But then came the softer tones, less grand, but
even sweeter: 'Peace on earth; good will to men.'
"Oh! my boy, if you had heard that music as I did, you would not
wonder when I tell you that it has been hard for me to wait here, in
the midst of the dreary noises of earth, for fifty years before
hearing it again. But earth that night was musical as heaven. You
should have heard the echoes that came back, when the angels' chorus
ceased, from all these mountains and all these little hills on every
side. There is music enough even in this world, if one can only call
it forth; chords divine that will vibrate with wonderful harmony. It
only needs an angel's hand to touch the trembling strings."
"Did you see the choir of angels overhead, grandfather?"
"Nay, I saw nothing. The brightness was too dazzling for mortal eyes.
We all stood there, with downcast eyes, listening spell-bound to the
wonderful melody, until the chorus ceased, and the echoes, one after
another, died away, and the glory faded out of the sky and the stars
came back again, and no sound was heard but the faint voice of a young
lamb, calling for its mother.
"The first to break the silence was my father. 'Come,' he said, in a
solemn voice. 'Let us go at once to Bethlehem, and see this thing
which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
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