dled within the manger hay
On that divine first Christmas day!
The hopes of every age and race
Are centered in Thy radiant face!

O Child whose glory fills the earth!
O little Child of lowly birth!
The shepherds, guided from afar,
Stood worshiping beneath the star,
And wise-men fell on bended knee
And homage offered unto Thee!

O Child of whom the angels sing!
O little Child, our Infant King!
What balm for every sorrow lies
Within those clear, illumined eyes!
O precious gift to mortals given
To win us heritage in Heaven!

* * * * *

THE MOTHER

ROBERT HAVEN SCHAUFFLER

All day her watch had lasted on the plateau above the town. And now the
sun slanted low over the dull, blue sheen of the western sea, playing
changingly with the angular mountain which rose abruptly from its surge.

The young matron did not heed the magic which was transforming the
theater of hills to the north and lingering lovingly at last on the
eastern summit. Nor had she any eyes for the changing hue of the
ivy-clad cubes of stone that formed the village over which her hungry
gaze passed, sweeping the length and breadth of the plain below.

She seemed not much above thirty: tall, erect and lithe. Her throat,
bared to the breeze, was of the purest modeling; her skin of a whiteness
unusual in that warm climate. Her head, a little small for her rounded
figure, was crowned with a coil of chestnut hair, and her eyes glowed
with a look strange to the common light of every day. It was her soul
that was scanning that southward country.

From time to time she would fondle a small object hidden beneath the
white folds of her robe. Once she threw her arms out in a passionate
gesture toward the plain, and tears overflowed the beautiful eyes. Again
she fell on her knees, and the throes of inner prayer found relief at
her lips:

"Father, my Father, grant me to see him ere the dusk!"

Once again she sank down, moaning:

"He is in Thine everlasting arms. But Thou, who knowest times and
seasons, give him to me on this day of days!"

Under the curve of a shielding hand her vision strained through the
clear, pure air,--strained and found at last two specks far out in the
plain, and followed them breathlessly as they crept nearer. One traveler
was clad in a dark garment, and stopped presently, leaving his
light-robed companion to hasten on alone toward the hu