Striking Features of Nazareth, Where Christ Spent Boyhood
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(Copyright, 1911, by Frank G. Carpenter.)
AZARETH (Special Correspondence of
The Bee.) This la the home of Christ's
boyhood. Here He came as a baby after
that long trip to Egypt, where He went
to escape the blood-thirsty Herod, and
here He spent all but about four years
oi Hi life. I want to tell you how Nazareth looks in
this year of our Lord, 1911. The town Is situated
high up in the mountains of Galilee, within sixty
miles of Jerusalem as the crow flies and sixty-seven
miles from Bethlehem, where Jesus was born. It is
within a day's ride on horseback of Mount Carmel,
where Elijah slew the false prophets, and within four
hours of Capernaum on the sea of Galilee, frm
where our Savior took His apostles and where He
first preached.
Nazareth lies in a nest in the mountains. It la
In a little amphitheater of hills with a rough and
ragged arena. The houses run up the sides of the
hills and there is hardly a level spot in the whole
municipality. It is not a large town. It has alto
gether less than 12,000 people, of whom about half
are Mohammedans who look upon Christ as a prophet.
The remainder Is made up of Greek Catholics, Latins
and about 200 Syrians, of the Protestant faith. The
town is one of churches 'and convents. It has some
great monasteries and hospices where pilgrims are
kept over Bight.
The resiliences of the people are rectangular
structures, which look more like great stone boxes
than houses. They are usually of one-atory, with a
door and two windows, and the most of them have
flat-roofs, which In the summer form the resting
and sleeping places at night. Many of the buildings
are In gardens. Some have cactus hedges about
them and others are shaded by cypress trees. There
are many olive orchards, and figs
grow here as
luxuriantly as they did in the time of our Saviour.
9
Nazareth by Moonlight.
The buildings of Nazareth are ugly, but as a whole
the city la beautiful. The sky Is so blue, the air
la so clear and all the surroundings are so picturesque,
I shall not soon forget a bird's-eye view I had of the
city last night. The moon was at its full and its.
great round silver disk changed the night Into day.
Its ray mellowed the yellow limestone of which the
buildings art made, and transformed them into ivory.
They softened the glare of the white, rocky roads,
and made the mountains and valleys look like those
of fairyland. From the top of the bills I could see
the plain of Esdraelon, which in its fertility vies with
the Nile valley; and away off at the west lay the
mighty Mediterranean, which stretches on for 2,000
miles to Gibraltar and the Atlantic.
Nazareth by moonlight Is wonderfully peaceful.
At sunset all business stops and within an hour or so
afterward everyone la in bed There are few places
which are so far from the strife of the world, and
business seems swallowed in the beauties of nature.
The scenery Is that of old Greece, and the atars shine
gloriously out of skies' which are perfectly cKar.
The sunsets are turpaBslngly beautiful. I saw
one the other night in which the silvery beams of
the sun seemed to form a halo over this, the bom)(
of our Saviour. There were many white clouds In the
sky, which changed, first to rose and then became
golden, the color growing stronger and stronger,
until the whole west wan oue blaze of molten copper
and fire.
.
Among the Na.arenes.
Coming down into the town, after watching one
of these sunsets, I saW many Nazarene children and
stopped to make notes. The little ones gathered '
around me, and it was not hard to Imagine similar
crowds which played In these streets 1,900 years
since and of whom the boy Jesus was one. The
little Nazarenes wore gowns of brown, red or yellow.
The piost of them were in their bare feet; the boys
bad caps of red felt, while the plrls wore handker
chief or shawls tied around their heads. All were
running and dancing and laughing and playing. Some
were beautiful and especially the girls. I remember
a roay-cbeeked baby which was carried by a roughlsh
brtght-cyed maid of IS. I admired the baby and
chucked It uudtr the thin, telling the girl I w(ould
like to take It borne with me to America. She
promptly said I could have it, and thrust it out
toward roe. My face fell and I ran.
-1
In t'ie Footsteps of Jesus.
There Is no doubt tut that this is the Nazarwta
of Jesus, and that the hills and valleys about here
were hallowed by Ills fooutep. It was here that
the angel Gabriel appeared unto Mary and told her
that she would be the mother of Jesus, and it wad
IX! I boyhood. Here He came as a baby after still an infant in arms. It was from Nazareth that Jf fl. K ESJLiT: W IV .Mt5r.--
r-t'JkWI to escape the blood-thtraty Herod, and It was here that after He had begun His work our Wl'i, kS 7JC-"n. ) vT 1
here that she came with Joseph after the flight into
Egypt. She waited only until King Herod was dead
and then came to Nazareth, the child Jesus being
still an infant in arms. It was from Nazareth that
Jesus went to the Jordan to be baptized by John, and
It was here that after He had begun His work our
Lord came and preached In the synagogue, where
upon the Nazarenes cried out:
"la not this Joseph's son? . . . ,And they
were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust Him
out of the city and led Him unto the brow of the
hill whereon their city was built that they might cast
Him down headlong. But He, passing through the
midst of them, went His way."
