THE SUJsDAY OTtEGOXIAN, PORTLAND. JULY 4, 1920
Where a Noble Band of Ameri
can Men and Women Have Been
Holding for Nearly 40 Years a
Lonely Outpost of American Civ
ilization in a Strange, Far-Off
Land, Overcoming Persecutions ,
Poverty and the Hardships of the
World War, by Following the
Golden Rule and Living a Life
of 'Christian Charity.
BT JAMES MORGAN,
a FTKK the fall of Jerusalem an
f airplane, flying across the desert '
to Egypt, brought to the outer
world the first detailed news of the
city in nearly two years. One of the
first items in the report was that the
American colony was safe and that it
had been the means of aiding thou
sands in the last demoralized months
of Turkish rule.
Many readers in this country must
have wondered why there should be
an American colony in Jerusalem, and
what it could be doing there. It is a
strange story. Which opens with a
shipwreck in the Atlantic, 40 years
ae-o. when an American woman, on
her way to France, was rescued from
floating wreckage, but her three
daughters all her children were
lost. "Saved alone," the mother cabled
to her husband, Horatio G. Spafford of
Chicago, who wrote a revival song
under the title, a song which Sankey
made familiar to the multitudes who
attended the big Moody meetings. .
Burned Their Bridge Behind Them.
"It Is Well With My Soul" is an
other hymn by Mr. Spafford, which, is
better known today. A great host of
churchgoers will ask for no better -introduction
to this founder of the
American colony in Jerusalem than
these wll-remembered lines from his
pen:
When sorrows like sea billow s . roll,
"When srorows like Bea billows roll.
Whatever my lot. Thou hast, taught me to
say :
'It u well, it is well Ith my soul." s
Mr. and Mrs. Spafford were stirred
by the conviction- that they were
spared to each other for some higher
purpose than they had been pursuing.
He was a prosperous lawyer and they
had both been active workers in a
big Presbyterian church in Chicago;
but they resolved to give themselves
thenceforth wholly to the service of
God and of their fellowmen.
A few zealous spirits rallied about
the standard of sacrifice, put every
thing they had into a pool and sailed
away to Jerusalem in the hope that
there they could more surely overcome
temptation and sin than in the midst
of the great city by "the shore of Lake
Michigan.
Here were 14 American men and
women, with five children, pulling up
roots that were deep in the soil of
our new world and transplanting
themselves in the alien soil of Asia.
They left forever home and kindred
and native land everything to live
and work and die far off beyond the
seas among strangers in race and re
ligion, in speech and dress. They
burned their bridges behind them; cut
themselves off from their base of sup
plies, and. harder still, from the sym
pathy of their familes and friends,
to risk all on this plunge into Islam
and the orient. They had no church
or missionary society back of them.
They did. not go to preach' the gospel,
but only to live it as well as they
could; to try to set an .example of
Christian living and Christian charity
at the scene of the crucifixion.
The triumphs of this little band of
Bilerims over persecutions, poverty,
epidemics, the perils and hardships
of the great war; their astonishing
successes in overcoming obstacle,
their eleventh-hour deliverances from
disaster would be a tale more easily
niri . . . if this were an age of
miracles.
Although the colonists arrived in
Jerusalem without a word of Abic,
they quickly learned enough of the
language of the people to begin to
teach their new neighbors the simple
rudiments of modern, American educa
tion and Mahometan arid Jew flocked
to them until they have had at times
as many as 1000 pupils. The only thing
they promised at the outset not to
teach was theology. So well did they
overcome the natural suspicion of
the Moslem church and earn its trust
that these American .Christians have,
had the unique experience of'holdlng
school within the sacred waljs that
rise above the ruined halls of lving
Solomon in the holy inclosure of the
harem esh sherif, or place of the tem
ple, now the chief sanctuary' of Mo
hametanism in the Holy Land. ',--
Arabic is now almost a mother
tongue with the teachers In the col
ony. The most prominent among
them. Brother Jacob, is a man of wide
and deep culture and of a noble hu
manity as well.
