Page images
PDF
EPUB

ulation detracted much from the charm of the scene and made it difficult to realize that this to millions of people is the most sacred spot in all the world.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a very interesting place, being remarkable for the number of supposedly historic spots in so small an area. Not far from the reputed sepulchre is the Stone of Atonement, where the body of Christ is said to have been prepared for burial. A few feet away is a hole in which the cross is said to have been placed, with two holes beside it for the crosses of the two thieves crucified at the same time, and in another room a star is inlaid in the floor to mark the burial place of Adam.

Millions of people journey to Jerusalem to see these sacred places. An American tourist once remarked that this church is like an American department store everything under one roof.

The most beautiful place in all Jerusalem is Haram-esh-Sherif, "the Place of the Temple." This area, which is surrounded by a wall, is the site of Solomon's magnificent temple. It was a sacred spot even before King David placed his altar there.

In the center is the glittering Mosque of Omar, one of the richest in the world. It is built over a great rock, the Holy Rock, beneath which, according to the Moslems, is "The Well of Souls," where the spirits of all the Moslem dead assemble twice a week to pray. Mohammed himself once declared that one prayer here is worth a thousand elsewhere.

The rock is 59 feet long and 44 feet wide. Upon it the old Israelites made. their burnt offerings, and in the middle. ages the Crusaders erected an altar. On this rock Abraham is supposed to have built the altar on which to sacrifice his son Isaac. Beneath it is a small cavern about 15 feet square, in which some people believe that Masonry was first instituted by King Solomon.

Shortly after the capture of Jerusalem a group of New Zealand Masons, by liberal gratuities to the sheik in charge of the mosque, secured permission to enter this mystical chamber, and there 32 of them, representing 27 different lodges, held a Masonic meeting. The old sheik acted as door-keeper and protected the meeting from intruders. Throughout the

world of Masonry in modern times, no other worshipful master has opened his lodge in quite such historic surroundings.

Jericho has nearly disappeared from the map; today it is a little village of only a few dirty, dismal hovels, not worthy of being called houses, in which live some three hundred wretched creatures.

However, from the little village, at the break of day, there is unfolded to the eye of the traveler one of the most remarkable historic panoramas in all the world. Across the Jordan to the east the sun shoots its rays over the heights of Moab. It was from one of those lofty mountains that Moses, after forty years of wandering and waiting, gazed longingly upon the Land of Promise, which he was destined never to enter.

To the south, between the mountains of Moab and the Judean Hills, nestles the Dead Sea, upon whose sluggish waters there now floats the smallest fighting squadron of the great British navy.

To the northwest lies the Mountain of Temptation, where Christ is reputed to have spent His forty days and nights of fasting.

To the west, silhouetted against the sky-line, looms the tower of the German hospice upon the Mount of Olives.

IS THE JEW'S DREAM TO BE REALIZED?

One of the spots best known to tourists in Jerusalem is "The Wailing Place of the Jews," a portion of the old wall erected by David, where for hundreds of years countless thousands have gathered to pray for the restoration of their kingdom. At last it looks as if their dream would become a reality. Mr. Arthur James Balfour, Great Britain's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, has written as follows on this subject:

"His Majesty's Government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which shall prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."

A part of this plan was the establishment of a great Hebrew university, and

[graphic][merged small]

THE WAILING PLACE OF THE JEWS: JERUSALEM

"May the kingdom soon return to Zion! Comfort those who mourn over Jerusalem. May peace and joy abide with Zion, and the Branch of Jesse spring up at Jerusalem." Thus runs the litany of the Jews, which for centuries has been recited in this place. Today the never-ending prayers of an exiled people are about to be answered.

I was fortunate to be in Jerusalem at the time of the laying of the corner-stone of this institution. The day marked the dawn of a new epoch in the history of the Jewish people.

