filX 7 3 7 6 4 ! 5! THE .THE UNIVERSE* OF CALIFORNIA SAN OIEQC THE SIGNS IN THE CHRISTMAS FIRE "THERE IS THE SIGN OF THE WISE MEN, CHRISTMAS Fl WILLIAM ALLEN KNIGHT AUTHOR OF THE SONG OF OUR SYRIAN GUEST THE PILGRIM PRESS BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO COPYRIGHT, MCMVII BY WILLIAM ALLEN KNIGHT ENTERED AT STATIONBBs' HALL, LONDOM ALL EIGHTS EE3EEVED THE PII.CRTM PRESS BOSTON The dear father and mutl er Whojirat taught me to love The story of the wise men And the star PROLOGUE NOW when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews ? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, in quired of them diligently what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem. 'When they had heard the king, they departed ; and, lo, the star which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came 'and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the jstar, they rejoiced with exceed- iing great joy. MATTHEW II. THE SIGNS IN THE CHRISTMAS FIRE VvATCH, still watch, Christina ; we shall see them here also, my daughter.' 1 The old Greek's face was turned to the fireglow and between the masses of hair and beard his wide forehead shone in its light. The words were for the girl at his side alone, for his voice was low and fatherly. Yet who will blame me for hearing what he said as we sat that Christmas Eve with no lights save our fire in the room, while a snowfall muffled all sounds out in the dark and lifted white arms at the windows? If you could have seen them there in the firelight, the somewhat shaggy yet altogether genial old man and the girl with her smiling quietness, you would have listened too. One summer night in an Oxford inn I had talked with this stranger until the wakeful bells of that towered town had joined clamor ously to warn us of the hour. That very day we had chanced to meet in the church long known as St. Mary- the- Virgin's. It is a storied old THE SIGNS IN THE building and he was standing near the altar looking down at the little gravestone which, sheltered in a holy place, bears the name Amy Robsart. He seemed to be musing on the story of that ill-fated young wife. As I stood near him he turned, pointed to the stone and shook his head, gazing at me out of misty eyes. That night while a rain was fall ing we settled in a snug corner at the inn, and so fell to talking as even strangers will do at such times. What he said before we parted would make a story good to tell; but it is enough now that I listened until the bells of Oxford broke the stillness with long pealing, and then, far up the rambling stairs, lay won dering who this stranger could be, until the sound of the rain on the roofs was lost in sleep. It happened that I did not see him again till a day when I spied him walking slowly in a crowded street of my own city in America. He was quickly alert and guarded at first, but was hearty enough after he had placed me in his memory. We strolled, chatting as we went, until we came into the quaint en closure of a once fashionable square whose elms and dwellings are left now to a fading gentility. " Here ai*e my lodgings, sir," he said, stop ping abruptly. " Will you not give CHRISTMAS FIRE me the pleasure of receiving you within?" The old-time knocker brought a speedy response. It was a girl who stood in the door with beam ing face and lifted arms a girl maidenly, though molded like a little woman as is the way with daughters of the East, glowing in her joyousness, and by every token of feature, voice and bearing, well- bred. At sight of me she quickly quieted her welcome. For my part I stood perplexed. To that moment I had known the old man at my side as a lone traveler only ! ** My daughter, sir," he said, smil ing with a pride which lighted up his eyes. "Christina your father's friend." So was it, as men see ways past finding out, that among the guests in our home on the approaching Christmas Eve were Dr. Melisander and his daughter. Would that you could have seen the picture Christina made in the brightness of our fire when I over heard those words, "Watch, still watch, Christina ; we shall see them here also, my daughter." Outlined in the ruddy light her form moved not at all. The small hands folded in her lap did not stir. So eager was her gaze into the fireplace that the waves of lustrous clack hair on THE SIGNS IN THE her shoulders were not disquieted by the turning of her head. The only token that she heard her father was the smile that came and lingered. Sweet with childlikeness it gleamed above the shining of the firelight in her eyes. So Christina sat in silence watching our Christmas fire. "As I was saying, sir," and Dr. Melisander now took the tone of voice in which he had been talking to us, " our Bethlehem is a wee place a strangely small town in deed to draw the hearts of your far-away cities as it does to-night. I was thinking of this as we came hither through your shopping streets all ablaze this Christmas Eve. Ah, sir, the throng that pushed by the slow old man with a broad back and a cloak that flapped and was often in the way of their armfuls of gifts they knew not how he was musing of his little Bethlehem among the far, silent hills ! Of a truth those many people could not imagine how empty, notwithstanding their loads