BETHLEHEM
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BEYROUT
divided among the Latin, Greek and Armenian Christians, who make up the entire population. The church is in the form of a cross, the finest part being the nave, which is supported by forty-eight Corinthian columns of solid granite. At the head of It cross, a sculptured marble star marks the entrance to a long passage descending to the crypt or chamber, in which a silver star shows the spot where Christ is said to have been born. The star is engraved with the words, in Latin: "Here Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary." The manger in which he was laid is in a recess cut in the rock.
Bethlehem, Pa., a borough in Northampton County, about 55 miles north of Philadelphia, with which the town of West Bethlehem was incorporated in 1904. Total population (census 1910) 12,837. It is situated on the Lehigh River and Canal, two bridges across which give access to South Bethlehem, the seat of Lehigh University. Bethlehem is reached by the Central Railroad of New Jersey, the Lehigh Valley and the Philadelphia & Reading railroads. Founded by Moravians in 1742, it early became a noted seat of the Brethren of that church and of their institutions, including a theological seminary and academy known as Nazareth Hall, located since 1858 at Bethlehem. The town has a public library and a hospital (St. Luke's); it has also considerable manufactures, including silk-mills, iron and steel works, zinc and graphite works, knitting mills, and large paint works. The town, which was incorporated in 1845, received its charter in 1851, and it owns and operates its own water-works. In the Revolutionary War a hospital of the Continental Army was located here, and in West Bethlehem are the graves of some 500 soldiers. See an article by Jordan on Bethlehem During the Revolution, in the Pennsylvania Magazine of History (Philadelphia, 1890); also Martin's Historical Sketch of Bethlehem (Philadelphia, 1872).
Bethsaida (beth-sd't-da), meaning "house of fish," is the name of two villages on the Lake of Galilee. The one on the western shore was the birthplace of Peter, Andrew and Philip, the Apostles. A heap of grass-grown ruins is thought to mark its site. The other, at the northern end of the lake, lies adjacent to the scene of the feeding of the five thousand by Christ. It was afterward called Julias.
Beust (fon boist), Frederick Ferdinand von, Count, a prominent modern German statesman, was born in Dresden in 1809. He devoted himself to politics, and was employed by his government in different services in Berlin, Paris and London. In 1849 he was made minister of foreign affairs, He opposed Prussia, and after the battle of Sadowa, entered the service of Austria, where he was made chancellor in
1867. He completely reorganized the Austrian Empire, and the present constitution was his work. He was later an Austrian ambassador at London (1871-78), and acted in the same capacity at Paris (1878-82). He died October 24, 1886.
Bevan, Theodore F., F.R.G.S.A., the explorer, was born near London, October 14, 1860, and has largely given his life to the exploration of British New Guinea. In 1887 he discovered the Aird and the Purari Rivers there, the latter the next to the largest in the territory.
Bey'eridge, Albert Jeremiah (1862-), American senator, was born in Highland County, Ohio, and as a child was taken by his parents to Indiana where his'younger years were spent in farm and railway construction work. He, however, snatched time to study in the winter months and subsequently entered De Pauw University, at Greencastle, Ind., from which he graduated in 1885. He later on became clerk in a law office in Indianapolis, where he was drawn to political life and took part in the Blaine campaign of that era, meanwhile going on with his law studies, and was admitted to the bar. During the nineties he became widely known in his state by his political speeches, and in 1899 was elected as a Republican senator from Indiana. In the latter year he visited the Philippines, and in the following year he addressed the senate in favor of the administration's policy of retaining the islands under such local government as the situation demanded. This was in January 10, 1900. Among his many speeches and addresses is one on "The March of the Flag," delivered at Indianapolis, Ind., September 16, 1898. By these speeches he has made a notable mark, while he is also known as an author by his work on The Russian Advance (1904) and by a booklet, issued in 1905, entitled The Young Man and the World.
Beverly, Mass., a city in Essex County, Mass., on an inlet of the Atlantic, 18 miles northeast of Boston, and on the line of the Boston & Maine (Eastern) Railroad. It has a number of factories engaged in the manufacture of women's boots and shoes, and leather, also machine shops, etc., and has considerable trade in fish. It possesses a good harbor and has a share in the coasting trade. Here is located the New England Institute for the Deaf and Dumb. Population, 18,650.
Beyrout (bd'rodf) or Beirut, known to the ancients as Berytus, is a commercial city on the coast of Syria, 55 miles from Damascus and 147 from Jerusalem. It is the chief seaport and market town for all the trade on the shores of Syria and Palestine. British, French and Egyptian steamers maintain a regular service, carrying back wool, olive oil, gums and silk in exchange for their cargoes; and since the