It is enough to say for these Chris
tians and Americans that the grand
mufti of Egypt, who holds a, place
second to none in the Moslem world
of Syria and Palestine, entrusted his
son to the colony, the youth living
with the colonists as well as going to
school to them. One of the oldest and
closest friends of the colony is the last
mayor of Jerusalem under the sultan.
To him fell the hard duty of lowering
the crescent, which had waved 500
years above the gates of the holy city
and of bearing the white flag of sur
nder to the British forces. .
Practicing the Golden Rale.
This Faidy Effendi, who has in the
past held the delicate post of .Turkish
governor of Bethlehem, where he
guarded the manger in the Church of
the Nativity, who has been also, a
adga and a member of the pariia-
i - " til $ - Nv ' . SSSfe
yyCX?' sjv Voung ladles of the American colony lu patriotic rxerelm with the colony band playing How the Fourth of Jnly la celebrated by the American colony.
Young Americana nlelghlng la the atrceta of Jerusalem, wtrn anow irMdon falls. The Mala building of American colony glrU rrprcscntlnic the allied nations at the Armistice day celebration
the American colony is ia the backs-round. last year.
ment, at Constantinople, sent both his I nearly eaten out of house and home In a
daughter and his son to the American 1 ty 300 uninvited, but not unwelcome helpl
school. The son received from his
American teachers much of the early
instruction that prepared him to en
ter the great English University of
Cambridge.
"I have always proclaimed," this
high Moslem official has declared, "as
the grand mufti himself has pro
claimed in a speech In Paris, that if
ever accept the Christian religion.
I would unhesitatingly try to enter
the American colony as an active
member."
Moslem and Jew and Christian have
been brought together by the colony
in a common fraternity. "Those
Americans," said one of their gradu
ates, the son "of a Jewish banker.
lives the real life of love to the
neighbor as taught in the Bible. I
always pray that the rest of the world
may learn to live such a life as they."
The colony feeds hungering mouths
as well as hungering minds. Its first
rule is never to turn anyone from
the door. Many years aero it was
guests, who threw themselves on Its
mercy. These were a strdnge people,
who believed themselves to be of the
Tribe of Gad, and. in accordance with
their peculiar reading of an Old
Testament prophecy, they suddenly
appeared in Jerusalem after 25
centuries of wandering.
The purse and the larder of the
colony were then almost empty and
the colonists hardly knew where the
next meal would come from. Never
theless, they mortgaged everything
to keep the supposed Gadites from
starving ind to help them to become
self -supporting.
When the money that the colonists
had brought from America was gone
they found themstlves facing, want
in a land where it would seem im
possible for an' American to make a
living. But he bread they had been
casting on the waters began to come
back to them in wondrous ways and
with strange timeliness.
For example, the colony had taken
blind man, and thU apparently I camera in Jerusalem, did a rushing otner treasures of the storied east
ess charge on its charity uusiness with th
brought in the first dollar that it I the world. Toda
earned. He had been a peddler, and 1 and busiest photographic establish
ment in all the near east.
he was sure tho American pastries,
which the women cooked, would sell
"like' hot cakes" among the European
lesidents. They did. and from send
ing the blind man out with a basket
ful of '"goodies," a wagon was soon
required to deliver them.
A second example of how the
colon'y was helped in helping the
helpless. is another interesting story.
A globe-trotting Englishman, who
wandered in from the desert, had
nothing to give In return for months
of hospitality except a battered and
apparently useless photographic
camera. . But a man, apparently
equally useless, a crippled member,
who had been a cabinetmaker when
he was a young man in Vermont,
made a new box for it. By and by
the German kaiser came along on his
combination pilgrimage and drum
ming tour to the Holy Land, and the
colony, 1 with the only commercial
ue pictorial press of I They also gather and press for Sun
iy It has the .largest day schools and other church organi-
Caught In the World War.
Readers of the National Geographic
magazine have enjoyed many series
of photographs of Palestine and
Syria, which were the products of
the colony. The interesting descrip
tive articles accompanying the pic
tures came from the pen of one of
the colonists, John D. Whiting. Mr.
