles of the Western
Front. Yet there is time, without slackening in any
way in the active prosecution of our work in con-
nection with the war, to stop and consider for a
moment what the war is all about; and if we do
make this temporary pause and study intelligently
the history of the causes which led to the gigantic
struggle, aided by a careful consideration of the
changing phases of European politics in the last
thirty years, we shall find that it is not upon the
West so much as upon the East that our attention
must be focussed, if we are to understand and ap-
preciate the real causes of the war.

It is well known that there is considerable di-
vergence of opinion in the minds of various military
experts who write regarding the war, as to where
and in which direction the decisive blow to Germany
could best be given. In the same way various writers
have put forward different theories as to the causes
which led to the great conflagration, but I know
of no writer who has not at least placed in the
forefront of the causes the German dream of world-

135

136 JERUSALEM

empire and particularly her hope of dominion in
the East.

Slowly and surely were the plans laid. Others
have told fully of the religious difficulties and dis-
sensions spread throughout the Kingdom of Bul-
garia, while the plans for acquisition of territory
and increasing influence in the lands bordering on
the North Sea are too well known to need repetition.
Years were required, however, before the schemes in
the East came to maturity. The Turks' old friend-
ship for Great Britain had to be alienated and
British influence at Constantinople had to be re-
placed by German. But slowly and gradually the
process went on, while by continual speeches upon
the blessings of peace, the German Emperor and
the German Government threw dust in the eyes of
the politicians of Europe, and lulled Great Britain
particularly into a stupid sense of security.

I desire to draw the reader's attention to that
great area of land lying between European Turkey
on the one hand and the Persian Gulf on the other,
an area which we generally describe as the "Near
East," and which includes not only Palestine and
Syria, but all of Asia Minor, Armenia, Kurdistan
and Mesopotamia. Now, let us see what Germany's
interests and ambitions in this part of the world
were in the years previous to the present outbreak.

Probably thirty years ago there were few if any
Germans in Asia Minor at all, and although their
enterprises there had previously made a start,
fostered and encouraged by the German Govern-
ment, it was not really until 1896 that German in-
fluence made its great step forward. In that year,

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 137

when Germany declined to be a party to the other-
wise unanimous attempt on the part of the Powers
of Europe to put a stop to the Armenian mas-
sacres, she took her stand upon reasons quite other
than those which really weighed with her at the
time. The real reason for her refusal to bring
pressure upon the "Sick man of Europe" was that
she saw an opportunity, by preserving Sultan Abdul
Hamid, of earning his friendship, of laying the first
foundations of Germany's influence with and pro-
tection of Turkey, and of realizing the first portion
of the Kaiser's dream of conquest in the East and
of world-wide dominion.

The original Berlin-Baghdad Railway scheme,
which owed its inception to the activities and en-
terprise of German merchants, was before long
diverted to purely political purposes, while every
possible course of German influence and aggression
was used to the utmost in the Turk's Asian posses-
sions. Long and careful were the preparations
made. German colonies sprung up at various places
in Palestine and Syria, particularly at Jaffa and
Jerusalem. The Kaiser made his famous journey
to Palestine and eventually his preposterous declara-
tion at the Tomb of Saladin, where he declared
himself the "Protector of Islam." To such an
extent did this process of pushing German influence
continue that a well-known resident of Syria, writ-
ing just previous to the war, declared it to be
"impossible to express the extent to which the whole
country has recently come under German dominion."
That well-known authority, Canon Parfit, writing
of the events leading up to the war, mentions that

138 JERUSALEM

a large force of German railway engineers was en-
gaged a few weeks before the outbreak in pressing
on railway construction at the rate of a mile a day !
He also refers to the extent of German influence
in Jerusalem; for example: by mention of three
prominent German edifices erected in that city —
firstly, the German church on the top of Mount
Zion, built on a solid concrete foundation — secondly,
the well-known hospital at the Damascus Gate, built
like a fortress, and lastly, that charitable institu-
tion on the top of the Mount of Olives, a German
sanatorium, having erected upon it a strange object
for a charitable building, nothing else than one of
the largest wireless installations in the world!

It is probably little understood in this country
how many and varied are the schemes comprised
in the expression, the Berlin to Baghdad Railway
Concessions. Not only were the actual financial
concessions wrung from Abdul Hamid's Government,
as the blood-money in payment for which he would
be permitted to continue his orgy of lust and
murder — such as would undoubtedly bring the whole
of Turkey under German dominion and make Con-
stantinople practically a German city — but the
forest, mining and other rights connected with the
scheme would insure the Asiatic possessions of
Turkey coming directly under German influence and
control. The pressing on of the building of the
railway to a great German naval port at Koweit,
was to give Germany a direct outlet to the Persian
Gulf and the shores of India. Afghanistan was to
be bribed and with the occupation of Persia and
the advance through Afghanistan, and by sea from

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 139

Koweit, it would not be hard, the Germans thought,
to destroy once and for all British dominion in
India. This scheme was to be aided, if not entirely
accomplished, by means of a "Jehad" or Holy War,
launched (as it afterwards was) from Constanti-
nople, at which the "faithful" in all countries were
to rise and to push the "infidel" — excluding only
the German allies of Turkey — into the sea. The
extension of the railways of Palestine made progress
possible towards the Suez Canal and Egypt. The
linking up of the German possessions in East and
West Africa was to cut the line of the Cape-to-
Cairo Railroad, disposing forever of that "far-fetched
British scheme," leaving the German free to strike
north and south at his future convenience, until
finally Africa became his own. The economic con-
trol of Russia was no mere dream, as we have seen
in later days; and thus, with a great capital at
Baghdad, a vast Eastern Empire was to be estab-
lished and German power to rule without let or
hindrance from Hamburg to Singapore.

It is difficult now to go into the causes leading
to the first little block in the path of German
political progress in the East, namely the rise of
the Young Turkish Party — but with Enver Pasha
under the thumb cf Berlin, the path of progress
was only temporarily checked. The Balkan War
was a more troublesome matter, inasmuch as it
meant the rise of Bosnia and Serbia. The former
was easily disposed of, leaving only one small coun-
try standing as a barrier across the German path
to the East. With the final deepening of the Kiel
Canal and the completion of other preparations

140 JERUSALEM

long planned, and with the apparent immediate
prospect of civil war in England, it appeared to
Germany that the day had arrived and the hour
had struck. Difficult as it was to find an excuse
to quarrel with Serbia, chance or good management
did put an opportunity in the way. It is unneces-
sary to detail the measures taken by Germany to
prevent any peaceful settlement of the trouble be-
tween that unhappy little country and Austria.
The opportunity was too good to be lost. Serbia
must be removed and the path to the East opened
for German "Kultur."

In these days, when a policy of land-grabbing on
the part of European Powers and particularly on
the part of Great Britain, is still occasionally re-
ferred to, it is perhaps well to consider the history
of the British influence in the Persian Gulf. Unlike
the case of Germany, the British position in the
Gulf generally has been laid down clearly and pub-
licly by British statesmen on various occasions.
The following words defining the British standpoint
are from a speech delivered by Viscount Morley
(Acting Secretary of State for India) in the House
of Lords on the 22d of March, 1911:

** If by any chance in negotiation our position in the Gulf is chal-
lenged, this is the answer — Great Britain has not sought territorial
acquisition in these regions. She has for generations borne burdens
there which no other nation has ever undertaken. She has had
duty thrust on her without dominion. . . . She has kept the peace
among people who are not her subjects. . . . She has kept in strange
ports an open door through which traders of every nation may have
as free access to distant markets as her own. If Great Britain has
become in any sense arbiter and guardian of the Gulf, it has been in
obedience to calls that have been made upon her in the past to
enforce peace and to hold back the arm of the marauder."

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 141

Now, in pursuance of this policy of keeping the
peace, of policing the Gulf, of buoying, charting
and opening the seas to navigation, it has become
necessary from time to time to restrain the various
and antagonistic tribes which occupy portions of
territory from interfering and making war upon
each other. To do this successfully, various treaties
and agreements have been made with independent
chiefs and rulers, great or small. Amongst others,
the Sheikh of Koweit is under definite agreement
with the British Government with the object,
amongst other matters, of preventing his acquiring
further territory or disposing to others that which
he himself holds. When it is realized that in large
parts of the areas lying on the shores of the Persian
Gulf the claim to dominion on the part of local
rulers is often of a rather shadowy character, it will
be easily realized how necessary agreements of this
nature are.

Now, Busrah, the natural port of Mesopotamia,
is not suitable as a terminus for the Berlin-Baghdad
Railway — at any rate from the point of view of
the German authorities — owing to a sand bar at
the mouth of the Shatt-al-Arab (the name given to
the confluence of the two great rivers, the Tigris
and Euphrates) ; but the natural harbor of Koweit
below the bar is eminently suitable for the pur-
poses. Consequently, Turkey, at the instigation of
Germany, demanded that the territory in Koweit
should be handed over for the purposes of the rail-
way. The Sheikh, true to his obligations, replied
that he was unable to do this; but from the time
this first demand was made until the outbreak of

142 JERUSALEM

war, Germany, by means of Turkey, never ceased
to press for a concession from the Sheikh of
Koweit, and to embroil the Turkish Government
with the British authorities. In this way the rela-
tions between the Turkish and British Government
became in the ten years previous to 1914 more and
more strained. Eventually Great Britain gave way,
and it is strange now to look back to the fact that
upon the outbreak of war, England was upon the
point of signing an agreement which virtually gave
Germany all she asked for, including control of the
Baghdad railway right down to the Persian Gulf.

The old good feeling existing between Great
Britain and Turkey having gradually changed, it
was evident that when war with Germany was de-
clared Turkey might be brought into it. It has
perhaps been truly said that the statesmen of Eng-
land were strangely apathetic and blind to what
Germany contemplated; but they knew enough to
be aware of the fact that Germany had deep designs
in the East and had succeeded to some extent in
bending Turkey to her will.

By the 31st of October, 1914, when it was seen
that war with Turkey was inevitable, the British
had a small force lying on transports in the Persian
Gulf off the island of Bahrein. This force had been
sent to prevent any possible attack upon the oil
pipe line which, through Persian territory, brings
oil from the fields to the refineries on the Shatt-
al-'Arab. This oil pipe line was naturally in neutral
territory and should therefore have been safe from
attack; but it was a British enterprise, and it was
believed that in the event of trouble with Turkey,

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 143

the first thing Turkish troops would do would be
to attack this pipe line, and this is exactly what
they did. With war declared, the British force was
eventually landed at Fao, at the mouth of the
Shatt-al-'Arab and right at the head of the Gulf,
and after the battle of Zain, at which the Turks
lost six thousand men, the town of Busrah was
occupied.

Busrah, the home of Sinbad the sailor, is the
natural port of Mesopotamia, and just outside the
town there is a flat stretch of some miles of arid
desert land, now uncultivated, but once a beautiful
garden. Its fertility has been ruined by the de-
struction of the banks which in the old days kept
the Euphrates river within bounds. This great
river, when it rises from the rains in the hills, often
overflows its banks and may in a night fill up a
marsh or create a new lake. Ten miles away from
Busrah City there is a group of forts known as
Shaiba, and the battle of Shaiba is really the en-
gagement which secured the British control of the
neighborhood of Busrah and drove the Turks to
the north. A description of that battle gives an
idea of the country. During the greater part of
the year, the land is a flat, arid desert, with the
dust over one's ankles when one walks ; an inch or
two of rain and one walks with what can best be
described as a plum pudding attached to each boot;
a little more rain, or a rise in the river, and the
whole place becomes a lake. When the British ad-
vance troops were on the ridge at Shiba, the river
rose, overflowed its banks, and turned the ten miles
between the ridge and Busrah City into a lake six

144 JERUSALEM

feet deep in mud and water. A few mules were forced
through, but a great part of the battle was actually
fought in small flat-bottomed boats.

After the victory at Shaiba, the Turks mustered
in force at Qurnah, 40 miles above Busrah, on the
Tigris River. Owing to a number of sandbanks,
the Euphrates, although the larger of the two great
rivers of Mesopotamia, cannot be used to the same
extent as the Tigris for navigation; but river ves-
sels drawing up to 4 feet can proceed up the latter
river even considerably above Baghdad.

It is well to remember that Mesopotamia is not
only a flat desert with, at certain times of the year,
probably the worst climate in the world, but is also
a country without wood or stone, with the single
exception of a few palm trees too valuable to be
cut down for any purpose. The expeditionary
force therefore sent to Mesopotamia had to contend
with many difficulties quite unknown in the other
battlefields of this great war. Although most people
in this country are aware of the wonderful work
which has been done by British troops on the
western front, it is probable that few of them know
much of the terrible privations and hardships ex-
perienced in these far Eastern operations. In the
first place, the force was sent from India, and
India had already been "bled white" to supply men
and munitions for France and East Africa. It is
true that of the more than eight million men, which
the British Empire had raised for this war, no less
than seventy per cent were raised within the confines
of England (not Great Britain), and this is a mar-
velous record! Of all the British casualties (about

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 145

2,000,000 men) England has borne seventy-six per
cent and Scotland ten per cent. Yet the colonies
and India have also done wonders. In the first few
weeks of the war, India's contribution was naturally
of the greatest value of all; that was the fateful
moment, and in these first few weeks India sent
no less than 280,000 men out of the country, leav-
ing a purely nominal garrison of about 15,000
white men to control a country of about 320,000,000
people. How nobly India responded to the trust
reposed in her is now a matter of history. From
prince to peasant, every section of the community
has leaped to answer the call to service and sacrifice,
and from first to last India raised nearly 2,000,000
men.

