lls."

The Vine trembled with excitement. Its nearest neighbor was a tiny tree,
so small it was scarcely ever noticed; yet it was a very beautiful
little tree, and the Vines and Ferns and Mosses loved it very dearly.

"How I should like to see the Angels!" sighed the little Tree; "and how
I should like to see the Stars dancing among the clouds! It must be very
beautiful. Oh, listen to the music! I wonder whence it comes."

"The Angels are singing," said a Cedar; "for none but angels could make
such sweet music."

"And the Stars are singing, too," said another Cedar; "yes, and the
shepherds on the hills join in the song."

The trees listened to the singing. It was a strange song about a Child
that had been born. But further than this they did not understand. The
strange and glorious song continued all the night.

In the early morning the Angels came to the Forest singing the same song
about the Child, and the Stars sang in chorus with them, until every
part of the woods rang with echoes of that wondrous song. They were clad
all in white, and there were crowns upon their fair heads, and golden
harps in their hands. Love, hope, joy and compassion beamed from their
beautiful faces. The Angels came through the Forest to where the little
Tree stood, and gathering around it, they touched it with their hands,
kissed its little branches, and sang even more sweetly than before. And
their song was about the Child, the Child, the Child, that had been
born. Then the Stars came down from the skies and danced and hung upon
the branches of the little Tree, and they, too, sang the song of the
Child.

When they left the Forest, one Angel remained to guard the little Tree.
Night and day he watched so that no harm should come to it. Day by day
it grew in strength and beauty. The sun sent it his choicest rays,
heaven dropped its sweetest dew upon it, and the winds sang to it their
prettiest songs.

So the years passed, and the little Tree grew until it became the pride
and glory of the Forest.

One day the Tree heard some one coming through the Forest. "Have no
fear," said the Angel, "for He who comes is the Master."

And the Master came to the Tree and placed His Hands upon its smooth
trunk and branches. He stooped and kissed the Tree, and then turned and
went away.

[Illustration: _A. Bida._]

Many times after that the Master came to the Forest, rested beneath the
Tree and enjoyed the shade of its foliage. Many times He sle