Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 60, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 March 1914 — JERUSALEM is Now Modern [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

JERUSALEM is Now Modern

Extraordinary interest is being manifested in all Jewish circles about the future of Palestine. The decision of Nathan Straus of New York to devote the remainder of his life to the uplift of Palestine has stimulated interest among the class of Jews who have, until now, kept aloof from any work in connection with the Holy Hand. Again, the conflict that is proceeding in Palestine between the advocates of the use of Hebrew as the medium of instruction in the schools and the representatives of the “Hilfsverein der Deutches Juden,” who far vor the German language, has created a desire to acquire an accurate knowledge of what is going on in the Holy Land. ; Traveler Revisits Holy City. A famous traveler, who has just returned from a visit which he phid to Jerusalem, after an absence from that city of 19 years, writes as follows: “Slow is the progress of the train from JafTa to Jerusalem. The distance between the two cities is but 55 miles, but it takes three and a half hours to cover it. One who is accustomed to express trains in rope, or even to ‘fast trains’ in Turkey, 1b likely to forget he is in a train at all. Nevertheless, the journey is not monotonous; there are compensations in panoramic views that meet the eye. ■‘lt was one of those afternoons that is encountered only in Palestine. Over hill and dale, over the wide and far-extended fields studded with multifarious flowers and aromatic herbage. transparent blue sky. illuminated by a majestic sun, shedding its warm and brilliant rays. As I looked through the open window my thoughts were carried to the city where I was born and where I lived the happiest years of my life. "Nineteen years had elapsed since I left the sacred city. How would It appear after that period? In Constantinople and in Egypt I had met with many a Jerusalemite. All had the one. story for me. ‘You will not recognize the city; It is a new Jerusalem, new in every respect, new Internally and externally.’ J did not give much credence to this statement. I am not unacquainted with Oriental exaggeration. What interested me most was hot the appearance of the place, but the- life within. “Had the life changed? Had the old fanaticism died out? What was the character of the new generation that had grown up within those years? What were the present prospects of a livelihood? "About 5 p. m. the train reached Jerusalem. In an hour it would be dark, and, not to lose time, I took a cab and hastened to see that part of the city situated without the ancient walls. I did not recognize it. During my 19 years’ absence it had completely changed. There is no empty space, and it Is all built up. In place of the old, dilapidated hovels that disfigured the approach to the JafTa gate, I found on both sides of the road large modern stores and magnificent European hotels. A little farther on there was a fenced space with'a number of trees—very much neglected—known as the ‘park’ and adjacent to the famous enclosure containing the Russian Hospice, more beautiful than ever. Mansions Replace Hovels. “For miles the long Jaffa road is flanked north and south with innumerable buildings and streets bearing Hebrew names. Many of the large buildings are new Institutions, others are the old ones which in my time weije located within the city in ruinous state, but have now made great progress and have removed into these lofty and airy establishments. "Wherever my eye turned it beheld stone houses and others half finished. There is something uncanny about the building fever that has been raging for years in and around Jerusalem. Building is the best, almost the only industry, in the Holy City. "Slowly the sun sank in the west t turned and beheld the new Jerusalem bathed in a glory of gold, showered upon it by the setting sun. The spectacle was entrancing. Is this the

poverty-stricken city that lives on the bounty of the world? Who built these innumerable and magnificent houses? Whence came the millions, the wealth that lies buried in the stones of all these buildings?” From the top of David’s Tower, built on the highest part of Mount ,ZiOn, which overlooks Jerusalem, there is a splendid view of the country on all sides. Within the walls the buildings look like a mass of stone boxes piled one upon another in all sorts of irregular shapes, just as boxes are piled up in back of any large store. The houses have no chimneys and their stone roofs are flat. Out of the roofs Jut little domes like old-fash-ioned bee hives. The material of the buildings is a yellow limestone, quarried from under the city. It is the same material that Solomon used, and some of the quarries are still known as Solomon's quarries. There is practically no wood, and the framing and doors have to be carried up from the sea. Among the common houses are many churches of one kind or other. Right beneath the tower is the great building of the Holy Sepulcher* which stands over the spot where it is said our Saviour was crucified. Farther over is a church recently erected by the Germans, and here and there are many great hospitals, convents and monasteries built of white limestone. The streets are narrow and winding and some are built over, so that going through them is like passing through tunnels or subterranean caves. Indeed, Jerusalem is a city of cave dwetlerß. Many of the stores- and houses are little more than holes in the rocks, writes Frank G. Carpenter, and outside the town are a number of the Jerusalem of the past, and the excavations have unearthed houses and temples far below the streets of the present. The original floor and court of the house in which Pontius Pilate examined the Christ is below the level of the present city, and mosaics and marbles, including carvings of various kinds and Greek and Roman capitals and columns are frequently foundwhen digging the foundations for erecting new buildings. There are many caves outside Jerusalem. The tombs of the kings on the edge of the city have been cut from the solid rock, and some of. them are. So large that a city house could be dropped Into one and not touch the walls. An excavation of the Pool of Bethesda has shown that it is 80 feet deep, and that it covers nearly an acre. Right under the temple platform are enormous caverns known as Solomon’s stables, and near there is a space honeycombed with vast tanks, which will hold millions of gallons of water.

WATCHING FIRST MOTOR ROLLER