The Innocents Abroad


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Nain is Magdala on a small scale. It has no population of any  
consequence. Within a hundred yards of it is the original graveyard, for  
aught I know; the tombstones lie flat on the ground, which is Jewish  
fashion in Syria. I believe the Moslems do not allow them to have  
upright tombstones. A Moslem grave is usually roughly plastered over and  
whitewashed, and has at one end an upright projection which is shaped  
into exceedingly rude attempts at ornamentation. In the cities, there is  
often no appearance of a grave at all; a tall, slender marble tombstone,  
elaborately lettred, gilded and painted, marks the burial place, and this  
is surmounted by a turban, so carved and shaped as to signify the dead  
man's rank in life.  
They showed a fragment of ancient wall which they said was one side of  
the gate out of which the widow's dead son was being brought so many  
centuries ago when Jesus met the procession:  
"Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold there was a  
dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a  
widow: and much people of the city was with her.  
"And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said, Weep  
not.  
"And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood  
still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, arise.  
616  


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