Christmas in Legend and Story | Page 4

were
simply caves scooped out of the soft chalk rock, for the country there
has an abundance of these caves used for this very purpose.
From the hill on which Bethlehem stands, one can see travelers
approaching, and at that time, long ago, no doubt the people who lived
there saw companies of travelers, on foot or mounted, coming up to the
village. For it was a busy time in Judea. The Emperor at Rome, the
capital of the world, had ordered a tax to be laid upon his subjects, and

first it had to be known just who were liable to be taxed. Nowadays,
and in our country, people have their names taken down at the door of
their own houses, and pay their tax in the town where they live. But
then, in Judea, it was different. If a man had always lived in one place,
and his parents before him, well and good: there his name was taken
down, and there he was taxed. But if he was of a family that had left
another place, he went back to the old home, and there his name was
registered. There were many, it may be, who at this time were visiting
Bethlehem for this purpose.
At least, we know of two amongst these travelers; devout and humble
people they were; Joseph, a carpenter, living in Nazareth, a village of
Galilee, sixty miles or more to the northward, and Mary, his wife.
Together they were coming to Bethlehem, for while Nazareth was now
their home, they were sprung from a family that once lived in
Bethlehem, and though they were now poor and lowly, that family was
the royal family, and King David, the greatest king that ever sat on the
Jewish throne, was their ancestor. Perhaps, as they climbed the hill,
they thought of Ruth, who had gleaned in the corn-fields just where
they were passing, and no doubt they thought of Ruth's great-grandson,
King David, who was born here, and here kept his father's sheep,--such
sheep as even now they could see on the hillsides, watched by the
watching shepherds.
They came, like the rest, to the caravanserai, but found it already filled
with travelers. They could not have room with other men and women,
and yet there was shelter to be had, for the place where the horses and
beasts of burden stood was not all taken up. It may be that many of
those now occupying the inn had come on Joseph's errand, and, not
being merchants, had come unattended by the beasts that bore the
goods of merchants, who were there occupying the inn; and what were
they there for? We can only guess. All is forgotten of that gathering;
men remember only the two travelers from Nazareth who could find no
room in the inn, and made their resting-place by a manger.
For there, away from the crowd, was born to Mary a child, whom she
wrapped in swaddling-clothes and laid in the manger. She was away
from home; she was not even in a friend's house, nor yet in the inn; the
Lord God had made ready a crib for the babe in the feeding-place of
cattle. What gathering of friends could there be to rejoice over a child

born in this solitary place?
Yet there were some, friends of the child and of the child's mother, who
welcomed its birth with great rejoicing. It may be that when Mary was
laying Him upon His first hard earthly resting-place, there was, not far
off, such a sight as never before was seen on earth. On the hilly slopes
about Bethlehem were flocks of sheep that, day and night, cropped the
grass, watched by shepherds, just as, so long before, young David, in
the same place, had watched his father's sheep. These shepherds were
devout men, who sang, we may easily believe, the songs which the
shepherd David had taught them; and now, in the night-time, on the
quiet slopes, as they kept guard over their flocks, out of the darkness
appeared a heavenly visitor: whence he came they knew not, but round
about him was a brightness which they knew could be no other than the
brightness of His presence which God cast about His messengers. Great
fear fell upon them--for who of mortals could stand before the heavenly
beings? But the angel, quick to see their fear, spoke in words which
were the words of men and fell in peaceful accents:--
"Fear not!" said he, "for see, I bring you glad tidings of a great joy that
shall be to all the people. For there has been born to you, this very day,
a Saviour, who is the Holy Lord, born in the city of David; and this
shall be its sign