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\ Page Twelve THE CLINTON CHRONICLE Thursday, December 20, 1 1956 LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM CHANGES ONLY SUGHTLY Bethlehem, Jordan, Dec. 17— On the Plain of Boaz to the east, little Beduoin girls follow the wheat harvesters to glean bits of grain Men in flowing heacidlress trudge along rocky trails from the sotith accompanied by wom- en, children and baggage. The whine of reed flutes from, distant slopes heralds the passing of lonely shepherds watching' their flocks. Identical scenes might have welcomed the Holy Famjly on the outskirts of the little town of Bethlehem the day Christ was borh At the time of Christs birth Bethlehem was a' market town for rurai people, especially for Bedouins to the east and south. In this respect, the town has not changed. As long ago as Davids time 900 years before Christ. Davids son, Chamaan built a caravansen here which served as shelter fcor Bedouins and their flocks as they moved in and out of the town. That same caravansen was prob ably the inn where Joseph and Mary were unable to find lodg ing. The Caravanseri has dis appeared but the same kind of Bedouins still come to Bethle hem. Marked by the typical .Arab headdress falling down over the neck and shoulders, the wide shouldered cloaks and their lop ping gait, these Bedouins throfig Bethlehem's streets almost any day. They come in to* buy and sell on a meager scale and spend long hours in crude sidewalk cafes sipping 'thimble-sized cups of bitter Arab coffee The market place for these people, is an open square paved with flagstones. The grayi. rice, vegetables or old clothes for sale are displayed -on flat trays on the ground or stacked in crude TenTporary .wooden stalk. — - The settled inhabitants of Bethlehem’s population, number ing around 10,000-, live in a city which still bears the mark of the Crusaders. The overwhelm ing majority of the population is Christian; only one Moslem minaret competes with innum erable chucH spires and domes in Bethlehem's skyline These people live in stone houses, many of them with low domes as protection against sum- 1 mer heat and winterrain. Some of their houses date back to Cru sader times;. Many open into cobblestone streets barely wide enough to accommodate an au tomobile The arched gateways .and vaulted roofs stretching across the streets recall the me dieval Europe of the Crusades. Costumes of the women of Bethlehem bear the Crusader mark Those who wear tradi- tioal dress have long full gar ments, usually black or. dark red decorated wuth square stitched red or gold embroidery, usually in the form of a Crusader’s cross These Voftien wear- a head dress found only in Bethlehem and unknown in the rest of Pal estine This is a conical shaped high hat. covered with a large white veil. When'Christ was born the peo- I pie of Bethlehem lived largely from sheep raising and olive- growing. Many live from the same occupation today. Olive groves braced with stone terraces fall away from the edge of the town to the Plain of Boaz be low- On the plain wheat is grown. Here Ruth of the Old Testament story gleaned behind the harvesters, just as Bedouin girls do today. Maby Bethlehem inhabitants own flocks of sheep jor goats in addition to the land they, till" Caring for these sheep dictates a way of life unchanged since the night shepherds on nearby slopes heard the angels sing of the new born King. Shepherds daily leave the town and take their flocks over the same slopes where the angels sang Sometimes they .travel 25 miles in a single day, clambering over the rocky hill sides to find hits* of grass and shrubs' A new element has been add ed to Bethlehem's population since 1948—Arab refugees from Israel Driven from their homes t by the Arab-Israel war, these ! people live in the outskirts of j the town in tent's, hovels and caves Many a baby has been born in the past seven years in circumstances similar to those of Jesus- in a grotto shared by ani mals. placed in a crude wooden crib made by the father. On Chrjstmas Eve, these refu gee' sit sullenly 'beside the road watching / well-dressed turists arrive for [Christmas ceremonies at the Church of the Holy Sepul chre Since there are no Euro- pena standard hotels in Bethle hem most visitors stay in Jerusa lem They drive back and forth tor the Christmas Eve services which recount the incidents of hte day the Holy Family came into a crowded Bethlehem an£ found “there was np room f™ them in the inn.” • Almost for the first time in history, the shepherds of Beth lehem today have their freedom of movement restricted. Within sight of their town is the mili tary frontier dividing Arab Jor dan from the newly created state of Israel. With the war still