The very necessities of the Western front, how-
ever, in the early days of the war, made it im-
possible for India to adequately supply and equip
a force to fight the Turk; the men, therefore, who
took Busrah were ill-equipped with practically every
item necessary for the success of the operations and
the welfare of an army. They were fighting in a
country that they knew little or nothing of, and
under conditions which are perhaps unequaled even
by the horrors and hardships of the early days in
France. Probably it is safe to say that an advance
beyond Busrah was little contemplated in the
original plans. There was no other course possible,
however, with the Turks mustering on the Tigris,
and an advance was made by the British force
along the river, resulting in the capture of Qurnah
and subsequently the taking of Amara, nine/.y miles
to the north, on the 2d of June, 1915. Just think

146 JERUSALEM

f what this simple statement means : Qurnah, the
I traditional site of the Garden of Eden (although
F only really one of the five popular sites in Meso-
I potamia), has the distinction of having probably
the worst climate in the world. The heat is terrific
and almost always damp; reaching the almost in-
credible temperature of 130° F. in the shade; in
fact, such heat is probably unknown in any other
part of the world. From April to October, life is
almost unbearable and should really be lived under-
ground. The beginning of June is probably about
the worst time; yet it was just at the beginning of
June that the British forces made a ninety-mile
march in three days and captured Amara!

With the Turk continually trying to get round
behind the Persian hills, a still further advance
seemed inevitable, and ill-equipped and ill-supplied
as they were, the force pushed on, took Kut-el-
Amara, and then advanced to the ruins of Ctesiphon,
only twenty-five miles below Baghdad. It is easy
now to say that the advance was dangerous, that
the force was deficient in everything necessary to
insure success, and working far from its base; but
it would be a bold man who would criticise so long
afterwards the strategy and operations of those
days. If Baghdad could be taken, not only would
a famous city fall to the Allies, but also the control
of the neighboring sites sacred to a large number
of the Mohammedans of the world, while with the
same blow, the goodwill and allegiance of a large
number of the Arab tribes surrounding the opera-
tions in Mesopotamia would be secured. It is suffi-
cient now to record that the advance was unsuc-

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 147

cessful; the movements of our troops were much
impeded by floods in the river, the Turks were re-
inforced from Baghdad and at the battle of
Ctesiphon, the British forces were thrust back to
Kut-el-Amara, where General Townshend was sur-
rounded.

The next phase of the British operations falls
naturally into two parts — firstly, the heroic and
marvelous defense of Kut by General Townshend
and his handful of heroes and, secondly, the des-
perate, but continually unsuccessful attempts made
from the south to relieve them. From the 7th of
December, 1915, until the 29th of the following
April, that small but heroic band kept the Union
Jack flying at Kut. Under daily shell fire from the
Turks; living in a mud-hutted village of about five
thousand people in a bend of the river; without
sanitation, hospital equipment, stores or supplies of
any kind in proper quantity ; with rations gradually
dwindling to a few ounces of meal and a little horse-
flesh per head per day, the sufferings of the de-
fending force can be little appreciated by residents
in other parts of the world. As regards the main
body further down the river, the absence of all
equipment really necessary for operations on such
a scale made it impossible that their hopes of re-
lieving the beleaguered force could be realized, and
in spite of all their sacrifices, it was found im-
possible to reach the garrison of Kut in time to
save them. Eventually General Townshend sur-
rendered, his last communication to his troops read-
ing:

"Whatever may happen, my comrades, you have

148 JERUSALEM

done your duty. The whole world knows that you
have done your duty."

The fall of Kut-el-Amara marks the end of what
may be called the first campaign in Mesopotamia, and
we may describe the second campaign as opening
with the appointment of General Sir Stanley Maude
to command the force, and the beginning of his
drive to the north in December, 1916. But what
a change had taken place in the intervening months !
Wonderful efforts had been made to supply essen-
tials, to equip the army, and to fit it with what was
necessary to wipe out forever this even temporary
disaster to British arms. The Turks were so se-
curely entrenched on the Tigris that they believed
their positions to be impregnable. It must be left
to military historians to describe in detail how
General Maude was able to circumvent these posi-
tions. Here it is only possible to say that by a
masterly stroke he defeated the Turks at Sheikh-
Sa-'rd, and fighting continual trench warfare, foot
by foot, with a temperature changing as much as
60° between midday and midnight, he re-took Kut,
passed on to Ctesiphon and on the llth of March,
1917, drove the Turk from Baghdad, thus deliver-
ing probably the greatest blow which the Allies had
yet delivered to the Kaiser anp! his government
since the war started, for the taking of Baghdad
meant the erection of a barrier once and forever
right across the German path to the East, and the
destruction of the German dream of world-wide
dominion.

Today, the British forces have advanced much
beyond Baghdad, and the city itself lies far back

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 149

from the fighting line. Peace reigns again, and this
wonderful and historical city has resumed its quiet
course of trade and commerce. Baghdad, once a
city of nearly two million people, has gradually
dwindled in importance under Turkish control to a
place of about one hundred and fifty thousand in-
habitants, of whom probably fifty thousand are
Jews. Every section of the community, excepting
a few thieving Kurds, welcomed the British forces;
but probably no section were more delighted at the
advance than the Jewish residents who, after nearly
six hundred years of persecution, are still the
largest property owners in Baghdad. Many a
Turkish aeroplane has passed over the city; hun-
dreds of thousands of troops have passed through
it, and its population is augmented to-day by the
forces connected with the war.

The Turks, at German instigation, drove a new
street right across the city before the British
forces arrived, without considering, I fear, in any
way the rights or feelings of the owners or tenants
of the property which stood in the way. This
modern street, however, has enormously helped
Baghdad. The old bazaars are full of life, and
trading goes on under the old conditions, the close-
packed crowd thronging the markets, almost always
covered with a thin blue haze of cigarette smoke.
But in the main street there is a different traffic.
From early morning till late at night, the road is
full of all the men and material of war, ammunition
carts, transport wagons, British and Indian sol-
diers, officers on horseback and walking, and occa-
sionally even the passage of the Army Commander

150 JERUSALEM

himself. On the famous "bridge of boats" all kinds
of traffic and all nationalities are to be seen: stout
and comfortable merchants, Persians, Jews, Arabs
of the desert and the town, Kurds, Armenians,
Syrians, Greeks, negroes, and last but not by any
means least, large numbers of British and Indian
troops and followers. Yet, in spite of all this
activity, we may still turn a corner into the old
world of Baghdad; still see the Arab woman mov-
ing silently along under the shadow of some great
wall with her face covered from the gaze of a
stranger, and a water jug poised on her shoulder
as in the days long past. As a soldier poet sings:

" Still in Baghdad's Gardens,

Soft coos the mating dove;
The almond blossoms whisper low

Old fragrant tales of love;
Still to the tomb of Omar

The Arab glides to pray,
Or brood o'er Islam's mighty past,

And the Caliph's vanished sway."

Mesopotamia, the "cradle of the world," the most
wonderful land in history, the country in which his-
tory began and the human race first saw light, the
land in which eight empires have risen and fallen,
had become under Turkish rule a desert and a by-
word among the nations. Yet this arid plain was
once the most fertile of all countries; on it was
raised the corn and oil which supplied the world.
Baghdad was the center of an empire stretching
from Spain to China, and its residents comprised the
greatest princes, preachers, scientists, and mer-
chants of the world. This Arab empire, however,

Photo by Prof. G. L. Robinson.

ZICHON YAKOL. A MODEL JEWISH AGRICULTURAL COLONY.

Photo by Prof. G. L. Robinson.

PRUNING A LEMON TREE.

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 151

followed the numerous civilizations which had gone 7
before; Hittite, Assyrian, Babylonian, Greek, Per- 1
sian, and Parthian, and from these empires the \
civilization of to-day, upon which the west so prides I
itself, emanated.

A flat arid desert. Yet probably the most fertile
country in the world! Under the Turk, regarding
whose reign there is not one item of progress to
record, the vast irrigation system of the past has
been utterly destroyed. It has been useless for the
Arab to work, for to gain possessions under Turkish
misrule meant merely to excite the envy and cupidity
of an alien master. It is useless appealing to the
law when the judgment goes to the highest bidder.
No wonder that after nearly seven hundred years
of such conditions, the Arab has become a wanderer
and a thief.

The British have only been eighteen months in
Baghdad, yet what changes have already taken
place all over the country! At Busrah, a port al-
ways, there are now miles of wharves, hospitals,
roads, water-ways, docks, and public works of all
description; at Baghdad, streets, sanitation,
telegraphs and telephones, with similar progress all
along the 500 miles of river intervening. Peace and
prosperity reign in the land; the old irrigation
works are being gradually taken in hand, the rivers,
which with restraint and care, mean wealth and
prosperity, but which, misused and left to the
ignorant and corrupt, mean danger and death, are
r again working for the benefit of man and adding
daily to the fertility and wealth of the country.
The word of the Englishman is known throughout

152 JERUSALEM

the land, and the Arab swears by him; even above
an oath on the Koran itself. Justice is equal for
all, murder and thieving are punished, and labor is
honestly paid for. Already, over eleven hundred
square miles of country are under cultivation, sav-
ing no less than two million tons of badly needed
shipping every year to the Allies. The Arab sees
all this and takes hold; he is not slow in learning;
he has got rid of his hated alien master; he is
free again, and is grateful for his freedom.

Now, what is the responsibility of America in
connection with all this? It is true that British
influence has long been recognized as predominant
in this part of the world; it is true that to British
arms and to British arms alone falls the disgrace
of the surrender at Kut, and to British arms must
be ascribed the glory of the subsequent retrievement,
and the blow struck to German dominion by the
capture of Baghdad; but there is no part of this
war, in which all the Allied powers are not con-
cerned, or in the direction of which they are un-
interested. We may take pride in the fact that
the Allies are united in their aims and strive to
appreciate and understand each other's position and
responsibilities.

The American people have two important duties
in connection with the wonderful campaign in
Mesopotamia and in regard to the settlement of
this famous land; firstly, it is their duty to see
that the sacrifices which their Allies have made have
not been made in vain. More than one German
writer has made it clear that Germany would give
up much in Europe to retain her path to the East.

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 153

This must never be. Now that peace has come,
keep your eyes fixed on Mesopotamia and insure
once and for all that the German dream of dominion
is at an end. Secondly, the security and peace of
the world are bound up with the problem of the
settlement of the nations of Asia Minor. Away
beyond the lands which have been occupied by the
British under the operations of the Palestine and
Mesopotamia campaigns, there is an area still under
the control of Turkey which cries out for deliver-
ance. The Armenian massacres have been the
scandal of the civilized world for thirty years ; Syria,
Armenia, and other portions of the Turk's pre-war
possessions in Asia, must be free forever. The "Sick
man" of Europe must be cured once and for all,
and in the process of the cure, shorn of all his power
to infect and harm others.

THE JEWISH AGRICULTURAL COMMUNITIES
OF PALESTINE

THE DEVELOPMENT OF EDOM AND MT. SEIB

By GEORGE L. ROBINSON, Pn.D.
McConnick Theological Seminary

THE JEWISH AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES
OF PALESTINE

BY GEO. L. ROBINSON, PH.D.

DURING the year 1913-14, the writer visited
twenty-two of the thirty-four Jewish
Colonies which have sprung up in Palestine
since 1878. At that time they were centers of great
activity, industrial, commercial and educational.

Many of the choicest parts of Palestine have been
selected, in which to plant these colonies. The most
important are located along the coast of the
Mediterranean in the Plain of Sharon, but others
are to be found in the Shephelah or foothills of
Judea, in the mountains, and far north about the
Sea of Galilee, and the Bitter Lakes. Prior to their
establishment the great centers of Jewish life in the
Holy Land were in Hebron, which claimed 2000,
Jerusalem which had about 60,000, Tiberias with
7000, and Safed having 20,000. These still remain
the four most populous and important Jewish set-
tlements in the country. To what extent they and
the newer colonies have suffered because of the war
is not known, but from recent reports received, it
is creditably certain that while in some cases they
have been emptied of their inhabitants, their houses
and public buildings, gardens and farms, vineyards
and orchards have for the most part been left
undisturbed.

157

158 JERUSALEM

ZICHRON YAKOB

Probably the most celebrated of all is that called
Zichron Yakob, or "Memory of Jacob," as the name
implies. It is also known as Zammarin. It is
located five miles southeast of Dor, in the northern
portion of the Plain of Sharon, under Mount Car-
mel, and enjoys an elevation of some 200 feet above
the sea. Before the war, there were in the Colony
one hundred and fifty families (the Hebrews count
by families rather than by individuals), mostly from
Roumania. The Colony was founded in 1882 by
Baron Edmund de Rothschild of Paris. Most of
the colonists speak German. They own 2400 acres
of rich land, devoted principally to the cultivation
of grapes, which in turn are converted into wine and
exported as "Carmel Wine."

It is here that the recent wild wheat experiments
of a German-Hebrew, named Aaronsohn, were con-
ducted. Herr Aaronsohn, having re-discovered in
Galilee and Gilead at different places wild wheat
(the same as that originally discovered fifty years
before by Theodor Kotschy on the western slopes
of Mt. Hermon), experimented with it in the new
laboratories of the Agricultural Experiment Station
at Zichron Yakob, and by repeated cross-breeding
of this wild type with the best domesticated varie-
ties, finally succeeded in producing an offspring
which possesses all the desirable characteristics of
the wild variety, coupled with the good qualities of
the domesticated; and which, better than any other
variety, withstands on the one hand the hot sirocco
winds of the desert which sweep over Palestine from

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 159

Arabia, and, on the other, the rust of the Rhine
Valley in Germany; for his work has been tested
and confirmed by the leading European and Ameri-
can agronomists.

