1
^MANY YANKS
JOIN RANKS
OF PILGRIMS
iBy WILLIAM McGAFFIN
AP Features
2BETHLEHEM, E*jc. 24.—
Thousands of Twentieth Century
piligrims, many of them in khaki,
follow the path of the three wise
men tonight to worship with re
joicing hearts on the hallowed
ground five and a half miles
south of Jerusalem where the
Prince of Peace was born nearly
2^00 years ago.
Their hearts are full of hope
and they sing with exceeding
joy as a blacked-out world ob
serves its sixth Christmas of the
war. For this year there is
a promise in Allied victories that
it will not be long before the an
gel's message can be reaffirmed.
“Peace on earth, good will toward
men ..."
♦ Even the stars in the eternal
heavens, once brilliant with won
drous tidings, seem to shine more
brightly as the glad refrains of
the old songs float up from the
cheerful mortals below. ‘‘Hark,
the herald angels sing,'* they
carol as they crowd about the an
cient stone Church of the Nativ
ity which Constantine built on;
the site of the Holy Manger in
the year 330.
GreaiMZ News Story
For this is the great anniver
sary of a miracle, the greatest
news story the world 'ever has
known. And it marks the near
ing emergence of the world from
its greatest war. “Silent night,
holy night . . . »’ The winter air
is crisp and their breaths come
white as they stand smging on
this hill of Judea about the
weatherbeaten gray stone church
which is built in the shape of a
cross.
Let us enter the church. You
^ must stoop low there for it is but
a tiny door, the ‘‘Eye of the
Needle" they call it. It was made
small, they say, to prevent riot
...~. ■
ing crowds from sweeping inside
on their camels and donkeys to
continue their fights within. The
Holy Land, you are reminded, is
a sacred place to more than one
religion.
The air is heavy with incense.
As you look up you see that the
church is roofed with wood.
Along either side of the nave
are heavy marble columns. Mov
ing about in the lights and shad
ows are long-bearded priests.
The Greek Orthodox (which ob-.
serves Christmas 12 days later),
Armenian and Roman Catholic
churches share this holy struc
ture and the three adjoining con
vents.
Let us go forward to the choir
now and descend the stone steps
to the grotto below which is hol
lowed out of solid rock. In a gray
marble recess on the right hand
side as we enter is a silver star
sunk in the floor. This marks the
actual place of the birth and is
in addition symbolic of the star
which guided th^ three wise men-J
A few feet away on the left
is another marble recess mark
ing the place of the manger
where Jesus was laid. The grotto
is hung with oil lamps and red
tapestries and religious pictures.
The original manger is now in
Rome, you are told. Rome . . .
the war . . . your thoughts sweep
back. Then you resume your rev
erie over the Christmas story.
"And she brought forth her
first-born son, and wrapped
him in swaddling clothes, and
laid him in a manger because
there was no room for them in
the inn.*'
There is no inn in modern
' Bethlehem. In nearby Jerusalem,
however, there are fine hotels,
but it is almost impossible to get
a room in them. Two thousand
years later and still no room in
the inn. There has been prog
ress, though, for thi$ time, if it
were happening again, Joseph
and Mary could go to a marvel
ous modem hospital, the Had
assah Rothschild University Hos
pital, on Mount Scopus.
BAYONETS IN BETHLEHEM: Sol4Ur« at Nativity Church. 1
fek
There are various reminders of
the American influence in this
holy city, aside from the soldier
tourists — whose favorite pur
chases, according to the shop
keepers, are Bibles bound in
mother of pearl, and rosaries.
There is, for example, the white
shell which the shopkeepers
prize, as the finest shell for the
manufacture of souvenirs. It
comes from California. And there
is the model of the Church of
the Nativity painstakingly con
structed out of 15,000 pieces of
mother of pearl and intended for
exhibition at the New York
World’s Fair—a project doomed
by the war.
If Christ were to return today
to His city He would find many
changes as might be expected
after 2,000 years. But his spirit
still prevails and never more so
than today on this sixth—and
most hopeful—Christmas of the
war.
The little shops which crowd
the quiet, narrow streets about
the Christian Church of the Na
tivity are mostly run by Arab*
(Continued on Page 7)
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