xt769p2w416v https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt769p2w416v/data/mets.xml Butterworth, Hezekiah, 1839-1905. 1886  books b92-197-30611565 English Estes and Lauriat, : Boston : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Egypt Description and travel. Greece Description and travel. Middle East Description and travel. Zigzag journeys in the Levant, with a Talmudist story-teller :  : a spring trip of the Zigzag Club through Egypt and the Holy Land / by Hezekiah Butterworth. text Zigzag journeys in the Levant, with a Talmudist story-teller :  : a spring trip of the Zigzag Club through Egypt and the Holy Land / by Hezekiah Butterworth. 1886 2002 true xt769p2w416v section xt769p2w416v 
 
 
















THE ZIGZAG SERIES.

               BY

    HEZEKIAH BUTTERWORTH.


ZIGZAG 70URAVE S fAr EUROFE.
ZIGZAG 70URNEEYS IA CLASSIC LANDS.
ZIGZAG -OURNEYVS IX TZlE ORIEN'.
ZIGZAG 70URAEYVS IA 7THE OCCIDEXT.
ZIGZAG 5OURNE VS I.N XOR TIIERX LANDS.
ZIGZAG 70URVEYS IN ACADIA.
ZIGZAG 7OURNEYS IN TaHE LEVANVT.


EBTES AND LAURIAT. Publinheram
           BOSTON, MASS.

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SARDA NAPALUS.

 


ZIGZAG



JOURNEYS

IN



         THE LEVANT,


     WITH A TALMUDIST STORY-TELLER.



 A SPRING TRIP OF THE ZIGZAG CLUB THROUGH EGYPT
              AND THE HOL Y LAND.


                      BY
           HEZEKIAH BUTTERWORTH,
AUTHOR OF " POEMS FOR CHRISTMAS, EASTER, AND NEW YEAR," 'YOUNG FOLES' HISTORY OF AMERICA,"
              "ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN EUROPE," ETC.



FULLY ILLUSTRATED.




     BOSTON:
ESTES AND LAURIAT,
   301-305 'WASHINGTON STREET.
         i886.

 













     Copyringkl. 183,
By EsTrS AND LAURIAT.

     Al kirlpound; Rrnr-d.

 

                        PREFACE.




                T is one aim of this volume to amuse and entertain.
         But the writer has a deeper purpose in this book,
                  and in all the books of this series. It is to inter-
                  est young people in history and heroic records,
                and especially in the jpresext political history
              of the countries to which the journeys are sup-
posed to be made.
   Young people should be made intelligent about the politics of
other-lands. The writer has endeavored to give, in this volume, as
clear a view as possible of the present aspects of the Eastern ques-
tions, and of the governments of the countries of the Levant; so that
when a young reader of the book shall see telegrams from the East
in regard to political movements, he may better understand them,
and be able to follow current history as it shall be recorded by the
telegraph.
   A like aim underlies the stories and narratives of all this series of
books, - to lay the foundation for better reading, for a broader politi-
cal intelligence.
   The writer is indebted to Mrs. Andrews, of Hamilton, N. Y., for
the descriptive parts of the two chapters on Greece.



H. B.

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CONTENTS.



CHAPTER                                                          PACE
   I. OLD AL BEDAIR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .        15

   II. SomE CuRous SrORIES... .  . . .  . . . .  . . .  . . . .  . 31

 III. NIGHTS IN LONDON AND A   NIGHT n4 ANciENT THEBES  . . . . . . .  5I

 IV. COST OF JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT.. . . . . . . . . . . . .     67

 V. To THE MFDrrERRENE.N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .      84

 VI. To THE PYRAMDS .100

 VI1. THE RuWs oF THE QUEEN CITf OF THE WORWD . . . . . . . . . 125

 VIII. A DIGRESSiON. - EGYPmES ANrlQUmES IN BosToN.. . .. . . . .     58

 IX. HISTORY OF ENGLAND IN EGYPr.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . r97

 X. THE JOY OF THE wHOLE EARTH. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21I

 XI. "1 EVEN uNTo BETHLEHEm...... . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

 X11. THE SULTAN AND PALESTNE.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . z6i

XIII. ATHENS ..                       ......             .       267



XIV. THE NEW GREEK EMPzRE



........ . . . . . . . . . . ........ 29r

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I LLUSTRATIONS.



