The Reverend David Van Horne and Pilgrimage Diaries for Young Americans


During the decades following the Civil War, many Americans, moved by their religious convictions and interest in the lands of the Scriptures, traveled to the Holy Land. Many of these travelers chose to chronicle their journeys, and many books about the Holy Land were published during this period. Some of these books were aimed at young readers in an attempt to spark their interest in the Holy Land and Christianity. This was a period of great change in American society, and the face of religious life in America reflected these changes. The shift from a rural to an urban society, the growth of public schools, the emergence of the Social Gospel and a growing secularism in childrens' literature were all powerful factors effecting and challenging the traditional frameworks of the Church establishment in America.
One traveler to he Holy Land during this period of change was the Reverend David Van Horne. He recorded his experiences and his impressions of his journey in a book, Tent and Saddle Life in the Holy Land, which was published in 1885. Like many other authors who wrote such accounts, Van Horne was attempting to spark the interest of young readers in the Holy Land and in Christianity to counter the affects of secularization in American society. In spite of his best efforts, however, Van Horne's work falls short of other childrens' literature being published at the time, and even of other literature about the same subject.
It is the intent of this paper to focus on several aspects of Van Horne's writing to show how he attempted to promote interest among young readers and to show that, all things considered, he did not do a very good job of it.

David Van Horne D.D., L.L. D.(1837-1930) was born December 11, 1837 on the Van Horne homestead near Amsterdam, New York. His parents were respected members of the Reformed (Dutch) Church. They made sure their son received a good educated before attending college. He graduated from Union College in Schenectady, New York in 1864, and later from the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Church at New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1867. He then became a pastor in Greenwich, New York. Fom 1879 to 1888, he served as the pastor of the First (Race Street) Reformed Church in Philadelphia . In 1888, he became president and professor of Systematic theology at the Heidelberg Theological Seminary. The Heidelberg Seminary merged with the Ursinus School of Theology to form the Central Theological Seminary at Dayton, Ohio in 1907. Van Horne became the first president of this school. He served as president until 1912. In 1916, he resigned his professorship and returned to Amsterdam, New York where he lived until his death on April 12, 1930.
Van Horne dedicated his life to his church. He served as president of the General Synod of the Reformed Church from 1878 to 1881, and acted as president of the Board of Foreign Missions from 1878 to 1888. This was the period of time in which he traveled to the Holy Land.
He also served as editor of the Reformed Church Messenger, a periodical which represented the Eastern Synod . He contributed a number of articles to the Messenger and other publications. In addition, Van Horne wrote seven books, all of which dealt with the Reformed Church and other aspects of Christianity.<(1)
Van Horne traveled to the Holy Land in the early 1880's in order, he writes, to add to existing knowledge about the "...country once trodden by the patriarchs, judges, kings and prophets, and by the Savior Himself....." (2) Originally, Van Horne was to have traveled as part of a larger group, but rumors of plague along the Black Sea caused several of the tour participants to cancel their trips, and Van Horne wound up traveling initially with two other clergymen. This resulted in an abundance of supplies and mounts, and created opportunities for "..little excursions aside from the main lines of travel.."(3)
After landing at Jaffa, Horne's group followed a route taken by many travelers of that time. They traveled to Jerusalem, spent some days exploring the sites of the City and its environs, then proceeded to the Dead Sea, followed the Jordan River north, through Nazareth to the Sea of Galilee. During this time, Van Horne apparently kept a diary or journal of his experiences, which he later developed into his book, Tent and Saddle Life in the Holy Land . He made no mention in the book of where he embarked from to reach Jaffa. He also referred to his destination after the Sea of Galilee only in passing. In addition, he made no specific reference to the dates or the year of his journey.

Van Horne's intent, in publishing Tent and Saddle Life , was to "shed light on the teachings of Scriptures, and thus, as by work on a grand mosaic, the picture of the land is to be gradually completed." (4) Secondly, he sought to include the more colorful aspects of tent and saddle life, camp experiences, and descriptions of the local people in order to stimulate the interest of young readers.(5) His book also included sixty-four illustrations provided by the publisher to further the appeal of the book to young readers. Whether or not Tent and Saddle Life in the Holy Land was actually very inspiring to young people is questionable.
The book was published by the American Sunday School Union (ASSU) of Philadelphia in 1885, with a second edition released in 1886. The ASSU was founded in 1824, to provide works for religious education.(6) The self-expressed intention of the ASSU was to "spread the knowledge of the Heavenly Truth" and to develop an interest in reading that would; lead the young to "more instructive volumes".(7) Religious instruction was considered by the ASSU to be of paramount importance and was often heavy-handed. The Christian doctrine expounded in these works stressed obedience to God, to the Scriptures, to parents and to the One True Christian Faith. (8) An excellent example of the style and content of ASSU publications for children can be found in the book Uncle Austin and His Nephews, written by James Waddel and published by the ASSU in 1838. The book uses the format of questions and answers between two young boys and their learned uncle. At one point in the book, Uncle Austin conveys a lesson on eastern manners:

