Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1867-01-08
The Early Home of Jesus.

Four miles south of the strong Greek city OF
Sephoris, hidden away among hills, then cover
ed from the base to the crown with vineyards
and fig trees, laid natural nest or basin of rich
red and white earth, star-hke in shape, but a
mile in width, and wondrously fertile. Along
the sacred and chalky slope ofone of the highest
of these hills spread small and lovely village,
which, in land where every stone seemed to
have a story, is remarkable as having no pub
lie history, and no distinguished native name.
No great road led up to this sunny nook. No
traffic came into it, no legions passed through
it no trade, war, adventure, pleasure, pomp
passed through it, flowing from West to East,
and from East to West, along the Roman road
But the meadows were aglow with wheat and
barley. Near the low ground ran belt of gar
dens, fenced with stones, In which myriads of
green figs, red pomegranates and golden citrons,
rlpened In the summer sun. High up the
slopes, which were lined and planted like the
Rhine at Bingen, hung the vintager's purple
grapes. In the plain, among the corn, and
beneath the fig and mulberry trees, shone dai-
sizes, popies, tulips, lilies and anemones, endless
in their profusion, and brilliant in their dyes.
Low down on the hillside sprang well of
water bubbling plentiful and sweet and above
this fountain of life, in long street, struggling
from the fountain into the synagogue, rose the
homesteads of many shepherds, craftsmen and
vine dressers. Itwas a lovely and humble place,
of which no ruler no historian of Israel had
ever taken notice. No eRachel had been met
and kissed into love at this well; no Ruth had
gathered up the sheaves of barley in yon fields;
no town had been built for observation on this
height; no camp had ever been pitched for
battle in that vale. That one who would be-
come dearer to the fancies Of men than either
Ruth or Rachel, then walked through these
fields drew water at this spring, and passed up
and down the lanes of this hamlet, no seer then
could have surmised The place was more than
obscure. The Arab. may have pitched his
black tent by the well, the magistrates of Sc
phoris must have known the village, but the
hamlet was never mentioned by the Jewish
scribes. In the Bible, in the Talmud, in the
writings Of Josephus, we search in vain for any
record of this sacred place. Like its happy
neighbors, Main and Endor, it was the abode
of husbandmen and oil and vine dressers, whose
lives were spent in the synagogue, the vineyard
and the olive grove, away from the bright Greek
cities and the busy Roman roads. No doubt it
had once been possessed of either an Arab Or a
Hebrew name, but we do not know the name
except in its Hellenic FORM The Greeks call
ed the town Nazaret or Nazareth.
AN EXTRAORDINARY ELOPEMENT.-Th Fife
shire Adcertiser reports an elopement of the
eldest son In one OF the hrSt families OF Fife
shire with his fathers cook The young gen.
tleman had been reared with the greatest care,
and had only returned from Eton last year with
high academic honors. He was destined by his
father as the husband of a young and beautiful
heiresss, to whom he had even paid his address
ses The BRIDE who is buxom brunette, is
by some years older than the bridegroom, and
has been in the family for considerable period
It was discovered that they had departed for
Montrose, whittier the father of the hero fol-
lowed, but only to find them slumbering in each
other arms. So enraged was the old gentle
man that, forgetting all deicacy, he was about
to eject her from the bedroom, when she col
Jared her quondam master, and hurled him
headlong from the apartment. The runaway
son endeavored to explain and pacify his insult
ed parent, when the lady seized her husband,
and, conveying him almost "a ct ornajs back to
the bedroom, locked the door. The young gen
tleInan is entitled to considerable property in
his own right. The pair are holding the honey
moon now at Cheltenham.