SYRIA: THE LAND LINK OF HISTORY'S CHAIN 



453 



Photograph by Maynard Owen Williams 



A DAILY MEETING OE THE SYRIAN WOMEN'S CEUB AT A WAYSIDE WELL ON THE, 



SAMARIA ROAD 



The well not only furnishes drinking water for the near-by villages ; it is the woman's 

 forum and laundry. While the men gather at the market-place, their wives meet at the 

 spring and discuss the topics of the day. This segregation of the sexes seems strange to 

 Europeans, but the Syrians like it. Most of these women are Christians, but even Moslem 

 peasant women seldom wear the veil. 



down from the upper balcony and is 

 drawn up to the point of the dome already- 

 smoky and hot. The Greek chapel has 

 become a sea of fire. Still the bells ring 

 wildly. The whole church is in flames 

 and the very air quivers with the heat. 



HUMAN CANDLESTICKS AROUND THE 

 SEPUECHER 



The holy fire disappears ; the bells cease 

 ringing. The crowds press toward the 

 one entrance, where in former years so 

 many have been crushed to death. The 

 gray old church belches forth madmen, 

 madmen bathing themselves in hot wax, 

 scorching their hair and chests with the 



flickering candles. The Armenian pro- 

 cession has already cleared a path around 

 the sepulcher and is majestically circling 

 the sacred tomb. The tourists in the 

 galleries light their candles to be carried 

 back to Canterbury or Kokomo, Inver- 

 ness or Cape Town, as souvenirs of a 

 passion play in which thousands of mis- 

 guided actors fill an heroic stage. This 

 is the garden of Nero revised ; a gigantic 

 spectacle where Christians again become 

 living candlesticks. 



There is no comedy in such a display. 

 To the ignorant, this is the fire from God 

 Himself, sent down as a heavenly bless- 

 ing. 



