as Master and Lord, of the works that He
had done and the words that He had spoken, as His disciples had told
of them. We had been silent for a few moments, when I looked up, and
saw that his head had fallen backward against the rock wall. I sprang
to him. His eyes were shut, but his lips were moving. I put my ear to
his mouth, and heard him say only: 'Peace--on--earth--good
will'--they were his last words. He had gone beyond our starlight,
into the country where the light always shines--the glory that fell
that night, fifty years ago, upon these hills of Bethlehem."

Stephanus was silent and Joseph's eyes were full of tears. At length
the old man rose.

"Come, my son," he said. "Cesil is in the south; it is midnight; let
us call your father and his brother. The old man and the boy have kept
their watch, and it is now time for rest."

[*] Used by permission of the Author.

THE STORY OF CHRISTMAS[*]

Nora A. Smith

"A great spiritual efficiency lies in story-telling".--_Froebel._

Christmas Day, you know, dear children, is Christ's day, Christ's
birthday, and I want to tell you why we love it so much, and why we
try to make every one happy when it comes each year.

A long, long time ago--more than eighteen hundred years--the baby
Christ was born on Christmas Day; a baby so wonderful and so
beautiful, who grew up to be a man so wise, so good, so patient and
sweet that, every year, the people who know about Him love Him better
and better, and are more and more glad when His birthday comes again.
You see that He must have been very good and wonderful; for people
have always remembered His birthday, and kept it lovingly for eighteen
hundred years.

He was born, long years ago, in a land far, far away across the seas.

Before the baby Christ was born, Mary, His mother, had to make a long
journey with her husband, Joseph. They made this journey to be taxed
or counted; for in those days this could not be done in the town where
people happened to live, but they must be numbered in the place where
they were born.

In that far-off time the only way of traveling was on a horse, or a
camel, or a good, patient donkey. Camels and horses cost a great deal
of money, and Mary was very poor; so she rode on a quiet, safe
donkey, while Joseph walked by her side, leading him and leaning on
his stick. Mary was very young, and beautiful, I think, but Joseph was
a great deal older than she.

People dress nowadays,