The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1915-12-16

city, in little village where nothing
could be seen Of the great church,
save glimpses OF the tower when the
weather was fine, lived boy named
Pedro, and his little brother. They
knew very little about the Christmas
chimes, they had heard of the service
in the church on Christmas eve and
had q secret plan that they had often
talked over when by themselves for
going to the beautiful celebration.
Nobody can guess, Little Brother"
Pedro would say, "all the fine things
there are to see and hear in the
church, and have even heard it said
that the Christ child himself some
times comes down to bless the meet
Ing What If we could see him."
The day before Christmas it was
bitterly cold and few lonesome snow
flakes were flying in the air and
there was a hard white crust on the
ground.
Sure enough, Pedro and Little
Brother were able to slip quietly away
early in the afternoon on their way
to the celebrations; and although the
walking was hard in the frosty air,
before nightfall they had trudged so
far, hand in hand, that they saw the
lights of the big city just ahead OF
them. Indeed they were about to en-
ter one of the great gates in the wall
that surrounded it, when they saw
something dark on the snow near the
path, and stepped aside to look at It,
It was poor woman who had fallen
Just outside OF the city, too sick and
tired and cold to get in where she
might have found shelter. The snow
made a soft pillow for her and she
would soon be so sound asleep in the
winter air that no one could ever
awaken her again. All this Pedro saw
in a moment, and he knelt down be-
side her and tried to rouse her. He
turned her face toward him, SO that
he could rub some snow on It, but he
soon sighed and said:
Its no use, Little Brother, you will
have to 60 on alone"
"Alone?" cried Little Brother, "and
you will not see the Christmas festi-
val?"
NO." said Pedro, and he could not
help a little choking sound OF disap-
pointment in his throat. "See this
poor woman, she will freeze to death
If nobody cares for her. You can
bring someone to help Ter when you
come back, and can keep her alive.
You can easily find your way to the
church, and you must see and hear
everything twice, little brother once
for you and once for me. I am sure
the Christ child must know how |
would love to come and worship him,
and, oh, If you get a chance, little
getting in anyones way, and take
this little silver piece of mine and lay
it down for my offering when no one
is looking. Don't forget the place
where you left me, and hurry, now, SO
you won't be late"
He winked hard to keep back the
tears as he heard the crunching foot
steps Of little brother sounding farther
and farther away in the darkness
It was also hard to lose the music
and the splendor of the celebration
that he had planned SO long, to lose
the chance of Offering his silver piece
that he had saved for the offering to
the. Christ child, and to spend the
time instead in the lonesome snow
outside the dreary walls. But it new
er occurred to him to leave the poor
woman in the freezing cold.
The great church was truly q won.
derful place that night. Every one
said that 1t had never looked SO bright
and beautiful before. When the or
gan played and the thousands Of peo'
pie sang the hymns, the walls shook
with the sound, and little Pedro, out
side the walls of the city, felt the
earth tremble all around him. At
last came the procession to bear the
offerings to the altar, when great and
rich men and women marched up to
lay down their gifts to the Christ
child. Some brought wonderful jew
els, some baskets Of gold so heavy
that they could scarcely carry them
down the aisle. A great writer laid
down a book that he had been max
ing for years, and last of all walked
the king of the country, hoping to
win for himself the chimes Of the
Christmas bells.
There was q great murmur through
the church as the people saw the king
take from his head the royal crown.
all set with diamonds and other pre-.
cious stones, and laid it cleaning on the
altar as his offering to the Holy child.
Surely" said every one. I'VE shall
hear the bells now, for nothing like
this has ever been offered before
And they all stood still to listen, but
only the cold, cold wind was heard IN
the stone tower; and the people shook
their heads, some of them saying as
they had done before, that they really
never believed the story Of the chimes,
anyway.