Whiting Is the first American born
in Jerusalem, his' New England par
ents having been one of the little
group of pioneers who followed Mr.
and Mrs. Spafford, and he is now the
highly respected American vice-consul
in his native city.
Under the spur of necessity the
colonists first learned how to make
things f6r themselves and next they
gradually went into making or col
lecting things for" sale religious
articles fashioned out of mother of
pearl, ancient glass, antique rugs and
rations the wild flowers that are
mentioned in the Scriptures, a New
England botanist, who graduated
from Bowdoin college, being most
active in this department. (
When the colony had weathered the
storms of more than SO years and
seemed to have emerged into the sun
light, it was caught In the hurricane
of the world war, which brought
years of cruel hardships but which
also brought the colonists an op
portunity for greater usefulness than
ever before.' The story would fill
a book, and some day a book should
tell of this lonely little outpost of
American men and women In the
enemy's country, following the armies
of their foe to minister to the sick
and wounded in the desert, battling
with a plague of locusts, braving the
cholera and typhus and fighting hand
to hand with hunger at their door.
Enemy aliens and Christians though
they were, these Americans were en
trusted by the Turk with the manage-
CLERICAL ADMIRAL PROVES
TO HAVE WONDERFUL "HEAD"
Youth Rises From Cadet to Highest Office in Portuguese Navy as Re
sult of Freak Advice, Although a "Landlubber" on Board.
A
J. B..Thornhill. in New Tork Herald.
YOUNG naval cadet entered the
Portuguese navy, time when
Portugal was a monarchy. He
was given clerical work at the ad
miralty. Without ever having board
ed a ship he gradually climbed to
lieutenant, to commander, to captain,
to admiral. When the king and queen
of Portugal took a trip to Tangier,
so well was he thought of that he
was charged with the duty of taking
them there. The captain of the man-o'-war
on which our office boy ad
miral, had hoisted his flag asked for
the order of departure.
' The admiral replied. "You know
your business give the order." As
they steamed out to sea the captain
asked for the course. "You are ca
pable of setting the course?" ques
tioned the admiral. "Certainly." an
swered the captain. "Well, then, set
It." Later when they were taking
the ship's position the admiral was
handed a sextant, and he made a pre
tence of observation, and then pre
tended to , make calculations. The
captain approached him, showing his
calculations, giving the latitude and
longitude. The admiral glanced at
them and said: "Excellent they al
most agree with mine." On the
arrival at Tangier the captain, who
was getting a little tired of the
office-reared admiral, wanted orders
for anchoring. The admiral tried his
old tricks. "Your know your busi
ness." But the captain asked the ad
miral point-blank how many 'cables
he should put out.
Here was a quandary. The admiral
scratched his head and, determining
to be on the safe side, said, "All.
The captain, cursing the admiral
under his breath, turned to carry out
the order. .. All that day the Portu
guese sailors, to the jeers of the
crews of the foreign battleships
toiled at putting out anchors, until
the Portuguese boat looked like the
center of a spider's web. That night
it blew a hurricane, such aa had
his pension paid to him as an ex
soldier. Into 115,080. francs. The po
lice released him, after giving him a
little advice about counting his wealth
in public parks while slightly under
the Influence df red wine.
Billigot invested 80.000 francs in a
life annuity the next morning, bought
a suit, of clothes, ehoes. et cetera, and
before departing for Saint Cloud race
track called on the friendly police
sergeant and gave him a tip on the
races for that afternoon. The horse
won. The newspaper L'Eclalr has of
fered him 100 francs per day for his
racing selections until the end of the
season. -
never before or after been known at
Tangier.
The English cruiser having steam
up stood out to sea and safety. The
French. German and Italian vessels
could not ride to their anchors.' and
were driven on the beach. The Port
uguese war ship rested like a sea
gull on the waves, unheeding the
tempest. They gave the Portuguese
. . . , . . Regular Officers and Men Number
to bestow and made him commander-I
ln-chief of the Portuguese navy, and
every one said: "What a head! W'hat
PHILIPPINE ARMY REDUCED
WIRELESS AND AIRPLANE
COMMUNICATION PLANNED
Marconi Offers to Build Big Station in Roumania French Aviators
Contend Aerial Service Between Cities Practical.