Sardanapalus . . . . . .     Frontispiece.An Egyptian Villa
A Ford of the River Jordan . . . ..   17  Brick Pyramid of Faioum
Egyptian Garden and Temple . . . .    2pound;  Donkey Boys .
Travelling in the East. . . . .      25Pyramids and Sphinx .
The Mode of Obeisance . . . . . .     27  Rameses
Arab and Ass. . . . . . . . . .       zg  Medinet, Court of Rameses .
A Merchant starting on a Journey in       Triumphal Car of Sesostris .
  Palestine . . . .        ' -        33  Medinet, Temple-palace of Rameses
The Dog watching Abel's Body  .       36  Duck-shooting on the Nile.
Camel in the Desert . . . . . . .     37  Vultures in Egypt.
Plain and Obelisk of Heliopolis  . ..  39  Falls of the Nile .
A Family moving in the East. . . .    41  Coptic Maiden  ..
View oh the Road from Jerusalem to        Karnak, Hypostyle Hall.  . . .
  Jericho . . . . . . . .             45  Karnak, Exterior Wall     . . .
Mount Ararat. . . . . . . . .         47  Court of the Colossi
On the Upper Nile. . . . . . . .      49  The Dealer in Antiquities
Egyptian Curiosities. . . . . . .     53  Cats .
The Demavend ...      ..  ..    . .   57  Snake-charming ...   .  .  .  ...
Peasants reaping in the Field . .  .  6i  Egyptian Ruin.
Ruins of Thebes  . . . . . . . .      65  Facade ill Mexico.
Winged Bull, Assyria. . . . .         69  Egyptian-like Ruins in Mexico .
Merchant and Camel .      .73             The Sacks of Wine leaking .
Winged Bull from Nineveh . . .        76  Leaving his Arm behind .
Hanging Gardens of Babylon  . . .     77  The Mameluke's Leap
Palace of Nineveh. . . . . . .       8o   The Slave was borne away .
Grand Hall of Assyrian Museum   i.    8   Dervishes ..
Interior of a Palace, Seville . . .   87  Defile in the Road from  Palestine to
The Rock of Gibraltar . . . . . .     9pound;    Egypt
The Funeral Procession..   ...    .   93  An Egyptian Town
Hannibal swearing Eternal Hatred to       Scene on the Nile.
  the Romans   . . . . . . . . .      95  Boats on the Nile.
Hannibal on an Expedition. . . . .    97  Hills and Walls of Jerusalem  . .
Alexander the Great . . . . . . . 103     Jerusalem.



107
lgo
109
III
115
117

,"9
123
127
131
'35
pound;37
'39
141
143
147
151
'55
'59
169
'73
'75
'77
183
185
187

ygo
190
205
209
212
213

 



ILL USTRA TIONS1



The Mosque of Omar . . . . . . . 216
Interior of the Mosque of Omar . . . 217
The Jews' Place of Wailing . . . . . 220
Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives. . 221
The Holy Sepulchre  . . . . . . . 224
View in the Valley of the Jordan     . 225
Coming to see the Miracle  . .     . 229
The Queen of Sheba  . . .         . 232
The Queen of Sheba and Solomon     . 235
The Pools of Solomon.    .. .  .   . 236
Bethlehem    .       .....           24o
Bethlehem.. ....                   . 241
Ruth     .         .....             245
The Castle of David, and Jaffa Gate. . 250



The Grand Range of Lebanon . . . . 251
Mountbof Olives. . . . . . . . . 253
Grotto of the Nativity, Bethlehem  .  256
Vale and City of Nazareth.    .      257
The Suburbs of Athens . . . . . . 269
Port of Pirmus . . . . . . . . . 273
The Athenian Carnival . . . . . . 277
The Parthenon  . . . . . . . . . 281
Travelling in Greece. . . . . . . 283
Hermonthis  .. . . .....     .       285
An Arab Boy. . . . . . . . . . 289
A Fountain in Greece. . . . . . . 294
Ruins of a Temple in Greece . . . . 295



12

 
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                        CHAPTER I.

                        OLD ALI BEDAIR.

                      THE JEWISH INTERPRETER.

