Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1881-12-10
CHRISTMAS!
THE STAR IN THE EAST,
g The Light That ShOne When Christ
Was BOrn.'

"Thc Light That Shone When Chris
Was BOrn.'
What bethlehem fs To-Day-scenes of tn
Sav1ors Birthplace.
S. s. Cox in n. Y. Sun.
The distance from Jerusalem to Beth
lehem is but half dozen miles. We pro
posed to 90 to and from it in a morning
Our vehicle and female French drive
which brought us from Jaffa were retained
for the purpose. Although the road wa
rough and stony, and the streets narrow
we risked the carriage and ignored til,
donkey On the pledge of the guide. Th'
sequel showed that there was some risk, a.
many OF the streets were impossible for .
carriage.
upper aqueduct and over the upper part
of Gihon, and then drive nearly due south.
The bed of the kidrOn, in the deep valley
on our left, pqrsues it's empty way to the
Dead Sea, while on the right and to the
west, along the harizon, in broken and
gray masses lie the mountains of Judah,
shutting out the Mediterranean. Ono
lonely person VIC meet amid the unaccuS
toned path between the stone walls be-
fore VIC reach the direct way to Bethlehem.
lie wears a stove pipe hat. Its strange
ness and awk kwarduess in this land of robe,
fcZ, and turban creates smile. When We
reach tho main road and leave the chill of
evil COUNSEL on our left, We find the way
filled with laden camels. Under tho lash
of our guide these gave tie way, and with
considerable malice both they and their
drivers tumble and tumble about awk
wardly amid the rubble Of the road. The
olives arc thick, perforated, and old, in
the fields, within the stone walls.
"Where," VIC ask of the guide, "do they
get 50 much stone for the walls?" They
are ten feet wide and three high, and, like
the Dutchman's wall of the anccdOte
"when they fall down they are higher than
when they stand up"'
"Why do you ask?' says tho guide !;
"dop't you see the fields are full of
stones?'
"But no one could miss any stones out
of those fields" VIC remarked.
ooh "a few are left over" responded the
guide.
How the hardy olive can find susten-
ance on such "stony ground, is mira
Gle.
We are happy in a breezy day, which
mitigates the iierceness of the sun.
What "a crowd of people now are upon the
road, going to Bethlehem and Hebron !;
and to Beersheba, even unto Rehebcth !!
Nine out of ten of these are upon dOnkcyS
and camels and more than three -ioulthS
have their eyes sore or shaded and these
are Arabs, whose suit is sometimes gay in
color, but generally of stripes, brown and
white, which reminds us of the dress of
foo n
the wearer. They carry the long Dam.
desert and danger. Cactuses, with their
big stocks and leaves, furnish some of the
hedges, and "turn" the animals from the
fields. We meet some, who are blus-eycd
and gOod-eycd, in European dress. These
are Of the German colony, which here
thrives upon the old stony soil and makes
its crops Of grape and grain in their sea
son, or several crops in one season. Some
herds of black and white cattle OF Dutch
breed arc seen picking up quiet ramina-
alton from the Drowned herbagc and the
green leaves left on the trees.
The land is not unlike the dress Of the
Arabs-brown and white. 1t is burnt
with the sun OF the now departing sum-
mer, and white with the lime Of many
summers.
"Ah this is fine land ~ VIC say ironi
cally to the guide.
"Good land 1, guess it is,'' responds
the guide, who is from the state Of
Maine, cor it wouldn't hold up so many
stones and rocks. Good deal Of hcft about
it,
But VIC notice that where water runs
the vineyards of tue Germans; appear, and
the walls have a trim took. Thrift,
TeutOn thy name is thrift! Old olive
roots for fuel, as twisted and rs difficult
to unravcl rs the. pathological roots of our
college days. appear Oh the backs OF null
titudinOus dOnkeys going up to the city,
while going frcm it, for tho terraces, on
the heads Of blue rObcd, tattOOed Arab
females, arc baskets of manure gathered
in Jerusalem. The plain of Repiaim is
spread around us, two miles wide 10y three
long. Here David defeated the Philistines,
and many other associations cluster.
Among them the cave of AdulIam has
been verified, which another Samuel has
described, and the we'll Of Bethlehem,
(Which is by the gate for the water of
which David was athirst, comes i'll for an
explanation from our Biblical gaide.
These, however interesting. must not draw
us aside. We have passed the traditional
IIco ~uoTC JuutS h.tuSCN HihiSCi sihu WIZ
rural abode Of Caiaphas, the High Phi ;st
but these Lebll;e of tradition detract
from tho main Object-Bethlehcm The
we'll of the magi however, is Ole of the
Incidents of the mair object, and a pretty
story is told of it, although it is not rec
orded in the second OF Matthew ; for did
not tho wise men, after leaving the pre-
sence of Herod, here stoop to .lraw water?
Was it not here that the reflection OF the
star which led them was seen in the we'll?
Then We pass the Greek convent of
Elijah, where other stories are told, not
now worth the repetition. But from this
point the cities OF Bethlehem and Jerusa-
lem are visiblc-"twined in mutual being"
birth and death. From this eminent
point, too, can he seen the sugar-loaf
mountain called the Tomb of Herod. 1t is
high and round. 1t is the scene Of a mas
sacrc of FranciscanS but it sinks into
nothinSness, as l1ercd did, compared with
those hc prosecuted, along with that dim
vision. shining hard and blush like steel
twenty-five and more miles away through
avenues of black and gray sun bathed
mountains. That is the Dead Sea. This
is our first glimpse of this famous }abora-
tory and sport of nature. Below and
around is something more attractive to
both eye and memory. 1t is the field of
BOaz and tho scene of that sweet story Of
love.
Ruth and Luke!' cried out the guide.
"Ruth and Boaz, rather" responded,
with pleasant thought, too, of Naomi,
the mother-inlaw, rs We gaze with curious
eye over the rolling bleak and now dry