exclaimed. "Zion--fairest throughout the earth!" The veil which she
had loosely bound about her head had fallen from her shoulders and the
morning breeze touching her soft dark hair was moving it gently around
her face while unseen fingers stirred the hem of her woolen skirt above
her dew wet sandals. The altar smoke of the morning offering was
ascending from the Temple of snow and gold, casting delicate and ever
changing spirals of gray and black against the rosy sky, and now and
then the silver glint of a dove's wing caught the eye as it circled
over one of the shining domes. Filled with racial pride as well as
with artistic admiration, Mary looked to the west, hidden, except its
sky, by the battlements of Jerusalem. But she knew that at the West
Gates the great highway to Joppa and the sea entered the city and
although no glimpse of it could be seen, she knew that the long and
dusty miles would soon resound to the call of the driver, as caravans
of wares for the Passover sale came through the gates.

After a last long look at the shining Temple, Mary turned to the south.
As she did so the exquisite fragrance of grape blossoms came to her on
the changing breeze and she laughed with joy as her eager eyes took in
the panorama, of vineyards here and there with their gray watch towers
set in nature's most delicate filigree of green; of billowing fields of
grain; of groves of olives turning color from green to gray and white
as moved by the breeze, and back of it all the mountains of Judea,
their rugged outlines softened by the rose and purple mist of the
morning. In this direction the road leaving Jerusalem went into the
south as far as Hebron.

Before pursuing her way she turned to see what signs of life appeared
on the great Damascus road which led to the north through Samaria and
Galilee. Here, as far as the eye could reach, glimpses of companies
which seemed but slowly-moving specks in the distance, drew nearer the
Holy City to worship or to profit. At the foot of a near-by hill a
flock of goats, with herdsmen keeping close watch, were browsing among
the prickly pears, feeding their last before being driven into the
Temple stalls as sacrificial beasts. On another road a company of
Arabs was putting up its mean and ragged tents and just beyond some
Galilean peasants were building booths. Turning from the brow of the
olive-green Mount, Mary made her way down a dim trail toward the valley
of lilies she had di