He has also demonstrated on his two experimental
farms at Athlit and Khadeyah, in Sharon, that the
soil of Palestine is by no means exhausted, and that
it only requires proper tilling to produce crops in
greatly increased abundance. Already before the
war he had multiplied the ordinary yield of certain
areas six-fold. Besides, he had drained certain
swampy low lands in order to get rid of the mos-
quitos and malaria which are incident to the dis-
trict; discovered how to spread vines over the
blowing sands of the seashore to prevent their
constant encroachment upon the cultivated soil of
the adjacent plain; experimented with silk worms
and found a late hatching variety ; improved certain
olive trees which he permitted to bear only once in
two years; discovered the best kind of eucalyptus
and acacia; and, in short, converted a considerable
section of the Plain of Sharon, which under the
Turk had become a comparatively unproductive
desert, into a veritable oasis; demonstrating to the
world that if primitive methods of agriculture so
successfully developed the wheat yield of Palestine,
what with modern scientific cultivation may not be
expected in the future! Surely the faith of the
Psalmist who prayed that when the Messiah should
come there might be "abundance of grain on the
earth, even upon the top of the mountains" (Ps.
72:16) gives promise of being actually fulfilled.

160 JERUSALEM

RlSHON LE-ZlON

The second most important colony of the Jews
in Palestine is known as Rishon le-Zion, or "The
First Colony to Zion" (Arabic, Ayun Kara). It
is one of the oldest of all the colonies in Palestine.
It was founded in 1882, and owes its origin to the
persecutions of the Jews by the Russians. Baron
Rothschild has spent millions of francs in organiz-
ing and maintaining it. It lies some seven miles
south-east of Joppa and about five and one-half
miles west of Lydda; having 3180 acres of good
arable land and a population of approximately
1200. Sharon here has been transformed into "a
fruitful fill" with gardens of almonds, oranges, and
other fruit trees, especially vines. It is the greatest
center of the wine industry in Palestine. This
colony alone has 3,000,000 grape vines. The fruit
is converted into wine and exported as "Carmel
Wine." The wine cellars, originally built by Baron
Rothschild at a cost of 30 million francs, and having
a capacity of 1,650,000 gallons, are said to be with
two exceptions, Bordeaux and San Francisco, the
most extensive wine cellars in the world. Some
5,000,000 liters are exported annually.

In 1913 there were 200 families in this colony,
of whom 98 actually possessed land. They came
for the most part from Russia. A fine Synagogue
graces the colony, being situated at the head of
their principal thoroughfare, on the summit of the
village hill. Near the Synagogue stand a school, a
hotel, and a Jewish post office. As Colonists they
are allowed to choose their own Mayor, and make

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 161

their own laws. Every night at nine o'clock a great
bell, mounted on a high post near the Synagogue,
is rung to drive to their tents any visiting Arabs,
who by remaining through the night might disturb
the peace or plunder the possessions of the Colony.

TELL ABIB

The most beautiful and in some respects the most
attractive of all the colonies prior to the war was
that in the northern edge of the city of Joppa,
known as Tell Abib, the name meaning "Hill of
ears of grain." Centuries ago (ca. 580 B.C.) there
was one of the same name in Babylonia on the banks
of the River Chebar, where dwelt a colony of exiled
Jews, cf. Ezek. 3:15. The modern Tell Abib at
Joppa was founded in 1909, and at the outbreak of
the war boasted of one hundred and eighty families
of the better class of Russians (about 1600 in-
dividuals). Not long after the great struggle be-
gan, however, the Colony became quite emptied of
its inhabitants. The houses are neat and well built ;
the streets are broad and well paved, with sidewalks ;
the gardens and parks being especially attractive.
The Gymnasium, or High School, is the outstanding
feature of the Colony. It was built in 1911-12 at
a cost of $15,000, the gift of the well known Zionist
Herr Mauser of Bradford. The Zionists were
accustomed to contribute four thousand francs
annually toward its maintenance. The Gymnasium
was rapidly becoming celebrated as the best High
School in the Holy Land. It was co-educational,
though in it there were fewer girls than boys. As

162 JERUSALEM

many as 700 pupils were in attendance; some of
their graduates entering Columbia University, New
York, with advance credits. Twenty-nine men and
women constituted the staff of instruction. Hebrew
was the medium of instruction. Two dominating
principles gave character to the institution: one,
that Hebrew should be the only language spoken
in the School; the other, that there should be entire
freedom in religious belief. Among the disciplines
taught were the Old Testament, the Talmud,
Hebrew Language and Literature, Arabic, Turkish,
French, German, History, Mathematics, Geography,
Science, Music, and Physical Exercise. A certain
class in Music which the writer visited were being
taught to sing beautiful Maccabean melodies. In
the Gymnasium, the physical director, who was drill-
ing the class in gymnastics, gave all his orders in
the Sacred Tongue! The motto of the institution
was, "Mens sana in corpore sano."

PETAH TIKWEH

About seven miles northeast of Joppa there is
another important colony, which, indeed, is said to
be the largest of all the Jewish colonies in Palestine.
It is called Petah Tikweh, or the "Door of Hope."
It is situated on both sides of the River Aujeh, near
a modern village called Mulabbes. The colony was
founded in 1878 by Baron Rothschild. There were
four hundred families in residence here five years
ago. The entire area, 800 acres, is divided up into
some 20 gardens which are irrigated from the river.
Great waterworks have been constructed for this

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 163

purpose. In the gardens grow thousands and tens
of thousands of thrifty orange trees. It was said,
five years ago, to be the most important orange-
growing center in the whole of Sharon. The
northern half of the colony alone, known as
Bukariyeh, in 1913, had as many as 60,000 orange
trees, averaging a crop worth annually sixty cents
per tree. Besides oranges, lemons, almonds, and
grapes, grow in abundance; also cereals. Dairy
farming is likewise a prosperous industry. The most
modern implements of agriculture, such as wheeled
plows and cultivators, are used. Arab laborers are
employed, occasionally negroes. A million francs
per annum are paid as wages to these. Numerous
schools have been established, including an Elemen-
tary Agricultural School. A large Synagogue
stands, as in every important Colony, in the center
of the settlement.

MlKWEH YlSRAEL

Two miles southeast of Joppa there is another
important colony, known as Mikweh Yisrael, or, the
"Congregation of Israel." It was founded by the
Alliance Israelite Universelle of Paris, and soon
developed into a thriving school of agriculture with
150 pupils. The colonists all speak French. In
1913, there were 14 families in the colony, who,
together, possessed 723 feddans, or about 625
acres, of land. Cattle breeding is one of the
colonists' specialties. Through scientific inbreeding
they have greatly improved the quality of their
animals. Among the fruit trees cultivated are

164 JERUSALEM

oranges and mulberries ; but besides these, numerous
varieties of trees, flowers, and vegetables are grown.
Here are the headquarters of the Palestinian Society
of Agriculture. Extensive hot-houses have been
constructed. The bamboos shown us in the gardens
were said to be the only ones growing in all Pales-
tine. Five regular instructors assisted at that time
in the work of the colony. A Synagogue and a
library crown the knoll on which the colony stands.
The view from these over the Plain of Sharon is
extensive.

OTHER JEWISH COLONIES

(1) Along the Mediterranean Coast.

1. Ruhamah (Arabic, Djemama), situated about
11 miles east of Gaza. Founded in 1911 by a
Society of Russian Jews from Moscow. 1270 acres.
Staple culture, wheat.

2. Kastinieh (Arabic, el-Kustineh) , situated about
17 miles north of Ruhamah. Founded in 1895 by
Russian Jews, 1600 acres. Population 180. Staple
culture, wheat, sesame, barley, beans, and almond
plantations.

3. Gederah (Arabic, Katrah), six miles north of
Kastinieh. Founded in 1884 by a group of Russian
students, 1360 acres. Population 150. Staple
products, almonds, also grapes and olives, and some
wheat.

4. Huldah (Arabic, Khuldeh), seven miles east of
Katrah, two miles north of the railway station
Sedjed, at an altitude of 215 feet. Founded in 1909
by the Jewish National Fund which has created
these great olive groves in memory of Theodore

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 165

Herzl, the creator and the first leader of the Zionist
organization. 455 acres. Population, 40. These
colonists possess the only artesian well in Palestine.

5. Ekron (Arabic, Akir), the ancient Ekron,
situated four miles north-east of Katrah on the road
to Ramleh and Lydda, at an altitude of 200 feet.
Founded in 1884 by Baron Rothschild, with Russian
and Roumanian Jewish settlers, 3570 acres, for the
most part arable. Population 320. Staple prod-
ucts, wheat, almonds, and dairy farming.

6. Rechoboth (Arabic, Dar'an), situated two and
a half miles north of Ekron and four miles south-
west of Ramleh. Founded in 1890 by a group of
Polish and Lithuanian Jews. 3250 acres. Popula-
tion 900, inclusive of 270 Arabian Jews who have
returned to Palestine from the Yemen. A very
prosperous colony, producing almonds, oranges,
wines and figs, also wheat, oats, melons, bananas,
vegetables.

7. Bir Yacob, "Well of Jacob." Two miles north-
east of Rechoboth and two miles west of Ramleh.
Founded in 1907 as a working-men's settlement, in-
habited partly by Circassians, from the Caucasus.
500 acres. Population, 70. Orange and almond
plantations, and vegetables.

8. Wady el-Khanin, "Valley of Roses." Two
miles north-west of Rechoboth and four miles west
of Ramleh. Nearby is another small colony known
as Nes Zion, or, "Flag of Zion." Both founded
in 1882 by Jews from Russia, 760 acres. Popula-
tion, 200. Orange trees 50,000, almond plantation,
grapes and cereals.

9. Nahalath-Yehudah, on the northern outskirts

166 JERUSALEM

of Rishon le-Zion. A working-men's settlement,
founded in 1913 by the Odessa Committee of the
"Lovers of Zion."

10. Bern Shamen, about one mile north-east of
Lydda. Estate of the Jewish National Fund.
Founded in 1910. Population, 100. Large planta-
tions of olive and other fruit trees ; model dairy and
poultry farm. Training farm for Jewish laborers.

11. Kefar Saba (Arabic, Kafr Saba). Fourteen
miles north-east of Jaffa, on the road to Kaifa, and
19 miles west of Nablus. A working-men's settle-
ment. Founded in 1904, 1750 acres. Almost ex-
clusively almond plantations, also olive groves and
eucalyptus trees.

12. Ain Ganim, on the north-eastern outskirts
of Petah-Tikweh. A working-men's settlement.
Founded in 1910. 700 acres. Population, 100.

(2) In the Shephelah and Judah.

1. Artuf. At the entrance of the Wady Surar,
or, "Valley of Sorek," 20 miles east of Ashdod, 13
miles west of Jerusalem, and about one mile north-
east of the station Deir Aban on the Jaffa-Jerusalem
railway. Founded in 1896. 1200 acres, some por-
tions being rough and rocky. Population 100,
mostly Bulgarians. Cereals, and almond planta-
tions.

2. Kefar Uriah. Located about halfway between
Artuf and Huldah. Founded in 1913 by a group
of Russian Zionists. 435 acres. Was being pre-
pared for settlement by a group of 30 laborers when
the war broke out.

3. Abu Shusheh. The site of the ancient Gezer.
Located five miles south-east of Ramleh and three

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 167

miles north-east of Huldah. Founded in 1912. Not
actually settled.

4. Mozah (Arabic, Khurbet Beit Mizzah), about
four miles west of Jerusalem on the road to Jaffa.
Founded in 1893. 250 acres, much of it rocky and
hilly. Vineyards, olive plantations, vegetables,
wheat. Only three houses and a small hotel, in
1914.

(3) About the Sea of Galilee.

1. El-Fuleh. Located about four miles north-
west of Jezreel, and ten miles south of Nazareth, in
the Plain of Esdraelon, near Shunem, at the junc-
tion of the Haifa-Damascus Railway as it branches
toward Jenin and Samaria. 1800 feddans of land.
Population, 75 ; about 15 tile-roofed houses. Wheat
the chief staple.

2. Milhamiyeh. Located four miles south of the
Sea of Galilee on the west side of the Jordan River.
Founded in 1901. Population, 100; chiefly from
Russia and Austria. Synagogue and school at the
top of the main thoroughfare. 40 pupils ; language,
Hebrew. Chief staple, wheat. A McCormick reaper
in use.

3. Bethania. Located midway between Mil-
hamiyeh and the Sea of Galilee. Founded in 1912.
Population, 50; few women. Mostly from Russia.
Laborers who work the land housed in one big
building.

4. Daganya. About one mile from Semekh, at
the south end of the Sea of Galilee. About a score
of tile-roofed houses. Chief staple, wheat.

5. El-Kinnereth. At the south-west corner of the
Sea of Galilee, beautifully located, elevated and im-

168 JERUSALEM

posing. A broad stairway leads up from the sea
to the principal buildings. The main street extends
parallel with the sea shore. View most attractive.
Oat crop gathered by the Russian Jewish peasants
on a wagon with hay-rack — a rare sight in
Palestine !

6. Porea. Directly west of El-Kinnereth, some
five miles, up on the hills of Galilee. Inhabitants,
Jews from the United States. Land fertile: the
name Porea means "fertile."

7. Kefar Hattin. Six miles north-west of Tiberias.
Near the Horns of Hattin where tradition says the
Sermon on the Mount was delivered. Fourteen
houses, about 75 inhabitants. Staple, cereals.

8. Magdala, in the southern portion of the Plain
of Genneseret. Soil, exceedingly fertile. Irrigated.
Wheel-plows in use. Cement manufactory. Popula-
tion, 60. German spoken.

(4) About Lake Huleli in North Galilee.

1. Rosh Pinah, "Head of the Corner"— (Arabic,
Ja'uneh). Located in a valley about five miles
north-east of Safed. Yiddish spoken. About 100
souls. Founded in 1884. A Rothschild foundation.
Fine Synagogue and School. Streets paved. One
long avenue of trees, two miles in length. Staples,
wheat and almonds.

2. Mahanaim. About four miles north-east of
Rosh Pinah. On account of the character of the
water, abandoned. Many houses and public build-
ings standing deserted.

3. Kawash. Called also Mishmar Hayyarden.
Located about one mile west of the Bridge over the

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 169

Jordan, known to the Arabs as Jisr Benat Yakob.
A very small colony. Few orchards.

4. Zubeid. Called also Essadamalah, 150 in-
habitants. At the head of the main street, which
runs down to the waters of Lake Merom, stand the
Synagogue and School.

