The Jasper news., 1907-12-19
.barians al the mountains, To whom
no white nan hSd ever ventufed.

spHr1au8 OIL the cKuOuntdiuby 10 = WuVH
no white Iian had ever ventufed.
yThS fayorife pastime Of these Sav.
AGES was TO cut on the heads of theif
Penemics and decorate their huts With i
them. They had been induIging III
this sport when MacKay drifted into
one of their villages and spent Christ.
mas day with one OF their. chiefs.
"The chiefs home consisted Of one
large room 30 feet long, said MacKay.
"a fre blaxed at either end. The
men, dressed in coarse linen sacks
with holes cut for the arms, and q
broad belt Of braided rattan, in which
was stuck q long, crooked, sharp-point.
cd knife, stood around one Are; while
the women, with much the same dress,
save that In addition they had many
rings OF brass around their arms and
limbs, and innunerable ornaments on
their bodies, sqdatted around the
other flre.
$50, on that Christmas night, / at
there with these rude people, the
room lighted by the fires and BY caif'
dies made from the heart Of the fif
tree. The men smoked theft Bamboo
pipes, while the women were Busy
threadmaking on curious little ma.
chimes Of their own; and all, men and
women, were laughing and talking
merrily and making great noise. 1t
was certainly merry Christmas, and
strange one to me. !,
AFTER time, with the help of the
native converts. who had accompanied
me on this dangerous trip, sang
some Christmas hymns to these saw
age mountaineers, who had never
seen white man before; and I spent
Christmas evening trying to explain to
them the old, old story that has been
| told so often In so many lands since
the first Christmas morning"
The sayages 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 benefcent ifstitu.
| tions at Beirut, In northern Syria,
where American warships have had to
do police duty SO frequently, is great
hospital founded long ago by the
| knights Of st. John, and now support
| ed by a German society.
The American medical missionaries
| connected with the Syrian Protestant
| college at Beirut minister to the pa.
tients who come to the hospital for
treatment and every year they get up
Christmas celebration which is the
| first that many of these patients have
seen.
"Among the guests OF many na-
Ltionalities. said an American. describ-
ing Christmas party he Witnessed
at ,this hospital. there sits an, old
man With a long white beard, a turban
on his head, q girdle about his Joins
and a loose, flowing robe. He 10 a
Mohammedan. A month Ago. II. an
American doctor had gone to iiis
house this man would have driven hin,
away for an infidel dog Now, as Dr.
George Post passes by, this man
seizes his hand and kisses II. Why IL
this? The dog of a doctor gave him
the use OF his eyes. He camA to the
| hospital blind this Christmas day his
sight Is fully restored.
| Next to him is woman with d
long white yeir over her face, She has
| q little babe in, her. arms but the
| hands are gone. she is a. Druse wa.
| man. In her home in the mountaius'
1 she was warming her hands over the
fire when some earth and stones feii,
II =.