--_Old German Carol_.

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[Illustration]
THE NATIVITY

"Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes,
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,
The bird of dawning singeth all night long;
And then, they say, no spirit can walk abroad;
The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike;
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm;
So hallowed and so gracious is the time."
--_Shakespeare_.
[End illustration]

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THE CHRISTMAS TREE

There's a wonderful tree, a wonderful tree,
The happy children rejoice to see,
Spreading its branches year by year,
It comes from the forest to flourish here;
Oh! this beautiful tree, with its branches wide,
Is always blooming at Christmas-tide.

'T is not alone in the summer's sheen
Its boughs are broad and its leaves are green,
It blooms for us when the wild winds blow,
And earth is white with feathery snow:
And this wonderful tree with its branches wide,
Bears many a gift for the Christmas-tide.

'T is all alight with its tapers' glow,
That flash on the shining eyes below,
And the strange sweet fruit on each laden bough
Is all to be plucked by the gatherers now.
Oh! this wonderful tree, with its branches wide,
We hail it with joy at the Christmas-tide.

And a voice is telling, its boughs among,
Of the shepherds' watch and angels' song;
Of a holy babe in a manger low,
The beautiful story of long ago,
When a radiant star threw its beams so wide
To herald the earliest Christmas-tide.

Then spread thy branches, wonderful tree,
And bring some dainty gift to me,
And fill my heart with a burning love
To Him who came from His home above--
From His beautiful home with the glorified,
To give us the joys of the Christmas-tide.

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A CHRISTMAS CAROL

It chanced upon the merry, merry Christmas eve
I went sighing past the church, across the moorland dreary,--
"Oh! never sin and want and woe this earth will leave,
And the bells but mock the wailing round, they sing so cheery.
How long, O Lord, how long, before Thou come again?
Still in cellar, and in garret, and on moorland dreary,
The orphans moan, and widows weep, and poor men toil in vain,
Till the earth is sick of hope deferred, though Christmas bells
be cheery."

Then arose a joyous clamor from the wild fowl on the mere,
Beneath