hundred years.

He was born, long years ago, in a land far, far away across the seas.

Before the baby Christ was born, Mary, his mother, had to make a long
journey with her husband, Joseph. They made this journey to be taxed
or counted; for in those days this could not be done in the town where
people happened to live, but they must be numbered in the place where
they were born.

In that far-off time, the only way of traveling was on a horse, or a
camel, or a good, patient donkey. Camels and horses cost a great deal
of money, and Mary was very poor; so she rode on a quiet, safe donkey,
while Joseph walked by her side, leading him and leaning on his stick.
Mary was very young, and beautiful, I think, but Joseph was a great
deal older than she.

People dress nowadays, in those distant countries, just as they did so
many years ago, so we know that Mary must have worn a long, thick
dress, falling all about her in heavy folds, and that she had a soft
white veil over her head and neck, and across her face. Mary lived in
Nazareth, and the journey they were making was to Bethlehem, many
miles away.

They were a long time traveling, I am sure; for donkeys are slow,
though they are so careful, and Mary must have been very tired before
they came to the end of their journey.

They had traveled all day, and it was almost dark when they came near
to Bethlehem, to the town where the baby Christ was to be born. There