The site of the university is on Mount Scopus, across the Kidron River from the city and north of the Mount of Olives. On the day of the ceremony the crowds began leaving the gates of the city in the early afternoon. Most of them were walking because they were too poor to ride. Besides, when the Turks left Jerusalem they swept the city clean of carriages, wagons, and horses.

But one forgot the poverty of the multitude when he caught their spirit, for over them hung an atmosphere of hope and expectancy. They were happy, and well they might be, for a new day was beginning for all of them, and surely no race has suffered longer or more intensely than the Jews.

With heads high the multitudes sang their hosannas and hallelujahs. The laying of the corner-stone was marked by simplicity and dignity. The actual building of the university will be delayed until after the close of the war.

It now looks as if, after nearly two thousand years of exile, the Jews will return to claim a home in the land of their forefathers. Even under the unjust Turkish rule, the Zionists had established 45 or 50 settlements, and any one who doubts their ability to colonize has only to visit some of these villages.

The houses are better built than those of the ordinary Palestine village. The streets are clean and the farms are most creditable. The colonists have greatly increased the annual harvest of the acres they cultivate, and have demonstrated that Palestine has large agricultural possibilities.

The territory of Palestine is about one

sixth the size of England, and before the war had a population that has been estimated at about seven hundred thousand.

Due to the unjust Turkish rule of the past four hundred years, the population is in a wretched condition. Four years of war have devastated the land beyond belief.

Under a capable government, it is believed that Palestine can support population running into the millions, but large sections of the country are now almost completely depopulated.

THE TORTURES OF WARFARE IN THE
JORDAN VALLEY

The Jordan Valley today lies practically uncultivated. In earlier periods the valley was well tilled and produced large crops. With a proper system of irrigation, no part of Palestine would yield more bountiful harvests, for the soil is fertile and the climate is subtropical.

At the same time, there is no part of Palestine where the British troops have suffered more severely than in the Jordan Valley. During the summer the dust and heat are terrific. The thermometer goes booming up toward 120° to 130° F., while the dust is suffocating, in many places being over a foot deep, not alone on the road, but over the valley. It is as fine and foamy as the finest wheat flour, and rises in great clouds as the motor plows through. So completely does it hover over the car as it is stirred up, that time after time the occupant of the back seat cannot see the windshield. The motor drivers are often forced to stop to find their way, as the blinding, baffling clouds roll about them.

BRITISH FOUGHT FOR ALL CHRISTIANITY

Just how the problem of government will be worked out is a question for the Allies to settle; for, of course, the country will need to be so handled that Jerusalem will be kept not for the Jews only, but for all peoples.

It is wrong to speak of Palestine as the national home of the Jews alone, for the native Christian can make the same claim.

It seems that General Allenby has taken a very sane view of the problems involved. He insists that he is not commanding a British army, but is in command of a detachment of the Allies, and

so strongly does he feel this that I was prompted to say: "You must realize that in all your force in Palestine there are possibly only a few hundred French and Italian troops, and in all of your fighting here in Palestine, so far as I can learn, there has not been one single soldier who has given up his life who was not a Britisher."

He replied: "Possibly that is true, but you must remember that while all of the men under me have been British soldiers, yet that is merely an incident; for the men who were fighting here might have been used on the Western Front. The other Allies have used their men there. and this is as much a part of the Allied show as is France, and I am carrying forward the campaign on the basis that the future of Palestine should be left to the Allies to settle, the same as in other conquered territory. However, I am, of course, trying so to administer the country that it can be handed over in the best possible condition to whomsoever it is entrusted after the war."

As I went from one part of Palestine to the other, and rubbed shoulders with the Indians, the Australians, the New Zealanders, the Scottish, and English troops, and talked with these men and their commanding officers, I came to see the secret underlying the success of the Palestine campaign. This success is evolved from the dynamic personality of one of the greatest military leaders of the war, General Edmund Henry Hyman Allenby.

