The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-12-25

room thirty feet long said MacKay. "A
fire blaZed at either end. The men,
dressed in coarse linen sacks. with holes
cut for the arms, and broad belt of
braided rattan, in which was stuck a
long crooked sharp-ponted knife, stood
around one fire while the women, with
much the same dress save that in add
tiOn they had many rings of brass around
their arms and limbs and innumera bic or
naments on their bodies, squatted around
the other fire.
so, oncthat Christmas night, sat
there with these rude people, the room
lighted by the fires and by candles made
from the heart of the fir tree. The men
smoked their bamboo pipes. while the wO-
men were busy threadmaking on curious
little machines OF their OWE and all,
men and women, were laughing ami talk
ing merrily and making great noise. 1t
was certainly merry Christmas. and
strange one to me.
After time with the help of the ma
tive converts who had accompanied me on
this dangerous trip. | sang some Christ
mas h,-mnS TO these savage mountain
GERS. who had never seen a white man
before and I spent Christmas evening
trying to explain to them the old, OLD
stor-.' that has been told so often in so
man. lands since the first Christmas
. The savages took great pleasure in the.
singing of the Christmas hymns. and
MacKay and his friends came to no harm
by their bold expedition.
In the Hospital at Beirut.
one Of the most beneficent institutions
at Beirut I'm northern Syria. where Amer
lean warships have had to do police DUTY
so frequently of late is a great hospital
founded long ago by the knights of St
John. and now supported by a German
society.
Tho American medical missionaries CON
nected with the Syrian Protestant college
at Beirut minister TO the patients who
come TO the hospital for treatment and
every year they get up Christmas cele-
bration, which is the first that many of
these patients have seen.
Among the guests of many rationale
I ties. said an American, describing d
( Christmas party he witnessed at this hos
pitaL there SITS an Old man with a long
white beard, a turban on his head a
girdle about his lOins. and a loose, flowing
robe. He is a Mohammedan A month
ago il an American doctor had gone to
I his house this man would have driven
him away for an infidel dog. Now as Dr.
George Post passes by this man seizes
ms hand ana kisses II. Why is this? The
| dog of a doctor gave him the use of his
eyes. He came 90 the hospital blind; this
Christmas day his sight is fully restored.
Next to him is a woman with d long
white veil over her face. She has a little
/ babe in her arms. but the hands are gone.
1 She Is a Drusc woman. In her home in
the mountains she was warming her
stones fell from the roof. fastening her
hands in the fire. They were burned to a
tIlSp- HOf nUSDdnQ divorced her. De-
cause with 20 hands she could do no
work for him. Bet she and her little
babe found refuge at the hospital, and
today she sits before the Christmas Tree
and hears the story of Christmas for the
first time
"On the other side is a man with long
beard and green turban- lie came from
Lebanon. He is the guardian of the sa-
cred tomb of MaCpelah, where lie buried
the bones of Abraham. Isaac and Jacob,
Sarah. Rebecca and Leah If you went
to Hebron. the boys would stone you II
you attempted to go near Macpelah. This
man was blind when he came 10 he hos
pital: now he sees. He would have spat
upon the doctor had the latter gone to
him a month before.
over there is Bedeuin from Palmyra.
He was shot in a quarrel, and the iSnot-
ant native doctor put rags In the wound.
20 death. They brought him from Pal
myra TO Damascus four days journey;
then three days journey more to Beirut.
IL was a CHASTITY wound. but the hospital
doctor was able to heal it,. Now this
wild BedOuin sits calmly and looks at the
Christmas tree and learns what il means
Once his hand was against every man;
now he quietly listens 10 the message OF
peace on earth good will toward men.
There are many more. from Jerusalem,
from Bagdad. from the Euphrates ana
the Tigris, from villa ges in Lebanon. Pal /
estine Cyprus and Asia Minor Each re-
ceives a present perhaps his or her first
Christmas gift-a garment or book or toy
and all receive gingerbread, candy, or /
anges and other good things ftfl
No happier Yuletide festival is cele- |
the Hospital Of thc iSnilists of 81 ro'-1-' +
- Washington Star.