the gold star and the
Christmas greens in the church. The gold star, the Christmas greens, had
all the more attraction from their vagueness. Dolly was a fanciful
little creature, and the clear air and romantic scenery of a mountain
town had fed her imagination. Stories she had never read, except in the
Bible and the Pilgrim's Progress, but her very soul had vibrated with
the descriptions of the celestial city--something vague, bright,
glorious, lying beyond some dark river; and Nabby's rude account of what
was going on in the church suggested those images.

Finally a bright thought popped into her little head. She could see the
church from the front windows of the house; she would go there and look.
In haste she sprang out of bed and dressed herself. It was sharp and
freezing in the fireless chamber, but Dolly's blood had a racing,
healthy tingle to it; she didn't mind cold. She wrapped her cloak around
her and tied on her hood and ran to the front windows. There it was, to
be sure--the little church with its sharp-pointed windows, every pane of
which was sending streams of light across the glittering snow. There was
a crowd around the door, and men and boys looking in at the windows.
Dolly's soul was fired. But the elm boughs a little obstructed her
vision; she thought she would go down and look at it from the yard. So
down-stairs she ran, but as she opened the door the sound of the chant
rolled out into the darkness with sweet and solemn cadence:

"_Glory be to God on high; and on earth peace, good will toward men._"

Dolly's soul was all aglow--her nerves tingled and vibrated; she thought
of the bells ringing in the celestial city; she could no longer contain
herself, but faster and faster the little hooded form scudded across the
snowy plain and pushed in among the dark cluster of spectators at the
door. All made way for the child, and in a moment, whether in the body
or out she could not tell, Dolly was sitting in a little nook under a
bower of spruce, gazing at the star and listening to the voices:

"_We praise Thee, we bless Thee, we worship Thee, we glorify Thee, we
give thanks to Thee for Thy great glory, O Lord God, Heavenly King, God,
the Father Almighty._"

Her heart throbbed and beat; she trembled with a strange happiness and
sat as one entranced till the music was over. Then came reading, the
rustle and murmur of people kneeling, and then they all rose and there
was the solemn buzz of voices repeating