B
a head!"
Poilu With 140 Francs Win
115,080.
"Father of Luck" Found by Police
Counting Uains in Public Park.
PARIS, July 3. Ragged, hatless
and practically shoeless, an .el
derly man was sitting in a park on
the south eide of the Seine'' a few
nights since, muttering to himself,
50, 60. 70, the while stacking thin
little slips of paper one upon the
other.
He attracted the attention of two
gendarmes for he had apparently
been drinking too much wine. He was
taken to the station.
The desk sergeant was bewildered
when the ragged man explained that
the little slips of paper he was count
ing were good bills of the Bank of
France and that the figures he was
mumbling -represented their amount.
He had 115.080 francs.
"I won this money at the races,"
explained the denizen of the park.
It-developed that the man was one
Billigot, a former colonial soldier, at
times street newspaper vendor, known
to the citizens of Grenelle ward in
Paris as "Father of Luck" or "Father
Cherry" (the little fruit being known
in the parlance of the Paris gambling
circles as the emblem of luck). He
, had run up 111) franca, the amount of
Approximately 11,000.
MANILA.. P. I. The return here of
all of the 3000 American troops who
went to Siberia during the year 1918
has brought the number of regular
army officers and men in the Philip
pine islands to approximately 11.000.
In addition, the Philippine scouts,
composed entirely of natives under
the : jurisdiction of the United States
war department, number close to
7500 men.
The Philippine constabulary, or the
police force of the islands, is com
posed entirely of natives and is un
der the supervision of the Philip
pine government.
Major General William A. -Graves,
who was in command of the United
StaTtes forces in' Siberia and who re
turned bere recently. Is now at Ba
gulo, - a mountain . resort, 180 miles
north of Manila, where he expects io
remain -while pfeparing a detailed re
port to the war . department . of the
operations of the American army at
Vladivostok.
After completing his report. Gen
eral . Graves will take command of
Fort McKinley. at the outskirts
Manila,- . -. ,
of
Eggs Hon Legal Tender.
BERLIN. At Halensee, near Ber
lin, a general store has been opened
for a moneyless interchange of coun
try products and town-made articles
Country - farmers barter their dairy
produce against boots, shoes, cotton
yarn, candles and similar commodities.
Th accepted unit, of value la eggs.
UCHAREST. July 3. This city
will become a huge communica
tion center for south Europe.
both for wireless and aviation, if pres
ent French plans are carried out.
The Marconi company has offered to
build a huge wireless station In
Rumania, which would handle busi
ness from the east as well as local
business to the west, but it appears
likely that the Rumanians will either
continue their own wireless ' service,
in connection with the Elfel Tower
and other stations in France, or else
permit the French to establish such a
station.
Both British and French firms,
backed up by their governments, are
attempting to arrange a complete air
plane service.' The French propose to
connect Parts, Vienna, Budapest,
Bucharest and Constantinople in .a
general way, with branch services in
cluding Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece.
It Is hoped later to extend this serv
ice into Russia.
French army aviators began last
summer to establish a tentative post
service between Constantinople and
Bucharest, connecting with the ex
press train to Paris. This service is
being now developed, but owing to its
great cost it Is felt necessary to have
each of the governments over whose
territory the airplane service will be
conducted to contribute a pro-rate
share to maintain the service.
Airplane Service Planned.
It is estimated that the cost aver
ages 100 for each hour the machine
Is kept in the air.
In view of the poor conditions of
the railway systems in South Europe,
business men have generally given
their support to these plans. .
Due to the mountains of central and
southern Europe and waters of the
Black sea. the Adriatic and the Medi
terranean, practical aviation is con
stantly severely tested.
Flying Into Russia does not present
the same difficulties. Since the armis
tice huge German machines . carry
ing passengers and contraband
moneys and other articles of a specu
lative nature have made frequent
trips between Moscow and Berlin. Now
and then these machines come down,
but it is generally because of motor
trouble. During the bolshevik regime
In Hungary, frequent trips were made
to Moscow, though the aviators had
to cros3 the Carpathian mountains
from Budapest.