"Observe it is not my purpose to merely amuse you but to impress on your minds this principle; that a knowledge of the manners and customs of the East throws great light upon the scriptures." (9)
It is important to remember that children's literature in America during the first part of the nineteenth century was mostly religious in nature. Children were considered to be small adults. Juvenile literature was written to express and promote moral values. Imaginative literature was considered "frivolous and unsuitable for young minds." (10) The status of juvenile literature began to change in the later decades of the nineteenth century. With the growing number of public schools and secondary schools, juvenile literature in America started to take a more secular turn. At this time, stories were being created to entertain as well as to instruct. (11) This change began to make itself evident in the 1860's and '70's. Books like Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland (1865) and Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain (1876) were both imaginative and popular with the reading public. Carroll created a whimsical fantasy filled with imaginative characters and situations, (12) while Twain's work presented characters that were often dishonest, picaresque and irreligious.(13) In addition, dime novels became exceedingly popular with young readers in the late nineteenth century. These books, many of which took place on the American frontier, described and embellished the exploits of real people such as Wild Bill Hickock, Billy the Kid and Buffalo Bill Cody, to the point of fictionalizing them. Such books, with their romantic heroes and exotic and exciting settings created stiff competition for religious writers like Van Horne. In an attempt to counter this competition, other religious writers, such as Hezekiah Butterworth, Robert Morse and Thomas Knox, wrote travel books about the Holy Land designed to appeal to young readers by providing exciting and informative descriptions rather than religious exhortations.
Readers of religious literature were generally better educated and had more sophisticated tastes than those whose reading was limited to dime novels. (14) The task of appealing to these more sophisticated readers may have been high on Van Horne's list of priorities when he wrote Tent and Saddle Life. From his landing at Jaffa to his departure through the Valley of Huleh, he chose details of the journey and of the people that he hoped would interest youthful readers. He attempted to paint a colorful portrait of the Holy Land and the people who lived there.
Because he and his companions were part of a tour, they traveled with guides and servants, and, when they left Jerusalem, their party was joined by nine other travelers. His descriptions of the Muslim and Jewish people of the area and their customs and cultures were respectful and intended to be colorful. However, though he speaks respectfully of these natives, he does so with a judgmental tone. His disdain for Muslim dress, customs and religion often shows in his writing. (15) His description of the Passover Feast in Jerusalem is typical of how Van Horne observed the Jews living in the Holy Land. As with the Muslims, he was respectful of the Jewish traditions and religion, and careful not to show derision, though his tone had a note of condescension to it. This attitude also extended to local Christians. While traveling from Baca, the group is visited by an English educated Palestinian Christian named El Karey. Van Horne is impressed by El Karey's discussion of the Islamic faith and his discussion of Jacob's Well. Van Horne was equally impressed with El Karey's delivery of the discussion, referring to it as; "Oriental ease and deliberation." As El Karey
departed, Van Horne remarks to himself that he had enjoyed "an original Arabian night's entertainment. (16) Van Horne's tone of superior Christian enlightenment was very typical of Western Christians of the time in general, and of those traveling in the Holy Land in particular. These tones and attitudes stemmed from the belief that both Christianity and the West were superior to all other religions, lifestyles and cultures. This attitude was prevalent at that period of time, and the work of these writers reflected these societal mores. Books written at this time, including Van Horne's work, commonly referred to Mohammed as the false prophet. Some of the juvenile writers of the time went so far as to include demeaning descriptions of race, physical characteristics, and of course religion. (17)
Travelers to the Holy Land brought with them prejudices and preconceptions and sought for themselves a Holy Land that fit their particular notions of what it should be. As Mark Twain put it:
̉Honest as these men's intentions may have been, they were full of partialities and prejudices, they entered the country with their verdicts already prepared... (18)
Safety was a concern for Van Horne's party, as for all travelers in the area at that time. Upon leaving Jerusalem, his guides had employed the services of two "sheiks". These sheiks made their living escorting travelers through the Holy Land. Van Horne described their war like qualities and excellent horsemanship skills. He described the following incident:

