Chapter 50 Summary

It is two hours to Nazareth. Twain says that everything is measured in time rather than miles. He makes a joke that he believes when people order underwear, they probably measure it in time. When they get to Nazareth, they set up camp near the Virgin Mary's Fountain, which is a source of water where the Virgin fetched water as a young girl. Young girls still gather water there. Twain notices that the girls are homely, but his companions keep saying otherwise. Each stares at the girls and say, "What a tall, graceful girl! What Madonna-like gracefulness of queenly beauty!" After several times of this statement, Twain looks it up in his guidebook to find the exact quote from the author.

As Mark Twain sits in a cave that is said to be the home of the holy family, he tries to imagine...