I was shown the hill to which the Nazarenes led
the Savior, Intending to cast Him down. It is about
a mile and a half from the town. The exact locality
of this place, however, la questioned.
There Is another spot In Nazareth, now owned by
the Roman Catholics, which claims to be the original
fte of the shop where Joseph worked as a carpen
ter. The place is In the Mohammedan Quarter, not
far from a bazar where the Turkish merchants sit
cross-legged and sell to the Christians. When I vis
ited It I met Father Kerstlng, who came here about
three years ago, and Is now superintending some
excavations which are being made. He has a number
of Arabs working under bim digging up an old church
which was built there by the crusaders.
Where Joseph Worked.
They have Just uncovered a grotto which Father
Kerstlng tells me is undoubtedly the place where Jo
seph bad his carpenter's shop, and where, If so, the
little Christ must have played among the shavings.
I took' a photograph of the excavations. '
The various sects here make all sorts of claims.
The Latlna allege that they own the table upon which
Christ dined with Ills disciples before and after the
resurrection. It Is a block of hard chalk eleven feet
long and nine feet In breadth. In another place In
the Latin monastery Is what is known as the angel'a
chapel and the chapel of the annunciation, where the
Virgin received Gabriel's message. There la also an
old cistern which is called the kitchen of the Virgin,
and In the center of the town la Mary's well, or, as
it Is sometimes called, Jesus' spring, tor Gabriel's
spring. This Is undoubtedly authentic, for It Is the
only spring or watering place that Nazaeth now pos
sesses or ever has possessed. It is, therefore, certain
that the child Jesus and the Virgin frequented It, and
that Mary came here dally for water. This is a foun
tain rather than a well. The water gushes forth In
two streams Into a stone basin, and from there flowa
Into a stone-enclosed pool. There are always women
with water jars about it, and tho scenes of today
are probably the same as they were in Christ's time.
In the Bazars.
Nazareth has thousands of pilgrims who come
here every year to visit the places hallowed by the
Savior, and it is also on the mail line here from the
mountains of Lebanon to Jerusalem. Caravan routes
from Damascus to Egypt wind about it, and It has
always been a place of more or less traffic.
The bazars, of today are of about the came char
acter as they were in Christ's time. They are nar
row, cave-like stores, lighted only from the front.
The merchants sit there walled around with goods,
and the customers stand out in the cobblestone road
way end bargain as to their prices. The streets are
dirty and camels and Bedouins are continually mov
ing through them. The men wear turbans and gowns
and the women are veiled or unveiled, according as
they are Mohammedans or Christians.
I was interested in the mechanical work going
on in these bazars. I stopped In a carpenter'a shop
and photographed a workman of just about the age
Joseph must' bav6 been when our Lord was a boy
and passed as his son. I asked as to carpenter's
wages, and was told they ranged from 60 cents to
$1 per day. In another business street I stopped
awhile with the blacksmiths who were making
knives, razors, plow points and the long, thin, crescent-shaped
sickles used here for harvesting. The
sickles bave teeth like a fine saw, the wheat and
barley belug sawed off, as it were. I watched a
blacksmith shoe a horse. He used a plate of iron
of the shape of the hoof about an eighth of an inch
thick. It was solid with the exception of a hole as
large as a finger ring in the center. There were
three small holes ou each side for the nails which
were driven into the hoof. When shod the horse's
foot was entirely covered by the iron, with the ex
ception of the small hole In the center.
The Iloyst (if Nazareth.
During my stay here I have paid especial atten-
U ! M!!WHfi JL MZARETU CARPENTER.
A mZAEETK EAtUZT
tion to the children. They are the best part of the
Holy Land, and are as full of fun and as delightful
aa our children at home. I have seen families which
recall that of Joseph and Mary. Here In Nazareth I
see the little ones everywhere playing. There is a
threshing floor on one side of the town, a place
where the earth hat been stamped down and where
the grain is flailed or trodden out after harvest. This
Is one of the great playgrounds, where the boys come
with their marbles and where they play ball. They
have a game in which the boys try to throw the ball
so as to hit a stone mark set up for the purpose.
