where. So they grew to be such friends with it, that, before lying down in their beds, they always looked out once again, to bid it good-night; and when they were turning round to sleep, they used to say, "God bless the star!" But while she was still very young, oh, very, very young, the sister drooped, and came to be so weak that she could no longer stand in the window at night; and then the child looked sadly out by himself, and when he saw the star, turned round and said to the patient pale face on the bed, "I see the star!" and then a smile would come upon the face, and a little weak voice used to say, "God bless my brother and the star!" And so the time came all too soon when the child looked out alone, and when there was no face on the bed; and when there was a little grave among the graves, not there before; and when the star made long rays down towards him, as he saw it through his tears. Now, these rays were so bright and they seemed to make such a shining way from earth to heaven, that when the child went to his solitary bed he dreamed about the star; and dreamed that, lying where he was, he saw a train of people taken up that sparkling road by angels. And the star, opening, showed him a great world of light, where many more such angels waited to receive them. All the angels who were waiting turned their beaming eyes upon the people who were carried up into the star; and some came out from the long rows in which they. stood, and fell upon the people's necks, and kissed them tenderly, and went away with them down avenues of light, and were so happy in their company that, lying in his bed, he wept for joy. But there were many angels who did not go with them, and among them one he knew. The patient face that once had lain upon the bed was glorified and radiant, but his heart found out his sister among all the host. His sister's angel lingered near the entrance of the star, and said to the leader among those who had brought the people thither: "Is my brother come?" And he said, "No." She was turning hopefully away, when the child stretched out his arms, and cried, "O sister, I am here! Take me!" and then she turned her beaming eyes upon him, and it was night; and the star was shining into the room, making long rays down towards him as he saw it through his tears. From that hour forth the child looked upon the star as on the home he was to go to when his time should come; and he thought that he did not belong to the earth alone, but to the star, too, because of his sister's angel gone before. There was a baby born to be a brother to the child; and while he was so little that he never yet had spoken a word, he stretched out his tiny form on his bed, and died. Again the child dreamed of the opened star, and of the company of angels, and the train of people, and the rows of angels with their beaming eyes all turned upon these people's faces. Said his sister's angel to the leader: "Is my brother come?" And he said, "Not that one, but another." As the child beheld his brother's angel in her arms, he cried, "O sister, I am here! Take me!" And she turned and smiled upon him; and the star was shining. He grew up to be a young man, and was busy at his books, when an old servant came to him and said: "Thy mother is no more. I bring blessings on her darling son." Again at night he saw the star and all that former company. Said his sister's angel to the leader: "Is my brother come?" And he said, "Thy mother!" A mighty cry of joy went forth through all the star, because the mother was reunited to her two children. And he stretched out his arms and cried, "O mother, sister, and brother, I am here! Take me!" And they answered him, "Not yet;" the star was shining. He grew up to be a man, whose hair was turning gray, and he was sitting in his chair by the fireside, heavy with grief, and with his face bedewed with tears, when the star opened. Said his sister's angel to the leader, "Is my brother come?" And he said, "Nay, but this maiden daughter." And the man who had been the child saw his daughter, newly lost to him, a celestial creature among those three, and he said, "My daughter's head is on my sister's bosom, and her arm is around my mother's neck, and at her feet is baby of old time, and I can bear the parting from her, God be praised." And the star was shining. Thus the child came to be an old man, and his once smooth face was wrinkled, and his steps were slow and feeble, and his back was bent. And one night, as he lay upon his bed, his children standing round, he cried, as he had cried so long ago: "I see the star!" They whispered one another, "He is dying." And he said, "I am. My age is falling from me like a garment, and I move towards the star as a child. And O, my Father, now I thank thee that it has so often opened to receive those dear ones who await me!" And the star was shining: and it shines upon his grave. Charles Dickens. MONK FELIX. ONE morning all alone, Out of his convent of gray stone, Walked the Monk Felix. All about The broad, sweet sunshine lay without, Filling the summer air; And within the woodlands as he trod, Under him lay the golden moss; And above him the boughs of the hemlock-trees Waved, and made the sign of the cross, And whispered their Benedicites; And from the ground Rose an odor, sweet and fragrant, Of the wild flowers and the vagrant Vines that wandered, Seeking the sunshine round and round; And, with his eyes cast down, "I believe, O God, What herein I have read, But, alas! I do not understand!" And lo! he heard The sudden singing of a bird, A snow-white bird, that from a cloud Dropped down, And among the branches brown Sat singing So sweet, and clear, and loud, It seemed a thousand harp-strings ringing. And the Monk Felix closed his book, Fall on the golden flagging of the street. And he would fain have caught the wondrous bird, But strove in vain ; For it flew away, away, Far over hill and dell, And instead of its sweet singing He heard the convent-bell Suddenly in the silence ringing For the service of noonday, And he retraced His pathway homeward, sadly and in haste. In the convent there was a change! |