that 150 convents have each the head-dress of the Virgin. What a heavy sum she must have run up for bonnets! To suppose that a man in the position of Joseph the Carpenter paid for these bonnets is sheer nonsense. No doubt, when he discovered the extravagant character of "the Virgin," he inserted an advertisement in the Jerusalem Gazette and Bethlehem Courier:—
I, JOSEPH, Carpenter and Wheelwright, of Jezebel, St. Nazareth, do hereby give notice that, after the 13th of this month Nisan, I will not hold myself responsible for debts contracted by my wife Mary, usually nick-named "The Virgin."
No doubt Jehovah had to put his hand deep into his breeches' pocket and pay for these bonnets. Pestered with his poor relations, and especially by this horrible Mary, all things considered, Jehovah has written remarkably well. I am free to admit it to be a wonderful thing, under the circumstances, that the Bible is such a sensible book as it is.
