Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 May 1894 — MARY AND THE MESSIAH. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

MARY AND THE MESSIAH.

Said to Have Been Sheltered by This Syc« a more Tree. At Matrieh, in Egypt, which tradition represents as being the residence of Christ and his mother dur-

Ing their exile in the land of Pharaoh, a sycamore is shown as having given its refreshing shade to the Messiah and to Mary. A traveler says that while visiting there a Moslem guide'conducted him to the sycamore, saying, “this is the tree of Jesus and Mary.” Vansleb, a priest of Fontainebleau, France, states that the ancient sycamore fell of old age in 1058, but that the stump remained and from it sprang the tree that now exists. Another writer says that the tree stands in the center of a garden, close to a well of water, and that'it is surrounded with the most beautiful roses and Egyptian jasmin.

SYCAMORE TREE AT MATRIEH.