"
"Who were with you on that night?"
"My father, and his brother, James, and Hosea, the son of John, a
neighbor and kinsman of ours. On that year, as on this year and often,
there came in the midwinter a dry and warm season between the early
and the latter rain. We had driven forth our flocks from Bethlehem and
were dwelling by night in the shelter of the tower on the hillside
yonder, watching and sleeping two and two. My father and I were wont
to keep the early watches. At midnight we would call James and Hosea,
and they would watch till the morning. But that night, when the sun
went down and the stars came out, we were sitting here, upon this
hillside, talking of the troubles of Israel and of the promises of
deliverance spoken by the prophets; and James and Hosea were asking my
father questions, and he was answering them, for he was older than
they, and all the people of Bethlehem reverenced him as a wise and
devout man. Some even said that, if the people of Israel had not
ceased to look for prophets, they would have counted him a prophet. I
remember well that, when he rose in the synagogue, it seemed as if
some wisdom from on high touched his lips, and he would speak with
such hope and courage of the light that should yet shine in our
darkness and of the help that should yet arise to Judah, that the
people's faces would glow with joyful expectation.
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