er young, with shaggy eyebrows and brown beards; Ezra's was short,
Joel's long, and Samuel's streaked with gray. They owned the flocks
which they tended. Dahvid was a boy with ruddy cheeks, bright eyes,
and strong lithe limbs. He cared for the flocks of old Abraham.
Abraham was old and rich, and did not work any more, but hired
Dahvid, whose family was very poor, to care for his sheep.

The flocks of the four shepherds were lying quiet on the plain far
below the city, and near by Samuel, Ezra, Joel, and Dahvid lay wrapped
in their shepherds' cloaks.

"Samuel," said Dahvid, rising upon his elbow.

"What is it, Dahvid?" asked the other in a deep voice.

"Are you not glad that you tend sheep in Bethlehem instead of some
distant place?"

"Why, Dahvid?" asked Samuel sleepily.

"Because it is in Bethlehem that the King we have been looking for so
long is to be born. I have been reading it in the prophets only
today."

"Have you only just heard of that?" asked Ezra sourly.

"No," replied the boy hotly. "I have heard my mother tell of it ever
since I can remember, and I have read it over and over again. Samuel!"

"Yes, Dahvid?"

"Do you think we shall ever see the promised King?"

"I do not know, my boy," the older man answered sadly. "We have waited
long, and there seems little hope for Israel now. But he will come
some day, he will come some day. Why do you ask, Dahvid?"

"I cannot tell. It is often in my mind. Something makes me think of it
tonight. Perhaps it is because I read of him today. Samuel, I would
walk to the end of the earth to see the Christ-child."

"Well, you need not start now," grumbled Ezra, and Joel added roughly,
"Go to sleep, boy, the hour is late."

It was much later before Dahvid fell asleep, for his head was full of
dreams, and the stories of wonderful days to come that his mother had
told him. But at length he joined the rest in healthy slumber.

Suddenly it seemed to each of them that something had passed over him,
and touched him lightly on the cheek. The older men raised themselves
on their elbows, but Dahvid sprang to his feet. At first they saw only
a great light, which nearly blinded them, then they discerned a
shining form in the sky, and heard a voice saying: "Be not afraid; for
behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all
the people; for there is born to you this day in the city of David a
Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. And this is the sign unto you: