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\nur mmamm■ ARCH OF THE ECCE HOMO. 8hov»ing the tit* and part of the Judgment Hall of V Pilate. Part of the arch it origirlil and it owned by th* Sisteri of Zion. a-xt-aa-xiac** THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NEWS. BATonnAT, uAitcn 30. lwr. js&r jr^^assnsr Publisher of “The Aiio.ni> Georgian who hear* the prayer unuttered, who eeee neither rasa nor diamond*, and to whom the Greek, the Catholic, the Protectant and the Jew are one. old ttonea about half way up. The upper part la the more modern work of rebuilding after the tooth of time and other thing* had partly deitroyed It. I believe Conatantlne had a much better opportunity of knowing the exact place* three hundred year* A. D. than we have now nearly 2,000 yeara A. D., especially when we contlder that tra ditions and facta were handed down from generation to generation because books and records were not depended upon as now. Jerusalem Still a Walled City. Tou see, the city of Jerusalem la walled In today as it wa* in Christ's time, and In tome parts of the wall the atones placed there by Solomon a thou sand years before Christ, still remain. They represent the "Jews’ Walling Place,” where the Jew* are seen devoutly worshiping. Eastor, of course, does not mean to them what it means to those who believe In the di vinity of Christ and His ascension which gave Easter to the world. We entered Jerusalem by the Joppa gate and went at once to the hotel that was our home while we remained In the Holy City. Wo had a pretty good room, with comfortable bed, much better than one gets in many Eastern countries—In China or India, for In- Church Packed with Easter Worshipers. Of course the churches are not Uko ours. They are not fine buildings with teats in them prepared for services as we hold them. They, are simply big rooms containing the relics and sacred emblems of many sects. The main en. trance to the church of the Holy Sep ulchre Is tho door to be seen In the picture. On Easter day tho place In front was simply packed with worship ers, among them Greek priests and many Turkish soldiers. We passed in through these doors, and In front of us. Just a little above the level of the floor, is the so-called "stone of unction," where many believe Christ was anointed—a large, flat stone, Just of a site on which to lay him. A canopy Is built over It, and from the canopy hang twenty or thirty brass lamps, all of different design, each the representative of a creed. One kindly sentiment over It ail Is that tho creeds have not usurped any sacred places. They are owned or enjoyed by many sects or beliefs, and at each sa cred place the creeds are represented by their own peculiar lamp—Catholics, Greeks, both Protestant and Catholic, and many, many more. As they came to the atone of unction they reverently knelt around the stone and klssod it gently, many a peasant mother silently dropping tears with her kisses. F. L. SEELY. Mr. Seely contributes as an East er feature this article representing the impressions of a visit he and Mrs. Seely made to the Holy Land. HEN Mrs. Seely and I left the ship that had brought us from Bombay, India, and started on our trip through Egypt and the Holy Land, it Rock Base Which Supported the Three Crosses. was with a feeling of considerable loneliness. Wo boarded a row boat at Port Said, which Is the western end of tho Sues canal, and pulled off in the darkness to And the little Russian ship that was to carry us to Joppa. One would have to experience It to realize how lonely we were as we climbed over the sides of the little steamer, the Russian name of which we could hot spell, much less pro nounce. Everybody on the ship, from captain down, spoko only Russian, and English meant nothing to them. After an unpleasant night, we reached Joppa, and fortunately the sea was smooth enough 1 to permit a landing, for there is no harbor at Joppa, and If there Is much wind It is impossible to make a landing. Whin we reached the city, we went to the little hotel, rested up and made ar rangement for our trip to Jerusalem, securing tho best guide and Interpre ter to be had. a very Intelligent Jeru salemite—"Salaam George," he called himself—well verted In the Bible, a copy of which he always carried with him, In order that he might refer to It when desirable. Easter Pilgrims to the Holy City.- Finally, we reached the Holy City three days tefore Easter, and with ua came hordes of Egyptians, Arabs, Be douins, Abyssinian* and every conceiv able form of Mohammedan—Greek Catholic, Russian peasant and believer of every sort that could get together meant enough to come to Mecca on Easter. They came from Constantino- ble, herded like animals on the decks and In the steerage of vessels, the few dollars necessary for the pilgrimage representing years of saving to give fj Street of the Tower of David, a most typical street scene In Jerusalem. Next we went up a little stairway, where a cover was lifted and wo saw the rock with the holes where The three crosses are supposed to have been, and a rent or crack In the rock. All tho while tho crowds were reverently surg ing through, their faces seeming to tell us that they had lived to see that holy them the priceless blessing of worship ing for bnce and for all at the Holy City. Russian peasants predominated, the men with hair and whiskers grown wildly In their desert life; tho women with big rouyh boots—and with such clothing as they wore made up of patches of a rough horse blanket mate rial, sleeping on the floors of the mis sions or anywhere they could get to sleep—all telllne silently of tho human heart that turned with one In worship, to that great heart of God which knows no tongue, no dress, no religion, but stance—and we fared pretty well at the table. We all sat at a big, long table and enjoyed our meals, chatting with such of the European travelers os could speak our tongue. Jerusalem Is not very large, the walled city being possibly one-half mile or more In length by a little less In width, and although surrounded with such sacred traditions, It Is probably one of the most unsafe places In all tho world. It It now under Turkish rule, which Is almost enough to say It Is full of Turks, Arabs and Bedouins. The spot where once stood the CHURCH OF THE MW WUjjBHWW JERUSALEM.