sleep, they used to say, "God bless the star!"

But while she was still very young, O, very, very young, the sister
drooped, and came to be so weak that she could no longer stand in the
window at night; and then the child looked sadly out by himself, and
when he saw the star, turned round and said to the patient pale face on
the bed, "I see the star!" and then a smile would come upon the face,
and a little weak voice used to say, "God bless my brother and the
star!"

And so the time came, all too soon! when the child looked out alone, and
when there was no face on the bed; and when there was a little grave
among the graves, not there before; and when the star made long rays
down towards him, as he saw it through his tears.

Now, these rays were so bright, and they seemed to make such a shining
way from earth to heaven, that when the child went to his solitary bed,
he dreamed about the star; and dreamed that, lying where he was, he saw
a train of people taken up that sparkling road by angels. And the star,
opening, showed him a great world of light, where many more such angels
waited to receive them.

All these angels who were waiting turned their beaming eyes upon the
people who were carried up into the star; and some came out from the
long rows in which they stood, and fell upon the people's necks, and
kissed them tenderly, and went away with them down avenues of light, and
were so happy in their company, that lying in his bed he wept for joy.

But there were many angels who did not go with them, and among them one
he knew. The patient face that once had lain upon the bed was glorified
and radiant, but his heart found out his sister among all the host.

His sister's angel lingered near the entrance of the star, and said to
the leader among those who had brought the people thither,--

"Is my brother come?"

And he said, "No."

She was turning hopefully away, when the child stretched out his arms,
and cried, "O sister, I am here! Take me!" And then she turned her
beaming eyes upon him and it was night; and the star was shining into
the room, making long rays down towards him as he saw it through his
tears.

From that hour forth the child looked out upon the star as on the home
he was to go to, when his time should come; and he thought that he did
not belong to the earth alone, but to the star too, because of his
sister's angel gone before.

There was a baby born to be a brother to the child; and while he was