FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   408   409   410   411   412   413   414   415   416   417   418   419   420   421   422   423   424   425   426   427   428   429   430   431   432  
433   434   435   436   437   438   439   440   441   442   443   444   445   446   447   448   449   450   451   452   453   454   455   456   457   >>   >|  
ed upon the same line of tactics, for it did seem as if we never would get to Jericho. I had a notoriously slow horse, but somehow I could not keep him in the rear, to save my neck. He was forever turning up in the lead. In such cases I trembled a little, and got down to fix my saddle. But it was not of any use. The others all got down to fix their saddles, too. I never saw such a time with saddles. It was the first time any of them had got out of order in three weeks, and now they had all broken down at once. I tried walking, for exercise--I had not had enough in Jerusalem searching for holy places. But it was a failure. The whole mob were suffering for exercise, and it was not fifteen minutes till they were all on foot and I had the lead again. It was very discouraging. This was all after we got beyond Bethany. We stopped at the village of Bethany, an hour out from Jerusalem. They showed us the tomb of Lazarus. I had rather live in it than in any house in the town. And they showed us also a large "Fountain of Lazarus," and in the centre of the village the ancient dwelling of Lazarus. Lazarus appears to have been a man of property. The legends of the Sunday Schools do him great injustice; they give one the impression that he was poor. It is because they get him confused with that Lazarus who had no merit but his virtue, and virtue never has been as respectable as money. The house of Lazarus is a three-story edifice, of stone masonry, but the accumulated rubbish of ages has buried all of it but the upper story. We took candles and descended to the dismal cell-like chambers where Jesus sat at meat with Martha and Mary, and conversed with them about their brother. We could not but look upon these old dingy apartments with a more than common interest. We had had a glimpse, from a mountain top, of the Dead Sea, lying like a blue shield in the plain of the Jordan, and now we were marching down a close, flaming, rugged, desolate defile, where no living creature could enjoy life, except, perhaps, a salamander. It was such a dreary, repulsive, horrible solitude! It was the "wilderness" where John preached, with camel's hair about his loins--raiment enough--but he never could have got his locusts and wild honey here. We were moping along down through this dreadful place, every man in the rear. Our guards--two gorgeous young Arab sheiks, with cargoes of swords, guns, pistols and daggers on board--were lo
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   408   409   410   411   412   413   414   415   416   417   418   419   420   421   422   423   424   425   426   427   428   429   430   431   432  
433   434   435   436   437   438   439   440   441   442   443   444   445   446   447   448   449   450   451   452   453   454   455   456   457   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Lazarus

 

saddles

 
exercise
 

showed

 

village

 

Bethany

 

Jerusalem

 

virtue

 

mountain

 

rubbish


glimpse

 
descended
 
candles
 

dismal

 
interest
 

chambers

 

brother

 

Martha

 

common

 

buried


conversed

 

apartments

 

horrible

 

dreadful

 
locusts
 

moping

 
guards
 

pistols

 

daggers

 

swords


cargoes

 
gorgeous
 

sheiks

 

raiment

 

living

 
defile
 

creature

 
desolate
 

rugged

 

Jordan


marching

 

flaming

 
preached
 

wilderness

 

solitude

 
salamander
 

dreary

 
repulsive
 

accumulated

 

shield