If you would be cheated out of your eyeteeth, come to Jerusalem. Its bazaars are filled with tricksters and traders, and it has its usurers and money changers as in the days of the Saviour. The people prey upon the pilgrims and tourists. Their main object is to get gain, and they work the holiness of the Holy City for all it is worth. They sell candles which if burnt in the Church of the Sepulchre will carry away your sins in their smoke; and rosaries upon which if you count your prayers you may be sure of their ascending to heaven.
The rosary business is a big factor in Jerusalem. The beads are cut out in great quantities at Bethlehem and are shipped abroad by the millions. They are sent to the Holy City for sale, and there are some stores which have nothing else except perhaps crucifixes and collection plates.
The merchants who sell rosaries are often great rascals. I know one, a Bethlehemite, who has just received a lesson which he is not likely soon to forget. The man’s rosary store is situated down Christian Street, not far from the place where you turn in to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. His lesson came from a Jesuit priest, who lives in Chicago, and who is just now starting home. The holy father had come into the shop to buy some rosaries to carry back to his friends. He had picked out a half-dozen beautiful ones, and had paid the price without bargaining. As the storekeeper wrapped up his purchase, the priest looked at him out of the tail of his eye and saw him slip under the counter the rosaries selected and put some cheaper ones in their place. The Jesuit said nothing, but he took up several beautiful carvings representing the Crucifixion and Ascension, each of which was worth about twice as much as the rosaries he had chosen. Handing these to the man, he told him to wrap them up. This being done, he took both parcels and started out of the store. The Bethlehemite merchant ran after him, and told him he had not paid for the carvings. The father replied:
“My friend, I saw you change those rosaries and give me the cheaper ones, and you may consider this a judgment of God upon you for cheating. I shall keep these carvings, and if you do not immediately return to your store I will report you to the Mohammedan courts.”
The man, seeing he was caught, let the priest go.
Another large business is the selling of candles. Jerusalem is full of shrines, and the pilgrims buy candles to burn at the holy places. They set them up at the score or more sacred spots in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and at the stations along the Via Dolorosa where Christ walked on His way to Golgotha. They carry them to the Mount of Olives and to the Garden of Gethsemane. Some buy several candles for each shrine, and the richer purchase some of enormous size and many colours. The candle business is especially brisk at Easter time.
Bethlehem maids are the prettiest in all Palestine. They bring fresh vegetables into Jerusalem each day and sell them in the markets
The rosaries sold by the bushel in Jerusalem are made in Bethlehem of carved olive wood and of mother-of-pearl from the United States. Besides the thousands sold to tourists quantities are exported every year