The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1877-12-21
The Story OF the BabOushka.

The Story OF the BabOushka.
The Russian peasants have a curious
tradition which may be new to some of
our readers. 1t is that an old woman, the
was at work in her house
when the wise men from the east passed
on their way to find the Christ-child
az Come with us" they said We have
" seen His star in the east, and go to
" worship Him" 81 will come, but not
" now" she answered. q have my house
4" to set in order; when that is done, l
" will follow and find Him" But when
her work was done, the three kings had
passed on their way across the desert, and
the star shone no more in the darkened
heavens. She never saw the Christ -ch
but she is living and searching for Him
still. For His sake she takes care of all
little children. 1t is she who, in Russian
and Italian houses, it is believed to fill
the stockings and dress the tree on
Christmas morning. The children are
wakened by the cry of Behold the
Baboushka and spring up, hoping to
see her before she vanishes out of the
window. She fancies the tradition goes,
that in each poor little one whom she
warns and feeds she NAV find the Christ
child whom she neglected ages ago, but
is doomed to external disappointment.
We shall all find the old fable fanciful
and touching perhaps and so dismiss it.
The fact is, We are apt, this Christmas
week, to think also of the whole story OF
the Star and the Child in the stable as a
fanciiul touching legend, which may
have actual meaning TO some of our
neighbOrs, but which affects us chiefly
/ throuzh the service it has been to art
and literature, and through certain
/ genial, poetic, popular Observance
church music, Christmas, and the like.
/ Life is too short and full of hard work
/ and business for us to sift out the actual
meaning of these long-ago occurrences
We are apt to pay them certain out
] hhEu hcAEltuNts anu even III softer
moments grateful emotional respect, &
little deeper probably than we give tc
| the creations of Shakespeare or any great
master who has cheered or helped us, ar
/ immortal thought The bill due to-
morrow, the boys schooling, the new
/ library furniture, the money with which
we pay cook or grocer-these are the
realities of life; but that shadowy star
/ that benign presence which entered the
world ages ago, belong to the realm o
fervid feeling, which we may touch OF
an occasional sunday morning, when tn,
music is fine, or may never touch at all
Yet there is not man or woman Twin
to-day to whom, as TO the woman in tn,
story, the cry has not come, at least onct
in their lives, 1.-The Christ Is found
Come with US and worship him" Tn,
/ Baboushka looking out saw the light Of.
miraculous star streaming across tn,
desert, and kings on their way to hin
bearing royal gifts. We all fancy that /
such mighty maryels had ever told us =
him we should not have waited, as sh,
did, to finish our days work before set
ting out TO find him. The call has com,
TO our doors in different ways and times
not always in sermons or praise. Bott
has been a regular church-goer all his life
! and never heard the heavenly voice as h,
sat in his pew. But the day when his ole
mother died, and he sat holding her colo
/ hand and looking into her pleading eyes
/ the Savior whom she had served so Ions
was very near to him. The poor worldly
wretch felt that he might have been {
manlier man with an agony of remorse
and was almost persuaded to be Chris
tian. But he waited to finish his spring
trades in his own way. When his wife
sits at night waiting for her drunken boy
to come home, she wonders feebly
if there il any helper who loved hi:
own mother and can hear every neither
say prayer. But she tried to manage the
lad by shrewd fnesse, which she under
stands. Even. that unable pink and
white creature, her daughter, feels at
times that there is a something in this
world outside of fashion and Irritation
which, if it were hers, would make her a
living true woman, instead of a sham.
There is not a word or circum-
lance that comes to any OF us which
shows US that our lives are mean,
or false, OF paltry, which is not directly
sent to bring us to that Savior born into the
world, to find from Him the secrets of true
manliness. There is not a story Of pOlit-
ical corruption, OF fraud, or tyranny,
which does not point us to the birth
of that Man, the influence of whose life
spesd through the world honesty, liberty.
and education. The birth in the
stable will seem less like a beautiful
legend when we remember that to
Jesus the world owes whatever respect is
paid anywhere to the rights of the poor,
the chastity of women, the brotherly
service due from man to man. 1t is
worth while for each OF us to remember
when the cry came to us, as to the Bah
oushka, to go out and find Him, and
what work it was that we chose for
companion instead of this Lord of Life.
If We have shut ourselves all our lives
nto our drudgery, however it is not toe
late for us to leave it to bring our lives
to higher levels of honor, triendliness,
devotion. The quickest way to touch
His hand at this especial season is to find
the children, the hungry, cold, helpless
babies that wait for us in every alley.
The Baboushka, the story goes, seeks the
Christ-child in each, to be disappointed.
But we shall not be disappointed. He
has told us that we shall find Him in the
least of these His brethren.
Use of Sulphur and Charcoal.
S,Il Dhrr and charcoal ara both varx