With the dragoman heading the company we rode into Nazareth single file just as the sun went down. He seemed delighted to be leader of such a large party of tourists, and as we marched along the people looked amazed at the turnout. Our stay at this place was longer than at any of the preceding places, for reaching there Saturday evening gave us Sunday as an extra day of rest, as on that day no traveling was done. Our tents were pitched near the “Virgin’s Fountain,” which is considered one of the holy places of the city, because it is thought that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was in the habit of going there for water. We took pleasure in watching the women fill their large jars, which held perhaps three gallons of water. Mothers with tiny babies upon their arms went to the fountain, and young, laughing girls mingled with the crowd. Some of them were in a hurry, while many stopped long enough to have a pleasant chat and tell a bit of news. One would naturally suppose a jar holding three gallons of water would be a heavy burden to carry; but the women helped each other place them upon the head, after which the individual walked off unconcerned, seemingly not having a fear as to the vessel tumbling off. The bearing of water seemed to be one of the burdens placed upon the women of that country, and they bore it cheerfully. Not a man was to be seen carrying the smallest vessel. It was the custom for women to carry water in Abraham’s time, for we read that when a servant was sent to seek a wife for Isaac, and a certain city was reached, “he made his camels to kneel down without the city by a well of water at the time of the evening, even the time that women go out to draw water.” The Sabbath Day Was not spent resting in our tents, for we had too strong a desire to see something of the “city of Jesus.” No doubt you remember that Mary and Joseph had their home in Nazareth before going up to Bethlehem to be taxed; but the Nazareth of Joseph and Mary’s time is not the Nazareth we looked upon, for since then battles have been fought there, and the city destroyed several times. It has been rebuilt, however, and each time the original site was used. The natives were bright-faced and rather neatly dressed, and the contrast between this city and others was great. We were not surprised to learn that Protestantism had a hold there, and that solved the mystery.