eetness and grace
of the soul shone forth, and I had almost ceased to tremble before the
angel opened his mouth. And when he spoke, his voice, clearer than any
trumpet and sweeter than any lute, charmed away all my fears."

"'Be not afraid' he said, 'for behold I bring you good tidings of
great joy which shall be to all people. For there is born to you this
day, in the City of David, a Savior, which is Messiah, the King. And
this is the sign unto you. Ye shall find a babe wrapped in swaddling
clothes and lying in a manger.'

"Oh! that voice, my boy! It makes my heart beat now to remember its
sweetness. It seemed to carry these words into our innermost hearts;
to print them on our memory, so that we never could forget one
syllable of what he said. And then, before we had time to make reply,
he turned aside a little and lifted his face toward heaven, and, in a
tone far louder than that in which he had spoken to us, but yet so
sweet that it did not startle us at all, came forth from his lips the
first strain of the great song:

"'Glory to God in the highest!'

"When he had uttered that, he paused a moment, and the echoes, one
after another, from hills that were near and hills that were far away,
came flying home to us; so that I knew for once what the prophet meant
when he said that all the mountains and the hills should break forth
into singing. But before the echoes had all faded we began to hear
other voices above our heads, a great chorus, taking up the strain
that the angel first had sung. At first it seemed dim and far away;
but gradually it came nearer, and filled all the air, filled all the
earth, filled all our souls with a most entrancing sweetness. Glory to
God in the highest!--that was the grandest part. It seemed as though
there could be no place so high that that strain would not mount up to
it, and no place so happy that that voice would not make it thrill
with new gladness. But then came the softer tones, less grand, but
even sweeter: 'Peace on earth; good will to men.'

"Oh! my boy, if you had heard that music as I did, you would not
wonder when I tell you that it has been hard for me to wait here, in
the midst of the dreary noises of earth, for fifty years before
hearing it again. But earth that night was musical as heaven. You
should have heard the echoes that came back, when the angels' chorus
ceased, from all these mountains and all these little hills on every
side. There is music enough even