European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 25, 1964, Darmstadt, Hesse                              He innkeeper the in collector complained the strange Light i hat a wonderful week i More travellers land More business than our Little town has lever How Clever of King Herod to a require that each return to his native City i it has been a real Boon to i last few years have not been very Good for i the roman occupation has Hurt my an old inn like mine Doest attract the i used and our own kind Are too poor to i and the Good wife and i had dded the great Days of this Fain were All i planning to sell and get j last week changed All that what King and what prof it i Best of Elel every room was filled with people of i and the most important people in i ate at my Board and slept in my even in authorities were my what an what a week i the Way things Are going in the of my guests will someday be famous i will come to see the inn where he j us sign now Quler Lylus the great slept that what brings the i there were compliments for my wife cooking r its not beyond belief that i work May yet make this old inn a very eng those who appreciate the better things i food r one unfortunate incident so and that not his excellency the tax collector complained i strange Light that shone from the stable last said it disturbed his i Hung a Blanket Ike window and he seemed sat Liflet later when those starstruck shepherds in through the stable the tax col r got but i explained to him about girl who had a baby out there last 1 he calmed i guess he figured the i his so Many debts ahead of him that a  complain about his bid it l when i Tot those people stay in the j it Doest pay to mix common i dignitaries in the same girls Fai the stable boy it was i who filled the Manger with clean fresh Straw Ace that l j some ung about that girls j judgment she was so so her husband was to i just bad i and the child she bore last night is i god certainly has blessed her with if you have nothing More important a to step out to the stable and see the r and in sure they be honoured to have i of your position visit and its really i to see the babe lying in the Manger and i Young Mother watching Over that u Busy person like you has the time to l 1 dont know Why i should run on so about a common thing As a new after All it m every Doest it i must be getting Wal with the i suppose its just because i feel warm id and full of Goodwill today because god has d he brought business to my inn and pm Bulve me if i confuse my blessings and seem making too much of that new i understand be named that Means gods Strunge title for such a Little 1944 Nanco of Busy and exciting these Pusl few Duys have been in Bethlehem from the Day the first guests arrived for the Roinen taxing until this very nil of us who work old inn have had Little so Many persons of importance have stayed with us and How demanding they Are always there were errands to he special foods to Flagon of wine called for at All hours and a thousand extra usually the innkeeper tells me to slay in the stable away from the but he was glad enough to have me sleep in the Kitchen during this ii was much nicer than my usual bed in the How proud i was when important people called me by they All knew and i served them there was the military Gruff but generous and his the chief lax collector and some Fine ladles of the with Beautiful gowns and sparkling i knew them and they All knew but strangely the most exciting thing that happened to me came about because the who had been turning people away for Duys because there was no room in the suddenly got soft hearted and let a peasant couple slay in the thais my usual place to work and sleep of i came to know them the mans name was Joseph and his wife was she was the sweetest lady i have Ever she was so so so her presence trans formed my stable into a i do not remember my own but somehow i had the feeling that this gentle Mary was gods idea of a perfect Mother and that he had sent her to my stable so that i would know a mothers whether my fancy is Odd or it did happen that while she was playing in my stable she was delivered of a Strong healthy first i was among the first to see it was i who filled the Manger with clean fresh Straw to provide a resting place for the the animals i cared for were the beasts whose breaths warmed the stable where he was bom and who were the first to gaze on this holy i dont know where my dreams end and reality be but sometime just after Midnight i was Awak ened by a strange Light and the sound of heavenly i leaped from my pallet by the Kitchen door and ran to the when i looked i saw a scene of such Beauty As i shall never forget Joseph and Mary gazing at the Newborn child who slept in the and though i am no glorious phrases came to my mind such As words from our sacred scripture and half remembered bits of prophecies that the rabbi taught me years my cuts words and though thou be Little among the thousands of yet out of the shall he come Forth unto me that is to be ruler in i and Isaiah for unto us a child is unto us a son is Given for the government shall be upon his shoulder and ills name shall be called the mighty the everlasting the Prince of in that with that blessed i fell such Depths of love and such Heights of exaltation that i knew what our prophets must have meant when they said in ancient Days the sprit of the lord is upon somehow oven Simon the knew and Felt and saw in Mary and Joseph and the child Jesus the eternal love of a Centurion 7 was on guard very queer happened Jor nearly 35 years Ive served As a Soldier in the roman All that time Ive been on duty Here in this stink ing place called led Back in the Days of Caesar Augustus and just kept i suppose ill stay Here now until they pension no Man in the Garrison has been posted Here As Long As i and Ive come to know these jewish people As Well As any outsider there stubborn and they dont appreciate the things our roman occupation has brought to them and they hold a strange belief in a god called Yahweh and Arent even courteous enough to offer a Pinch of incense at the altar of nothing starts them rioting faster than a religious Row and there the most excitable fanatics in the we conquered their but Well never win their every year they pack Jerusalem for their religious just As there doing one of the real problems we have with them is that they keep be Lieving some old prophecy that their soothsayers and oracles made hundreds of years 1 dont understand Alt of but i get the idea that they believe their will someday Send them a great Leader named and he will re store their Freedom and save their they say he will be the King of Kings and the son of even the mighty Caesars will Kneel before him and All nations will Call him big As these crowds Are there not As bad As those i remember Back in the Early Days of my service out the first Garrison i was assigned to was a Little outpost a few Miles South of Here in a town called that was the year when Caesar Augustus decreed that All the world should be i was on guard duty one night patrolling the old and about Midnight something very queer happened a strange Light Shono on the Hill where Shep herds watch Over their and then i heard Beautiful As if a choir were singing i a Short time later some shepherds came to the Gate wanting to offer gifts and homage to the new born their the Captain of the guard detailed me to follow them and Seo what they were up can you imagine where they went to the stable Backol the a peasant couple was staying and the girl had lust had a the shepherds went Over to the Manger where the Mouier had Laid the and then they Knelt and worshipped All that was nearly 33 years but i can Muffi see that holy scene As clearly As i could that wintry night the dam Light of the the Beautiful Mother sweetly singing to her infant the simple dignity of her husband and the awestruck Devotion of the As stood in the stable Yard 1 As surely As Ive Ever known that i was seeing something love and peace All and in that tableau i sensed what their Prophet meant when he said that walked in darkness have seen a great Light for unto us a child is the Prince of Ive often wondered whatever became of that Little 1 hate to think of but theres a Tenette Chance the baby was slaughtered when mad old Herod started killing too this world could use a i had the same thought on duty this we crucified three two thieves and a gentle fellow who claimed to be the son of who knows perhaps he the stars and stripes Page 13