le, for joy. Presently one little weak child-voice called out,--

"It's the nicest Christmas tree I ever saw!"

And then, at last, the Little Fir Tree knew what he was; he was a
Christmas tree! And from his shiny head to his feet he was glad,
through and through, because he was just little enough to be the nicest
kind of tree in the world!

HOW MOSES WAS SAVED

Thousands of years ago, many years before David lived, there was a very
wise and good man of his people who was a friend and adviser of the
king of Egypt. And for love of this friend, the king of Egypt had let
numbers of the Israelites settle in his land. But after the king and
his Israelitish friend were dead, there was a new king, who hated the
Israelites. When he saw how strong they were, and how many there were
of them, he began to be afraid that some day they might number more
than the Egyptians, and might take his land from him.

Then he and his rulers did a wicked thing. They made the Israelites
slaves. And they gave them terrible tasks to do, without proper rest,
or food, or clothes. For they hoped that the hardship would kill off
the Israelites. They thought the old men would die and the young men
be so ill and weary that they could not bring up families, and so the
race would vanish away.

But in spite of the work and suffering, the Israelites remained strong,
and more and more boys grew up, to make the king afraid.

Then he did the wickedest thing of all. He ordered his soldiers to kill
every boy baby that should be born in an Israelitish family; he did not
care about the girls, because they could not grow up to fight.

Very soon after this evil order, a boy baby was born in a certain
Israelitish family. When his mother first looked at him her heart was
nearly broken, for he was even more beautiful than most babies are,--so
strong and fair and sweet. But he was a boy! How could she save him
from death?

Somehow, she contrived to keep him hidden for three whole months. But
at the end of that time, she saw that it was not going to be possible
to keep him safe any longer. She had been thinking all this time about
what she should do, and now she carried out her plan.

First, she took a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it all over with
pitch so that it was water-tight, and then she laid the baby in it;
then she carried it to the edge of the river and laid it in the flags
by the river's brink. It did not show at all, unless one