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CLIPPINGS FROM THE A A CIENT PRESS
The Tall of Jericho.
As it might habe been chronicled by a libe correspondent
in the olden time.
JERICHO THE ANCIENT CITY TAKEN.
(From The Jerusalem Journal.)
The ancient city of Jericho has fallen.
The end came yesterday afternoon after a siege
of the most intense anxiety and suspense on the
part of the people and it was an ending tragic in
the extreme.
To add to the solemnity of the scene it was the
Sabbath day. For the first time in the history of
the Israelites the peaceful rest of the day was brok
en, and it came to an end in the midst of flashing
swords, flying javelins and flowing blood. On ev
ery side the groans of dying men and beasts and the
shouts of men intoxicated with victory filled the
air. Over the whole scene a pall of smoke was
spread and as the sun went down in a crimson swirl,
flames from the burning buildings shot their fork
ed tongues into the sky and a glare, wierd and un
natural, lit up the clouds and illuminated the hills
that looked down upon the doomed city.
As soon as the army of Israel appeared in sight,
the authorities ordered all the gates closed and
since that time no one has been permitted to come
in or to go out. All business has been suspend
ed and every male inhabitant able to bear arms
has been mustered into the army of defense.
Last Monday morning a little after sunrise there
was a commotion in the camp of Israel and Jericho
nerved herself to repel the invaders. Thousands of
armed Hebrews formed themselves in line and be
gan to march toward the ill-fated city whose walls
and towers were bathed in the golden glory of the
new born day. Behind the armed men came seven
priests in their trailing robes, their long beards
flowing about their waists. Each had a ram’s
horn in his hand, from which, at regular intervals,
he brought a doleful blast. Following these priests
came others bearing the mysterious ark of their
God. Bringing up the rear of this strange proces
sion was a great company of men and women and.
in silence, broken only by the blowing of the horns,
they swept toward the city. There was something
terrible and ominous in the awful silence that brood
ed over the moving host.
The panic stricken people of Jericho nerved them
selves as best they could and pressed forward to
ward the city walls upon which the Israelites seemed
to be moving. Strange to say no attack was made
and the consternation of those on the inside could
be seen by those who were without. Some sort of
a secret movement was feared. The armed men on
the inside of the city could be seen running across the
hill tops from one vantage point to another. Tn
the windows of the tall buildings the white faces
of the scared women and children could be seen
as they looked out upon the strange procession that
was winding itself around the city.
Only the steady tramp of thousands of feet’ and
the mournful blasts from the rams’ horns brol--
the awful silence that hung above the moving host
and even the clouds of dust stirred up drifted
swiftly across the valley, as if in haste to get away
from that weird and unnatural place. After march
ing once about the city the great host, without
speaking a word, without drawing sword or lifting
spear, returned to the camp in the plain. Jericho
was seemingly puzzled and throughout the long
watches of the night that followed, watch fires
blazed upon the walls and in the city streets, and
lights flickered from all the houses showing that
the people were expecting and were prepared for an
attack. But none was made and the dawning day
revealed the Israelites still in their camp.
Tuesday morning just at sunrise the great host
of Israel was again on the move. Again the city
walls were compassed. Only the shuffling sound
of the marching feet and the mournful blasts from
the horns could be heard. The silence was awful,
unbearable, and it seemed to paralyze the ener
gies of the besieged city. Your correspondent ex-
The Golden Age for February 7, 1907.
By ALEX W. BEALER
pected to see an armed force issue at any moment
from the city and attack the exposed portions of the
army of Israel, but none was made and the weird
procession moved upon its silent way.
Wednesday and Thursday and Friday the same
silent march about the city w’as made, beginning
at the sam hour and ending at the same time and
place. The incessant blowing of the horns seemed
to have sent a terror into the very heart of nature,
for the songs of birds were hushed, the winds lin
gered in the valley and a stillness that could be
felt, the stillness of expectancy, brooded over the
scene, as if all things were in waiting to see w T hat
new and wonderful thing was about to be done by
the God of the Hebrews.
Saturday there was no change in the program
and a listless air pervaded the doomed city as if
the people were ready for, and indeed would wel
come, anything that would take from their eyes that
silent host, take from their ears the monotonous
blowing of those awful horns. The same silent
march was undertaken as on the previous days, and,
as the next day was the Sabbath, observed by the
Israelites as a day of rest, Jericho looked forward
to a breathing spell.
Before the dawning of the Sabbath day the pres
science of mortal danger was in the air. Lights were
twinkling in the houses of Jericho an hour earlier
than usual, people were moving restlessly about,
guards were changing places upon the walls and
replenishing their fires, while the air was filled with
the lowing of cattle, the bleating of flocks, the
braying of donkeys and the neighing of horses.
An electric message from the unseen powers seemed
to have been flashed to the doomed city telling it
that a crisis was approaching.