               THE autumn of i88- Charlie Leland, one of the
           I   members of the Zigzag Club, was in London.
                He had gone there with his father, a Boston mer-
                chant, who had   become a nervous sufferer by
           prolonged application to business. Physicians had rec-
           ommended to Mr. Leland an immediate change of scene;
           and he had suddenly left for London, taking Charlie with
           him.
             Charlie greatly loved his father's companionship. The
           friendship between fathers and sons is a pleasing feature
           of Boston life. It is not an uncommon thing for a Boston
boy to choose his own father for his confidential companion and most
intimate friend.
   Mr. Leland and his son might often have been seen taking arm-in-
arm walks into the beautiful suburbs of Boston,-over the Mill Dam
road, or into the cool woods of the fenceless Roxbury Park, or making
late summer excursions into that miniature Rocky Mountain region
known as Middlesex Fells.

 

ZIGZAG 7L7URANEYS IN THE LEVANT.



   In London, the two were constantly together. In the morn-
ings they visited the art galleries, and in the afternoons often
went to Regent Park, or Hyde Park and Rotten Row, or, when the
weather was warm, read the London journals on the hospitable
benches of St. James's Park. Sometimes they went to Sydenham
Palace, and often to suburban places made famous by history or
poetry.
   They often passed a part of the evening at the American Ex-
change, in reading the American journals, of which few reading-rooms
in the United States have so large a supply.
   One night, as they were sitting together here, an aged man entered
the room in Oriental costume; and his benevolent face and somewhat
peculiar habits attracted the attention of both father and son. The
Oriental visitor-for such he seemed to be-took no notice of the
papers that covered the tables and walls of the room, but went to one
of the windows and gazed abstractedly into the gas-lighted air, and
towards the luminous windows of Charing Cross Hotel.
   The streets, like rivers, were pouring a vast population into the
Strand,- people seeking various halls, churches, and places of amuse-
ment. The old man watched the gay forms as they passed ever on
and on, coming out of the night and vanishing into the night. The
street was filled with cabs and hansoms, crowded 'buses and elegant
private vehicles. Near by the bells of St. Martin's were striking;
but the happy hearts on the street were only made lighter by the
musical notes that marked the passing of time.
   The entrance to the Strand on an autumn evening is a tide of
human life. The scene must have been strange to Oriental eyes; all
the overflow of gayety, prosperity, and splendor. The old man's gaze
seemed riveted on the kaleidoscope; a half-hour passed, the bell of
St. Martin's struck again, but he did not move.
   Mr. Leland, having finished his reading of the Boston papers
received by the latest steamer, went to the window where the old



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OLD ALr BEDAIR.



man was standing, and looked for a time at the hundreds of vehicles
passing by Charing Cross.
    " A beautiful night," said Mr. Leland.
    "Night," answered the old man, in pure English,- "night! There
 is no night here, - the people have banished the night of God, - no
 sky, no stars. Night visits the desert, night visits the sea; the peo-
 ple here never see the night. Come to Cairo and I will show you
 the night, and read to you the poetry of the night."
    " You are from the East "
    "Yes, from the East; and you"
    "From America."
    "America, - so far away, so far away. I have travelled with Amer-
icans. Good people, - Americans ! I love Americans."
    He touched his heart, and turned towards the door, saying, -
    " So far away."
    A few days after, while Mr. Leland and Charlie were visiting, it
may be for the twentieth time, the Turner pictures in the National
Gallery, the same old man appeared. He passed them without no-
ticing them at first; but on slowly recrossing the room, he recog-
nized Mr. Leland, and saluted him by a wave of the hand. He then
bent his dark eyes on Charlie, and his face lighted up with such a
smile of good will that the boy's face responded in sympathy. The
old man waved his hand again, this time to Charlie; then moved on,
saying,-
   "So far away."
   " What a benevolent face I " said Charlie to his father. " I wish I
knew him. There is something about him that interests me, and that
I like."
   A week passed. One morning Mr. Leland and Charlie went into
Westminster Abbey, and wandered almost alone among the chapels
of dead heroes, benefactors, and kings.
   They stopped before the Wesley tablets, and read the inscriptions.



19

 

ZIGZAG 7OURNEYS IN THE LEVANT.



