by vigils and scruples about the law; not by selfishly shutting out
the world, but by taking all poor, suffering, erring, striving humanity
into his heart will he become the true Elias."

There was a breathless, thrilling moment of perfect silence as the
glowing eyes of the mother looked deep into the astonished, questioning
eyes of the son.

Then she rested both hands on his shoulders and spoke almost in a
whisper.

"As for thee, the time is now come. Does my son know what this day
means?"

He looked at her wonderingly and was silent.

The mother spoke:

"For many years I have kept these things and pondered them in my heart.
Now, _now_ the hour is here when thou must know them."

She bent so close that a strand of loosened hair swept his forehead.

"In the time before thou wert born came as in a dream a wondrous visitor
to me straight from the Father. And that pure, ecstatic messenger
announced that the power of the Highest would overshadow me, and that my
child was to be the son of the Highest, who should save His people from
their sins--the Prince of Peace--the Messiah!"

From the wilderness came a long, melancholy cry, but the rapt boy heard
not.

The mother continued in the soft, tender voice that began to tremble
with her in her ecstasy.

"This day is thy birthday. Twelve years ago this eventide, when thou
camest into the world of men, men came to worship and praise God for
thee,--the lowliest and the highest,--as a token that thou wert to be
not only Son of God but Son of Man as well. Poor, ignorant shepherds
crowded about us in that little stable where we lay, and left the sweet
savor of their prayers, and tears, and rejoicings. And great, wise kings
from another part of the earth came also."

From beneath the folds of her robe she drew forth by a fine-spun chain
an intricately chased casket of soft, yellow gold.

The boy took it dreamily into his hands, and as his fingers opened it,
there floated forth upon the air of the hills of Nazareth the sacred
odor of incense mingled with a perfume indescribably delicate and
precious.

"Read!" whispered the mother.

The boy held his breath suddenly.

There, on the lower surface of the lid, graven in rude characters, as if
on the inspiration of the moment, stood the single word

LOVE

She flung wide her arms as if to embrace the universe.

"Love! Love! Love!" she cried in her rich mother's voice. "It is the
greatest thing in the world! It is the