^ This church, built by 8t. Helena 300 A. D., it PP ehurch jt original stonework—though .... anointed, crucified and buried. jT^ir'ffE.-.Aorlion having been rebuilt by the Crusaders, and ether causes have destroyed parts of it—snr upper H Holy of Holies Is now covered with a Mohammedan mosque, the Mos que of Omar, with the sign of anti christ at Its top— and In all my tray els. even In the Jungles of India and Java, where I have been twenty-five and thirty miles from civilization. I have never felt the uneasiness that we felt In tho Holy Lands. What They Do On Easter Day in Jerusalem. But now as to what we did and saw on Easter In Jerusalem. The streets are so narrow—simply alleys live or six feet wide, many of them roofed over— we had to do as others who could af ford It, hire little asses to ride on, so small our feet would touch the ground. These were led by their owners through the crowded streets and wherever we cared to go, simply pushing through the crowds of strange-looklng, dirty. Ill-smelling people trying to make our way to the church of the Holy Sepul chre, the center of Interest on that day. We had already visited Bethlehem, about live miles from the Holy City, and had seen the place of the manger, and all that. So now we waited with the crowds of worshipers In front of the church of the Holy Sepulchre, which stands over the place where Christ was crucified. I do not say where Christ was "supposed to have been” crucified. There be some who ask how we know It was here or there, and some who say It was a few feet this way or a few feet that way, and tome who say It never happened at all. We won't use up valuable space on these points. The church of the Holy Sepulchre was built by 8t. Helena, mother ct Constantine, ns was the church at Bethlehem, und rebuilt by the cru saders over the ploco of the manger, about 300 year* after Christ The pic ture of the church of the Holy Sep ulchre shows some j of the original i1 Church of the Nativity at Jerusalem. Built A. D. 300 over the place of the Manger. The lady teen near the little door It Mrs. 8eely. day and that they, felt they were nearer the One they worshiped than they would ever be again In this life. From there we passed to the center of attraction—the tomb, a little stone sepulchre in the middle of the room. It was very small, affording only room for two or three of us to get Into It. At Its side was the stone slab, under which Christ Is said to have been bur led. There .are windows In this little room and from them on Easter day, by some means, fire is made to come out when the priests light their great candles, and these In turn give light to the candles ef the worshipers. We leave here now and go along the "Via Dolorosa" (the way of sorrow) and have the stations, as they or* called now, pointed out to us. We see where Christ tried to carry His cross, the arch of Eeee Homo, where Is the site of the Judgment Hall of Pilate. Part of the arch is original, and on the floor of the convent one of the ”8lsters of Zion" (Roman Catholic), by whom It Is now owned, showed me the squares cut in the stones, where Roman sol diers played their gomes similar to our chess or checkers. Journey to the Mount of Olives We left the crowd and took up our little Journey out of the city and across the valley to the Mount of Olivet. On our way wo passed the outcast lepers, about fifteen of them sitting along th* road begging of us, holding out the stump* of what once were hands—the finger* all having dropped ofT, leaving little round rough places on the skin- feet half gone. Some of them were of appearance so horrible one could hardly look on them. Then a half mile farther to the hill top, and we stood alone by a little white stone, sheltered by a roof, and here neither of us seemed to care to speak, and whether It be Just the ploco where Christ took His flight to heaven or not, one unconsciously removes hit hat, and thoughts of past Ilf* flit across the mind. We only came to ourselves when our Interior of church at Bethlehem built by St. Helena at the same time that the Churoh of the Holy Sopulchre was built, about A. D. 300. The church is over the place where Christ is said to have been born. The columns are from Solomon's Temple. Dead sea, tho Mount of Olives, Mlz- pah, the Golden Gato facing Olivet, tho wnllcd city and much of evon Solomon's work that Is a thousand yoar* older than Christ—but that Is another story. Wo left It all, stopping at Gethsem- ane, where a good old bencdlctlno monk, I believe he was, showed us around, saying little things that our Jerusalemite boy could translate to us, finally giving me a much coveted me mento In tho shape of a little acacia bush that I carefully pocked away. This token I* now In Palestine Lodge of Freemasons, In Atlanta. Farewell Thoughts of tho Holy Land. A few nights later wo found our selves pulling slowly out to sea from Joppa, many and serious thoughts crowding In upon us as we walked slowly up and down the deck and caught possibly the last view of tho mountains fading away In tho dark. And as we turned, as one involuntarily does, from the things accomplished to semething that tells of the future, wa taw Just below us on the lower deck many sleeping pilgrims—Arabs, Abyq- (fnlans, Bedouins, i Turks and Egyp tians. One-half clothed native stand ing out alone In the darkness of tho starless night, ignorant that any eye but of Him to whom b* was paying devotion looked upon him, silently went through his penance or mission to Mo hammed. As he changed from a stand ing to a kneeling posture, touching his forehead to the ground, many hun dreds of times. I wondered If In the last day his worship, though misguided, would not win for him all mercy be cause of Its sincerity and devotion. boy with the Bible rev erently said: That stone marks the spot where Christ lost stood, and over there It the River Jordan. Yes, if* all there— the River Jordan, the , . . - II 4