    "1 ' God buries his servants, but his work goes on! "' said Mr.
 Leland, repeating meditatively what he had just been reading. - I
 did not expect to find a memorial of the Wesleys here. The fonnd-
 ers of Methodism were excluded in their day from fellowship with
 the English church, and their names are now made to ornament the
 Abbey. Truly, 'they that turn many to righteousness-
    "' Shall shine as the stars,"' said a voice, like an echo.
    Mr. Leland turned. Near him stood the figure of the old Oriental,
 his face beaming with pleasure.
    He waved his hand. "I am glad that thou lovest the poetry
of the prophets," he said.
    He waved his hand to Charlie, his face again lighting up with an
amiable smile. There was a burst of organ music; and the old man
turned slowly towards another part of the Abbey, saying, as before,-
    -So far away."
    Mr. Leland and Charlie sat down to listen to the organ.
    -I have read many books," said Charlie, "about the kings who
are buried here." Then referring to memorials like the Wesleys', he
added: I I wish some one would write a book about the benefactors
whose names are here, and who crowned hzemselves kings of men by
the struggles of their own lives. I am more impressed by these me-
morials than by anything else I have seen. The tombs of the kings
in comparison seem to me to be only stone, dust, and rubbish."
   "Deeds are the true crown of life," said Mr. Leland.
   "Let us go and look again at the Coronation Stone," said
Charlie.
   The stone was set into the frame of the throne chair. Mr. Leland
and Charlie stood looking upon it with the doubt with which most
Americans are accustomed to view legendary relics. A light, slow
footstep was heard on the stone floor, and the sound betrayed the
approach of the odd Oriental figure that they had met before.
   The old man said to a custodian, -



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EGYPTIAN GARDEN AND TEKPLF-

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OLD ALI BEDAIR.



   -- Jacob's  "
   The doughty custodian bobbed his head.
   A beautiful light came into the old man's face.
   Hi Adam's"
   The doughty Englishman shook his head with an expression of
disgust.
   "Jacob's 'ead laid on that stone when he dreamed of the ladder of
angels," said the custodian.
   " That stone was twelve stones once," said the old man. " The
twelve stones were the altar of Adam."
   " Adam !" said the amazed custodian, having never before heard
such a great antiquity attributed to the relic.
   " Abel offered his sacrifice upon them," said the old man.
"And," he added, " Abraham made his altar of them."
   " Look 'ere! you are a Jew!" said the fat little Englishman.
"My conscience is not quite easy when I tell people that that is the
stone where Jacob saw the vision," he said to Mr. Leland; " and 'ere
comes a man who says the stone is as old as Adam."
   as The twelve stones became a single pillow when Jacob laid his
head upon them," said the old man, reverently.
   Charlie could see no evidences of such an assimilation, and even
the custodian had never observed any latent marks of the alleged
miraculous transformation.
   " May I ask you who you are  " said the custodian to the old man.
   " They call me the Talmudist, - Ali Bedair. I am an interpreter,
and travel with parties in the East."
   The old man moved slowly away, with a gentle sweep of his hand
to Charlie, whose eyes followed him.
   " A character," said the custodian to Mr. Leland. " London is full
of characters, especially Jewry."
   A service had commenced in the Abbey. The seats were partly
filled with people with prayer-books. In one of the seats were four



23

 

ZIGZAG 70URNEYS IN THE LEVANT.



American young ladies, returning to America from Italy by the way
of London.
   Mr. Leland and Charlie took a seat behind them.
   The young ladies seemed devoutly given to their prayer-books, as
strangers would be expected to be under the inspirations of the solemn
Abbey. The music was almost celestial; the surpliced choir rose and
disappeared, like a vision; the ancient liturgy was echoed from the
tombs of scores of silent poets, and a hundred princes, and all the
kings. The devotion of the young ladies to their books was absorbing.
The service closed.
   " There," said one of the ladies, " I have read all this book says,
and now I am ready for the sights."
   " I've read mine," said the second. " Mine is Baedeker's. What
is yours "
   " Murray's," said the third.
   "Mine is the 'London Guide Book,'" said the fourth.
   " We have n't lost any time, have we " said the first.
   " No! " thankfully answered the other three.
   " This is a queer world," said Mr. Leland.
   " Let us go," said Charlie. " I am ashamed of our own people;
but I wish I could meet that old Jew again. There is something I
like about him,-he interests me, I cannot tell how or why. He
seems like a poet, like a patriarch, like a wise man of an Arabian
story. What is a Talmudist"
   Mr. Leland was unable to say. The meeting of a Talmudist in
London was an unexpected episode, and one for which none of the
guide-books had made any provision.
   " Do you think that we shall see him again  " asked Charlie.
   " I do not know."
   "If we do, I am sure that we shall know him."
   "Yes, quite sure," said Mr. Leland, with a smile. " I should be
likely to know him anywhere."



