THE WATERS OF MARAH.

Otago Witness, Issue 2674, 14 June 1905, Page 79

THE WATERS OF MARAH.

By a Bakjceb.

From far back in the centimes, from generation to generation, under the rule of ths Konisin, of th,a Saracen, of the Turk, a pathetic spectacle of apparent woe and grinding heartache and grief has b&sn witnessed, week by week, in Royal Jerusalem; a. scene so dolorous, and yet withal so grotesque and bizarre, as to excite in those who witness it the most contending emotions of pity and of derision. Leaving the modern and more civilised quarter of the ancient city, the traveller isoon finds himself threading his way through ths mot.'oy crowd which throngs its narrow alleys and bazaars: turbanned Turks with long flowing robes more or less (especially the latter) tbe worse for^vear; children perpetually entreating for "backsheesh" ; and veiled women, wearing over their nose an extraordinary cylinder decorated with a number of sharp circlets, from which, depends tho "yaslimsk" which is to conceal their features from tlis vulgar gaze, the older the}' are, the iiioi-e carefully hiding their beauty, the veriest hags sometimes placing their hands before their blear old eyes when they pass a "giaour," as they politely call us. From time to time a heavily laden ass or camel iinperturbably makes its way along the narrow alley, considerabls circumspection being then necessary in order to avoid a collision with perhaps the sides of beef or the sa-cks of corn or vegetables with which it is laden.

And now after a descent through a narrowthoroughfare reeking with fetid and unsavoury niaJodours, which cause the olfactory nervesto writhe and wince, the traveller comes face to face with an ancient lofty wall of solid, massive masonry, towering high above the squalid dwellings around. All along the base of this buttressed rampart — ihe boundary wall of the Temple area — are crowded together several score of Jews and Jewesses, mostly old patriarchs and their aged wives ; some clutching the old walLs and whispering iheir lamentations for the woes of Jciusalem into tho crevices between tlie stones, or, like their forefathers by the rivers of Babylon, woepnig for Zion, some v>aihug aloud evd chanting; a vend litany lesembling a fmieial dirge, while, others ni c scxteu on the stone pavement reading, a lon 4 or otheiwiss, theia well-thumbed «iubrev? BiUfis; cr 4 like Siman Siilite3 1 stand-

on an eminence, and with woe-begone expression gaze at the old wall as though they had a personal grudge against it. Aye, but within almost a stone's throw of this very spot He who is the Omnipotent Deliverer of the human race from the consequences of their sin made the great atonement for transgression. Here He suffered that terrible scourging, each lash of which was endured in the stead of all who come to Him, as the punishment due by them to Eternal Justice. And from old Olivet, hard by, He ascended to His throne in the heaven of heavens, where He now with loving, outstretched hands invites those who are weary and heavy-laden, those who desire to flee from the wrath to come, and all those who would spend eternity in the enjoyment of untold felicity and in company with those whom they love whose names are written in Heaven. And those who come to Him shall in no wise be cast out.