The Washington critic., 1888-04-21

the rising sun, and looking the very
picture of
A PILGRIM COME 20 GRIEF.
Then he arose majestically, fastened
the saddle securely round his horse by
means of his knife lanyard, mounted
again, and, after threatening he would
"bust' some "feller's ed" who was
laughing at him, galloped away. The
poor fellows home is aloft now, hope.
We laid him in wanderers grave, Far
from the place of his birth, and in
cline where snow is unknowp--Cape
Palmas, west coast of Africa. His death
was occasioned by q fall, but he fell on
the deck of ship, in the line of duty,
and died like the true sailor he was.
AT BETHLEHEM.
A ride of an hour and a.half
brought us to the square which fronts
the Church of the Nativity. Here.
we dismouutcd and were immediately
surrounded by as measly a gang of
mendcants as ever laid toplights on.
The inhabitants of Bethlehem are, /
believe, wholly Christian. But they
are not ideal Christians. On the con-
trary, for transcendental humbuggcry,
they Click all creation" On the
strength of q notice they had received
of our coming, they had transformed
the square into huge groggery and
rigged every conceivable purchase
with the view of making it a sue
cess. Bottles Of cognac, whisky, wine
and mastic, which had probably lain
by for centuries were arrayed pha-
lanx-like upon tables and uncorked
on our arrival their contents poured
into glasses and offered for sale,
piastre at a time. Elbowing our way
through the crowd as best we could
we entered the church, and in u few
minutes experienced the supreme
satisfaction of touching the manger
in which, II is believed, the Redeemer
of the world lay on the night Of his
birth.
THE CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY,
erected in the first instance by the
Empress Helena, has been frequently
restored, and is to-day in good state
of preservation. Although Latins,
Greeks and Armenians worship there,
it is under the direct protection Of the
Austrian Government, who appro-
pirate annually large sum of money
for its support. 1t appears most
shapeless mass of architecture from a
| little distance, but ON entering, as in
the case Of the Church of the Holy
| Sepulchre, the eye becomes confused
with an array of magniiicence.
| A double row of marble Corinthian
pillars and arabesque arches, forming
the aisles, several very fine mosaic
| pictures Of saints, and richly deco
rated altar and several shrines form
the principal features of the church
proper. On descending some steps
and passing through an underground
passage the cave and
TOMB OF ST. JEROME
are shown. st. Jerome lived between
the years 342 and 420 A. D., and il
was in this cave, according to Ma
homet, that he translated the Scrip
lures from Hebrew into Latin and
received several visits from the Angel
! Gabriel while so engaged. To the
right of this is another cave in which,
Mahonet said, Eusebius dwelt whilst
writing his famous history of the
world. Eusebius was also the author
of the Nicene creed, and, withal, the
most learned Christian writer OF
antiquity. A few steps further are
the tombs of Paul and Sophia,
and near these is a shrine erected
over the spot on which it is said the
soldiers Of Ierod butchered the male
infants of Bethlehem. / always had
an idea that this proceeding was car
ried on secretly, and that the soldiers
went from house to house in order tC
accomplish their work. Mahomet
however, declared this was not so; hC
knew, of a verify, he said, that they
This may be information for some
persons. Not far from here is ais,
shown the spot where Joseph stooC
when the angel Gabriel warned hin
to flee into Egypt and take with hin
his wife and son. Entering the
GRoTro OF THE NATIVITY,
a cave some twenty feet long by tel
broad, lined with polished marble an'
lit up with thirty on forty beautiful.
ornamented gold and silver lamps, W
were led to gorgeously decoratet
sarcophagus, and informed ii was tn
manger in which Jesus laid. A silye
star is embedded over the spot OF
which it is supposed His head lay
The smell of incense is so very disa
greoable that it is difficult to remail
long. One glance and we felt per
fectly satisfied and were ready to quit
You imagine you are well under
ground when you are standing in tn
gfotto, and all the explanations frou
here to the planet Uranus woul,
hardly serve to make you think other
wise.
Bethlehem is also famous rs bein
t the birthplace Of David MS well as tn
place where he was inaugurated an
annointed King of Israel by tn
prophet Samuel. We did not visi
any place save the "Church Of th
Nativity" although had we wishe
Mahomet would no doubt have show
us the exact spots whereon the tw
/ events mentioned occurred.
. We remained in Bethlehem abou
two hours and during that time pun
chased many olive wood and peaI
relics which are there largely manu-
facturod Towards meridian W
mounted and returned TO Jerusalem,
At 1 p. IN. we sat down to our las
dinner in the Mediterranean Hote
Our leave of absence had almost eN
pired and it behooved us to sci ont q
once for JaiIa and reioin our shil
With many hearty handshakes an
three loud huTrahs we took leave {
our Consul, Mahomet, and the liLtl
, manager; and ere the sun had set "
had crossed hill, and Jerusalem va
3 lost to view,
No Further Use For IL.
"lIi, there, sir" shouted FloriC
landlord to departing guest who WI