Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-12-12

lost much of it's Oriental character,
because of the many modern Chris
tion buildings in it, which devotion
and missionary zeal have reared.
The population is mostly Christian;
and the main industries are the
working in mother-of- and
olivewood. Bethlehemites are dis
tinctiVe in both dress and appear
ance. probably owing to Crusader
blood and influence.
\ Pen Picture of Bethlehem
On terraced hillside. with tho
. limestone rock outcropping, and
! vineyards tucked away on tiny
| lodges, and olive trees growing on
/ the stormy soil. is built the little
! town OF Bethlehem" with its gray,
! square. flat-flooted limestone houses
| standing almost solidly along mar
row streets. Through the doorways
! the visitor from Jerusalem. which
/ is only five miles away, may see
! the men and women toiling at prim-
| itive lathes amid the dust of moth
er-of-pearl. Alas. the workers are
| not many now, for war and starva-
4 tion took a heavy toll OF Bethlehem.
| The shops where mother pearl
| articles are sold are few and mea-
! ger. and their principal sale is of
! regimental badges to the British
| soldiers.
British troops guard the town OF
| Bethlehem to-day, and keep watch
| by the manger For long years
| Turkish soldiers guarded the Church
! ON the Nativity. which houses the
| eCClesiastics of three warning Chris
tian faiths-Greeks. Latins and Ar
| meniuns. Now genial Tommy
! stands ut the entrance TO the crypt
! containing the manger, ITO keep
| the priests from scrappin', and from
Swipin' each others lamps he
says. SeCtarian strife shows at its
worst at the Church of the Nativity
and the Church of the Holy Sepul-
Chre.
The oldest Christian edifice in the
world covers the traditional and
universally accepted site of the
| manger. on this hillside was the
village khan, where Mary and
! Joseph lodged, and the stable. as is
I still the usage, was the cave room
/ cut into the limestone, with the
mauger hewn out of the living rock.
Outwardly. the church is unprepos-
sessing. with a door so small that it
admits but one person at n time.
| Within. the partition which eccle-
siastical jealousy had erected has
, been removed by British influence,
and the proportions of the church
as it was in Crusader times may be
seen. The entrance to the subter-
ranean manger-crypt is down
| through a side e-chapel.
The Storied Hills
While the town of Bethlehem has
entirely changed, the surrounding
scenery remains the same. These
] u 20 he hills x-bipl the
shepherds watched their flocKs by
, night. The fields across which we
looked at a glorious moon arising
above the mountains OF Moab. be-
yond the opalescent waters of the
Dead Sea. were once flooded with
celestial glow more wonderful than
the sunsets we have watched here.
silent now at eventide, the echoing
hills then resounded to the strains
, of an angelic chorus.
1t was here, on the very spot
where we stand. that the greatest of
messages. straight from heaven. was
/ heard by group OF workingmen:
Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth, peace among men,
in whom be is we'll pleased"
( To the traveller standing on Beth
lehem hillside the sweet old story
seems newly real. 1t was a place
event, as well as n universal mes
sage. When we localize it, we un-
derstand more vividly its ever-pres-
! ent meaning. The old carol seems
like an Interpretation written yes
terday:
1T came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song OF old,
. From angels bending near the
earth
. To touch their harps of gold;
Peace on the earth, good will to
B men,
From heavens all-gracious
King
The world in solemn stiffness lay,
To hear the angels sing.
still through the cloven skies they
come
With peaceful wings unfurled,
And still their heavenly music floats
Ger all the weary world:
( Above its sad and lowly plains
They bend on lowering wing,
/ And ever Ger its Babel-sounds
, The blessed angels sing.
And We, beneath life's crushing
/ load.
/ Whose forms are bending low,
w l4O lOll d4Oi5 the way
With painful steps and slow
! Look now. for glad and golden
hours
Come swiftly on the wing:
/ . rest beside the weary road.
And hear the angels sing.
For 10. the days are Fastening on,
. BY prophet bards foretold,
When with the ever-circling years
Comes round the age of gold;
! When peace shall over all the
earth
Its ancient splendors fling,
And the whole world give back the
song
Which now the angels sing"
Christmas Help For To-day
Whatever makes that first Christ
mas real and near is q message for
our own day; for we need TO hear.