s; some thrust their hands
between the joints of the stones, and pushed into the crevices, as far
as possible, little slips of paper, on which were written, in the Hebrew
tongue, short petitions addressed to Jehovah. Some even prayed with
their mouths thrust into the gaps, where the weather-beaten stones were
worn away at the joints. * * * The congregation at the Wailing Place is
one of the most solemn gatherings left to the Jewish Church, and, as the
writer gazed at the motley concourse, he experienced a feeling of sorrow
that the remnants of the chosen race should be heartlessly thrust
outside the sacred inclosure of their fathers' holy temple by men of an
alien race and an alien creed." So far as I know, all writers give these
worshipers credit for being sincere, but on the two occasions when I
visited the place, I saw no such emotion as described in the foregoing
quotation. The following lines are often rehearsed, the leader reading
one at a time, after which the people respond with the words: "We sit in
solitude and mourn."

"For the place that lies desolate;
For the place that is destroyed;
For the walls that are overthrown;
For our majesty that is departed;
For our great men who lie dead;
For the precious stones that are buried;
For the priests who have stumbled;
For our kings who have despised Him."

This solemn practice has been observed for about twelve hundred years,
but the same place may not have been used all the time. "She is become a
widow, that was great among the nations! She that was a princess among
the provinces is become tributary! Jerusalem hath grievously sinned;
therefore she is become as an unclean thing" (Lam. 1: 1, 8).

On Friday evening we entered some of the many synagogues yet to be found
in Jerusalem and observed the worshipers. On Saturday we went to the
House of Industry of the English church, where boys are taught to work.
Olive wood products are made for the tourist trade. We passed a place
where some men were making a peculiar noise as they were pounding wheat
and singing at their work. This pounding was a part of the process of
making it ready for food. An old lady was standing in an open door
spinning yarn in a very simple manner. We watched her a few minutes, and
I wanted to buy the little arrangement with which she was spinning, but
she didn't care to part with it. She brought out another one, and let me
have it after spinning a few yards upon it. I ga