e and peppermint, and slates and balls and copybooks and
hoops and everything that the owner thinks anyone would be in the least
likely to buy. In Nazareth the shops sell only one sort of thing, and
those that sell the same sort of thing have a general inclination to
come together. In one little street, for instance, are the saddlers'
shops.

The front of the house is open, but there is no glass to fill it in, and
we can see the men working at their trade inside. The harness is
extremely gay, painted in all colours, red and blue and yellow, and made
up with bits of tinsel and glitter. The more decorated he can afford to
have his harness the prouder is the rider. As we stand watching, a
number of women steal gently up behind us and offer some embroidery they
have made; they do not push or scramble, and when we shake our heads
they melt away again.

As we turn a corner, there, right in front of us, is a carpenter's shop
with the front quite open to the street, as in the harness-makers'
shops. The bearded man who leans over a cart-wheel and handles it with
long brown hands might have been Joseph himself. In just such a
workshop as this Jesus learnt His trade.

[Illustration: IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN JOSEPH HIMSELF.]

The life of a little Jewish boy of those days was carefully ordered, and
in his life there was much more saying of prayers and going to
church--that is, the synagogue--than you have in yours. At school there
was a great deal to be learnt by heart, and what with that and the
churchgoing and the workshop there cannot have been much spare time.

We go slowly on to the inn, where we are to pass the night. To-morrow we
will go down to the Sea of Galilee and watch the fishermen drawing in
their nets as they did in Christ's time when He called them to be
fishers of men.

After that we will come back, pass Nazareth once more, and make our way
to a port called Haifa, where we can get a steamer to take us down to
Jaffa instead of returning to Jerusalem again by three days' journey on
horseback.

[Illustration: THERE IT WILL STAY TILL IT ROTS.]

CHAPTER XII

AN ADVENTURE

We are late, very late, the moon is rising and I must confess I am just
a wee bit uneasy. When we reached Haifa safely last night, coming from
Nazareth, and found we couldn't get a steamer till to-morrow it seemed
the best thing to drive across the bay and get a look at Acre, that
celebrated town which has spent its existence in the turmo