un- setled shepherds are forbidden to approach the demarcation line, for fear of touching off a frontier incident. At noon each day shepherds must leave grazing grounds to find w r ater for the flocks. Many visit Solomon’e Pools near Beth lehem at midday. In the eve ning the shepherd carefully cotints his flock as it enters the fold, one by one. The fold may be a little stable built by the shepherd More often it is a limestone grotto, with the en trance practically closed, to ad mit only one animal at a time. Bethlehem's status as the birthplacp of Christ has given the town a new modern industry —tourism. The otherwise sleepy little town ranks as one of the .foremost sites of religious pil grimage in the world and every vear it is visited bv thousands i , w J j of tourists from all continents. It is the. center of numerous re ligious orders and .institutions of all types—Catholic, Orthodox, Armenian, Protestant. The varied dress of, friars, preists, nuns, sis ters, add to the color of native costumes. Many modern Bethlehem|tes make a living by carving objects of piety from mother of pearl. Deaid Sea stone and olive wood 1 ,v. Christmas^.. Is a rime for summing up our blessings, for acknowledging * with* gratitude the loyalty of our friends, and for expressing • appreciation and good Wishes that the Season will be rich in rewards for you a. >ht< ECONOMY AUTO STORE West Main Street M. friends and patrons. M f/o you, our . 'Wyp-. we extend every good wish for • a happy .holiday season, with our sincere thanks for the privilege '‘serving you over the years. L. B. DILLARD .YEN'S AVI) HOYS’ FI RMSHINGS COMPLIMENTS At Christmastime ■ * ANDERSON APPLIANCE CO. JACK W. ANDERSON ■ .(*5' »TT w J#! A \ X Our sincere wishes for a happy holiday to all the good friends 4— r -• wncm it has been such a pleasure to serve. IRBY’S MARKET Musgrove St. -it A Afany thanks for giving us the opportunity to serve'you in 1956. Hope we continue to be so favored in 1957. Happy holidays I ft MOORE’S SHOE STORE “On the Square'’ ’it' ° X - - Good cheer to you and a bountiful measure of happy memories to cherish long alter this Christmas day has pasted. CLINTON SERVICE STATION These souvenirs, along with em broidered. and brocaded Crusad ers’ jackets are offered for sale in small shops not far from the Church of the Nativity, where Christ was bom. The shopkeepers lounge in the sun in the sidewalk cafes, wait ing for tourists to arrive at the church. As soon as a tourist ar rives—and they are easy to spot —the shopkeepers converge on him in a pack. Each offers his services as a guide. . He will show the—tourist through the, church and all the other Beth lehem at no charge. This offer may sound suspic ious, but it is valid. The guide asks no money* At the end of the tour he invites the tourLst to his shop for a rest /and a cup of coffee or tea—still with no obligation. Once the visitor is seated the shopkeeper casually calls atten tion to the souvenirs he has to ^ell The tourist is lucky if he can escape without buying. The Canavati brothers, who once had a shop in Laredo, Tex as, but now have returned to their homeland, are masters of this type of j salesmanship and claim to have poineered it. Business is slow fof these peo ple most of the year, but when Christmas comes, Bethlehem’s population more than doubles for a few days and souvenir sellers ,are happy. A CANDLE IN THE WINDOW By Ruth Louise Johnson In Christian Herald “Put a light in your window on Christmas Eve and the garol- ers will sing for you ” For forty- four consecutive yeark this invi tation has been extended to the citizens fo St. Louis, Mo., where 50,000 ‘ carolers, in more than 2500 groups, spend Christmas Eve strolling along the streets of the city and country, stopping to sing at every house that shows the welcome light'in the window- All money given to them by lis teners is turned over to the in stitutions which care for handi capped and underprivileged chil dren. - . ■’ The invitation is given each year in -a pre-Christmas radio broadcast by William JL Dan- forth. 