The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1902-07-25
SIGHTS IN BETHLEHEM.
The birthplace of the Savior Ii
Marked by Strikingly Beau
tiful Environments,


clean and well-kept town in Palestine,
and the more so because it is Bethle-
hem, place which appeals more
strongly and deeply to the religious
and poetic sentiment than any other
on earth, because it has been the
scene of the most beautiful idyls in
human history; for was it not here
that Ruth CLEANED the fields of Boaz,
and not only won good husband, but
became the mother of long line of
kings. and was it not here that Jacob
laid the body of his. beloved Rachael?
Looking from the walls of the convent,
you can see the home of Jesse, the
sheep, the farm of Boaz, the caves in
which David hid his Saul, the fields in
which the shepherds, abiding keep
ing watch over their focks by night
when they saw the star of Bethlehem,
and the paths by which they APP
preached the stable in which the young
child lay. All this scarcely seems real,
says William E. Curtis, in the Chicago
Record-Herald, but there it is, spread
out before you like an ordinary land
scape, like the views in any ordinary
country, and there are no fakes in
the natural features of Bethlehem.
The landscape is exactly the same this
morning as it was on that memorable
day which Samuel came up from Gil
gal to choose king from among the
chief men of Judea.
According to the legends, the star
fell into a well, and you can see it
there now. The rest is so real, SO
actual, SO tangible that one is tempted
to believe that story, and 1 saw the
star myself, twinkling in the dark
water.
It is a delightful four-mlle drive
from Jerusalem to Bethlehem over a
good road, between picturesque and
sunny landscapes, and every foot Of
the way is filled with historical assoc
Citations. We pass a great hospital
which Sir Moses Montefiore built for
the benefit of the poor of his race, and
the Temple Colony. where German Lu-
| therans from Wurtemburg and Buff
falo have set up a model town as an
example to the inhabitants of the Holy
Land; the Hill of Evil Council; one Of
several trees on which Judas is said
to have hanged himself; the country
house of Caiaphas; the house of Sim
con, who wanted to depart in peace,
because his eyes had seen "thy SAL
vation;" the well at which Joseph
stopped to water his donkey when he
was on his way to Bethlehem; the
Convent of the Cross, which was found
ed by ST. Helena; there is the earth
that nourished the roots that bore
the tree that yielded the timber that
made the cross upon which the Son
of God was crucified." Under the altar
OF the chapel the monks will show you
a hole in the ground where the stump
of the tree once stood, and pilgrims
fall down and worship it.
Strange bands, these pilgrims, par
ticularly the Russians, but there are
many others, and they come from all
the corners of the earth in hunger and
thirst, through frost and heat, beg
ging food on the way and sleeping UNI
der the stars at night Their faith is
mighty, their zeal burning flame, and
their satisfaction intense. Only soul
entirely free from the trammels of the
world can kneel and kiss marble slab
which covers hole from which a tree
is said to have been taken 1000 wears
ago