The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1909-12-09

+ho; % d amazement of the beholders, who sank on
~ w wr;thad T. II serpent obeyed. Then, drawing away,
to death. 'o Ii snl'eleo
arse, said the child, laying his soft hand on the
Aace OF the one who seemed dead.
A moment passed. Those nearby ,oo1od =. no.4h
lessly' linen the face of the dead boy broke into a
smile, as though he were having pleasant dreams s1'o and
he opened his eyes. Oo""'' I'LL
1t is related in the Arabic Gospel of the Infancy +hot
aiterward the boy, Simon zelotes, became one Of the
disciples of Jesus. 0 '" LILO
the four gospels tell us comparatively little. It was
natural, therefore,, that about this unknown existence
or the Adorable Child the Christians of the early church
ueeply pondered and that the rich imaginations of me-
d1eval times should have woven a vesture Of tradition.
airy lore. N''lon
The holy family returned from Egypt when Jesus q
Ola enough to walk. In many Of the old pictures we
see the Divine Child leading a mule or clinging close
to his mother. OF that early life in the land of the Pyr-
amlds, TOO, early tradition has woven a pleasing fabric
of legends.
Among the oldest of these is the ancient belief that
whenever the blessed Mary placed the clothing of the
bloom.
Another is that when the child wandered into the for
est, where lions and panthers and all manner of wild
beasts lived, they came forth to do him homage.
Still another, that, during the flight from Bethlehem.
when Herod pursued them, mountains opened to receive
Joseph and Mary and the holy babe into a secure ref
uge; that on hot days, as they reposed under trees, the
boughs bent over to shield them from the sun, and that
as they passed along flowers sprang up in their path.
way from the arid sand, and that the barren desert
bloomed where they passed it.
1t is told that when they journeyed through a forest
all the trees bowed low in worship of the Holy One that
passed by, and that only one tree-the aspen-held
aloof, proud and scornful. 1t is also related that the
babe gazed upon the tree and that, overcome with fer.
ror, it began to tremble, and has trembled ever since.
S Sssn $ss 9ss; ;s2n st tSs y sssst :sa x tsssi pure:
But see, he cast one look upon the tree,
Struck to the heart, she trembled evermore.
1t is also told that when the holy family came in
sight of the sphinx the great beast told the eternal Sc
cret, and as they passed the temples the old gods fell
from their thrones.
And, coming nigh to On,
Where stands the house of Ra, its mighty god,
Gut in black porphyry, prodigious, feared,
Fell from his seat.
Some writer's of old say that the holy child never
went to school. They love to write of his wandering
alone into the forests and talking to the birds and in
sects. And they tell how dumb beasts were endowed
with speech when he was with them.
Many old legends concern the early schooling of the
boy Christ. 1t is related that when a child he was taken
to Zaccheus, who began to try to teach him the alphabet.
my teacher" the marvellous boy is said to have
uttered, thou wouldst teach me, but I shall teach thee"
And then, while the old man listened, thunderstruck.
he repeated an alphabet which the other had never