imparts to human hearts
The blessings of his heaven.
No ear may hear his coming;
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive him still,
The dear Christ enters in.

Where children pure and happy
Pray to the blessed Child,
Where Misery cries out to thee,
Son of the Mother mild;
Where Charity stands watching,
And Faith holds wide the door,
The dark night wakes; the glory breaks,
And Christmas comes once more.

O holy Child of Bethlehem,
Descend to us, we pray!
Cast out our sin and enter in;
Be born in us to-day.
We hear the Christmas angels
The great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us,
Our Lord Emmanuel!

Copyrighted by E.P. Dutton and Company, New York.
[Illustration]

_THE HOLY CHILD OF BETHLEHEM_.

Photogravure from a Painting by H. Havenith.

"Where children pure and happy Pray to the blessed Child."

PERSONAL CHARACTER

From 'Essays and Addresses'

As one looks around the world, and as one looks around our own land
to-day, he sees that the one thing we need in high places--the thing
whose absence, among those who hold the reins of highest power, is
making us all anxious with regard to the progress of the country--is
personal character. The trouble is not what we hold to be mistaken ideas
with regard to policies of government, but it is the absence of lofty
and unselfish character. It is the absence of the complete consecration
of a man's self to the public good; it is the willingness of men to
bring their personal and private spites into spheres whose elevation
ought to shame such things into absolute death; the tendencies of men,
even of men whom the nation has put in very high places indeed, to count
those high places their privileges, and to try to draw from them, not
help for humanity and the community over which they rule, but their own
mean personal private advantage.

If there is any power that can elevate human character: if there is any
power which, without inspiring men with a supernatural knowledge with
regard to policies of government; without making men solve all at once,
intuitively, the intricacies of problems of legislation with which they
are called upon to deal; without making men see instantly to the very
heart of every matter; if there is any power which could permeate to the
very bottom of our community, which would make me