The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1910, Page 92

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92 :

The Lutheran Pioneer.

Christmas in a Sick-Room.

They were talking about Christmas days of long
ago when an old gentleman said: Every year as
Christmas comes I, too, think of the Christmas joys

The Christ-Child.

Dear Christ-child, all holy, O! may we draw nigh?
We know Thou hast left Thy bright home in the sky,
To bear all our sins, suffer poverty, blame;

To die on the cross, to atone for our shame.

we children had at our home. Especially do I re-
member one Christmas in a sick-room. Let me
tell you how it was. One Christmas season, when
I was about twelve years old, mother said, “I have
thought of something extra for you children to do

this Christmas. You are to take a Christmas tree
to the dear old woman.” We knew whom she meant.
The “dear old woman” was the mother of one of
my father’s day laborers, living in the village at
some distance from our home. She was sick for a
long time, confined to her bed, not
able to walk, or to speak much, her
My
sister and I often took her meals to
her and read to her from the Bible
Well, to this
dear old woman we children now
every year took a Christmas tree,,
And
these Christmas visits in the sick-
room of the poor shut-in are among
the happiest recollections of my
younger days. In the early dusk of
Christmas Eve the big sleigh was
brought to the house to take us to
the village. We children all climbed
in. My oldest brother did the driv-
ing, my second brother carried the
Christmas tree. When we came to
the humble home of the day laborer,
the candles of the tree were lighted
in the narrow passage of the dwell-
ing. We then marched into the sick-
room and placed the lighted tree on a stool near
the bed of the poor invalid. ‘Then we all sang a
Christmas hymn, and one of us read the Christmas
story. The dear old woman listened to it all, her
face beaming with joy. And, oh, how joyful were
we as we drove back home during the ringing of the

whole left side being paralyzed.

and other good books.

together with a few presents.

-Christmas bells!’ The hour which was past seemed

to us the happiest hour of Christmas Eve.

—_—_+-+->______

No Fear of Death.

A boy, twelve years old, lay very ill. When told
that he might not get well again, he said, “I do not
fear death.” While on his sick-bed, he often ex-
claimed, “Come, death, I am not afraid; no matter
how you look, black, or green, or yellow; I am not
afraid.” He recited many passages from Holy
Scriptures which he had learned at school, and es-
pecially the following verse from Luther’s beautiful
Christmas hymn:

Ah! dearest Jesus, holy Child,
Make Thee a bed, soft, undefiled,
Within my heart, that it may be
A quiet chamber kept for Thee.

Truly, who dieth thus dies well!