| Show CITIES OF THE DEAD graveyards in for fez jews jaws and moslems A GHOSTLY INDEED was vas that formed by tha jews in ia jerusalem who attends attended a funeral at night hight liere hero are am the prude severe and coquette q u ette file sober widow find and the young green reen virgin cropped CIO lo 10 od like a rose before cis cia fully ally alon k n ur or half its worth disclosed estrange medley i here here garr tilous old age winds up his bis tale and jovial 3 auth of light lightsome somo vacant I heart eart whose every ever day nas as made of melody hears not the voice of mirth the shrill tongued shrew us ate it tho turtledove turtle dove doe forgets her chiding here are the aise ise the genero generou aa 2 and the brave the just the good the worth worthless lees the profane the downright clown and perfectly nell ell bred the fool the churl tle the scoundrel and the mean BLAM occupying a conspicuous us place alace on the list ot Constantin oples ornament are the numerous demetries cem etries scattered through 0 the city and extending andin for miles in its suburbs the people cfall of nil creeds in this city have their tasir distinct buri burial al 6 grounds rounds and some of the most wealthy are profuse in fine and costly monuments and flowers flower 2 the greek thy the catholic and the protestant graveyards gravey aids are the finest and best kept while those belonging to the armenians Armen I 1 ians and the jews ar are th mo t p lain arid ill of acil ahn 0 thin nes 1 ia I p grounds i roun I 1 s locc hon lo wever cier er are not always the most attractive and interesting interns inte ting for some times thase left to the care of nature aioo li ees tees t features and charms that their heir grander neighbors lack at least I 1 found this to be the case in the city of constantine Constanti uc for of all its ceni ce etries none seemed to possess the simple beauty arid and interest and inviting quietude that characterized those neglected and almost forgotten grave yards of the turks there seemed to be a kind of a sacredness nor edness around those weather worn vorn and thickly populated cities of repose n pose that was not to bo experienced perien ced around the more fash ones onea it was formerly a beutow among the turks to plant a cypress tree over the newly made grave and the custom is today sometimes ome tome times adhered to so that mohammedan demetries cem etries in constantinople stantin tanti ople nople are extensive forests of white hite tomb stones and dark cypre cypres rac cB the tall gloomy t trees st standing andino a like sentinels over marble tomb stones have a rather pleasing effect than otherwise and ill all the time I 1 was waa at tho the ottoman capital I 1 failed to find a more inviting retreat than Cont continued bitted on feth po page ye city of the blasl liza fron rout first ri these quiet groves hero I 1 used to love to come ani and seit seat myself on oil somo some fallen tomb s stone that had probably bably graced tile spot for ser several eral hundred bun deed years and lose fase myself in contemplation of surrounding circumstances cum stances and even speculate as to tho the future these wilder wildernesses nesses of 1 I white and green green had au an attraction ion about them that I 1 could not experience in toso magnificent burial grounds belonging to the catholics catholic the turtle does doNes that frequented these cypress groves had a singular charm that the alie gaily plumed visitors to the greek cc cemetery n ie tery possessed not nit and all tl the ie richly sculptured marble and frag fragrant ant flowers and golden throated songsters sung song odthe of the protestant church yards could not equal tile the sweet solemn so lettin effect produced reduced rod by these old rusty and partly fallen 11 headstones head ead stones and dark queer ins cypress trees swarmed with myriads myri adi of bats bat nothing can bs be more affecting tha than 11 to come here or on friday mohammedan sunday sund ay all and d see se the women foll folls s wrapped in their long white robes vi biting till 11 t the he b graves raves of the departed and holding holdi no converse with their dead sitting down by a new made gr grave ae a sister or mother will tell the departed father or brother or husband husban tl as them the case may be of all the happenings 0 at home since lie died tell him how hoir lonesome it liae liaa seemed without him how ills his VO voice ice is missed when after the eve evening g meal tile the family sit and smoke and sip their coffee in silence since since the old stories that used to please had lost their charm since he had bad been called calledo a way tell him how low kind the neighbors have been and of the many nice things they have said aid about the deceased and how bow the t he docto rss bill though higher then it should have bave been has nearly all been paid and he be promised to wait for the rest until we eat cau sell old geeb is the caniel camel fur something near what lie he is worth or the disappointed father bent with age spreads his mat anat and after removing his shoes offers up tip prayers over the grave of his son and all d all hi his s fondly cherished hopes Pe perhaps he ha over whose grave the father prays was the mainstay anil and comfort of deceli declining n ing year the bloom of life the very evening 0 star of the old fians mans existence cut down in tile vigor of manhood inan hood at a time when wh e n a fond parents hopes and anticipations peem to take license for higher flight the then usual at a time when the crippled and lt aged 0 ed father could coul