of things, the multitude seemed to him in their big, shining city across the seas, but for the memories of that small town." He paused, shaking his head. And there was a motion in his thick beard as of laughter. He was re joicing for little Bethlehem. Then he seemed to give himself to ponder- CHRISTMAS FIRE ing. Quickly he glanced at the fire with grave eyes. "The signs will yet appear, my child." He spoke with the same softened voice which had made me listen before. Christina's hands moved now in a girl's eager way. She lifted her eyes to her father's, and I watched to see the smile once more. It came he uttered a word which I am sure meant darling to a Greek girl it lingered as her gaze re turned to the fire. Then I knew that Christina's smile was story- laden. A burst of song was heard across the hall. Dr. Melisander turned to listen. " How good it is to have them at home again ! " said a motherly voice. " What carol is that, madam ? Are not your daughters singing a Christmas carol ? I seem to re member hearing it somewhere in London it was, if my memory be true." Still listening he sat in silence. No answer was needed. For above the merry babel in another room arose the refrain once and again, until the company of student friends broke into full chorus singing : " Carol, brothers, carol, carol joyfully, Carol the good tidings, carol merrily ; And pray a gladsome Christmas , THE SIGNS IN THE For all good Christian men, Carol, brothers, carol, Christmas day again." The swell of happy voices laden with that pathos which older hearts are apt to hear when young men and maidens sing together, answered the question by the fire, and no words were spoken. The old Greek leaned toward the blaze with an elbow on his knee and an agitated hand in his beard. There was tear- mist in his great eyes. For the moment he seemed to have for gotten us. " And they are singing such songs in a thousand cities to-night, my Bethlehem ! " we heard him saying. He was still sitting so when the piano sounded new chords. I thrilled with expectancy, recogniz ing the music and wondering that the singers had hit upon it at such a moment; for soon their voices glided into this melody of words : " O little town of Bethlehem, How still we see thee lie ! Above thy deep and dreamless sleep The silent stars go by ; Yet in thy dark streets shineth The everlasting Light ; The hopes and fears of all the years Are met in thee to-night." Dr. Melisander's face was beam ing. He raised himself to listen. His eyes were brimming with tears. When the song ended he exclaimed in a hushed voice : " Oh, sir, the man who wrote those words whoever he was, I know not he understood! He must have seen it, sir; he must have seen our Bethlehem ! It lies there in a wide silence with the hills of Judea around it where shepherds wander with flocks, and fields of wheat and barley are in the valleys and vineyards on the slopes. You see it, sir, as you follow the road from Jerusalem you see it lifted on the shoulders of a great hill, that you may greet it lovingly. You find it shabby enough, sir, the dear little town ! And dark are its streets by night, as that song says. But the joy of many nations shines there you will never forget that never. And the beauty of our women, sir, will often bring to your memory the young mother who there held Him in her arms !" The old man was near to sobbing in the fulness of his emotion. Yet so radiant was his countenance that I laughed with delight at his joy over Bethlehem. But one who listened with me glanced up quickly as he spoke of Bethlehem women, and I followed her eyes to his daughter. The girPs rich beauty haloed in the firelight interpreted his words anew and stilled my mirth. For I saw now that grief was mingled with Jf 17. ; THE SIGNS IN THE For all good Christian men, Carol, brothers, carol, Christmas day again." The swell of happy voices laden with that pathos which older hearts are apt to hear when young men and maidens sing together, answered the question by the fire, and no words were spoken. The old Greek leaned toward the blaze with an elbow on his knee and an agitated hand in his beard. There was tear- mist in his great eyes. For the moment he seemed to have for gotten us. " And they are singing such songs in a thousand cities to-night, my Bethlehem ! " we heard him saying. He was still sitting so when the piano sounded new chords. I thrilled with expectancy, recogniz ing the music and wondering that the singers had hit upon it at such a moment; for soon their voices glided into this melody of words : " O little town of Bethlehem, How still we see thee lie ! Above thy deep and dreamless sleep The silent stars go by ; Yet in thy dark streets shineth The everlasting Light ; The hopes and fears of all the years Are met in thee to-night." Dr. Melisander's face was beam ing. He raised himself to listen. His eyes were brimming with tears. ft When the song ended he exclaimed in a hushed voice : " Oh, sir, the man who wrote those words whoever he was, I know not he understood! He must have seen it, sir; he must have seen our Bethlehem ! It lies there in a wide silence with the hills of Judea around it where shepherds wander with flocks, and fields of wheat and barley are in the valleys and vineyards on the slopes. You