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OLD ALI BEDAIR.



   The gray weeks of late November and early December passed.
London grew cold and dark; and Mr. Leland decided to go South,
and spend the January and February of the new year in a brighter
and warmer atmosphere. Where Nice was thought of; Majorca was
discussed; Rome, Naples, Amalfi. Then the Levant presented its
vision of grand antiquities. Mr. Leland preferred Nice; but Charlie
was eager for a boat or tent journey in the lands of the rising sun, down
the Nile to Thebes, or from Egypt over the track of the Israelites to
Jerusalem, and thence to Damascus, the most ancient city in the
world.
   Days were passed in indecision. Charlie became accustomed to
greet his father each morning with the question,-
   " Is it the Levant  "
   The lands of the Levant are properly those that lie upon and
stretch away from the eastern shores of
the Mediterranean, the lands of the
sunrise; but these comprise territo-
ries so important and historic that the
word Levant has come to be applied to
the entire East.                                    
   Christmastide came. London be-
came white and green; the air was full
of bells, and the churches of music.
    Is it the Levant " said Charlie to
his father one day soon after Christmas.
   "If I could secure good travelling
companions, it would be the Levant.
I learned," he added, " a curious mat-  THE MODE OF OBEISANCE.
ter yesterday from the card-writer in
the Charing Cross Hotel. It will interest you. You remember the
old Jew, - the Talmudist  "
   "That we met in Westminster Abbey and at other places"



27

 

ZIGZAG _OURNEYS IN THE LEVANT.



   "Yes. Well, it has been his business for years to accompany
English travellers from Cairo to Jerusalem by the way of the Sinai
Peninsula. I wish we could meet him again. He has a good repu-
tation for character, amiability, and intelligence."
   New Year's eve came. Early in the evening Mr. Leland and
Charlie went to a service in the Methodist chapel at Bunhill Fields,
where the pioneers of Methodism had preached; and they here visited
John Wesley's house, which is close to the chapel.
   Late in the evening they took a cab for London Bridge, and were
left there to hear the bells of the city at midnight announce the New
Year.
   It was a glorious night. The weather had become mild, after some
days of severe cold. The moon was mirrored in the Thames, the
gray towers were illumined with a mystic light, and the streets over-
flowed with people.
   At midnight all the bells of the city rang out over the great
wilderness of homes, as Tennyson has voiced them in "In Memo-
riam." While all the air was thus throbbing with joyful music, a bent
form slowly passed Mr. Leland, then paused.
   "Beautiful," said the old man,-"1 beautiful; but sweeter to my ears
would have been the bells upon the hem of the ephod, or even the
tinkling of the camel's bell. Is it not beautiful "
   Mr. Leland and Charlie had again met the Jew; and the three
walked in company, in the early morning of the New Year, towards
Charing Cross and Trafalgar Square. When Mr. Leland parted from
the old inan he said to Charlie,-
   ,,It is the Levant."
   The next day Charlie cabled home: "The Levant-EEgypt-
Paks6iMe."



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CHAPTER II.



                    SOME CURIOUS STORIES.

                PATRIARCHAL LEGENDS FROM THE TALMUD.

                  LELAND and Charlie had taken rooms at the
                    old Golden Cross Hotel, near Trafalgar Square.
                 A  Close by was the Charing Cross Hotel, in itself
                    a clty of people from all civilized lands. Ali
                    Bedair had apartments, not in Old Jewry, but
                    here; and on parting from the Lelands at the
                    foot of the Nelson Statue on New Year's morn-
                    ing, he graciously said,-
   "I hope my friends from the West will do me the honor to call
upon me. I shall be glad to tell you about the Eastern journey that
you propose to make. I wish I might accompany you."
   He added to Charlie, -
   " If it be in your heart to visit an old man like me, I should be
glad to welcome you. I once had a son. -My card."
   The old man's invitation was accepted by Mr. Leland and Charlie
for the next evening. In the mean time Mr. Leland made it his busi-
ness to learn as much as possible about his new Oriental acquaintance.
   Ali Bedair was well known among lovers of Eastern travel in
London. All who had met him commended him.
   "He is a mysterious old man of a most beautiful spirit," said one.
   " He has the heart of a woman and the mind of a poet," said
another.

