The Tupelo journal., 1905-12-22
to come in power and great glory"

eFeutS SuTTOuuueu lHc DlIIu VI h0l ooAb
Jesus. 1t seemed to her sometimes
that it must all be a dream, but as she
watched him grow day by>day, increas-
ing in wisdom and stature, and saw
how the grace of God rested upon him,
she could but marvel and ponder all
those things in her heart.
In the evenings as he had sat at her
knee and she had talked to him Of
God and repeated the stories of Gods
word and taught him the portions of
! Scripture familiar to her, she had been
surprised at his readiness of mind and
his understanding. But she had never
told him the wonderful story of events
which surrounded his birth, save to
mention that Gods special favor and
blessing had been about him. She felt
he would not understands; that she
must wait until maturer young man
hood.
But tonight a new feeling possessed
her. The stories which the rabbi had
brought from Jerusalem should not
reach his ears until her own lips had
told him the sweet sacred story.
AS she neared the doorway of her
home she heard his voice, and she
paused to listen. He had the baby in
his arms and his brother and sister
were standing before him listening in
tently while he told them of a nest Of
little b%irdlings which he had found that
afternoon. Their helplessness had ap-
pealed to him so strongly and tAe
memory of how the summer before
some of the bad boys of the village
had taken the little birds out of a nest
and then destroyed it, was so fresh
that he had resolved that he would be
the protector of the little ones he had
found. and he concluded his story by
saying:
I'm not going to tell the other boys
anything about it, and don't you,
James," he added, appealing to his
brother. "We'll keep it for our secret,
and some day l will take you and let
you have a peak at them"
"Me go, too?" broke in the little sis
ter, rs she danced about the floor in
her excitement. And then catching
SISHIO VI ACt ulOtlCl LulOuSA tuC OpCu
doorway she ran towards her with a
happy cry, followed by the other chill
dren. who all tried to talk at once and
tell her the story of the little birds.
That evening, after the other chill
dren had been put to sleep, Jesus came
and sat by his mothers side, as was
his custom, to have a quiet talk with
her before going to bed. His mind was
still upon the nest of little birdlings,
and he was wondering how they Jared
in the darkness. Looking up into his
mothers face with great, earnest eyes,
he asked:
Mother, does God care for the
birds? Will He care for the little birds
l found this afternoon?"
eyes, l am sure He WILL" respond
ed Mary, smiling down upon him with
tender thoughtfulness, "even as He
cared for thee when thou vast a babe"
WAS l once a baby like sister,
there?" pointing towards the little
cradle standing in the shadow, and
his eyes opened wide in wonder, for it
was a new thought to him.
Eyes, my son, and l want to tell you
a beautiful story about your birth.
1t shall be a secret between thee and
me, just as the nest of little brides is
to be a secret between thee and thy
brother and sister," and as she gazed
into his deep eyes and caught the respon-
sive soul-gleam there, she knew she
was making no mistake in telling him.
He made no reply, but waited expect
antly for her to begin.
"It was in Bethlehem, the home Of
the great and good king David, about
whom we have talked so often, and to
whose house and lineage thou dost be-
long. Joseph and I had made the long
journey from Nazareth and were weary,
and finding no room in the kahn, were
forced to find shelter in the great cav
ern on the hillside where the cattle
were housed. And there it was that
God gave you into my arms. In the
dim light Of the feeble lamp burning
in the place, l could see that thou
vast a goodly child, and rs l pressed
thee to my bosom suddenly a glorious
light broke through the opening in the
roof and rested upon thy head. And
as l followed the light upward l saw
a beautiful and wondrous star which
God had set above thy resting place.
1t was as though He set his seal upon
thee then and there, my son."
She paused, and both ~instinctively
looked upward with reverent gaze and
| caught the bursting light of the even
ing star.
"But that was not ALL" continued
the mother, as she slowly lowered her
eyes until they again rested upon the
face of her boy, "for with the morning
light came the shepherds from the hill
side outside the village seeking for
thee, and saying that a vision of angels
had appeared unto them and the heav-
ems were filled with light and music
from above. And the angel of the
Lord told them of thy birth and COM
manded them to come and seek thee,
and then the angelic host sang praises
to God, saying:
"'Glory to God in the highest. and
on earth peace. good will towards
men,"
ooh, mother" burst out the boy,
his face radiant with the light which
was breaking in upon his soul, and
with the thought which was struggling
for expression, did God do all those
beautiful and wonderful things for
me? Why did He do them?" And then
without giving his mother time to an
cwer had IL heen in her heart to have