see it, sir, as you follow the road from Jerusalem you see it lifted on the shoulders of a great hill, that you may greet it lovingly. You find it shabby enough, sir, the dear little town ! And dark are its streets by night, as that song says. But the joy of many nations shines there you will never forget that never. And the beauty of our women, sir, will often bring to your memory the young mother who there held Him in her arms !" The old man was near to sobbing in the fulness of his emotion. Yet so radiant was his countenance that I laughed with delight at his joy over Bethlehem. But one who listened with me glanced up quickly as he spoke of Bethlehem women, and I followed her eyes to his daughter. The giiTs rich beauty haloed in the firelight interpreted his words anew and stilled my mirth. For I saw now that grief was mingled with THE SIGNS IN THE gladness in his tears for little Beth lehem with its beautiful women. Dr. Melisander turned to his daughter also. Soon they were talk ing together and I caught words not of our tongue. Suddenly Christina reached forth her bared arm point ing into the fireplace. Looking up at her father she said softly, " There is the sign of the wise men, my father! 11 The bearded face drew near her shoulder with watching eyes. They were sitting thus when a moment later the singers stood in the doorway. Their voices were hushed at the sight. " What is it ? ^ whispered one of them, tiptoeing into the room. Dr. Melisander noticed their pres ence. " Have vou never watched for the signs in the Christmas fire ? " he asked. "What signs?" exclaimed one and another, coming nearer. " The signs that first came true in our Bethlehem. 11 " What signs ? w they repeated. " Well, well ! Can it be that you know not the signs for which we watch the old, old signs you may see them everywhere in Beth lehem and in all the world wherever a fire is burning in a Christian home on Christmas Eve have you never watched for them ?" Then there came a scene which will linger in memory as long as Christmastide shall come for me, when those young faces were gathered about us in the wavering firelight to hear and see what the old Greek and his daughter were about to make known this tale of the signs in ( the Christmas fire. " Have you never heard the story how three signs were given before that first Christmas day, and how watching by a Christmas fire you may see them everywhere still ? " The voice was low ; his counte nance glowed with zest. "Each sign was suited to the hearts of those that received it, and the three groups that came to Beth lehem were such as to stand for all that is good in the whole world. Have you never heard of this? Listen. 1 ' Leaning toward his daughter he spoke a word or two in undertone. We saw her face brighten anew. "Each group received its own sign," he said turning to us. Then he laid his hand on Chris tina's shoulder. Joyously she pointed to a spark glowing in the black wall of the fireplace. "There is the sign of the star in the east," he said. "Watch it watch it, here in your Christmas fire!" THE SIGNS IN THE The old Greek^s earnest manner made the quaint symbol very real as the spark for the moment mounted in the dark expanse. Presently, in a voice touched by the low, chanting tone of the Oriental story-teller, he said : " Far to the east, far across the waste of the desert, beyond the silence and the loneliness and the pale distances, there were ancient cities and peoples. And among them were learned men whom they called Magi. Companions and teachers of kings were they, keepers of knowl edge dear to the East, above all watchers of the stars. Such was the Magi's calling." He sat a moment in quietness stroking his beard and looking at the listeners as if questioning how to lead them on. Then his counte nance lightened afresh and he raised his hand with the palm toward the fireglow. "Could you but look on those skies those sparkling silences above our ancient lands could you but pass one night with nothing between you and their pure, wide heights you would not wonder that men of old saw signs in such stars. Was a great man born ? They watched for the stars to make it known. Was a kingdom rising or falling? Surely the stars w ould reveal this also. So did men feel after God in those days." Then he leaned toward us with awakening directness. " Those Magi knew the .sacred books of the peoples round about ! They would surely hear how in Jerusalem men were looking for the birth of a kingly deliverer promised by ancient Jew ish prophets ! Do you not see ? They would be watching the stars for a sign that this king of the Jews was born ! " lie paused, looking about as if to say, "Is that all clear?" " But what made them take a certain star for a sign?" broke in a tall youth who was peering over a cluster of girlish heads; "the sky was full of stars night after night what happened, I wonder?" Dr. Melisander looked up at the lad, raising his brows and half play fully lifting a finger. " Ah, that pleases me much, it makes glad my heart that you should ask me of this. Shall I tell you I who have studied these things many years shall I try to tell you somewhat of this?" All made ready to listen, bright eyes glancing meanwhile at the youth's earnest face in a way that maidens have. The