"We were startled at the sight of an armed Arab horseman coming over the crest of a hill at full gallop with his long lance set as if prepared for a hostile engagement. Our sheik put the spurs to his black charger, and dashed off to meet the stranger. The two riders continued their course straight as an arrow, with unslackened speed until within a few yards of meeting when one of them put his hand by way of salute and both instantly reined in their steeds in a way that nearly threw them back upon their haunches. Then followed hand shaking and other demonstrations of friendship as their horses walked quietly onward side by side as if to accommodate their riders during conversation. Presently the stranger set spurs to his steed and disappeared down theslope of the Wady Kelt." (19)

Whether the would-be assailant was discouraged by the sheik's bravery, or if they were simply acquaintances is left to the reader's imagination. The only time Van Horne conveyed any real feelings of possible danger was after an incident at Tell El Kady, a small mountain village. The group's head dragoman (translator and guide) killed a dog with a tin mallet. The dog was apparently the property of the son of the village sheik. The sheik's son appeared with a group of "apparent desperados" and a quarrel ensued which lasted well into the night. Van Horne's group was warned not to leave the camp. Van Horne himself was accosted by a group of men while returning from the river. These men "menaced" him with their fists and "muttered vengeful Arabic" at him, which he did not understand. The incident was settled the next morning with the payment of six francs for the dog. (20) While there were occasional attacks upon travelers during this period, many writers exaggerated the actual danger. Writers such as Robert Morris who traveled the Holy Land in 1868 referred to these dangers as "bosh" and "noisy contests" for baksheesh. (21) Van Horne's descriptions suggest at least a degree of danger in travel through the Holy Land. To writers competing with dime novelists for a young audience, hints at danger, real or imagined, would be a useful tool for attracting their attention.
However, the majority of Tent and Saddle Life is dedicated to descriptions of the physical aspects of the places that Van Horne visited and his attempts to relate them to the Scriptures. Van Horne often recounted stories from the Old Testament in reference to the sites that he visited . While traveling toward Jerusalem, he stood at the Vale of Ajalon and looking toward ancient Philistine, remarked that David had probably acquired the stones that slew Goliath from the bed of that watercourse. (22) At the tomb of Rachel, Van Horne expressed to his readers his awe and reverence at "...traveling in the footsteps of the patriarchs... and being at "the scene of one of Isreal's heaviest sorrows." (23) This was written in order to impress on his readers, young and old, the sacred importance and reverence of the sights he was visiting. This is a small part of the way in which Van Horne attempted to bring the Old Testament to life for his readers. By relating his experiences to the familiar and beloved bible stories, he hoped to bring the Scriptures to life for young readers. He associated the geographical features to popular scripture stories, never allowing their religious significance to escape the reader.
Van Horne wrote extensively on the travels of Christ with serious and reverent tone. He again associated geography with Scripture, speculating on possible sites where Jesus could have spoken and taught. Like many of the travelers of this time, he was involved in the reading and writing of sacred geography which was, according to David Obenzinger, "a complex interplay of inspiration upon sacred ground that would begin with the imprint of the travelers first footfall and would extend in several directions." (24) An example of this sacred geography would be Van Horne often reminding his readers that he was standing where Jesus stood, and speculating about how the land must look much the same as it did when Jesus stood there.
The inspiration Van Horne drew from Jerusalem came from both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. When he wrote of the size and population of Jerusalem, he imparted a lesson that "precious things" should not be valued by population or wealth, but that Jerusalem should be valued for "it's memorable history and sacred associations." (25) Van Horne's description of the city of Jerusalem was, again, very reverent. He described the city simply and factually: for example, his description of the Mosque of Omar:

"the Mosque of Omar is certainly a fine piece of architecture. The windows located well up toward the eaves are set in stained glass, without emblem and are chaste and elegant in coloring and design. The capitols of the columns are finished in gold and the walls are covered with mosaic work of an arabesque pattern. The mosque is not large, but is tastefully built and the dome is graceful, symmetrical and a fitting crown to the whole structure." (26)