Paaaenser'a Viewpoint.
From a passenger's point of view-
such trips do not present any diffl
culty, once the passenger has over
come the preliminary apprehension of
danger. This apprehension is much
diminished by the new limousine type
of machine, where the passenger sut
lers neitner from cold nor wind nor
motor noise.
The establishment of these wireless
and airplane communications are
continuance of the French policy of
keeping eastern and western Europe
connected. It is due to the French
that since the armistice express trains
have been run between Paris and
Warsaw. passing the intervening
cities of Prague and Vienna, and also
between Paris and Bucharest and
finally between Paris and Constan
tinople. These three, which are known
as the Warsaw, Simplon and Orient
expresses, were first under French
army control and are now under com
mercial control of the 'Internationa
Sleeping Car company.
British Charities Increase.
. LONDON. The cost of British
charities -has increased 1000 per cen
in the last 20 years, despite th
enormous expenditure on insurance
unemployment, ola age pensions an
various other form of public assist
ance. J. R. Marriott, member of par
liament, has told the Charity Organi
zation society that he estimated th
present charity total at 250.000,000
for the year as compared to 25,000.
000 20 years ago. "We are manu
facturing pauperism at an appalling
rate," said Mr. Marriott.
ment of the governm?nt soup kitch
ens, where they fed 3500 people daily
for two years, and they were also
placed in control of four military hos
pitals. With few doctors to aid them
and with a woeful lack of disinfect
ants, of cotton for bandages, of soap
and even of water, the devoted men
and women of the colony dared tho
deadly germs that infested the Turk
ish army while they nursed thousands
of sick and wounded, whose cause
they hated but whose sufferings they
pitied.
The Germans coulo not share the
simplest trust of their Turkish allies
In this example of Christian charity.
nd when General von Falkenhayn
came he sternly commanded that the
entire colony, regardless of age or
sex, should be driven from home and
deported. The Turkish officers loy
ally stood by the colonists and finally
succeeded in having the deportation
limited to the six American men who
were of military age.
While those six were waiting to be
sent away from their wives and chil
dren to meet, perhaps, an Armenian
fate Falkenhayn and his Germans
themselves found it prudent to leave
in haste, for the British were rapidly
advancing. And the Turks let the
Americans stay. When the Turks also
abandoned the city. All Fouad Pasha.
the sultan's commander, announced
to the colonists: "Tonight we leave
Jerusalem. We have decided not to
take the six Americans a.vay with us,
and we leave you all to care for our
sick and wounded. Toj have not been
serving us; you will not serve the
enemy: you are serving God."
When General Allenby and his Brit
ish troops came, they were greeted
by these soldiers of the cross from
America, who had advanced upon
Jerusalem so many years before and
taken the city, though they marched
without t.rms or banners. On the next
Fourth of July a band of little war
riors, with toy guns and paper hel
mets, paraded along the road that
runs from the Damascus gate bearing
the colors of England and the Stars
and Stripes. They were the children
of the colony, celebrating both the
independence or the United States and
the delivery of the holy city.
Naturally its experience and high
standing in the community make the
colony peculiarly useful to the new
government, with its strange tasks,
and ' various coloi ists have received
important parts in city planning and
in the f'ght against tuberculosis.
Among the newspaper and maga
zine Illustrations of the capture of
Jerusalem, wh'ch were published in
this country, was a picture of the
reception which the colonists gava to
the captor, with General Allenby
standing by the side of a woman of
gentle and handsome presence. This
was Mrs. Spafford, widow of the
founder, who still is spared to grace
the colony.
Most of the original members sleep
now In the American cemetery on a
slope of ML Scopus, but their chil
dren and grandchildren keep alive the
spirit of the pioreers. Within very
recent years there have been ten
weddings among the colonists and 23
births. With the recruits that have
come from the United States Sweden
and other countries, there are, in all.
more than 100 persons in this little
America close by the hoary walls of
Jerusalem, where an American wel
come to an American home with an
American kitchen! gladdens the
heart of an American visitor.