d welcome death with a smile thinking ng of liis his son being 0 left to perpetuate tile lie family name in honor but alas ala how uncertain is life he that at has fought the fight through long tv years or of sun and rain an and who no in his hir old age feels fit for little but to die now kneel over the grave of his son who but a few days since since was a giant in strength and health and in ohp lone liness of ef his heart he acknowledges in in solemn prayer that ALLAH ALLA 11 19 is great and merciful and just mo 0 laa funerals fu nerl are very impressive though everything connected therewith is as plain as can be the clay to be returned to mother earth iti is not enclosed in a costly casket but is if simply dressed in 13 a winding sheet shee and tand placed in the cold ground on account of tile the moslem belief that the soul undergoes 9 oes various tortures or punishments during the th time the the body remains unburied funerals take place as ft soon coon as possible and it is i said laid the only time a moslem Io slem q quickens bic aeria his pace is when in a f ann tin erl eral procession this is probably v in an exaggeration but I 1 ians certainly cei milly do walk faster while following their dead to the grave than is IR g generally ene rally their vont the funeral murch march is led as a 2 rule by 2 a number of blind sheik i who tire are followed by the male friends of the lie dec cad next comes the bier a kind of a litter carried on the shoulders of six ix men who are arc released every moment or so by s pome ome onn one desirous of performing a I 1 I 1 good act the acion declares declarer chati be who aids in ill carr carrying ying a body to the grave procures for himself the expiation of it a great sin following 0 in the rear are arc the f female friends some of whom cry at tile the top of their voices and wave their ha handkerchiefs nd kerchiefs above their heads as though they were calling callin 0 to tile the spirit on th the other shore according to belief 0 the body after r being beant 0 consigned to tile alie tomb is visited by two black agle dunkar ekr and bakeer of tile the most ap paling apece a peet who anterro gate the deceased regarding his religion during this examination 0 tile the soul is i emitted with tho the body which is commanded to sit oil up up and on this account their grav graves ies ate aie vaulted so as to give tho the defunct room in which to ohey older itlie ithe questions now asked are properly ansi answered vered the soul is gently drawn from his lips and his body is left in its re repose no se should they bo be otherwise le is is beaten about the brows with iro iron n clubs and his soul is wrenched d forth w with i th r racking a aki n tortures to prepare the faithful I 1 fur or this thi scrutiny a priest addresses addres bes the deceased when in tile the grave with these words oh servant of god 0 son of handmaid of god know that at this time there will come down to thee two angels 0 commissioned respecting specking spec tin ting 0 thee and the like of thee when t they hey gay eay to thee who is thy lord answer them god is ie my lord lard in truth and when they ask thee concerning thy prophet or the man who hath been sent unto you e eay ay to them mohammed is the apostle oi of C god wit with h veracity ty and when they ask thee concerning thy religion 0 say eay to them it is is my religion and when they ask thee concerning the book of direction say to theo them the koron is my book of direction and the moslems are my brothers and when they ask thee concerning thy bebla say to theli the cabba is my bebla and I 1 have lived and an d died in the that there 19 is no deity but god and mohammed is gods apostle and they will say sleep leep ti 0 servant of god dod in the protection of god but the most impressive funeral I 1 ever saw was wag that of a jew if in jerusalem it was one friday evenin evening after dark I 1 had been to bethany and was late in in i starting home hoine As I 1 began bean be an to decena the t he mount of olives in the valley of if I 1 saw on the other side following tile the winding 0 loot foot path that hugs the w walls all s on tle the southeast side odthe of the famous city a procession with lanterns and torches slowly descending the steep hill into the fore mentioned valley at first I 1 suppo supposed ted it to be a pro certion of monks coining down to prey pray in tile the garden of gethsemane or over the tomb of tho virgin but as we neared cich cach other I 1 could discern what seemed deemed in the uncertain light to be a coffin carried on the shoulders of men and when I 1 readied reached the bottom of the valley I 1 could distinctly hear their funeral dirge at the approached this was abe only sound that broke the stillness acs of the hour the northwest tide pido of the mount of olives is white wit with jewish tooti tromba als and to be bui minnied aed here is considered by this unfortunate people worth a life of persecution it was through 0 this sacred place I 1 had just pasa passed od and it was hither this wonderful procession were wen wending dingy their way I 1 stood on the bridge that spans the kidron to await their approach and a moment later I 1 saw sav by their ion long M dismal gabardine and great outlandish bat the ion long locks of hair hanging banging before their lo 10 ears and their long grizzly beards beardi that they were jews I 1 turned to fr fellow them but as they seemed rather dis displeased plea ed by m my v intrusion I 1 turned again agai it and ae ascended ended the hill to Jer ulem which I 1 entered by st stephens gate DO DON KIN |
