Show an cir ik 04 IR 00 e 5 10 na 0 t az 7 W k 7 2 WN ity A fib I 1 EM J c 26 6 0 BACK wrote the late mark twain as far as you will into the vague past there Is always a damascus ro I 1 her ears are only moments decades r only flitting trifles of time she meas A vve 6 ures time not by days months and years but by the empires she has seen rise and prosper and then crumble into m ruin she Is a type of immortality indeed damascus Is the oldest ot of cities and tor for that reason Is often referred to IR as the mother city of the world when abraham crossed the desert from haran tour four thousand years ago damascus was already standing on the banks of the ahana in ayria and T no one knows how long ft it stood there before that tx kr d A 10 5 4 ka IN AW W alv N jj kt V a 6 1 I 1 w K iw l t T f V V aft N time for its origin Is lost in mists of antiquity babylon Is a heap in the desert and tyre a ruin on the shore but damascus still remains home rome has been called the eternal city but damascus Is twice as old as rome its history runs bacic back to the beginning of the world and bids tair fair to go on to ltv end it has lived through all these long centuries and no historian has yet had the th opportunity to write its decline and tall this Is remarkable when it Is remembered that not less than twelve times it has been pillaged and burned yet it has always arisen with new beauty from its ashes it has been ruled by syrians persians greeks romans and turks and it has lived and flourished under them all damascus is now and has always been a rica rich and prosperous city it was so in bible times isaiah writes of the riches ot of damascus and the traveler today may way see long trains of camels laden with all kinds ot of merchandise leaving Darna cul going down to egypt or out to betrous here there they are shipped to other shores its bazars are the most famous in the world these bazars are a series of shops for the sale of ar tides and in some cases tor for the manufacture or 0 them each bazar is devoted to a particular class of goods they are famous tor for treasured treasures of silk carpets saddles silver and gold ornaments slippers sword blades lare iare woods and almost everything required in the general lite of the east people of many races men and women in all picturesque costumes strings of camels donkeys with cradle saddles arabian horses dig di 9 through the streets then damascus Da Is destined to play an important part in the history of the east it is the center of a network of railroads it a ready aready boasts of three railroad stations and when the bagdad I 1 ne has advanced to the eu as it is expected to do early this ear damascus will be in railroad communication with constantinople and europe as well as with pales tine arabia and eventually persia then damas cus eus was the first city in the bible lands to have electric trams and electric light it Is certainly one of the most beautiful cities in gifts its situation imagine a magnificent plain well watered and fertile in the midst of a desert cov ering an area of more than 30 miles in circum ference surrounded on nearly all sides by high hills imagine this vast plain in a high state of cultivation one vast garden of fruit trees of al most every species fields of grain nearly every variety of flowers and the ever present murmur of running waters situated about the middle of this plain and burled buried in this forest of grass grain and trees and sparkling streams a city of people with its hundreds of white minarets gild ed domes and crowned bazarra that Is damascus beautiful indeed tor for situation it in owes its beauty vitality and wealth to the river abana which rises in the Leba some twenty miles away before it reaches damascus it is divided into six artificial chan channels through the heart of the city pipes are led from it to every part so that every mosque and house and court has its foun lo tata and every where you go amid grovel groven or gardens or public resorts or retired you may see and hear the murmur of 0 the swiftly flowing and sparkling streams and this abundance ot of clear cold water Is one ot of the charms of the city this Is the river of which naaman spoke with such pride when he said are not the abana and rivers of 0 damascus bette than all the waters of israela and be he was right so lar far as beauty and usefulness are concerned damascus Is Js mentioned many times in the bible both in the old and the new testament in the latter it comes before us in connection with the conversion of st paul tradition has localized every event connected with the apostle outside on the damascus road five miles irom from the city Is pointed out the place where bt taul laul had the vision which so changed the course ol 01 hia his life there Is the gate still standing where he entered the roman road into the city ihli street is today the most principal being about a mile long beginning at one end ot of the city and running right across it from east to west damas cus is a city of mosques baths and fountains climb on to the root of any dwelling and you are in a sea ot of tall minai ets while all around you are rows of what looks like saucers turned upside down these are the arab baths there are mosques in the city the most important being the great mosque great in size and great reputation the ground upon which if it stands hag has a great history on this spot stood the church which was erected by constantine Constant lne dedicated to john the baptist then when the city tell fell into the hands of the turks they converted it into a mosque obliterating everything that had a trace of christianity they closed the door by which the christians entered and closed up othar r build ings lugs in front of it some few years ago however the great mosque to the whole regret of the civilized world was burned down in a single day barange to say the old door escaped the fire and no one was more surprised than the moslems to read over its coital these words from the psalms I 1 bihy ihy hy kingdom 0 christ Is a kingdom of all ages and thy dominion en eu dureth throughout all genera eions the mosque was rebuilt but the moslems being superstitious feared to tamper with the old door and its sacred inscription and so lett left it and it can be seen to this day a reminder that mohammedan ham rule has not always been supreme in the mother city of the world |