THE TORCH BEARERS 



In days gone by there used to be a religious festival 

 in which the children took a part. They would run 

 with hghted torches, each guarding his own torch 

 most carefully as he ran, to keep it alight. It must 

 have been a pretty sight to have seen those chil- 

 dren, in their short, white garments, each lighting 

 his torch from the one behind, and running forward 

 to light that of the one in front; then, when all 

 were lighted, to have seen them run on in a long line, 

 eager to lay their still burning torches at the altar 

 of the goddess in whose honor the festival was held. 



No longer do children run in this festival of the 

 torches; no longer do those peoples worship their gods 

 and goddesses with fire, for they have become Chris- 

 tians who worship God ''in spirit and in truth." But 

 the idea of the lighted torch still remains, and is for 

 us a symbol of the reaching upward of our hearts and 

 of our thoughts. 



Fire is a gift of God to our world. It is very useful, 

 as we know, but it has for us a deep meaning, too. 

 The family hearth where the ancients used to wor- 

 ship their household gods, and where the fire was 

 never allowed to go out, has now come to mean to us 

 the happy tie that binds a family together. So, too, 

 the lighted torch has come down through the ages 

 as a symbol of knowledge and wisdom. 



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