The Valley of Vision

ften look eagerly southward over the plain toward the dark mountains of Samaria, and think of the great city which

his life as a "son of the commandment," a member of the Hebrew nation. Moreove

and brigands. Jerusalem itself was not only a great city, it was a boisterous and boiling city, crowded with visitors from all parts of the world, merchants and travellers, princes and beggars, citizens of Rome and children of the Desert. There

e was the apple of her eye. Deep in her soul she kept the memory of angelic words which had come to her while she carried him under her heart-words which made her believe that her son would be the mo

le and take part in the national feast of the Passover. So she clad him i

alk, full of variety, with a spic

ad that they had forgotten that it might be new every morning. His unwearying vigor and gladness as he ran down the hillsides, or scrambled among the rocks far above the path, or roam

aravan from robbers or marauders. As they wound slowly down the steep, stony road to the plain of Esdraelon the Boy ran ahead, making short cuts, turning aside to find

of Bethlehem) sparkled with the joy of living; his long hair was lifted and tossed by the wind

in the valley at the foot of dark Mount Gilboa,

in the places that God has made for them-on the big, strong rocks that wi

le camp of the Galilean pilgrims. But they kept aloof from it, because it was a city of the heathen. Its theatres and temples and palaces were accursed. The tents were indifferent to the cit

up mine eyes

ce cometh

ometh fro

heaven

uffer thy foo

th thee will

who guard

er slumber

cloaks over their heads and r

barley and ripening wheat, where the quail scuttled and piped among the thick-growing stalks. There were fruit-orchards and olive-groves on the foothills, and clear streams ran murmuring down through glistening oleander thickets. Wild flowers

long trough below the level of the sea. The song of birds melted away. Only the hawks wheeled on motionl

ful travellers on the road. Once a little band of robbers, riding across the valley to the land of Moab, turned from a distance toward the Nazarenes, circled swiftly around them like hawks, whistli

this moment of danger, looking on with

se riders wan

ve," answe

but our clothes and some food for our journey. I

that ask," he said, "they are the kind th

aces were hateful-like a jackal that I saw-in the gulley behind Nazareth one

with thoughtful looks, as if he were pondering the case

us, on a hillock among the corn-fields, he came to his mother with his hands f

, "are they not fine-lik

ies of the field. But a great king, like Solomon, has robes of thick silk, a

tire him to wear a crown-thing and such thick robes. Besides, I think the lilies

rees. The fourth day they climbed the wild, steep, robber-haunted road from the Jordan valley to the highlands of Judea, and so came

e listened at his mother's knee to the wonder-tales of David and Solomon and the brave adventures of the fighting Maccabees. He had prayed for the peace of Jerusalem every night as he kneeled by his bed and lifted his hands toward the holy pla

e mounts of Zion and Moriah-the vast huddle of white houses, covering hill and hollow with their flat roofs and standing so close together that the streets were hidden among them-the towers, the colonnades, the terraces-the dark

the city, the stars to glow in the deepening blue. He questioned her eagerly-what is that black tow

g the psalm that we used to sing at night in Nazareth-but very softly, not to dist

er Child sang toget

I both lay me

, makest me dw

eted the Boy. It was like