"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.
Small as the house was, it was large enough for two people who lived
in it. I want to tell you a story today about these two people. One
was an old gray-haired woman, so old that the little children of the
village, nearly half a mile away, often wondered whether she had come
into the world with the huge mountains and the giant fir trees, which
stood like giants back of her small hut.
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