knowed
He see Maggie and me looking up at it."

"Well, boys," said Mrs. Sandford, "you shall have your banquet, for I
want you all to take Christmas dinner with us to-morrow."

"Yes, boys, you shall all take dinner with Mrs. Sandford and her
children to-morrow, but it must be at the home of her parents and not
here," said a gentleman who had not been noticed as he stood in the
hallway.

Mrs. Sandford started as the owner of the voice entered the room, and
little Josie sprang toward him at the same moment. She resembled her
mother and was her namesake as well. The gentleman stretched out his
arms toward Mrs. Sandford as he said to her:

"Josie, can you forgive me for the harshness with which I drove you
years ago from my door? God only knows how I have suffered, and for
years I have hunted high and low for you, and have advertised time and
again. But all was in vain, until to-night I saw your face and heard
your voice once more, as my grandchild, Josie, stood singing on the
steps and gazing at the star. In her I found you again, and oh, how your
mother and I have prayed for this time to come."

Long before he had finished, the daughter was in her father's arms once
more, and the children were clinging to their new-found grandparent. The
newsboys looked on in wonder, and suddenly little Tot ran to the window
and then cried out--"Oh, grandpa, the star is here yet, and it shines
brighter than before," and she threw a kiss up to the star.

Christmas morning came and found them all in a home of plenty. A chair
that had long stood vacant at that table, was once more filled, and
near it were four other chairs for the new-found grand-children. Was it
a "Merry Christmas," did you inquire? Just ask those newsboys who came
at two o'clock if they ever had such a banquet before or since, or
whether they ever saw a home in which the "Star of Bethlehem" shone with
greater splendor. And over the earth the star still shines, and will
continue to shine until all mankind shall yet have a "Merry Christmas."

INDIAN PETE'S CHRISTMAS GIFT.

BY HERBERT W. COLLINGWOOD.

The moon was just peeping over the pines as Pete Shivershee slunk down
the road from the lumber camp into the forest. Pete did not present a
surpassingly dignified appearance as he skulked through the clearing,
but he was not a very dignified person even at his best.

Most persons would have said, I think, that Pete's method of departure
was hardly appropria