The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1912-11-27
THE BIRTH OF CHRIST.
VERY INTERESTING ACCOUNT BY
DIR. GLADDEN..

. ~
DIR. GLADDEN..
Which Was Written Especially TO,
the Christmas Number Of the Wo.
mans Home Companion.
In the Christmas Woman's Home
Companion appears an extraordinary
account of the birth of Christ, writ
ten by Washington GLADDEN.. The sto-
ry is told with completeness and re-
ality-just as one might relate the
story of the birth Of Lincoln Or any
other great man.
Joseph and Mary were young pev-
pie who lived in Nazareth Of Galilee
which is sixty miles north of Bethle-
hem. They had to 60 to Bethlehem
because it was the city in which their
family belonged and the Roman en-
peror who was making great census
ir his empire required every family
to be enrolled in it's native place.
So Joseph and Mary had come, IN
the middle of the winter, to this old
town of Bethlehem. 1t was long
Journey for those days and those
roads, far more wearisome than a
trip to Denver or Minneapolis would
be for people on the Hudson or the
Connecticut. If they travelled by the
principal road, as doubtless they did.
we know exactly the route they fol-
lowed-acr0ss the great plain Of Is
draelon, over the mountains Of Sama-
ria and the hill country Of Judea to
the great city OF Jerusalem, then
southwark, about six miles, from tnas
city to Bethlehem.
Now let DR.. GLADDEN. proceed with
his narratives:
whether Joseph and Mary had
ever visited Bethlehem before, we do
no1 know.
1.-The first thing to do was to find
place where they could abide IN
Bethlehem, and this was not an easy
task. The little town seems to have
oeen full Of people who had come
perhaps upon the same errand that
brought them. You can imagine how
il would be if all the descendants OF
all the families that once lived in
ne Of the old New England hill towns
in Litchfield, say, or Deerheld, or
Leominster-if all the descendants OF
all these families in all parts OF the
country were ordered to 90 back
there and register.
$50 it was at Bethlehem. Very lit
tie dependence was placed on inns or
hotels by travellers in those days.
There were few places Of public en-
tertainment. Every private family
gladly received and kindly cared for
such pilgrims as chanced to pass
through their neighborhood.
"But no matter how hospitable
men may be, when their houses are
full to overflowing they can take no
more guests. and this was the condS
n in which Joseph and Mary found
the homes in Bethlehem. To the inn
they made their way. but the inn was
simply a shelter-a shed enclosing a
court, with no furniture and no 9TH
er provision for the comfort OF the
traveller than the stone walls and the
roof which protected him from the
storm. Here upon the bare floor he
could spread his rugs for sleep; here
he could partake Of the food that ne
had brought in his haversack; and
his beast could be left secure in the
court within the building.
"Such were the inns, or khans, OF
the East when Joseph and Mary came
to Bethlehem. But even such cold
comfort as this was not for them.
This bare shelter was so crowded
that there was no room for them
there. The only place they could
fnd was in the stable, and this, as
seems probable, was kind Of cave
or excavation in the side Of the rock
near the inn.
at has been believed from the
earliest day that the place where
Jesus was born was a cave unoe:'
a shelteriDg rock. This story was
current among his followers not a
hundred years after his death, and
truth. It was perhaps some such
there is no reason to DOUBT It's
place as the pioneers in Minnesota
and Dakota used to call "dugout'
"a shelter, partly underground
where man and beast together were
sometimes forced to find protection
from the wintry cold. This was
the best entertainment Joseph and
Mary could find in Bethlehem; and
here it was that the wonderful Babe
was born, and found His cradle in "a
manger.
Thus it was that the life which
vas and is the Light Of Men began
here on the earth. Doubtless this
was the greatest moment in the
worlds history. Could any one
who looked on this Babe as He lay
in the manger have dreamed ci
the place He would fill. Of the
changes he would bring, oe The
kingdom that He would establish ir
the world? Could any one there
have guessed that nineteen centur
les from that day five hundred mil!
lions OF the human race would bt
calling themselves by His name. anc
more than half the earth's popula
ton would be reckoning their year:
from the day OF His birth; that e''
cry seventh day millions OF human
voices would be lifted up in song L
Him in churches and Sunday schoo.:
and missions all round the woclo
that the noblest music the "or!-
would ever hear would be music
celebrating the birth. the !ite' ahe
the death of the little Babe; tina
the highest and purest art OF al
time would be in which the story wa:
told of the young Child and HIS mo
ther: that the noblest archltectur'
the world would ever see would o'
that which prepared a shrine for th'
! worship of this Babe of Bethlehem
that His birthday would be kept al
over the world as a day for glvln:
:t.. ,,5 eh,rinp D1ea SureS and tla