An equally factual description is that of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher: "Upon entering, the visitor finds himself in a large central auditorium in the middle of which is the marble Chapel of Mausdeum. Covering the Sacred Sepulcher, and around which are the private chapels of Latin, Greek and Armenian churches." (27)
Keeping his young adventurer in mind, Van Horne used simple descriptions. However, he also used Biblical vocabulary that was fairly advanced. This was a common occurrence in juvenile literature of the times. Van Horne wrote of the Jaffa gate and the speech Jesus made at this place about the needle's eye and the entrance to heaven. The needle's eye is actually a small pedestrian gate at the base of the larger gate. Van Horne remarked that "it would be difficult indeed for a camel to pass through this aperture, though not impossible. The scripture reference was well elucidated by the actual sight." (28) Again Van Horne attempted to teach scripture in hopes that his young adventurers would find renewed interest in reading the Bible, because of the references made.
The time in which Van Horne traveled to Palestine was a time of extensive change in American society, literature and religious life. Churches had begun to take on a more institutionalized form during this period. The movement of the Social Gospel was well underway at this time, and churches, especially in the more urbanized, areas, began to take on a more secular role, building libraries, lecture halls, gymnasiums and hospitals. The Social Gospel stressed the physical as well as the spiritual needs of the faithful, striving to build and serve communities as well as saving souls. (29) This evangelical zeal extended to the worldwide expression of Christian values, helping to spur travel to the Holy Land on both the personal and missionary levels. This was the climate in which Van Horne worked, traveled and wrote. Yet, in many respects, he seems to have been out of touch with the changing times. He attempted to compete with contemporary writers for the interests of young people, yet his style remained dry and somewhat old-fashioned. In reading the description below of a Jewish Passover Feast, it can be seen that Van Horne's writing style did not differ much from that of James Waddell, cited above, who wrote fifty years earlier: "After this another section of the service was read, describing the plagues of Egypt,the mere mention of which, tainted the unleavened bread to such an extent that a little wine was poured into a dish with water and set outdoors for purification." (30) Compare this passage and the earlier description of the Arab horsemen from Tent and Saddle Life with the following lively and amusing passage from Tom Sawyer :

Tom said to himself that it was not such a hollow world after all. He had discovered a great law of human action without knowing it- namely that, in order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to obtain. If he had been a great and wise philosopher like the writer of this book, he would now have comprehended that work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do, and that play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do. (31)

If van Horne failed either to recognize or to embrace the changes in children's literature, typified by Carroll and Twain, he failed as well in his attempts to make the exotic locales of his book seem interesting or colorful. His judgmental attitude towards the people that he met tainted his descriptions of them. For example,Van Horne described the Palm Sunday services at the Church of the Sepulcher. Although he was respectful of the Catholic, Greek, and Armenian Orthodox services, he did remark that more satisfaction was gained in examining the topography of Jerusalem and the surroundings around the "so-called holy place than men's inventions respecting it" (32)
It is not entirely fair to compare Van Horne's work with that of Twain, who was primarily a writer of fiction. Twain had much greater latitude in expressing his insights and observations about human nature and society than did Van Horne, limited as he was by the ecclesiastical nature of his writing. Other writers traveling and describing the same regions, were also not as limited in scope as Van Horne, and the appeal of their work reflects their wider interests and more liberal attitudes towards other people and cultures. Hezekiah Butterworth, for instance, who wrote the Zig Zag Series for children, was interested in folk literature and lore, and included this material in his books, giving them their chief value and appeal. These books were widely read and very popular, both with children and their parents. (33)
Thomas Knox, writing and traveling in the same areas and at about the same time as Van Horne, was able to include in The Boy Travelers, Egypt and the Holy Land, thorough information that was useful to other travelers bound for Palestine while still appealing to young readers. (34) Robert Morris, author of Youthful Explorers, used humor and invention to hold readers' interest while describing and providing background information. (35)
In contrast to all of the writers mentioned above, Van Horne's style was dry and long winded, not well suited to hold the attention of young readers who were becoming increasingly more sophisticated, as well as more worldly. Books written for children by clergy were on the decrease. In 1876, 47 per cent of all children's book published in America were written by clergy. Twenty years later, this number had declined to 17 per cent and was still dropping. (36) Whether he was aware of it or not, the Reverend Van Horne faced stiff and skillful competition for the minds of his young audience.
In spite of the fact that it went into two editions, Tent and Saddle Life in the Holy Land was probably not widely read. It may have been used in Sunday School classes or for religious instruction, as were many ASSU publications, but it certainly never reached as wide an audience as Van Horne probably hoped it would. Compared to other writers of his time, Van Horne had a narrow and parochial viewpoint that expressed itself in his writings. In an increasingly secularized society, this parochialism limited the appeal of his work to young readers. Whether he knew it or not, he was something of an anachronism, struggling against a growing trend in literature and in American society as a whole. The influence of the church was fading. In the face of the growing waves of immigration, the closing of the frontier and the declining ruralization of America, the New England Puritanism that Van Horne personified had begun to decline as the moral foundation of this country.
Although he did provide some information that would be of use to travelers in Palestine, and he did a competent job of tying scriptures to the places that he visited, he tended to attach or perpetuate stereotypical characteristics to the people and religions of the Levant. While he was careful to mask it, his disdain for the people he encountered flavored his work and made it impossible for him to accept and describe them as genuine human beings. He chose to mix small adventures with the teachings of the Scriptures but failed to make these adventures as interesting or exotic as they could have been. In comparison to other publications of the time for young readers, his work seems at times to be pedantic and over bearing at worst, and dry and one-dimensional at best.
Van Horne may have been aware of the trends in childrens' literature. It is possible that he even saw himself as battling against them, This may have been part of his motivation in writing Tent and Saddle Life in the Holy Land. If so, he failed to make any great contribution to stemming the tide. Even if he had no such great aspirations, his book had little impact on literature about the Holy Land or on childrens' literature in general.

