J
VOL ■V III.
OXFORD, N. C., JANUARY 3, 1883.
NO. 32.
AT ; HY SIDE.
A little traveler am I
Upon a road thai looks
As pleasant as the flowery paths
Beside the summer brooks.
I may have very far to go ;
No one can tell, they say :
For some the way is very long,
For som .■ ends in a day.
Fve gone a very little way,
And yet I can't go back
To pick up any thing Tve lost
Or wasted on the track.
^And, if I careless pass each stone,
I mayn’t my steps retrace ;
And so I need a Friend all through
To keep me by tlis grace.
For there are snares I do not see;
I am a foolish child:
Then, Jesus, I will ask Thee now
To keep me undefiled.
My feet from falling keep, O Lord 1
Alyfeet from wandering wide,
Until, the last stone passed, I dwell
Forever at Thy side,
ABOUT EASTERN INNS.
“And she brought forth her first born
son, and wrapped him in swaddling
clothes, and laid him in a manger; be
cause there was no room for them in the
inn.”—Luke ii. 7.
What, sort of place could this
have been which refused admis'
sion to God’s own Son and His
lowly mother 1 Every one knows
about the stable and the manger,
where, with the camels and asses
and goats standing by, the little
child Jesus first opened His holy
eyes upon our sinful earth; but
some of us, the little folk espec
ially, have rather wrong ideas
about the inn which stood by,
and was so overcrowded that
they could not make room for
one more traveler. Some think
it was Hike a little country ho
tel, where, though the rooms may
not be very large, or grandly
furnished, everything js clean
and comfortable, and tired and
h^ingry travelers receive a hear
ty welcome from a cheerful, ob-
liging host or hostess.
But we must dismiss from our
minds any comfortable house of
that kind if we would picture to
ourselves the inn to which the
poor tired husband and wife beg
ged for entrance. No landlady
would welcome them at the door,
nor would there be any clean
roems or refreshing meal await
ing them.
No; this inn was nothing more
than a piece of ground a field,
inclosed by a strong wall, but
withoutany roof. All round the
inside of the' wall were stone
arches, each of which would be
occupied by one party of travel
ers, and in some of the best inns
the floor of these arches was a
little raised above the^ level of
the court-yard in the middle.
In the centre of the piece of
ground was a fountain of spring
water, some of which ran into a
trough for the aniuials to drink
from.
That was all; no tables, or
chairs, or beds, except, perhaps,
a heap of straw thrown down for
the cattle; no landlord to show
the travelers where to go, but
each one as he came in would
have to select tor himself as un
occupied archway, and here, af
ter unloading his horses or asses,
and leading them to drink at the
trough, he would spread his mat
on the bare ground, and set to
•work to prepare bis meed with no
other materials or cooking uten
sils but such as he had carried
with him.
In very ancient times, while
the Canaanites were still in pos
session of a great part of Pales
tine, there were no inns at all,
but the chief man in each tribe
or village was expected to enter
tain any travelers who happened
to pass that way. It was consid
ered an especial privilege to re
ceive strangers, and the Arabs
are famous to this daj for their
hospitality.
Although travelers were al
ways sure of a kind welcome
when they reached a camp or
village, in many cases these set
tlements were so tar apart that it
was impossible to get from one
to another without halting at
least one night on the way.
Traveling was slow in those days,
for there were few roads, and
those were very bad ones, and
the camels or asses were heavily
laden; the wandering tribes must
needs take all their household
goods on the backs of these ani
mals, and their houses, too, very
often, for they all lived in tents.
So that, by degrees, some char
itable Arab would set apart a
piece of ground here and there,
generally about eight or nine
miles apart, and build a rough
wall, or plant a hedge round it,
as a refuge for travelers. The
spot chosen would contain, if
possible, a spring of water and a
group of trees; and though the
ground was bare and hard, and
the sk}’’ the only roof, such an
inn would be a great boon to the
weary wayfarer, for here, at
least, he could slake his thirst
and rest, sheltered from the hot
sun by day, and sleep in peace,
undisturbed by alarms of robbers
or wild beasts, at night.
As time went on, and travel*
lers became more numerous, and
their possessions more valuable,
the walls were raised and prop
erly built up, and a doorway
made; instead of being, as at first,
a loose heap of stones, piled'up
without any kind of cement and
with no door, or opening of any
kind, so that the traveler had to
climb over a wall, or jump over
a prickly hedge, to reach his rest
ing-place. It was probably in a
shelter of this kind that Joseph’s
brothers slept that night when
they found the money in the
sack’s mouth; indeed, the first
mention of an inn of any kind in
the Bible is in the story of these
brothers, and their journey up
from Egypt.