They also stiike the ball with a club and send It
beyond the threshing floor to be caught by the boys
outside. They play blind man'a buff, leapfrog and
hide-and-seek, and aa I went through the streets the
other day I saw two little ones rising and falling on
a board resting on the edge of a sharp stone making
a seesaw.
One of the games played is like our "Button, but
ton, who has the button?" The boys stand in a row
with hands folded and the one who Is it goes along
The Anti-Modernist Oath
OLLOWING is a translation of the Anti-
F
Modernist oath now being taken by
Catholic priests, as directed in an en
cyclical letter from the pope:
"I accept and firmly embrace every
thing that has been defined by the un
erring magtsterlum of the church, what
ever has been declared and promulgated, especially
those doctrines which are directed against present
day errors.
"In the first place, I profess that God, the begin
ning and end of all things, can, by the natural light
of reason, be known and even demonstrated, through
those things which have been created, namely the
visible works of nature, as a cause through its
effects.
"Secondly I hold and admit the external argu
ments of revelation, namely, Divine works, especially
miracles and prophecies, as most sure signs of a
Loafing
'Taln't no use complainln' 'cause the frost Is In
the air
And there ain't no birds a-singin' in the treetops
anywhere;
These modern institutions that the landlords all
provide
Have sweet and soothin' comforts, it will hardly be
denied.
There's a radiator boomln' with a warmth that's soft
and mild
And an easy chair in waltln' when there's time to be
beguiled.
The north wind shakes the shutters, then discouraged
passes by.
For loaflu' in December's Jest as good as in July.
The city folks in summer to the farm come troopin'
down
An' when old winter's here it looks right pood to me
in town;
I miss the clouds a-drtftin' o'er the distant sky to
blue;
Hut the raier on the ceiling has a mighty pl?auini
hue.
And the window, when the climate has set in for
now iu' hard.
Is the frame around a picture prettier than a inail.n'
card;
And life seems kind and peaceful as 1 notice, with i,
igh,
That luatiu' lu December's Jctt as good as in July.
-Washington Star.
ZZT29JO -FFlaMiA fBUTO GRAPH
and rubs hia two bands, holding the pebble over
which pair of folded hands, endeavoring to drop the
pebble into ono without being caught. It Is then
necessary to guess who baa the pebble. We play the
same game with the button.
Another game la known as the "tied monkey."
In this the boy who la "it" catches hold with one
hand of a rope, which la fastened to a peg in the
ground, while others beat him with handkerchiefs or
ropes in which knots are tied. If he can catch one
of them without letting go his hold on the rope the
boy caught takes his place.
1 r
Worth More Than Girls.
I observe that the boys here usually play by them
selves. They rather look down upon their sisters,
and the ordinary family considers the girl of but lit
tle account. When a girl Is born no fuss la made,
but when a boy cornea the friends of the family run
through the streets crying out, "Good tidings! Good
tidings!" The father prepares a feast and all of the
friends of the family give presents of money for the
Christian religion Divinely established, and I bold
those same things to be true for all ages and men,
even of our own time, and tbey are strictly conforma
ble to reason. '
"Thirdly I firmly believe that the church, the
custodian and teacher of the Revealed Word, through
tbe very historic Christ, when He lived among us,
was proximately and directly Instituted, and this
same church was founded upon Peter, the prince of
tbe apostolic hierarchy and his successors to last
forever.
"Fourthly I sincerely accept the doctrine of faith
In Its entirely as it has been transmitted to our times
by orthodox preachers; and, moreover, I entirely re
ject tbe heretical dictum of tbe evolution ot dogmas
of those who transfer the meaning of thoso dogmas
from one sense to another, differing entirely from
that previously held by the church.
"Fifthly I hold as most certain and sincerely
profess that faith is not a blind result of a religion
breaking forth from a darkened subconsciousness and
proceeding from tbe heart and flexible will alone,
but which is conformable to reason and has been
revealed by a personal God, our Creator and Lord,
and we believe it to bo true because of the authority
of God, who is eminently truthful.
"I firmly believe and with due reverence submit
to all condemnationa and declarations which are
contained in the encyclical letters Tascendr and in
the decree 'Lainantablll,' especially concerning that
which they term dogmatic history.
"I likewise reject the error of those that affirm
that the faith proposed by the church Is repugnant
to history, and that Catholic tenets, In tbe sense in
which they are now understood, cannot be reconciled
with some reliable origins of the Christian religion.