smile that marked the story-teller's pleasure lingered, then faded. *' It troubles me, my friends, that so many should think it must have THE SIGNS IN THE been some strange star a star shining out of place and moving above their heads near enough to show them their way. Ah that is to forget what manner of men those old star watchers were ! Shall I try to tell you how I think of the star they saw ? " The ripple of pleasure in our group left no room for misgiving. The old man sat rubbing his palms together. He laughed quietly, watching the flurry of expectancy and peering into one and another of the faces around him. " Well, let me see let me see ! " Then his eyes grew grave. Would that I could cause the mellow tones of his voice to be heard as I tell how he went on. " I used to think upon these things when our home was first in Bethle hem. Many an evening I would go out on the hillsides or walk along the road that leads down from Jerusalem and watch the stars above our little town. And I would say to myself, ' Here those Magi stood, and they looked on those stars as I do now. 1 Then I would ponder on the words about the star that went before them. ' How could a star go be fore them ? ' I would ask alone in the dark. " I knew well what learned men had written of these things; above all, I had read many times what one of the greatest among them had left on record how he had seen Jupiter and Saturn shining together as never before in his time and somehow had thought of the star the Magi saw how he had reckoned the times when they had so met before and found that of a truth the same shining wonder was in the sky three times in a single year just before that birth in Bethlehem-" "And was that the star the wise men saw ? " Some one was too eager to wait. It was the voice of a girl. Dr. Melisander shook his head, smil ing at this token of success, but he did not look at the questioner. "I cannot say that cannot quite say that, though this great man believed it was indeed the very star. There was a skyful of stars, you know, and those old Magi were watching them all with their own way of thinking. Yet with such wonder-bearing skies do you not see? It is most beautiful to think of it all as they did ! This is what I tried to do as I watched the stars over Bethlehem. " One night ah, how well do I remember it ! I had strolled along the road as far as the Tomb of Rachel, a mile or more toward Jerusalem, and had turned home ward. Bethlehem was lifted before A THE SIGNS IN THE me on the hillside. Its flat-roofed houses were spread in the starlight from the high ridge of the hill rising against the west down the slope lead ing to the fields and sheep pastures eastward. The air was sweet and cleai\ I could see where the orchards and gardens were on the terraces about the hill and even the fields below where shepherds were keeping watch over their flocks. I remem ber that I heard a man's voice call ing somewhere in the valley and knew it was a shepherd's outcry to drive off some prowling wild beast. But this only made me feel more than before how still it was. " The stars that night had thrown a deep spell upon me. I lingered long. So it was that I fell to watch ing hour by hour what I had never thought of before. The stars in the southern sky appeared to be moving before me right over our small town there on the hill. I watched them far into the night, until one and another went down. And as their beautiful procession moved on and on, I noticed that the hill raised itself against the western sky so that as I looked up the stars seemed at last to hover over its top. Then I thought of the words, 'And the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.' CHRISTMAS FIRE "This filled me with joyful ques tioning. ' Can it be, 1 I said, ' that this was the very sight which the Magi saw ? ' " While I thought upon this a star strangely bright and sparkling was shining low in the west. I had been watching its beauty, knowing that two of the brightest stars in the sky were shining there as one. So I came to the spot where the road divides as it nears Bethlehem. I was about to follow its way west ward around the hill. But suddenly I know not how I turned and followed the road to the low eastern slope where the traveler faces the west as he climbs the hill into Beth lehem. And lo ! I tell you what I saw that gleaming star seemed to stand of a truth above the high, dark top of the hill ! " ' Can it be," 1 1 said, being amazed, * can it be that I have seen what the Magi saw as they, too, came by this road into Bethlehem ?' "So I climbed the hill-road and entered our home, thinking of the Magi and the young child, and wondering ! " He ceased speaking. Was it the memory of that star over the hilltop or yearning for his Bethlehem home which gave him pause ? His brood ing face was overcast with pensive light. He startled when one of our THE SIGNS IN THE company said, " Oh, if we could only know whether that star also was there when the wise men came ! " " But we do know," he answered, " we do know ! With what joy have I learned that an astronomer here in your own country watched that very conjunction of Jupiter and Venus and thought of the star of the Magi and made reckonings which leave no doubt ! That star which I myself watched