Then a few more improve
ments crept in. It began to be
considered an act of great pi^y
on the part of a prince, ol* anjr
rich man, to provide such a rest
ing-place, and after his death his
refuge for travelers was kept up
as a monument to his memory,
his successors adding to, or im
proving it; so that gradually high
er walls were built of blocks of
stone, gates were added, and a
row of arches built against the
inner side of the wall, in which
the lodgers might sleep, instead
of lying down amongst their cat*
tie. A troughwas made, too, with
a pipe from the well to fill it with
water. These inns, or khans, as
the Arabs call them, were a
source of great pride to their
bnilders, and the different tribes
vied with each other in improv
ing and enlarging them.
They were considered sacred
in time of war, and though the
hostile tribes would destroy
houses and vineyards, and carry
away the inhabitants into slave
ry, they never touched the khans;
those being considered almost
holy ground, and which it would
I e ve very impious to injure in
any way.
xfae country of Palestine
abounds in limestone rocks, in
which are found innumerable
caves; and in later days, owners
of khans took advantage of these
natural shelters to increase the
accommodation, which had be
come too small for the ever-in
creasing stream of passers by.
A cave was generally used as
stable, and a piece of rock was
cut away along the sides of it, so
as to form a sort of shelf, on
which the cattle andhotses could
rest their horsehair nosebags
whilst eating.
Many ot the eastern inns are
to this day just of .this descrip
tion; and should the inn be full,
the tired traveler is glad to
spread his piece of carpet on this
rocky ledge, to throw himself
down on the straw-covered
ground to rest amongst the cat
tle.
The inn at Bethlehem—the fa
vored spot destined to be the
birtbplace of our Lord^—was of
great antiquity, and had had a
strange and interestiug history.
Thirteen hundred years before
the birth of Christ, Boaz, the
sheikh, or chief man of the little
town of Bethlehem, had lived in
this spot with his wife, Ruth,
and it being his privilege, as
sheikh, to entertain travelers, bis
house was always known as the
guest-house of the neighborhood;
and a very important and much
frequented resting-place it prob
ably was, for Bethlehem was the
first halting-place on the way
from Zion to Egypt On his
death, his possessions passed into
the hands of his grandson, Jesse,
who, no doubt, kept up the tra
ditions of the house, and showed
hospitality to all who needed it.
He in his turn left the house, at
his death, to his adopted son,
Chimham, by whose name it was
called for generations after. At
the death of Chimham, instead of
passing into the hands of stran
gers, the house which had so long
been known as a lesting-place
for travelers was gradually con
verted into the public guest
house, the khan or inn of Beth
lehem.
And so it eame to pass that,
generations after, the Galilean
peasant and his betrothed wife,
coming to Bethlehem to be Ux-
ed, and having no friends of
whom to ask shelter, were fain to
seek a lodging in the very house
which had been the boyhood’s
home ot their great ancestor Da
vid, and which was to be famous
through all the world, as long as
the world shall last, as the birth
place of the Saviour of mankind,
of whom it had been prophesied
centuries before, “There shall
come forth a rod out of the stem
ot Jesse.” The site of it is a little
below the town. It is now mark
PISTOL PRACIIO!'..
ed by the Church of the Nativ
ity.—8mday Magazine.
The slaying of a St. Louis lawyer
by a prominent newspaper editor,
and one of the largest funerals ever
seen at th^ West, suggest that the
pistol business is being somewhat
overdone. There have been similar
tragedies in 'Washington, Macon,
New Orleans, San Erancisco and
other prominent cities, If a man
say, or write, or print something
yeu do not like, buy a pistol, care
fully load it, watch your opportuni
ty and shoot him. So we ^oback
toward barbarism. There is, evi
dently, among certain educated and
well-to-do men, an impression that
they can right their wrongs by man
slaughter. There are those who
think it looks brave to carry a pis
tol. Nov?, I will undertake to
say that any man who lives in a
well-defended city, and is atraid to
go out and come in without firearms,
has not the courage of a sheep. If
called to go out on the borders of
civilization, or as an officer of the
law, to explore the haunts of a great
city, deadly weapons may be an ap
propriate accompaniment; but he
who in peaceful times and in well-
governed neighborhoods carries dirk
or pistol, has the spirit of murder,
whether ©r not he commit the
crime. In all the history of the
world slander was never baffled, nor
was honor vindicated by taking the
life of another. Newspaper abuse
was never stopped by e^inguish-
ing an editor. In most cases of as
sassination the wrong man is killed.
In the St, Louis instance both par
ties were worsted—the one by los
ing bis life; and the other, afflicted
with horrors at the fatal shot given.
