Show FROM THE ORIE ORIENT it ift te Is now about three weeks slum elders smart and simmons reached Alex andretta where the of the sublime porte proceeded ded to tai give them that initiation into oriental life which usually watte the unsuspecting missionary who ventures ashore in turkey to ehfe brother jos tanner who formerly aly presided here can test testify from personal experience the auswin house officers took from them every book pamphlet tract and ad paper they had whether religious or secular and in their banat or desire to anticipate anything which might tend to subvert tee am present government or religion obey even wok took from the elders r personal pe mementos photo eube of friends etc brother ed pr simmons deplores ibis turn of affairs afra irs not only because i he hollby has by tar far the heaviest loss but z 1 1 s io i p by ithe it he lose lomm a complete ag A A AZ Z and beautiful set of af church works with which the twentieth ward graciously presented him just before he left the books were sent to aleppo for examination if the quadi or judge calk in one ot of the few sectarian clergymen there to help solve the case he will soon discover two words which will settle the fate of the books namely joseph smith there is otherwise a possibility of recovering some of the seized articles after this incident they went on oil to where they are now dow studying the turkish and gregorian character the one almost exclusively used by the so called christians of this country we spent a few days together in a very pleasant manner enjoying a perceptible degree of th the spirit eSpirit and and parted president hintze goes to constantinople to see what can be done towards printing such matter as he considers necessary to forward the work here on our way to Alex andretta the traveling episodes were very similar to those described in a communication from dated may 1st ast every twelve or fifteen miles we came across a hamlet the few huts in which were built of sticks and manure and occasionally a village built of mud not with perhaps a house or two constructed ted of the stones of some ancient greek or roman country palace in such a house the door and window sills are formed of pieces of beautiful granite pilasters pi lasters from the ruins of some heathen temple while the corner stone may be a fragment of a cornice or impost from a triumphal arch built by darius or other conqueror of old ILI all bearing traces of the former greatness of the successive kingdoms which domineered domine ered over this now DOW unfortunate land with much self compla complacency ency and satisfaction of mind can the pilgrim latter day saint look upon these proofs of the decadence of great man made powers and conquering nations how the soul grows weary in trying to grasp the immutable designs and the im impartiality of the great maker and his is wisdom and foresight which allows the proud aal high minded to rise aloft be filled to overflowing and to fall down and vanish forever while the humble abedel nineveh and babylon once ruled the world with an iron gri grip their power and pride seemed likely to last as long as man should stand upon the earth they were undisputed masters of the whole earth thela known they were the bead of gold today where shall we look for a babylonian in the squalid turkish village of hillah built opposite the obsolete ruins of babylon no we have come as it were to the miry clay of that great vision of daniel but look at a contrast As we travel in turkey we find every where kurds burds simple barbarians without literature or written speech almost without traditions two thousand years ago xenophon with a formidable army of of greeks enough to crush any army then on earth came out against agai nat them they were called Kyr duchi but they retained their liberty and today inhabit from constantin constantinople fsr 1 le to the walls of china while greece bece can barely boast of two millions of the most people now on earth why should two empires fall and a tartar tribe abide but I 1 am digressing on the third day days dayis Is journey we came to a small though very beautiful roman temple all inscriptions and pagan emblems as the reader may understand had bad been long since effaced or hewn to pieces by the iconoclastic moslem conque conquerors rom the building is is now a mosque or mohammedan ham house of prayer in the graveyard surrounding it are strewn a great quantity of pillars columns pilasters pi lasters and cha some of which yet surmount the graves of Muss ulmen over whom they were placed to serve as tombstones among this wreck of palatial ruins appear a few latin inscriptions on roman graves each headed beaded by a dedication to the gods of the manes departed souls one of these slabs bore a particularly plain inscription though the date from the foundation of rome which follows the three initials A V C ab urbe condita Co idita was partly erased it was inscribed to one martinus most sweet son of etc died at the age of 26 etc ap ending with this wish may the earth or soil boll rest lightly upon thee half hal f a da day y a journey either w wy y from this temple we saw fragments of ruins and roman pottery vases basins decanters small vats urns etc some enam ellei in grecco io ro man and style soon after this president hintze took the steamer for the capital and I 1 proceeded to antioch on my road to this town which the turks call call I 1 saw even more ev evidences of the greek and roman conquest and dominion although I 1 miles without dise discovering an inhabited village I 1 found ruins and debris all around the turkish government are building a state road parallel or even upon portions of the ancient I 1 imperial amper roman road which through neglect is unfit for travel and will the reader believe evel 1 it the modern turk is actually macadamizing macada mizing that road with the marble mosaic work bricks and tiles of the greek and roman empire emore which they extract from tumuli or mounds of ruins the workmen and road masters find this material easier to reduce into macadam than the flint rocks of the neighborhood where once stood marble halls granite porticos and regal villas the gazelle now grazes on the fallen walls and the chameleon slowly changes color as he creeps over the granite marble pottery or withered branches and and at sunset the his mournful howl antioch is in very much the same condition there are ruins all over behind the city is a mountain a spur p ur crested with fortifications guarding arding the whole city on one side R behind etina the embrasures embra are niches in which anciently stood nr chers outposts of imperial legions now all this is in decay only here and there a buttress stas stands intact in front of the town a whose waters are tepid from ru running n through a shallow and sluggish marsh no longer drained as anciently A solitary bridge spans this stream and to make the city impregnable there stands a rickety old cannon on wooden block wheels in front of the birdge near by sits a turkish artillery man resting his chin on a carbine and smoking a cigarette he is supposed to be on duty uty turkey is so allover all over the turks will squat or dwell anywhere they can never attempting any improvements they cut down a forest when it is gone they burn weeds as fuel when these too are consumed they mix manure and grass and when no more grass gram is found they move off so well is this trait understood der stood by the bedouins Bedou ins IDS their co religionists that these arabs carefully transmit to their descendants the following remember member Be sons of the desert to steer clear of the for where a turk puts his foot down thenceforth the grass no more grows in antioch with inhabitants there are numerous christian sects jews and mo hamm edans among the moh in madans here are pharisees Pharis ees and and Sadducee sl the pharisees Pharis ees strictly hold the religion of mohammed but the sadducees deny the resurrection resurrect io n and instead insist that after dest death h good men are born again and bad ones pass into oxen dogs camels etc As a consequence they never hurt or strike any animal lest they might unwittingly torture a brother and themselves receive after death even a less noble incarnation than the animal they abuse C CJ L ANTIOCH syria july 1889 |