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Show Jfevusalem'Today ' , ' i i ' ,.! . " i K I - r 1 Ci i. SkW 1 ' s ' ft - xN"V I I ',,1 I'"-- "" : -!0!Ws!..i- - Q Jerusalem Lemonade Seller. (Prepared by Nnttorml Geographic Society. Washington. t. C.) WNU Service. PALATIAL hotels and new buildings build-ings are rising above the streets of Jerusalem but architects are mindful of the city's past. One of the new hotels evokes memories of the ancient Semitic style although adapted to modern taste. It is named for a king, a famous Bible character, who reigned in Jerusalem nearly 3,000 years ago. No city in the world has had so much written about it as the Holy City ; none is more worthy of description. descrip-tion. Fourteen times destroyed, each time has it raised its dignified head in triumph. The capital of the Land of Three Faiths remains unique, maintaining its position not by towering skyscrapers, Byzantine art, or Roman architecture, but by sheer personality. Centuries of religious fervor, of pilgrimage, of historical event, of great actions, have given it distinction. Almost as sacred in the eyes of the Moslems as are Mecca and Medina, Jerusalem is a place of pilgrimage for the Moslem world. For the Jewish people it is the City of Cities, toward which their thoughts ever turn. It is the first city Christians hear of at their mother's knee. Jerusalem stands upon two hills, with a slope to the east, facing the sunrise and the desert. Ravines have determined the limits of the city on the east, south, and west. Northward the country is more open and the ancient an-cient city tended to sprawl in this direction. In Palestine all roads lead to the capital. The south road, from Beer-sheba, Beer-sheba, Hebron and Bethlehem, joins the city at the Jaffa gate. Toward the northwest corner of the city wall runs the road from the sea at Jaffa. At the Damascus gate ends the great north highway, from Nahlus, Nazareth, and Damascus. Toward the northeast corner, past the Garden of Gethse-mane, Gethse-mane, the serpentine trail climbs the Judean hills from Jericho and the Dead sea, attaining a height of 2.G00 feet above sea level, from 1,300 feet below, in about a score of miles. What the Visitor Sees. On alighting from a train from Egypt, Jaffa or Haifa, the first thing to arrest the attention is the name of the station, printed in the three official offi-cial languages English, Arabic, and Hebrew. Next, choice must be made of trans-j trans-j port, as horse-drawn gharries, saddled donkeys, or, at times, aristocratic camels cam-els vie with American automobiles for patronage. Taking a car, the traveler rides down the Bethlehem road toward the citadel. On the right, high above the Ophthalmic hospital, flies the flag of the Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem. Eight hundred hun-dred years ago noble knights and occasionally oc-casionally fair ladies set forth from England, France, Germany, Austria, and other parts of Europe to wrest the Holy Land from the Saracens, anil under that flag the knights played a great part in the history of the city. The principal fiuit market is at the base of the citadel, along the moat. Here are brought luscious oranges from Jaffa, grapes from Hebron, apricots apri-cots from Bethlehem and Beit Jala, nectarines and peaches from nearby villages, bananas from Jericho, and enormous watermelons from the coast j near Caesarca. I But Jerusalem's pride is its cauli-I cauli-I flowers, which grow in the Valley of ! Sihvan. They would probably take a prize for size alone, but, unlike most big things, their flavor is delicious. There are few sigiits more picturesque than a woman walking with the grace of an empress, carrying to market on her heed a dozen or more of these ! vegetables, which shade her like an I enormous umbrella. After milk, eggs, and vegetables are j sold, the women return to their vil- lages to prepare the evening meal, but the men remain behind to pass the j time of day. They adjourn to nearby I stalls or restaurants and, after re- freshing themselves with flat cakes of . bread, eggs roasted in embers, or little lit-tle bits of meat fried upon skewers, they purchase a cupful of coffee and, sitting upon low stools, remain together togeth-er until the cool of the evening. If sales have been good, many nowadays return home by car. Instead of entering the old city whose gates in Turkish times were closed at sunset, turn north, to the shopping area. Beside the gate a nondescript non-descript collection' of Jewish, Armenian, Armeni-an, Moslem, and Christian Arab boys sit in an open-air shoe-shining parlor awaiting custom. Their little boxes are ornately decorated with brass plaqves and paper roses. The boy sits. The customer stands until. one shoe is finished and is notified by a bell to advance his other foot. Traffic and Shop Contrasts. The Palestinian traffic policemen has learned that in lus particular job it is necessary for the left hand to know what the right hand is doing. His problems are not simple, as, in addition addi-tion to a population that insists on walking in the middle of the road, he controls flocks of sheep and goats that travel at one mile an hour, laden camels cam-els at two and a half, local carts at four, and on up the scale to automobiles. automo-biles. Rushing motor cars and heavy, springless carts cannot altogether drown the sound of the bells. Western West-ern civilization, in the hands of the Palestinian chauffeur, marks its presence pres-ence by the screech of electric horns, but through the din come the more pleasing notes of goat and camel bells. Like the traffic,' the shops are in a transitional state. It is curious to see a Bedouin from Beersheba or from eas of the Jordan, in his sheepskin coat or camel's-hair cloak, standing at the window of a draper's shop, staring at a wax figure of a lady dressed in a French frock. Such contrasts between be-tween the old and the new are typical of Jerusalem, where eras jostle one another as races do. The townsmen are more and more adopting the European style of clothing, cloth-ing, but retain the red fez. Here the traveler might imagine himself walking walk-ing down a southern European street, until attention is arrested by a leg'ess grand piano advancing jerkily toward him, as if propelled by an unseen force. Closer investigation reveals that it is borne on the bent back of an Orfalian Jew or Moslem porter, partly on his shoulders and partly on a' kind of padded saddle, and kept in place by a leather band fastened around the forehead. The strength of these men is extraordinary. But for cleverness of maneuver one should study the man who balances on his back 50 empty five-gallon gasoline gas-oline tins bound together like a wall; no yachtsman has to show more skill, if the wind be high. Such tins supply varied needs, and after alteration become be-come roofs, lanterns, milk cans, plant stands, fences, coffee pots, and dustpans. dust-pans. Our soda fountains are peripatetic. The venders wend their way along the street, extolling the virtues of their soft drinks by clanking brass saucers. The lemonade is carried in a large glass or earthenware vessel adorned with brass, with a chunk of ice thrust into its mouth. Grain Market at Damasus Gate. For centuries the grain market for golden wheat and gray barley from the Plain of Sharon, the Jordan valley, val-ley, and the far-off hills of Transjor-dania Transjor-dania has been at the Damascus gate. Bargains are made by word of mouth, and few merchants break their bond. Were they to do so. public opinion would prevent them from continuing their business under the shadow of their beautiful gateway. For a time -motor cars invaded this square. But the administration intervened and camels and donkeys loaded with grain sacks ousted the automobile. In few streets of the Old Jerusalem Jerusa-lem are carts or motor cars allowed. So narrow are the covered ways that it would be impossible for such vehicles ve-hicles to pass, even were it not for the steps by which the city streets climb steep hills, once steeper than they are today. As in the Psalmist's time, Jerusalem Is "buildcd as a city that is compact together." In times of festival, when the streets are congested congest-ed with traffic, the sightseers, chiefly women and children, throng the fiat roofs. David street is a series of long, shallow, shal-low, greasy, cobblestone steps, and a good stick with a sharp point Is not to be despised. Walking is difficult as one constantly skirts every sort of bundle borne on men's shoulders or donkeys' hacks. The world !s busy-bargaining busy-bargaining amid the traffic, so It Is best to take time and drift aloiij; slowly slow-ly with the crowd. |