When all were quietly and comfortably seated, their father started
reading:
"My dear Cousin,--After a great many adventures and suffering (which I
will write to you about another time) we arrived safely in Jerusalem. To
me, it seemed rather dull after London, but both father and mother shed
tears of joy when they at last arrived in the Holy City. Some people met
us a little way out, for father had written telling them we were coming.
We were almost royally received and heartily welcomed, for very few Jews
come here with their young families.
"We must have looked a sight--you in London could not imagine anything
like our cavalcade! First went Father riding on a mule, with Mother
following on another mule. Mother's saddle was made with pillows, for it
is impossible for a woman to ride for sixteen or eighteen hours without
a soft, comfortable seat.
"You go up high hills, and then down again, imagining every time you go
down that you will topple over and fall over the precipice and be
killed. In fact, your heart is in your mouth every five minutes, so that
by the time you arrive in Jerusalem (which is surrounded by hills) you
are almost too weak to rejoice at the beauty that greets your sight, for
nowhere in the world can, I think, anything be seen more beautiful than
a sunrise over the mountains around Jerusalem.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you that we youngsters were put into baskets on a
camel's back, and how we were shaken! I felt as if I were praying and
shaking all the time, for it seemed as if we could never get to
Jerusalem alive in this way."