HOW eloquent the silence of this starry 

 night! How marvellous the hush of 

 " the listening earth." In this calm moment, it 

 would almost seem as if there might reach us 

 some echo of the music of the distant spheres or 

 some strains of the song that watching shepherds 

 heard 



In the solemn midnight, 

 Centuries ago. 



Look up through the dark pines at the splen- 

 dors of the sky. In the deep, boundless blue, 

 myriads and myriads of heavenly bodies, each 

 glowing with a radiance of its own, each differ- 

 ing from the other in glory, but each, whether 

 " bright in beauty " or " faint and small," telling 

 anew the story of the guiding star of the East. 



And now on the fragrant breath of spruce and 

 fir and " goodly cedar," come to us visions of 



[87] 