All the fracas come from T^at is
called personal journalism. Colonel
Slayback rushed iato the office of
the Post-Dispatch, of St. Louis, to
destroy the editor for stigmatiza
tion. That is not the best way to
answer newspaper abuse. Let them
, go on. Everybody comes to under
stand that it is a personality. An
abusive newspaper corrects the harm
it does by the reputation it gets for
abuse. The most successful and
honored men in Statfe and Church
are those which certain newspapers
have attempted to annihilate. Ev
ery man comes to be estimated for
what he is really worth. You can
not write him up and you cannot
write him down. It is a rather uu-
fortunate thing for a man to be
abused only once by a newspaper,
for then the public might he de
ceived in regard to him; but if the
abuse go on for ^eeks and months
and years, the people come to un
derstand. it as only the wreaking of
some old grudges, and the charges
fall powerless. Besides that, it is
not now, as once, in towns and cit
ies, that there was only one news
paper, and that could have things
its own way. There are no^v scores
of newspapers coming out day by
day, and if one paper is unfair with
you, other papers will do you full
justice. But if there should come
a case of defamation in which no
newspaper column is open to set you
right, you have the law, and a jury,
made up of men who, like yourself,
have r^mtation and family, aha
sense of right and wrong, will ^ve
you damages. But do not think
that by violence you can adjust
anything. Keep your heart right
and your life right, and you are in
dependent of the world’s bombard
meat. Snap your swordcane and
-throw your derringer into the East
River. What a chicken-liver in
stead of a heart you must have, that
you have to be armed to walk Ful
ton Street or Broadway! There is a
certain kind of man who ought nev-
61^ to have a pistol in his pocket, or
under his pillow, or anywhere in the
house, from garret to cellar, and
that is the young man, or old, who
has a violent temper. To say noth
ing of a revolver, it is dangerous for
you to have so much as a percursion-
cap or a ramrod. You carry a pis-
-tel when suddenly, in a moment of
insane fury, you may do something
you may he sorry for through time
and through eternity. With such a
temper as you have, to carry a wea
pon of death is as unwise as to put
gunpowder and lucifer matches in
the same box. The orderly citizen
in our orderly cities, in the next
hundred years, will need no firearms.
Ten lives are lost every year through
the accidental discharge of firearms
where there is one life saved by be
ing armed. This complete puppy
ism that cannot live without being
armed with deadly weapons ought
to be spanked and put to bed before
sundown. It is an awtul thing to
take human life. Have nothing
about you that in a moment of al
tercation may become, under the
impulse of sudden temper, set on by
the devil, the means of an appalling
crime. So much for assassination
in high life.—T.Be Witt Talmage.
ABOVE ALL, MAKE US STYLISH.
A little girl in Louisville was
recently saying her prayers, and '
after going over the well-known
verses, ‘Now I lay me,’ &c., she
proceeded to Msk God for various
things she wanted. She prayed
the Lord to ‘bless mamma and
papa and sisters and brothers,’
and added, ‘but above all, oh!
God, make us stylish.’ The dear
little girl but gave expression to
what was the supremo desire in
that household. And, alas, in how
many mouths, even of church
members, would that prayer fit,
although they d > not venture to
formally express it like the hon
est little girl ! People want to be
good, yes, it is well to be good,
but to be ‘stylish’- -ah ! that is
something worth while, and
worth striving for. Too much
piety is sometimes inconvenient,
but too much style—ah, that is
impossible. Even if certain
things are wrong, so they are
fashionable, what matters it ?
People must enjoy themselves,
and what is the use of being so
careful always to do right ? This
is the spirit—‘above all, make
us stylish.’ Character, right
eousness, everything must be
made subservient to style.
I'HE BARUEL.
The invention of the barrel,
Batde of strips of wood and ren
dered light and strong by hoops,
finds in liistojy no notice of ori
gin or inventor. Pliny attribu
tes it to the Gauls of the Po, ia
Lombardy. There is, however,
good reason I© believe that the
barrel was in use before the
Gauls reached Italy, perhaps be'^
fore their existence as a people.
In one of the inscriptions copied
by Wilkeraon from Egyptian
uionaments may be seen two
slaves empting grain from a
wooden vessel, while a scribe
keeps tally a:'d a sweeper stands
by to sweep up the kernels.
Close by, a poor victim s un
dergoing the bastinado, lor short
measure or petty theft. The
measure is barrel shaped, pre
cisely like the hage ol modern
Egypt, and would apparently
hold about a peck. The age of
this inscription is not indicated.
Combat all thy discontent
through prayer, every care
through faith, every fear through
hope.