The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1900, Page 47

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‘The Lutheran Pioneer.

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47

Little Carl’s Christmas Eve.

**Come in!’’ shouted together the host and
hostess of a little German wayside inn near
the banks of the Rhine, and not far below the
city of Basle. It was Christmas Eve, and a
stormy night.

The ‘‘come in’’ of the host and hostess was
in answer to a loud, hurried rap at the door,
by which there entered two travelers. One,
by his military dress, seemed a soldier, and
the other appeared to be his servant. This
was the case. A General of the army was on
his way to his home in Basle. Having been
delayed by the storm, he had to stop for the
night at this lonely and comfortless little inn.

Greatly impressed with the importance of
his guest, the host went out to help in the care
of the horses, whilst his wife bustled about to
prepare supper for the great man.

“Vo, Carl!’’ she cried, ‘thou water-imp,
run to the wood for another bundle of fagots!”’

At these sharp words a wild-looking boy
started up from a dusky corner of the room,
where he had been lying with his head pil-
lowed on a large Swiss dog, and darted out of
the door. He was coarsely dressed and bare-
footed, yet there was something about him
which struck the traveler strangely.

“Js that your child?” he asked.

‘‘No, indeed,’’ said the old hostess; ‘Iam
& poor woman, and have seen trouble in my
time, but I’m not the mother of water-imps.”’

‘Why do you call the boy a water-imp?”’

“TY call him so,’’ said the woman, ‘‘because
he came from the water. He floated down the
Rhine in the great flood, four years ago come
spring, a mere baby, perched on the roof of
a little chalet, in the night. My good man
spied him in the morning early, and took him
offin his boat. I took him in pity; but I have
always been afraid of him, because he came
from the water and the flood might come for
him again.’’

The traveler seemed deeply interested, and
well might he be; for in that very flood of
which the superstitious old woman spoke, his
only boy had been lost, with his nurse, whose
cottage on the river bank had been swept
away by night. :

“Was the child alone on the roof of the
chalet?’ he asked.

‘tYes,’’ said the hostess, ‘‘all but an old
dog, who seemed to belong to him.”

“That dog must have dragged him on to
the roof, and saved him!’’ exclaimed the Gen-
eral; ‘‘is he yet alive?”’ ;

“Yes, just alive. He must be very old, for
he is almost stone blind and deaf.”’

“Show me the dog!’? said the oflicer. »

‘*Here he lies,’? said the old woman.

The General bent over the dog, touched him
‘gently, and shouted in his ear his old name of
‘Leon.”? The dog had not forgotten it; he
knew that voice, the touch of that hand. With
a joyful cry he sprang up to the breast of his
-old master; then sunk down, as if faint with

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joy, to his master’s feet. ‘The brave soldier
was overcome with emotion; tears fell fast
from his eyes. ‘‘Faithful creature,’ he ex-
claimed, ‘‘you have saved my child, and God
has now given him back to me.’’

Just at this moment the door opened and
little Carl appeared with his arms full of fagots.

“Come hither, Carl,’’ said the soldier.

The boy flung down his fagots and drew
near.

“Do you know who I am?’’

‘Ah, no—the good Christmas King, per-
haps,’’ said the boy.

‘*Alas, poor child, how should you remem-
ber me!’’ exclaimed the General, sadly. Then
taking him in his arms, he said, ‘‘But I re-

as a Christmas gift from God, who had so
wonderfully protected the little boy and given
him back to his parents and sister. It was a
Christmas time to thank God for, and they did
thank Him.

God’s Ways are Wonderful.

A Norwegian sailor, who had left his home
twenty-one years ago and had not written to
his mother for sixteen years, strolled through
the streets of a city on the coast of Wales one
Christmas morning. He came toa church and *
the singing moved him toenter. At the close
of the service the pastor announced that on
the next day a festival service for sailors would
he held and presents would be distributed. He
heartily invited all to attend. ,

At the appointed hour the wandering sailor
came with many others. He was given a slip
of paper bearing the number 400. On pre-
senting this number, he received a woolen
shawl as a Christmas gift. He did not care
much for the present, but before going to bed
in the evening, he examined the shawl more
closely and found a letter fastened to it with
the address: ‘‘For the sailor who receives this
present.”’

He opened the letter and read the hearty
Christmas greetings of her who had knitted
and presented the shawl. She also wrote: ‘‘I
am seventy years old, have three sons at sea,
of whom the youngest has not written to me
for sixteen years. I know nothing of him.”

The sailor looked at the name signed to the
letter, and—to his great surprise— it was the
name of his mother!

He got his wages and left for home on the
next steamer to bring joy to the heart of his
mother and to make New Year’s Day a happy
and blessed day indeed.

How wonderful are God’s ways! Almost a
thousand presents had been donated and dis-
tributed on. that Christmas Day; yet that
sailor received the one appointed for him.
His mother surely was a praying mother, and
God heard her prayers.

The Babe of Bethlehem.

member you; you are my boy, my dear, long-
lost boy! Iam your father!”

“No, surely,’’ said the child, sorely bewil-
dered, ‘‘that cannot be, -for they tell me the
Rhine is my father.”’

The soldier smiled through his tears, and
soon was able to convince his little son that
he had a better father than the old river. He
also told him of a loving mother who yet sor-
rowed for him, and of a blue-eyed sister, who}
would rejoice when he came home. Carl lis-
tened and wondered, and when he understood
it all, slid from his father’s arms and ran to
embrace old Leon.

The next morning early the General left for
his home. In his arms he held little Carl, care-
fully wrapped in his warm fur cloak, whilst old
Leon Jay snugly curled up in the bottom of
the carriage.

Great was the joy of Carl’s mother and sis-
ter when the General brought little Carl home

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“Welcome to Earth, Thou Noble Guest.”

An old Lutheran pastor, speaking of the
worth of the human soul, says, ‘‘Christ came
from heaven to earth, he came into our misery,
as we sing—

‘Welcome to earth, Thou noble Guest.’

“Divers and pearl-fishers go down several
fathoms into the sea in order to seek pearls.
Miners dig several hundred fathoms into the
earth in order to dig gold, silver, and other
ores. But of what high worth must not the
human soul be in heaven, when for it the Lord
Jesus did not hesitate to descend into the bit-
ter sea of human misery.”’

—_> oa or oe -

“Come, Jesus, glorious, heavenly Guest,
Keep Thine own Christmas in our breast.”