 

ZIGZAG _OURNEYS IN THE LEVANT.



   " He is the loveliest old man that I ever knew in any land," said a
lady of rank who had travelled with him.
   " Ali Bedair is a story-teller," said a fourth. " He knows the Tal-
mud by heart, and all the old legends and traditions of the East,
whether Jewish or Mohammedan. Speak to him of any patriarch
or prophet, and he will relate stories of him of which few Christian
people have ever heard; untrue they may be, - fables, - but most
beautifully true in the lessons of life and duty that they teach. It is
worth making a journey to listen to the stories of Ali Bedair."
   Mr. Leland and Charlie found the old Jew in a simple room, that
contrasted strangely with the general brightness and sumptuousness of
the hotel palace. He received his visitors most graciously. Turning
up the gas-light, he said, -
   "A single light answers as well for three men as for one, and for
a hundred. Praise the Lord! My rooms are simple," he added.
"' But the place honors not the man, but the man the place. I would
I were worthier."
   An hour or more was spent in conversation about journeys from
Egypt through Syria. Ali Bedair's information seemed inexhaustible,
and his descriptions of places were most vivid and glowing. His
attention for a time was wholly given to Mr. Leland. Then suddenly
turning to Charlie, he said, -
   " Pardon me, my son, I forget. ' Be affable to the young,' says a
wise man. Shall you go with us, if we go"
    "It is my desire and ambition to go with you," said Charlie,
warmly.
   Do I am glad to hear you say that, my son. I have tried as well as
I could to answer your father's questions. Can I render a like service
to you  I would be glad to do something for you."
   He put his hand over his heart, and the simple words and gesture
did not seem  to be insincere. Charlie's affections were strongly
drawn towards the gracious old man.



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SOME CURIOUS STORIES3



   " There is one question I would like to ask," he said, " if it will not
seem to you intrusive or personal. You said in the Abbey that you
were a Taimudist. Father was not quite able to explain to me what
a Talmudist is. Will you tell me"
   "n That is an unexpected question," said the old man. " I would
rather take another time to answer it. But the wise men say, 'Use
thy beautiful vase to-day, for to-morrow it may break.'
   "1 The Talmud is a commentary on the truths of the Scriptures,
with illustrations of those truths in both history and fable. It is, or
was, the oral law of our people, the collected wise thoughts of our
nation for a thousand years. It comprises books of our history and
traditions; it contains the sayings of our holiest and most learned
men. It is a book of truths that men have learned by experience, and
that time has proven to be true.
   "The Talmud says to young men and to students like yourself:
'Add to your studies a trade, if you would keep your life free from
sin.' This is wisdom and truth, but it does not claim direct spiritual
inspiration as does a verse from the Sacred Scriptures. Do you see
   "The Talmud began with a record of the thoughts and experiences
of wise men. It was preserved by the Schools of the Prophets, and
each generation added to it new thoughts, proverbs, and illustrations.
It was greatly used by the teachers in our synagogues. It was finally
arranged in order and transcribed by Rabbi Judah and his sons, dur-
ing the reign of the Roman Emperor Antoninus; and as such we find
it to-day, though other rabbis have made additions to it. I will give
you illustrations of it from time to time, should we travel together,
which may God permit."
   It was a lovely night. The statue of Nelson, which was seen from
the high windows, seemed lifted into the sky from Trafalgar Square,
and the clouds drifted white in the blue dome above it.
   Ali Bedair sat by the window, and the night seemed to fill him
with the spirit of his race and its ancient traditions. It was wonderful



35


 

ZIGZAG -OURNE YS 1A' THE LEVANT.



to listen to his quotations, his wit, and his fables. Charlie, impelled
towards him by sympathy, drew his chair close to his.
   " Tell me some of the ancient stories of Jewish people that are not
found in the Scriptures," said Charlie.
     Shall they be true tales from the Talmud, or poetry"
   "Poetry."
   "I do not mean verse, but allegory. Do you see "
   Story followed story, the old man selecting from Oriental traditions
such as he thought that Charlie would most like to hear.



                     ABEL'S SHEPHERD-DOG.

   Cain was a tiller of the ground, and his
brother Abel was a pastor of sheep.
   The life of Abel was simple and
pure, and was passed in the land of
Adamah, where flowers from the
seeds of Eden still bloomed.
   He was attended in his
pastoral duties by a shep-          A
herd dog, to whom he
always kind, and who
became very much
attached to his
master.      - AV



       , IfW         '  BOD.a
THE, IOG WATCHING AVIEL'S BODY.