85-yea'r-old president of the St Louis Christmas Carols Association. Danforth, who is chairman of the board of Ralston Purina company, is known as the' ‘Number One Caroler” in St. Louis. Caroling from door ot door at Christmas is among the earliest DOOR DECORATIONS In the last few years it has be come more and more popular to decorate doors and doorways with bells and tree brnarrants instead of the. convePtronal wreath. of European traditions. Carols were handed down from genera tion to generation, passed from country to country, and brought across the seas. In 1911 the Chil dren’s Aid Society of St. Louis, took this inheritance of songs and traditions and started the custom of caroling to aid handi capped underprivileged children. That first night, in 1911, Mr. Danforth gathered a group of nine neighborhood boys to go out and sing. Snow was knee-deep, Snd the flrst hmise they came to was dark. But th£y sang their carols and rang the bell. The man who answered listened to their explanation, turned back into the house and brought out six potatoes, six onions, a few beets, and told them to move on. At the next place a woman in curl papers ordered them away, and the woman at the third house complained that they had waken ed her baby. In spite of these setbacks they collected a nice sum of money for the aid of the children. The caroling has been carried on every year since, and more than 100 other citise in the U. S. have adopted the practice. Singers are recruited from all creeds and from dozens of organi zations. Some are children, while others have been singing togeth er for years. Each group is as sembled and trained beforehand, and every caroler is provided with a special red cape and hood, and a six-inch red and green identification badge. Shortly af ter dusk on Christmas Eve they start out to sing wherever there is a light In the window and al so as they stroll along the streets. They ring the bells and take do nations at the doors. One snowy night a truck driver stopped be side a group and asked for a song. Then he said, “Thanks," and drove on to spend his Christ mas Eve in the cab of his truck. Several days before Christmas the groups also sing at Union Station, stores, institutions, and hotels. Travelers arriving at tTTe station are amazed and touched by the singing. Last year at Christmastime, to celebrate his thirtieth year as president of the caroling associa tion, a huge cake decorated with tiny carolers was presented to Danforth at a luncheon. The mayor of St. Louis and the presi dent of the Chamber of Com merce were present to offer their congratulations to the city’s chief caroler, and to wifch him many more singing y o wife! ears! ECONOMY AUTO STORE West Main Street L May the glow of holiday cheer brighten the homes of our many kind friends whose patronage we volua so highly. Our thanks to you alL Dell’s Beauty Shoppe Loree Wilkie A- ■' r 7 T , - r r;»>_ Carolyn Holmes Madge Blackwell Dell and Bill Crews NOTICE OF SALE State of South Carolina, * County of Laurens In Court of Common Pleas Bank, of Clinton, Plaintiff vs. J. T. McAlister, Eva McAlister, William B. Phillips and Della Phillips, Defendants. PUTtSUANT to a Decree of the Coi^rt in the above stated case, I ,will sell at public outcry to the highest bidder, either in or in front of the Court House, at Laur ens C. H., S. C„ on Sales’day in January next, being Monday, the 7th day of the month, during the legal hours f6r such sales, the fol lowing described property, to wit: All that certain piece, parcel or lot of land situate, lying and be ing just beyond the corporate lim its of the Town of Clinton, on west side of Elizabeth Street, in Laur ens County, State of South Caro lina, being bounded as follows; on the north by lof of Rob Neal (formerly of Elijah Reese, from which it is separated by a road, the south side of said road being the line, one hundred fifty (150) feet thereon-; on the east by Eliz abeth Street, fifty (50) feet there on; on the south by lands of the E. A.’Gus Harris Estate, sixty-five (65) feet thereon. Said lot of land above described is the identical lot conveyed to J. T McAlister and Eva McAlister by E. A. Gus Har ris by his deed dated March 3, 1947 and recorded in the office of the Clerk of -Court for Laurens County in Deed Book 97, at Page 273. TERMS OF SALE: Cash. The successful bidder, other .than the Plantin' herein, immediately up on the conclusion of the bidding, shall 'deposit with the Clerk of Court the sum of 5 per cent as a guarantee of his good faith in the bidding. The same to be applied to the purchase price upon his complying with the terms of sale, otherwise to be paid to Plaintiff for credit on the indebtedness. In the event the successful bidder should fail to make such deposit, or should fail to comply with the terms of sale, the said lands shall' be re-sold on the same or some subsequent Salesday on the same terms, at risk of the defaulting purchaser. ’ The purchaser to pay for papersi stamps and recording. ' W. E. DUNIAP, C. C. C. P. & G. S. Dated this 1st day at December, 1956. 3c-D20 It is a pleasure, at this time of the year, to greet our friends, who, through their cf faith in us, have made this year one of continued progress. Our sincere thanks and hearty greetings to all. Ml Prather-Simpson Furniture Co. “THE HOME-MAKERS’ MM-TW-fcti It's liqu id - 3 9 4 B o 11 I e TO ALL OUR FRIENDS AND PATRONS BROADWAY THEATRE . J. LELAND YOUNG, Manager ' , “Good Pictures Always’