The Events of the Sabbath.
The impression was deepened when the people
looked toward the camp of Israel. Although it was
still dark, the people over there were in commo
tion. Lights were flashing here and yonder and
camp fires were blazing on every side. When the
first flush of the coming day was reddening the
hills the silence was broken by the blowing of those
awful horns in the hands of the priests, and
through the uncertain light, like a spectral serpent
that might be expected to lift its head and strike
at any moment, the long line of people glided for
ward toward the walls of the city. It was more
than an hour earlier than it had been accustomed to
come and intense excitement was created within
the walls of Jericho. Soldiers were seen marching
at double quick time to the gates and to the vantage
points upon the walls, while hundreds of anxious
faces looked out from the windows in the different
buildings. The same silence as had been observed
during the other days reigned within the marching
army, a silence broken only by the shuffling feet
that walked in the well beaten roadway and by the
blowing of the horns. The excitement inside the
city was increased when it was seen that a second
circuit of the walls was to be made. A dull terror
seemed to fill the heart of the city when this cir
cuit was completed and a third was begun, and
people, forgetting the prudence that had character
ized them, gathered about the gates and neeped
through upon the strange sight without, and some
huddled in groups upon the walls, their white faces
telling all too plainly of the fear that lived within
their hearts. Still the silent march watched by
the silent city proceeded. Ever and anon a wom
an’s wail, coming from some poor, frightened crea
ture, unable to stand thp terrible strain, would rise
seemingly from the heart of poor old doomed Jeri
cho and go floating off to die in mournful echoes
among the hills. The sun reached the zenith hut
still the host kept upon its wav. Three o’clock
came and it had compassed the city but six times.
When the seventh round of the day, the thirteenth
since the marching started, was begun, there was a
perceptible quickening in the steps of the march
ing men. Around hy the main gate leading from
the city the procession passed, over the narrow
roads leading from the smaller gates and finally the
armed men had reached the spot from which they
started. They passed on until the ark of the Lord
had come up and then, as if by magic, the great
host halted.
The priests with their horns faced toward Jeri
cho. They blew a louder and a longer blast than
they had ever blown before, a blast that was heard
for miles and that was echoed and re-echoed
through the hills. Then came the long expected
moment. Joshua, leaping upon an elevated spot,
cried out in a ringing voice as he waved his hands
toward his army, “Shout, for the Lord hath given
you the city!”
Instantly from the pent up hearts of the men,
women and children there arose a shout, a shout
of faith and victory, a shout that seemed to run
like thunder along the earth, to finger about the
foundations of the walls of Jericho, and then to
leap upward and play around the topmost towers.
The panic stricken people must have trembled when
they heard it. The next moment the towers upon
the walls were seen to totter, the walls reeled and
staggered like a drunken man and then followed a
crash like a roar of thunder, and where the proud
walls were seen but a few moments before, was
only a mass of crumbling ruins, over which hung
a great cloud of dust, and behind which the cries of
panic stricken men, women and children could be
heard.
Without a moment’s hesitation the men of Israel
drew their swords and rushed over the fallen walls.
They met with a feeble but futile resistance for
they had with them the power of their God, before
which the courage of the men of Jericho melted like
wax in the fire. A great slaughter took place. Ev
ery man, woman and child in Jericho was put to
death with the exception of the members of one fam
ily. This exception was a woman of the town by
the name of Rahab. She and all her relatives were
saved because she received and hid in her house two
men who were sent to spy out the strength of Jeri
cho.
Following the capture of the city it was set on
fire, and as this is being written in the light of the
flames, the warriors of Israel, covered with dust
and blood and ladened with the riches of the city,
are making their way back to their camp in the
plains.
Jericho has been regarded as the key to the coun
try. Its fall means that the other cities will also
fall into the hands of Israel and the promise made
by the God of the Hebrews to give them this coun
try will have been fulfilled.
A Spoiled Nature.
Luther Burbank, the plant wizard, showed last
month to the students of Stanford University an
apple that was sweet on one side and sour on the
other.
“This apple shows us,” Mr. Burbank said, “how
different treatments will have different effects. It
shows how environment causes the most radical
change.”
He smiled.
“As in apples, so in men,” he said. “There used
to live in Santa Rosa a good, kind man, but unfor
tunately be married a shrew wife and the wom
an changed his nature.
“One morning, after his wife had called him a
good-for-nothing loafer and snatched his breakfast
away, he started off, hungry and sore, for work.
“A sour-looking woman entered the car he was
on. She got into a violent dispute with the con
ductor over her change. Finally, red with rage,
she looked about her and said:
“ ‘ls there a gentleman in this car who will
stand by and see a lady insulted?’
“The hungry man, whose nature had been spoiled,
rose eagerly.
“ ‘Yes, madam.’ he said, ‘I will.’ ” —Chicago
Chronicle.
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