5. Metullah. Located seven miles north-west of
Tell el-Kadi, the ancient Dan of Scripture. Popula-
tion, 200 souls. Founded in 1896. The most im-
portant colony in North Galilee.

These are the colonies as they existed at the out-
break of the war. In general, they represented two
principal classes of Jews: (1) those whose ancestors
were expelled from Spain and Portugal under
Ferdinand and Isabella towards the end of the
fifteenth century ; who, having resided long in Pales-
tine, naturally speak Arabic, and wear Arab cos-
tume. (£) The majority, however, are modern im-
migrants, largely German, Polish, Russian, Hun-
garian, Roumanian and Dutch. Nearly all speak
German, wear long locks of hair over their temples,
dress in mantles of highly colored velvet, their head-
gear consisting of heavy fur caps.

The Zionist movement has greatly increased their
number. Their financial support has come from
both private benefactors such as Messrs. Montefiore,
Rothschild and Hirsch, and societies such as the
Jewish Alliance of Russia, the Alliance Israelite
Universelle of Paris, and the Jewish Colonization
Association established by Baron Hirsch who has
given in all not less than $50,000,000 to them. Their
aim is to redeem Palestine and make it their future
home.

170 JERUSALEM

The late Captain Conder confidently believed such
colonies would do much good. While they have
successfully captured the choicest portions of all
Palestine, and selected the most desirable location
in all the world for their proposed university — the
Mount of Olives; and, in some parts have become
a real menace to the native Moslems, having cap-
tured the four best paying industries of the country
— wine, oranges, almonds and olives — nevertheless,
their aim is "not to seize the country by force but
rather to conquer it by good will," as a Jew at
Petah Tikweh remarked to the writer, and in due
time, perhaps, to obtain political independence.
This was Mr. Herzl's original programme. And
why, he asked, should they not be granted their
desire? They are turning their attention to agricul-
ture, and are actually farming before the world's
eyes ; they purpose to become producers and no
longer to serve the world as mere middlemen; they
are transforming Palestine into a productive and
flourishing garden, and are making a paradise of
what was only recently an almost unproductive and
barren territory. Palestine really belongs to them.
As George Adam Smith is forced to allow, "the land
can never remain under a single Gentile power."
Why not, therefore, convert it into a sort of Asiatic
Switzerland, and make of it a federated state, pro-
tected and defended against the ambitious and
predatory nations of the world?

n

THE DEVELOPMENT OF EDOM

THE boundaries of the land of Edom are some-
what difficult to define. In the ancient
times, it stretched from the brook Zered
(Wady el-Ahsy), the Dead Sea, and Wady el-
Fikreh on the north, to the Gulf of Akabah on the
south, and from the Hajj, or Pilgrim, Route from
Damascus to Mecca on the east, to the wilderness
of Paran and the Wady el-'Arish on the west. Al-
together the territory was not great and cannot
have exceeded 13,000 square miles, being about 100
miles in extent from north to south and 125 miles
from east to west.

DISTRICTS

It falls topographically into three well-marked
divisions: (1) the Western; (£) the 'Arab ah; and
(3) Mt. Seir proper.

THE WESTERN

We begin with the western, a desert region now
occupied by the 'Azarimeh Arabs. For the most
part it is composed of low barren limestone ridges
intersected by innumerable wadies, which run in
various directions. The ground is covered in some

171

172 JERUSALEM

parts with loose flints ; sand and gravei are common
to many others. The chief mountains are known
as Jebel Magrah, of which Jebel 'Araif is the most
conspicuous peak. These are drained westwardly
by the Wady el-'Arish, and eastwardly by Wadies
Marreh, Fikreh and Ghamr. The southern portion
is much more barren than the northern, though
even the best portions are, as Palmer describes them,
"an extremely ugly and uninteresting piece of coun-
try," with "dull featureless hills; wadies like huge
ditches, the bottoms paved with smooth blocks of
limestone, shrubs and pools of rainwater at long dis-
tances, a few Retem bushes and an occasional Seyal
tree." The whole region is desolate in the extreme.
The mountains are a mass of barren jutting rock;
the plains are strewn with black flints: and even
the bottoms of the valleys are sandy and for the
most part absolutely destitute of all vegetation and
animal life. Desolation and dreariness are here so
terrible that this western section is quite as dull and
uninteresting as can well be imagined. It was In
this region that Israel wandered a good portion of
the forty years spent by them in the wilderness.

THE 'ARABAH

The second division of Edom is known as the
'Arabah. It is a great deep cleft running from
north to south through the very heart of the coun-
try. The northern end of it for some thirty miles
is lower than the sea-level, which is a very remark-
able feature — "the most remarkable," according to
Humboldt, "on the face of the earth." It lays

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 173

open the whole geological structure of Mt. Seir.
Hull regards the 'Arabah as the Bible's "Wilderness
of Zin." Not until the beginning of the last century
was the existence of this deep valley known to
geographers. Neither Strabo, nor Pliny, nor
Ptolemy, nor Josephus, nor any other geographer
or historian makes the slightest allusion t^ it.
Burckhardt of Basle in 1810 was the first to explore
it. Count de Bertou, a few years later, boasts that
he and his party were "the first Europeans who in
modern times had traversed the whole extent of the
wady from the Dead Sea to 'Akabah"; and he at-
tempts to prove that the Jordan River never flowed
into the Red Sea as was previously supposed.
Burckhardt had advanced the idea that the 'Arabah
had formerly been the bed of the Jordan. Hull, on
the other hand, finds traces on its western side of
an old littoral beach belonging to the period when
the waters of the Salt Sea washed the base of the
adjoining ridge, which proves that a portion at
least of the 'Arabah was an old sea bottom.

The 'Arabah in general is a dreary sandy desert
steppe, consisting of gravel and shingle and marl
for the most part, but tufted over with broom and
other brush, and here and there with a little pas-
turage. Seldom does one find any cultivation, but
the valley is by no means destitute of verdure. It
varies in breadth from one half a mile at the water-
shed to ten or even thirteen miles at its widest part,
sloping slightly from east to west and drained both
toward the Dead Sea and the Gulf of 'Akabah.
Wady el-Jeib is the main artery of the 'Arabah.
It is not only deep but broad, flows north and

174 JERUSALEM

empties into the Dead Sea. The saddle, or water-
shed, is about 45 miles north of the head of the
Gulf of 'Akabah, or about west of Petra, and is 723
feet in altitude above sea-level. High mountains
bound the valley on the east, and low ridges on the
west. Numerous torrent streams debouch upon it,
bringing with them boulders, stones, and gravel and
sandy silt, which cover the plain in many cases for
hundreds of yards. In some parts there is sand,
blown and left "like the waves of the sea," as the
writer recorded in his Journal when crossing in 1907
from Bozra to 'Ain Hasb. Hull also describes
enormous mounds of pure white sand rising in dunes
30 to 50 feet high, "like the dunes along the sea
shore." The shrubs in such places are few, but
near water fountains or streams they have all the
appearance of a jungle. Being so low in altitude
it is correspondingly hot. Count de Bertou says of
the 'Arabah: "In this striking and solemn waste
where nature is alike destitute of vegetation and
inhabitants, man appears but an atom; all around
is enveloped in the silence of death, not a bird, not
even an insect, is seen. The regular step of our
camels returned a dull sound, as if the earth were
hollowed beneath their feet; the monotonous chant
of the camel driver accompanied at times the step
of this inhabitant of the desert, but suddenly stopped
as if he feared to awaken nature."

The 'Arabah has another special feature of more
than ordinary interest, namely, the transverse
escarpment of clay cliffs in its northern portion,
about eight miles south of the south end of the
Dead Sea. The late Dr. Edward Robinson identifies

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 175

them with the "Ascent of the 'Akrabbim" mentioned
in Josh. 15:3. They are from 50 to 100 feet in
height, and are composed of gravel and sand and
chalk and marl which rest on lower beds of white
clay. They sweep round in a semi-circular form
constituting a great wall of white loam. Along the
base of these cliffs fountains of brackish water ooze,
causing to grow most luxuriantly canes and shrubs
and trees of various tropical species, tamarisks and
Nubk, and even palms. The chief fountain is called
by the Arabs 'Ain el-'Arus, or "Fountain of the
Bride." North of these cliffs are the Sebkha or
"Slime Pits" of Genesis 14:10, a terrible and most
treacherous morass. Irby and Mangles speak of it
as a "rotten and marshy ground." The crest ap-
pears to be solid, but it often gives way under one's
feet, and not infrequently a horse and his rider, or
a beast of burden, sinks out of sight into the soapy,
slimy mire. Cf. Ps. 107:34. The other and ex-
treme southern end of the 'Arabah is of a somewhat
different character, though equally barren. It is
formed of beds of marine sand and gravel and con-
tains shells, corals and other marine species. For
fifteen miles northward from the Gulf of 'Akabah the
whole surface is shingled over with silt deposits from
the mountains, making this end of the valley like
that in the north one of utter desolation.

MOUNT SEIB

The eastern section of Edom is that known as
Mt. Seir. It consists principally of a range of
high mountains stretching for a distance of about

176 JERUSALEM

100 miles from Wady el-Ahsa to the Gulf of 'Akabah
and the desert of Arabia lying to the east. The
mountains are composed for the most part of lime-
stone, resting upon porphyry granite and rising to
an elevation of 4000 or even 5400 feet. Viewed
from the west the range is most imposing. The
whole table-land to the east maintains approximately
the same elevation as the top of the mountains. This
eastern section of Edom is divided into two districts :
el-Jebel to the north, and esh-Shera' to the south,
the boundary between them being, as Burckhardt
pointed out, the deep broad canyon of Wady el-
Ghuweir. The whole region is dominated by high
black summits dropping westwardly and south-
wardly by a series of terraces. The region is almost
wholly a rolling desert, little of it being actually
under cultivation. The mountains of esh-Shera',
beginning in the north with Jebel el-Hisheh, rise in
the south to an elevation of 541S feet, and then
decline into Jebel el-Hafir and finally into the plain
of Kedriyyat. Here the district finds its natural
frontier and geographical limit; the limestone ends
and the sandstone begins. At this point the moun-
tains no longer run in ranges north and south, but
east and west. Those around Petra are grand and
majestic, but almost perfectly barren; beautiful in
their coloring but desolate in their grandeur. Lord
Lindsay describes them as "wild and gloomy and
dreary" ! South of Petra, the mountains divide into
two ranges with a deep irregular gorge between
them, the western range being cut through by a
series of eight valleys which open out into the
'Arabah. The extreme southern portion of this

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 177

eastern district is a sandy tract, stretching far into
Arabia. On the south it fades into the granite
formations near the head of the Gulf of 'Akabah,
and on the southeast into a swampy district called
el-Jafar, whither all the waters of the district flow
and die out.

THE ROADS IN EDOM

The Psalmist asks, "Who will bring me into the
strong city, who will lead me into Edom?" No
great route now leads or ever has led through this
land. Yet Edom's situation between Arabia on the
east and Syria and Egypt on the west, compelled
her to be a highway of foreign trade. In Roman
times, one very important highway ran north from
'Ailah or Elath on the Gulf of 'Akabah across Mt.
Seir, a little to the east of Petra, passing through
Bosta and Odruh, close by Shobek and Dhama and
Bozrah, and across the Wady el-Ahsy to Kerak of
Moab, and on to Damascus. Remnants of the
ancient pavement and scattered mile-stones are still
to be found at many points along the route. A
Roman road in these parts was paved with black
basalt blocks, the road sloping from the center down
on each side to the borders, which were raised and
distinct. Knolls were levelled, hollows were filled in,
and even mountains were excavated in order to make
the work of travel and transportation as easy as
possible. Military stations along the route became
the sites of towns. Petra, though not directly on
any trade route, was the most important center of
commerce in the entire country.

Running almost parallel to this great Roman

178 JERUSALEM

thoroughfare, there came to be in Mohammedan
times the well known Hajj, or Pilgrim Road, which
runs from Damascus, via Ma'an, to Mecca. It
follows probably the old caravan route from Syria
to the Red Sea, the possession of which caused
frequent strife between Edom and her neighbors. It
is not a carefully constructed highway, but rather
a number of closely parallel paths hollowed out by
camels' feet. The comparatively modern Hajaz
railroad follows in general this route.

There was, also, no regular route through the
'Arabah running, as does the valley, north and
south, as the heat there is too intense, and good
drinking water is too scarce. The 'Arabah was
rather a barrier than a thoroughfare to the trading
nomad. The main route north from Elath to Beer-
sheba, Gaza and Jerusalem, forsook the 'Arabah at
a point opposite Petra, climbed the mountains to
the west, bent about the 'Azazimeh plateau, crossed
Wady Fikreh, ascended the Wady el- Yemen to
Kurnub, and so ran on to Beersheba. When
Judah's frontier extended as far south as Elath,
Solomon's cargoes from Ophir (1 Kings 9:26-28),
and the tribute of Arabian kings to Jehoshaphat
(2 Chrons. 17:11), were quite probably carried over
this route. And by this same caravan way the
Israelites under Moses probably journeyed from
Sinai to Kadeshbarnea, cf. Deut. 1 :£.

The eastern and western districts of Edom were
not connected by special roads, but by numerous
wadies or passes. Most of them were exceedingly
difficult for heavily loaded caravans to pass. That
known as the Derb el-Ghuweir from 'Ain Hasb to

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 179

Shobek is difficult; that from 'Ain Hash via 'Am
el-Weibeh and Nakb Namela to Wady Musa
(Petra) is in part artificial, but also very difficult;
while that direct from the 'Arabah to Petra is so
steep as to be almost impassable for baggage
animals. The most difficult way of all is the way
from the Ghor es-Safiyeh up the Wady el-Ahsa to
Tafileh. On the other hand, the most notable and
easiest of all is that spoken of in Num. 20:19, as
"the King's Highway"; which is best identified with
the Nakb ed-Dahal running almost directly east and
west between 'Ain Hasb and Bozrah. The writer
found this in 1907 a surprisingly comfortable route.

