in those distant countries, just as they did so
many years ago, so we know that Mary must have worn a long, thick
dress, falling all about her in heavy folds, and that she had a soft
white veil over her head and neck, and across her face. Mary lived in
Nazareth, and the journey they were making was to Bethlehem, many
miles away.

They were a long time traveling, I am sure; for donkeys are slow,
though they are so careful, and Mary must have been very tired before
they came to the end of their journey.

They had traveled all day, and it was almost dark when they came near
to Bethlehem, to the town where the baby Christ was to be born. There
was the place they were to stay,--a kind of inn, or lodging-house, but
not at all like those you know about.

They have them today in that far-off country, just as they built them
so many years ago.

It was a low, flat-roofed, stone building, with no windows and only
one large door. There were no nicely furnished bed rooms inside, and
no soft white beds for the tired travelers; there were only little
places built into the stones of the wall, something like the berths on
steamboats nowadays, and each traveler brought his own bedding. No
pretty garden was in front of the inn, for the road ran close to the
very door, so that its dust lay upon the doorsill. All around the
house, to a high, rocky hill at the back, a heavy stone fence was
built, so that the people and the animals inside might be kept safe.

Mary and Joseph could not get very near the inn; for the whole road in
front was filled with camels and donkeys and sheep and cows, while a
great many men were going to and fro, taking care of the animals. Some
of these people had come to Bethlehem to pay their taxes, as Mary and
Joseph had done, and others were staying for the night on their way to
Jerusalem, a large city a little further on.

The yard was filled, too, with camels and sheep; and men were lying on
the ground beside them, resting and watching and keeping them safe.
The inn was so full and the yard was so full of people that there was
no room for anybody else, and the keeper had to take Joseph and Mary
through the house and back to the high hill, where they found another
place that was used for a stable. This had only a door and front, and
deep caves were behind, stretching far into the rocks.

This was the spot where Christ was born. Think how poor a place!--but
Mary was glad to be there, after all; and when the C