A Steep Mountain—Rough Base—Beautiful Summit—Russian Pilgrims—Journey up Mountain—Life’s Hill—Courage in Heart—Marriage Altar—Long Pilgrimage—Star of Hope. NEAR the north end of the Dead Sea, there rises up, towards the west, a mountain steep and high. The base of this mountain is hideously rough. Chasms and pitfalls are numerous. Loose rocks and boulders are scattered promiscuously around, while thorns, thistles, and cactus plants everywhere abound. Higher up the mountain there are not so many pitfalls; the rocks and boulders are fewer and smaller, and the thorns and thistles are by no means so numerous. Here is a sprig of growing grass, and yonder is a cluster of opening flowers. Straggling olive trees are occasionally seen. In climbing the mountain, one finds that the roughness gradually ceases, while the grass, flowers and trees gradually increase respectively in freshness, fragrance and foliage. Continuing the ascent, the atmosphere becomes purer, the prospect grows broader, and the vision is increasingly beautiful. Standing in the valley, I see two Russian pilgrims, husband and wife, climbing this mountain. They are all bowed down beneath the weight of three score years and ten; their heads are white with the accumulated frosts of seventy winters. Their steps are slow and feeble, but on and up they go. Now they are side by side; and now the husband goes in front to remove, as best he can, the rocks and boulders, the thorns and thistles, from his wife’s pathway. See, they both stop! What is the matter? They have come to a boulder that they can not well surmount. What is to be done? The wife puts her hand under the husband’s elbow, and pushes him up on the rock. Then he reaches back, and, catching hold of her hand, pulls her up. Again he removes the rocks and thorns from the wife’s pathway. Again she helps him over some rough place, and he draws her up after him. Now he goes out to the right and left of the path, and plucks flowers for his companion. Yonder they stand, high on the mountain side, leaning on a rock, and resting underneath an olive tree. They enjoy the pure air and the wide expanse of vision. They talk about the hardships they have undergone, and the difficulties they have encountered. They look back whence they have come, and then turn their faces and their footsteps on towards Jerusalem, whither they are going.