The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1913-12-23

1C1o 0o"H ~ Oils
ago the Armenian who had the right
to clean it was working away when
he knocked of the head OF n OF
the nails. This caused a great COM
motion. The Greeks. Latins and Ar
menians began to fight over II. and
the governor Of Jerusalem, to settle
the dispute, called in a blacksmith TO
drill out the old nail and put In a
new one. The blacksmith was a
Latin. and the Greek and Armenians
would not let him go 10 work be-
cause they did not want any Latin
marking the birthplace OF the Savior.
In order to settle the trouble the
governor called in a gypsy, who had
no religious standing whatever. and
he replaced the nail without oppo-
sitiOn.
While in this grotto under the
church [ tried in vain to imagine the
scenes of Christ's birth. The decora-
tons we're out Of all keeping with the
place. and the warning Christians pre-
vented reverent thought. Besides,
there was a marble floor, the decorat-
| ed walls and the lamps. l got a bet
ter idea by going into some Of the
! actual stables which are in use in
Palestine today, and which are just
about the same now as they were
l 800 years ago. l remember one
| SuC11 SldO1c near JcI OSdlcIl. IL DIS
a cave with a floor Of rough stone.
The cave was divided into chambers
or stalls which opened into a sort Of
q court, and in these chambers were
donkeys. camels and horses. There
were men and women sleeping on the
hoOrS Of the courts, with the animals
eating out OF their stone boxes or
managers about them. The people
had no bedclOthing except their blan-
kets, and they ate their 1Aeals on the
floor. It was on such a floor that
Mary a to lie, because there was
no room at the inn, and the manager
in which the baby Christ lay was
probably a hollowedout stone box,
such as those in which the donkeys
were eating. Within this stable l a
a BedOuin woman with a sleeping
baby on her knee. She had Just beer
feeding the child and her breast peep
ed out between the folds of her coarse
rough own Her arms were bare to
the shoulders and there were brace
lets upon her wrists. Her face was
as sweet as that of any madonna
have ever seen upon canvas, and hel
baby, still in its swad6'ing clothes
looked as pure and as innocent a.
the most famous representations O,
Christ.
1t was in a stable like that that tn
Wise Men knelt and presented the
Z q - Lilo LAX u.
were led by the star. and it was ther,
that Our Redeemer first saw the ligh
: Of this world.
Bethlehem was SO small that i
must have been difficult to hide tn,
infant Christ from the men sent b.
. King HerOd to search for Him, ant
l it is no wonder that Joseph anG
7 Mary took the Holy Child and fee
! with Him to Egypt.
I The most Of the pictures painted il
illustration Of this journey represen
5 Mary with the Child IN her arms o.
T a donkey, with Joseph walking be
I side it. This, in all probability, wa
the method OF travel. They mus
! have taken the road to Hebron AM
. passed near h Cave of Machpelah
where Abraham n Sarah, IsaaI
and Rebekah, and Jacob and Leal
: were buried, and from there gone o.
. into Arabia, crossing the Isthmus Q
e Suez somewhere near lsmalia, an
y making their way through old Goshel
to the site Of the present city of Cairo
: The Scriptures give no record Of thei
travels. but there are traditions Il
Egypt which state that they went GU
8 upon a certain tree under whic
8 Mary and the baby Jesus were said I
rave slept. This tree is not far froI
q the obelisk OF HeliopoliA It is abou
n FIVE miles from Cairo, and the groun
e upon which 1t stands is a privat
d farm OF the present khedive. TIL
d tree is al old sycamore, gnarled wit
Is the & Of many years and SCARE
s with tho names Of tourists. A fene
d has been built around It to keep
'e away from the relic hunters. an
y. when I photographed it I mad to brit
n one of the khedive's servants to allo'
o me to do 1t. There wa an orans
orchard nearby. and after taking tn
picture I sat IN the shade Of til
= sycamore outside the fence and woI
dered whether Mary and Joseph ha
l. not perhaps thus ~quenched the
thirst in that same place, now mol
than nineteen centuries ago. As
lie went on to the obelisk I saw a your
n woman Of perhaps seventeen. WI
D. had a baby in her arms. She mu
h, have been CT about the age OF Ma