Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1881-12-29
THE BIRTHPLACE OF JESUS.
BY THEODORE L. CUYLER, D. D.

On the morning of the twenty-eighth
of last April mounted my perverse and
ill-mannered steed at the Pools of Solo
mon for ride to Bethlehem. The Pools
themselves are certainly as old as the
time of Pontius PLATE, and possibly the
portions of them which are hewn from
the solid rock may date back to the days
of Solomon. For the first mile we pick
ed our way over the loose stones beside
the aqueduct which carries the water
of the Pools to Bethlehem. II is about
as wide and deep as an ordinary mill
race in America. Down at our left was
the very small but very fertile vale of
Urtas, with its fruit trees and vegetable
gardens, a sort of oasis of verdure be-
tween two bare limestone declivities.
Far beyond stretched the desolate Val
ley of Etam, toward the Frank Noun
tain and the wilderness of Judea.
As we approached Bethlehem, We
struck into well-cultivated fields, and
the barley was ripening Comely wo-
men passed us on the bridle-path, some
of them wearing veil like that of Ruth,
which is capacious enough to hold "six
measures of barley" During the har-
vest season the farmers sleep in the
fields over night, as they did in the days
of Boaz. 1t is said that they still retain
the salutations mentioned in the Book
of Ruth: "The Lord be with theep' and
"The Lord bless theep AS we rode
through several barley-felds, later in
the day, noticed most striking yerif-
cation of the parable of the sower. The
travelled path was so narrow that some
handfuls of grain from the sewers hand
must have lodged on the beaten track
and been tredden under foot of men and
beasts. There we're several patches of
rank and angry thorns, which had thoT
oughly "choked" out the barley. In the
"good ground" which was fertiliZed by
the wash of lime from the adjacent hills, |
the grain was yielding its twenty or
thirty fold. Agriculturally, limestone |
and water are the salvation of the Pal |
estinian valley and lower hillsides.
can easily credit all that the Bible af-
firms both as TO the fertility and teem-
ing population of the Holy Land in |
those days when reservoirs and cisterns
were on every hilltop and terraces lined |
every declivity.
Bethlehem is the most beautiful and |
thrifty town in modern Palestine, and |
it is the one in which the population is
almost entirely Christian. Mussulmans
are scarce in the city of David. Not
over three hundred are to he found IN a
population of five thousand. Most of
the people belong either to the Latin or
the Greek churches. German Protes-
tants have opened small school, with
thirty or forty pupils. The Bethlehem
ties are an industrious folk, with con-
siderable Yankee skill in the manufac- |
ture of various ornaments and motions"
out of olive-wood, mother-Of pearl, and |
coral. Some of our readers will remem- |
Der the tasteful articles which they had
on sale at the Philadelphia Centennial"
1t is said that they brought back over
seventy thousand dollars in solid cash. |
If Palestine were under British or
French rule for single generation,
there would be several more Bethlehems |
between Dan and BeSrsheba. The de-
testable tyranny of the Sultan is per-
petual nidtdrid.
The sun was blazing down liercely as
we rode through the narrow streets of
Bethlehem, passing several new and
bright-looking buildings, to the Latin
Convent A jolly monk gave us cor
dial reception, permitted us to get good |
rest on the divans of long. cool apart !
ment, and set before us lunch of bread, |
fruits, honey. and bottle of native
wine. which remained unopened. Dud- |
ley Warner says that the wines in that
convent are decidedly calculated to pro-
mote total abstinence.
After lunch the courteous monk led |
us through several passages into the
choir of the celebrated Church of the
Nativity. We descended by flight of