278 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.

with twigs such as we saw the woman selling in the market-
place. On these the slender limbs of trees are thrown and
thickly coated with mortar. Lastly, a thick spread of earth
is thrown on, rolled to a level, and oftentimes sown with
grass seed.

Thus by care many of the roofs become as smooth and
soft as a machine-mown lawn. They may be easily broken
up and anything lowered inside from above. By some
such process the four bearers of the poor palsied man man-
aged to enlist the attention of the Great Physician in behalf
of their friend. It is not hard to understand it all when
viewing such a house as this one at Nazareth. It would not
be difficult for four men to carry a lame friend in a ham-
mock by the outer stairway up to the roof, and, breaking
through, let him down into the apartment or court below.

Not far from this same house, in a narrow street, is a
little chapel erected upon the site of Joseph’s carpenter shop.
Over the altar is a picture representing Mary and Joseph
instructing Jesus, and finding that he knew more than they.
Another painting represents the lad Jesus assisting his father
at work. It contains no accessories of the carpenter’s shop,
but there are enough of them in the shops close by.
The web-saw, the glue-pot, the plane and the hammer, are
the principal tools used in such shops, all without the mod.
ern improvements. Yet whatever the Palestine carpenter
produces is from the fragrant cedars of Lebanon or from
the eccentrically knotted and gnarled olive wood. The opera-
tion of bargaining and waiting for any article of wood to
come from a Palestine carpenter shop is a lengthy one.
Articles of wood are a luxury there, and when a carpenter
receives an order for one he usually employs the next three
days of his life in soliciting the congratulations of his friends