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Notes (1) Guy P Beady, . The Fathers of the Reformed Church . Volume 11. (Presented to the Historical Society of the Evangelical and Reformed Church. 1956.), 86-88

(2) DavidVan Horne, Tent and Saddle Life in the Holy Land . (Philadelphia: The American Sunday School Union, 1885.), 3

( 3) Ibid.

(4) Ibid 4

(5) Ibid

(6) Joseph:Shadur, Young Travelers to Jerusalem: An Annotated Survey of American and English Juvenile Literature on the Holy Land 1785-1940 . (Ramat Gan, Israel: The Ingeborg Rennnert Center for Jerusalem Studies Bar Ilan University, 1999.), 7

(7) Mary Lystad ,From Dr. mather to Dr. seuss:200 years of American books for children (Boston Schenkman publishing co. 1980.) , 84

(8) Ibid

(9) James Waddell, Uncle Austin and His Nephews, or, The Scripture Guide . (Philadelphia; The American Sunday School Union. 1838.), 187.

(10) Shadur, Joseph: Young Travelers to Jerusalem, 1

(11) Zena.Sutherland, and May Hill Arbuthnot, Children and Books . Seventh Edition. (Glenview, Illinois. Scott Foreman and Company. 1986.), 74-75

(12) Ibid

.
(13) Mary Lystad ,From Dr. Mather to Dr. Seuss, 112

(14) Joseph Shadur, Young Travelers to Jerusalem, 60

(15) David Van Horne,. Tent and Saddle Life , 127-29

16 DavidVan Horne, Tent and Saddle Life in the Holy Land , 214-16

(17) Joseph Shadur, Young Travelers to Jerusalem, 69-71


(18) Joseph Shadur, Young Travelers to Jerusalem, 66 quoting Mark Twian, The Innocents Abroad (Hartford,American Publishing Co.1869) ,511


(19) David Van Horne, Tent and Saddle Life in the Holy Land , 351

(20) Ibid, 343

(21) Joseph Shadur, Young Travelers to Jerusalem, 39

(22) David Van Horne, Tent and Saddle Life in the Holy Land , 41.

(23) Ibid, 83

(24) Hilton Obenzinger, American Palestine:Melville, Twain and the Holy Land Mania . (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999.), 40.

(25) David Van Horne, Tent and Saddle Life , 57.

(26) Ibid, 65.

(27) Ibid , 123.

(28) Ibid, 160.

(29) George BrownTindall, . David E Shi, . America: A Narrative History, Third Edition . ( New York and London: WW Norton and Company, Inc. 1992.), 848-849

(30) David Van Horne, Tent and Saddle Life , 142

(31) Mary Lystad , From Dr. Mather to Dr. Seuss , 124 quoting Mark Twian Tom Sawyer ,20

(32) Mary Lystad , From Dr. Mather to Dr. Seuss , 127-29.

(33) Cornelia Meigs, Anne Thaxter Eton,Elizabeth Nesbitt, and Ruth Hill Viguers A Criical History of Childrens Literature: A Survey of Children's Books in English, Prepared in Four Parts under the Editorship of Cornlelia Meigs (London: MacMillan, 1969), 239

(34) Ibid. 240

(35) Joseph Shadur, Young Travelers to Jerusalem, 55

(36) Mary Lystad ,From Dr. Mather to Dr. Seuss, 119, 124

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