He has inspired confidence and trust in every man of his command. From his highest general down to his most humble private, there is a reliance in his leadership which knows and looks only for suc

[blocks in formation]

VOL. XXXIV, No. 5 WASHINGTON

NOVEMBER, 1918

THE
NATIONAL
GEOGRAPHIC
MAGAZINE

OUR FRIENDS, THE FRENCH An Appraisal of the Traits and Temperament of the Citizens of Our Sister Republic

W

BY CARL HOLLIDAY

DEAN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TOLEDO, OHIO

'HAT manner of men are these French with whom our soldiers have been fighting side by side? To many an American a Frenchman has long meant simply an elegantly dressed gentleman with a waxed mustache, a multitude of gestures, a shoulder that automatically shrugs, and a heart that is very susceptible to feminine. charms; but during the last four years the average American has been revising his opinions of this citizen of the most civilized country on the globe and is now asking in amazement, "Can this dainty. gentleman that I considered super-refined, romantic, sentimental, and effete be the hero who has held at bay the most ruthless nation in the history of man?"

Even so. This same gentleman, so different in his entire composition from those rugged, home-spun characters that we have produced-and admired-in America, is now the marvel of the world. The French have proved to us, what we have long been unwilling to admit, that a man may be artistic and at the same time brave; that he may love finery and at the proper time fire a shot from a mudhole in the trenches that is heard around the world; that he may spend hours talking about art and belles-lettres and, when the call comes, march into a man-made hell and calmly lay down his

life for his country. In short, we Americans have learned from the French that a man may possess all the refining effects of culture and at the same moment be a hero.

It is a wholesome lesson for us to learn that boastful swaggering and impolite aggressiveness and lack of consideration for the subtle, dainty refinements of civilized society are not necessarily related to strength, endurance, and heroism.

THE UNIQUE FRENCH TEMPERAMENT

The French temperament is unique; it is social champagne. A people full of tender feeling, they are not in the least averse to a public demonstration of emotion.

While the English and the American hide such sentiment with a certain appearance of stoicism, this unabashed people expresses itself frankly and publicly with kisses, embraces, tears, and an amazing flood of vivid words.

A school-boy when leaving his mother at the door as he departs for school receives more attention, hugs, warnings, and tokens of affection than would a Seattle boy starting for New York.

A family gathering or separating at a French railway station is an occasion as full of tears and cheek-kissing and pro

[graphic][merged small]

A MASTERPIECE OF CULINARY ART: PHOTOGRAPHED IN THE KITCHEN OF A FAMOUS PARIS RESTAURANT

The Paris chef takes as great pride in such a piece de resistance as does the sculptor in his less perishable creation. The scientific cook has stood the French people in good stead during the past four and a half years, for he has brought all his skill into play in making palatable the most meager of rations.

longed embraces as that of an American bride leaving her fond mama, while the collision of two automobiles is an opportunity for oratory surpassing anything heard in America. And yet these are the people who said at Verdun, "They shall not pass!"

But an American must not take this French volatility too seriously. It is doubtful whether in the history of man the world has possessed a more goodnatured, more patient people.

Contrary to foreign opinion, these French have almost infinite patience. In fact, their very patience with lax public administration and wrong legislation has sometimes been their undoing, and only on rare occasions and at long intervals, as in the French Revolution, will they be provoked into violent bursting of unjust restraints. But when they do, one is lia

ble to recall the ancient warning, "Beware of the fury of a patient man."

Owing to their extreme intellectual alertness, they seem to us more silent folk forever arguing or scolding; but it is only that same energy transmuted into language rather than into the wasted physical action so often seen in America. That they are a people of exceptionally good disposition is proved by the fact that so few genuine physical clashes result from the veritable fusilade of argument that they constantly fire at one another.

"NO PEOPLE ENJOY THEMSELVES MORE THOROUGHLY"

Long ago Goldsmith pointed out that the French were the only people who could be happy while starving, and a modern writer, Barker, in his France of the French, has declared: "No people en

« PreviousContinue »