and in helping poor but worthy young men to start in business; and to these objects I devote all the revenues from my investments. 23. Some of these young men are already among our most prosperous merchants; and, as the people admire their splendid establishments up Broadway, I say to myself, "How little do they think that the banker of those merchants is the little old man who keeps the modest thread-andneedle store down in Maiden Lane!" 24. This is the end of what Mr. Needleham had written; but another hand had added to it the following, from Pope's admirable Essay on Man "Know then this truth, (enough for man to know,) CHAPTER XXI.-AROUND THE WORLD.—No. 11. THE HOLY LAND. I.-From Damascus to Mount Tabor. 1. On the second day of our journey from Damascus, a part of the time along the foot of the mountains of Lebanon, and finally crossing their eastern range, with lofty Mount Hermon in full view in the distance, on the first day of August we came to the site of the ancient village of Dan, just within the confines of Palestine, or the Holy Land. 2. The very thought that we were treading the soil of the once "promised land,"-the "Holy Land,"—the "blest land of Judea," so famous for the many wonderful events of which it has been the theatre, although it is now in great part barren, and desolate, and under the scourge of its Moslem rulers, certainly inspired our whole party with feelings of awe, and reverence, and veneration. 3. Nor were these feelings lessened when, as we gathered on a hill-top, and looked down into the plain that marked our entrance into Palestine, Prof. Howard, with arms outspread toward the "promised land" of our journeyings, repeated the following lines from one of our beloved American poets: "Blest land of Judea! thrice hallowed of song, Whittier. 4. He also talked to us about "the glory of Lebanon" in ancient times,-and of "the excellency of Carmel and Sharon," of the strong "bulls" and the "fatlings of Bashan," of the "cattle on a thousand hills," of the "grapes of Ephraim" and of Eshcol,-and of this whole land of Palestine, as a land once "flowing with milk and honey." Then he repeated to us this description—a very picture of a land of exceeding beauty and fertility : "See lofty Lebanon his head advance! See nodding forests on the mountains dance! See spicy clouds from lowly Sharon rise,— And Carmel's flowery top perfumes the skies!"-Pope. 5. Prof. Howard reminded us that, when the kings of the northern tribes of the country took Abram's nephew Lot captive, Abram "pursued them unto Dan," to this very village in which we are now resting,-and brought back his brother. 6. He also reminded us that, as Dan was the northern, and Be-cr'she-ba the southern, limit of Palestine, so the expression "From Dan to Be-er'she-ba" meant a great measure "From Maine to Texas," or, of distance; as when we say, 7. It was a very long way—about a seven days' journey -in the times of David, and Solomon, and Isaiah, with their slow means of transportation, to travel from Dan to Be-er'she-ba; and yet the distance was only a hundred and sixty miles; whereas, we can go from New York to San Francisco in the same time,-a distance of twenty-six hundred miles, in a straight line." 8. After striking the head-waters of the Jordan, we turned our course down the valley of that name, and, on the same day that we left the little village of Dan, now called by the Arabs Tel-el-Kady, we reached Lake Huleh, which we have all read of as the "Waters of Merom," and where Joshua once fought a great battle with the heathen kings who dwelt in that land." 9. Another day's journey took us past the deserted sites of Ca-per'na-um, Cho-ra'zin, and Beth-sai'da, and left us to pitch our tents for the night at Tiberias, which is quite a town on the western shore of the lake of the same name. But the lake is better known as the lake Gen-nes'a-ret, or Sea of Galilee;-here Jesus "sat down, and taught the people out of the ship," and here the miraculous draught of fishes was taken-an event which the same American poet that we have just quoted, has referred to in the following lines, recited to us by Prof. Howard: :- "Blue sea of the hills!-in my spirit I hear Whittier. a EXERCISE.-Write narrative of events connected with Dan,sometimes called Laish, or Lasha. See Gen. x. 19; xiv. 14;-Deut. xxxiv. 1;-Judges xviii. 7, 28-30; xx. 1;-1st Chron. xxi. 2;-2d Chron. ii. 13-14;-1st Kings xii. 29; xv. 20. Josh. xi. 5-9. Luke v. 1-12. 10. Tiberias has a broken-down wall on the west, but is open on the water side. We passed the night here, and as we looked out on the sea in the morning it was exceedingly rough; for the wind, which had risen during the night, swept furiously over the waters; and a small vessel-a sailboat-was beating back and forth, and trying to enter the harbor for shelter from the storm. 11. As we eagerly watched the little vessel, the Professor, taking from his pocket a small Testament, said, "Let me read to you a brief account of an event that occurred here, on this very Sea of Galilee, more than eighteen. hundred years ago." 12. "And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him, even as he was, into the ship. And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, 'Master! carest thou not that we perish?' And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, 'Peace, be still.' And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm !"a Then the Professor repeated the following lines from Mrs. Hemans: 13. 14. 15. "Fear was within the tossing bark, When stormy winds grew loud, And waves came rolling high and dark, "And men stood breathless in their dread, And baffled in their skill; But One there was who rose, and said 6 To the wild sea, Be still!' "And the wind ceased-it ceased-that word The troubled billows knew their Lord, And sank beneath his eye." a Mark iv. 35-39. 16. On leaving Tiberias we turned aside from the valley of the Jordan, and took a south-westerly course, over hilly ranges, a distance of fifteen miles, to Nazareth, the village in which Jesus spent his childhood and youth, and in which he began his ministry. We encamped just out of the town, among some olive-trees, and near a public fountain known as that of the Virgin. 17. Nazareth, a village of three or four thousand inhabitants, stands on the north-western side of a delightful valley, just on the mountain slope; and the houses, which are of stone, are flat-roofed, and most of them have only mud floors, after the fashion of the country. We were shown the church that, according to tradition, occupies the spot on which the house of Joseph and Mary stood,— a chapel which is said to occupy the place of Joseph's workshop,—and also the supposed site of the synagogue in which Jesus explained the prophecy of Isaiah." 18. Next morning we climbed to the top of the hill which rises up over Nazareth, when the grandest prospect that we had hitherto seen in Palestine opened to our view. Just below the little valley in which Nazareth lies nestled among the hills, the broad and beautiful plain of Esdrae'lon lay at our feet; far away to the north-west, arose Mount Carmel, seemingly bathing his sides in the waters of the Mediterranean, which were gleaming in the rays of the morning sun; south-eastward, rising over the intervening hills, could be seen the round top of Mount Tabor, with portions of Little Hermon and Gilboa still farther south; and to the east, ranges of hills and mountains were backed by still higher ones beyond the Sea of Galilee. 19. We remained some hours on this lofty hill-top; and as we were sitting there, absorbed in the contemplation of the scenes around, and dwelling upon the historic incidents connected with them, Prof. Howard, taking from his a Luke iv. 16-19. |