SPRINGS

The land of Edom is not altogether waterless,
yet water streams are not numerous. In the larger
wadies, especially in the eastern section, sometimes
copious springs are found, their moisture infiltrating
through the soil for long distances and producing
considerable vegetation. Even small brooks are not
unknown in Mt. Seir. Numerous fountains emerge
from between the porous upper strata and the more
impervious lower strata of limestone, and again at
the union of the latter with the sandstone. But,
in general, the geological formation causes a speedy
disappearance of the surface waters, hence Edom is
everywhere a very thirsty land, more so than even
Palestine. On the limestone plateaus, however,
where no springs appear, numerous cisterns preserve
the winter's rainfall, as do dams and reservoirs in
the valleys. Dews are everywhere abundant.

180 JERUSALEM

SOIL FERTILITY

Few lands of Edom's size can boast of so wide
a range of soils. For the Arabs do occasionally
resort to agriculture, sowing a little grain in a
roughly plowed field and leaving its irrigation to
chance. Speaking of the territory east of the
'Arabah, Palmer says: "The country is extremely
fertile; goodly streams flow through the valleys,
which are filled with trees and flowers, while on
the uplands to the east rich pasture lands and corn
fields may everywhere be seen." A story in the
Talmud describes the astonishment of two Rabbis,
visiting the northern part of Edom, at the size of
the grapes produced there. And, indeed, in the
region between Wady el-Ahsy and Tafileh there are
parts which are very fertile and correspondingly
fruitful. The stretch between Shobek and Petra is
especially rich in oaks. Wady Ghuweir is celebrated
for its rich pastures ; and the villages Ma'an, Elji,
Shobek, Bozrah and Tafileh, for their well cultivated
gardens and terraces. An Arab writer in the Mid-
dle Ages, Ibn Haukal, describes Edom also as fer-
tile and productive. He says: "The mountains are
exceptionally rich in products, e.g., oil, almonds,
figs, pomegranates and vineyards." There is some-
times a slight surplusage of crops which is exported
to Arabia, Egypt and Syria; especially, timber,
charcoal, oil, cattle, copper, aromatic and medicinal
herbs, and vegetable alkalis. Strabo speaks of
Edom as "a country well-peopled and abounding in
cattle." Doughty tells of "hollow park-like grounds
with evergreen oak timber." Musil says, "we rode

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 181

by many strong Butum trees and along thick brush,
and it seemed to me as though I was suddenly
plunged into a European wood"; to which Sir
Charles Wilson adds, "The general aspect of Edom's
limestone plateau is not unlike that of the Sussex
Downs or the Yorkshire Wolds. The plateau
affords excellent pasture and, where cultivated,
yields good crops of barley." That the Edomites
took advantage of their resources is evident from
Num. 20 :17 in which it is related how Israel offered
to reimburse them, if allowed to cross their terri-
tory, for any injury done to their crops, even for
the water they should drink.

TRADE

The most productive source of Edom's prosperity,
however, in ancient times, was her trade. So long
as she held Elath she possessed the key to the trade
of the Red Sea, as well as the overland trade by
caravan from Arabia in incense, spices and gum
arabic. Petra was the greatest center of all the
land for commerce and trade. It was secluded and
well fortified by nature in the mountains. Diodorus
Siculus tells us how the Athenians once found in
Petra great quantities of frankincense and myrrh,
and 500 talents of silver which were stored in the
recesses of that famous rock city. Strabo also re-
lates that the wares of India and Arabia were
brought on camels from the East and South via
Petra and sold in the markets of Gaza and Wady
el-'Arish. Under the Romans trade was greatly
stimulated because of the good roads, and because

182 JERUSALEM

the government furnished protection against the
predatory and hostile hordes round about.

In view of all this, what may not be expected
from the same land under the beneficent influence of
a good government?

I

•

VI

SHALL PALESTINE BE HELD IN TRUST
BY THE NATIONS?

AN INTERVIEW WITH DR. JOHN H. FINLEY
Head of the American Red Cross Commission in Palestine

VI

SHALL3 PALESTINE BE HELD IN TRUST
BY THE NATIONS?

INTERVIEW WITH Dn. JOHN H. FINLEY

DR. JOHN H. FINLE Y, head of the American
Red Cross Commission in Palestine, has
made a very enlightening statement with
respect to the program for the future of the Holy
Land. In that statement, which was published in
the New York Evening Post, Dr. Finley explains
that while he would not presume to offer advice to
the Peace Conference, his own desires as to Palestine
are:

1. That Palestine, now redeemed and held in trust
by western civilization, be not the possession of any
single nation, race or creed, but be preserved by an
international agreement and by international guar-
antees and administered by some one of the nations
as a trustee, for civilization.

2. That Palestine, because of its relation to mod-
ern civilization, and having become in the course
of the war one of the prizes for which the Allies
fought, is too precious a conquest to leave to future
risks.

In the Holy Land at present affairs are adminis-
tered by a remarkable group of scholarly, conscien-
tious, able men. General Allenby has picked for this
work at the outset men of whom Christendom may

185

186 JERUSALEM

be proud, notably General Sir Arthur Neong and
Colonel Iloris, Governor of Jerusalem. Dr. Finley
tells how the British Commander, who is himself an
earnest student of sacred history, spent a whole
night with an American visitor, poring over the Bible
and a standard historical work on the Holy Land, re-
freshing his mind as to the spots of greatest interest.
That American visitor we take to be Dr. Finley
himself.

While Palestine has suffered heavily from the war
and centuries of Turkish misrule, still, Dr. Finley
believes, it could be redeemed soon for agricultural
and industrial purposes. He tells of an impressive
meeting with the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, one of
the most interesting religious personalities in the
world today. This eminent Moslem dignitary, al-
though almost a recluse, had still kept in touch with
the world movement. This is what he said to Dr.
Finley and his American Red Cross associates:

"No one can dispute the fact known to God and
confirmed by your noble history, oh, citizens of
America, that out of compassion and charity He
created you, to do good to humanity, and has
through you always accomplished good work, keep-
ing you innocent of all evil doing.

"Joy and gladness to you and may God be
praised who showers good as He desires. No one
can wonder at this when you are the children of so
generous a mother, the great nation, I mean Great
Britain, with her glorious past and exalted glory.

"Your good works cannot be counted; and you
should extend your arm from beyond the seas to
grasp the hand of that mother, full of love and

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 187

compassion, for one reason only : to further the cause
of the oppressed and to turn aside with blows the
hand of the oppressor in this bloody and fearful
war, the like of which has never been seen before, and,
by God's will, may never be seen again, such glory
and honor before God and man will suffice.

"To extend a helping hand to the children of
Syria and Palestine in your native land, America,
was not enough, but you have crossed the seas and
desert and undergone the hardships of this present
time to succor the poor and homeless widows and
orphans of all Palestine, and more especially of the
Holy City, the city of the prophets of God where
we are all now united.

"On behalf of these in general, and of Moslems
in particular, I burn incense on the altars of grati-
tude, and pray the great God to make you a good
reward, defend you from every evil, make your be-
nevolent undertakings successful and hasten the days
of peace which we all await impatiently."

The case of Palestine, Dr. Finley felt, was unique
among all countries. Neither Jew nor Gentile nor
Moslem had any exclusive title to it; rather, it be-
longed to all nations of the Western World tracing
their spiritual descent from the works of the law-
givers, prophets, singers, and evangelists of Israel.

Dr. Finley said there was no hurry to make
a final settlement of the question. He said Jew,
Gentile and Moslem should be thankful that the
British were in occupation. He thought it advisable
to leave the administration of the country for an
indefinite time to Britons, until the preliminary re-
construction of the land was well under way, until

188 JERUSALEM

the world had taken thorough counsel as to the
future. The Holy Land at present, Dr. Finley de-
clared, was administered by a remarkable group of
Britons — scholars who combined with academic learn-
ing an executive ability which was everywhere ap-
parent in the management of the country. Almost
every act of these men, Dr. Finley stated, bore the
mark of fine understanding of the native population
and respect for their traditions.

"This fine attitude of the British is apparent in
their official as well as unofficial acts," Dr. Finley
continued.

Whatever is done with Palestine, Dr. Finley had
this admonition to offer : that the example set by the
British be kept in mind; that the rights of all the
religious elements that have made the pilgrimage to
the Holy Land, and now dwell there, be respected.

VII

PALESTINE AFTER THE WAR

The Jerusalem of today — its many nationalities and religions, its

picturesqueness and its poverty — Characteristics of the

Holy City and its present population.

By THEODORE WATERS
a Member of the Christian Herald Staff.

PALESTINE AFTER THE WAR

THE CITY OF MANY NATIONALITIES AND RELIGIONS
— LITTLE TRAGEDIES OF THE SLUMS — THE
AMERICAN COLONY'S GOOD WORK

BY THEODORE WATERS

I GOT my first impression of the Holy City from
the second story balcony of the Jerusalem
Hotel. The latter is shaped like a wedge or
a V where a small street runs into the Jaffa Road,
and the balcony is hung on the point of the V, look-
ing down the busiest thoroughfare in the city to-
wards the Jaffa Gate. Up and down the road the
biggest surge of the population ebbs and flows every
day. It was very early evening when I first viewed
the scene and the crowd for the most part was com-
ing towards us, away from the Walled City. Down
at the foot of the street was the Jaffa Gate, sur-
mounted by the tall, white, square clock-tower with
European time on two sides and Turkish time on
the other two. It was put there at about the time
they knocked down part of the wall to make a special
entrance way for Emperor William and his suite and
it dominates the situation, beautiful in itself, but
monstrously out of keeping with the character of
its surroundings, for instance the Tower of David

191

192 JERUSALEM

across the way, or the old deserted minaret that
looms up from the other extreme of the Castle.
From my balcony we could see over the tops of the
houses of the city to the slopes of the hills, the
nearest of which they called the Hill of Evil Counsel.
Over the city flew thousands of swallows, swirling
across and back, and on the streets below walked
thousands of men, women and children. Every
nationality under the sun seemed to be represented
and every tongue on earth seemed to be spoken.

There were priests of all religious persuasions —
Greek, Heretical, Uniate, Maronite, Holy Orthodox
as to the Greek church; Nestorian, Gregorian (Ar-
menian), Coptic (Egyptian), Abyssinian and Jacob-
ite representing the Heretical branch; Greek Cath-
olic, Chaldean (United Nestorian), Armenian Cath-
olic, Coptic Catholic, Abyssinian Catholic, and
Syrian Catholic representing the Uniate or Re-
united; Maronite as to themselves, and, of course,
plain Roman Catholic. These to the experienced
eye could be distinguished by their garb and na-
tionality as could be the variously clothed nuns. To
me, that first evening, they were just a part of the
color value of the passing parade.

Intermingled with the priests could be seen the
Jews, the orthodox among whom could easily be
distinguished by their round, furry-edged hats, their
long gowns and the corkscrew curl hanging in front
of each ear. Even the little boys proudly cultivated
a wisp of hair which might soon become a greasy
curl hanging down to the shoulder. These young-
sters were really fair to look upon, for their features
were regular and the whiteness of the skin being

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 193

common. Indeed, there is a saying in Jerusalem:
"As fair as a Jewess." Their parents come from
every country on earth. Then there were girls of
all nationalities, religions, conditions and morals:
Jewish girls, Armenian girls, Syrian girls, European-
Christian girls, native Arab girls, Mohammedan
girls with their faces veiled, some leading smaller
girls, unveiled as yet, and each carefree against the
time to come when she would be forced into a pre-
mature marriage with some enterprising Mohamme-
dan who had money enough to pay for her. Inter-
mixed with these were the cigarette-smoking natives,
the stately strolling Arab refugees from Salt, be-
yond the Jordan, who had come in from the refugee
camps or out from the Castle of David, where many
of them were quartered at that time. With their
long black robes and white head-dresses, they looked
picturesque indeed.

Then there were the omnipresent small boys im-
portuning the private soldiers to let them polish
their boots, or begging the officers to let them hold
their horses and adding thereby to the babel of voices
that floated up from the crowd. The people of
Jerusalem seem to talk in concert, and he or she
who talks loudest has the best of the argument.
I once heard a woman shrieking at a vegetable
dealer in one of the covered streets of the Walled
City. I could hear her long before I could see
her, and I hastened towards the sound, full of the
idea that a native fight was in progress. When I
reached the place, the vender sat among his vege-
tables, hunched up, a dogged determined look on
his face. His lips were moving but his words were

194 JERUSALEM

negligible, in fact I could hardly hear them, for
over him menaced the woman in an attitude as
though about to spring, her fingers spread wide
apart, her long arms waving violently, malevolence
flaming from her face and a torrent of Arabic hurt-
ling from her mouth with a force that illustrated
the power of the human lungs to the N'th degree.
No one in the immediate neighborhood seemed to pay
the slightest attention. I wondered what it was all
about, when suddenly the man gave a peculiar move-
ment of his body, which apparently was a sign of
assent. The woman stopped talking immediately,
dropped a coin into his hand, and walked off. It
was just a little bargain concluded over a handful
of produce!

So with English, French, Arabic, Hebrew, Yid-
dish, Greek, Latin, Armenian, Hindoostani and
other languages too numerous to mention, all try-
ing to voice their supremacy above the yelling of
the donkey boys, the shouts of the camel drivers,
the cries of the street peddlers, the neighing of the
horses, the noise of the motor lorries, the honking
of the auto horns, etc. The Jaffa road below my
balcony that May afternoon was a pandemonium.
It rose up and enveloped everything as a penumbra
of sound to the ear, just as the dazzling whiteness
that envelopes everything to the eye.