above the Bethlehem hill was there indeed near the time when Mary's son was born!" He quickly lifted his arms and sat thus a moment, making a noble picture in the firelight. Then speak ing under his breath and with an old man's trembling, he exclaimed, " Oh, do you wonder that I, who have been deep into the desert who have sat beside a little tent watching the glories of night in that clear silence I, who have gazed on the stars over Bethlehem, stand ing in the very road along which the Magi came do you wonder that I would have you cease think ing of some passing miracle-star and remember what the Magi surely saw ? In them the learning of the ancient world was finding its way to our Christ ! " The manner of the man was so kindled by his earnestness, his person , CHRISTMAS FIRE so patriarchal, his voice so sweet and touched with the pathos of the East, that a hush never to be forgotten followed these words. No one spoke. Lowering his hands to his knees he sat looking at us. "They knew not where to find the Babe at first ! " he said at length. "They only understood that he was born somewhere among the Jews. Not until they had come to the Jewish capital asking, ' Where is he that is born King of the Jews ? ' not until they had heard the scholars of the holy city saying, * In Bethlehem of Judea ' not until they had taken the six-mile road southward to our little town, did that star which they had seen in the east and taken for a sign appear to go before them. Then they rejoiced with exceeding great joy ! " He raised his hand and silently scanned the faces about him. Then he said slowly, " So learning 1 was on the way to Bethlehem" Our Christmas fire was burning low when Dr. Melisander reached this point in his narrative. The light of flames was gone and our company was covered with the glow of red embers. . So intent had we been that none had noticed Christina since she pointed to the sign of the star. But now the father suddenly be- THE SIGNS IN THE thought himself and turned to his daughter. She had dropped to her knees at the hearth. Like a wor shiper we saw her in the radiance, her face pure as the ruddy light. "Have you seen it, my child have you seen it?" "Yes, my father." She looked up, but only for a moment. The girPs young grace touched the father's heart ; he uttered words which, if I mistake not, meant " Favor of God " ; and the old man smiled, looking at his daughter the while. Then with quietness, yet as if in haste, he went on : " Down that same road not long before, I know not how long two travelers had passed before those Magi, a man and a young woman. I Slowly, gently he led her on. In their hearts was a strange joy. For they, too, had received a sign. When they came in sight of Bethlehem the man was glad ; for the journey had been long for her and the roads rough. But when they reached the town on the hill, there was no room for them in the inn ! All the lodg ing stalls around the court where travelers tied up their beasts for the night were filled by those who had come before them. Then the man made ready a resting-place for the weary woman in one of the hillside l\ CHRISTMAS FIRE caves, which were often used in this way by the poor." Dr. Melisander stopped. In the hush that was upon us he said, "*Sb love had come to Bethlehem.' 1 '' Then speaking in low tones as of a mystery, he went on : "Before long it was night, and the shepherds who tended the Temple sheep were keeping watch over their flocks in the pastures around Beth lehem a strange thing happened! These working men knew how the teachers of their religion up at the Temple were looking for a Saviour to come ! They could not forget how men said that he was to be born in Bethlehem there on the hill ! And as they kept watch that night, alone, under the bright stars, they had a vision a heavenly messenger and a light shining round them a voice saying that a Saviour was even then born in Bethlehem. And these frightened shepherds heard the voice saying, ' This is the sign unto you : Ye shall find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger.' 1 " When all was silent and they were standing alone in the starry pastures, they soon started for Beth lehem. And when they had found the cave, the sign came true ! There was a babe and it was wrapped in bands just as the little ones of THE SIGNS IN THE shepherds were and of a truth it was lying in a common manger ! " Once more he lifted his hand, smiling as he said, "So labor had come to Bethlehem!' 1 '' Presently he glanced at Christina, who had remained on her knees be fore the fire. " How gladly do we watch for this sign," he exclaimed, " the sign given to those working men ! "' Quickly he leaned toward his daughter. And the girl, her countenance beam ing with delight in a custom of her childhood, pointed into the bank of coals pointed to a little hollow all aglow with light. "Do you not see it?" he cried, bending over the embers. " Do you not see it the sign of the cave with the manger?" The waning firelight lent its witchery, making the quaint fancy the more vivid, and for my part I could almost see the dim outline of the manger! The old man's voice was in keep ing with the soft light and the tenderness of the moment as he raised himself and said : " How the shepherd children