“Let us follow the star!” Balthazar whispered.  “We will follow it,” echoed the other two.

[Sidenote:  Once More the Quest]

Then the star led them on, and they followed together until they came at length to the doorway of a little cottage; and within the cottage they saw a woman bending over a cradle, and in the cradle a little child lay sleeping.  She was a peasant woman; her clothing was not rich; the furnishing of the cottage was humble and scanty.  The cradle itself was rude, as if put together by hands unskilful in tasks like that.  But when the mother looked at her babe a sweet smile played about her lips, and a light was in her eyes.  Then all suddenly the three men remembered another scene long before, when they were bearers of gold and frankincense and myrrh to another babe.

[Sidenote:  He That Loveth Knoweth God]

And while they stood and wondered by the door, there came a strong and sturdy peasant, broad-shouldered, roughly clad, his face browned in the sun, his hands hardened with toil.  He came and stood beside the woman, and they bent together over the cradle of the sleeping child, and the man drew the woman tenderly toward him and kissed her brow.

And still the three men lingered; for behold! the star stood still above the child, and they dared not speak.  But the heart of Gaspard was saying in silence, “There is something greater than the repeated miracle of the mass.”

And Melchoir was thinking, “There is something mightier even than the mind; something superior to naked truth.”

[Sidenote:  For God Is Love]

And Balthazar was confessing to himself that he had found something more potent even than the righteous deed.  For here they all beheld how life was made sweet and blessed and holy by the power of love; and by love for a little child, in whom was all weakness and helplessness, whose only voice was a cry, but who was all strong and mighty with the power of God, because he could transform roughness into tenderness, and selfishness into loving care, and poverty itself into gifts of gold and fragrant myrrh.

“Truly, my comrades,” Balthazar said, “love is the greatest of all.”

“And now I understand,” said Gaspard, “how the weak things of the world can confound the mighty.”

“And I,” added Melchoir, “see what it means for God to come to earth in the form of a little child.”

And so they turned away, and the radiance of the star was round about them, and they were saying to each other:  “Our search at last is ended.”

[*] Reprinted with the permission of “The Sketching Club,” Indianapolis, Ind.

LITTLE GRETCHEN AND THE WOODEN SHOE[*]

By Elizabeth Harrison

Once upon a time, a long time ago, far away across the great ocean, in a country called Germany, there could be seen a small log hut on the edge of a great forest, whose fir trees extended for miles and miles to the north.  This little house, made of heavy hewn logs, had but one room in it.  A rough pine door gave entrance to this room, and a small square window admitted the light.  At the back of the house was built an old-fashioned stone chimney, out of which in winter curled a thin, blue smoke, showing that there was not very much fire within.