For Jerusalem is the white city of the world par
excellence. Built on a range of limestone hills, its
houses constructed of the same soft rock, the stone
walls between its fields are of the same material, and
the roads also the same, pulverized. It always was
white, but since war came, the heavy motor-lorries

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 195

passing and repassing, keep on crushing and re-
crushing the roadways with the result that a fine
almost impalpable dust is constantly rising from
them and settling down upon th'? buildings, the rail-
ings, the fields and the foliage, until everything soon
pales under the touch and takes on the universal
tint. Were it not for the sunshine — the sunshine
that beats down upon everything without interrup-
tion, except during the few rainy months — one might
liken it to a city enveloped in snow. At night in-
deed, the resemblance is marked, and a walk in the
moonlight on the roads far out of the city carries with
it a ghostly suggestiveness, particularly in the neigh-
borhood of historic monuments, that is not quickly
cast out of mind. But of course it is the Jerusalem
of the daytime, under the sunshine, that conveys the
most lasting impression. Indeed, it seems so bright
and fair and happy that it was difficult for me to
associate it that afternoon with cruelty and want,
misery and starvation, a place the very inspiration
of which is based on a tragedy enacted many cen-
turies ago — a tragedy which has changed the senti-
ment of the whole world. Rather did it seem to me
more like the land of the Lotus Eaters — "The land
where it is always afternoon."

This, of course, was the mere surface picture — a
first colorful view of the most polyglot city on earth.
There must be something behind it all. Whence were
all these people coming and where were they going?
They were all human. They all had blood and bones
and must have some form of profitable occupation,
else they could not keep on living. They reminded
me somewhat of the great New York crowd, which

196 JERUSALEM

every evening pours out of the Cloak and Suit belt,
surges across Union Square, and spreads through
the tenements of the East Side. I once followed that
New York crowd and the result was not only inter-
esting but instructive. I determined to follow this
crowd, and see where it went. So I went down from
the balcony and strolled up the Jaffa Road. This,
of course, would take me away from the Walled
City, but it was now evening and very little could
be seen in the old city after dark. In fact, it is said
to be quite dangerous for the stranger after sun-
down and even officers were forbidden to enter then,
unless they had a special pass. I had one of these
and the wording of it always created amusement
among my friends. It was as follows:

PERMANENT PASS.

Major Waters of the American Red Cross has permission
to enter the Holy City, Jerusalem, at all times of the day
and night. Signature.

I picked my way up the Jaffa road between the
camel train on one side and a line of motor lorries
on the other, while the moving population chatted
its way in and out and ledjne far afield. We passed
a small public park where a military band had been
giving an open air concert and the crowd which had
been in attendance was just dispersing. They joined
our own mob. They seemed to be about three-
quarters Jews and one-quarter black-robed monks
and they created a counter current which interfered

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 197

with the even flow of our stream. Presently we came
to a high-walled enclosure on the right of the road.
Part of the crowd kept on up the road, part turned
to the right through a lane.

I asked an Englishman where the two streams were
going. He pointed out that the great majority were
Jews and were on their way to the Jewish Colonies,
a number of which were located in the suburbs of
the City. The crowd that turned to the right would
enter a gate not far along and short-cut through the
Russian Compound and so reach their own Colony
by the shortest route. I determined to follow them.
I turned to the right and presently entered the gate
and came upon a scene that was to become very
familiar to me, for, as it turned out later, the Amer-
ican Red Cross party, to which I was attached, took
up its quarters in this very compound. It was a
large enclosure with groups of buildings, the biggest
of which was a Hospice in which were quartered the
Russian pilgrims (men) who flocked to Jerusalem
during pilgrimage season in Peace times. It now
was concerned with many activities that had nothing
to do with the Russian Church. Looking around,
it was hard to believe that on this very spot Alex-
ander the Great appeared before Jerusalem and met
the high priest in his pontifical robes, and reverently
saluting the "Sacred Name" inscribed on the priest's
mitre, exclaimed, according to Murray : "I adore not
the man, but the God with whose priesthood he is
honored. When I was at Dios, in Macedonia, pon-
dering how to subdue Asia, I saw this figure in a
dream and he encouraged me to advance, promising
to give me the Persian Empire. I look upon this as

198 JERUSALEM

an omen, therefore, that I have undertaken the ex-
pedition by divine command, and that I shall over-
throw the Persian Empire." Following which Alex-
ander granted the people of Jerusalem many im-
portant privileges.

The crowd passed out of a gate and again scat-
tered through various streets, the trend being to
the right. Presently we came to groups of buildings
that looked for all the world like model tenements,
except that they were not more than two stories high.
The thinning crowd entered these or kept on in
search of others just like them, the non- Jewish part
of the population dodging into detached habitations
here and there. After all, it was just the same old
New York crowd, dispersing among its tenements
but under different and more picturesque conditions.

I forged ahead and presently found myself skirt-
ing the wall of the old City. The road ran under
the wall, and the battlemented character of the stone
construction looked very impressive in the gathering
twilight. The way turned squarely around the north-
east corner of the wall and led down into the Valley
of the Kedron. I followed over and up the face of
the Mount of Olives. It was steep, but well worth
the climb, for night was now falling and the lights
of the City were beginning to shine out. Everything
was rapidly being swallowed up in the gathering
gloom, but I had a general idea of the location of
the principal points of interest as they had been
described to me. I knew, for instance, that the
Temple Area lay far below me, across the Kedron,
just inside the City Wall. I was considering the
wonderful history of the Temple Area, when sud-

A LACE-MAKING MADONNA.

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 199

denly there came floating across the intervening
space the voice of the Muezzin calling the faithful to
evening prayer. It was a musical sound flowing
through the night, for the Muezzin is usually picked
among other things for the excellence of his singing
voice. Years ago, he had to be blind as well, so
that from the lofty gallery of his minaret he could
not look down into the harem courtyards of neigh-
boring houses.

The voice coming from the main tower of the
Temple Area is said to be one of the most musical
in Jerusalem. But it would be hard to say, for now
farther away another voice could be heard calling
"Allah is great and Mohammed is his prophet." And
then another and another and still others. It was a
wonderful concert — an aeolian effect rising above
the Holy City and merging into a concert of sound
which, when it finally died away, left the silence
tinged with something too weird to describe. I sat
on the hillside looking down at the slowly disappear-
ing lights of the City when presently far in the dis-
tance I heard a different sort of concert — a combi-
nation of barks and shrill long-drawn-out howls.
Stray dogs? No. Jackals, browsing around among
the graves of the Jewish and Moslem cemeteries on
the slopes of the hill. Ugh! It was depressing,
decidedly. All of my feeling of rapport with the
idealistic Jerusalem faded away. It was as though
the hair of Mahomet over which the faithful will one
day walk over the Kedron and so on to Paradise,
had snapped. But so has it always been with Jeru-
salem. Maintained on a structure of beautiful
ideals, Pagan, Jewish, Mohammedan, Christian, the

200 JERUSALEM

jackals of humanity have always been there to gnaw
at her vitals.

I scrambled down the hill and along the dark
roads, and so to the hotel and to bed, for I meant
to be up early in the morning and follow that crowd
back to its daily tasks.

Sure enough, the crowd was on its way back to
the Walled City when I walked towards the Jaffa
Gate next morning, and the swallows as usual were
flying overhead. The sun was already beating down
steadily on our heads. I had with me a young
American who had lived in Jerusalem for some time,
doing relief work. Ah yes, relief work. That re-
minded me. Where were all the misery and want
and starvation and disease? The people around me
seemed fairly happy, chattering earnestly and even
gaily, judging from the frequent laughter. In fact,
my day's observation had confirmed my first im-
pression that this was the land of Peter Pan, the
land where the people never grow up. Of course, I
knew that misery was prone to hide its head, that
the poverty of New York City, for instance, is not
to be found along Broadway, where the tourist likes
to foregather. Nevertheless I had a very distinct
recollection of tales told me by missionaries who were
compelled to leave Palestine when the United States
entered the war — tales of men, women and children
gathering wolfishly around public soup pots where
they fought for extra bits and cried for more; tales
of little children turned out to die because their
parents could not feed them, children who were
found later under arches in the public streets nearly
(dead with exposure and too weak from starvation

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 201

to crawl away — little human alley cats ; tales of the
women, with their broods of naked youngsters, who
stood in the gates of the city moaning the wail of
the dying, "Oh, God, I'm starving." Where were
these? I asked my companion. "You shall see," he
replied, tersely.

We continued our walk to the Jaffa Gate. At this
point and at right angles to the Jaffa Road is the
road that leads to Bethlehem. At one side of it and
under the shadow of the Castle of David was a long
line of vegetable and fruit venders. I suddenly re-
membered something else which I had been told. I
asked : "Isn't that where the line of lepers used to
be?" He acknowledged as much, but was not able
to tell me just what had become of them. Also he
did not know what had become of the innumerable
dogs which used to snap at one's heels. In fact he
opined that Jerusalem had lost several of its char-
acteristics as a "Turkish City*" But I resolved to
find out what had become of the lepers and the dogs
just the same. At any rate, there was no particular
necessity for walking in the middle of the street at
this place.

We threaded our way through the thickening
throng of tall able-bodied men who apparently did
nothing for a living, black-robed women, refugees
from Salt, with tatooed lips and chins which gave
them a repulsive appearance, greasy water carriers,
who shoved their slimy goat-skins through the crowd
regardless of who got wet, little boys and girls who
ran after us and waile3 for "backsheesh" with a
monotony that convinced us it was a continuous per-
formance, blind men who were projected bodily into

202 JERUSALEM

our persons by their attendants who made sure by
this means that we did not overlook them. Per-
meating all, the smell of the people ; emanating from
all, the sweat of their bodies and over all the sun-
shine, beating upon head and head alike but carry-
ing with it the saving grace of a powerful antiseptic.

As we passed the Tower of David and turned the
corner of the Castle to the right, we looked up and
in almost every window of this ancient pile there
were faces of refugees, the people from Salt. Part
of the moat that surrounded the Castle had obviously
been filled in to make the main street through the
Jaffa Gate. Children were playing in the place that
had once been a formidable obstacle to the foes of
the defenders. Children ran all over the place, on
the drawbridge, or rather on the rickety wooden
structure that now takes its place. Probably there
were children playing in the dungeon, for it must
have been cool down there, away from the sun's heat.
Dungeons are not such terrible places under certain
conditions, and I reflected that many a man in
America has sat in his cellar to cool off on a hot
summer day. The people in the upper floors of the
Castle had evidently tried to approximate this effect
by partly walling up the windows with piled-up
rocks.

I thought we were going into the Castle, but my
guide suddenly turned away and walked across the
street to a wall with a gate in it, about which a crowd
of women and children were congregated. He opened
the gate and we stepped inside. I have been in some
curious assemblages in my time, but this was most
curious indeed. It was a soup kitchen operated by

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 203

means of moneys sent from England and America.
The courtyard we had entered was crowded with
women — veiled Mohammedan women for the most
part — and with girls and boys and old men, each
with a pitcher or a tin bucket or a receptacle of some
sort, all waiting to have a day's rations ladled out
to them.

So here were the people who used to throng the
streets crying for bread. Yes, here were the people.
A number of these kitchens had been established and
every day a member of each family would come and
fight for a place in the line, be identified, and go off
with the soup to fill the empty stomachs at home.
Of course, there was the usual deafening chatter,
the vociferous berating by guards who tried to hold
the crowd back, the perilous work of rescuing one's
soup through the crowd when one got it.

I was much interested in the efforts of one little
boy, possibly nine years old, who was convoying a
bucket of soup from the big kettle to the outer gate.
It was all he could carry, and must have been for
a family of ten. Holding the handle with both hands,
and bending over the precious liquid, he backed away,
making passage for himself through the crowd by a
series of thumps of his shoulders until he could go
no further. He then laid the bucket on the floor
and got on his hands and knees, out of my sight.
He must have climbed between a man's legs, for I
next saw him struggling beyond the man towards
the door of the soup kitchen itself, and the bucket
was with him. He could not carry it down the
steps, so he laid it on the top step, ran down and
around to the side, where he could easily get it off

204 JERUSALEM

on his arm. He staggered to the gate where a guard
proceeded to let him out, but not before another
little fellow had managed to stick his finger in the
soup and lick it clean. The owner of the soup bucket
cursed the religion of the other's forefathers as pas-
sionately as possible, and then the gate closed upon
him and he was gone.

This cursing the religion of another's forefathers
is very common and even the small children indulge
in it. I was walking along in the old City one Sun-
day morning with one of our party who spoke Arabic
fluently when some urchins, possibly seven or eight
years of age, came out of a gate. One of them turned
towards another and exclaimed violently in Arabic.
I asked what he said. My companion replied: "He
said: 'May God curse the father of her who told
me.' ' What she could have told him did not ap-
pear, nor did it matter, for the expression was not
uncommon, and was notable only in that it came from
the lips of one so young.

"Where do these people live?" I asked, and was
informed that the Salt refugee women were from the
Tower of David across the street. Some Jews lived
in the Jewish quarter and the natives, Mohammedan
and Christian, lived in hovels for the most part scat-
tered throughout the city.

Meanwhile we were forgetting my crowd returning
to its occupations of the day, so we resolved to walk
out awhile and see what had become of it. We strolled
along to the entrance of David Street, one of the
most important thoroughfares of the old City. Be-
ginning at the Jaffa Gate David Street extends prac-
tically due east to the Temple Area, thus dividing

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 205

the city in half, north and south. Beginning at the
Damascus Gate on the north, Damascus Street runs
due south to a little eastward of Zion Gate. Thus
the city is cut into four quarters. That to the north-
east is the Mohammedan Quarter; to the north-west
is the Christian Quarter; to the south-east the Jew-
ish Quarter, and to the south-west the Armenian
Quarter. Each is, of course, characteristic of the
people who inhabit it, but on David Street the four
quarters meet in common.