   One day, Adam said to Cain and Abel: " My sons, ascend the mountain, and
offer up sacrifices to the Ruler of the Earth and Heavens."



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SOME CURIOUS STORIES.



   Abel took from his flock his best sheep, and ascended to the mountain altar.
Cain took a sheaf of corn, and one that was imperfect and useless.
   The heavenly fire fell upon the offering of Abel, and the smoke mingled
with the sky, but the sheaf of Cain remained untouched.
   Jealousy, like an evil spirit, entered into the heart of Cain.
   One day, Cain found Abel asleep on the mountain, with his dog by his side.
Cain took a stone and dashed it against his head. He saw that he had killed
his brother, and hurried away.



















                       PLAIN AND) OBFLSK OF HELIOPOLIS.

   The shepherd dog watched by the dead body of Abel as it lay still and cold
upon the mountain side beneath the -shadowy sun and the pitifuil stars.
   The body was discovered at last by Adam and Eve. The latter sat down
beside it and wept. It was the first time that they had met Death in the world,
and they knew not what to do.
   A dark raven flew into a tree near them. He saw them weeping and pitied
them. The raven had met Death before them; his mate had just died.
   Then the raven said: "I will comfort Adam, and teach him how to hide the
cause of his sorrow from the eye of day."
   The raven dropped down from the tree in the sight of the sorrowful parents,
and dug a hole in the earth. To this he presently brought the dead form of his
mate, and covered it with earth.



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ZIGZAG 7OURNEYS IN THE LEVANT.



   Then said Adam to Eve: " We will do the same with Abel."
   So they covered the form of Abel with earth, and blessed the dark raven
who had taught them the lesson.
   The raven was rewarded. From that day the raven has never asked Heaven
for rain without bringing the world that blessing. The dog, as then, has ever
proved the most faithful friend of man.



                     PATRIARCHAL LEGENDS.

   Shem, the son of Noah, became King of Salem. One day, one of the
Patriarchs said to him,-
   - What service did you and your father and brethren render to God while you
were in the ark "
   "Charity," answered the king.
   How " asked the Patriarch "there was no one in the ark but yourselves."
   "Even so; but we showed charity to the animals."
   "How"
   "By kindness and attention. We sometimes did not sleep at night in order
to make their condition comfortable."
   The Patriarch expressed surprise.
   " Once," continued the king, " when we had been delayed in feeding the
beasts, a hungry lion sprung upon Noah, my father, and bit him."
   " Then," said the Patriarch, "iNoah was indeed a righteous man, if his
charity extended to the dumb animals, and he bore with patience the injuries
that their ignorance inflicted upon him. I will henceforth be more charitable
to the poor, the wanderers, and the wayfarers."

   A Patriarch searched for a grove and a fountain of water. When he found
such a place, he built there a guest-house.
   When a beggar or a traveller came to the guest-house hungry, he gave him
meat and fruits; and when thirsty, he gave him water from the fountain.
   " I thank thee," the guest would say to the Patriarch.
   " Thank the Master. I am only a servant."
   "Who is the Master"
   "The All-Merciful."
   "How shall I worship him"
   "By returning thanks for all that he has done."



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SOME CURIOUS STORIES.



                   THE COURTSHIP OF JOSEPH.

   The patriarch Joseph not only had a very tender heart, but he looked on
the bright and hopeful side of all human concerns.
   When he and his aged father met, they embraced and kissed each other.
    Now," said Jacob, " tell me, I pray thee, what evil thy brothers did unto
thee when they betrayed and sold thee."
   " Nay, my father," said Joseph, " let me tell thee only how good the Lord
was to me."
   The wife of Joseph was Asenath, a daughter of a Priest of the Sun. In
her girlhood she was wonderfully beautiful. She dwelt in a tower ten stories
high, surrounded by palm gardens, and she had everything that heart could
desire.
   She was an idol-worshipper. In her tower were idols of gold and silver to
which she daily paid her devotions. But the beautiful Asenath had never been
allowed to see a young man; so she ignorantly declared that she disliked the
race of men, except only her father.
   One day Joseph came to visit the old priest. He was seated in one of
Pharaoh's chariots. The chariot