I likewise condemn the opinion it those who maintain
that the learned Christian man possessea a double
personality the oue a believer, the other an his
torian. "I disregard also that system of Interpreting
b&cred bcriinuie which prefers the methods of ration
alists to the tradition of the church, the doctrines
of the faith and the rules ot the Apostolic see.
"Finally and in a word, I profess myself opposed
to the error of tbe modernists, who hold that there
is ijotbing Divine in sacred tradition, or what is still
v.orbe, admitted in a I'anthebtlc sense, so that noth
ing remains of it but the bare and simple fact, just
as is tbe case with other historical facts.
"1 proiuiso that I aball faithfully and in the bln
cerity of my heart obbervc all these by never deviating
from thrm in any way, either In teaching or in word
or writing. So I promise, so I swear."
Denefit ot the boy. Immediately after tho child la
born It la rubbed over with salt; it is then wrapped
In swaddling clothes so tight liat it cannot move and
kept la that state for about a week; It Is then un
fastened, washed with fresh oil, salted and bound up
again. This wrapping, oiling, salting and rewrap
plng goes on for about forty days, when the child la
ready to wear the ordinary clothes of babyhood. This
usually consists of ono garment, and in the summer
If the child be poor that is omitted, although a naked
baby may wear a skull cap. The ordinary garment
ts a shirt which reaches to the knees, and as the chil
dren grow older they may have a "Jacket over the
shirt.
One of the Important ceremonies is naming tho
boy. In this the name of the father is always added.
In olden times if the son of James was named John
his name would be John, Bon of Jamos, but now tho
words "son of" are omitted and he la known as John
James.
Pretty Little Nawuenes.
I am surprised at the beauty of tho Nazarene
girls, and especially of the little ones. They have
rosy cheeks and bright eyes and are quite as good
looking as our American bablea. They dresa in
bright colors, some having rows of coins on their
headdresses and rings on their fingers.
I see many little girls at the fountain ot Mary,
each carrying a jar in which to bring water home.
This is the work of almost every woman In Syria.
The little ones are taught by beginning with a tiny
Jar which they steady on the head with the hand.
As they grow older they use larger jars, until at last
they are able to walk through the streets carrying
four or five gallons of water on the head without
touching the jar. This work gives them erect figures,
and there are do stoop shoulders nor curved spines
among them.
When a girl reaches 10 or 11 years of age aha
begins to think of marriage, and it is not an uncom
mon thing for her to be a mother at 13 or 14. After
marriage the wife becomes a member of her hus
band's family, and, for a time at least, she Uvea with
her mother-in-law. For this reason people .believe
in early marriages, whereby the girl may be trained
by her husband's mother Into a suitable wife when
she grows up.
-t
A Look at the Schools.
I wonder if the boys of our Savior's time studied
aa do tho' Nazarene boys of today. Many of them
are taught by the sheiks, as half the town is Moham
medan. Tbey sit on tho floor and sway back and
forth as they scream out the verses and texts they
are trying to learn. The teacher Is sometimes blind,
but he knows the voices so well that when one stops
be can strike the place -where that boy should be sit
ting with a stick to start him again. In our Lord's
time the Scriptures were probably taught tbe samo
way to tho Jewish children. The slates used here
are largely made of cast-off coal oil cans, the tin be
ing cut Into squares and pounded out flat. The
Arabic characters are painted upon iuch tins with
brushes and India Ink.
The chief study of the Mohammedan boys Is the
Koran, and of the Jews the Psalms. At harvest time
tb icbools close and the children go out into the
fields, gardens and vineyards. They are accustomed
t0 work Bnd everywhere I go I ace them herding the
sheep. Tbe boys use slings just as David did and
thev r skillful in sending the stones where they
P,ea8-
Like Little Americans.
Some of these Palestine children are polite and
others are the reverse. When tbe good Arab boy
comes Into a room full of older people he goes arouud
and kisses the hand of each one and places it on bis
forehead. He can be so sweet you might think him
tbe soul of Innocence and piety, but take him out
side and he will fight, kick and scratch with his fel
lows. A great deal of slanj is used and in a quarrel
the most common expressions are those of cursing
your enemy's ancestors. One boy will say to an
other, "Curse your father!" and the other will reply,
"And your grandfather!" And so they will go on
to the fourth and fifth generations, cursing the vari
ous branches of the other's genealogical tree. Here
at Nazareth we find the children very polite, but at
Nablous tbey throw stones at me and railed me "a
Nazarene," a contemptuous term which tbe Moham
medans of Samaria use for all who are not of tbelr
faith. FRANK G. CARPENTER.
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