David Street is really a narrow lane, a series of
wide steps which run up or down, according to the
slope of the land. On each side are the shops and
stalls of merchants, and everything is sold in it and
in the wretched intersecting thoroughfares, from
vegetables to gold rings. Sweetmeat venders, shoe-
makers, bakers, jewelers, tailors, curio brokers,
butchers, money changers, fruiterers and others too
numerous to mention, harangue the crowd that
shoves its way through the narrow spaces, and
which includes everybody and everything from a Con-
sular Cavass to fat-tailed sheep and long-eared goats.
Very quickly we had turned off of David Street and
entered stone-covered byways that smelled like damp
caverns, as indeed they were. Ever and anon some
one would enter a door in the wall of these caverns,
mount a flight of steps, and come out on top into
the sunshine, where stone hovels, one-roomed homes,
were lived in by poor families, and had been so lived
in for centuries.

We climbed up to one of these groups of cliff
dwellings. There were probably eight or ten single-
room homes in the place, four stone walls each in-

206 JERUSALEM

habited by from two to ten persons, to judge from
the children running in and out. As far as I could
see, there were no sanitary appliances. Some of the
people, particularly children, lay sick on the floor
of their hovels. Why any of them had escaped death
by disease, was a mystery to me.

And that was a subject of speculation among
many of my friends. Was it possible, argued one,
that these people had lived so long amidst disease
and dirt and general unsanitary conditions, that all
but the very weak ones had become as it were in-
oculated against pestilence? For, be it remembered,
these were not refugees driven to such stress by the
exigencies of war, they were the regular dwellers
of the place, who had lived in this way long before
the war was thought possible, and who, left to them-
selves, will go on living in this way long after war
is over. In that, of course, they are different from
the refugees. They do not constitute the same prob-
lem. People there are who expect to change all
this •• soon as the immediate refugee problem has
been disposed of. But there are other people who
say it cannot be done, that East is East and West
is West, and that oil and water are more easily
mixed; that these people have the traditions, the
habits and — most important of all — the mode of
thought of centuries behind them, and that before
they could become Westerners in spirit and principle,
they would have to be born again.

"You can see one reason," said my guide, "why
some of the people desire to live in the outer city,
can you not? Even though they come here to work,"
he added.

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 207

I admitted that such a move to the suburbs was
most commendable. But he was not sure that they
were animated by such uplifting instinct. He
thought it was more because they had been
"crowded out" of the choice home sites we had
just examined. "After all," he commented, "they
love the squalor and the dirt. Take it away from
them and they would be lonely. Drive your East
Sider into the suburbs of New York, and he would
get back at the earliest opportunity. Put him on
Fifth Avenue, and the severe, clean, straight-front
houses, with no one hanging from the windows, would
get on his nerves. He would yearn for Avenue A."

I saw some more of "the squalor and the dirt"
later in the day, when I accompanied a Red Gross
doctor on his rounds among the poor. We were
accompanied also by a woman Settlement worker.
We entered the Old City through the New Gate and
took our way down the crooked alleys which are
called streets here. Some of these were covered
ways, and on the roofs were stone hovels in which
people lived out their lives. The stench of centuries
was in the air of these tunnels. Strange people
watched us curiously, and I thought resentfully, as
we stepped gingerly along in our endeavor to avoid
the filth under foot. After a while we came to an
old door in the wall. Our woman worker, who had
been there before, turned and pushed open the door
and began mounting a flight of stone steps. They
turned and curved and at last stumbled out upon an
inclosure — or what might be called an elevated yard
— around which was a collection of stone hovels.
Everything is built of stone in this country. Faces

208 JERUSALEM

appeared at the bleared windows of the hovels and
then people began to come out of the doors. Evi-
dently we were an event in this aerie. Going
up to the closed door of one house, our worker
pushed it open and peered within. A woman, with
streeling hair and very little clothes, welcomed her
and pointed to what I at first thought was a heap
of rags on the floor. The woman touched it gently
with her dirty bare foot. There was a convulsive
movement of the heap. Some of the rags uplifted, and
out peered the bearded face of an emaciated man.
He looked curiously into the face of our woman
worker, and then fearfully at the doctor, for the
latter, being of the Red Cross, had on the uniform
of a captain in the United States army, and the
people, driven as they have been Ly Turks in uni-
form ever on the lookout for extra taxes, look at
all uniforms askance. Reassured, however, he told
his symptoms and was prescribed for with as much
dispatch as was consistent with an examination.
There was but one room in this "house," and that
room had probably been as it was for a thousand
years. There was practically nothing in it as far
as I could see; heaps of clothing in one corner, not
a table, not a chair, but children, near naked, moving
about under foot.

We went out into the sunshine and over the sloppy
stones preparatory to going down into the noisome
alley below. Almost immediately the worker was
besieged with petitions from women who had gath-
ered about the door and who knew of other sick
ones in the surrounding hovels and wanted them to
be treated. It was not to be, however, as the au-

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 209

thorities had designated a number of urgent cases,
and these must be attended to first. So down we
went again to the alley and along until we came to
another door much like the first, and through into
a courtyard of uneven levels and the usual amount
of dirt. Women and children abounded, of course,
and they led us readily to the door of the house
where a sick child awaited our ministrations. The
worker and the doctor went in. I took a hasty look
and concluded to wait outside.

The patient was a little boy — a very sick little
boy, as any one would have known at a glance. He
moaned and cried while the doctor diagnosed his
malady. They had raised him from his pallet of
rags, and the movement caused him to lose what
little dinner he had evidently eaten. The doctor
noticed that he had been eating bread, and said it
was not just the thing for the little fellow to eat
in his condition. But as bread, in limited quantities
at that, was all the family could afford, the advice
was lost. He indicated to the worker that the child
would have to be taken to the hospital at once. Then
there was a great uproar. Take to the hospital?
No! No! No! They would butcher him at the
hospital ! This feeling, which is common among the
poor all over the world, was quieted when it was
explained that the boy would probably die if he
were not taken to the hospital. Meantime the
women, some of them with families in prospect,
crowded around the door and the children ran
around under foot. "Tell them to keep those women
and children away from that child," said the doctor
to the worker just before we left the place. "It is

210 JERUSALEM

contagious." "What is it?" I asked as we wended
our way through the alley. "He is coming down
with typhus," replied the doctor sententiously. "But
you will see more of it before we return."

And we did, many cases. In fact, Jerusalem had
at the time not only many cases of typhus, but the
doctors said the disease was on the increase. But
why go on describing case after case of men, women
and children down with infectious diseases? How
can they help but be? Filth and squalor among the
inhabitants, conditions unsanitary to the last de-
gree. People living as they did a thousand years
ago. It was not the fault of the present authorities.
They have done all they can up to date to change
matters for the better. But the job is huge — bigger
in fact than one can appreciate without close inves-
tigation. It is the heritage left by past rulers. Cen-
turies of fatalism and oppression have left the seal
of their influence upon the people and they are not
to be changed in a day. I could see it even in
Egypt, which, as everybody knows, has improved
wonderfully in the last decades; yet even there the
lethargy of the East is all too apparent. No one
there ever thinks of swatting one of the millions of
flies that make life all but unbearable in the day-
time, and this aside from the danger of disease
transmitted through this agency. Very few think
of screening windows. People go around carrying
fly-swishers (a decorative handle holding a wisp of
horsehair) with which to chase the pestiferous insect
on to someone else. And Egypt has progressed.
Why should not more or as much be expected of
Jerusalem?

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE

We came out of the old town through the Gate
of Herod, and presently our guide remarked that
over behind a little rise of ground was the Garden
Tomb. Would we like to stroll that way? No,
we did not think we would on this day, when within
less than a thousand yards of the tomb of Christ
we had so lately watched so many men, women and
children, the spoil of the centuries, being drawn
down so remorselessly, as it seemed, into the pit of

misery, disease and death.

*****

One morning I visited the Tower of David. It
lies just inside the Jaffa Gate and forms part of
the wall of the city. The present wall is the third
that has been erected. The first wall is traditionally
that erected in the time of David. The second wall,
built during the Roman period, is the wall of the
time of Christ. The present wall was erected by Sulie-
mann the Magnificent, centuries later. So in some-
what the same manner the Tower of David has had
its periods. It is asserted here positively that the
lower part was of David's time, but that the upper
parts were added as the centuries rolled on. How
they could have manipulated such large pieces of
rock in those early days is a mystery akin to that
of the Pyramids. The great moat surrounding this
castle is partly filled up; but it must have been a
most effective defense in its day. And the great pile
must also have proved a strong bastile for those who
offended the kings. But now all is changed and
nothing is left but the very rocks themselves. Yet
you can walk through the old stone rooms, mount-
ing floor upon floor until you stand far above the

JERUSALEM

city. You may even mount up the stairs of the mina-
ret which surmounts the pile and gaze for miles over
the surrounding landscape.

But if you take this journey today, you will be
surprised at the occupants of the castle. No longer
the kings and the feastings. No longer the warriors
shooting their arrows through the narrow slitted
windows. The Tower of David today is filled with
a crowd of more or less miserable wretches. Arabs
who come from far along the Jordan. Men who
wear long black robes and white head-coverings deco-
rated with two black cords. Women whose lips have
been tattooed. People whose one purpose in life
seems to be to do nothing but smoke cigarettes and
rear large numbers of children, who squabble with
one another and run all over the place. And over
all, the inevitable dirt ! These people are on rations,
fed to them by the military authorities, and who have
done everything possible to make their lot as pleas-
ant as it could be made for a nomadic people cooped
up in a city. But contrast the situation with that
which existed when this castle was young. What a
difference !

Even so, it is better that it should at last come
to be a haven of refuge even for such benighted
heathen as now occupy it, than be a place of revel-
ing for kings and their concubines, or a place of long-
drawn-out punishment for poor captives, for whom
it was a torture chamber, without chance of escape.

"Come along and see the fellaheen," said Dr.
Harry C. Hurd, one of our physicians, who, from
the very first, had been working among the refugees.
"You will find them interesting."

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 213

Hurd is the type of the genial physician whose
one object in life seems to be the acquisition of a
greater knowledge of the science of curing disease
and its application with a broad sympathy among
the suffering people. We climbed into a motor ac-
companied by Marcus. Marcus, by the way, is one
of the characters of the Unit. He is more than that ;
he is an institution, is Marcus — a product of the
peculiar stress through which Jerusalem has passed.
He says he is fourteen years old. But he looks much
younger and acts much older. He can read and write
English, Russian, French, and Arabic, and he can
speak but not write German. He has passed
through all the regimes, Turkish, German and
English, and he has taken toll of each in the acquir-
ing of languages and backsheesh. Yet, strangely
enough, he is both industrious and honest, and he
is the sole support of his widowed mother. If you
would know what he looks like, imagine a gnome
about three and a half feet high, as broad as a
brownie and as brown as a berry, with two big dark
eyes that shine out of the middle of a perpetual
smile.

"Let us first go to the old Turkish prison," said
the doctor.

We rode on toward the outskirts of the city and
stopped in front of an iron-barred stone building
that had once been the detaining-place for people
who did not agree in politics with the former rulers.
We went inside and through to a middle courtyard
containing some trees under which men, women and
children lay stretched in the shade. Some of them
were sick and some were not, but all seemed oppressed

214 JERUSALEM

with various stages of despair. And little wonder,
for these people had once lived out in the surround-
ing hills and vales, content to take care of their little
places in happiness. But the war had swept their
all away, and so they had wandered in to Jerusalem
as soon as it was taken by the British and had been
assigned to this old structure, where there is at least
shelter from the sun by day and from the chill by
night. For sustenance they depend upon rations
served to them daily by the military authorities.
For the rest, they beg and occasionally work. And
if there was no love of home in the world or the
memory of loved ones long since slain, they might
be accorded happy. But a roof over one's head and
enough food in one's stomach are not all that is neces-
sary to the sum of happiness.

The doctor went around among them, advising
here, prescribing there, with little Marcus chatter-
ing his interpretations in his voluble way.

"This man, he have a great beeg pain in hees
head. It hurt heem in the back of hees neck."

The man was lying in the midst of his family, on
a blanket spread upon the ground. The doctor ex-
amined him, first insisting that he take off a wide
neckcloth that nearly covered his head. Under the
neckcloth was a rag that covered the back of the
neck. The man demurred when the doctor attempted
to take it away. Said Marcus:

"He say not to do that because he will not get
well if you take it from heem."

But the doctor did take it away, and then he
uttered an exclamation. "Just look at that, will
you?" And everybody looked.

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 215

In the back of the man's neck was a piece of cord.
It entered the skin at the side of the neck, continuing
under the skin across to the other side, where the
end came through. The two ends of the cord had
been brought together on the outside and tied in a
knot. Naturally it had suppurated, and the chance
of blood poison was very great; but the man cher-
ished it because it was the "cure" of a well-known
native "doctor," who had ordered that it be kept
there for seven years, after which the man's chronic
headache would disappear and the cord might be
taken out. It was shudderful even to think of. Yet
the practice is by no means uncommon.

The doctor proceeded to give the man relief by
other means, and continued his work among the peo-
ple, until he had visited all the ailing ones the prison
contained.

In the car again we sped away out of town toward
the hills, and presently we came to an encampment
of fellaheen, as the country-dwelling Arabs are
called. They were picturesque in a forlorn way,
their tents made of what looked like burlap, their
clothes dilapidated, their cooking utensils dingy and
dirty. The flat sides of the tents were raised so
that it was easy to see the interiors.

In one tent, on a pile of bedding, lay a woman.
The doctor found her with a fever and diagnosed the
case as malaria. It seemed to be the prevailing ail-
ment among these people, and it seemed to rage in
most of the tents. Men and women crowded around
with little children in their arms, and to these the
doctor paid particular attention, for he is one of
those sympathetic souls for whom the moan of a

216 JERUSALEM

child means just a little more than the complaint of
an adult.

