mmmmm^mmmmmmmmmmmmm isiMjfiijfunt (t !.n,' . I.,, IJ 11^ t/Yct^ t4^ ^, t/^C'l^i^^,^ Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2008 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/childsdreamofstaOOdickrich A CHILD'S DREAM OF A STAR. A CHILD'S DREAM OF A STAR. By CHARLES DICKENS. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY HAMMATT BILLINGS. BOSTON: FIELDS, OSGOOD, & CO. 1871. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, BY FIELDS, OSGOOD, & CO., in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. University Press: Welch, Bigelow, & Co., Cambridge. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Engraved by W. J. Linton. Page I. These Two used to wonder . . . . 5 II. One clear shining Star ... 6 III. The Sister drooped 7 IV. A LITTLE Grave 8 V. A GREAT World of Light , , . .9 VI. "Is MY Brother come?" . • . 10 VII. The Company of Angels . . . .11 VIII. "Thy Mother is no more" . . . 12 IX. A Man, whose Hair was turning Gray . 13 X. "I see the Star!". .... 14 XI. It shines upon his Grave . • . • 15 A CHILD'S DREAM OF A STAR. HERE was once a child, and he strolled about a good deal, and thought of a number of things. He had a sister, who was a child too, and his con- stant companion. These two used to wonder all day long. They wondered at the beauty of the flowers ; they wondered at the height and blueness of the sky ; they wondered at the depth of the bright water ; they wondered at 5 A CHILD S DREAM OF A STAR. the goodness and the power of God, who made the lovely world. They used to say to one another, some- times. Supposing all the children upon earth were to die, would the flowers and the water and the sky be sorry ? They believed they would be sorry. For, said they, the buds are the children of the flowers, and the little playful streams that gambol down the hillsides are the chil- dren of the water ; and the smallest bright specks playing at hide-and-seek in the sky all night must surely be the children of the stars ; and they would all be grieved to see their playmates, the children of men, no more. There was one clear shining star that used to come out in the sky before the A CHILD S DREAM OF A STAR. rest, near the church-spire, above the graves. It was larger and more beauti- ful, they thought, than all the others, and every night they watched for it, standing hand in hand at a window. Whoever saw it first cried out, " I see the star ! " And often they cried out both together, knowing so well when it would rise and where. So they grew to be such friends with it, that, before lying down in their beds, they always looked out once again, to bid it good night ; and when they were turning round to sleep, they used to say, " God bless the star ! " But while she was still very young, O, very, very young, the sister drooped, and came to be so weak that she could no longer stand in the window at night ; and A CHILD S DREAM OF A STAR. then the child looked sadly out by him- self, and when he saw the star, turned round and said to the patient pale face on the bed, " I see the star ! " And then a smile would come upon the face, and a little weak voice used to say, '' God bless my brother and the star ! " And so the time came, all too soon ! when the child looked out alone, and when there was no face on the bed ; and when there was a little grave among the graves, not there before ; and when the star made long rays down towards him, as he saw it through his tears. Now, these rays were so bright, and they seemed to make such a shining way from earth to heaven, that when the child went to his solitary bed, he dreamed about A CHILD'S DREAM OF A STAR. the Star ; and dreamed that, lying where he was, he saw a train of people taken up that sparkling road by angels. And the star, opening, showed him a great world of light, where many more such angels waited to receive them. All these angels, who were waiting, turned their beaming eyes upon the peo- ple who were carried up into the star ; and some came out from the long rows in which they stood, and fell upon the people's necks, and kissed them tenderly, and went away with them down avenues of light, and were so happy in their company, that, lying in his bed, he wept for joy. But there were many angels who did not go with them, and among them one 9 A CHILD S DREAM OF A STAR, he knew. The patient face that once had lain upon the bed was glorified and radiant, but his heart found out his sister among all the host. His sister's angel lingered near the en- trance of the star, and said to the leader among those who had brought the peo- ple thither, " Is my brother come ? '" And he said, " No." She was turning hopefully away, when the child stretched out his arms, and cried, *' O sister, I am here ! Take me ! " And then she turned her beaming eyes upon him, and it was night ; and the star was shining into the room, making long rays down towards him as he saw it through his tears. From that hour forth, the child looked A CHILD S DREAM OF A STAR. out upon the star as on the home he was to go to, when his time should come ; and he thought that he did not be- long to the earth alone, but to the star too, because of his sister's angel gone be- fore. There was a baby born to be a brother to the child ; and while he was so little that he never yet had spoken word, he stretched his tiny form out on his bed, and died. Again the child dreamed of the opened star, and of the company of angels, and the train of people, and the rows of an- gels with their beaming eyes all turned upon those people's faces. Said his sister's angel to the leader, " Is my brother come ? " A CHILD S DREAM OF A STAR. And he said, " Not that one, but an- other/' As the child beheld his brother's angel in her arms, he cried, " O sister, I am here ! Take me ! '' Ahd she turned and smiled upon him, and the star was shin- ing. He grew to be a young man, and was busy at his books when an old ser- vant came to him and said, "Thy moth- er is no more. I bring her blessing on her darling son ! " Again at night he saw the star, and all that former company. Said his sis- ter's angel to the leader, " Is my brother come ? '' And he said, " Thy mother ! " A mighty cry of joy went forth through A CHILD S DREAM OF A STAR. all the star, l^ecause the mother was re- united to her two children. And he stretched out his arms and cried, " O mother, sister, and brother, I am here ! Take me ! " And they answered him, " Not yet." And the star was shining. He grew to be a man, whose hair was turning gray ; and he was sitting in his chair by the fireside, heavy with grief, and with his face bedewed with tears, when the star opened once again. Said his sister's angel to the leader, " Is my brother come ? " And he said, " Nay, but his maiden daughter." And the man who had been the child saw his daughter, newly lost to him, a 13 A CHILD S DREAM OF A STAR. celestial creature among those three, and he said, *^ My daughter's head is on my sister's bosom, and her arm is round my mother's neck, and at her feet there is the baby of old time, and I can bear the parting from her, God be praised ! " And the star was shining. Thus the child came to be an old man, and his once smooth face was wrinkled, and his steps were slow and feeble, and his back was bent. And one night as he lay upon his bed, his children standing round, he cried, as he had cried so long ago, '' I see the star ! " They whispered one another, " He is dying." And he said, '* I am. My age is fall- ing from me like a garment, and I move towards the sta child. And (> m Father, now I thank thee that ecetve th And th< upon his A CHILD S DREAM OF A STAR. towards the star as a child. And O my Father, now I thank thee that it has so often opened to receive those dear ones who await me ! " And the star was shining ; and it shines upon his grave. 15 17-}/ \a /