was the place they were to stay,--a kind of inn, or lodging-house, but
not at all like those you know about.

They have them to-day in that far-off country, just as they built them
so many years ago.

It was a low, flat-roofed, stone building, with no window and only one
large door. There were no nicely furnished bedrooms inside, and no
soft white beds for the tired travelers; there were only little places
built into the stones of the wall, something like the berths on
steamboats nowadays, and each traveler brought his own bedding. No
pretty garden was in front of the inn, for the road ran close to the
very door, so that its dust lay upon the doorsill. All around the
house, to a high, rocky hill at the back, a heavy stone fence was
built, so that the people and the animals inside might be kept safe.

Mary and Joseph could not get very near the inn; for the whole road in
front was filled with camels and donkeys and sheep and cows, while a
great many men were going to and fro, taking care of the animals. Some
of these people had come to Bethlehem to pay their taxes, as Mary and
Joseph had done, and others were staying for the night, on their way
to Jerusalem, a large city a little further on.

The yard was filled, too, with camels and sheep; and men were lying on
the ground beside them, resting, and watching, and keeping them safe.
The inn was so full and the yard was so full of people, that there was
no room for anybody else, and the keeper had to take Joseph and Mary
through the house and back to the high hill, where they found another
place that was used for a stable. This had only a door and a front,
and deep caves were behind, stretching far into the rocks.