would listen when their fathers told at home of the babe they had seen in the manger in the cave ! There is a little song of what they would say a song which Christina has often sung I CHEISTMAS FIRE for me when we have looked upon this sign in Christmas fires. Sing it for us to-night, my daughter ; let your father hear once more the song you learned when when you were a little child." Then the girl, still kneeling in the red glow, sang in a voice gentle as a child's at prayer this Song of the Shepherd Children. " Know you the hillside ? Know you where the cave is ? Heard you there a baby voice where cattle lowed before ? Oh, may we children go ? Soft shall be our footsteps Softly will we sing to him, kneeling at the door : ' Kyrie ! * Kyrie ! Dear little stranger ! Dark is the cave and rough is the manger Well do the children of shepherds know. Is a soft arm around you pressed ? Are you held close to a warm, sweet breast ? How gently you slumber with naught to molest ; Oh, well do we children know! we know! II " Heard you an angel ? Heard you voices singing ? Saw you light upon the hill around the frightened sheep? Oh, truly did they say, Christ and Lord and Saviour ? This shall be our song to him while he lies asleep : The Greek word for Lord. THE SIGNS IN THE " Kyrie ! Kyrie ! Angels may name you Saviour of all, yet still can we claim you Well do we Bethlehem children know. Over yon hill a great city lies Kingdoms are far away under the skies ; Your manger will some day be dear in their eyes ! For you are a King we know ! we know ! " Who of us that sat in the dim radiance of that Christmas fire and listened to the Greek girl's singing can ever forget it ! No one was willing to break the hush which Christina's voice had made. Her father sat gazing upon the coals with the light of far memories in At length I ventured to say : " You have not told us, sir. of the sign given before love came to Beth lehem. Is that to be seen here also?" " Oh," he answered gently, " that is in your hearts in your hearts ! Do you not remember ? When the promise of a son was given to Mary in Nazareth and she asked for a sign do you not remember? 'That which is to be born shall be called holy, the Son of God.' Has not that sign come true at this fireside to-night ? " Presently Christina rose, seated herself close to her father and laid her hand on his knee. Together they bat, still looking into the fire place as if loath to turn away. V/ i After a time the father said : "So love and labor and learning came to Bethlehem. And these three stand for all that is good in the whole world."" Half playfully he took his daugh ter's hand in his own and drew it to his breast as he added, " And the greatest of these is love ! " Then the girl, leaning toward him, looked up into his face with a sweet rapture in her eyes and said softly, " Merry Christmas, my good father ! " We heard the bells in neighbor ing spires pealing through the dark. We listened while they sounded over the snow-whitened city the joy of Christmas Eve. " Yes," said Dr. Melisander, rising when their music ceased for a time, "Yes, a Merry Christmas to you I all!" When I had placed his cloak on his broad shoulders and we stood for the moment alone in the hall, he said in undertone : " Ah, sir, she does not 'know, my daughter must never know the memories which come to me when I look on her beauty in the light of a Christmas fire. But you are a father, sir may I not speak of this to you will you not share my burden ? " He has laid down his burden now ; and the years have let his daughter THE SIGNS IN THE know how heavy it was from other lips than mine. Therefore none can blame me for telling what he said that night ere we parted. "When she was a babe in Beth lehem, her mother and I used to watch for those signs, rejoicing to- g^her and saying, ' So will we teach our child the Bethlehem story soon, very soon now.' But, sir, before our little one knew words, my wife was taken from me ! " " Taken from you ! " I repeated. "Ah, you cannot understand you know not the lot of villagers in that sacred land, what feuds break out, what uprisings of allies seeking revenge ! Then come the Moslem soldiers many are carried away to prisons, it matters not who and money, much money must be paid. At such a time was my gentle wife taken. My hands were helpless. It was more than she could endure ; and soon my beautiful Miladeh daughter of Christmastide was no more! And I to save her daughter I am a sojourner in far lands; even to your America have I come. For I am growing old, sir, and I would leave her when I must leave her in a Christian land." The old man drew his cloak about him and fastened it under his beard. "Yours is a Christian land is CHRISTMAS FIRE it not, sir? a Christian land in deed. Hear those great bells once more filling your city with the music of Christmas Eve ! " Then he turned to the group of girls talking in the happiness of the time around his daughter. "Come, Christina!" he called cheerily, "we must go our way be fore the bells cease ringing." But none of them knew what bravery was in that tone of cheer ! Out in the falling snow we saw Christina place her arm in his. Once more we called, " Merry Christ mas." And as they went their way the great bells were ringing still.