Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1890-12-29
TFRRIBLE JOTRNEY.

from lantern or candle. The three ar
rived here from Bethlehem, having
crossed the awful desert,
a TERRIBLE JOURNEY.
On the Mediterranean steamer going
from Athens to Alexandria [ met the
eminent scholar and t~heologian, DR..
Lansing. who for thirty-five years has
been = resident of Cairo, and he told
me that he had been all over the road
that the three fugitives took from Beth
lehem to Egypt. He says it is a desert
way, and that the forced journey Of the
infant Christ must have been a terrible
Journey. Going up from Egypt, Dr..
Lansing met people from Bethlehem,
their tongues swollen and hanging out
from the inflammation of thirst, and
although his party had but one goat
skin of water left. and that was i'm
portant for themselves, he was so
moved with the spectacle of thirst in
these poor pilgrims that, though it ex-
cited the indignation Of his fellow trav-
elers. he gave water to the strangers.
Over this dreadful route Joseph and
Mary started for this land of Egypt.
No time to make much preparation.
Herod was after them, and what were
these peasants before an irate king?
Joseph, the husband and father, one
night sprang up from his mattress in
great alarm, the beads Of sweat on his
forehead and his whole frame quak-
ing. He had dreamed of massacres of
his wife and babe. They must be off,
that night, right away Mary put up
a few things hastily, and Joseph
brought to the door the beast of bur
den. and helped his wife and child to
mount. Why, those loaves of bread
are not enough; those bottles of water
will not last for such a long way. But
there is no time to get anything more.
Out and on. GOod-by to the dear
home they expect never again to see.
Their hearts break. 1t does not need
that ours be a big house in order to
make US sorry to leave it.
Over the hills and down through the
deep gorge they urge their way. By
Hebron. by GAIA, through hot sand.
under a blistering sum-, the babe crying,
the mother faint, the father exhausted.
How slowly the days and weeks passi
Will the weary three ever reach the
banks of the Nile? VIII they ever see
Cairo? Will the desert eve end?
When at last they o the line beyond
which old Herod has no right to pur-
sue, their Joy is unbounded. Free at
lastl Let them dismount and rest.
Now they resume their way with less
anxiety. They will find a place some
where for shelter and the earning of
their bread. Here they are at Cairo,
Egypt.
FROM A barn TO A CELLAR.
They wind through the crooked
streets, which are about ten feet wide,
and enter the humble house where |
have been today. But the terminus of
the Journey of these three fugitives was
not as humble as their starting point at
Bethlehem. If that journey across the
desert ended in a cellar it started from
a barn. Everything humble around
that barn, but everything glorious
overhead. Christ's advent was in the
hosiery called the house of Chin Ham
the night with diamond finger point
ingdown to the place; the door OF heaveI
set wide open to look out; from orches
trail batons of light dripping the
~oratorios of the Messiah; ON lowest
doorstep of heaven the Ministries o.
God discoursing of glory and good will
Soon after the white bearded astrolo
cists kneel. and from leathern pouch
chink the shekels, and from open sacks
exha!e the f-rankincense and rustic out
the bundles Of myrrh. The loosened
star, the escaped doxology of celes-
tails, the chill December night ahush
with May morn, our world a lost star,
and another star rushing down the sky
that night to beckon the wanderer
home again. shall yet make all nations
keep Christmas.
Are there no new lessons from the
story not yet hackneyed by oft repeat
al? Oh, yes. Know, in the first place
it was a sidereal appearance that lee
the way. Why not a black cloud IL
the shape of a hand or finger pointing
down to the sacred birthplace? A clouC
means trouble, and the world had hao
trouble enough. Why not a shaft O
lightning ~quivering and flashing anc
striking down to the sacred birthplace
Lightning means destruction, a shat
tering and consuming power, and thu
world wanted no more destruction.
THE STAR OF THE EAST.
But it was a star, and that mean
JOY, that ean hope, that means goot
cheer, that means ascendancy. Astar
That mean creative power, for did no
the morning stars sing together whel
the portfolio of the worlds was opened
A starl That means defense, for Oil
O the stars fight in their course
against Sisera and for the Lords people
a starl That means brilliant confmu
, ance, for are not the righteous to hin
e as the stars forever and ever? A stan
That means the opening of eternal JOY
The day star in the heart. The morn
inc star of the Rndaamar