We got through after a while, and then we wended
our way across the hills to an ancient monastery,
once filled with Armenian monks. It was the retreat
of pious pilgrims in the early centuries of the Chris-
tian era, but now it is the haven of refugees who,
like their brothers of the Turkish prison, find in it
a temporary harbor after the privations of war.
It is full of large rooms with walls painted with
pictures of saints and the likenesses of dignitaries
of the Greek Church. Lying around on the floors
were all sorts and conditions of men, women and
children, and, as in the prison, some sick and some
not. And some there were who merely pretended
to be ill, so that they might be sent to a hospital,
where perchance greater quantities of food were to
be had. But the doctor had an abundant intuition
which enabled him to detect the sham from the real
thing, so he was not to be imposed upon.

There was enough of the real, however, to take
up ah1 of his attention. In one room an old man lay
dying under a window through which a beam of the
setting sun came and shone upon his face. It was
to be probably his last sensation from the outside
world of nature. Across the room lay an old woman.
She was half naked, dirty and blind. The doctor
did what he could for her, but there was very little
he could do. Her span of life was practically run.
The gloom of the room followed us out into the sun-
shine, and would not be dispelled. We crossed the
courtyard and came upon a young mother sobbing
over a baby, perhaps two years old. The doctor

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE

lifted up the covering that rested raggedly upon it.
Its stomach was swelled enormously. "Enlarged
spleen," remarked the man of medicine, and gave
directions for having the suffering child removed at
once to the hospital.

On the way out of the monastery, we looked into
the chapel — the last evidence of what the ancient
functions of the old pile had been. There was one
lone monk in attendance. He took us back of the
altar and allowed us to gaze down into a hole in
the floor at a remnant of the root of a tree which
he declared to be the identical tree from which the
cross of Christ had been cut. The thought of the
world-stirring tragedy implied in his assertion only
added to our gloom, so we hurried out to the motor
car and back to Jerusalem.

"Some things they are very bad to see," remarked
little Marcus as we sped along. "My Doctor Hurd,
he is not happy today."

Jerusalem is full of little stories that are well
worth the telling.

I was walking up the road that leads toward the
Russian Compound where we are quartered, when the
door of a shop opened and out stepped a little old
man with a broom in his hand. The place was the
Jerusalem depot of the British and Foreign Bible
Society. The old man, who had on no hat, looked
like the personification of Socrates, or at least like
the commonly accepted likeness of the latter. His
pate was bald on top, but it was edged with long
white hair that hung upon his shoulders. His thick

218 JERUSALEM

unkempt beard was also as white as snow and hung
far down his breast. His face was yellow, as is
common with those of advanced years, for his age
must have been far past the threescore-and-ten
mark. His name is Whelan — Michael Matthew
Whelan — and he is one of the well-known characters
of the city. This is his story, which, by the way,
was not told by himself:

When Turkey entered the war there was a great
scurrying on the part of all the English and their
sympathizers to leave Palestine. The general de-
parture in fact took on the semblance of a panic,
and among others who wanted to get away was the
young man who was temporarily in charge of the
Bible depot. He was in doubt what to do with the
stock of Bibles. He couldn't take them with him,
and he did not know whom to place in charge. Then
along came Whelan. He had met Whelan before,
and knew him for a student of prophecy. Whelan
was stranded and was literally without a place to
sleep, but being an American he was without much
fear of the Turk. He offered to take charge. The
custodian promptly fled and Whelan as promptly
moved in. He procured an old cot somewhere and
moved it in behind the counter. He slept there by
night and waited for customers during the day. Few
came, and he had to depend upon kind-hearted
friends for food.

One day the door opened, and in stalked a Turkish
officer who demanded the payment of taxes.

"Taxes !" replied Whelan. "Why, if I had money
to pay you taxes, I'd have spent it for something
to eat long ago."

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 219

The Turk told him that if he did not pay up,
his stock of Bibles would be taken. Whelan merely
replied that he had no money. The Turk shrugged
his shoulders and promised to return. He did in a
short time, and renewed his threats. Whelan, having
nothing to give, sat tight and waited for the Turk
to act.

Presently a squad of Turkish soldiers came and
began to take the Bibles off the shelves and tie them
up in packages for removal. Then another Turkish
officer walked in and began to examine them. Some
were in the Greek language, some in Russian, and
others in languages he did not recognize at all. He
demanded of Whelan to know what good were such
Bibles to do the Turk. Where they could be sold?
Whelan didn't know and couldn't tell him. He was
an angry Turk. Plainly there was no graft to be
had there, so he mentioned a few maledictions to
Whelan and went off in a rage, leaving the Bibles
standing on the counter. Whelan undid the pack-
ages and put the Bibles back on the shelves.

In the course of time, the English under General
Allenby entered Jerusalem. And presently in their
wake came the Port Said agent of the British and
Foreign Bible Society. He walked into the depot and
there sat Whelan, clad in a nondescript costume that
was a cross between that of a whirling dervish and
the slop-chest of a stranded sailor. He told Whelan
who he was. Whelan was not at all impressed. Any
one might walk in there and tell him that tale. He
was in charge and meant to remain in charge. The
agent began to think he had a problem on his hands.
He could never leave this strangely clad old man

220 JERUSALEM

to represent his society, and besides the place was
very dirty. Furthermore, he had heard that, since
the English came in, Whelan had been selling many
Bibles. Whelan admitted it. But, protested the
agent, those Bibles belonged to his society, and of
course the money should have gone to it. Said
Whelan: "How could I send the money to your
society when there was no way to send it?"

A new thought dawned on the agent. "Do you
mean," he replied, "that you've got the money?"
Whereupon Whelan informed him that he had the
money intact, except what he had spent for the bare
necessities of life.

The agent did not oust Whelan, and he was glad
he did not when he heard of another incident con-
cerning the old man. It will be remembered that
when General Allenby entered the city he did it in
so unostentatious a manner that the praise of it
went around the world. But there was one other
happening attendant on that entry that many peo-
ple here accept as a presage that Jerusalem will not
pass back into the hands of the Turk. Just as the
generals entered the gate a little white-bearded old
man pressed his way through the crowd and, wav-
ing aloft one of the best Bibles from the depot,
pressed it into the hand of the nearest general (he
could not reach Allenby), and exclaimed: "Enter
the Holy City in the name of the Lord!"

Yes, old Whelan is one of the characters of the
city. Many English officers have heard of him, and
almost any day you will find one or more sitting in
the depot listening to the old man discourse on the
Bible. Some people have called him a crank, but he

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE

manages to sell a great many Bibles just the same.
I forgot to say that when the agent for the society
realized, during his first visit to Whelan, the kind
of person he was, he asked the old man on leaving
if there was anything he could do for him, and the
reply was characteristic:

"No, I guess not. But yes, now that I think of it,
you might send me a shirt. I have not had one on

for months.'*

*****

However, it must not be surmised from the fore-
going that there is nothing but gloom and misery
in Jerusalem. It so happened that on my entrance
to the Sacred City it was my portion to be shunted
into those bypaths of hopelessness which it does not
usually befall the occasional visitor or tourist to
tread; and so, while I am calling it as forcibly as
possible to your attention, in order to show how
much Jerusalem really needs the help of the Chris-
tian world, there is another side which needs a glori-
ous mention. That is the side which includes its
deliverance from the Turks. Never has the city
apparently been as happy as since the Turk was
driven out, and the real wish of the people is that he
never will be allowed to come back. Already the
present army has started in to look after the wel-
fare of the people. The roads have been improved
and widespread sanitation is receiving large atten-
tion. The introduction of fresh running water is
being arranged. The maladies and the foibles of the
people are being treated from the humanitarian
standpoint. The exorbitant system of taxes is
abolished.

222 JERUSALEM

The people are learning that oppression has been
suppressed, that they are privileged to live their own
lives as well as they may, consistent with law and
order. And the effect on the public mind is already
apparent. I can see the vision of a new Jerusalem,
I mean it in a civic sense, and I can see it also as
the most wonderful shrine in the world, to which
people from every part of the earth will come with
wonder and delight to find their ideals fulfilled,
and their reverence for the name of Christ exalted
indeed.

This was substantiated by an experience imme-
idiately following my excursion with the Red Cross
Doctor. There were two roads home to our hotel,
and I chose to follow that taken by the settlement
worker. It led me past the domicile of the American
Colony. We approached the high wall and touched
a push button in the wall. We were almost imme-
diately admitted through a gate into a compound,
and the effect was as though we had been transported
magically from the East to the West. Without the
wall, all was hot sunshine and white dust; within
the wall, the sunshine shone as well, but all was green,
and the white dust didn't seem to be so perceptible;
in fact, it was a garden in which little children in
American dress ran about on the nicely kept paths
and upon grass which grew between the flower beds.
We were ushered into a house, thick-walled, like all
the houses in Jerusalem, but furnished in western
style. Almost all the houses I had been in so far
were of Mohammedan character. Mohammedans do
not believe in pictures; in fact, pictures are for-
bidden. The chief furnishing of the living rooms

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE

seems to be a couch or divan which runs continu-
ously around the walls, a convenient place for re-
clining; but in this house there were modern furni-
ture, beautiful pictures and a welcome in the truest
Western fashion.

The hostess was Mrs. Bertha E. Vester, and she
told us stories of the days when the Turks ruled
Jerusalem, and how, when the war broke out, she
realized the necessity of opening a hospital for the
benefit of wounded soldiers. She secured the use of a
hotel just inside of the Jaffa Gate, and with the help
of some of the members of the American Colony and
one or two doctors who were available, proceeded to
take care of such wounded soldiers as were assigned
them by the Turkish army. The whole idea was
humanitarian, yet her efforts were looked upon with
suspicion by the Turks. The little band of workers
was without supplies, and bandages had to be washed
and used over and over again. They kept up the
work under the most trying circumstances, until
finally the English captured the city, and Jerusalem
was delivered.

During that dark period, almost no word of the
progress of the war was received in the city, the
Turkish censorship being of the strictest character.
It was a time of the greatest anxiety. Never a day
passed without the possibility of some member of
the family being carried away into captivity by the
Turks, and probably, had it not been for the won-
derful work which was being done in the hospital,
even the earnest workers of the American Colony
might have been carried off; but even the Turks
recognized the tremendous good the American

JERUSALEM

Colony was doing. It was a time when the crying
of starving orphans in the streets was a daily occur-
rence. Many of these orphans were taken in and
harbored by the American Colony, although their
food supply was already too scanty for even their
own use.

There was a time when the American Colony was
supplied with plenty of means to be applied to the
relief of the poor of Jerusalem, but now it was only
possible for them to share what at times became,
literally, a crust of bread. Most of the able-bodied
men of the city had been forced to join the army.
Available food went first to the army, and the
widows and the children left behind had nothing but
the scrapings of already emptied larders. To show
the difference, the following story may be related :

Before the general European war had started,
the Christian Herald of New York received a sum
of money to be used for helping the women and chil-
dren of Palestine. At the time it was thought best
to send this money to the American Colony, which,
in its turn, was to use it in employing women and
teaching children in the making of lace. This lace
was to be sent to the United States and sold, and
the proceeds were to be sent back again to Palestine,
so that more and more women might be employed,
and thus earn an honorable livelihood. Any profits
made from the sale of lace were to be turned back
for the promulgation of the charity, as was originally
intended by the people who contributed the initial
amount. The plan worked well and hundreds of
women were able to make a livelihood. Some of the
lace was even sold in Jerusalem, and the money re-

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 225

ceived was used to employ more women. Finally, a
large quantity of lace had been made and was about
to be shipped to the United States, when the declara-
tion of war disorganized all shipping facilities.
Everybody who could get away had made arrange-
ments to go, and a veritable panic seized all for-
eigners who were afraid of being detained by the
Turks. The last party of these, mostly Americans,
left on a warship. What to do with the lace, how-
ever, was a problem, and the American Colony even
sent a representative in the person of Mr. John D.
Whiting, to arrange for sending a trunk-load of lace
to the United States on the last warship that left
the Mediterranean shores. Mr. Whiting was unable
to accomplish his purpose and had to bring the lace
back from the seaport to Jerusalem.

Of course, all business stopped in Jerusalem, ex-
cept where the necessaries of life were concerned, and
naturally the making of lace waned, as there was no
possibility of selling it. Samples of the lace were
placed on sale in the American Colony's store, but
until the English entered Jerusalem, hardly any of
it was disposed of. Then a strange and yet natural
thing happened. English officers, visiting the store,
began to purchase pieces of the lace as souvenirs to
send home to their mothers, their wives, or their
sweethearts. The lace business, which had been
started by the money sent by the Christian Herald
subscribers, immediately sprang into being again.
A building for the housing of the workers was se-
cured for the American Colony, and hundreds of
women who had been idle for a long period began
to apply for thread to make more lace.

226 JERUSALEM

"Come," said Mrs. Vester, "and let me show you
something in the way of constructive charity."

She led me through the garden and through a field
to a stone building protected from the road by a
stone wall. We entered the first floor. All the rooms
were crowded with women and young girls, some of
them knitting and some engaged at pieces of fancy-
work, representative of various districts surround-
ing Jerusalem. Some of the women were expert lace-
makers, and the younger ones were all learning the
art.

"You see," said Mrs. Vester, "here is where we
train them. Later, when they have become proficient,
they may go home and keep up the work without
the necessity of coming here every morning. We
have employed teachers who hold classes every day,
so that these young girls will not be without the
advantages of some intellectual training while they
are learning to make lace. They are being taught
better Arabic and English. Since the British Forces
arrived in Jerusalem, the girls are particularly
anxious to learn English. One of the chief benefits
is the fact that they are kept from running thq
streets. I cannot make too much of the importance
of this. Of course, it is not as bad in Jerusalem
as it was, but in the old days, when the Turk was
in control, the probability of an unprotected girl
going wrong was very great. This was not due to
any natural bent in the wrong direction, but because
so many of them were without the very necessaries
of life and were willing to do anything to procure
them.

"The girls are very happy in their work," she

ITS REDEMPTION AND FUTURE 227

added. "They are earning an honest livelihood, and
are not compelled to accept charity. It is our inten-
tion to extend this work, so that every girl who
wants to do so can learn the art of lacemaking and
make a living by it."

THE END

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